M is for Mama 15

[indianabones]

My personal vacation length limit is a month (longer than that and I get burned out). Three weeks is ideal. I can't imagine spending six weeks traveling with my family- it would be way too long away from home for me, and we'd all want to kill each other by the end of it.

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 days is my limit right now. My kids are exhausting on vacation. 

[SassyPants]

56 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

5 days is my limit right now. My kids are exhausting on vacation. 

I could only do longer than a week if we had a kitchen or Air BB situation. I literally could not do a week or more of restaurant meals with or even without kids. Too many decisions, bad choices and wasted money. We would always do a simple breakfast, lunch out and dinner in. More than 2 days in a hotel and we were toast! 

[danvillebelle]

Just thinking about the planning and logistics involved with taking 10 kids on a 45-day trip is making my head come to a point. 

Tickets, passports, clothes, laundry, shoes, toiletries, food.  For THIRTEEN PEOPLE.  For 45 days.  

They are courting disaster in a way that I can hardly comprehend.  Three active, curious, mishap-prone toddlers in completely unfamiliar, probably often dangerous locations.  Busy streets with lots of pedestrians and people on bikes.  All the kids looking around goggle-eyed at the sights and not paying enough attention to their surroundings to stay safe.  Signs in languages they don't know.  I also know that there are lots of places in European countries that still require masks and Braggie most certainly won't think of that or comply. 

Tangentially, it always surprises me when people take multi-country European tours and completely skip Spain and Portugal (and Braggie speaks fluent Spanish - I know not the same Spanish as there, but she could certainly get by).  There are stunningly beautiful places in both countries and I've read they're not nearly as expensive as say, France and England. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by danvillebelle

[JermajestyDuggar]

I think Braggie is probably styling herself as an influencer now and a 45 day trip will provide loads of content for her. Loads of hardisnotthesamethingasbad content.

[Giraffe]

I feel bad for whoever they’re taking as a nanny. That poor girl will be even more overworked than the older children. I hope locals call her & Sean* out when they see them not parenting their children. I hope someone is finally able to get through to them and that the older children miraculously have the time of their lives and that Braggie and Sean are absolutely miserable from the moment they leave their house. 
 

*that’s the pathological avoidant sperm donor’s name, yes?

[JermajestyDuggar]

35 minutes ago, Giraffe said:

I feel bad for whoever they’re taking as a nanny. That poor girl will be even more overworked than the older children. I hope locals call her & Sean* out when they see them not parenting their children. I hope someone is finally able to get through to them and that the older children miraculously have the time of their lives and that Braggie and Sean are absolutely miserable from the moment they leave their house. 
 

*that’s the pathological avoidant sperm donor’s name, yes?

I think it’s spelled Shaun. But yes, it’s his name. Since Braggie values education and wants to brag about her kids getting into college, I think they have a much better chance at getting away from her as adults. Which makes me feel better.

[Alisamer]

Like, I can't even imagine a vacation that long - I get 10 days total per year. Even adding in weekends I've never been on a trip longer than about 10 days total. 

I'm not sure what I'd feel about going away that long. Like, I'd love love love to do a European tour and hit all the hotspots have freedom of time to explore. But I think after about 3 weeks I might hit my limit. I'd definitely have to plan in a couple "nothing" days, where I sleep in and do basically nothing other than some laundry. 

I really love traveling, and seeing new places and doing new things. But travel can be exhausting, too. And not just physically - like just the tiny differences from home can add up into mental fatigue. Like two things I remember from the surprise trip I took to Paris with my sisters - we spent the first few days at Disneyland, then took an Uber into Paris to our AirBnB on a Sunday afternoon. We arrived, navigated the many many stairs and the teeny tiny elevator, explored the apartment, and then were hungry. So we looked online to see what was around us, and went for a walk. We ended up with quiche, meringue, and a baguette for dinner because literally the only thing open was the local bakery. Later that week we got groceries at the tiny grocery store a few doors down, but didn't think to bring bags to carry the stuff.

Nothing major, just tiny culture shock moments of difference. For us they are just fun anecdotes. But over 45 days that seems like a lot of those would build up, and Braggie doesn't seem the sort to handle that sort of thing easily or gracefully. And can you imagine if her luggage goes AWOL and it takes days to get it back to her? (Happened to me!) Yikes!

[theotherelise]

Remember when they went on a trip for Shaun or her birthday and she made some claim that it was the first time they'd gone on a trip together in years or something. But to make that make sense you have to add so many qualifiers because she's documented a dozen trips she's gone on with Shaun where he has a day or two of work but they are there together for many days. 

For three years, she has basically felt like covid (or probably in her eyes the government reaction to it) personally injured her because their europe trip was cancelled. Her announcement reel was super distasteful, but completely expected.

I don't get how it's not off-putting even to her fans that she never answers questions anymore and just tells people the answer is in X chapter of her book or podcast episode Y. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Most of the Indian people I know have visitors for that long or longer in the US. But that’s because they have relatives who live in India. So they make a yearly or biyearly trip to the US to visit their kids or other family members. But those folks just stay in the guest room of a house and it isn’t really a vacation. It’s a visit. So they do very normal boring things like go grocery shopping and laundry while also doing some sightseeing on the weekends. Braggie isn’t doing that to my knowledge. She’s likely staying in hotels and airbnbs the entire time while constantly sightseeing and traveling. That really does sound exhausting to me. 

[indianabones]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:05 AM, Alisamer said:

I'm not sure what I'd feel about going away that long. Like, I'd love love love to do a European tour and hit all the hotspots have freedom of time to explore. But I think after about 3 weeks I might hit my limit. I'd definitely have to plan in a couple "nothing" days, where I sleep in and do basically nothing other than some laundry. 

I'm the same way. I've had to learn to give myself "zero days" where I just hang out and don't do anything. I have fond memories of entertaining myself in Edinburgh by laying in bed all day and swiping through Tinder and screenshotting every single photo of guys in kilts, then sending them to my friends back home.

[Ozlsn]

Hm, I have done a 6 week trip with my then boyfriend, now husband, which covered parts of the south-west and north-east of the US. Combination of camping, hotels, youth hostels and crashing on friends' floors. We still had one weekend where all we wanted to do was a movie, then crash out. There is no way I'd do that type of trip with kids - the only way I could see it being feasible is renting out a house or flat for several weeks, establishing a base and then doing day trips to local sights, with chill days at local playgrounds, beaches etc. Hopefully that is what they're doing - even finding suitable accommodation for a family that size in multiple locations would be an absolute pain.

[danvillebelle]

 

9 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

the only way I could see it being feasible is renting out a house or flat for several weeks, establishing a base and then doing day trips to local sights, with chill days at local playgrounds, beaches etc. Hopefully that is what they're doing - even finding suitable accommodation for a family that size in multiple locations would be an absolute pain.

They're going to five or six countries.  It's insanity.  Mark my words, halfway through or sooner, some of the kids are going to be OVER IT and whining to go home, and Braggie will be whining her catchphrase right back at them.  It's one more martyr mommy accomplishment for her to trot out in years to come - "we took ten kids on a 45-day trip to Europe, so don't tell me your daily grind is hard mama, you can do it!" 🙄

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by danvillebelle

[SassyPants]

40 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

 

They're going to five or six countries.  It's insanity.  Mark my words, halfway through or sooner, some of the kids are going to be OVER IT and whining to go home, and Braggie will be whining her catchphrase right back at them.  It's one more martyr mommy accomplishment for her to trot out in years to come - "we took ten kids on a 45-day trip to Europe, so don't tell me your daily grind is hard mama, you can do it!" 🙄

 

And she’ll drop all the whiners on the hired help and head for the door. This trip is about Abbie.

[JermajestyDuggar]

58 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

And she’ll drop all the whiners on the hired help and head for the door. This trip is about Abbie.

I’m sure she can find plenty of shopping to do while her kids are back at the hotel or Airbnb.

She reminds me of Lori. She has so much help when her kids were younger. Therefore she expect all young moms to handle whatever is thrown at them because she could do it. 

[Pammy]

I wonder if she is actually doing all the planning, or if they will be on some kind of tour with planned accommodations and such.

I personally, have had the great-and-recognized privilege of going on a 6 week holiday to Europe in 2019 with my 4-person family. We self-planned the first 3 weeks, then took a 3 week Mediterranean cruise (which lifted a lot of the pressure of logistics for that half).

It was intense to organize and plan, but I don't know that it would be much worse to just book for an additional number of people, an additional number of rooms, etc. Especially if there is an additional adult coming to be responsible for the younger children. It's all the decision making and sorting out times, places, and accommodations that's challenging.

Whether little kids will get a lot out of the top tourist activities is a question too -- or whether they will do a lot of 'for kids' activities and forgo sites that only interest adults. Kids that are still napping age would also be pretty challenging, as you wouldn't always have a place to rest during the daytime if you are moving from one accommodation to another. There's also probably a huge amount of stuff. (We were able to be a bit minimalist because our kids were young teens, and could carry their own packs and didn't need any special kid equipment.)

I guess it's entirely possible to 'take it easy' and see fewer things in fewer cities too. But if I were her, I'd book a tour and just pay someone to handle the planning aspects of a trip like this.

[danvillebelle]

1 hour ago, Pammy said:

But if I were her, I'd book a tour and just pay someone to handle the planning aspects of a trip like this.

You and me both, but her ego is WAY too big for that.  She has to do all the planning because if it turns out great, she has to take all the credit.  If it turns sour, she'll blame anyone and everything else.  The laughable matter is, she sucks at planning little details like clothing for kids.  We know this from the time she took her babies on a hike in cold weather without coats and long pants and blamed the mistake on the kids. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by danvillebelle

[danvillebelle]

Random thoughts on Braggie's podcast featuring her mom:

I see where Braggie gets her robotic-ness and lack of emotion.  Beth (her mom) doesn't smile, doesn't laugh, speaks in a completely monotone voice.  She looks and sounds depressed to me.  She sees everything as a battle ("the culture" vs. her brand of Christianity).  It's obvious she was very uncomfortable doing this; she looks everywhere but the camera - at the table in front of her, at the ceiling, to the side, at Braggie.  She looks like she'd rather be anywhere else.

[mhainlen]

I can't even begin to fathom how expensive this trip will be.  My husband and I both have very good jobs, but I can't imagine being able to take 6 weeks off work. Fly 12+ people internationally.  And then feed them and house them and entertain them for that long!!!  I felt like we were spoiled going to India for two weeks - and that was with a toddler who was still a lap child (and therefore flew free apart from taxes and who often was eating off our plates instead of getting his own meal).

Edited April 9, 2023 by mhainlen
Typo

[JermajestyDuggar]

I bet Shaun will be working for some of the trip. He has to make money to pay for an expensive trip like that. So he can’t take 6 weeks off work. I’m sure that will be his constant excuse as to why he has to get away from his kids all day long.

[Giraffe]

Knowing what little I do of him he’ll be working during their trip even if they don’t need the money. He’s one of the least engaged fundy sperm donors I snark on on fj. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, Giraffe said:

Knowing what little I do of him he’ll be working during their trip even if they don’t need the money. He’s one of the least engaged fundy sperm donors I snark on on fj. 

Ezra is a much better brother dad than Shaun could ever be. 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Ezra and Simon with be DadBro-ing like mad on this trip. Delia(?) will be SisMom-ing. Braggie will be shopping**, instagramining, and complaining about Shiloh and the twins.

Shaun will be ..... somewhere we know not where, and seen only in a few photos. 

There will be more than one, possibly daily, #hardisnotthesamethingasbad.  But ya know Jesus makes it all good for Braggie.

**I wonder if Braggie will declare any of the stuff she brings back or abide by the customs rules of what you can and cannot bring back into the country. I can well imagine her pitching a giant fit on insta about having to give up something illegal.

 

[Ozlsn]

I started looking at how I would plan this given the size of accommodations needed. There's more out there than I'd realised, but obviously if you want to be in major cities you're paying for it. I found a house in Knightsbridge, London, that was literally opposite Hyde Park and walking distance to Harrods - and only $USD53K for the week!

My favourite though was a villa in Bellagio near Lake Como and only 50 minutes from Milan - own swimming pool, space to move and relax (also cheaper than London!) And only 1 hour from Switzerland, thereby crossing two countries off easily, with a 3 and a bit hour trip to Lichtenstein if I wanted a third (that would pribably get covered in my Austria/southern Germany stay though).

I'll be interested to see exactly which countries they end up in.

 

[JDuggs]

In one of her stories, Abbie listed the countries they would be going to. I think they were England, France, Italy, Germany and Austria. I think I might be missing one or a little off with the five I listed. I thought she said they were leaving on May 1st.