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My mother in law would like to take a big family vacation for her 60th birthday next year. The trip would likely include three families with a total of six adults and four children (ages will be 10, 9, 8, and 6).
Now there are some pretty significant differences in our levels of travel comfort and budgets. Hubby and I and our kids are up for anything anywhere. Except the only suggestions offered of a cruise and Disney. Two things we want absolutely nothing to do with.
MIL and her spouse are fairly experienced travelers. They've only been out of the country once but it was recently and they really enjoyed it so I think they'd be up for doing it again under the right circumstances.
Now the other family rarely leaves their home county. Kids have never flown. They have virtually no budget. We're hoping if we can start planning early there will be more time to save.
Interests:
Adventure
New Experiences (though baby steps for the less traveled family)
Interesting topography: Mountains/forest/beaches etc. Culture (enough to entertain the adults but not too much where they kids will be miserable) Reasonably affordable. We're hoping for a budget of <$5k per family. Season is negotiable. Preferably later summer or fall. Accommodations can vary. We prefer Airbnb but everyone might not. I've been digging around for accommodations for 10+ and they're pretty plentiful in various locations.
Hubby and I have been asked to try to come up with ideas (and I love to do this kind of thing). We're trying to come up with a few international as a best case scenario and a few domestic as a back up.
So far;
Greece
Scotland
New England/Eastern Canada
MIL's spouse won't go to Mexico.
We're all in the Midwest
We could either fly or drive.
IF MIL really wants the whole family there, she should offer to pay for the "No budget" branch of the family. Otherwise they may be under a huge financial strain to keep up with the rest of you. No one wants to be the person to say "We can't afford it" even though that may be true.
How about she rents a vacation home on a lake near where you all live, and everyone enjoys some time together.
I've got friends who are renting a house on a Greek island for a week later this year, and the rental cost per person ended up being quite reasonable. I'd also look at Spain, which has a really well-developed tourism infrastructure geared toward English-speaking Brits and is also likely to offer pretty reasonable house or condo rental rates.
And while current pricing doesn't guarantee future affordability, there have been a lot of Chicago-Madrid plane tickets for 2019 available for less than $500 per person round trip this year. Have MIL chip in for the plane tickets if needed, get the house/condo with a kitchen and shop at local markets and prepare many meals at home to save money...
I'd add Portugal to the list as well. It's cheap, and everyone I know who's gone there has loved it.
But realistically, I don't think international travel may be in the cards for this trip:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vegabern
Now the other family rarely leaves their home county.
This family hasn't traveled much even in their own country. An international trip might be stressful to them in ways other than the merely financial. Discomfort with disruption of their regular routines and fear of the unfamiliar may be as big a factor in why they haven't traveled much as their budget is.
I'd have an honest conversation with this branch of the family as to whether they'd even be interested in an international trip before doing much more planning. And I agree that helping them with the costs might be necessary if your MIL really wants them to attend. In a way, this trip is like a destination wedding: fun, but a real financial burden on those invited to attend should they decide to go.
IF MIL really wants the whole family there, she should offer to pay for the "No budget" branch of the family. Otherwise they may be under a huge financial strain to keep up with the rest of you. No one wants to be the person to say "We can't afford it" even though that may be true.
How about she rents a vacation home on a lake near where you all live, and everyone enjoys some time together.
A bit underwhelming. Also we've done that before in Northern MI. I think everyone wants a new experience. We're all in the Midwest but not in the same state. If we flew somewhere we would likely be flying out Chicago and Detroit.
That's up to her. It's not our place to tell her she has to either pay for everyone or just for one family.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmouse
I've got friends who are renting a house on a Greek island for a week later this year, and the rental cost per person ended up being quite reasonable. I'd also look at Spain, which has a really well-developed tourism infrastructure geared toward English-speaking Brits and is also likely to offer pretty reasonable house or condo rental rates.
And while current pricing doesn't guarantee future affordability, there have been a lot of Chicago-Madrid plane tickets for 2019 available for less than $500 per person round trip this year. Have MIL chip in for the plane tickets if needed, get the house/condo with a kitchen and shop at local markets and prepare many meals at home to save money...
The prices in Greece are great. I've had Spain and Portugal on my radar as well.
Yep, I was also going to suggest Quebec (the province as well as the city.) Go in the fall, visit Montreal and Quebec City, and spend some time at a resort or rented property in the Laurentian mountains (aka Laurentides) north of Montreal. Flights to Montreal are reasonable, of if someone wants to make a road trip out of it, you can drive there in a couple of days from much of the Midwest.
Quebec City is gorgeous and feels very European; it's obviously very historic, and if you travel in the autumn (which comes a bit earlier than in much of New England) the autumn colors in the Laurentians (indeed the whole province) will knock your eyeballs out.
There are historic towns and villages, beautiful lakes and streams, and places like Mont Tremblant that have hotel infrastructure geared to the ski season can offer fairly inexpensive accommodations at that time of year.
Quebec City promenade at night -
Other side of the continent, but you could say the same about Vancouver and Whistler BC. Vancouver is obviously a trememdous draw, but if you visit after the Alaska cruise season has ended (around mid-September) you'll find lots of reasonable accommodations in the city. But just north of the city, the road to Whistler (the Sea to Sky Highway) is one of the most beautiful in the world, and, like Mont Tremblant, Whistler has an abundance of accommodation with good prices before the snow flies. There are tons of things for all ages to do - hiking, water sports, etc. And the scenery is stunning.
Or, just on the way to Whistler, you can catch a ferry over to the BC Sunshine Coast, not well known to many US visitors. This is a lovely area with some charming little towns strung along the coast north of Vancouver. It's called the Sunshine Coast because Vancouver Island and the Olympic Mountains in Washington block much of the rain coming off the Pacific, so the climate is warmer and drier than you'd expect. There are beaches, lakes, farmers markets... it's really a grand area.
Ferry from Horseshoe Bay (BC 99) to Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast beach scene
You could fly into Vancouver, or to Seattle (car or train up to Canada) if the cost difference is worth the extra hassle and additional travel expense.
Cruise America RVs (caravan tour of Rocky Mountains and Southwest).
U.S. Virgin Islands.
Quebec City will definitely be on the list if we end up going to NE/Canada. I've heard nothing but great things.
We'd be happy to do the RV thing as long as everyone has their own camper. Well, at least we want our own camper.
MIL/Spouse just visited BVI. Maybe they want to try the American version?
I recognize this is us being selfish but our family has already been to Banff/Jasper. We've also been up and down the Rockies countless times. We lived in the Rockies for 10 years.
We need to balance financial concerns with the fact that our family has already been to many places. It's not fair for us to ask them to spend money they don't have or for them to ask us to use our vacation time and money on a vacation we don't want. We are more than happy to compromise, we just want to enjoy the trip too.
For the record, BIL LIKES the idea of travelling internationally. It's just a matter of whether that will be feasible.
International should be out of the picture entirely. The family with budgetary concerns doesn't even have passports. That's $110 per adult, $80 per kid. Plus photos. That's a chunk of change before they walk out the door for documents they will probably never use again.
And they've never flown before? I think it's rather insensitive to think that people that have NEVER flown before will be mentally comfortable with an overseas and/or 8+ hour flight.
And I agree that MIL or somebody needs to foot the bill for the family with budget issues. It may well be that their limited budget is stretched just to cover housing, food and transportation. If that's even close to accurate, your MIL is pretty darn selfish by expecting them to join up for a family vacation. It's probably impossible for them to even financially consider it.
Sounds absolutely horrible, not that you asked.......
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