I grew up as a military brat in Fairfax County in the 70s & 80s. Most all of my friends and neighbors in our suburb were career military or feds. I can’t think of anyone who regularly traveled overseas or took exotic in-season or out of season vacations on the regular like nearly all families seem to do now.

My parents took their first-ever cruise (out of Baltimore) in 1988, but this was a budget-friendly, low key experience.

I realize we were considered fairly solidly middle class (some UMC) and our vacations, like our friends’ were maybe to Virginia Beach, Nags Head and so many road trips to see relatives or attend family reunions.

Wonder if hopping on a plane to Europe for a family vacation just wasn’t aspirational- most of our dads (and families) were stationed overseas, took TDY trips and/or were Vietnam vets. My dad had already seen the world well before I was born and wanted nothing more than an attainable, simply beach trip within a 4 hour drive.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a southern state, and every other summer, we drove two days each way to CO to visit family. We also did activities in the area, while staying with family. Sometimes we’d tack something on before driving home. We also stayed with family at other locations & sometimes spend a few days at a beach. One time in my childhood, we all flew somewhere for a trip (domestic flights).

For many families, have enough vacation days available is as big a problem as having enough money to travel.

Correct and no one thinks about this. I'm a nurse. Virtually every hospital has a policy of "no more than 7 days vacation at a time" unless the manager gives a special dispensation. They will give it for someone going home to the Philippines but not for someone who wants to sightsee in Europe. I actually quit one job because they refused to give me 2 weeks to go overseas even though I had hundreds of PTO hours banked.

We are definitely considered in the upper class bracket based on income, but I want my children to have modest summer trips like I did growing up. We go to VA beach for a few days and stay right on the water with beach views— pricey but it’s 3 nights max. This is the only travel we do in summer. They’re surrounded by their friends who jet set all over Europe and even go exotic places during the school year, and yes it makes them jealous, but my husband don’t think they are going to enjoy it enough to make the expense worth it. They can travel the world when they’re older if that’s what they want to do. I’d much rather invest our money in things that matter to us now, like house improvements. I think traveling with kids is a huge pain in the butt with very little return unless your kids are truly into other cultures and appreciating history.

Anonymous wrote:We just went to grandma's house when I was a kid.

+1

Mostly road trips to see family in other states. Definitely no international or exotic locations and in any case, one parent refused to fly even if money was plentiful (it wasn't).

We just went to grandma's house when I was a kid.

I grew up in Colorado. We camped my first 10 years. Then did one family reunion in California, one Disneyworld trip and a few nights in a hotel in a mountain town. When my kid was young we couldn’t afford vacations so only went to a family member’s condo in rehoboth

We visited family each summer. I didn't mind this at all because it was 8 hours and very different, with a beach. Once we drove to Orlando for Disney World. That was our big, saved for over years vacation.

I grew up in a southern state, and every other summer, we drove two days each way to CO to visit family. We also did activities in the area, while staying with family. Sometimes we’d tack something on before driving home. We also stayed with family at other locations & sometimes spend a few days at a beach. One time in my childhood, we all flew somewhere for a trip (domestic flights).

For many families, have enough vacation days available is as big a problem as having enough money to travel.

None--- boomer. 8 kids in family. Dad was government lawyer, mom was SAHM

I grew up in NC and the only vacations we took were to Kings Dominion. We had season passes most years. We went to the beach one year (Myrtle Beach) and a few times in my childhood we took a flight to visit family in Illinois or California. That was it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most Gen X and Millennials grew up doing driving trips. A special trip to Disney or somewhere else once or twice. Beach trips. That was the norm even within the MC/UMC. Now I look at my kids’ friends and it’s not unusual (we are in a middle of the pack FCPS school) for kids to go to Europe, Hawaii, Caribbean, etc. I think the expectations have changed.

Disney has gotten so crazy expensive that you can go to Europe for 1/2 the price.

We just did 10 days in London and Paris and in no way was it cheaper than Disney.

You picked 2 of the most expensive cities in Europe and maybe you also chose really expensive hotels. Recently, I went to Paris with my family for a week, vrbo'd an apartment, got a decent price on flights and it was cheaper than Disney. Just returned from 2.5 weeks in another cheaper European country and still spent less than a week at Disney and that includes $ for food, hotels, car rental and airfare.

It costs about 700-1000 a night to stay in a deluxe Disney resort now and then tickets and food are probably another 700 a day for a family of 4.

You stay at the value hotel and go off season. We got the military discount so hotels were cheaper (off season), tickets were a few hundred and we ate fast food and went off Disney for dinners and some meals as it was cheaper. Flights were free via southwest credit card points or drive. Much cheaper. We spent no where near 700 a day. You are choosing the expensive options.

I'm an immigrant ( originally from Europe). I hate camping, for me that is not the vacation I like. Our combined HHI is about $200K. We love cruising, so usually do one cruise per year ( pick interior cabin) with Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity ( not Carnival), so the cost for 3 of us is about $3000. We live in Northern Virginia, and honestly, I don't find anything attractive near this area. I truly don't like places like Rehoboth/Dewy/Ocean City/Virginia Beach places ( have been in all of them). Also, places like Hershey park are not cheap- daily pass for tickets/parking was $180, then hotel we stayed in was $200 ( luckily free for us thanks to my credit card points), not counting expensive food/gas.

Some do staycation with day trips, or short stays at hotels using points and their money wisely.
Others choose to brake their piggy bank to visit Orlando and meet Mickey/Minnie Mouse, while taking their kids to eat fried garbage because “real food is expensive”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially in this area. And I mean middle class not UMC. Not “I make 200k plus but I feel middle class.” Even some of the beaches DCUM sneers at can be pricey. Are people going into debt to afford it?

I have no idea? Maybe they stay home.

We have 3 different residences in 3 different countries so we are always traveling.

Your lack of interest or empathy is pretty repulsive.