Remember here: Your best and worst vacation

Our best vacations were for 18 years we went to the same beach condo as a family. Many times our kids took a friend along. My friends couldn't believe we would take extra kids. They all had fun and so did DH and I.

Our worst was when we took our then 4 year old and 2 year old to the beach and the stomach bug hit my DD and DH. It was awful for them and for me and the 2 year old who managed to escape it.

One of my DSs takes his family to the same beach condo every summer. So many memories.

Best vacation so far - our trip to Paris and Amsterdam last spring, hands down. Second best was probably our trip to remote NE Utah in 2009.

Worst vacation so far - the trip to New Mexico where we were invited to stay with DH's friend from college, but it turned out the four of us were sharing their daughter's tiny bedroom in house with giant, spit-flinging Newfoundland dogs, and that they had also invited another family to stay, which meant that 11 people shared one bathroom. Also, the purpose of the trip was to attend a hot air balloon festival, and during a traffic mishap while transporting the balloon on our first full day there, DH got slammed into a truck and broke off his two front teeth, and bit through his lower lip, requiring six stitches. AND I came down with a nasty cold the day before we left. Good times. I hope we never have one worse than that!

Our best vacation was just DH and I. We took off for a week, without kids, to Disney World.

Neither of us had ever been and DH surprised me with this trip. I am a life long lover of Goofy and he wanted me to meet him.

We did what we wanted: sleeping in, going to the parks, eating wherever we wanted. Its was magical.

Mu favorite memory was me running through the mainstreet of Disney when I saw Goofy. I was a bawling mess. Seriously one of my favorite memories.


Our worse vacation was when we went to New Orleans for a family Christmas. I ended up with kidney stones on the way home. I was ready to die. I was miserable and the kids were miserable. We thought it was smart to drive the whole way - like 15 hours. It was pure hell. We had to stop for me to pee every 20 min. For real. We stopped in Dallas and I went to an Urgent Care and they doped me up enough for me to fly the rest of the way home by myself. Even though the flight was only an hour - it seemed like forever.

Best vacation was the last trip we took as a family - it was a trip to Vancouver, Banff and Jasper, BC. It was meant to be a trip for two, but somehow, the boys in college decided to tag along. They arranged their schedules to accommodate the trip.

We spent a few days in Vancouver, and then we took the train to Banff. It was so fantastic! We saw the glacier, glacial lakes, and all sorts of wildlife. Boys only argued once in twelve days!

I really cannot think of an absolute worst. I ended a really good trip with an overnight stay in a hospital. That was no fun, but everything else had been good.

Most of our bad events were balanced with good. An example would be having 50 yard line tickets to a state rivalry game. DS's car broke down on the interstate, but it got towed, and he and friend were able to ride with us. Terrible motel, but the victory was ours and goalposts were marched through the streets.

Best vacation:
Hawaii, 1989, 21yo, with 2 girlfriends. We had the BEST time! We smoked and drank and partied and experienced cable TV for the first time in our lives.... it was awesome!

Worst vacation:
Probably a horse riding trip to the high country with my ex and a huge group of his mates and their girlfriends. We had to sleep in a big old shed and I was kept awake all night by 20+ guys snoring. We had to wash in the freezing river. Horrendous! 

We've been able to go to the beach with DH's family twice, those have both been fun, relaxing vacations. Dh's parents couldn't be more different from mine. Everyone is free to do whatever they want. My MIL goes for the beach chair and that's it until at least Thursday maybe Friday (getting in on a Sunday for the week) she has no interest in exploring, or going around to see anything but the water. I can't sit, and feel like we took all this trouble and expense to get here, I'd like to see whatever I can.

The first time we were all together in one house she said there's the car keys have at it. We were pre-kids at that point and I went all over the area where we were staying. Totally free, while DH happily played video games. We have plans to go to Charleston/Folly Beach next summer, and DH and I have already said we're renting a car. I'm really looking forward to it.

Worst vacation, my mom doesn't fly. Ever. We drove EVERYWHERE when I was a kid. I went to college in Montanta, and we drove up there for orientation the summer before school started. 3 days one way in the car. I got food poisoning on the way back. I've never had a good gag reflex, so I spent 2 days sick as a dog trying to throw up and get it out of my system, with my dad frantically trying to just get home. What an awful trip.

Best without kids: Our first cruise. It was so relaxing and fun.

Best with kids: probably our epic road trip this summer. We started in Texas, 2 days' driving to Shenandoah where we spent a night in a park cabin, on to NYC for 3 days, then a cabin in Vermont, Montreal for 2 days, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Cleveland for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, and then back home over 2 days. We did a whole lot of driving, but we had lots of stops and saw sooooo much on this trip--everything from a black bear in Shenandoah to Lin Manuel Miranda at Ham for Ham. It was a great mix of nature and city.

Worst trip: Not nearly as terrible as many of the above. We had a 2 week road trip to Florida. Earlier in the summer, DD sliced upon the top of her foot at camp, and it would not heal. Basically, we couldn't get anywhere near water or sand with her foot and she couldn't walk very far without pain. The focus of our trip had been Key West for kayaking, snorkeling, etc, with a stop at Universal in Orlando. Everything we wanted to do in Key West was out, so I cut down our time there and added time at Disney because we could just put DD in a wheelchair.

Driving through the Keys had been a bucket list item for me, but the drive down was underwhelming. I did love Key West and was disappointed that out activities there were so limited. We couldn't even walk around much with DD, and it is not wheelchair friendly. It poured buckets the day we were in Disney--which was terrible for the foot we had to keep dry. And there was just no where to go in the pouring rain--so we kept riding It's A Small World just to stay out of the rain. My kids hate It's a Small World.

The weather was better for the Universal days, but I ended up booking on the 2nd day the new Harry Potter park was open (I had booked long before the park opening was announced). To say there were a lot of people there is a massive understatement. And I hate crowds. But we did get bragging rights for being among the first to see the new park, and the rest of the park was pretty deserted. Unfortunately, the 3-D rides at Universal did not sit well with me, and I like poltergeist sick there.

Nothing really terrible happened--I was just looking forward to a relaxing, beachy vacation and it ended up being a hectic amusement park vacation.

My parents took us on many motor home road trips when we were younger, long road trips that always ended with at least one extended break down but they were always adventures and so much fun. When I was eight we traveled out west for a month. My little sister was 6 mos, my two brothers, a cousin and my Gma also went. The motor home broke down in Colorsdo (I think) and my dad's aunt and uncle (my deceased grandpas sister and DH) came to pick us kids and my Gma up and drive us back to their farm several hours away. Mom, dad and baby sister stayed with the motorhome, parked in the garage where it was being fixed, sleeping there and hanging out with the mechanics for several days.

They had a surprisingly good time hanging out in a garage, lol. The little town kind of adopted them. It was a hole the wall town and they made sure they were fed and taken care of and we loved our time at the farm. We all still talk about it to this day. We saw so many sites on that trip and did so much. It was amazing.

Their trips are legendary. one trip was with my younger 4 siblings (only the baby from the first trip was on this trip) and my other grandma, plus my sister's friend (I did not go), It was another road trip out west over the span of the summer. the motor home caught fire going up a hill. They got out safely, called a tow truck, found a used van snd continued on, relying on family- luckily for them a lot of family on both sides migrated out west in the 70s and 80s) and hotels. Then THAT van broke down and they bought a second used van and continued on. A state or two away from home on the return trip THAT van bit the dust and they flew home. the younger kids traveled out west with my parents nearly every summer.

Anyway, all our vacations with my own family have been fantastic. I can not think of one bad one. We took our own kids out west this last summer summer to visit the Grand Canyon (we flew, lol, and only stayed 10 days) and even though I had been to the Grand Canyon many, many times before, I have never appreciated it like I did this time. When I went at 8 the beauty escaped me. When I went as a teenager, I just didn't get it. When I went with my cousin as a young adult I had fun but still my appreciation wasn't as immense as this last time. When I went on my honeymoon, I was more interested in DH. But DH was absolutely mesmerized by it and promised, "one day I am coming back and bringing our future kids!" So that's what we did 21 years later.

As our oldest DS stood on the cusp of his senior year we asked him where he would like to go on what could be our last big family vacation with all of us. He said dad had always told him how amazing the Grand Canyon was, so off we went, DH being able to return to the Grand Canyon with his kids, like he dreamed. And it was amazing! All my many times there I never viewed it like I did this time! Through my kid's eyes. They loved it. They stood in awe and for the first time I was able to see what I had missed so many times before. and to add to it, my cousin who,lives in Az and her family met us there. It was just a great bonding time for everyone, (we also and the opportunity to catch up many other family members on this trip.)

Best vacation was probably a 17-day driving vacation when I was around 14. We went through Colorado, Yellowstone, Montana, Idaho, Mt. St. Helens, down the Oregon Coast, into northern CA to see the redwoods, across NV into southern Utah, and back home. We saw so many beautiful things, I was just amazed at how different it was from Oklahoma.

Worst vacation would have been a couple years prior when I was around 12...another 17 day driving vacation through the SW U.S. I got a HORRIBLE case of food poisoning on day 3 of the trip. Threw up at Meteor Crater so hard I passed out and conked my head on the toilet...ended up in the ER in Flagstaff and they wouldn't give me any pain meds because they thought I might have appendicitis. I was running 105 degree fever and had stomach cramps so bad it hurt to touch my belly. My parents had to drag me out of the car at the Grand Canyon just so I'd be able to say I'd been there. I spent most of the trip sleeping in the back seat or in the floorboard. I finally started feeling better on the next-to-last day of our trip and got to do some hiking in CO, but I was so weak that I couldn't do much of anything.

Lana

Best: tie between Italy and London.

Worst: the Bahamas.

Worst vacation was also the funniest.....van overheated on the way, no water in the radiator - got towed to nearest town only, the tow truck cab could only fit 2x other people in, the other 4 had to sit in the van sitting on the back of the truck. We also had to tow the boat, only the boat didn't get connected properly to the tow truck, and when I looked out the side window, saw the boat come onto my side and disappear - it was weaving from one side to the other while being towed.
Hired another van, whilst ours was in the mechanics getting fixed - threw the baby and car seat in the new van and continued on our way....
Got to the bach (holiday house) which was on tank water - our kids never experienced tank water before - they left the hose tap running all day, pressure building up in the hose and finally exploded - only we weren't there at the time, so never did find out how long the water was running for - so when we returned back to the bach that evening, the ground was really really wet (middle of summer), water level a lot lower in the tank.

DH went fishing with the boys, leaving me with the baby in the car seat - drove to pick him up - via the beach - got stuck in the sand with the tide coming in. A local guy had to get his tractor to pull the van out of the sand...

we also broke a dish at the bach - that night, I actually said to my husband - I'm done, I want to go home.
Had to drive the hire van home as our van was still at the mechanics - went back the next weekend to return their van and to collect our van, complete with a new engine.

Good times - not.

I live to travel. I cannot think of one bad trip. Best would be 2 weeks in Vietnam. I've never been interested in seeing Asia. I went with my MIL, SIL and 3 nieces. Some of the best food I've ever eaten, beautiful country, and the people were lovely. I really enjoyed seeing the museums that covered the war because it was told from their point. So incredibly interesting to see the other perspective.

My best has always been camping in the past with family - my parents, kids and their SO's, sisters and their families.

My worst was a whammy. Traveled to attend my maternal grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and visit my paternal grandfather who was ill. Woke up the morning after arriving late in the night by a phone call from my dad that my grandfather had passed during the night. We had planned on taking our kids (ages 3 & 6) to Knotts Berry Farm after the original visit with my grandfather and my dad said to go ahead with our plans. By the end of the day our 3 yo dd had a mysterious blister on her lip and eyebrow. Next day we head to my maternal grandparents and my grandfather said "that looks like impetigo! I haven't seen that since the war." Ugh, so dh takes dd to urgent care and yes, she has impetigo. Now she is very contagious to babies and elderly people. In the meantime, by paternal aunt wanted my maternal grandparents to cancel their party because of the death of my paternal grandfather. Uh no, not gonna happen. We move to a motel, I go to the anniversary party with 7 yo and dh stays behind with dd. Day after the party, we attend paternal grandfathers funeral and burial. Then get in the car, cut our vacation short and drive 10 hours home. The only bright light, during the burial at what is now known as the Hollywood Forever cemetery, dh is walking 3 yo dd around and discovers grandpa is buried the next row over from Mel Blanc (bugs bunny voice and "that's all folks").

I love traveling so much that it is hard to pick a best and worst. They have all been great and we are lucky not to have too many disaster stories.

Best - probably Costa Rica with our kids who were 7 and 9 at the time. It was a great mix of adventure, activities, wildlife, and their first taste of a foreign culture that made it seem so exotic to them. We rafted and surfed and zip lined and hiked volcanoes and had monkeys in the trees outside our windows. I loved every minute of it.

Worst - we narrowly avoided disaster in Peru 14 years ago. The main purpose of the trip was to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We made arrangements with a tour guide (mandatory) online, printed out the email confirmation and took it with us. We went into the guide's office the day before the tour left to make final arrangements. They had no record of us. We showed them our email confirmation and they shrugged and said the guy who sent it didn't work there anymore. This was in very early Internet days, especially for Peru. Inca Trail permits are limited to a certain number of people per day and sell out well in advance. I just remember thinking we'd traveled halfway around the world to do something and weren't going to get to do it. For twelve hours we were just kind of dumbfounded and then they called to say they had had a cancellation and we could go.
It was probably the biggest relief I have ever felt!