I hate our holiday and want to go home

I love Maine... it might be cheaper for you to pay for your MIL to come to you. Get her to come out in fall when the colours are stunning, go have cider and donuts somewhere, go to the coast for amazing seafood and chowder, she can go to freeport to do some shopping. She'd have an amazing time

All of the UK isn't the same as Aldershott!

Sounds like you don’t like the UK at all, don’t want to be here so are making no afford to enjoy it. Coming to the UK and making a half hearted effort by not hiring a car was never going to work out. I would come every few years and spend your holidays in the US where everything, apparently, is rosy.

It's called Aldershit for a reason! Next time could you stay somewhere else and MIL come and visit you? Or do a driving trip to Scotland/Wales/seaside and stay somewhere different?

Sounds dreadful and a lot like the "holidays" my parents used to take us on as kids - sitting in various relatives rooms in rural ireland (although tbf I love that now and also drag my kids there too).

YOu need to just say no.

Let MIL rant and cry and try to guilt trip all she wants; that's for her son to sort, not you. Probably cheaper for you to fly her to you anyway ... pay for the ticket ... she could spend time with her grandchildren while you work, win-win.

Anything stopping you getting the train to Windsor or Winchester and doing some sightseeing? Or look for a cheap hotel and have a little mini break there.

I don’t understand why you haven’t planned anything and are so reliant on others. You are an hour from London on a train - why not see the sights or soak up some of the atmosphere.
It sounds as if you were not going to enjoy the trip before you even got here and I think that’s your own fault for being to passive and negative.

I would rather stay in the US and explore

I think the OP is determined to hate the UK and wouldn't think anything here was amazing. She misses the countryside and wildlife of where she lives

Depending on how old your kids are:

Alice Holt forest
Legoland
Air Hop in Guildford
Go Ape also in Guildford
Nice walk at Newlands Corner followed by visit to Silent Pool gin distillery
Wellington Country Park (bit further afield)
Day out down to the Witterings for the beach
Or just day out in London! Lego exhibition is on atm, supposed to be very good, followed by a nice lunch?

It doesn't sound great but it sounds like there's lots you can do to improve the holidays going forward.

Next year, come in the summer time, hire a car, there are lots of beautiful places within driving distance, especially compared to the USA which is so big.

Visiting family is not a holiday (my uncle who emigrated said this to me once and he was so so right). I live in the US and spent years bringing kids back to visit. You need to change your mindset and either tack a real holiday on at one end or the other or accept that it is not a holiday but a visit.

2 weeks is too long - probably too long for your sister in law too. You have to factor car hire or other expenses into the cost of the trip - otherwise it is just awful for everyone, including the people you rely on for lifts.

I can't understand people saying there is no scenery in the UK compared to the US. Of course there is - it is just different. I'm not even from the UK and there are parts of it we have holidayed in (Scotland for example) because of the scenery.

I totally get it. We are also living overseas and I get so resentful about the expensive and boring trips back ‘home’ that use up all our annual leave.

We did it for years until one day I decided no more. Now we either pay for my mum to
come to us, meet in a country half way and have a holiday together, or tag a few days in the UK onto another holiday elsewhere.

I've taken my kids to visit family in arizona. Going to our cousin's cabin to shoot and ride on quad bikes was a highlight.

Only the older kids who were able to follow instructions shot guns, and they were very closely supervised.

Kendells self drive

@Backwoods57 you need to stop going on an annual basis. It's an expensive trip for you to not enjoy it every single year. Most families I know that live across the Atlantic tend to visit every 3 years or so. If MIL doesn't like it? Tough. There are video calls. It seems too much to be guilted into going back every year when you don't even want to. Stand up for yourself. Just tell her it's too much and it'll be every three years in future.

Personally I would never live anywhere but the UK. There are some Beutiful places to visit and as others have said, get the train.

at least UK water is safer to drink, unlike other countries where you can’t just turn on the tap and drink! And I resent all those plastic bottles littering up the place just so people can have “purer” water. What about the planet!

but seriously get out there and explore! I do admit the weather has been atrocious recently with all the rain.

You could rent out your log cabin and with the money, you’d be able to hire a car next time you come to the UK.

Have you been to the Highlands? It’s vast, expansive, Incredible scenery, great cross-country skiing, you can walk for 4 days without seeing another person, climbing, canoeing, not to mention the Whisky!

I’ve lived in the States and I like it, but to say we don’t have good scenery here is just not true.

I don’t know what you were . You’ve been doing this for 10 years so you must know it’s crap. It’s shit weather this time of year. Your saving money on accommodation, spend that on doing something nice.

It's always difficult when you lives miles away from people. I lived in Oz for many years and spent all my work holiday allowance showing the same old sights to family and friends who had paid us the compliment of a visit. So much for exploring SE Asia!

As for trips back to the UK, I longed to visit Cornwall or other places I'd never explored, such as the Scottish Highlands, which held a special appeal from a country bleached by sunshine. But a month's visit to the UK every few years always meant an itinerary visiting everyone who mattered, and none of them lived near each other.

There isn't really an easy solution to this, I'm afraid. Practical solutions include people dying and/or you cutting them out of your life. As I said, not easy!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You have become well and truly an American citizen.

@TerrysNeapolitan is that still there, I went about 40-50 years ago. That brings back memories. Mind I would be worried OP might shoot the birds!

Hopefully the OP is only dipping back with one line answers because she’s too busy turning the trip around, and actually engaging with all the things to do in this horrible disgusting country 🤷‍♀️

Not at all.

On the contrary.

But the OP is saying her in laws are not travelling to them at all.

This is the issue.

It sounds like the main problem here is a tight budget. You could have had a much better trip with your own car and a few days in Air BnB's here and there, but can't afford that.

So basically, you are in the same position as your MIL. Just tell her you can't afford to keep doing it every year. I'd rather come once every three years and have enough money to enjoy it and go out and about independently of MIL and SIL, than have a rubbish time on a tight budget every year.

She can see the children on facetime every single day if she wants to. It's not like 15 years ago, where if your grandchildren lived overseas it was a long haul flight to visit them, or nothing.

It's obviously cheaper for her to fly to the US than for all four of you to come to the UK, so just tell her she has to start doing her fair share of the travelling in future, as you just can't keep doing it any more. Her fear of flying is not your problem.