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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The OP question is where DO middle class families vacation not where DID middle class families go on vacations (in the 80s-90s).  Different expectations and experiences. [/quote]

Imho that’s the real issue here: different expectations.

I posted that I grew up in a nice home and went to private school and my parents paid for my college, but we never took a trip involving an airplane.  Honestly, none of my friends did. Everyone went to the beach for a summer vacation.

You know what else? We rarely ate at restaurants. Our SAHMs cooked (nice meals that probably took hours to prepare). We went out to eat (seafood) at the beach one night, and we went to certain nice restaurants for special occasions.

I was born in the early 1970s.

Fast forward: my kids have passports and we travel throughout the year - winter break, spring break, summer vacation plus travel sports certain weekends and other long weekends (NYC, Philly, Hershey, Charleston, etc.). My kids love sushi and Indian food—things I had never eaten until I was an adult.

Expectations changed along the way.

Having said that, I know wealthy families (think: expensive homes, country clubs, etc) who basically don’t travel. Instead, they go to their vacation home. And I know people barely getting by who take big vacations. People have different priorities.

I know a family where both parents are public school teachers (and there’s no inherited wealth or grandparents subsidizing), and they regularly travel abroad. They basically go wherever they can find cheap flights even if it means multiple connections. They’ve been everywhere with their kids.

Interestingly, all the families I know that camp are UMC or wealthy. They go to gorgeous destinations to camp, hike, fish, etc.

I know a teacher in a local Title 1 school with objectively low-income (mostly immigrant and minority families) students, and she’s surprised by how often the kids travel (pulled out of school) and where they go (Disney, cruises, nyc, FL, CA, and far flung destinations abroad). None of those trips are cheap, and it’s surprising they can afford them. Again: different priorities. [/quote]

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