How has COVID changed your family vacation plans for 2020, either for this summer or beyond? I’ve heard of friends doing a few different things, so let’s discuss…
Some friends of mine in the Midwest are sticking to their Hilton Head plans, but driving there instead of flying — 13 hours…
Some friends who usually travel internationally for weeks at a time decided to go camping an hour or so away…
I had total Vacation Envy watching a new friend’s Facebook feed as she chronicled her family’s drive up and down the Pacific Coast, going hiking, kayaking, and more with her small kids and husband, driving hundreds of miles each day…
For us, the big Disney trip we’d planned for April was originally rescheduled for October, but at this point is totally off, money refunded and everything. Maybe 2021? We’ll see…
In fact, even our grandparent visits have been shifted this summer — both sets of grandparents are high risk, and driving for 4–9 hours just doesn’t seem appealing to anyone… We’ve talked about getting an Airbnb somewhere in the middle, but ultimately I think we’re all just comfortable in our own spaces and with our own germs. (But then my family is definitely on the more stringent side of #stayhome since we’re all high risk in different ways.)
The whole experience has made me much more appreciative of the concept of vacation, and determined to plan some really nice vacations for my family as the kids get older and the world hopefully gets a better handle on the pandemic.
I’m curious, ladies — what did you have planned for your family vacation this summer? Have you adjusted those plans due to COVID and restrictions? (Was anyone planning international travel that has now been put on hold indefinitely if Americans are barred from traveling to a lot of places?)
Stock photo via Stencil (view of lake from inside tent, with a man’s feet stretched in front of him).
Anonymous says
We had planned to go to France. Obviously cancelled so we rented a small cottage on Cape Cod for a week. We are also doing a few weekends at a nearby Girl Scout camp. They are closed for camp but we can rent a cabin for the 4 of us for $40 a night and while it’s rustic it’s nice to have lake access and hiking trails and a change of scenery.
Jeffiner says
We had planned a trip to the Galapagos for the last week of March. That was cancelled very last minute. We also had a plan to go to Disney in April with the grandparents, also now cancelled.
Last month, we thought we might drive to Big Bend National Park and spend a week there. It doesn’t normally get a large number of tourists, especially in summer. (We live in Texas, so we know the heat.) But then the park had to close as some residents tested positive.
We are giving up on 2020, and saving our vacation time for 2021.
Struggle Bus says
We’re struggling on this front. On the one hand, we haven’t had a day off since February. Two very full time WFH jobs, a 2 year old, significant family medical issues (non-COVID), and multiple failed fertility treatments all in the last 120 days…. we. need. a. break.
On the other hand, renting a cottage/AirBnB just seems like a chore. DD needs constant attention and activity. The appeal of vacation in a hotel is someone else cleans up after the 2 year old hurricane daily. I suppose you could dodge cooking every meal by doing take out, but still. It just feels underwhelming and I’m left thinking “what’s the point? Same hot mess, different/unfamiliar surroundings.” Can someone talk me out of this and tell me we really can have an enjoyable vacation as a family of three that’s not in a hotel, or is there some truth to my thinking? We’re in Massachusetts, I grew up on the cape so we never really like to vacation there but I guess we can/should?
I hate 2020.
anon says
IDK, I think there is real truth to what you’re saying. And I’m sorry you’re dealing with health issues and all the rest. No wonder you’re exhausted.
Anonymous says
For me it is nice to get away from my home because even if I have to tidy and cook in a rental, I am still not faced with a to do list of long term projects and deep cleaning I could/should be doing. And a change of scenery can be great, especially if it involves something naturally entertaining to a 2 year old (e.g. a beach or different toys). It’s probably not going to be as exciting as a normal vacation if you like hotels, but it could definitely be a nice break from being at home. You might also see if there are meal delivery/personal chef services available where you want to go – that might be a thing in an area where there are fancy rental houses.
Anon says
we have 2 year old twins and this is why we aren’t going anywhere. so far pre covd all trips we’ve taken have involved family so we have extra hands. otherwise it is honestly easier to be home in our childproofed space with cribs. granted, we’ve had childcare this whole time (we have a nanny). I do not know if you have childcare, but one thing DH and I did that was great for our mental health is take a day off and we went to a beach not too far away just the two of us. we’ve also each taken solo days off
OP says
Yes, we have a full-time nanny. We’re starting to toy with the idea of taking two days off next week and getting out of the house – beach, long walks, maybe even in to Boston for some outdoor/take away dining on the water. Somethings gotta give.
And thanks for the validation – I couldn’t tell if I was just spiraling or if my concerns are legit.
OP says
Also, 2 YO twins. Bless you.
Anon says
ha ha, thanks. glad we aren’t the only ones who think 2 year olds are challenging. you and your DH should definitely take off a couple of days to spend together to do vacationy things without the 2 year old. it was very restorative…that is until each child had a tantrum within an hour of us getting home
Anonymous says
I hear this. Part of me has come to terms with just continuing to contribute money to the vacation fund so that when it is reasonably safe to travel again, we can have 10 days at an all-inclusive in a suite with separate bedrooms.
Anonymous says
We are in MA and are going to the cape for two weeks. We’re renting a small house (more than a cottage, but a 3 BR cape style) walking distance to the beach and has a pool. I plan to fully check out from work and sip wine with my toes in the sand and/or pool.
FWIW I have 3 young kids (2/4/6) so it’s still a bit of work but we have fun. We’ll pack the bikes (6 y/o rides, 4 y/o either has her bike with training wheels or a ride-along tandem for long rides, and toddler goes in the bike trailer) and bike most places. There’s an outside shower to hose off the sand. We will eat a lot of fried seafood and make ice cream sundaes. My 2 y/o will probably fight nap and I won’t care. DH and I will drink wine outside and breathe sea air.
That beats staying home in suburban Boston, IMO.
Cb says
We had planned to meet my parents in Portugal. Now the plan is to go spend a week at the seaside, about 30 minutes drive away. We are going to ride bikes, build sandcastles, and have socially distanced drinks with friends who live nearby.
It just doesn’t feel right to go to a rural area and potentially bring Covid19 or get ill while there.
Anon says
We had planned an end of summer week at the beach with my family. I had just started looking at houses when COVID hit, so never booked anything. Given the rates of spread at the beaches, I’m definitely not comfortable going now even if we could find a house now. We had also talked about a girls’ trip in December to celebrate my sister’s 30th in Montreal, but thankfully that wasn’t booked yet either. Instead, we have been going once a month to drive to see my parents (2 hours), and both of my sisters stayed with them for a period of time so there was some good auntie time too.
I started thinking about holiday logistics, which are going to be challenging. Thanksgiving will be us only assuming preschool is still open. We will want to quarantine for 2 weeks after preschool ends for Christmas before visiting any parents given their respective ages and health. My inlaws (local) prefer to wait 2 weeks after we see my family; my family is comfortable waiting 1 week after seeing the inlaws. So maybe it will be preschool gets out, we wait 2 weeks, we see inlaws, wait a week, and then see my family right before preschool starts up again (all assuming preschool stays open, otherwise it will be “easy” because we can just keep doing what we’ve been doing).
anon says
Funny you should mention this. I was just mentioning to my DH that I feel completely bored and stuck in my surroundings, yet vacationing doesn’t seem like a great idea. We were supposed to have our first Disney trip back in June. Now I’m not sure when we’ll go, or if we’ll ever want to set foot in the state of Florida again. I suppose we could do a road trip + air b&b situation, but it sounds more exhausting than fun. Plus, I worry about being in public rest stops, we wouldn’t want to eat in restaurants, activities would be limited. What’s the point? Yet I see family vacation pics all over FB and feel so jealous.
I badly need a vacation from everything (including parenting, if I’m being really honest.) I’ve been trying to hit the trails and use neighboring state parks as much as I can, but the appeal is starting to wear thin.
J says
We were planning to go to Scotland with our one yr old daughter. Instead, we rented a house in upstate NY with a pool and have plans to rent another house in August. It was still relaxing – we made simple meals/grilled/got takeout and just hung out by the pool. We live in an apt, so it was nice to be in a house and the pool was great. We normally like to travel, so this year’s plans are more roadtrips/local and low key. We haven’t made plans beyond August, but considering if a trip to Maine will be feasible in the fall.
Anon says
We had a summer vacation to Edinburgh and Amsterdam canceled and we chose to cancel several domestic plane trips, mostly to visit family. My parents live a 6 hour drive away and have been visiting us (this will cease when we resume daycare) and we did an AirBNB for a week in Michigan which was fun-ish. It was nice to spend time outdoors and felt no less safe than home, but it was weird not going to restaurants or doing any kids’ museums which are normally a staple of domestic travel for us. I’m not optimistic about airplane travel in 2021; I wish I were.
Anonymous says
DH and I had a vacation to Hawaii planned for May, without the kid, for our 10-year anniversary. We rescheduled for November, but I’m pretty convinced that’s not going to happen now. We may try to plan a stay in a cabin somewhere within driving distance in November instead.
We usually spend a week at the beach with my MIL in the summer. We couldn’t make that trip this year.
GCA says
Heh, this is moot for our family. Husband was in a full-time STEM PhD program and is now job hunting; finances remain iffy. We haven’t traveled for anything other than seeing family or friends since 2014, but I will be taking plain old time off work (and stay at home, and take the kids to trails and beaches – anything outdoors, essentially) because I am so burned out. We recently drove a couple hours to see family, stayed in an AirBnB, played at local playgrounds, and either cooked or got takeout – not much different from the average weekend, just in a novel location!
shortperson says
one constant disagreement in my house is that i always want to travel and my husband hates the hassle with little kids. so this pause makes things more peaceful for us. i just read that we shouldnt expect things to get back to normal until summer 2022. at that point my kids will be almost 5 and almost 8 and will be really good travelers. my 5 year old is already planning the trip she wants to take to the galapagos, and is ok with waiting a few years.
we hadnt firmed up our summer plans when covid hit, although i was secretly thinking costa rica. now we are going to be renting an airbnb in a national park for a week. the kids are excited, and since it wont have reliable internet i think it will be a real vacation. we are looking at another national park for next summer as well.
Anon says
2022?!?! that makes me want to cry. all of our family is flying distance away. or a very far drive (20+ hours with no stops). we usually see them 5-6 times a year (which i know is a huge privilege) and at this point haven’t seen one side since end of January and the other since mid March right before Covid blew up…i cannot imagine not seeing them for 2 years.
Anon says
I think things won’t be “normal” until 2022 (or beyond), but I think things are likely to be much better in summer 2021 than they are now. “Normal” and “better” are not synonymous.
Anon says
does “better” include safely flying on a plane? bc if not, then being “better” isn’t any different than it is right now in terms of travel
Anon says
For me it likely does, your risk tolerance may vary.
Anon says
Air travel itself isn’t actually that risky of an activity. I’m fairly certain I will get on a plane before I dine indoors in a restaurant or go to the gym again. The virus will likely affect my choice of destination and my plans at my destination for years, but right now I would feel perfectly safe flying to one of the places (like the EU, Asia or most of the northeast US) where the virus is well-controlled, and doing outdoor activities/dining outdoors. I hope/expect that by next summer there will be more places that have it well-controlled, and that travel restrictions will have eased. I also think it’s pretty likely there will be a moderately effective vaccine by next summer and I will feel more comfortable traveling once I and others have been vaccinated (for a variety of reasons). But a vaccine is not a magic bullet. It’s not like we get a vaccine and then a few months later there’s no more Covid ever. Eradicating a virus as widespread as this takes developing an incredibly effective vaccine and getting 95% of the country vaccinated, which is no small feat in a country that is as anti-vax as the US. It took half a century with measles, and that’s one of the biggest vaccine success stories in history. I don’t know that life will really go back to pre-covid normal until the virus is fully eradicated, but I think we will get a new normal that is much closer to normal than what we have now.
anon for this says
I work in aeronautics and the word from airlines is they don’t expect business to pick up again until 2023 (this includes already planning for second waves in Europe and Asia).
Anon says
@Anon at 7:05, I suspect that projection is taking into account the financial effects of the pandemic, not just public health. When people lose their jobs or take salary cuts, they have less disposable income to spend on travel. Plus, business travel is a huge component of airline’s revenues, and most people don’t see that rebounding nearly as quickly as personal travel, due to the success of Zoom and other technologies like that, as well as the fact that many employers are looking to cut costs for the next few years. I fully believe that airline revenue is likely to be reduced until 2023 (or beyond – I have seen some experts saying it will never return to pre-Covid levels), but I think it’s a big leap from that to the conclusion that most people won’t feel safe taking vacations until 2023.
CCLA says
Right there with you on family far away. Between all of my family we have visitors about a dozen times a year (we are the only ones with kids so mostly people come to us). Haven’t seen any of them since Feb and really missing them. We live in a different metro area than the one where the rest of my family lives. I LOVE where we are, but I am also close to my fam and the frequent travel has been crucial. I’m contemplating setting up a large vacation rental about half way between our locations, which would be about a 9 hour drive for each side, but daycare usage and grandparent interaction has me pausing on that plan for now.
As far as vacations this year, we had nothing big planned other than our usual week in Hawaii and a few weddings. None of that is happening. We’re doing a farm stay and glamping on different weekends over the next couple of months, both an hour or two from our metro area. But like others, we are making plans for what we want to lash out on for travel when this is all over, whenever that is. Looking on the bright side that since our kids are little, by the time this is over they’ll be at an easier age for traveling.
Anonymous says
You could fly now to see your family. People are doing it. It isn’t perfectly safe but most things aren’t. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take for a vacation but if my mom was alive and I could fly to see her I absolutely would now.
Anon says
+1. I feel like a lot of people don’t get that no one is going to give you permission to fly, or announce that life is normal again or Covid is gone. At some point if you want to fly again you will have to decide the benefits outweigh the risks and just do it. For some people that point has already happened, for some people it’s likely to come next summer when there are (hopefully) a lot less people getting sick and much less burden on our healthcare system, for others it will only be once they have personally been vaccinated or when anyone in the US who wants a vaccine can get one. Every individual will make a different choice about when they’re comfortable flying again, there’s no uniform standard. Anecdotally, about half the people I know flew or are flying this summer, but mostly to see family not for purely vacation purposes.
Anon says
I have the opposite take – I’m really grieving the fact that I will likely not travel again until my kid is in elementary school. I know that travel is easier when they’re 5+ and kids don’t remember much before that age anyway, but dang it preschoolers are FUN and I loved traveling and making those memories for me, even if my kid won’t remember it. It really feels like a crushing loss to have travel off the table for 2-3 years, even with a young kid.
shortperson says
i agree. we’ve had some fun trips — brought my older one to japan, europe twice, etc. our only international trip with two was when the little one was a baby and it was hard. it’s just harder with two. totally possible with two parents totally on board, but sadly that’s not exactly where we are. that being said, i did an amazing trip just iwth my four year old to nyc last summer, and it’s sad that we can’t do things like that.
and i’m far from an epidemiologist, so what do i know. but by “normal” i’m thinking something like hopping on a plane for an international vacation. i certainly hope we can visit family by next summer, we have no local family. i have a nephew who lives abroad who is having a bar mitzvah next summer and will be super bummed if we need to miss but i just dont know. certainly i’m not getting my daughter’s hopes up on going.
Anonymous says
Yeah, we cancelled a European vacation this spring and I’m sad that my 3.5yos aren’t going to get to travel for a while, because they’re at an age where they’d love to get to see new places and new things. (They’ve been to Europe twice before, but 13 and 22 months are different/harder than traveling with them now would be).
Rayne of Terror says
We live in an area that is doing well with the virus, so we only drove about 90 minutes away to a rural VRBO near the largest man-made lake in Illinois. We rented a pontoon boat for one day, hiked and swam, and had a couple long weekends at home. To tell the truth it did not feel like much of a vacation even though with the 4th of July holiday I was off work for 10 days. It’s the first time I really missed eating in restaurants. We ordered the same gas station pizza (Casey’s) there as we get at home.
Boston Legal Eagle says
The good thing about having a 4 year old and a 1.5 year old in a pandemic is that we weren’t planning any big travels this year anyway. The only thing we booked, and are still planning to do, is go to the Cape for about a week with my parents and stay in an AirBnbnb in August. I think the beaches will be open then and we’ll plan to get take-out or maybe do a couples dinner while my parents watch the kids. My husband and I typically do an annual couples trip but didn’t book it, and by March/April, we figured that wasn’t happening anytime soon. We may try to do a couples trip in December, depending on how things look.
I think the kids will be easier to travel with when the youngest is at least 3, so 2022 sounds about right for “major” travel. For those talking about how traveling with a 2 year is not a vacation, I agree, we took our then 2 year old on a cross-country flight to visit family and I never want to do that again with that age.
GCA says
Agree! 1 to 2 is *the* hardest age to travel with kids. We’ve had to take the kids on long-haul international flights at that age to visit family, including one last year that had multiple delays and ended up being almost 40 hours door to door. I needed about a week to recover from just the flying, and this was before Covid. Toddlers are fun, but so much work. I’m daydreaming of fun international trips when the kids are a little older, get more say in the planning, and can appreciate them a bit more.
AnotherAnon says
We had tentatively planned a multi-week trip to Europe for our 10 year anniversary, but that’s not going to happen. In early February we drove 3 hours to see our friends’ new baby. In May we drove 18 hours (one way) to meet our friends’ baby who is now 11 months old. It was nice to see our friends but it was not a vacation by any means. It was more like doing normal life in another location, which was stressful during the riots. We’re still planning to do our annual friend trip to Oregon in August. I have to be honest I’m really looking forward to that trip.
Anonymous says
Our spring break cruise was cancelled.
We booked our normal beach house rental back in Jan or Feb, after covid was in the news in China, but before it had really ramped up in the US. It’s scheduled for end of August, and we’re still going. No flights needed, and we rent a free-standing house, so no worries about exposure in a hotel.
Our typical vacation days are beach until about 2pm, then home for a rest and early dinner before heading to the boardwalk in the evening. Or, we bike in the nearby state park. I assume the boardwalk won’t be fully open, but I’m still looking forward to getting away from home.
avocado says
We had plans to use a family member’s beach house in FL in August and maybe swing by Disney World for a day. Nope.
Currently discussing a ski trip for spring 2022 and an international trip for summer of that year. In the short run, my husband has floated the idea of renting an RV. RVs gross me out, rented RVs even more so, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Anonymous says
We are going to do two long weekends away within driving distance between now and the end of summer. One might be extra long (like Wed eve or Thurs AM-Sunday). But, honestly, our plan is to drive to Florida once or twice this fall/winter/spring for a few weeks. I get all the hate for Florida, but my parents have a house there sitting empty this time of year. So we can drive down and isolate/WFH for a few weeks when everything shuts down and we need a chance of scenery/escape from Midwest weather. If my parents winter in FL as usual, they won’t arrive until January, so if we go before that, we won’t be in contact with them. But my dad is an essential health care worker (non-Covid, though) who works two weeks on/two weeks off across the country from FL. So, honestly, they have no clue what the winter will bring for them.
Anon says
My husband suddenly has a burning desire to take a cruise. It’s completely hilarious to me, I think he must be the only person on the planet who was turned onto cruising by the pandemic. We’ve agreed that we will take a Norwegian fjord cruise once there’s a vaccine. Currently debating whether we should do Disney for our preschooler or Celebrity, which seems to have a better rep for food (just to have some travel planning fun). And we will splurge on a suite with a large veranda so if we get stuck on the cruise we will at least have outdoor space :)
Anonymous says
We were supposed to do Celebrity with our kids. Their kids club program looks pretty good! If we make it on a ship before 2022, I’ll report back. I’m sure Disney cruises are also amazing, but they are SO expensive. And we liked Celebrity pre-kids.
Norway is gorgeous. Good choice. :)
Anon says
Ooh yes, I would love a trip report when you go! The price for Disney doesn’t bother me so much but I’ve heard mixed things about the food and I don’t like their Norway itineraries as much as Celebrity’s. Celebrity’s kids stuff does look way above average. I hope you all enjoy it when you’re able to go.
avocado says
We absolutely loved our Disney cruise but have no basis for comparison with other cruise lines. The food was decent, nothing too special, but I don’t think you go on a cruise for the food. The service was amazing, entertainment was great, ship was immaculate and well maintained. The only real weak point was programming for tweens. There is a kids’ club that goes up to age 12, a tween club for something like 10-14, and a teen club for something like 14+. The teen and kids’ clubs are absolutely amazing. The tween club is a tiny windowless room with a video game system. Our daughter was 12 when we sailed, so she could have gone to the kids’ club, but she felt way too old. It didn’t end up mattering because it was a short cruise with all port days and she wanted to spend all her time on other activities anyway, but if we’d had a sea day it would have been nice if she could have spent time at the teen club.
anonn says
If preschooler means over 3 and potty trained, go for Disney. We took our 2.5 year old in February and it was still great and we’d do it again. But, we had to reserve a time and pay for the nursery ($9/hour), and my kid really needed a daily nap still, so that was a struggle. The kids clubs are drop-in and free. Drinks are reasonably priced, shows and services are great, she loved it and asks to go again all the time. We’re not “Disney” people and were a little worried about not fitting in, but other than lots of matching shirts the first day, everyone was normal and chill. We decided we’d do it again if we had another family to go with us and our kids were over 3. or maybe just us 2.