I just returned from my first massive 12-person family trip to the beach since moving out. It was a blast, but it was truly a learning experience. One things for sure: a family vacation will make you appreciate your time with family, but thankful your apartment as well. After all, what's a family vacation without a quarter-ton of fun and a hint of pain?
1. It's here!
This is it. A free vacation with paid time off, if you're lucky. What more could you ask for?
2. Family Time
Living in an apartment without the family can get lonely. You can't wait to be with them for an entire week! It also means free food, which is always a win.
3. Sibling Reunions
How you've missed torturing your siblings, cousins, and your fun uncle, also known as the funcle. This is going to be awesome.
4. Reality sets in.
A cramped eight-hour car ride, leading to a cramped 7 days in a beach condominium, means little to no alone time for you. Good luck.
5. The hoard of questions.
You haven't been around recently, and that makes you slightly more interesting than usual. Get ready for the interviews. Does dodging questions about your school work, career plans, and love life count as cardio?
6. You've missed a few things.
Living on your own and doing your own thing can make you forget that your family is moving forward and living their own life as well. A week with the family will make you realize how things are passing you by. You notice that your little brother is almost as tall as you now, and he seems to be getting better at defending himself against your pestering. I'll let you decide which is more terrifying.
7. The Battle
Since you haven't been around, your family has a lot of annoying you to make up for. Some days it feels like they're all ganging up on you, but it's their strange way of showing how they miss you (or so I've heard).
8. It's Story Time
You've brought your significant other on the trip with you, and your family needs discussion topics. Your family can't help but to unload all the embarrassing things you've ever done (the same ones you've been trying to forget for over a decade). Let the blushing commence.
9. The Tables Turn
No worries. You have cringeworthy stories on them as well, so you can definitely hold your own.
10. No way out.
Halfway through the week, you start feeling trapped. Everyone rode together in the family's SUV, so driving somewhere on your own is not a possibility. The cramped condo also leaves no room for hiding places. There is no escape. You resort to hanging out in the bathroom for 45 minutes to have some alone time and check social media without someone battering you with the usual "You kids are so dependent on technology" gig.
11. Fake it 'til you make it.
After living on your own, it can be hard to readjust to living with a large group of people. It takes a lot out of you, but you really do love your family more than anything, so you slap a grin on your face and go with it.
12. You can do this.
Relax, be happy, and enjoy the precious time together even if you feel like you're dying inside at times.
13. We're all in this together.
After all, it's a family vacation, and you haven't been around. You know you've missed them just as much as they've missed you, even if you don't know how to express it.
14. Next Year's Plans
You cringe as your family starts making plans for next summer's tip before this one is even over. You can't wait to get back to your own bed and your own space, and the thought of ever leaving the two again terrifies you to your very soul. But deep down, your excitement cannot be contained. Come on! It's vacation.
15. Homeward Bound
You dread going back to the real world, but you're more than ready to be home. The car ride home feels doubly as long as the ride there. It feels like you'll never be home again.
16. The end is near.
There's nothing like seeing that "Welcome to Tennessee" sign, and you know that the end is in sight. You can't wait to get back to your apartment, but you know you're going to go through family withdrawals, even if you won't freely admit it.
17. Home Sweet Home
You've unpacked your bags in your spacious and empty apartment, and a peace washes over you. But after a moment, you miss the sound of the banter between your brothers, the voices of your parents telling you goodnight every night, the laughter, and, let's be honest, the food that you left behind on vacation and when you moved out of the house. You're glad you took the trip and got to catch up and be a kid again for a little while. You can't wait to for next year's trip and to visit home again.
