Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Went to Disney last minute and stayed at one of their “deluxe” properties and there were all sorts of people. And I’d imagine even the moderate and the lowest tier (can’t remember what it’s called) would be even more economically diverse.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up lower middle class. Nearly all of our family was local, and I had a parent who had anxiety about traveling and long distance car trips, so it was mostly the beach for us. Weekly house rentals before peak season were reasonably priced so that’s what we did. If we had to go peak season for whatever reason, it would be for 2-3 days in a budget family motel. We ate most meals in the house but made sure to do 1-2 out as a family, perhaps pizza or an early bird special.

These trips were humble but I loved them so much I still do them with my kids. At their ages, overseas travel is just too difficult. Easy and fun is more important than whatever limited worldview they might gain traipsing through some European tourist trap. We’ll get there eventually just not right now.

Not sure why, but just that you said "These trips were humble but I loved them so much" made me tear up. You sound like a really nice person.

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.

Define lower to middle class, OP. HHI under $100k? Something else?

FWIW, I grew up in the DC metro area. Dad had a white collar job and mom was a SAHM. We lived in a nice house in the burbs and went to catholic school. All family vacations were to DE beaches (oceanfront condos/houses for a week) or places like Williamsburg, Hershey/Lancaster, nearby mountains, etc. I didn’t go on a plane until I was an adult and paid for my own vacations. My parents didn’t prioritize travel, but they sent us to good schools and covered college and grad school. All this to say: nothing super fancy in terms of vacations.

I know people who live paycheck to paycheck yet somehow manage to swing trips to Disney, the Caribbean, Europe, etc.

I similarly know people who are legit rich who hate to travel. They have amazing houses, cars, clothes, etc. and could go anywhere but hate the hassle and prefer to stay home. By contrast, I’m constantly researching travel and hunting for deals. It’s amazing the deals you can find if you have the flexibility to travel during the school year or at the last minute, particularly if you are willing to fly with connections for quick trips.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Also, flights were WAY more expensive back in the 70s and 80s than they are now.

Hersheypark.
The shore. Wildwood, ocean city, Bethany, etc.

My parents are immigrants, and very frugal. By the time I was in my teens, things were more relaxed financially, but as a kid we did a lot of camping. Maine, Quebec, Vermont, all done as driving trips (but we were starting from NY, so not as long a drive.) Every 5-6 years we would go to Europe to visit my grandparents. My mom would take me and my sisters to her parents for a few weeks, and then my Dad would meet us for 3 weeks at his parents. Other than the flights, it was cheap since we were staying with family. Sometimes we would spend a night or two with family friends in a city, or different part of the country.

Husband grew up MC/WC and he said the only trip he ever really did his grandmother took him to Bermuda. I grew up UC, with a father who was an airline exec, so our vacations were very different obviously.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up lower middle class. Nearly all of our family was local, and I had a parent who had anxiety about traveling and long distance car trips, so it was mostly the beach for us. Weekly house rentals before peak season were reasonably priced so that’s what we did. If we had to go peak season for whatever reason, it would be for 2-3 days in a budget family motel. We ate most meals in the house but made sure to do 1-2 out as a family, perhaps pizza or an early bird special.

These trips were humble but I loved them so much I still do them with my kids. At their ages, overseas travel is just too difficult. Easy and fun is more important than whatever limited worldview they might gain traipsing through some European tourist trap. We’ll get there eventually just not right now.

Yes, all of that history in those countries, terrible tourist traps. That's why it's there.

Anonymous wrote:We grew up true MC.
We drove everywhere - we NEVER flew anywhere.
We stayed in cheap motels near the beach in small towns and were happy if the motel had a pool in the middle of the parking lot.

I thought I grew up middle class but now I realize we grew up working class. Your pool in the middle of the parking lot made me smile. I loved that. Thought it was so fancy and I was living the life! My siblings and I would sing songs on the drive, look for license plates, try to wave at drivers, etc. we had our car break down and I remember waiting to get it fixed and it was soooooo hot. We have so many funny stories and memorable times from those vacations. Fancy isn’t better. Attitude and enjoying being together is.

This area can make you feel that everyone goes on fancy vacations. Our kids have friends who have gone on many more fancy vacations than we have because my husband didn’t have a lot of vacation time and we went to visit relative because we don’t live close and family is important.

As a kid my Dad worked a second job so we could rent a small cottage in New Hampshire or Maine. We didn’t go to the fancy beaches but as kids we thought it was fantastic. Sometimes we took a driving vacation and stayed at motels.

My kids have more but still love that typeof vacation. Sure, they love when we can stay at a fancy place but they’re also fine when we can’t. They want it to be clean.

Camping can be fun. We went to Chincoteague, Wildwood, Williamsburg, and drove through Pennsylvania.

My parents were also great about taking day trips to historical sites or places you could move around—Battleship Cove, Mansions in Newport Rhode Island, Federal or state beaches, Sturbridge village, etc..

Anonymous wrote: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.

It depends on the age of the kids and their temperaments.

As a teacher and someone from a huge extended family, I see a considerable difference in the perspectives of kids who’ve visited another country and those who haven’t (regardless of family income).

I grew up lower middle class. Nearly all of our family was local, and I had a parent who had anxiety about traveling and long distance car trips, so it was mostly the beach for us. Weekly house rentals before peak season were reasonably priced so that’s what we did. If we had to go peak season for whatever reason, it would be for 2-3 days in a budget family motel. We ate most meals in the house but made sure to do 1-2 out as a family, perhaps pizza or an early bird special.

These trips were humble but I loved them so much I still do them with my kids. At their ages, overseas travel is just too difficult. Easy and fun is more important than whatever limited worldview they might gain traipsing through some European tourist trap. We’ll get there eventually just not right now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m grateful for no Disney trips during my childhood. My siblings and I were fortunate to have our magic moments playing in nature, riding rented horses on the beach, fishing, spending three weeks at the beach (parents used to rent a house or condo). Grandma used to join us and play cards with us. Happy memories.

Three weeks on the beach with rented horses isn’t very lower/middle class.

I was going to say… at least these days, 3 weeks in a beach condo is a lot more expensive than a trip to Disney, or probably even a week in Europe.