How often does your family come visit you?

[potatopie]

I get kinda annoyed with this one because my family has only been to visit once. Everyone says, "Oh, I'd love to come but it's so expensive!". Yeah, I know. I pay for tickets twice a year!!!

I mean, I guess we're the ones who moved far away, and we do have more flexible schedules than most Americans, but it's just annoying that they say that without figuring out that, when I come home, I'm paying for the same flights that they think are too expensive.


And it's not even just with South Africa. We lived in Ottawa for 3 years and my family didn't come once. I kept saying that Montreal would be a fun and easy trip for them (if they didn't want to fly just to see Ottawa), but they never came.

[CakeLover]

MIL has been here 3 times. My mom has been here twice. We've lived here for almost 4 years. Other than those people we have had no other family and sadly no one else probably will make it before we leave. Oh wait, DHs cousin was just here to cross off diving in the GBR from his bucket list.

Like, potatopie, said we get the expense excuse too. I get it it's expensive.

[Deleted]

My parents have been twice, and his mother came once. Nobody else has been to visit.

It's frustrating that people were initially excited to have an excuse to come to the UK, but now seem to have decided that we aren't worth the visit. Yet they still expect us to come and see THEM...

[dulcemariamar]

About once a year or every other year. Now that LO is here they seem more excited to come

[Deleted]

In ten years our moms came to visit three times, once for the wedding. Our dads never came. My dad will probably make the trip once he no longer has to take care of my aging grandmother.
We enjoy my mom's visits but beyond her everyone else is welcome to stay where they are, especially from my H's side. I would love to show my dad around the city one day and always think that if and when the occasion presents itself I'm going to pay for his trip entirely.

[Deleted]

My dad and aunt came for my wedding. My sister has been here once. I've been in France for 3 years! yea, people don't really make that much of an effort to see me. :/

[allibally]

I was only gone a little over a year. My mom came towards the end of my time in Zurich. We had a really great time. I know if we would of stayed there longer she would of probably came once a year at least.

We have a hard time being separated. She comes to visit us like very 6 weeks now. And we probably visit up by them in between that fairly often.

My dad travels a lot for business and prefers all other times to be at home. Not a vacation man at all. His ideal is a week home alone. haha! So he didn't come.

[Shreddingbetty]

My sister comes once a year now since DD was born. My dad has been over here twice, once for each wedding (actually the first time I got married it was a JP wedding and my dad and sister came shortly thereafter). My mom had disowned me at that point and really hated that my dad came out to see me (as far as she was concerned I was dead). That said, my mom is terrified of flying so she will never come out (we have been on relatively good terms for the past 12 years or so). My brother has never been out here. He is not a fan of flying anyway but they have little time to travel (they have a B &B and board horses and have all kinds of animals so hard to find a caretaker for that). For my second wedding my sister and her BF came here, as well as my dad and two of my aunts and uncles.
We go back once a year.
Honestly, I'm totally fine with not having people visit me here (other than my sister because she is low maintenance and content just hanging out with me and DD. I had much rather just see them when we are there that way we don't have to host someone for many days. My sister has been out here a few times prior to Dd as well and she would visit for a few days and then travel with her BF. If my parents were to visit us here we would totally have to entertain them the entire time (they travel a lot on their own but I think if they were here they would not really do that).
We take a lot of vacation as it is and honestly wouldn't have a lot of extra time to take off if we had visitors all the time.

One of my besties here is Italian and they have 2 kids now. Her mom and dad will come for 3 months at a time at least once a year (and stay at their house). They are here now for the second time in 1 year. I would die...but they really like it because they help out a lot with the kids.

[doctoranda]

Nov 8, 2013 8:46:32 GMT -5 @villainv said:

My parents have been twice, and his mother came once. Nobody else has been to visit.

It's frustrating that people were initially excited to have an excuse to come to the UK, but now seem to have decided that we aren't worth the visit. Yet they still expect us to come and see THEM...

This! We are expected to come at least once a year but no one is coming to see us. We got married here though 2 years ago and people came for that. After that no one has come. I love going to the US but it also eats up our money that we could use to travel to other place in Europe!

[jennybee1018]

Not very often. The IL's (including an aunt and SIL) came the 2nd year we were here. My sister and mom just came this year, and it's our 4th year here.

My sister would have come sooner, except that they were planning an Egypt trip and it was right as the Arab Spring happened. So they finally made it out in August and my mom was afraid of the long flight but she finally got over her fears and came over.

I have mixed feelings on visitors. I of course love for my family to visit but it also takes away from my vacation time :-P it also takes away vacation time for me to travel home, so I guess I'd rather people come visit us b/c then we could travel with them to other places.

Ditto the it's so expensive excuse! All my friends have kids & no money so I don't expect any non-family to come visit.

[mrsukyankee]

My dad and stepmom are coming this winter. They've come 2x in my 9 years here. My mom has come twice as well. My brother and SIL were meant to come last summer but it got too expensive to come with their two kids, but they did come once before.,,I haven't had a friend visit since my first year, but most of them either have little kids, have no money or have to visit their own family (so have no extra vacation time). We tend to travel there every 1-1/2 to 2 years.

[Brit]

I don't have all that many data points yet, time will tell. When we were in India, both of my parents came to visit (separately), but we were only there for six months so there wasn't time for a second round of visits.

So far my mom has come to Dubai and my dad is coming in December. The big question is: Will they come back?

[americaninoz]

My parents try to come once a year - we go to the US in the US summer, and they come here usually at xmas or spring break, but it won't happen this year because of my brother's wedding
No one else really comes to visit us
I've been here 5 years
My brother has come once (which was a nice long visit!)
and a big group of my family came once, 4 1/2 years ago - we all went on an Australia cruise
But regular visitors? only my parents - because it's such a long and expensive flight, and if it wasn't for dd I'm sure they wouldn't come very year

[GilliC]

My parents came once during my 1½ years in China, and once in my 6½ years in Norway.

My sister has yet to make the trip, though they talk about it quite often.

[crimsonandclover]

My family has visited relatively frequently. Before kids we traveled usually 2x / year to visit them and they came about once every other year. Now that we've got the girls and it's harder and more expensive for us to travel, we've discussed that they'll be coming to visit us more frequently. They're planning 2 trips next year.
My brother has come to visit me three times, always on my parents' dime and together with my parents. I hope he and his new wife come at some point, but I know they don't have that much money.
One cousin has visited me twice, and several other relatives have visited for a short period while they were doing European vacations.

[Deleted]

We've been here 2.5 years. My mom has come twice, DHs mom and his sister and her two kids have come once and my sister has been here maybe 15 times (she was living in London for a while and now comes for Christmas and a few times a year if she can tag it onto a work trip).

I think we've been really lucky so far to have this many visitors. We're in a remote area of the UK so it's not a hot destination. If we were in London I think we would have a lot more visitors.

[dorothyinAus]

I've been here nearly 3 years and no one has come to visit me. Not friends, not family, no one.

And I'm not buying the "it's expensive" or "long flight" excuse from my older brother. They fly to/from Europe twice a year and have been to India and Japan on vacations. I'm calling bullshit in that case as far as the standard excuses. And I keep telling him it would be perfect for their winter vacation. My SIL loves to go warm places in the middle of US winter. I tell them it would be perfect to visit me then, but no. And they have no plans to do so. They love Napa and I told them I can offer the Barossa and other wine tours, but still they say no.

It really hurts, because they expect me to fly not only to the US, but all over the US to see everyone while I'm there.

[crimsonandclover]

Nov 12, 2013 7:31:36 GMT -5 @bandwife said:

I think we've been really lucky so far to have this many visitors. We're in a remote area of the UK so it's not a hot destination. If we were in London I think we would have a lot more visitors.

Yeah, the year I lived in Berlin I felt like my apartment was just a rotating door for visitors. I probably had 3x as many visitors in that year than I have had combined the rest of the time I've lived in Germany. Although, to be honest, I find the area I live in now to be so much more beautiful than Berlin (although I can't beat the recent history of Berlin).

[azure]

In the 7 years on Vietnam my parents visited twice and H's parents once. In our 5 years here my parents have visited twice and my brother once.
I go visit them at least once a year.

[Deleted]

Nov 13, 2013 3:41:23 GMT -5 crimsonandclover said:

Nov 12, 2013 7:31:36 GMT -5 @bandwife said:

I think we've been really lucky so far to have this many visitors. We're in a remote area of the UK so it's not a hot destination. If we were in London I think we would have a lot more visitors.

Yeah, the year I lived in Berlin I felt like my apartment was just a rotating door for visitors. I probably had 3x as many visitors in that year than I have had combined the rest of the time I've lived in Germany. Although, to be honest, I find the area I live in now to be so much more beautiful than Berlin (although I can't beat the recent history of Berlin).

It's too bad because I really like visitors. Makes me feel like I went home but no jet lag and no flight to pay for.

Currently trying to entice a friend to come visit in January while DH is on a long work trip. Offered to pay for her flight even (recent windfall and I know she is low on cash at the moment).

[crimsonandclover]

Nov 14, 2013 4:32:22 GMT -5 @bandwife said:

Nov 13, 2013 3:41:23 GMT -5 crimsonandclover said:

Yeah, the year I lived in Berlin I felt like my apartment was just a rotating door for visitors. I probably had 3x as many visitors in that year than I have had combined the rest of the time I've lived in Germany. Although, to be honest, I find the area I live in now to be so much more beautiful than Berlin (although I can't beat the recent history of Berlin).

It's too bad because I really like visitors. Makes me feel like I went home but no jet lag and no flight to pay for.

Currently trying to entice a friend to come visit in January while DH is on a long work trip. Offered to pay for her flight even (recent windfall and I know she is low on cash at the moment).

I have so many people I would love to fly over here who don't have the money on their own. That might be #3 or 4 on my "if I win the lottery" list

[grosnl19]

We have been in Western Europe since May 2011 and only my MIL has come to visit after DD was born. It is sad really, but it is their loss! Who wouldn't want to visit Barcelona and Amsterdam (soon add Madrid to the list) with a free place to stay!