Reply to Vent: “gift” of a trip that I don’t want and requires me to spend lots of money and time

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Reply to "Vent: “gift” of a trip that I don’t want and requires me to spend lots of money and time"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For the posters who think this is a rich people problem:

I come from Florida white trash farm stock.

When I was young, my aunt declared a family reunion would take place at her house an hour from Orlando and that one day we would all go to Disney.  It was scheduled for August.  She was hosting at her house so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel (but there were 20 people in a 4-bedroom).  We did have to pay for gas to road trip down, use my parent’s PTO, and pay for Disney tickets, which were way out of budget for our family.  All the rest of the family members were FL residents so they all had a friend-of-a-friend who could arrange for free tickets for at least some of their family members.

Ao my parents had to shell out like $700 for a vacation (which is WAY more than they normally spend), or go on a vacation where everybody but their own kids got to go to Disney.  We ended up skipping Disney and going to a local Gator-themed animal park reminiscent of Tiger King (but with reptiles).  My brother and I were super disappointed at the time but as an adult I am like “what was my aunt thinking?”

Any time someone offers to host in a way that requires a significant outlay of money, that is rude and annoying.[/quote]

My BIL's family had been vacationing on a lake in the middle of nowhere for generations, and he and my sister bought a cabin there. Fine, have fun.

But then they started inviting us, and they were super excited, and we hauled ourselves and a kid (we only had one at the time) out there, and it sucked. But we got the obligatory visit out of the way! Score! (even though there wasn't room for us at the cabin and we had to stay half an hour away because it was in the middle of nowhere)

Then they tore down the original cabin and built a bigger one, and they were super excited, and we hauled ourselves and all our kids out there via two-day drive, and it sucked. But again, visit out of the way! Score! And this time we got to stay with them at their poorly constructed lake house that smelled of mildew.

And then the sibs and I agreed we should all get together for our parents' milestone anniversary, and somehow my sister talked my parents into coming to the lake again, so we all went along with it. And again we couldn't stay with them because not enough room, and it sucked.

Spouse and I agreed that we are never visiting them again, nor joining them on any vacation ever. And yes, we are idiots for taking so long to learn. I think the larger lesson was that you cannot buy your freedom by smaller concessions. And you can decide that's enough of that at any point. [/quote]

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