Travel - worth it?

[hannamaren]

I guess a lot of people do this every year to see family at the holidays, but I have never gone further than a couple hours drive for Xmas. And even that seems far.

My H family that he hasnt seen in 20 yrs will be in Chicago area at Xmas time. With work, we could go there for 3 days (including travel) we would be there for just over 48 hours. It would cost $450 each (baby is free)Plus a rental car. Normal? Crazy?
We can afford it, but we are saving for a house so the money would be better spent elsewhere. And we havent contributed enough to retirement or education fund since the baby was born.

I told H that he should decide.

[vanillacourage]

I would not hassle with all that for just 48 hours. But, you told your H to decide, so....

[chessie]

Guess it depends on normal? In our book until this year, I haven't seen my side for about 6 years since my budget wasn't enough to actually to travel. I know for us, it would have to be long enough to weigh the costs. 2 days I prob would not.

If your budget allows it outside of retirement, and rest of your savings goals, I guess it be something I would start. But for us, our house budget pretty much takes priority.

[lindyanne]

On any other time of year I might do it but I wouldn't want to be traveling around that time of year for 48 hours unless I was really interested in seeing my family AND the likelihood that I wouldn't be able to see them another time for awhile is high. But I agree with leaving it to your husband.

[rubytue]

You'll rarely regret the time you spend with family or the trips you took. Its the family you don't see again or the trips you don't take.

Unless, of course, the family is crazy and makes life miserable. But, the older I get (and the older my dad gets), the more I realize time is all we have and the cost is secondary.

[hannamaren]

Rubytue -good point.
Thanks.

[sillygoosegirl]

Where in Chicago are they? Will a rental car be necessary?

[hannamaren]

They live 2 hours outside Chicago. So yeah to the rental car unfortunately.

I said the "no regrets " thing that rubytue posted to my H and he agreed.

[thinkofthesoldiers]

Flying into Chicago over Christmas is miserable and unpredictable. Not something I would want to do with a baby for a possible 48 hour visit.

[hannamaren]

Nov 25, 2012 20:51:10 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

I would regret making myself crazy with travelling over Christmas - I'm assuming you'd be flying out of Pearson? Eeesh. How much of the 3 days would be spent sitting in an airport waiting in line with a baby?

Why hasn't he seen the family in 20 years? Is Chicago the closest they've been to your city in all that time? If he hasn't seen them because they live overseas, ok, but if he just hasn't seen them when they normally live in, like, Florida, I'd go see them some other non-Christmas time.

Nope, fly out of Porter.
I do worry about OHare

The relatives are from overseas and dont have Visas to Canada. He likely wont get to see them before they die. Well, depends on the stability of the Middle East.

[Roc A Bee]

We are flying to Chicago this Christmas. We will be there for a week though and don't have a baby. Still worth it for me though. I never regret spending a holiday with family (my parents and my inlaws are really normal).

[Deleted]

Hanna - we actually did a train trip to Chicago that was MUCH more enjoyable than our flights we've had.
We drove to Port Huron the night before, grabbed a hotel, (we live about 1 hour from the GTA) and took the train that left at 6am, got into Chicago at 1pmish. It was easy peasy.

I would do the train travel again before the flight - I found that it was the same time as spending it in an airport but much more enjoyable.

[hannamaren]

I checked the train - amtrak? 24 hours to get there. No way.

[atouchofklasse]

IMO if you're going to the suburbs it's easier to rent a car at ohare anyway. I fly in there a lot and think it's fine.

I'd go.

[dexteroni]

Nov 25, 2012 20:42:41 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

I said the "no regrets " thing that rubytue posted to my H and he agreed.

I agree too, especially given your later update about how he won't be able to see them again. The hassle will be worth it.

[rubytue]

Nov 25, 2012 20:55:49 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

Nov 25, 2012 20:51:10 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

I would regret making myself crazy with travelling over Christmas - I'm assuming you'd be flying out of Pearson? Eeesh. How much of the 3 days would be spent sitting in an airport waiting in line with a baby?

Why hasn't he seen the family in 20 years? Is Chicago the closest they've been to your city in all that time? If he hasn't seen them because they live overseas, ok, but if he just hasn't seen them when they normally live in, like, Florida, I'd go see them some other non-Christmas time.

Nope, fly out of Porter.
I do worry about OHare

The relatives are from overseas and dont have Visas to Canada. He likely wont get to see them before they die. Well, depends on the stability of the Middle East.

Knowing your H is from overseas and the 20 years bit is what made me lean toward saying what I did.

Would I spend that for 48 hours at Christmas to see my parents? Probably not. But I just saw them this week. And despite knowing my fathers time is short (Alzheimer's), I still wouldn't. But I'd go in january when flights are cheaper. You don't have that luxury. And I bet it will make the relatives year meeting the baby.

[mbcdefg]

I would go.

[Deleted]

Is this on Christmas Day or just a few days before/after? Could he go without you so it would be cheaper?

[RoxMonster]

I can't decide if you should go or not, but I do have experience with O'Hare at the holidays (lots of it actually) and it isn't bad really. On many years, we took vacations right around Christmas (leaving the day after or a few days before) and it didn't seem any worse than usual. In fact, I never find O'Hare to be that bad.

We flew out of Midway this summer and I hated it. Sure it's smaller but it's less convenient to get into and out of, and because it's smaller, EVERY airline there goes through the same security checkpoint. At O'Hare, each major airline has their own section and own security lines. No doubt airports will be busy, but I actually don't mind O'Hare. If you do end up traveling, I'd go ahead and rent the car at the airport.

[UnderProtest]

What happened to DH taking L without you?

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2012 21:19:56 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

I checked the train - amtrak? 24 hours to get there. No way.

That seems wrong, it was 7 hrs for us?

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2012 20:15:42 GMT -5 rubytue said:

You'll rarely regret the time you spend with family or the trips you took. Its the family you don't see again or the trips you don't take.

Unless, of course, the family is crazy and makes life miserable. But, the older I get (and the older my dad gets), the more I realize time is all we have and the cost is secondary.

I'm not sure this is necessarily true for me--I've regretted several occassions of wasting money and time on miserable vacations and wishing I had spent less time with certain family members, but to each her own.

[changedname]

H and I are going to visit my family in Wisconsin for 22 and 23 Dec only. It's 3 hours further than Chicago from Toronto. We have flown the last few years but are driving this year to save $$$.

It's a long trip and a lot of effort but I have never regretted it. It's also kind of fun being in the States for Christmas in my opinion - if you have time to shop, last year I got a lot of deals.
I would go!

[emilyinchile]

I'd do it under the circumstances.

We also used to fly through O'Hare every Christmas, and it's not too bad. I have spent many many hours on the plane waiting to be de-iced, but usually they do eventually get to you and get you in the air. The crowds were never any worse than any airport around that time, and at least they're set up for the bad weather.

[arch01]

Under these circumstances, yes.

I'm flying with DS in a couple weeks so my stepmom and sisters can meet DS before he turns 1. It'll be roughly 48 hours there and roughly 6 hours of travel (air/layovers/travel to/from airport) but it's worth it IMO for certain circumstances.

[kershnic]

If he cares about this family, yep, totally go. If they're distant or annoying relatives who he doesn't care he hasn't seen in so long then skip the hassle. We've flown half way across the country for 36 hours to attend a college graduation. It was a huge pain, but we feel it's a commitment we made by choosing to live away from our families who we still care about and want to maintain relationships with.