Where do lower to middle class families go on vacation for the summer?

[Anonymous]

Based on the boardwalk, I'd say they drive to the beach for the day on the weekend.

[Anonymous]

To state parks or the beach. Drive, camp, maybe stay in a cheap hotel. Meals can be a challenge - a bag of ice each day to keep the cooler cool and a gas camp stove have been handy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camping, closest beaches, theme parks (smaller ones like Six Flags, Hershey and Lake Compounce, not Disney)

There are TONS of LMC families at Disney. Not sure how. I’m guessing they save for years as a dream vacation.

Lots of people who live in Florida or Georgia buy yearly passes and only go to Disney for vacation and stay in cheap hotels. Source: used to live in Georgia.

Yeah exactly—they don’t stay at Disney, the Floridians usually either drive back the same night and/or stay in motels between their place and Disney along the interstate. The resorts at Disney tend to cater to a much more affluent out of state group.

[Anonymous]

Debt. If they have credit cards then charge it and pay it off. Or some credit unions do a vacation savings.

[Anonymous]

I work in a Title 1 school in MD. Most of my students talk about going to Ocean City. Sometimes it is a day trip or for a weekend. They often go back to their home country and stay with relatives or drive to see relatives in NY/NJ.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been surprised by the number of non-white ordinary people (not UMC) I’ve been seeing in state parks. Sometimes it’s day users. Multi-generational families, outside, having a nice time together. For many English isn’t a first language. I don’t know whether they buy annual passes or just pay the day use fees, but it’s a happy thing to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been surprised by the number of non-white ordinary people (not UMC) I’ve been seeing in state parks. Sometimes it’s day users. Multi-generational families, outside, having a nice time together. For many English isn’t a first language. I don’t know whether they buy annual passes or just pay the day use fees, but it’s a happy thing to see.

I think the author may be well-intentioned, but this post is chock full of racist/ethnic and classist stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been surprised by the number of non-white ordinary people (not UMC) I’ve been seeing in state parks. Sometimes it’s day users. Multi-generational families, outside, having a nice time together. For many English isn’t a first language. I don’t know whether they buy annual passes or just pay the day use fees, but it’s a happy thing to see.

I agree and have witnessed the same thing everytime I'm at Shennadoah National Park. I'm sure I'll get flamed for saying this, but my only problem I have with this is there are very different ideas about littering with people from India and Asia. I have on more than one occassion had to approach people at overlooks and remind them to take their trash that they'd just left sitting on the stone walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been surprised by the number of non-white ordinary people (not UMC) I’ve been seeing in state parks. Sometimes it’s day users. Multi-generational families, outside, having a nice time together. For many English isn’t a first language. I don’t know whether they buy annual passes or just pay the day use fees, but it’s a happy thing to see.

I think the author may be well-intentioned, but this post is chock full of racist/ethnic and classist stereotypes.

I agree. One of the richest guys I know looks like a poor Central American construction worker or landscaping guy (that’s what most assume when they meet him). The guy is a multimillionaire!

[Anonymous]

They go camping
Lake beaches for the day
Visit the grandparents
Inexplicably, Disney World

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think how much and where you go is a combination of your values and your income; many LMC and MC families I know may have unusually nice cars or tvs but don't travel. Not everyone cares to and I certainly don't begrudge them their choices. My DH grew up more middle class than me and barely ever traveled beyond his own state until he was in high school and started traveling b/c of his extracurriculars.

This is kind of us. We're in the middle income wise. While we don't do extravagant travel, it's still pretty nice. The tradeoff is our cars. They're functional, but we drive them into the ground and don't make having a nice car a priority.

A lot of people didn’t grow up traveling and as adults they have the means but literally don’t know how. Or they know how to get themselves to a beach and sit on it one week a year. But they don’t know how to plan for a trip to a city or country they’ve never been to. The notion of going somewhere they’ve never been, walking around, becoming part of the local culture temporarily, seeing the interesting unique things every area has to offer never crosses their mind because they never have done it. I am so grateful my dad prioritized that for us growing up. My family takes the coolest trips because I know how to travel. Friends of mine with more money just take cruises or go to OBX despite having the means for way better travel. But it’s a skill they don’t have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think how much and where you go is a combination of your values and your income; many LMC and MC families I know may have unusually nice cars or tvs but don't travel. Not everyone cares to and I certainly don't begrudge them their choices. My DH grew up more middle class than me and barely ever traveled beyond his own state until he was in high school and started traveling b/c of his extracurriculars.

This is kind of us. We're in the middle income wise. While we don't do extravagant travel, it's still pretty nice. The tradeoff is our cars. They're functional, but we drive them into the ground and don't make having a nice car a priority.

A lot of people didn’t grow up traveling and as adults they have the means but literally don’t know how. Or they know how to get themselves to a beach and sit on it one week a year. But they don’t know how to plan for a trip to a city or country they’ve never been to. The notion of going somewhere they’ve never been, walking around, becoming part of the local culture temporarily, seeing the interesting unique things every area has to offer never crosses their mind because they never have done it. I am so grateful my dad prioritized that for us growing up. My family takes the coolest trips because I know how to travel. Friends of mine with more money just take cruises or go to OBX despite having the means for way better travel. But it’s a skill they don’t have.

Or, you can't afford to do that or don't want to do that.

I grew up LMC and went to a lower cost trip to the beach every summer. As a young adult I traveled light and went to Europe for a while. I have the skills and did this earlier in life: back to my now middle class life (i.e. DC lmc life) and I just enjoy going somewhere I don't have to fly to or take the mental energy to put that "travel knowledge" to work. I now enjoy slightly more upscale trips to the beach and the mountains.

Don't assume people just don't have the knowledge, they may have the knowledge but not the money or the time off from work. In fact, many of my LMC neighbors are actually from other countries, but they go on the same low cost trips to the beach or the amusement park we do. It's just more accessible and the beauty of it is you don't have to think much about it or use all that mental energy to plan ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think how much and where you go is a combination of your values and your income; many LMC and MC families I know may have unusually nice cars or tvs but don't travel. Not everyone cares to and I certainly don't begrudge them their choices. My DH grew up more middle class than me and barely ever traveled beyond his own state until he was in high school and started traveling b/c of his extracurriculars.

This is kind of us. We're in the middle income wise. While we don't do extravagant travel, it's still pretty nice. The tradeoff is our cars. They're functional, but we drive them into the ground and don't make having a nice car a priority.

A lot of people didn’t grow up traveling and as adults they have the means but literally don’t know how. Or they know how to get themselves to a beach and sit on it one week a year. But they don’t know how to plan for a trip to a city or country they’ve never been to. The notion of going somewhere they’ve never been, walking around, becoming part of the local culture temporarily, seeing the interesting unique things every area has to offer never crosses their mind because they never have done it. I am so grateful my dad prioritized that for us growing up. My family takes the coolest trips because I know how to travel. Friends of mine with more money just take cruises or go to OBX despite having the means for way better travel. But it’s a skill they don’t have.

I think it’s more of a generational thing as well. I didn’t grow up going be to lots of places but can plan a trip pretty well. Because you…the internet. It’s not a complicated skill like you make it sound.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been going on trips around the world for the past 20 something years. It really isn’t that hard to do if you have money. I’m UMC so not rich btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Camping, closest beaches, theme parks (smaller ones like Six Flags, Hershey and Lake Compounce, not Disney)

There are TONS of LMC families at Disney. Not sure how. I’m guessing they save for years as a dream vacation.

The LMC at Disney are almost all from Florida or driving distance. They don't pay for air or hotel and they pay instate rates and/or get a pass.

I would guess, on average, out of state visitors have at least twice hte income of the typical instate visitor.

This, the "locals' at Disney are totally different from the non locals.

Yeah, I agree with this. My brother is a gay doctor from NYC and he does fancy gay Disney and it's a world away from the way locals do disney lol.

I want to hear more about fancy gay Disney!