When you’re facing your final school exams, life can feel a bit daunting.

You don’t know what’s coming next, and it feels like everything rests on the answers you provide on the day.

It’s scary – so it’s wonderful to have something to look forward to, a little bit of hope and certainty after that final exam paper is finished.

For the teen in this story, that promised thing is a big family holiday – and they’ve been excited about it for years.

But when it comes, it’s really not what they expected.

Read on to find out how this teen was left feeling like they were in the wrong.

AITA for being annoyed at my family over this?

I am 16 and currently sitting my exams. My parents have always promised that we’ll go on a family holiday once my exams are finished.

As a result, they always say things like “I can’t buy that, we need to save money for holidays.”

So for the past couple of years, I have been buying my own clothes, personal care items (toothpaste, toothbrushes, face wash, etc) toiletries (shampoo, etc), out of my own money, as well as other things that are not essentials like decor.

We have enough money, though we live in an expensive town in an expensive part of the country.

Let’s see how the holiday plans are turning out.

I’ve never been abroad and I have always wanted to go to somewhere in Europe.

I was discussing this with my parents yesterday and my mum refused to go anywhere by plane because she is afraid of flying.

She insisted that if we were going to go anywhere, it would be by train, but said that as the trains out of the UK are so expensive it would just not be worth it.

For example, a flight to Denmark would cost just over £100 return, whereas the train would take 3 days total and would cost over £2000.

And all was not as this teen expected.

They have been promising a big family holiday to me, which is why I have been buying my own things like I mentioned, to make sure they have enough money.

Now we are going on a trip to Cornwall, where we go to every single year.

It rains all the time, and it actually costs much more than anywhere abroad, just because my mum refuses to fly.

I want to say that I am very grateful for my parents and the stuff that they do for me, but I am annoyed at this. I feel like I sound like a huge brat though.

AITA?

It’s understandable that this teen feels disappointed, and like they’re not getting the post-exam reward that they have long been promised.

Though their mother’s phobia is clearly an issue that they can be empathetic towards, it’s hard not to feel let down in this situation.

Sure the parameters were clearly never agreed, but it’s unfair that this teen felt so guilty asking them to spend ‘holiday money’ that they’ve been buying their own toiletries for years, as a minor.

Let’s see what Reddit had to say about this.

This person totally understood the frustration.

And others encouraged them to make their own plans going forward.

Meanwhile, this Redditor pointed out just how much their parents have been neglecting them.

It’s one thing to promise a holiday, it’s another to promise a big family trip to celebrate a big milestone in a child’s life – the end of their exams – and then provide the same holiday they go on every year.

This child has been making concessions for their parents, effectively helping them to save up for years, and it’s very understandable that they are disappointed.

Meanwhile their parents can’t – or aren’t interested in – taking their child’s dreams into account.

What a let down.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.