OP, please give us details, especially need to know where you went.

Anonymous wrote:Vacations used to be about visiting family and thus were very affordable.

Go back to simpler vacations and lower expectations.

LOL NO. That's not a vacation.

We had one of those last winters. We went skiing, mostly for teen dcs: weather sucked, snow was basically ice, way too cold. We had a miserable time. Whatever we did that wasn't ski-related was a bust with the kids who just were moody the whole time, and then we got very sick at the end. Not much to do about it other than move on and be glad it's over when it is! We could not wait to get home.

Can you tell us why it's disappointing?

Things that have made our vacations challenging: bad weather ruined portions of the trip; local strikes shut down transportation/major sights; overpriced activities that did not deliver; kids whining/bad attitude; food allergy kid throwing up after eating contaminated food; motion sickness and vomiting; unable to get tickets to major attraction due to web glitch...

Come to think of it, our most recent trip had at least 5 of these elements, yet we still had a great vacation. Part of dealing with these is being flexible, with both expectations and schedules, and another part is getting through each day and looking on the bright side.

I had that experience once on a skip trip to Chamonix. We were totally socked in by fog the entire time. I never really saw the mountains. Many areas were closed because the ice was so bad and dangerous (which says a lot, because European skiing can be so laissez faire). We couldn’t do any backcountry stuff because it was a weird winter and the crevasses hadn’t filled so our tours were cancelled. The few areas available were packed to the gills. So we tried to enjoy ourselves in the village but everyone else was trying to do the same thing. We did a couple of day trips so the trip wouldn’t feel totally wasted, but quite came home sort of disappointed and restless.

I think social media has fed a “travel” monster. It’s just a trip, not a source of fulfillment or an achievement. You can be bummed if it rains but it shouldn’t be a huge deal.

i wish there was a way to control the weather to disable rain during summer vacations

Anonymous wrote:Vacations used to be about visiting family and thus were very affordable.

Go back to simpler vacations and lower expectations.

When were vacations about visiting family? I remember my grandparents talking about taking vacations to explore places they'd never been, before my parents were alive, so that's like 80 years ago. How far back are you going?

Vacations used to be about visiting family and thus were very affordable.

Go back to simpler vacations and lower expectations.

You need some perspective. Some people never get to take vacation. Some people are dealing with truly terrible things in their lives. In the grand scheme of things, you should consider yourself lucky that a disappointing vacation is the cause of your sadness.

It sucks, and you set a time limit to be bummed about it, then you move on.

(We had pouring rain, and therefore no vistas, on a trip this summer I'm unlikely to do again. Sucked but it is what it is.)

I am also curious what happened that made it so disappointing. That will help me advise you on how to move on.

Expectations are always greater than reality. Lower your expectations; also sounds like you need to do some work with a therapist. I predict you are a firstborn high-functioning perfectionist with latent ADHD.

How did it go wrong?

We waited all year to take this trip, planned, dreamed, anticipated. As I type this it’s our last day and I am filled with so much sadness because it did not live up to our expectations. We can’t wait to go home. I think we were ready after the first day. Nothing has gone the way we had hoped, and all we have to show for it is a huge bill, not the lasting memories we had hoped for. I’m crushed. How does one move on from this?