23-year-old woman plans a long-awaited family beach trip with her parents and 21-year-old sister, purposely not inviting her 19-year-old stepbrother Jake after he ruined the last summer’s amusement park vacation: ‘ Jake tagged along. It was a DISASTER’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
May 16, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

Reuniting one's original family crew for a nostalgic beach escape sounds straightforward, unless you factor in the joys of post-divorce blending, where every trip comes preloaded with bonus drama. Victory at the slots means this dutiful daughter is footing the bill for some high-stakes healing, fully prepared to revive the pre-split tradition of sun, sand, and ideally, zero meltdowns. 

But that won't happen if it depends on Jake, the stepbrother whose greatest contribution to last summer's amusement park trip was a symphony of complaints, expertly engineered parental conflict, and a magic trick where he vanished for three hours only to later claim surprise at the family panic.

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  • With fond memories of arcade-induced chaos still fresh, the decision is made to keep this one strictly to the bio-family cast. Three days of relaxation with minimal risk of headline-worthy meltdowns, or so she hoped. Not so fast. The stepmom, ever ready to champion the cause of forced inclusion, brands her the villain of the season, while dad suddenly morphs into the enforcer of compulsory sibling bonding. Now the group chat is ablaze with righteous outrage, accusations of exclusion, and reminders that real family means forgiving everyone but the one person trying not to recreate last year’s disaster.

  • "AITAH for not including my stepbrother in my "family trip" after he deliberately ruined a previous vacation?"

    "He complained about everything, started drama between my parents on purpose, and disappeared for THREE HOURS without telling anyone"
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  • Ok so I'm in this whole family drama situation and genuinely wondering if I'm being the AH here...
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  • I (23F) planned this beach trip with my mom, dad and sister (21F) that's basically reviving our old family tradition from before my parents split 8 years ago.
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  • We're finally at a point where everyone gets along again, so yay healing or whatever.
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  • My dad remarried 2 years ago, so now I have a stepbrother "Jake" (19M). We're not like enemies but definitely not besties either.
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  • Less Than Jake

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  • Last summer I planned this amusement park weekend and Jake tagged along. It was a DISASTER. This guy complained
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  • about literally everything, started drama between my parents on purpose, and then disappeared for THREE HOURS without telling
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  • anyone. We were all panicking, searching everywhere, and he was just chilling at the arcade claiming he "forgot" to check his phone. Trip = ruined.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Fast forward to now - I've been carefully saving up for this beach trip, with mind that we have fun and don't have same issues like
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  • last summer.. Since this trip is specifically about reconnecting with my bio family, I didn't include Jake in the plans and without any personal issues. I'd
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  • rather not have him with us, than deal with that stuff again. He is a teenager anyway so few days alone at home will benefit him too for sure.
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  • Well... stepmom found out and is now acting like I committed a war crime My dad's giving me an ultimatum that either Jake comes or he's not coming either. Getting
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  • bombarded with spicy texts about how I'm "deliberately making Jake feel excluded" and "not accepting him as family."
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  • I tried explaining about the previous trip nightmare but apparently I'm just "holding a grudge" and "real family forgives."
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  • AITA for just wanting ONE drama- free vacation after what happened last time? Or should I just sk it up and accept that Jake is now automatically included in everything forever?
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  • HotFox4151 Make it a girls trip for you, your mum and your sister. At least you'll all have fun
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  • Timely_Proposal_1821 NTA for wanting a trip with only your bio family, but obviously your dad isn't on board.
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  • Tell your dad he's invited, and it's up to him to decide if he wants to come or not, but your step brother isn't welcomed. Did your step brother ever apologize for
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  • his behavior, or at least acknowledge it was immature of him? If not I wouldn't want him to tag along either.
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  • Egg McMuffn This sounds a little odd to me. She wants to revive a family vacation tradition from before her parents split. But they are split and the dad is remarried. She's expecting him to go on vacation with his ex-wife and without his current wife?
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  • I agree that turning it into a girls' trip is the way to go. Expecting her father to exclude part of his family from a family trip is not realistic.
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