Vacation With Crazy In-Laws?
I have an opportunity to go to Iceland for pretty cheap with my wife and her family for a week. The thing is her family is moderately crazy and I don't know if this is a test of patience worth pursuing. Cost of the trip is only a few hundred. Potentially high opportunity cost but whatever. Her dad is like pushing 90 so he does everything slow as fuck and is always telling irrelevant stories. Super conservative (safety wise and shit - never taught her to ride a bike type shit) wah wah crybaby personality on top of that. Mom is like half his age and is this super shallow shopaholic way-too-much-energy foodie type character. Brother is chill but always in a conflict with one of the parents. Iceland seems dope as fuck and we'd be there during the 24-hour-day shit. On one hand, we can always go back alone. On the other, realistically, we have like 100 other places we want to see together and wouldn't probably go to Iceland in a long time. I want to see Iceland, but not spend the whole time sitting on a bench.
Anyone been to iceland? Is it really dope and worth going to? Ever spent prolonged periods of time with in-laws? What would you do?
Man Iceland is awesome. There is so much to do in terms of hiking, nature walks, discovering local culture and exploring new and unusual food and drinks. Based on what you said, no member of the family would be up for this adventurous vacation. If you want to explore Scandinavia go to a large city like Oslo, Copenhagen or Stockholm with them. It's more of a city tour, will be cheaper than Iceland and they can do things at their own pace and do more relaxed things (museums, shops and local attraction). Iceland is too cool to go with people you hate
Agree that Iceland is fantastic for the outdoors, and it'd be somewhat of a waste to go with people who aren't up for any adventure. However, I don't think you'll be saving much money in Oslo, Copenhagen, or Stockholm. All three are very expensive cities.
Agreed they are expensive but you'll be spending a lot. In Iceland you would be WASTING money
No chance I'd go. I like my in-laws more than my own parents and still wouldn't go. For us, there is only so much time we take away from work, so you have to maximize it. As in, I would rather spend a few grand for the two of us to go away and do it right than go on what is bound to be an extremely frustrating free vacation.
Also, Iceland is really cool, but it's not THAT cool. It can be seen in a few days and it has to be done with active people (like the above poster said) and with someone who is down to hit up some weird Icelandic clubs. And if your wife's family is anything like mine, they'll expect to do everything together (at least during the day) which basically ruins the experience of what should be an active and adventurous vacation.
Good luck, you might have a different view, but this would be a non-starter for me.
Thanks for the opinions so far, guys. To clarify: -They're not paying for us, so it's not free. It's just inexpensive airfare right now. -I have unlimited time off and my wife's a teacher so she has a lot too. So time isn't scarce. -We're not interested in nightlife at all.
If it's not free, I DEFINITELY wouldn't travel with my in-laws (or parents, or anyone other than my wife and friends). But again, just a personal opinion.
Dude traveling to Iceland is insanely cheap they do free stopovers to Europe all the time. Just check out a stopover website to figure out how to go there for free.
One thing I will say is that once you get to Iceland everything is insanely expensive I'm talking at $13USD yogurt is the cheapest thing you can buy. They get you with insane prices not Airfare when visiting Iceland. If they aren't at least paying for all of your stuff while you are there I would definitely pass.
SAVAGE
I strongly urge you to go.
...and keep a running commentary in a new thread.
[rubs hands together in gleeful anticipation]
I would just weigh out how much you really want to go on the trip vs how much you can really stand to be with her family. From your description, they seem like they are somewhat nice people, just slightly aloof.
Also, take into account what your wife thinks. If she doesn't care about spending time with her side of the family, then I guess you don't have to make it a priority. If she does, then try to mix spending time with her family with things you enjoy doing, i.e. (I know her father is old), but if you enjoying golf take her father golfing.
They're all very nice. Aloof is a good word for it. Her dad is coming into some health issues and always wanted to see Iceland, so she wanted to take him. She gets if I don't want to go and I make fun of her family all the time to her. My wife is pretty travel obsessed so she's stoked regardless. We just took a trip to Europe together 2 weeks ago and I'm catching the travel bug a bit too now because I'm coming off a 3-year stretch of being unable to travel and we got a scratch-off map...
She actually grew up taking a ton of trips. Her dad was like some rich trader dude in the fucking '50s or some shit. But then lost it somehow and worked for the government for like 20 years. So by the time she was born, they were like lower middle class status cause he keeps going bankrupt from hospital bills cause homeboy eats nothing but like saltines and soda and thinks exercise is dangerous. I don't know how he's alive. But anyway, he's always held "travel" in high esteem. But his idea of travel is taking a cruise. Cause he's scared of everything. So she basically grew up taking a cruise every 6 months and being broke otherwise. Fun shit.
I have older relatives that mirror her father. Though not exactly career wise, but they sound like they live similar in terms of eating and not being up to date on health; but I feel the world has kind of pasted this generation by if they didn't keep up with trends.
It sounds like she is on the same page with your feelings toward her family, which helps. My brother's mother-in-law is described as "difficult" (high strung, likes things her way, can't take a joke). My advice would be if you really like her, you can deal with her family.
Iceland is awesome, but I would only do it if you can get away from them for some of it. A 90 year old guy won't be hiking around remote areas of Iceland. I wouldn't spend more than 2 days in Reykjavik. I'd rent a car and drive along the southern coast, or even the western fjords.
That sounds fucking awesome and yeah he won't be down for sure...
This is exactly what my gf and I did when we went - a few days in Reykjavik, rented a car and drove along the southern coast after visiting blue lagoon. The drive along the coast itself is worth it if you like incredible landscapes. We stopped at multiple waterfalls along the way, some of which you can walk behind. The landscapes in Iceland are fucking amazing. Near blue lagoon you feel like you are on another planet. We also visited the geyser, the black sand beach, and went as far as Jokulsarlon Lagoon. It has been one of my favorite places to visit, and I will go back. Regrettably, we missed out on glacier hikes due to lack of time, and we missed the northern lights. We were there in Sept. and I think we will go back in Nov. or Dec. next time.
I second the importance of being able to go on hikes. You ain't getting out of the car and walking around the sites with a 90yr old.
Edit: well, you could if someone doesn't mind staying on the flat spots with them. Also, we followed our nose to Braud & Co bakery after visiting Hallgrimskirkja. Definitely recommend it!
Great stuff. Snorkeling between the tectonic paltes In Thingvellir was awesome too.
A few coworkers have gone to Iceland recently and loved it. But I wouldn’t go if I had a situation like that. If you have to pay you might as well go when you can enjoy it. I’d never travel with someone I knew would make the trip miserable.
From Iceland, obviously biased but it's a great place to visit. However, you get the most of it if you're active. A week is a good time. You can actually drive around a lot and see some awesome places without walking too much, but for the 100% experience it's good to do some hikes. At many places, you can just leave them to chill and go and do something. PM me if you need ideas for things to do.
How is this related to anything finance? Don’t go. Sounds like lame as Fuck in laws. I’d suggest saying you would go and simply not showing up.
Best case you avoid their 7/8ths tard ass. Best case your wife gets pissed and divorces you, thereby permanently removing the ass cancer which is your family “in law”.
To be fair it's the "off-topic" forum...
I sense some sarcasm, but you post shit like this? https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/cnn-boobs
Talk about a who-gives-a-fuck topic.
Fuck off.
One is discussing a current topic that was trending. Another is asking an innane personal question. I’m sorry, but this is supposedly a finance site. You go to other forum off topics and you’ll find discussions that aren’t germane to the theme of the overall website, but aren’t completely irrelevant as well.
And to be fair, the repeated moronic posts about “sleds” and Hermes ties are just as fucking stupid. Iceland is beautiful. I’ve been twice. Go, don’t go, but how is posting this on a finance website going to help?
“Sorry honey, not going to Iceland with your rag parents, a bunch of auts on WSO convinced me it would be miserable”
Why do you always act like such a miserable angry person in everything you post?
If the topic doesn't interest you, just fucking ignore it like any reasonable person. And for someone who hates on this site so much, it's a little odd you spend all of your free time commenting here.
.
I personally have not been there, but family that has spent time in Iceland and all of them have raved about it. I think there is a fair amount to see form the window of a car if your in-laws aren't as mobile, but there is also a ton of hiking and outdoor activities. The one downside is the food. Aside from lamb, I don't think they have much going for them on the food side. If you do go, make sure to try their local hard alcohol...
Went to Iceland this past December. There are basically two times to visit Iceland and it is basically a different country depending on when you visit.
When we went in December, it was very cold there and we had only about 6 hours of daylight per day. This proved for near perfect conditions to see the Northen lights (one of the key reasons to go to Iceland IMO. I mean there is plenty of other shit to see like the culture / people / etc but that is pretty standard across all countries in the sense that they all have something to offer. I've heard the parties there can get a bit wild too, sadly I was with family so we didn't split off to do that without the parents). Anyways... I digress. Northern lights were dope, went hunting for them one night and caught them at the end. Saw them again 2 days later which was awesome. We did a lot of snow-mobile escapades into caverns and shit off of one of their largest glaciers as well (not sure if you'll get that chance with the father-in-law being so old).
After early to mid April Iceland starts to become way different. The snow melts, topography changes and you get a "Middle-Earth / Game of thrones" vibe (GoT was in part shot there). Obviously I didn't get a chance to see that and I am definitely going back in a few years to check that out since I'm a huge fucking thrones nerd. I'm guessing this is the time you'll be able to do a lot of the hiking / outdoor exploring but sadly you won't get a great chance to see the lights.
I guess the main takeaways are you have to choose when you want to go, winter or spring. There will be a lot of activity (only "chill" thing really is the blue lagoon which was alright) so if you're Father-In-Law bitches a lot and isn't physically capable of it I would heed caution in going. Last thing you want is someone bitching about the 3 mile hike and ruining it for you. If the northern lights are what you're mainly going for then I'd hold off until december - april. Also if you are only going for a few days your chance to see the lights is also fucked since one slightly cloudy night can ruin it for you / you have to wait for a solar flare etc etc for the conditions to be perfect.
I might have ranted a lot. If you have questions feel free to shoot me a PM.
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