Are upper middle class family gatherings now just luxury travel pissing contests?

[Anonymous]

I am really fortunate to be able to travel frequently but I never talk about it at gatherings. If anything, I downplay it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe you just weren’t this prone to jealousy before?

Who's jealous? It's just shallow and boring conversation. Shallow and boring is fine among professional work associates but family are only together a couple of times a year and THIS is the most spirited dialogue now? It's sad.

Travel is not “shallow and boring conversation.” What do you want to discuss? Little Larlo’s soccer? Little Larlo is going into AAP?

Little Larlo likes soccer and bonding time with his close friends far more than sitting in an airport, customs line, taxis, hotel, hotel pool, weird food, and being dragged around to tourist attractions so his insecure status-signal obsessed striver mommy (and daddy) can have vapid content to brag about on social media and at social gatherings.

You couldn’t be more wrong. I would be just as happy staying here, but my kids (and spouse) absolutely love traveling to new places. Some kids like new adventures more than “soccer and bonding time with friends”.

Yeah, kids with no friends..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Keeping up with the Joneses" used to mean a new Lexus SUV and a country club membership, now it means seeing the Joneses on instagram hiking in Peru, using Epic Passes to ski all season in Vail, and sun bathing in Mykonos.

I mean ... it is the 21st century. People prefer to spend money on experiences over things. Not sure why you are so vexed by this. I would enjoy Mykonos. I have zero interest in driving a Lexus and I don't play golf. So.

It’s literally a scam. People are being duped into flushing large sums of money down the drain.

+100. Who even believes the “experiences over things” BS nowadays anyway? So cliché. I’ve traveled quite a bit and it’s just another form of consumption that gives you pleasure, like a luxury handbag or really nice sheets. Hell, at least the sheets are something you enjoy every single day.

[Anonymous]

Everybody went to Japan in the last 12 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No it didn’t use to be this way.

This. It's not fun. And I say that as someone who loves to travel AND loves to hear about other people's travels. There's something about how it is now that has taken the joy out of it. I think it's just that travel no longer feels special because we are exposed to images of travel constantly on social media and in the media and it has started feeling like something you're expected to do.

I don't blame individuals for this, I don't think there is something wrong with people traveling or talking about it. I think it's like anything that becomes overexposed -- it just starts to feel like too much and we get sick of it.

[Anonymous]

So glad we travel mostly to repeat places (and tell basically no one) because we love the trips and aren’t trying to impress anyone. We also don’t post or comment on social media, and are stealth wealth in our neighborhood so the bragging from others is pretty low key.

[Anonymous]

Four Christmases came out 16 years ago and is merely one example of Hollywood laying the groundwork that “cool” and “sophisticated” people travel during the holidays instead of spending time with boring and backwards family. People don’t even realize they’ve been swept up by Hollywood and Madison Avenue propaganda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you just weren’t this prone to jealousy before?

Who's jealous? It's just shallow and boring conversation. Shallow and boring is fine among professional work associates but family are only together a couple of times a year and THIS is the most spirited dialogue now? It's sad.

Travel is not “shallow and boring conversation.” What do you want to discuss? Little Larlo’s soccer? Little Larlo is going into AAP?

Little Larlo likes soccer and bonding time with his close friends far more than sitting in an airport, customs line, taxis, hotel, hotel pool, weird food, and being dragged around to tourist attractions so his insecure status-signal obsessed striver mommy (and daddy) can have vapid content to brag about on social media and at social gatherings.

You couldn’t be more wrong. I would be just as happy staying here, but my kids (and spouse) absolutely love traveling to new places. Some kids like new adventures more than “soccer and bonding time with friends”.

Yeah, kids with no friends..

DP but my kid loves hanging with friends and loves traveling. Ideally she'd travel with friends but she also thankfully still likes us enough that she can have fun on a trip with us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it didn’t use to be this way.

This. It's not fun. And I say that as someone who loves to travel AND loves to hear about other people's travels. There's something about how it is now that has taken the joy out of it. I think it's just that travel no longer feels special because we are exposed to images of travel constantly on social media and in the media and it has started feeling like something you're expected to do.

I don't blame individuals for this, I don't think there is something wrong with people traveling or talking about it. I think it's like anything that becomes overexposed -- it just starts to feel like too much and we get sick of it.

This is how it’s always been. Food was fun in the late 90s before everyone started talking about it. Now travel. I wonder what’s next. Renovations probably. Then what? Second homes?

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people are still trying to make up for the lost years of Covid and are going a little overboard. I also think people are generally more anxious and depressed and travel provides a nice distraction. I predict interest in the non-stop bucket list trips will wane a bit soon. It’s unsustainable in many ways and it’s just so darned crowded everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Roughly half the people I know, including DH and I, have jobs that involve a decent amount of travel. We don't talk about vacation destinations, but we might exchange stories about certain airports or airlines...maybe a restaurant to try in a particular city if you happen to have time.

With others, travel doesn't dominate discussion. People say where they are going for a particular holiday.

All of that said, travel seems pretty innocuous as a conversation topic....so I don't really get this. By contrast, my MIL and SIL spend most gatherings talking about the goings on in the lives of people I've never met. Or MIL tells me in depth details about local street construction and happenings in her small downtown. That is far more tedious.

[Anonymous]

As a family, we’ve always traveled. It’s our thing. I’d rather spend money on trips than tons of gifts at birthdays/holidays on crap that’ll end up being donated/broken/discarded. DC has been traveling internationally since Kindergarten and has always loved it which is great.

Post-pandemic I think people want to travel even if they didn’t before. Now that the world has experienced what it’s like to be locked down in your house nevermind your country, people want to get out there now. Plus as your kids get older people tend to travel to do things together as a family before kids go away to college.

With all that being said, DC has been in private school from the start and due to the wealth you’re surrounded by that comes with attending private, yeah post every school break the topic of where everyone traveled/summered was discussed and could feel like a pissing match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everybody went to Japan in the last 12 months.

That’s because Japan was one of the last countries to open up post pandemic (and I knew a few different families who were planned to go when COVID hit).

I love Japan, been 6 times (mostly for work but 2 of those were vacation with DC). Unlike Europe/UK it actually feels like you’re traveling to a foreign country. So many places feel overly Americanized, it’s a bummer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a family, we’ve always traveled. It’s our thing. I’d rather spend money on trips than tons of gifts at birthdays/holidays on crap that’ll end up being donated/broken/discarded. DC has been traveling internationally since Kindergarten and has always loved it which is great.

Post-pandemic I think people want to travel even if they didn’t before. Now that the world has experienced what it’s like to be locked down in your house nevermind your country, people want to get out there now. Plus as your kids get older people tend to travel to do things together as a family before kids go away to college.

With all that being said, DC has been in private school from the start and due to the wealth you’re surrounded by that comes with attending private, yeah post every school break the topic of where everyone traveled/summered was discussed and could feel like a pissing match.

Travel is everyone’s thing now, you’re not special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody went to Japan in the last 12 months.

That’s because Japan was one of the last countries to open up post pandemic (and I knew a few different families who were planned to go when COVID hit).

I love Japan, been 6 times (mostly for work but 2 of those were vacation with DC). Unlike Europe/UK it actually feels like you’re traveling to a foreign country. So many places feel overly Americanized, it’s a bummer.

What?! You must go to the wrong parts of Europe.