I hate our holiday and want to go home

@CocoBellaSparkle also the OP is relying on SIL to drive them everywhere... she's not the taxi service, SIL is!

Unfortunately SIL has to suspend her free taxi service to do the school run...

👏👏👏👏👏

OP said they lived in rural Maine
The state most similar to the English countryside 🤣🤣🤣

@CocoBellaSparkle same here!

@Catsmere give me aldershot ANYDAY over killing animals for ‘fun’ in Maine .. what a delightful lady OP is?

You could have been describing my family of origin.

We emigrated in the 60s and we were expected to return. Didn't matter if it nearly caused my parent to divorce. Family had to see us. They expected us to provide duty free alcohol, cigarettes, and fulfill a list of things they wanted from Canada.

Family in the UK "couldn't afford the trip" . Did they really think my parents could afford to pay for four transatlantic flights and hire a car to take them around when we arrived?

Oh, and for the eco warriors complaining about hunting? Hunting keeps the animal population in control. Our province only offers a specific number of tags each season to help cull the herds. Why let facts and science stop a PETA dragging of OP

Yep, afraid so. Killing animals for fun is an important life skill, apparently. As I said, click "see all" on any of her posts and you get the whole thing.

Not that it looks like OP will be back. So, it's a wind-up, she's getting her poor SIL to take her somewhere, or she's sitting stewing because she didn't get the reaction she hoped?

I wonder if OP has ever bothered to mention to anyone that she doesn't want to do it?

As for her holidays ... going to a log cabin in Maine and killing animals seems to be her idea of a good time.

^
ohhh please don’t say that OP has said this ☹️ I’m an animal activist and she had my utmost sympathy hence my long post upthread to her .. I truly hope she doesn’t enjoy killing innocent beings with her dc

@CocoBellaSparkle if you click "see all" on OP's posts you'll find the answers (Maine, and yes).

Just for ‘context’ where is now ‘home’ in the USA ? I only ask because if you’re now residing in a warm climate and with our crazy weather (I remeber easter in Uk being sunny and pleasant and sometimes even high 20s and blue skies!) but it’s been awful lately .. so I can imagine the weather having an added depressing factor on your ‘holiday’ if say you’re used to Hawaii or Las Vegas or California or Florida!

Lastly (forgive me if you’ve already said - I’m sleep deprived and lost my lovely new glasses!) but do you have DC? And if so were they born in the US? As if they were I can imagine this also being a depressing factor .. for they’re not going to take aldershot kindly (I’ve been there many times to visit my younger brother when he served in the army and my goodness it was utterly depressing .. boarded up shops , dirty pubs , people drinking blue coloured alcohol pop drinks down thr street .. lying on the pavements , getting late night greasy chicken cottage type ‘food’ or those elephant legs spinning around ‘kebab’ meats in polystyrene containers with greasy chips .. yuck!

Lastly surely you KNOW how awful this type of ‘vacation’ would be? I don’t understand why you’re posting this? You know your mil is an old difficult dinosaur , your SIL is messy in her dirty house ,, you know what aldershot is like! So WHY are you doing this? Why? Tell mil to do an online hypnotherapy course to get over flying .. even if your OH pays for her to figure you it’ll be a whole lot cheaper than £4K that’s for sure plus he can entertain her while you still work and you can save your precious and well deserved limited yearly weeks for holidays on something for you and your family!
Lastly if you still feel morally ‘obliged’ to visit them then you have to make them meet you half way .. you are NOT a taxi service for your lazy sil to pick up her kids (she has to cope somehow when you’re in the US so you don’t need to burden yourself)
you book a beautiful little place in say New Forest and they should make the effort to see you! And don’t come for weeks on end .. maybe 5 -7 days max then finish with a lovely trip to somewhere like Portugal just you and your own little family

Life is too short to ‘grin and bare it’ and do things the you don’t want to do or doesn’t make you happy

It it costs your peace of mind then nothing is worth it

I wonder if OP has ever bothered to mention to anyone that she doesn't want to do it?

As for her holidays ... going to a log cabin in Maine and killing animals seems to be her idea of a good time.

You've been doing this for 10 years, even with small infants?

This is madness. I hope you see how selfish your MIL is? And so is your DH for putting up with it.

Have you ever had a nice holiday where you got to do something you wanted to do?

I'd draw the line in the sand about this for next holiday either your wet husband takes the kids by himself or the cheeky mare can figure out how to pop a Xanax and get on the fucking plane to come visit you.

Seems like OP is long gone

What about day trips if you can't afford to stay elsewhere? If you're only 2 hours from London you could easily go there for the day and return in the evening. Or other places. Train service in UK is great.
Taste of water, by the way, is regional. I live in the SW in the USA and the water in my city tastes foul. The water we drank in the UK last year was fine.
There are so many things to do in the UK, and so many that are easily accessible, that it baffles me that someone would sit in one spot and not get out. And if your sister in law can't go bc she's getting her kids then go without her and see her in the evening.

🤣😂😃

Instead of whining like a baby, research things to do and actually get out somewhere?

I would be livid if I had to spend 2 weeks of my holiday sat in my PIL's house. One week last Xmas was bad enough, holiday cottage from now on. You might be able to get a good deal in the autumn if you plan well ahead. I'm sorry that you have to do international duty visits. I thought travelling from England to Scotland was bad enough

I know the Aldershot/Farnham border area well and this spot in the photo will be about a 10-20 min walk from where OP is staying. As many PP have said, a holiday is entirely what you make of it, and for wilderness-loving OP she has spent the last two weeks with this countryside just a stroll away, so it’s a shame if she hasn’t made the most of the beautiful countryside literally on her doorstep.

I'm sorry we never got to learn what the worst town in Victoria is ... ;)

Farnham is lovely. There is a huge park
there and you are not far from a lot of attractions. However I agree with other comments. Rent a cottage somewhere else and take MIL with you. I also think
that every year is too much. MIL needs to stop putting pressure on you

Agree! No idea where all of these poor USA tourists are being overcome by cigarette smoke?!

Agh, I really feel for you. I think a yearly visit is a LOT, and an unreasonable expectation. I think it’s ok to prioritise your life and your needs. Time off with your own family and for yourself is so precious. As is rest and relaxation. Mil could have a cheap visit to USA if she could prioritise what she wants, and what efforts is she prepared to put into what she wants? It’s not ok to expect everyone else around you to adjust because you’re fearful of something.

Next year only stay seven days!

Holidays are what you make it, why not visit interesting places while there,
instead of having a poor me party ?
When visiting the USA I found the water vile, their chocolate gross too .. feel quite sorry for your MIL your very grudging and rude.

😂😂😂
sorry not helpful but this made me laugh!
Seems like you resent spending your limited holiday with MIL every year (which is understandable) but lots of good suggestions up thread. go on holiday with MIL to somewhere more of a tourist destination, devon, cornwall, lake district, london, norfolk, edinburgh, Pembrokeshire- loads of places- hire a car so not depending on SIL, go every other year, Whipsnade and Windsor sound nice- did you go in the castle?- I think you need to be more proactive but Im sorry its been so miserable, is your DH having a good time? I hope the last few days of your holiday are better