Vacation All I Ever Wanted

If you’re anything like us, you often spend what extra leave time you might have visiting family. And, if you’re anything like us, you might have come to realize that pretty much all the leave your partner takes turns into a “‘vacation” to visit your family.

Since my husband and I have the majority of our family within driving radius, we spend all our leave time, and now four-day vacations, visiting.

However, this left me with a huge realization when my in-laws left to go on a vacation our last week at home visiting. In the last 10 years since my husband and I have been married, aside from our honeymoon, we have yet to go on an actual vacation that doesn’t involve heading to visit our parents, siblings, and extended family.

Admittedly, since having children I relish that we live so close and they’re able to see their grandparents and aunts and uncles on a near regular basis. I know we’ll move again in the near future, and it may be difficult to visit, but at the same time, I would love to go on a real vacation and do something outside the normal everyday.

Though I enjoy traveling to new places, which tends to be the case when moving frequently, I don’t think I’d classify moving as a vacation.

We were invited to go on vacation with my husband’s family, but since having our second child, a 15-hour drive with a 4-month-old seemed too difficult. I’m sure many of you who have kids know the struggle of long car trips and how frustrating they can become for everyone. And the trip itself might be shortened just to travel to your destination, especially when you have a short leave window.

Personally, I tend to prefer flying to places for the simple fact it’s usually faster. The flip side is the cost and the extra stress of getting ready for a plane ride. Sometimes driving just makes the most sense, but it can be the more difficult choice.

I’m not sure how we’ll solve this issue, but hopefully next year we’ll finally have a chance to go somewhere. Our children will be a bit older and hopefully more able to handle long bouts of travel. The only obstacle I see could be the possibility of my husband having to start his warrant officer training, which we’ll likely not know about for a while.

Does your family have the same problem? How did you figure out how to balance visiting family but also having time to build memories as a family? Sound off in the comments below!