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Jocelin's avatar

We had a lot of family summer vacations like this growing up, where things went spectacularly wrong in ways we couldn’t have imagined. We named them Engeldorf vacations, and the Engeldorf family became our vacation alter egos. Even as adults we call all family trips Engeldorf vacations, and printed that on our matching tees when we spent a fortune on a trip to Disney World last Christmas. And those childhood Engeldorf trips are some of our favorite memories! Now we laugh at the questionable campsites, the hotel room in Virginia Beach with mold and no running water, the dog escapes (so many), the variety of weird people we encountered, the many misadventures in Canada… I am sure there are some people who have perfect vacations and lead perfect lives, but that’s not for us. I’d rather be interesting and have an adventure any day.

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Freya Levow's avatar

I relate to this SO hard. I am struggling to tell you a story of when I did the same, because I think I am perpetually in a state of doing this. Not necessarily hating a particular vacation, but forgetting that bad/annoying/dirty things will end. The realization that the thing will not be for eternity is like an instant eject button, if I can manage to conjure it. Glad you were able to find some positives along the way!

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