Bad Vaca Stories.....

On Sept 10, 2001, my sister and I were visiting the Oregon coast. We were jumping in the waves and my car keys apparently fell out of my pocket. We were stuck! So we called my mom to overnight my spare set, but when 9/11 happened, all flights were grounded and my keys didn't come for SIX days. It was a complete mess. Luckily we just laugh about it now!!

When my kids were little, vacations were like an invitation for someone to become deathly ill while far away from home. We've had:

screaming high fevers after hours in a strange city where we called ahead to urgent care who said come on in then they closed before we could get there 15 minutes later,

the trip to Hawaii where 4 of us caught the flu on the plane and spent the week in bed,

the RV trip to the family reunion which was going great til right after dinner when my mother-in-law informed us that those bumps all over 3 of my kids weren't mosquito bites, they had chicken pox and had just exposed all of their cousins,

the camping trip where my kids started throwing up just 1 hour drive away from home with the stomach flu,

the RV trip where each of us came down with the stomach flu one by one on the drive home,

driving 14 hours to see my folks for Christmas, kids got sick after a couple of days so we turned around and drove home missing the big family party we'd looked forward to,

visiting friends in Arizona, we gave my 1 yo daughter a lick of peanut butter, she broke out all over in hives because we didn't know she is deathly allergic to peanuts and nuts, couldn't find a medical center open on that holiday weekend and ended up calling her pediatrician long distance to figure out what to do.

There's more, but I used to wonder why I even planned vacations with our history. It's gotten better, though. My youngest 2 are teenagers and it's been years since anyone has gotten sick on a trip.

My vacations have been great. Only 2 real issues. My 4 yr old girl always gets a fever on the way home. Never fail. Doesn't matter if we go for a weekend to a relatives house or on a real vacation, she will always get a fever onthe way home and be sick for a day or 2 when we get back. Also, I can't get my husband out of the hotel room. We went to San Antonio for 3 days and 2 nights last summer. We never left the room before 12:30 and actually one day, we were at the hotel until 2:00!!!! He has this wierd "I don't like to be rushed on vacation" thing. arrrggghh.. You know how annoying it is to sit with 2 little kids in a hotel room while my husband piddles around drinking coffee, watching the news, reading the paper while we are all dying to get out there and have some fun!

This was many years ago -
But how about being 20 years old...flying for your very first time, by your self with your 1 1/2 year old child. Your flight gets delayed (supposed to leave at 6:30PM) and your boyfriend doesn't want to wait with you at the airport. At 7:30PM he leaves. The flight gets delayed many times and you are in Midway airport in Chicago overnight with no food by yourself with your toddler. Our flight didn't leave til 6:30 the next morning. Worst experience ever for me anyway!!!!

This is pre-kids but my husband and I flew to San Diego to celebrate our one year anniversary in style. It was May - and for those of you that don't know it - they call it May Grey in San Diego - it was horrible. It was cloudy and cold. We stayed at a little casita on Ocean Beach - had a terrible time finding it and finally were able to locate it and park after hours of driving. Got up the next day and circled the block several times - rental car no where to be found - it had been towed!! Had to take a taxi to the impound lot - pay over $100 to get it out - and then we went to Sea World the same day - lost the car AGAIN - had to have security drive us around to find it. Once we located it went to drive off only to find out it had run out of gas. UGhhh...we holed up in the hotel the entire next day until we could catch our flight to leave. Also - we went for a hike and found the HUGEST SNAKE SKIN I had ever seen stuck to a plant - did I mention I am terrified of snakes? Yep - worst trip ever...lol

I worked for an entire year doing Pampered Chef Shows to earn a beautiful trip to San Francisco for me, my husband and then 8 year old daughter. I earned the trip and we decided to extend it by a few days to go up to the Napa Valley (my husband is a wine enthusiast). I research & plan everything - what we're going to see, where we're going to eat, drives, everything. BTW, all but one night of a 7 night trip were completely paid for by either Pampered Chef or by hotel certificates I'd earned in promotions. 2 days before we leave, my daughter comes down with a nasty stomach virus. I figure it's a 24 hour thing and she'll be OK - NOT. She was really sick for the first 3-4 days while we were in San Francisco - she could barely leave the hotel room - it was coming out of both ends. I make an emergency call to our doctor back in NJ & he tells me it has to run it's course but it may take up to 10 days. So SF part of the trip is ruined - barely saw anything, paid $50 to have my daughter attend a dinner where she ate bread and ran to the bathroom 12 times. I was stuck running back and forth to the local drug store to haul gatorade & crackers back. I had to find a store to buy her new pajamas. So we drive up to Napa for 2nd half of the week. We had ONE dinner where everyone was feeling OK (my daughter hadn't eaten more than crackers, rice & bread in about 5 days at this point). We ate at the Culinary Institute. One the way back to the hotel, we had to make an emergency bathroom stop for ME (nerves?). The next few days my husband started to not feel well and couldn't eat much or do much of anything. Long drives to enjoy the scenery? Nope. We did make it to the Jelly Belly Factory for a few hours. In the airport on the way home, my husband got a fever and just looked green. Thank God I had changed our seats on the plane to be near the bathroom (lovely smell BTW) - because 10 minutes into the flight he was heaving into an air sickness bag. My MIL & FIL were supposed to pick us up from the airport but they called and left a message that was something like - oh, if Joe's sick, maybe you should get a cab home because we don't want to get sick" Thanks so much. And it was raining when we landed and I had to gather all the luggage myself while my husband ran to the bathroom - did I mention I had just had back surgery like 4 months before and I wasn't 100% recovered? Lovely trip - thanks for reminding me - lol.

our first camping trip was a trip from hell! after searching for an hour for a good campsite wth friends, we finally got set up but it was dark and late and cold. ends up our spec needs dtr throws up in the tent about 2am ...all over...we dont' really have anything besides papertowels to clean and its dark. so we literally wake our friends, tell them we are going home (1.5 hr drive). we leave everything, dont even get dressed, just get in the car and go! she throws up the whole way home, about 5 times. ugh. so we get home about 5am. hubby and other 2 kids go back to campsite after sleeping about 5 hrs to hang with friends the rest of the day and pack up. was not a great memory!! we havent tried it again!

I can relate- we just had to leave our vacation early due to monstrous behavior of our children. Also, there was no AC and it was swelteringly hot. AND our cell phone charger broke so we were without communication.

My husband and I took our 2yo and infant daughter out to Niagra Falls, NY camping. At about 2 am my 2yo vomited hot dogs and spaghettios! GROSS and smelly. No washer/dryer or cleaning materials, crying loudly in an otherwise quiet campground...then waking the baby who wanted to be nursed....The best part is every vacation thereafter always seemed better!

Went to a family reunion (with my ex (while we were still together) - it was his family) in VA. Our daughter was only 4mos old. She was GREAT in the car. When we got to our hotel room, it was kind of cruddy, but still ok. However, the 1st night there, I go to give our infant daughter a bath and there was ceiling tiles, insulation, and water from the room above us falling into the tub!!!
I go to the desk and the girl was sh*tty beyond belief. I asked if it was possible that it was a toilet overflow and they said, "Maybe, but all of our rooms are booked... You'll have to deal." WHAT>!>!>!^#$^#$%&?

So I made it a point to say that there was NO WAY we were staying there another night... We ended up at his uncle's house and I wound up with horrible cramping and *TMI* poos all night. So we were there only a couple of days and I slept NONE.

ETA- @ Tracy K. - I would've been LONG gone without the hubs and taken the kids to have a good time!