Is this a normal or excessive amount of travel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds basic to me OP. We travel more than that and avoid repeat travel. We want to see the whole world.

Good for you. How many countries have you guys done? And apparently, based on the other thread in this forum, you haven’t seen the world until you’ve walked the urine soaked streets of Philadelphia. LOL.

I have traveled to around 60 countries with repeat visits to many countries. I also lived overseas for 12 years. Since coming back to the US I probably spend about three weeks overseas (one 2-week trip and one 1-week trip) plus a week somewhere in the US and usually 1-2 weekend trips domestically. But I don't travel with young children and I can't imagine doing the same travel with 2-3 kids under 14. My sister has young children and their travel is mostly to a resort in the Caribbean for a week in the winter and several weeks at the beach in the summer. She and her husband took a week to France alone for the first time to celebrate their 15th anniversary and she says she'd love to go back with the family but she won't take the kids on a more active trip until they're all at least 12 and I can understand why.

And I like Philadelphia. I think it's a cool town. I always have a good time there.

well there you go then. so why are you insulting this family's travel when you don't have their constraints?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m from nyc and I love to travel.

Does she work?

Their annual ski, beach and Caribbean vacations seem normal. The summer vacation could be better but maybe their kids are young.

I probably travel the most in our circles. We go on 10+ trips per year. I do what your sister does but then also do Europe and Asia. We do both repeat and easy trips. And since we live in DC, we go up to NYC 1-3 times per year to visit our family and friends. We may do a lake house or cape cod. I don’t work though. When I worked, your sister’s trips sound just right. I travel with and without my husband. He sometimes meets us at the end of our vacation if he doesn’t want to take the whole week off or fly back ewrly.

The OP said her sister takes the kids to Europe every summer. How do you think it should be better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from nyc and I love to travel.

Does she work?

Their annual ski, beach and Caribbean vacations seem normal. The summer vacation could be better but maybe their kids are young.

I probably travel the most in our circles. We go on 10+ trips per year. I do what your sister does but then also do Europe and Asia. We do both repeat and easy trips. And since we live in DC, we go up to NYC 1-3 times per year to visit our family and friends. We may do a lake house or cape cod. I don’t work though. When I worked, your sister’s trips sound just right. I travel with and without my husband. He sometimes meets us at the end of our vacation if he doesn’t want to take the whole week off or fly back ewrly.

The OP said her sister takes the kids to Europe every summer. How do you think it should be better?

+ 1

Annual:
ski trip in late December
Caribbean in February
Disney? in April
Europe or national park in July
Beach vacay in August

And she wants one more? LOL

She is so entitled.

[Anonymous]

This might be "normal" for a certain demographic, but it is way outside most people's reach. We are upper middle class and couldn't even dream of affording this. We feel lucky to be able to take one big summer vacation and maybe one extra over a school break. In addition to not being able to afford it, we don't get enough vacation days to make more than this work.

Does she work? Maybe she needs a job or a serious hobby to fill some of her time.

[Anonymous]

I generally love this forum but this is the kind of question that brings out the absurd privilege and lack of connection to the real world that many of the posters on this thread have. We take 2-5 vacations a year but I consider us extremely privileged. I grew up with one vacation per year, which was always a driving destination with camping or something in the motel 6 range. That’s how most people live.
Your sister is entitled to want more than she has—most of us do—but she’s ridiculous if she doesn’t appreciate how much she already has.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who answers this is a normal or low amount of travel is absurdly packaged in the DC bubble. For 90% of this country, that’s an unattainable amount of travel and privilege. The fact they can afford 5 week long vacations a year to other countries or to expensive activities like skiing makes them incredibly privileged and outside the norm. I get it, we live here where families make 300k and think they’re middle class so travel is normal and routine and affordable for many, but even if you’d like to do it more often, being able to do 5 vacations a year is a luxury.

Yep! I travel a total of 2 weeks that I very carefully budget along with a few camping trips and I consider myself very privileged! In 2019 me and my husband snagged budget tickets to France and stayed at air bnb’s for 1 week followed by a week with our kids at at a camping cabin in Maine and my first ever sisters trip to Colorado for a long weekend with cheap tickets but this is pushing it for us and we had to make a lot of careful choices in order to do it. We probably spent a combined $3,000 and that was a HUGE privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds basic to me OP. We travel more than that and avoid repeat travel. We want to see the whole world.

Good for you. How many countries have you guys done? And apparently, based on the other thread in this forum, you haven’t seen the world until you’ve walked the urine soaked streets of Philadelphia. LOL.

I have traveled to around 60 countries with repeat visits to many countries. I also lived overseas for 12 years. Since coming back to the US I probably spend about three weeks overseas (one 2-week trip and one 1-week trip) plus a week somewhere in the US and usually 1-2 weekend trips domestically. But I don't travel with young children and I can't imagine doing the same travel with 2-3 kids under 14. My sister has young children and their travel is mostly to a resort in the Caribbean for a week in the winter and several weeks at the beach in the summer. She and her husband took a week to France alone for the first time to celebrate their 15th anniversary and she says she'd love to go back with the family but she won't take the kids on a more active trip until they're all at least 12 and I can understand why.

And I like Philadelphia. I think it's a cool town. I always have a good time there.

well there you go then. so why are you insulting this family's travel when you don't have their constraints?

Insulting? Rather weird way of putting it. Children are not the same as adults. They can be a handful. I can see why many parents don't want to face the hassles of long flights and airports and delays, plus the constant on the move travel requires, when they can go to a resort and stay put for a week or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who answers this is a normal or low amount of travel is absurdly packaged in the DC bubble. For 90% of this country, that’s an unattainable amount of travel and privilege. The fact they can afford 5 week long vacations a year to other countries or to expensive activities like skiing makes them incredibly privileged and outside the norm. I get it, we live here where families make 300k and think they’re middle class so travel is normal and routine and affordable for many, but even if you’d like to do it more often, being able to do 5 vacations a year is a luxury.

Yep! I travel a total of 2 weeks that I very carefully budget along with a few camping trips and I consider myself very privileged! In 2019 me and my husband snagged budget tickets to France and stayed at air bnb’s for 1 week followed by a week with our kids at at a camping cabin in Maine and my first ever sisters trip to Colorado for a long weekend with cheap tickets but this is pushing it for us and we had to make a lot of careful choices in order to do it. We probably spent a combined $3,000 and that was a HUGE privilege.

"my husband and I," not "me and my husband."

You're welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I generally love this forum but this is the kind of question that brings out the absurd privilege and lack of connection to the real world that many of the posters on this thread have. We take 2-5 vacations a year but I consider us extremely privileged. I grew up with one vacation per year, which was always a driving destination with camping or something in the motel 6 range. That’s how most people live.
Your sister is entitled to want more than she has—most of us do—but she’s ridiculous if she doesn’t appreciate how much she already has. [/quote

Ah, you are right. We take 8-10 trips a year, but DH and I are making up for lost time because we took ZERO as children. And, I didn't think about this privilege until recently when we were traveling and someone casually asked us where we've traveled. The person said they were waiting their entire lives to be able to visit at least one Caribbean country, and then it hit me that most people can't afford any travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from nyc and I love to travel.

Does she work?

Their annual ski, beach and Caribbean vacations seem normal. The summer vacation could be better but maybe their kids are young.

I probably travel the most in our circles. We go on 10+ trips per year. I do what your sister does but then also do Europe and Asia. We do both repeat and easy trips. And since we live in DC, we go up to NYC 1-3 times per year to visit our family and friends. We may do a lake house or cape cod. I don’t work though. When I worked, your sister’s trips sound just right. I travel with and without my husband. He sometimes meets us at the end of our vacation if he doesn’t want to take the whole week off or fly back ewrly.

The OP said her sister takes the kids to Europe every summer. How do you think it should be better?

+ 1

Annual:
ski trip in late December
Caribbean in February
Disney? in April
Europe or national park in July
Beach vacay in August

And she wants one more? LOL

She is so entitled.

OP here. This doesn’t include their other ski weekends either.

[Anonymous]

Seems about right - gotta go somewhere for Feb break and spring break, so somewhere warm is the best bet. And typically beach week in August before school, another week in July somewhere (for us usually Maine but can be somewhere else.) We don't ski but will go to a lake cabin summer weekends and warmer early winter days. And then either xmas or Thanksgiving either with parents or Florida as a destination. So there's 5 weeks there and that's before any type of "special" trip.

It's getting tougher as kids get older and have more sports commitments.

[Anonymous]

Totally normal for UMC areas.

In fact, I bet you could start a new thread asking people to list the places they visited this year on vacation and it would look similar to this lady’s list.

I know mine would (Costa Rica, Portugal, Vancouver, and 2 weeks in the OBX)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally normal for UMC areas.

In fact, I bet you could start a new thread asking people to list the places they visited this year on vacation and it would look similar to this lady’s list.

I know mine would (Costa Rica, Portugal, Vancouver, and 2 weeks in the OBX)

Basic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally normal for UMC areas.

In fact, I bet you could start a new thread asking people to list the places they visited this year on vacation and it would look similar to this lady’s list.

I know mine would (Costa Rica, Portugal, Vancouver, and 2 weeks in the OBX)

Basic.

Exactly my point. Everyone I know travels this much or more. Nothing special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally normal for UMC areas.

In fact, I bet you could start a new thread asking people to list the places they visited this year on vacation and it would look similar to this lady’s list.

I know mine would (Costa Rica, Portugal, Vancouver, and 2 weeks in the OBX)

Basic.

Exactly my point. Everyone I know travels this much or more. Nothing special.

Yup. Regular middle class.