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[quote=Anonymous]I’m a single parent of a young child. We take maybe two trips per year. My mother always asks to join but has never ever ever planned a trip herself in her entire 65 years of life. She’ll tag along in a heartbeat but never offer to help with planning, organizing or even paying. She gets offended when I tell her she has to pay half of the hotel cost.

Our trip drives are always delayed by 2-4 hours because she’s never ready when we go to pick her up. Still has to pack and shower. Even in her younger years she never once offered to help drive on long road trips, and was truly offended when I asked. She insists that we stop for restroom breaks every hour. We always end up arriving at midnight or beyond, wherever we go with her.

She’s morbidly obese and has two bum knees and moves very slowly. On our trips she’ll go to bed at 5am and sleep til 2pm. She hates doing any activities on trips and prefers to sit in the room all day and talk to her friends (who she refuses to travel with) on the phone. I asked why she even bothers to travel and she said she likes the change of scenery. She could care less about spending quality time with me or her grandchild, or exploring a new place. She also refuses to travel with my dad (her husband) and says he’s boring.

I finally saw the light 5 years ago and stopped inviting her on our vacations. She would still ask to go and I just started saying NO. My time off and vacation $$ are too precious to cater to her all the time during our travels. Even my child started complaining that she was a drag. Our vacations became less fun when she was on them. It’s also tough booking comfortable hotel rooms for 3 people. I don’t like sharing a bed and I don’t put my child in sofa beds, but my mom was always too cheap to pay for her own room. She also always got the nice master bedroom to herself when we rented condos.

Traveling without my mom was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Our vacations became so much more fun again. There was room for adventure and spontaneity. We do not miss her being on our trips at all. Now instead she nags my sibling and they come to me about the same complaints I had, haha.
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