If your family vacations included these 7 places, you grew up with more privilege than most

My family vacations growing up were road trips to visit relatives in other parts of California.

We’d drive, stay with family, and maybe hit a local attraction or two.

My partner’s family vacations included Europe, ski resorts, and tropical destinations. They flew places, stayed in hotels, and planned trips specifically around experiencing new locations.

Neither approach was wrong, but they represent completely different levels of economic privilege.

Where families vacation isn’t just about travel. It’s about disposable income, job flexibility, cultural capital, and the kind of security that allows you to spend thousands of dollars on experiences rather than necessities.

If your childhood vacations regularly included these seven places, you grew up with significantly more privilege than most people.

1) International destinations requiring passports

Most American families never travel internationally with their children. The cost alone puts it out of reach—flights, accommodations, food in foreign currencies, all adding up to thousands per person.

But beyond cost, international travel requires job flexibility, passport fees, and the cultural knowledge to navigate foreign countries. It signals economic and educational privilege.

Families who regularly took international vacations weren’t just wealthy enough to afford it. They had jobs that allowed extended time off, parents with passports and travel experience, and the confidence to navigate different countries and cultures.

My partner went to Europe multiple times growing up. They saw it as normal. I never left the country until my twenties, and even then it felt like a major financial undertaking.

2) Ski resorts

Skiing is one of the most class-segregated recreational activities. The cost of lift tickets, equipment, lodging, and travel to mountain resorts makes it accessible almost exclusively to upper-middle-class and wealthy families.

Families who regularly skied weren’t just paying for one vacation. They were paying for equipment, lessons, season passes, and often owning or renting property near resorts.

The cultural capital required is also significant. Knowing how to ski, which resorts are good, and how to navigate ski culture is class knowledge passed down in privileged families.

I never skied growing up. The cost was incomprehensible. My partner skied every winter and didn’t realize until adulthood that this wasn’t normal for most families.

3) Disney World or Disneyland multiple times

One Disney trip might be a major saved-for event for middle-class families. Multiple Disney trips signals genuine wealth.

Disney vacations are expensive. Tickets, hotels, food, travel—a family trip easily costs several thousand dollars. Doing this regularly requires disposable income most families don’t have.

It also signals values about childhood experience and spending on entertainment that come with economic security. Families struggling financially don’t prioritize theme park visits.

My family went to Disneyland once when I was young. It was a significant event, saved for and planned around. My partner’s family went multiple times because it was a reasonable expense for them.

4) Beach resorts in tropical locations

Hawaii, Caribbean islands, Mexican resorts—destinations that require flights, resort accommodations, and significant travel budgets.

These aren’t drive-to beaches. They’re vacation destinations that cost thousands per person and require planning around school schedules and work flexibility.

Families who regularly vacationed at tropical beach resorts had the income to afford premium travel, the jobs that allowed extended time off, and the cultural knowledge to navigate resort booking and international beach destinations.

This was completely outside my family’s vacation universe growing up. We went to California beaches we could drive to. The idea of flying to Hawaii or the Caribbean for vacation was luxury we couldn’t fathom.

5) National parks with extended camping or lodging

This one is subtle because national parks seem accessible. But families who regularly did extended national park vacations with proper gear and multi-day stays had specific privileges.

The equipment alone represents significant investment. Quality camping gear, appropriate vehicles, outdoor knowledge—these require money and cultural capital.

Extended stays require job flexibility and the ability to take vacation time. Families working multiple jobs or hourly positions often can’t take week-long camping trips.

My family did some camping, but it was local and minimal. Extended national park tours with proper equipment weren’t in our economic reality.

Families who spent summers touring national parks had both the gear and the time flexibility that signals privilege.

6) Educational or cultural trips

Trips specifically designed around museums, historical sites, or educational experiences signal privilege beyond just wealth.

These vacations represent cultural capital and educational values that come with upper-middle-class and wealthy backgrounds. The idea that vacation should be educational, not just recreational, is class-specific.

Families who took their kids to Washington D.C. to see monuments, to historical sites for learning, or to museum-focused destinations were investing in cultural education through travel.

This requires both money and specific values about childhood development that correlate strongly with class position and education level.

7) Destinations involving expensive activities

Vacations centered around activities like sailing, horseback riding, golf, or other equipment-intensive recreational pursuits signal specific class privilege.

These aren’t just expensive vacations. They’re vacations that assume familiarity with upper-class recreational activities and the resources to pursue them.

Families who took sailing vacations, stayed at dude ranches, or planned trips around golf weren’t just paying for travel. They were immersed in specific cultural practices that come with wealth.

I’ve never been sailing recreationally. I’ve never stayed at a dude ranch. These activities weren’t in my family’s cultural universe, not just because of cost but because they weren’t part of our class experience.

Final thoughts

Vacation destinations are one of the clearest markers of childhood economic privilege because they’re discretionary spending that reveals both wealth and values.

Families who couldn’t afford vacations at all, or whose vacations meant visiting relatives and sleeping on couches, weren’t lacking in love or good parenting. They just didn’t have the economic resources for destination travel.

Recognizing vacation patterns as privilege markers isn’t about making anyone feel guilty. It’s about understanding that childhood experiences vary dramatically based on economic position.

If your family regularly vacationed at multiple destinations on this list, you grew up with significant privilege. That doesn’t make you bad, but it does mean your childhood included experiences most people never access.

If your family vacations were road trips to relatives, local camping, or nonexistent, you weren’t missing out on proper childhood. You just experienced the economic reality most families navigate.

My partner and I still have different instincts about vacation spending. They see international travel as normal and worth prioritizing. I see it as luxury requiring careful consideration.

Neither perspective is wrong, but they’re shaped by completely different childhood experiences of what’s normal and accessible.

Understanding these differences helps explain why people have such different assumptions about what’s possible, reasonable, or worth spending money on.

Vacation privilege isn’t just about where you went. It’s about the economic security, job flexibility, and cultural capital required to make those destinations possible and normal rather than extraordinary.