MIL has bought an apartment in a European country. She’s having it all kitted out for us to stay (blackout curtains for small DC, for example). We have never said we want to go to this European country lots. We can’t fly from a local airport, and have to pay for a London hotel (4 hour drive) to fly from a London airport, car hire on the other side and children’s car seats. It becomes very expensive for a holiday we don’t really want. She’s offering to pay for our flights and has asked us to go over summer holidays, Oct half term and how Feb half term. We’ve so far made excuses.
We both work and AL is limited and used mainly to cover school holidays. I can think of a million other holidays I’d rather go on. MIL and FIL are difficult company. Very intense and even DH spends a lot of time in the toilet when we’re with them. They don’t have an easy relationship. We see them about every months for 2-3 night stays and that’s plenty for me.
I’ve recently said to DH that we could go every other year with them. Even the thought of that makes me feel pretty wound up. I can tell DH would prefer to go at least every year and is feeling bad at how much his mum is asking and how awkward it’s becoming to keep saying no.
Should we suck it up and appreciate the generosity? Or is there a better way to clearly say no without hurting feelings?