Your First Vacation

[RDR_BU]

How old were you when you took your first vacation and where?

As a child - zero vacations. Could never afford it.

Adult - Age 32. Honeymoon in Cancun.

First trip to Disney - Age 36. WDW

I am now fortunate enough to take at least 3 vacations per year. Usually two Disney trips and another location. Next year I am going to India for the first time for a wedding and a week of sightseeing.

 

[ronandannette]

My family never took what anybody here would consider a "vacation" either. My Dad worked his "paying job" 6 days a week and farm life consumed every additional minute.

My first real vacation was to Las Vegas at age 21. Then a Mexican Riviera cruise a couple of years later. First trip to DLR was a dozen years later, after marrying and having our DS, who was 8 at the time.

 

[Living42Day]

How old were you when you took your first vacation and where?

As a child - 1.5 years old; Disneyland - my family was in the lower socioeconomic bracket but my family worked extremely hard to be able to afford trips to Disneyland.

Adult - if we're talking by myself age 21 in Europe as a study abroad. Was super fortunate to be able to do this as a Pell grant recipient, though I recall that I paid for the study abroad portion over the summer with other scholarships

First trip to Disney - Age 1.5

I "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" and can afford multiple trips per year as an adult, but not because I didn't work extremely hard.

How many I take per year is dependent on what you would consider a vacation. We have done Disney multiple times per year through the years, taking a break next year, but also have recently started enjoying Disney Cruises. We visit family in the midwest multiple times per year (though that doesn't always feel like a vacation, so...). Also will do weekend trips to a cabin about 2 hours away from us a few times per year.

 

[Chupaca bruh]

When we were little I know we went camping a lot. Usually up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Ca. I have vague memories from those. The first “big” vacation was to The Seattle Century 21 Worlds Fair in the summer of 1962 when I was six. I remember some of it including the Bubbleator that took you up into the world of tomorrow, the trip to the top of the Space Needle at night, the big water fountain and the carnival rides.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

As a child - First one I can remember is Walt Disney World at age 5. We drove down in my parent's Plymouth Volare and I saw Ear Force One through the t-tops.

Adult - Age 22. New York City with some friends. $93 round trip flight and we stayed with a friend's sister in Brooklyn.

 

[E&Cmom]

Growing up in Montreal we would often drive down to New York State and Massachusetts to visit family or family friends. Also went to Toronto many times as my older sister lived there and later my friends.

First major international trip was to Spain when I was 6 to also visit family. I went there 4 times as a child and teen . One of those times we spent a few days in Paris on the way home,

As an adult not counting my trip to Vancouver before I moved here would be a Disneyland and then Mexican Rivera Cruise with my now husband the year before we got married.

 

[disykat]

I grew up in a family that took vacations. Most were weekends camping and road trips to visit family half way across the country. I was the youngest and starting when I was about in 5th grade we also took a big trip every 2nd year to Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, etc. That stopped as we kids hit college and mom and dad started traveling more often by themselves.

As a single person in my 20's I did mostly weekend camping trips, one trip to Florida at 26, and one big trip to Europe at 27. Once I got married, my husband's first vacation ever was our honeymoon to WDW/Big Red Boat. We have generally vacationed once a year while the kids were growing up - involving a plane once every 2 or 3 years once they were school aged. We stopped when they were in college and hoped to travel farther afield more often as empty nesters. Unfortunately, by the time college funding stopped we have had a lot of responsibilities with our parents so that took priority. The plan is to step it up to twice yearly vacations for a while when things settle down - until we're ready to slow down.

I consider us quite fortunate to have had the ability to travel as much as we have, but I'd love to do more!

 

[tvguy]

Vacation? Disneyland. I had just turned 8.
However overnight trips were a big part of my life before I started school. My mom quit working when I was born. My dad was a lumber salesman and traveled all over Northern California and Oregon. Mom and I went with him until I started school. Mom also went back to work then.

 

[soccerdad72]

As a young kid, I vaguely recall some trips, mostly to visit various relatives, like in Georgia or Indiana. We also used to go up to Ontario every couple summers, but that was usually boring, as it was just a bunch of old Italian folks sitting around drinking and smoking while us kids tried to entertain ourselves. We had a boat also, so we spent a lot of the summer on that.

We did one trip to WDW - there was just MK and Epcot when we went (1988). We stayed in a condo in Kissimmee, went to parks for a couple days along with a day at Wet n Wild, a day at Cypress Gardens and a trip to Cape Canaveral/Daytona Beach.

As an adult, I would say my first trip would have been our honeymoon, at 25.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

As a child, I know it happened because I have heard the stories. However, I have no recollection of a trip to the Rocky Mtns.

Adult and Disney were the same trip, I was 21 I believe.

 

[easyas123]

The two earliest trips I can recall as a child was a Christmas trip to Mt. Tremblant and a trip to the Abacos on a sailboat. I don't recall which one happened first!

 

[Aladora]

I have no memories of my first vacation, we went to South Africa to see family when I was an infant. We made that trip every 3-5 years when I was growing up and the last trip I took there was when I was almost 33.

My first Disney trip was to WDW when I was around 2 so I don’t remember it either but my first Disney trip I do remember was when we went there in 1999 for our honeymoon!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

First one I can remember I was 6 (Disney World-Poly) but we’d been going on a yearly vacation since I was born. As I got a little older and my parents got to be pretty well off we went on a trip a few times a year. Always a bi-yearly trip to Europe to visit family and friends, always a yearly trip to Disney (parents bought into DVC as soon as it was offered) and always a yearly trip to the beach, with other local and international trips thrown in here and there. My mother was always battling the school about time off. This is pretty much what I do with my family now as well.

 

[kymom99]

We never vacationed when I was a kid. There wasn’t money and my dad was too busy in the summer with the farm. We would do overnights for weddings out of town and sometimes went to the state fair. When I was 14 we went to Georgia to visit my moms friend and stopped at gatlinburg on the way home.

As an adult I went to Myrtle beach for my first trip to the beach. I guess I was about 25.

I went to my first Disney trip in 2004 when I was 39 and my son was 4.

 

[WarEagleFan]

When I was 3 yo we drove cross country (from Alabama to California) for my oldest brother’s wedding. I was the flower girl. We did go to Disneyland also while there, but I don’t really have memories of it from this trip. We did this trip several other times while I was growing up to visit relatives - my dad would stop at sights/national parks along the way - these trips gave me a taste of national parks and now I love to visit them and really explore them and not just do a drive by - ha. I am grateful,though, for my dad giving us these experiences.

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

When I was 7 my parents and I drove to the Plymouth area of MA for my first real vacation. We stopped at other places along the way.
At 9 we went to WDW for the first time and I've been hooked ever since.
We went many other places after the first WDW trip but always returned when we could.

As an adult it's my #1 vacation spot and I got my now spouse hooked on it as well.

 

[TippyThomas]

All of what could be labeled as vacations when I was growing up involved travel to other communities to help with community needs or wedding season. It was just too difficult to get away from the farm and all the responsibilities there. My first real vacation was something I did well, well into adulthood, and it was camping related, so many would still not call that a vacation.

 

[design_mom]

In my memory, my family took good vacations but according to my mother, we took CHEAP vacations. I remember a lot of camping in the national parks, but I loved it (although, looking back, I bet it was a lot of work for mom.) I have pictures of myself in the Smoky mountains at 18 months-2 years old-ish. The first trip I remember was a trip out west when I was 4.

My first trip to Disney World was when I was 5. I got home from my last day of kindergarten and the camper was hooked up to the car. I was told to hop in because we were leaving for vacation. Mom had packed the camper while I was at school and it was a big surprise for me. There was only the MK back then and I think we just went for one day, but it was very exciting (my biggest memory is the ferry boat from the parking lot though! I definitely thought it was a ride!)

 

[Moliphino]

The first one I know of was California when I was a year old. We went for my aunt's wedding and added on Disneyland and other sightseeing while we were out there. I don't remember any of it. We could've gone to Cape Cod or something else more local before then.

 

[fla4fun]

I am not sure. I know we went to Canada from the US when I was two, but I don’t know prior to that. We had annual vacations from that point forward though. When I was a child, we did go out of state to visit friends and family, but we never considered those to be vacations. It’s possible that this was the only type of travel we did prior to the Canada trip.