John is quite right. He will never do that again. In the course of the comic strip, John will never again go to visit either his parents or Elly's parents in their homes. Elly, on the other hand, will visit her family a few more times in their homes.
As for Elly's protestation, "John, we couldn't visit your family without visiting mine!" That is a load of nonsense. Yes, you could. John is a dentist whose business shuts down when he is not there. A one-week trip to visit either parent would be a lot easier time to take off than 3 weeks where you spend days apparently doing nothing but driving.
1) Elly appears to have killed any impulse he might have to travel with the kids. Her mother's passing got her all het up to uproot her dad. This trip is why.
2) One week of flying to separate destinations would have made more sense. I guess that's why they didn't.
For 29 of the last thirty summers, my family has rented a beach cottage in New Hampshire for one week. For almost all of those 29 years I've been the only male on the trip with three women (my mother, older sister, and niece- for the last two summers, my niece's husband and their two children have come along, but as I've said out loud, while I'm not the only male on the trip anymore, I'm still the only adult man.)
For those 29 years, I've been responsible for getting everything down to the beach- cooler, chairs, umbrella- in the morning, and everything back up, in the evening. I have to find parking for both cars, and usually have to pay for it, too. I spend more time with the children than their dad does (MUCH more time, as he's staring at his phone most of the week.)
This year I came back from a "vacation" that cost me well over a thousand dollars thinking, "never again." From now on, I'll take trips of more than a few days by myself and actually relax, thank you very much. John did not have a good vacation because he carried anchors with him everywhere he went. He had to do too much prep and had to continue to work while on "vacation." He had someone constantly telling him that he needed to Stop Doing That, so he could Do This instead. Everyone had a relaxing time except him. I know what that feels like. Never Again.
Elly doesn't understand what a pain in the ass she is to travel with. She talks a good game about going off on her own because (for some reason that eludes her) John behaves as if she's difficult to accommodate:
but she would be lost without someone to take care of unforeseeable details which really aren't her responsibility (so quit yelling at her for getting the wrong size room on the train).
That's how it usually works. If other people are not willing to pitch in, I have seen many family gatherings end when the person running the show gets tired of doing it all themselves.
It's the driving, followed by the complaining of exhaustion, that gets me. John could easily have made this trip much more enjoyable and relaxing by simply flying the family out West and then renting a car for local use. Instead, half the trip is spent driving from motel to motel and dealing with the monotonous boredom that is car travel.*
*or American travel. I am at this moment on Amtrak, traveling 12 hours from Vermont to Washington, DC (a 10 hour drive.) The hours and hours and hours are just flying by./s
We took long car rides with our kids when they were little and we did not have the money for airfare. Once we started making a little more we bought the plane tickets (and although there are issues with that), it was so much better for actually enjoying your time.
John is quite right. He will never do that again. In the course of the comic strip, John will never again go to visit either his parents or Elly's parents in their homes. Elly, on the other hand, will visit her family a few more times in their homes.
As for Elly's protestation, "John, we couldn't visit your family without visiting mine!" That is a load of nonsense. Yes, you could. John is a dentist whose business shuts down when he is not there. A one-week trip to visit either parent would be a lot easier time to take off than 3 weeks where you spend days apparently doing nothing but driving.
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1) Elly appears to have killed any impulse he might have to travel with the kids. Her mother's passing got her all het up to uproot her dad. This trip is why.
2) One week of flying to separate destinations would have made more sense. I guess that's why they didn't.
Reply
For 29 of the last thirty summers, my family has rented a beach cottage in New Hampshire for one week. For almost all of those 29 years I've been the only male on the trip with three women (my mother, older sister, and niece- for the last two summers, my niece's husband and their two children have come along, but as I've said out loud, while I'm not the only male on the trip anymore, I'm still the only adult man.)
For those 29 years, I've been responsible for getting everything down to the beach- cooler, chairs, umbrella- in the morning, and everything back up, in the evening. I have to find parking for both cars, and usually have to pay for it, too. I spend more time with the children than their dad does (MUCH more time, as he's staring at his phone most of the week.)
This year I came back from a "vacation" that cost me well over a thousand dollars thinking, "never again." From now on, I'll take trips of more than a few days by myself and actually relax, thank you very much. John did not have a good vacation because he carried anchors with him everywhere he went. He had to do too much prep and had to continue to work while on "vacation." He had someone constantly telling him that he needed to Stop Doing That, so he could Do This instead. Everyone had a relaxing time except him. I know what that feels like. Never Again.
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Elly doesn't understand what a pain in the ass she is to travel with. She talks a good game about going off on her own because (for some reason that eludes her) John behaves as if she's difficult to accommodate:
but she would be lost without someone to take care of unforeseeable details which really aren't her responsibility (so quit yelling at her for getting the wrong size room on the train).
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A heart-warming comic strip until you get to Elly's thought balloon.
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Predicated, as always, on her refusal to admit that she's a wearisome, high-maintenance nuisance who's more trouble than she's worth.
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And of course, she does not mean she would be driving the other car. It would just not be John driving it.
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That's how it usually works. If other people are not willing to pitch in, I have seen many family gatherings end when the person running the show gets tired of doing it all themselves.
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It's the driving, followed by the complaining of exhaustion, that gets me. John could easily have made this trip much more enjoyable and relaxing by simply flying the family out West and then renting a car for local use. Instead, half the trip is spent driving from motel to motel and dealing with the monotonous boredom that is car travel.*
*or American travel. I am at this moment on Amtrak, traveling 12 hours from Vermont to Washington, DC (a 10 hour drive.) The hours and hours and hours are just flying by./s
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It would be more enjoyable still if he weren't shackled to an inept dimwit who can't be asked to be near children.
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We took long car rides with our kids when they were little and we did not have the money for airfare. Once we started making a little more we bought the plane tickets (and although there are issues with that), it was so much better for actually enjoying your time.
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And the way Lynn drew Elly's face to say that line, in the first panel, is weird.
In the third panel: Is John in bed? How much of a pause did he take in their conversation between panels two and three?
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And the way Lynn drew Elly's face to say that line, in the first panel, is weird.
She does look oddly fearful. John had a terrible time and Elly knows it's her fault and appears to be slightly frightened of John's reaction.
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