Sometimes a family vacation is just what everyone, from the kids to the parents, desperately needs.

But when you think about the “Are we there yet?”‘s, stressing about entertaining them for a week, and stopping a million times to whiz, sometimes you realize it might be just a trip for Mom and Dad!

And there’s nothing wrong with Mom and Dad having some alone time, especially if you can leave the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for a week while you guys decompress!

So when this user won a free trip to Florida, he quickly realized him and his wife had very different plans for his week, namely that his wife wanted to bring his step-daughter and mother in law!

Was he in the wrong for putting his foot down about his own vacation?

See for yourself!

AITA For not letting my wife hijack a free vacation

One of my (39M) hobbies is entering raffles, sweepstakes, radio contests, etc.

I’ve won tickets to concerts, sporting events, some household items, gift cards, but never a grand prize like a car or vacation.

That is, until last month, when I won a free trip for 4 people to Florida for 5 nights. Obviously, I was super excited and told my wife (38F) about it right away.

But it soon became clear that OP and his wife had wildly different plans for his trip…

After our initial excitement wore off and we started talking about details, it became apparent we had conflicting ideas about this trip.

Before I could even make suggestions about what I want this trip to be, my wife brought up how excited her 11-year-old daughter would be and how we could go to Disney, Sea World, etc.

She then said that we can bring her mom with to help watch her daughter so that we could have some time for ourselves.

She was so excited about it and was getting wrapped up in planning things without even hearing what I wanted.

And when OP tried to share his idea for his own trip, his wife was having none of it!

I told her that all of that sounds like fun, but I was thinking that we could invite another couple and have it be an adult-only trip instead of bringing my stepdaughter and MIL with.

She did not like my idea one bit and told me that she wouldn’t feel right taking a free trip like that and leaving her daughter behind.

She also said that her mom has never been to Florida and this would be a perfect opportunity for her to go there.

We argued back and forth a little bit before deciding to take a break and come back to it before telling anyone about it.

That didn’t last for long however, as his wife soon “accidentally” told her daughter about the trip her step-dad had won!

Well, that lasted about 24-hours before my wife let it slip to her daughter that I had won a trip.

So, of course stepdaughter immediately got excited about it and started looking into all the things she wants to do.

I asked my wife why she told her daughter and she said it was an accident, which, come on. It started a fight between us and emotions got a little high.

I told her she was wrong to bring her daughter into this after we agreed to wait and that I never agreed to take stepdaughter or MIL on this trip.

I told her that I was the one who won the trip and she was acting like this was something specifically for her.

But OP’s wife pushed back, saying that he was actually the one acting selfish about his own trip!

She told me I was being selfish and that we should include those closest to us in something like this, especially when neither stepdaughter or MIL have ever been to Florida.

She said that bringing another couple and leaving her daughter home would be cruel, especially now that she’s so excited about it.

I told her that her daughter is only excited about it because she decided to blab to her about it instead of waiting like we had agreed.

And OP said he would rather not go on the trip altogether than have it completely out of his hands!

I told her if she wants to bring her daughter and MIL then she can also pick someone else to go with.

I would rather stay home by myself than go on a vacation that where I don’t get to be involved in any decisions.

I said that if she wants to go that route, she certainly can, but I’m not paying for any of it (we have separate finances).

Now she thinks I’m being a jerk and should be happy about having a free family trip.

I understand wanting to bring your family to somewhere they’ve never had the chance to go, but the one who actually won the trip should probably have a say in how the trip is spent!

Reddit said while they could see both OP and his wife’s side, ultimately it was his trip and he shouldn’t be made to feel bad about how he wants to spend it.

Others thought there may have been some unmentioned reason why OP wouldn’t want his stepdaughter to come on the trip.

But this child of frequent travelers said it didn’t bother her when her parents took vacations without her.

And finally this person said it wasn’t just about not having kids, sometimes it was just important to get time alone as a couple.

Either way, OP’s vacation should be his escape from his stress, not it’s cause!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.