The Worst Vacation Trends of the Last 100 Years

At the beginning of each year , travel publications often like to peer into their watch crystal balls and predict the hot novel trend in travel : safaris are in , glamping is out , and out space … well , book your all - inclusive trip-up to Mars now !

But rather than take care forth , this year we guess it ’d be fun to glimpse backwards . And not just back at travel trends that trance fire over the past 100 , but at the out-and-out worst ones that caught fire . Although not the 1 that , literally , caught firing – like zeppelins .

So from family cantonment and dude ranches to selfie stick and blistering dog leg , here are a few vacation ideas we all could have probably done without .

man and woman using selfie stick on vacation

Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock

Road trips in trailers

As more Americans corrupt machine in the thirties , the popularity of trailer - bivouacking vacations skyrocketed . Now family could reasonably much hale everything they take to avoid staying in a hotel or eating at eatery with them on vacation . sound like a good time , right ? Yeah , not so much for the moms , who were still in charge of all the housework and meals as if they never left home – effectively guarantee they get no holiday on their vacation .

surprisingly , despite the natural gas crisis in the early seventies , the RV life style gained popularity yet again . Like , someone even invented a FLYING Winnebago(though it never direct off ; bad paronomasia intended ) . Poor mama .

Dude-ranch vacations

After WWII , parents were looking for wholesome thing the entire family line could do together . And thanks to a fascination at that time with the Wild West , that wholesome thing was go on a dude - ranch vacation . In the ' 50s and ' 60 , there were more than 60 dude spread in Southern Arizona alone . Guests would go fly fishing , hogback riding , and enjoy hearty home - cooked meal family - style . OK , OK . This one does n’t sound so bad ; just a footling hokey .

Family summer camps

You probably learn about this one watchingDirty Dancing , but from the 1920s to the sixties , NYC families flocked to recourse in the Catskills to expend the summer . So what ’s so sucky about that ? Well , the moms and the kids would stay all summertime . The daddy , however , would have to move the 100 stat mi back and forward to New York City every week . After all , someone had to pay the peak . Maybe it was payback for those trailers from the ‘ 30s .

Either way , it eventually had to come to an end . As Max Kellerman says in the photographic film ’s final scene , “ You think nipper require to come with their parents to take foxtrot lessons ? trip to Europe ! That ’s what the kids need . ”

Vacation slideshow “parties”

In the sixties , if your acquaintance went on holiday , there was a good chance that when they capture home , you would be invited over to sit in the living room as they snap through icon of the ENTIRE head trip . Using a carousel slideshow projector . While telling painstakingly boring floor about each pic . Now we just hit " like " on Facebook and never have to hear about their trip again . Hopefully .

Smoking on airplanes

It ’s hard to believe that until 1990 , it was still legal to smoke on a lot of US flights over two hours . Sure , airlines started separate the smokers from the non - smokers in the former ' 70s , but since grass is surprisingly undeterred by a fragile curtain in the aisle , reasonably much everyone ( especially the flight attender ) issue from the plane smelling like an ashtray .

Fanny packs

At some breaker point in the ' 80 and early ' 90s , sane people who carried handbags decide that when they traveled , a butt multitude was the only intellectual way to tote personal holding . Sure , it ’s a hand - liberal situation , and sure , it lessen the luck of being pickpocketed when endure as a tummy pack , but sometimes fashion needs to gain over function ( no matter what Gianni Jaccoma says ) . Fanny packs were one of those times .

Group sing-alongs at Club Med

OK , all right . We actually love a group sing - along , but only if it ’s impromptu or occurring around a campfire . Unfortunately , neither is the case with Club Med ’s overplayed anthem " Hands Up ( Give Me Your kernel ) " by Ottawan that guests literally hear and dance to every single nighttime during their holiday . This tradition has been go on since the other ' 80s and probably wo n’t decease until Club Med does .

“Witty” photos

Oh , calculate at you hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa , pinching the top of the Eiffel Tower , and kissing the Sphinx . Are n’t you just the most original person – NO , NO YOU ARE NOT.Photos like thismake us nostalgic for the fourth dimension when film was expensive and therefore not wasted .

Hot dog legs

If a female child goes to the beach and does n’t take a pic of her thighs and the sea , was she even at the beach at all ? Yeah , thanks to smartphones , the stupid tan - legs - by - the - water photograph is so rampant that someone in conclusion created aTumblrdedicated to mocking the trend . regrettably , that did nothing to stop the pics and instead just think of everyone now tag them with # hotdoglegs , effectively doing their good to ruin America ’s favourite ballpark food for thought .

Glamping

If you ’re " too fancy " to peddle a collapsible shelter and cook your food over a fervidness , just do yourself a favor and skip the whole bivouacking trip in the first place . If someone else make your bed , bring you Champagne , and serves you a five - star dinner , that ’s not really " glamourous camping " at all ; that ’s just being on vacation .

Selfie sticks & #blessed

2014 was the year of the selfie stick ; apparently , we no longer jazz how ( or need ) to set about strangers and kindly ask them to take our photo . alternatively , tourists tug a metal rod everywhere with them because in this day and eld , literallyeverythingis a photo chance . # nofilter # blessed

The PDX carpet

It ’s bad enough when people take to Twitter and post " SFO > PDX , " but it ’s even bad when they post the ubiquitous PDX carpet pic . honourable mentions : people who say they " compile " cities , Tweet " NYC I ’m in you ! , " use Swarm to check off in at the aerodrome , at the bar at the airdrome , at the gate at the airdrome , and then their flight phone number , or caption their Instagram pics with " Paris , I think I lie with you . " But mostly , ugh , that carpet . We hop when the young carpet was installed , the pics would stop . Alas , life is not that kind .

Unplugging

Now that we all take the air around with diminutive calculator seize to our hands , it ’s pop to go on a slip and not bring devices . Except that no one seems to be capable of unplugging without run on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter , and announcing they ’re doing so . Also , drear , but what ’s the stop of work on holiday if you are n’t always bragging about it on social medium ?

Daisy Barringeris an SF - based writer who fully intromit to using social media to brag about when she ’s have got more fun than anyone else . See for yourself on Twitter:@daisy .

caravan car family vacation