December Vacations... Whether To Go Or Not

We planned for a long vacation to Sri Lanka (home) in May. But unfortunately the vacation turned out to be a medical emergency, and I had to undergo a surgery, and bedrest on medical leave. We returned back during mid- June and hoped to go back to Sri Lanka after a year.

Therefore, we rented out both of our houses in the country, and appointed managers to run the business there.

For this Christmas, my family wanted to go to Israel to visit the Holy land. But unfortunately the trip to Israel got postponed to April, and shortened for just 1 week due to some administrative reasons. Yesterday, I was informed that I have around 35 days of AL, which I can not carry forward to the next cycle. Which means, I either take them within this year or lose them.

My family wants to go back to Sri Lanka, and spend another long vacation since they did not enjoy the last vacation due to my health condition.
They feel suffocated being here without extended family.

In fact, we had the warmth of living with extended family members (my brother, my sister, cousins and uncles plus some close family friends) back in Sri Lanka and had the joy of spending quality time with each other.
Here in this foreign land, it is just us. There are some Sri Lankan & Indian families, some others from south Asia, but we maintain just Hi-bye level of friendship with them. I & my husband are part of the community whatsapp groups here, and visit some of these families. But my family (mainly kids & mom) don't.
But kids have their own play areas, and fun times here. Yet, they all miss home badly.

When we analyze further, it is not the people but the warmth of our home that is being heavily missed here.
Ours is a 3 storied villa, with many rooms. All the family functions, and gatherings happen there.
Whenever we visit home, the extended family come there, and spend days and nights with us. We celebrate birthdays, Christmas, new year etc..etc.. together. Cook together, watch movies together and what not.

Since the house is now rented out, we have no place to call it home in Sri Lanka. Either we should stay with siblings or rent out a furnished house for a month.
Both options have their own issues....

Siblings do not have huge houses with extra rooms. They accommodate their in laws, and have frequent guests from their extended in laws family. We are 5 members, and it will be ok if it is for just a couple of days stay. Anything more than that would be uncomfortable for us and them.
Besides, my brother & sister lives far from each other. So, having both of them together under one roof and enjoy family time is impossible if we decide to stay with one or the other.

Renting a furnished apartment would solve this problem. But then it is a very expensive idea given the cozy expectations from my family. We need an apartment with many rooms to host all the 3 families if we want this type of gatherings.

We thought of spending very limited time at home & visit places as we did not enjoy doing the same during last visit. Sri Lanka is a tourist destination and it will never be enough of visiting some places.
But, in December, especially during the monsoon season and Christmas approaching, we can't keep on roaming all days. We need a place of our own to stay and enjoy the privacy. Else, this vacation would be just another change of location only.

With sky rocketing of air ticket prices, I want this trip to be memorable and rejuvenating. I am not ready to compromise on anything this time. Else, I can use the money & 30 days of leaves here to give some cozy experience to the family.

My husband is being very practical and suggests we should invest the money into a property (perhaps add more) and buy a small house in village like (yet with necessary facilities) location & slowly renovate the same.
This way, we will have a stand-by house ready with basic necessities whenever we visit home.

Because the other two houses in the country are luxury houses, and they give us a good rental income.

PS: We will be rotating around the world for work for the next couple of years until I chose to retire, and go back to the country for good. Until then, we need a place to call ours in Sri Lanka.

Any thoughts????

 

Thanks, this is a wonderful idea. I did not think about Airbnb option while discussing this with family.
I will propose this & see how it goes. Thanks again