Do you stay with friends/family when visiting places where they live?

[tvguy]

The older we get, and the older our friends and family get, we are more inclined we are to get a hotel room.
Makes for a more pleasant visit.
When our kids were little, like under age 4, a couple of times we rented a motorhome when we went to my wife's Grandparents house. Under 4 year olds who need naps and 80 year olds sometimes need quiet time apart. We'd just part the motorhome in their driveway.
My wifes best friend just successfully beat cancer after a 2 year battle. The last 2 years we were up many times for support, but got a hotel room. She lives in a one bedroom apartment, and slept on the couch and gave us her bed when we visited in the past. That just wasn't reasonable when she was ill.

EDITED: My Aunt and Uncle had a cabin (more like a house) on a Lake in Northern Saskatchewan. The closest hotel is an hour away, so everybody crashes in sleeping bags on the floor in the cabin. Their permanent residence is 30 minutes away, so once some of us overflow folks slept there one trip. But they built this cabin with the plan that they would often have guests, and often have a full house. Why else would a couple build a cabin with 5 bedrooms.

 

[Tink-osophy]

For a weekend visit, yes I have stayed at friends'/family's homes many times. That's usually long enough for me in somebody else's home (however lovely they are. Like you OP I like my freedom.

If we are talking actually vacation time, I'd definitely want to be staying in a hotel or rental.

 

[RedAngie]

I’ve stayed at an uncle’s house in Naples, FL about 6 or 7 times over the years, but never more than two nights at a time. We shift to a hotel after that, or the hotel stay is prior. That’s the only situation I recall staying at someone’s home during vacation.

One time I stayed overnight at a friend’s apartment in NYC.

 

[morgan98]

Friends generally not. When visiting friends, I prefer to stay in a hotel. We really do not have many friends we are close enough to that I would want to stay at their house in normal situations. Now, if there was some emergency or something (can't think of what that would be) maybe for one night.

As for family, we both have very small immediate families and yes we stay with our moms when we visit them and we would stay with my brother or my husband's siblings. We do not see each other that often but do get along that it is fine to stay with them and they stay with us. However, we generally only stay a handful of nights. We really do not go and spend a week or more with anyone at one time. I guess I am fine with this because it does allow us to have more total time together. We all also really like to cook, so we cook big meals together too and that is part of the fun.

I also never really consider these visits to family to be a vacation. More just a family visit. I would not consider staying at my mom's to be a vacation. When I am on vacation I want my own space and my own schedule. Two separate things.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Oh gosh, yes.
Friends make it easy to spend time with each other and vis a versa. No need to hop from place to place every two days and allows me to get a better, longer view of the landscape. The weekends allow us to giggle together and catch up on past times. When they need to go to work I can kick around and visit museums.
No space at the inn? Still cool to stay in a hotel and eat dinner with them.

 

[design_mom]

It depends.

If the purpose of the trip is to visit the host, then I might stay with them. It would depend on a variety of factors (including space available, personalities, and schedules). Overall, I would probably prefer to stay at a hotel, but the visit does seem more organic if it's not like "OK, we're leaving for now. We'll call you in the morning to figure out the plan."

I would generally NOT stay with someone, even if they offered, if the primary purpose of the trip was vacation/business, etc.

 

[Kittyblue]

Even when I go specifically to see family or friends I prefer to stay at a hotel. I like having my own space and not having to adjust to someone else's schedule or preferences, like my one friend who likes to reuse towels and I do not, and when I've stayed there she gives me grief for it.

 

[ronandannette]

None of our family members or close friends live in vacation destinations. If we go to their cities/towns, we're only doing so to see them. Practically everyone expects us to stay with them so we do. They are all welcome to stay with us too. The only exception is one of the DDs. She lives across the country in a small home with her 3 kids. It's no fun for her to have to try and make room for us, nor does it work well to have all of them here in our current home. Visits aren't frequent due to distance but when we do get together, the guests are in a hotel and we spend the days and evenings together.

 

[brockash]

We have friends and family all over the map, and quite often we find ourselves in their cities. They always tell us to stay with them, but we also are wired differently than most people. I am just as likely to make run to the store at midnight as I am to go at 6am. I can't sit still. I will typically wake up hours before the rest of the family, eat breakfast, run out, check things out, and bring back breakfast or make it. I know the offers are legit, because other family members do, in fact stay with them.

We have tons of family and friends in Orlando, and we get offered a place to stay all the time. It would be fine, but I just can't do it. Even though it costs me money, I like the sense of being on vacation that a hotel/resort provides.

Anybody else here weird like me? Or share the same habit?

In kinda depends, but we have family in Davenport...like literally 10-15 mins from Disney, but I can't imagine ever staying with them over a hotel/resort when vacationing at Disney...just not the same. They'd definitely be happy to have us, but I'm kinda selfish and just want my vacation time.

 

[DLgal]

Ugh. No. I hate doing that. I've done it at my parent's house in Orlando, but only for a couple nights. I stay in a hotel for the majority of my time and might tack on a night or 2 at their house afterwards.

My biggest thing is I NEED the A/C to be set at, basically, artic freeze levels of cold when I sleep. My parents keep their house at 75 year round and it is miserable at night.

I like to have control over my own environment, basically.

 

[anniemae]

I hate staying at peoples houses. I find it very uncomfortable. I feel awkward just walking into someones kitchen to get a drink and I feel like I can't get up until the hosts are up etc. I feel like I can't relax. Not for me.

 

[pigletliz]

Parents and sister only. They understand when we want to drive around or just hand out. When we visit other relatives, we stay in a hotel.

 

[leebee]

When we'd go to visit DH's family at Thanksgiving or for the 4th of July, we'd always stay with someone. His mom and 3 sisters all live within about a 10 mile radius of each other, so we'd always stay with one sister. When we moved to a neighboring state it was a 3 hour drive to visit the family so when DD was young, she and I would drive down and stay with the sister who had a son of the same age as DD (they are adults now and still best friends). Now it's all different: My MIL has passed away, one sister moved to a different state, another moved into MIL's house (but has grandkids living with her), and the third isn't speaking to anyone. If we do go visit, we get a hotel or airbnb. Of course, if we visit the sister who moved out of state, we ALWAYS stay at their house, and nobody'd have it any other way. I'm very comfortable in her home- it's always been that way, maybe because we spent so much time together when DD and my nephew were young.

My younger sister has a small apartment. When I go visit, I stay with her in her "cubby." If DD is with me we both stay in the cubby, but if DH and I are visiting, we get a hotel. There just isn't enough space. My sister and I can live in each other's back pockets, but DH needs space and privacy- neither of which are available when sleeping in the cubby! Our big dilemma comes in when we go visit my youngest sister, who lives just outside of NOLA (on the West Bank). When I go to New Orleans, I want to stay in the Quarter. I want to be in the middle of the madness, eating and drinking and playing at all hours of the day and night... and she doesn't get it. They always take time off from work when we are visiting, and always want us to stay with them. They are happy to drive us all into the city every day, but it's not the same, to me. She gets so hurt and offended when we don't stay with her, even if we do a few nights in the quarter and then a few nights at her house. It's hard to know what to do. Airfare to NOLA isn't cheap, and I don't want to be in the area without having some vacation time and some family time, ya know? It's gotten heated sometimes, to the point where my younger sister doesn't tell the youngest sister when she'll be in town. I hate to do that... but it is tempting, just to avoid the controversy and guilt.

 

[RangerPooh]

Nope. The exception was when we visited my grandparents when they lived in Hawaii. But that was over a decade ago, and they've since passed away.

 

[Kae]

Yup. I just went with my sister and spent a week in SW FL and we stayed at my Aunt & Uncles. I have a friend coming up tomorrow for the weekend she will stay here and I spent the weekend at her house 2 weeks ago.

 

[JenBush]

Depends. Close family, yes, more distant family, no. It also depends on how much space they have. One of my cousins has a big house with a guest bedroom and bathroom I can use. My other cousin that I am equally close to lives in smaller 1 bedroom apartment so I’m not gonna sleep on her couch if I don’t have to.

 

[TLSnell1981]

It depends on how long we are visiting. We really like our own space so usually stay in a nearby hotel.

 

[MamaMermaid]

Family always insists. I don't like staying with family though - no matter who they are or how much I love them. It's hard not to have your own space!

 

[tzolkin]

I would not stay with someone if I was on vacation. I think it would be awkward having to figure out coming and goings, getting ready in the mornings, etc. and I don't think I would find it comfortable or enjoyable enough. My family (husband and older kids) are all introverts so we like down time/our own space which is often not possible if you're staying with someone.

I would stay with a friend for a day or two if the purpose of my visit was to see them as long as they had the space and I was comfortable enough with them. Anything longer than that really only involves my parents (either them coming here or us going there).

 

[loves to dive]

Nope. The only ones we used to stay with are hubby's parents because there aren't really any decent motels/hotels in the small town in south Ga. they live in. Now we stay on their property but not in their house, we pull our 5th wheel down there and stay in it. They have a lot of land and hubby set up electrical for us, they already had water hook up. We aren't interfering with their every day life and get to sleep in our own bed, eat our own food when we want, go to bed and get up when we want and not worry about our dog and their dogs bothering each other. Otherwise, we find a RV park near to people and stay there.