S/o Do you travel a lot?

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 8:44 am

Growing up, going to to the bungalow colony was our idea of traveling lol! I didn't go on a plane until I was going to seminary.
Seeing the thread about all the places people have gone makes me wonder if a typical frum family travels that much or if they go away it's to the same places over and over again. Going to Florida every winter break- which we don't do, I've actually never even been to Florida shock

- is different then traveling all over and seeing different parts of the country or world.

33055

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:15 am

Growing up, we took 3 major car trips a year. We took too many trips to Florida, but we saw other places also like Canada.

We take the kids away several times a year. I wish I could fly them to more countries, but I am afraid of too many places right now.

I try to mix educational trips with purely recreational.

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:20 am

curious when do you go- summer, midwinter break and when else? do all parents have so much vacation time? When my dh working in a secular workplace his vacation days were used up by the chagim.

amother

Lime

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:29 am

We live in the NY area and usually take family road trips at the end of August in between camp and school. We can't go away for winter break because DH can't take off from work then so we usually do day trips.

Most of my more exciting travel opportunities came when I was single or first married and had no kids but those days are long gone. The only place we've gone internationally since I got married almost 15 years ago is Canada and that's because we have family there. I would love to see more of the world but that will have to wait until my youngest kids are old enough to appreciate it.

33055

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:41 am

amother wrote:

curious when do you go- summer, midwinter break and when else? do all parents have so much vacation time? When my dh working in a secular workplace his vacation days were used up by the chagim.

I go without DH when he can't get away. Sometimes he will meet us for Shabbos or a long weekend. Sometimes we return for Shabbos if we are without him.

I go summer, mid winter, Hanukkah, and a couple of 5 day trips a year. Sometimes we go for the yom tovim.

DH and I usually take the kids except one trip a year is just us two.

BH DH is off all holidays - both Jewish and secular.

Ruchel

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 9:58 am

I'm a housewife and we are in France so we get vacations and vacation money.

We travel several times yearly, but mostly only one "big" trip, plane type. others are touring Europe, or simply visiting relatives all over.

We love traveling. We canenjoy a chassidish hotel as much as a country with no kehila.

amother

Natural

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 10:23 am

We B"H travel quite a lot - not into the traditional destinations like the Catskills and Florida, but I've been to 48 states and dozens of countries (many pre-marriage), so B"H not deprived!

We usually take a long 2-3 week flying trip each summer, a mix of recreation and education, along with a few extended weekends or shorter trips in the winter, Thanksgiving, before and after camp, etc.

tichellady

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 11:21 am

I grew up doing mostly local trips but as we got older our family did a few bigger trips. My husband and I started traveling after we graduated college. I dont think it has anything to do with being frum or not. We just really enjoy traveling

33055

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 12:59 pm

tichellady wrote:

It makes it a lot harder especially if you need a minyan. There a lot of places I can't go with the guys in my family.

tichellady

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 1:11 pm

Squishy wrote:

It makes it a lot harder especially if you need a minyan. There a lot of places I can't go with the guys in my family.

That’s true. I just meant that there are people who enjoy traveling and others who don’t ( in all communities). But you are right that it can be difficult to travel if one is strict about minyan and depending on how one holds on kashrut/willingness not to eat well

33055

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 1:18 pm

tichellady wrote:

I enjoy the challenges of providing kosher. It is part of the adventure.

I have friends who will milk a cow themselves. Not us!! I freeze the milk.

I can't get around minyan though.

Ruchel

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 1:23 pm

If you're not staying on shabbes, you could technically be 50+ kms from the minyan.

Ema of 5

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 1:33 pm

For the past few summers, we have been take a road trip with the kids (between camp and school, so about 2-2.5 weeks) from our home in NY to my parents in Miami. The first few times we went straight down 95, but this year we went a different way. We went through the western parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and then through Georgia to Florida. On the way back, we drove up the west coast of Florida, out through the panhandle, and then into Alabama and Tennessee. From there we made our way back to Maryland and then home. I've been traveling since I was a little kid, mostly up and down the east coast with my grandparents. My grandfather was a traveling jeweler/salesman. Next summer I'd like to take the kids out west, but it's going to be more than a two week trip, so I really have to plan. Generally my husband has come with us, but if we do the longer trip next year, he will come with us for a bit and then maybe come out to wherever we are for shabbos. We do historical attractions and fun attractions. One thing we do to make it even more fun is collect shot cups from every stop we make. This year a lot of the places we went to didn't sell shot cups, so our collection has t grown all that much since last summer. We also go away for a couple of days during winter break, but just to PA for skiing.

amother

Apricot

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 2:45 pm

We would like to but I find it to hard with the kids/babies.

saw50st8

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 3:07 pm

We travel as often as we can with a limited budget. I traveled a decent amount as a kid (lots of road trips) and my kids all love to travel.

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 3:16 pm

eema of 3- would love to do something like that but food sounds like it would be a nightmare. you won't have a kitchen and there aren't necessarily kosher restaurants everywhere. how does that work for such a long period of time?

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 3:18 pm

and yes my comment about frum families was because of kosher food, minyan, shabbos- secular people can go for long vacation weekends but how do frum people do it? do you go on organized getaways, do shabbos by yourself...?

amother

Lime

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 8:34 pm

amother wrote:

If your DH won't go anywhere without a minyan then you are definitely limited to areas with a frum population, although there are Chabad houses in surprising places. My husband is ok davening b'yechidus during the week but we make sure to stay near a shul if we're away for Shabbos. There are websites like godaven that can help you find a shul and there is usually a website or at least contact info. Many "OOT" shul websites will have info for tourists such as local hotels within the eruv and where to find kosher food. If that info isn't online then there is usually a phone number to call.

When DH and I travel on our own then it's much simpler to deal with food. We're less picky and will willingly delay a meal or nosh along the way. When we travel with the children then meals require more planning ahead. We make sure to only book hotels that have some kitchen facilities or at a minimum they must have a fridge and a microwave. Microwaves are simple to kasher and you can use a treif oven if you double wrap very well.

I prefer to cook ahead and freeze food rather than cooking on the spot when we've just had a full day of touring and everyone is starving. That's one of the reasons we generally do road trips, because it's much easier to transport a lot of stuff in the back of a van instead of dealing with airline restrictions. I make foil pans of things like chicken or meatballs or pasta (dairy) and freeze. We pack them in coolers and they travel pretty well. They go straight in the freezer when we get to our destination and we defrost them one by one in the fridge for the next day and reheat double wrapped in the oven. We supplement meals with veggies and other things we find in the local supermarket. Breakfast is usually cereal and milk bought locally (we hold by OU D, but people who keep chalav yisrael will freeze milk to bring along or use soy/almond milk) or healthy muffins we bring from home. Lunch is usually sandwiches like tuna or deli or PB&J or chocolate spread for a special treat. You have to make sure that kosher bread will be available because it's harder to find in some places and doesn't always travel well from home. If there's a kosher restaurant then we'll go a couple of times a week but not every night because that gets prohibitively expensive.

Some people prefer to bring basic ingredients and cook fresh with sandwich makers and disposable grills or even crockpots. I always bring a good paring knife, peeler and can opener with us but I don't want to deal with appliances while traveling.

Shabbos away requires a whole other level of preparation. There are a lot of little details to remember such as candles and matches and timers and havdala stuff and making sure lechem mishna and wine/grape juice will be available or bringing it with us. I like to bring a small white tablecloth along to bring a Shabbos atmosphere to the hotel room. There can also be challenges such as electric locks or automatic doors.

In terms of Shabbos food, it's easiest but usually more expensive to get take out from a local store. We often take that option if it's available but sometimes we bring food from home. I heat the food for dinner right before Shabbos and then wrap it well with towels and blankets to keep warm until we eat. For lunch and shaleshudis we eat foods that are ok cold or at room temperature.

If you've made it to the end of my megilla then you're probably thinking that it sounds like a lot of work instead of a vacation. That's partially true, but it gets easier the more you do it. I have a master packing list so I don't forget anything and the rest is a matter of research and preparing ahead as much as possible. I'm unlikely to agree to a spontaneous weekend away unless it's all inclusive but we've enjoyed all our vacations tremendously.

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 8:40 pm

wow! but how many days do you go for if you are bringing all ready made food?

amother

Lime

Mon, Oct 16 2017, 8:47 pm

We can usually only get away for a week at most, so either Sunday through Thursday or Sunday through Sunday. If we can extend our vacation further, then usually I bring food for the first week and we go somewhere there is kosher food available for the second week.

You'd also be amazed at how much food you can find with a hechsher in a random chain supermarket if you don't only hold by heimish hechsherim. Sabra chumus is everywhere, for example, and makes a filling snack with crackers and baby carrots.