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For most, going on vacation is full of excitement, joy and relaxation. But occasionally, the experience becomes more stressful than necessary. One mother recently shared on Mumsnet that her family's one-month-long getaway holiday was "gate-crashed" by her in-laws, who decided to stay at an apartment "around the corner" for 10 days.
Under the username Ismellspring, the mom shared the post just two days ago on the AIBU? (Am I Being Unreasonable?) channel and captioned it "'Escape from it all' holiday gate-crashed." Since then, the post has received 384 replies and the accompanying poll has seen a total of 1899 votes, with 78% voting that the OP (Original Poster) was not being unreasonable.
The mom described that prior to booking a holiday with her partner and their 6-year-old daughter, the family had "a very traumatic and emotionally draining 18 months."
"We just need somewhere to escape to, to regroup and unwind," the mother explained. The OP wrote that the family needed "this 'getting away from it all' opportunity to allow [them] to heal and begin to move on."
This ultimately led the family to decide to rent an apartment in an unspecified European city for a month this summer. The mom then described that her child has "doting grandparents," whom the family regularly visit and invite "every couple of months for a weekend."
This time, however, the couple had seemingly decided to invite the in-laws to the same European city that they've booked the holiday at, but for "the usual three days" only. The mother also wrote that she had reminded the in-laws that the family needed to get away from everything, after which the child's grandparents have booked for a 10-day stay at a nearby apartment.
"Don't worry, we won't intrude, they say. We know you need space to recuperate so we'll keep a low profile, they say. You'll never know we're here, they say," the mom reported them as saying. She then described her mother-in-law as "demanding and needy," and that "she thinks there's a life rule book and she wrote it."
Towards the end of the post, the woman wrote: "I've hit rock bottom. We were so looking forward to a whole month of a different normal and the space and sanctuary to begin to live again."
Since it was shared, the post has received an overwhelming amount of support from commenters.
"What a selfish move, it has taken away the joy of the build up," one user wrote.
"[Whoever's] parent it is needs to have strong words with them," they added.
And another commenter said: "They're crashing a third of your holiday. I wouldn't have it."
"...they are gate-crashing your peace and ruining the whole point of your holiday," another user agreed.
Others were curious to ask a few follow-up questions about whether the family is able to "cancel the booking and book somewhere else" without telling the in-laws. The OP had then responded with the following: "Sadly, no it can't be changed. I've tried to think of all possibilities and alternatives but that is causing increased anxiety when we should be looking forward to our holiday."
Meanwhile, a few commenters were confused as to why the family had invited the child's grandparents in the first place: "Why did you suggest they come, if you are trying to get away from everything?," one user wondered.
"You probably shouldn't have invited them to come and visit really," another commenter wrote.
The mother has then responded by saying: "You're all right - we should never have offered even a snifter of an invite. We have suffered so much as a family recently that we didn't want to create any drama or bad feelings."
This wouldn't be the first time an online post about a user's relationship with parents-in-law has gone viral. Newsweek recently reported on a Reddit post about a wife putting up a sex sign on the bedroom door to keep her mother-in-law from knocking. Newsweek also covered a story of how a woman made her mother-in-law stay in a hotel after she had made "bizarre" requests for sleeping arrangements.
