Millennials and travel

[Cindy's Mom]

I travelled alot in my 20's in the 80's. {shrug}

 

[CdnCarrie]

I travelled alot in my 20's in the 80's. {shrug}

And? With your parents? With your boyfriend? Friends?

 

[CdnCarrie]

Who cares?

Go ahead and start a thread of your own that's more to your liking.
It's a conversation. Not interested - don't participate.
Easy concept for most of us.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

And? With your parents? With your boyfriend? Friends?

all of the above

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I was having a conversation recently about this with a coworker.
Back in my day when I was in my 20s (1980s) people didn't travel as much as now. Flights are cheaper.
However back in the day when we did travel (unless it was family related - weddings, etc) I went with my friends or boyfriend/husband. We did cheap road trips, getaways, etc.
I don't recall anyone I know travelling with their parents except a close friend who was a single child and close to her mom. They did annual trips as her boyfriend and father didn't like traveling.


Now I see all these kids in their mid/late twenties - often married - travelling with their parents. And it's not that the parents are paying. The children have good jobs. No kids. Lots of friends. But traveling with their parent.
I find it sort of odd in a way.

Is it just a shift in generations? If I only get 3-4 weeks of vacation time I would want to spend at least the majority with my husband and not as a big group especially as a newlywed.

Of course each to their own. My kids are still teens so time will tell how they will choose to spend their vacation time in a decade.

And I'm not saying people should never travel with parents of course. I just find it odd that young people want to spend all their vacation time with their parents. I can see one family trip a year but all 3 weeks?

Is this becoming more common among people you know or is it just my perception?

I find it odd that you find it odd. Just this morning, I booked a trip with my mom. In 6 weeks, going on a trip with my 20 year old daughter. In June, trip with my immediate family. Nothing odd about it in my opinion.

 

[Colleen27]

Average American worker takes 17 days vacation (according to Google), which is up to highest in 7 years.

Yeah, but that average is really skewed by the way it is calculated.

First, the BLS doesn't include part time workers or the 15% of full time workers who receive no paid vacation in calculating the average. Anyone whose ever had a kid who doesn't like to turn in homework can tell you what kind of impact zeros on 15% of a sample can have on the overall average. And of course, the average includes people who have many years in at jobs where vacation time escalates with seniority, and therefore isn't likely to be representative of early career professionals.

Second, that average includes paid holidays as well as vacation time. Assuming a fairly standard slate of paid holidays (New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Day), that's two weeks of paid vacation... a pretty limited amount of time to fit in travel with family, as a couple and with friends. So choices end up having to be made.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I find it odd that you find it odd. Just this morning, I booked a trip with my mom. In 6 weeks, going on a trip with my 20 year old daughter. In June, trip with my immediate family. Nothing odd about it in my opinion.

So your 20 year old daughter only travels on vacation with you? No boyfriend or friends or solo? That''s cool that you two are so close!
I wouldn't have enjoyed that when I was 20 as I wanted to be with my friends and boyfriend/husband but that's great you two have that kind of relationship that she doesn't need any vacation time with her peer group. Everyone is different hey!

 

[pezgirlroy]

This is a bit different than the original post but... my parents take my family (myself, husband, 9 year old and 3 year old) on a disney cruise each year. This started three years ago. And yes they pay for it. Why do they do this well you would have to ask them but as my mother said (someone else said this above) she would rather enjoy time with her family and use up my inheritance now than when she is no longer around. This is a wonderful thing that they do for us as it allows all of us to spend time together (they do not live near us) and with them there my husband and I have some time to ourselves. we are very very grateful for this.

 

[mrodgers]

Mid twenties millennial here - I can only afford to travel on a week long nice vacation maybeeee once a year. Usually it’s every other year that my fiancé and I go on a nice vacation by ourselves.

This to me doesn't sound out of the ordinary. Have to remember, this board is of higher income than normal. It's not normal to spend the kind of money on multiple expensive vacations per year that most normal people bring home after taxes for the year.


Not a millennial here, but I've never traveled with my parents after the age of 15. At 16 I was working so I couldn't go on vacations any more and didn't want to with my parents anyways.

As adults and married, I would have gladly vacationed with my wife's parents/family anywhere. They just didn't vacation. Her dad was a workaholic and taking vacation time to do anything but work for yourself was a waste of time and money.

My mother, I wouldn't want to go anywhere with her for more than a few hours. I'm going to suck it up though and head to MD with her. Dropping her off just outside of Ocean City for her to spend a week with long time friends while I head into Ocean City for a few days by myself on my bicycle.


Oh, I think also that growing up, I didn't know many families that went on vacation. After we grew up, it seemed to become common no matter what the cost, you go somewhere on vacation.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

So your 20 year old daughter only travels on vacation with you? No boyfriend or friends or solo? That''s cool that you two are so close!
I wouldn't have enjoyed that when I was 20 as I wanted to be with my friends and boyfriend/husband but that's great you two have that kind of relationship that she doesn't need any vacation time with her peer group. Everyone is different hey!

where in the lord's prayer does it say my 20 yo only travels with me? She going to FLL with her "peer group" for Spring Break if that matters. What is your problem???

 

[CdnCarrie]

where in the lord's prayer does it say my 20 yo only travels with me? She going to FLL with her "peer group" for Spring Break if that matters. What is your problem???

Um because that’s what the thread is about?
Sorry you misunderstood the point of the thread!
Hope you have a great time with your daughter!

 

[Erzengel]

My MIL likes to travel. Unfortunately, she doesn't drive and she's essentially needs a wheelchair 99% of the time. So we try once a year to take her somewhere because my FIL doesn't travel. It does take a village, as, I can drop them off and then find parking, etc.

However, we tend to travel more than once in a year and we usually travel around our anniversary but that's strictly us.

 

[VandVsmama]

I was having a conversation recently about this with a coworker.
Back in my day when I was in my 20s (1980s) people didn't travel as much as now. Flights are cheaper.
However back in the day when we did travel (unless it was family related - weddings, etc) I went with my friends or boyfriend/husband. We did cheap road trips, getaways, etc.
I don't recall anyone I know travelling with their parents except a close friend who was a single child and close to her mom. They did annual trips as her boyfriend and father didn't like traveling.


Now I see all these kids in their mid/late twenties - often married - travelling with their parents. And it's not that the parents are paying. The children have good jobs. No kids. Lots of friends. But traveling with their parent.
I find it sort of odd in a way.

Is it just a shift in generations? If I only get 3-4 weeks of vacation time I would want to spend at least the majority with my husband and not as a big group especially as a newlywed.

Of course each to their own. My kids are still teens so time will tell how they will choose to spend their vacation time in a decade.

And I'm not saying people should never travel with parents of course. I just find it odd that young people want to spend all their vacation time with their parents. I can see one family trip a year but all 3 weeks?

Is this becoming more common among people you know or is it just my perception?

It's just your perception. Some people in their 20s go on vacations regularly/periodically with relatives. Some people don't. Some people in their 20s travel a lot. Some don't. Some have a lot of disposable income. Some don't. Some go on lots of smaller weekend trips while others go on a bigger trip once or twice a year with friends and/or relatives.

Some adults NOT in their 20s travel a lot.
Some don't.

Not all "young people" want to spend vacation time with their parents. On the other hand, if some "young people" do, in fact, want to do that, there is nothing wrong with it. It's not a big deal.

This might not be your intent, but some of your tone has the potential to come across as a little judgmental. For example, "I can see one family trip a year but all 3 weeks?" Well, if somebody wants to save up all of their time off for one big 3 week vacation per year, that's fine. What's the big deal? Who care? For other folks, life gets in the way sometimes and they cannot vacation like that. There's nothing wrong with either way.

It's like Disneyland vs WDW. They're different flavors of ice cream. They are similar yet taste a little different than the other. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other.

 

[dish rag]

So phrase it "why are people in their 50-70s paying to take their adult children on vacation when those children are capable of taking their own vacations?"

They aren’t children. They are adults once they reach 18. I have no idea? My guess is their adult children cannot afford the trip, the parents feel bad and pay.

 

[ronandannette]

Yes, we pay . If we invite, we pay! We try to take one family vacation with our family of 4 each year - generally a Disney cruise. We are just so delighted to get a week with our grown kids.

We come from families that still travel together. We have taken an extended family trip to the Caribbean each summer with DH’s family - with his parents paying for everyone.

We also rent a big house at watercolor every summer with my extended family - with my parents paying.

Parents paying for extended family vacations is just how we roll

That's nice. I have a dream of treating all our kids and grandkids to a grand family vacation too; it will be a once-only thing. I also know there is no way in hades any of them could (or would choose to) afford accompanying DH and I on our regular vacations if we invited them to do so without also footing the bill. That's fair enough in my book. As I mentioned upthread, as a young adult I would not have been willing to spend my vacation dollars accompanying my parents...but I would have gone anywhere at the drop of a hat if they were paying. (This is all hypothetical in my case - neither scenario ever actually happened. )

 

[soccerdad72]

They aren’t children. They are adults once they reach 18. I have no idea? My guess is their adult children cannot afford the trip, the parents feel bad and pay.

Offspring = children

The terms are synonymous.

 

[CdnCarrie]

It's just your perception. Some people in their 20s go on vacations regularly/periodically with relatives. Some people don't. Some people in their 20s travel a lot. Some don't. Some have a lot of disposable income. Some don't. Some go on lots of smaller weekend trips while others go on a bigger trip once or twice a year with friends and/or relatives.

Some adults NOT in their 20s travel a lot.
Some don't.

Not all "young people" want to spend vacation time with their parents. On the other hand, if some "young people" do, in fact, want to do that, there is nothing wrong with it. It's not a big deal.

This might not be your intent, but some of your tone has the potential to come across as a little judgmental. For example, "I can see one family trip a year but all 3 weeks?" Well, if somebody wants to save up all of their time off for one big 3 week vacation per year, that's fine. What's the big deal? Who care? For other folks, life gets in the way sometimes and they cannot vacation like that. There's nothing wrong with either way.

It's like Disneyland vs WDW. They're different flavors of ice cream. They are similar yet taste a little different than the other. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other.

Again it's just a discussion about something my coworker and I noticed.
It's not a judgement on anyone. I just said that I as a 20 year old I did not want to spend that much vacation time with my parents but that was me.
Just a discussion about whether younger people travel more with parents than they use to.
Participate in the discussion or not. I don't really care.

Of course that was my perspective. And I was asking other people their perspective.

 

[disykat]

I went on one trip with my parents in my 20's. We went to visit family in Florida. I met them in Orlando. I paid for my flight and bought all of us 3 day Disney passes. They paid for the rental car, parking,our hotel in Orlando, and most of the meals we ate together. It was a win for me. I probably never would have made it to Jacksonville to see family without them and didn't have any friends at the time who could have afforded to go to WDW with me. That said, that was the only time I took a trip with them. They traveled alone, I generally went spent my vacations camping with my friends and/or visiting my parents in my home town. In general, that is how all my friends spent their vacation time - camping, "staycation" type activities, visiting family. I don't remember any of my friends traveling with their parents.

 

[VandVsmama]

Again it's just a discussion about something my coworker and I noticed.
It's not a judgement on anyone. I just said that I as a 20 year old I did not want to spend that much vacation time with my parents but that was me.
Just a discussion about whether younger people travel more with parents than they use to.
Participate in the discussion or not. I don't really care.

Of course that was my perspective. And I was asking other people their perspective.

Ok. Fair enough. Thank you for clarifying.

If your question is whether millennials travel more with their parents than people did in previous generations, then, in my opinion, that is not necessarily the case. Perhaps that is the case in your neck of the woods among the millennials that you and your coworker know. That's not necessarily the case among the millennials that I know.

I know of families who ONLY vacation with extended family members (this would include an adult child's parents). Whether it's a Disney trip, an annual week in the summer camping or at a lake cabin, or flying back "home" to another country overseas for 2-3 weeks to visit all the relatives "back home."

Is it happening a lot more than in years past? Not from what I've seen.

Is there something wrong with traveling that way? No.

Why would someone in their 20s even WANT to go on a vacation with his/her parents? I could give you a whole boatload of possible reasons.

Would *I* have wanted to do that in my 20s? Certainly not with MY parents, but that's a different story for another time.

Is it weird that an adult in his/her 20s would want to go on a trip somewhere with his/her extended family? No.

 

[Lilsia]

My parents came with us to WDW too when we had kids.

My post had to do with being young, independent but only traveling with parents on all your vacation time.
Seeing that with a lot lately and wondering if it's generational.

It was actually my coworker who brought it up!

I love my parents but when I was in my 20s I didn't want to spend every vacation day with them! LOL. I think my husband would have complained if I had suggested that!

I do think it's great that there is this great friendship and they travel together but every single vacation?

I know exactly what you are saying. And I think that travelling with your extended family was not as prevalent then as it is now. Once I became an adult, I did not travel with my parents. My sister and I took 1 trip to Europe with our Dad several years ago, but that was back to see where he grew up. But we did not spend the whole time with him, basically just flew there, spent a few days together(had separate hotel rooms), and then he stayed with his brother and my sister and I did our own thing. My parents had a completely different mind set on what a vacation should be like and it would not have been enjoyable for anyone to go on a trip together. It seems like the way of life back then was that once you grew up, got married and made a life for yourself that that was your family. The older generation did not want to "butt in" to your adult life. Of course there were families that would do these things together, but not as much as today.