Planning a Christmas vacation on a budget is never an easy task.
The price of literally everything seems to have doubled in the last century.
So big, extravagant family adventures take precise planning, especially if one doesn’t want to break the bank.
That’s why parents look for loopholes and corners to cut.
But cutting corners can cause some family friction.
Case in point…
Redditor Inevitable_Dark_9617 to discuss their experience and get some feedback. So naturally, they came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
They asked:
“AITA for telling my son he can pay for a holiday upgrade?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“I’m taking my kids to Hawaii for Christmas.”
“The hotel prices are absolutely criminal.”
“At this point, I’m seriously thinking about looking to rent a R[ecreational] V[ehicle] instead.”
“I noticed that the difference between two beds and three is like $1,200 for the whole trip.”
“So I decided to get two beds.”
“Me and my 11y[ear] o[ld] son and 10 yo nephew will share one bed and my 17 yo and 8 yo will share the other.”
“My 17 yo had a fit over the idea of sharing a bed with his brother.”
“I told him there was nothing to be upset about.”
“My 8 yo takes melatonin at 8 and is dead asleep at 8:30 pm.”
“You can prod him with a stun gun and this boy will not wake up.”
“My 17 yo goes to bed at 10 pm.”
“My 17 yo is still angry at the thought so I told him to go ask his mom to pay for the difference and I’ll get you your own bed.”
“Hell, I’ll get you your own presidential suite if she pays for it.”
“Otherwise there’s nothing wrong with sharing a bed with your little brother.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“So AITA?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP WAS the A**hole.
“YTA. 5 people in a 2-bed (1 bath) hotel room is a horrible vacation.”
“If you can’t afford Hawaii then do something else.” ~ RB1327
“It was always expected that my parents would sleep in one bed, my sister and I in the other, and my brother would get a cot or couch.”
“I don’t know who has the money to pay for more than one hotel room.”
“We were never in there anyways other than to sleep.” ~ cat_screams
“YTA for shoehorning 5 people into two beds.”
“You can’t afford this vacation.” ~ BurnAfterEating420
“I have a queen and have fit both kids next to me.”
“On vacation, my daughter and son share a bed.”
“We went to Disney World in May 2022 and neither cared… lol.”
“That November we got lucky Universal had a 3 queen room for 154, or they would have been sharing again.”
“If they get annoyed it’s a pillow wall.”
“Mine are opposite sex so I can see when are teens stuff changing but I think the 2 boys in one bed is fine.”
“I never knew a family where all the kids each got a bed for vacation at a hotel.” ~ shortasalways
“Ehhhh. Why go to the trouble to have a vacation if no one will be comfortable?”
“Three people in one bed is too many and, understanding traditions differ, is two kids sharing a bed with uncle normal in your family?”
“If this is a hotel, can you get a rollaway?”
“Are you planning on lying about a number of guests?”
“overloading a room isn’t right.”
“In case of fire, hotels need to know the exact number of people in a room.”
“If an apt or condo, can you get an air mattress?” ~ SnooHesitations9269
“This is how family trips turn out absolutely miserably.”
“You’re taking a vacation to an expensive place at the most expensive time of the year.”
“The hotel price is too high for your liking, so what do you do?”
“You get angry and then decide to cram a ton of people into one room.”
“Then, having dug in on your bad attitude, you get indignant when others are hesitant to be stuffed into a cattle car of a room.”
“You can have a very nice vacation for far less in many other locales.”
“Out of stubbornness coupled with your bad attitude, you’re digging in and forcing an unpleasant experience on others. YTA.” ~ ironchef8000
“YTA – go somewhere you can afford.”
“The whole trip sounds like you will be on a shoestring budget due to Hawaii prices.”
“You will have a better all round trip somewhere more affordable.” ~ annoyedtenant123
Some on Reddit felt a little different…
“The best family vacation I ever had as a kid in the 80s was absolute hell on my parents.”
“Our flight was delayed by 12 hours, and despite my dad getting reassured by the travel agent over the phone while waiting at the airport, she neglected to tell the hotel we’d be late, and we lost our reservation.”
“The Hotel was cool about it though, it was 1 am, and they found us a room at the motel across the street, and let us use their pool and still get their continental breakfast as an apology.”
“The room had a double bed for my parents, and they crammed in 3 cots for my 2 brothers (15 and 5) and I (10 F[emale]).”
“It was essentially a medium-sized bedroom and a bathroom.”
“No living room… And no panes or screens in the window.”
“Geckos came into our room every morning, it was the coolest thing because we’d never seen one before!”
“This was Guadeloupe, so no worry of snakes.”
“We were only there for the first 3 days of our trip, then we went to our next destination.”
“A rental house in Antigua, where we’d be for the next two weeks (there were two different houses booked, one for each week, this was the first).”
“I got to sleep on a hard fainting couch because it turns out there was only one double bed and one single bed, not two doubles and a single.”
“My brothers shared the single bed.”
“We had to leave the next morning because the mold in the house was so bad my dad had a horrible reaction and ended up having to leave after a few hours and sit on a chair on the porch until morning.”
“They found a new rental place for a few days, a one-bedroom apartment with a pullout couch in the living room.”
“My parents got the bed, my brother’s got the pullout, and I slept on the couch cushions on the floor.”
“The next 3 days we stayed at a beachfront resort. It was amazing!”
“The first night there were 2 queen beds in the room, my parents shared one, and my brothers and I shared the other.”
“The next day the room one door down opened up, and my parents moved over there.”
“I offered to sleep with my younger brother, so my older brother could have a bed to himself for a bit.”
“Then we moved to the second house we’d actually booked ahead of time to stay in for a week.”
“3 bedrooms, with 2 singles in one of them for my brothers.”
“There was one insane night when hundreds of huge cockroaches invaded my parent’s bedroom in the middle of the night, but otherwise it was pretty cool.”
“NTA OP. Your son needs to get over himself.”
“He’s not spending his vacation in his room, it’s just where to rest between all the fun memories.” ~ QueenMotherOfSneezes
“I don’t know what kind of sheltered life you’ve led, but my family has always packed into the hotel rooms when we wanted to take a trip.”
“None of the kids have ever minded because they know that saving money on the room means more for activities and mementos.”
“Same when I was a kid.” ~ Lucky-Speed3614
“NTA, your son sounds very entitled. Instead of being happy, he’s getting a vacation to Hawaii, he’s worried about sharing a bed with his brother.”
“He can also sleep on the couch, the floor, or just stay home if he’s that concerned.” ~ BeautifulPhantom1
“NTA. You are giving your kids a real gift.”
“I was 30 before I could afford to go to Hawaii.”
“We made it to places like San Antonio or to my Grandparent’s house in Ft.Worth.”
“It would be great to have an additional room, but the experience is the most important part.” ~ Maleficent-Ear3571
Reddit continued…
“YTA for all the other reasons people have mentioned.”
“But also why is an 8-year-old taking melatonin, apparently to the point where you say it as if it’s a daily supplement??”
“That kid’s circadian cycle is going to be all sorts of f**ked up the older they get.”
“Stop giving them melatonin so often.”
“Also, go somewhere within your budget, or save up some more for the trip.” ~ Dragons_Malk
“YTA you can’t afford it if you can’t bed everybody.”
“My kids have reached an age where we need another room.”
“Three to a bed won’t work well.” ~ SpecialistAfter511
“You are going with 4 kids?”
“I don’t know if that sounds fun.”
“By the way, YTA.”
“I think 3 people sharing a bed sounds horrible.”
“having your 17-year-old share a bed isn’t wrong though and your offer is fair.” ~ hornsupguys
“YTA if you are booking now for Christmas and *itching about the prices.”
“To book that room at a price that isn’t the rough equivalent of being done over by the Vikings monastery style you probably need to be booking now for about 2030.”
“And by that point, the eldest two will be so over going on holiday with you that you’ll only be booking for you and the youngest.” ~ Ebechops
Well, OP, Reddit was really torn here.
This trip may need more planning.
Maybe you could save for another year and go all out next year.
Comfort is an important part of vacationing for most people.
If you wait one year you might be able to have your own king-sized bed.
Good luck and Happy Holidays.