Friends, yes; family, NO!
We've vacationed several times with my family -- parents live there, sisters don't. We'd all get rooms (even my parents would get a room), but my hubby and daughter and I would stay at a DVC resort, while the rest of the clan would stay at CBR. Sounds OK, until you get a bi-polar sister involved. My last vacation was totally ruined by her. :fork: We had to take my daughter (7) to the clinic because she was running a 104 fever and had (we discovered) strep throat. After her throat culture, we spent the day (the 3 of us) going to Shell World and the Character Outlet -- nice day. However, my bi-polar sister said to me (and I swear I'm not paraphrasing), "Well, logic tells me I can't blame Lucy for getting sick, but...". She was upset that we all weren't spending every waking moment together. After I tore her a new one over that comment, I vowed to never again vacation with the family. The sad part is, my daughter was feeling guilty for getting sick. She said, "I'm sorry I ruined the vacation." That is something no 7-year old should feel... ever.
We're talking with friends of ours to go next year together, and as many have pointed out, we are setting clear expectations of "together time". For example, we'll rent a car; if they want to too, fine, if not, fine. But we're not going to expect everyone to spend every waking moment together.
Funny part is, though, when I told my mother that we're planning a vacation with our friends, she said, "Oh, you want to rethink that; traveling with friends can be really difficult!"
Um... excuse me? You mean more difficult than traveling with our whack-job of a family?? Hmmm... not so sure about that one!!
