Do you know people who never take a vacation?

[C.Ann]

Several.. They are saving and investing every single penny they can for when they "get old" and can travel during their retirement..

I sure hope they make it.. I've known far too many who didn't..

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Certain of my husbands relatives are fairly well off, have a nice condo they're upgrading from, new deluxe cars every year, that sort of thing. But they don't ever go on vacation. Their reasoning? They don't want to leave their cat. Yes, he's old and very sick. But he's been old and very sick for a very long time now. DH and I have repeatedly offered to watch the cat for them, even stay at the relatives' condo to make sure someone's with him all night. Nope, they're not interested. Funny thing is, I think that after their poor cat does shuffle off the mortal coil they'll get another one just like him to use as an excuse.

I live to travel and I just don't get it.

 

[rigs32]

A woman I work with does travel, but she thinks I'm crazy to travel rather than replace all the windows in my house. The windows need to be replaced, but our heat bills aren't outrageous and I *need* the break you get from traveling.

I think a lot of people think it's costlier to travel than it really is. The birth of the internet and the ability to research and book trips online yourself allows you to find exactly what you want for cheaper.

 

[mylilnikita]

My parents thought of vacation was either going to Maryland on some weekends my DA lived there at the time only a 4 hour drive. Or to Indiana to see his family maybe twice in my life. My DF worked a lot. When I was in my early 20's, he took DM and myself to Tennessee, where I was born and then to FLorida, my first trip to WDW! He and I also went to Sea World and Universal. DM just stayed at the hotel. It was our only family vacation together, but I treasure those memories.
I go on at least 1 vacation a year, going to Oahu this year with DD8 to visit some friends. DCL 3 times, WDW 3 times. I am waiting til DD gets a little older to appreciate Europe, I have my first trip in 96 there. Life is too short you might not make it to get older and retire then travel.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My parents have never been on vacation. They spent part of their wedding night in a local hotel, and went home in the middle of the night. Since then, they have never spent a night away from home, except when one was in the hospital. They don't go on day trips either, not even when their kids were little.

They don't understand why we would want to go on vacation at all.

 

[minnieandme]

My grandparents are one and my cousin is another. My grandparents would only go to Virginia every summer for 2 weeks so my DGM could see her sister. We stayed at my great-grandmother's house (it's still in the family) but she still cooked and cleaned. They never believed in really travelling anywhere and my DGM would say they never wanted to. She was 84 years old the first time she ever stayed in a hotel room and that was when my uncle got married. She couldn't understand how me and my DM could spend so much money going to Disney, but when we made her watch the travel channel over Memorial day weekend when they showed the Disney resorts, she said it does look like a nice place to visit. She still thinks we're crazy for spending $.

My cousin is married w/ 3 kids and has never taken a vacation. She's been on her current job for about 5-6 years now and has so much vacation time built up she has to start taking some days or she'll lose them next year. I try telling her she should at least take a few days to spend w/ the kids but that's not a vacation to her. They have never even been away for the weekend.

 

[MrsPete]

Yeah, I know two people -- both men -- who genuinely don't like to vacation. They both have the same attitude: I didn't buy a house and fix it up just the way I wanted just so I could leave it. I think they're both just very comfortable at home . . . sleeping in their own beds, watching their own TVs, their own music and movies at hand, their own beer in their own refrigerator. They like cooking on their own grills or eating at the restaurants they already know. In their minds, the nicest hotel doesn't equal their own comfortable bedroom.

With each of these men, it's not a money issue. It's also not a sick relative, kids in sports, or other time-related problem -- it's more about not understanding why people'd want to pack up their clothes, go to the trouble of finding a hotel, spend time and money driving somewhere, use a strange toilet . . . and -- in their opinion -- have nothing to show for it in the long run. They do not particularly value seeing new sites or having new experiences.

One of these men travels frequently for business, so I can kind of understand his point of view. He's gone probably two weeks out of the month.

While I don't agree with their attitude, it is an opinion and I wouldn't say they're wrong.

 

[Amlee]

I went to school with a girl who's family went NO where!! It was only when she hit her teens and started going with friends that she got to go places. Her dad wouldn't go the 4 hours to the beach. It was all about work. When she got out, got married and started having kids of her home. She does alot of traveling. Her brother who is married to my 1st cousin is just like his father.

The father died of a sudden massive heart attack almost 2 years ago. Since then their mother hasn't slowed down. She has flown several times to FL to meet up with her DSIL (who was her BF in school). I have her booked to go on her first cruise in August.

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

Me. Family vacations were to Canada (we live in California). Now to some this may be a vacation. For me it was pure torture. We flew across the country to stay at the house my mom grew up in and visit family. I played in the town parks there except there I had no friends to play with. Every year during the first week of school I was so jealous of the kids who got to go to WDW, camping, anywhere but stuck in a house for 2 weeks doing what I could have been doing at home with my friends. I also wasn't allowed to go on vacation with friends either (even when their parents were paying for it). It was never a financial issue; my parents don't travel (still don't).

As an adult I have gone camping, I go to Vegas on a regular basis and I'll be going to Disney World in a few months.

 

[Plantlady]

My parents didn't take us on vacation growing up.

Now that the kids are out of the house, they are world travelers. once to twice a year they go to Europe or Australia.

My brother doesn't vacation... he loves cars, he spends all of his extra money on junk cars that he fixes up. He is newly married with a baby girl though, so that may change.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Vacations are a funny thing for us. Due to the fact that we live in a house on the campus of where we work, there is no such thing as taking a "vacation" and not leaving town. I actually wish we could do that. It would be cool to be off from work for a week and not go anywhere, but just hang around the house. The bad part is that it costs $ to travel, so even though we are entitled to more vacation, we contain ours to an annual trip to WDW, maybe a beach trip in the summer/fall, a long weekend thrown in here or there, and a day off every so often. On that last point, neither DW or I have set days off each week, so we sometimes wind up working at least parts of seven days each week.. This is something I am NOT proud of.

 

[Pigeon]

We rarely take good vacations, and I've been married 26 years. Our first real vacation since we've been married was a trip to Disney two years ago. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around spending so much money and having nothing to show for it afterward.

We only took the Disney trip because I had a cancer dx, and planning it was something fun to do during those many sleepless nights while I was in treatment. The trip was great, and I'm planning another for this winter. But honestly, I feel really guilty about spending the money on something so frivolous. We are comfortably off, but there's always something concrete that they money could be more practically used for.

 

[mickeyboat]

I know someone who has NEVER stayed in a hotel room.

You know, vacations are stressful, too. There is a lot of packing and planning and organizing, and then there is the being away from home, away from your own bed, in unfamiliar territory - it can be unnerving. Maybe for some people, the stress isn't worth the little bit of fun and relaxation.

I think if I didn't push DH, he would be happy never to vacation.

Denae

 

[Banshee]

My in-laws they have never taken their children anywhere they dont go anywhere now!! The first time my husband had been out of the state of NJ was on our honeymoon! His parents never even took them to the movies, the boardwalk, Great Adventure any local fairs NOTHING! And now when we go on vacation we get the lecture on how it is wasteful and not neccessary! I finally told them you cant take it with you when your gone, and obviously you werent saving any money for your son's college because you didnt give him a penny towards it.

 

[tmarquez]

We have friends like that. They NEVER vacation. As a matter of fact they don't even eat out. They have the money, they would just rather spend it on other things (mostly clothing...tons and tons of clothing). The whole family has a closet full of things that still have the tags.

One time we talked them into going on a short cruise with us. Big mistake! Every time we left the cabins they "forgot" their ship charge card so we ended up footing the bill for all their extras. We learned our lesson!

Also, we live pretty close to Disney and go over for the day quite often. My DD(4) and their DD(6) play all the time. We did invite their DD over to Disney for a day and they even gave us money for her to eat & buy whatever. This also turned into a problem because they ended up buying her a season pass and now they want us to take her with us all the time. DD and I perfer to go alone! Plus, when we offered to take her a 2nd time, they gave her no money at all. We ate the cost of a double stroller and her food for the day. Ok so NOW we've learned our lesson! I swear!

 

[Sandy V.]

And now when we go on vacation we get the lecture on how it is wasteful and not neccessary! I finally told them you cant take it with you when your gone, and obviously you werent saving any money for your son's college because you didnt give him a penny towards it.

And I'm curious - what was their response?

A friend of mine also had parents that never took them anywhere, despite making a very good income. My friend's father bragged to her about how much $$$ he had in the bank, and was pushing for her to praise him, asking her, "Don't you think that's wonderful?". My friend was pretty frank with her dad, telling him, "Yes, that's great, but wouldn't it have been nice to have spent a few dollars and some TIME with your family on a vacation?"

As for me - I'd rather be a few dollars poorer down the road, but with wonderful photographs and videos of my travels, as well as treasured memories in my head.

No one wins prizes at the end of your life for staying home!!!!!

 

[Snoopymom]

On the radio just a few days ago, they said the number one regret people have is not traveling. The second one was not saving.

We just bought a little place on the lake so that our vacations can also be an investment, so maybe we did the right thing, but I already know it's not going to be easy to give up going to new places and Disney and Universal.

 

[Nancyg56]

We never took vacations when I was a kid. I only remember one real vacation when I was fourteen years old. My Dad generally worked during his vacation period, I honestly don't understand why, he was an executive chef and his second cook was well trained.

My DH would never take one and had not gone on even a little vacation for eleven years. I went but not him. So I just stopped asking him to come with us and finally booked a trip to Disney and said we all were going. Worked like a charm. He loved experiencing Disney through our DGD's eyes and was caught up in the nostalgia of our youth and the Wonderful World of Disney. He always thought that he needed to work so that the rest of us could vacation, but found out that we really needed him with us. Now my DGD says that he needs to go with her when she goes to Disney.

 

[disney1990]

I told my husband, back before we were married 23 years ago, I take a vacation every year. You are more than welcome to go with me -- that's what I would prefer. But, I need to have a vacation every year and I will be taking one.

Six years later in 1990, I discovered Disney World. Now we go every year. A friend of mine said, I can't get my husband to go to Disney every single year. That's ok, my husband doesn't have to go to Disney every year if he doesn't want to...... but, I'll miss him while I'm gone.

 

[Nancyg56]

Six years later in 1990, I discovered Disney World. Now we go every year. A friend of mine said, I can't get my husband to go to Disney every single year. That's ok, my husband doesn't have to go to Disney every year if he doesn't want to...... but, I'll miss him while I'm gone.

I think it's funny about Disney. My DH had every reason under the sun why he could not vacation, but I remember when the kids were little, I was a young single Mom and he said that they"needed" to go to Disney and took all of us. Same thing with my DGD.except he thinks that she "needs" to go at least twice a year. He can join us for one trip, but I swear if it was not Disney he would not be so willing!