The thing you don't know is I have a family - INFJ wife and INTP son, both who are loath to rough it, and who both have their own issues with it I have to work with. I used to do such things just for the minimalist adventure of it but neither of them are into that game.
Pity.
We had some family squabbling recently about my sister coming down to Charleston to see my Dad. It hadn't happened in a long time, and my Dad put pressure on her to "make it so". Her husband didn't wanna! But I personally thought it was pretty important to get some actual father / daughter time going on, and I had intoned as much through diplomatic back channels. Ultimately, my sister went down there and dragged everyone else with them. Going down only by herself, was a possible scenario that I personally think needed to happen if her husband wasn't willing.
I think the point is, sometimes you have to drag the troops with you, kicking and screaming. And my sister
does not like to assert herself about things like this. But I don't think she's incapable of it.
Of course the other lesson, is this only works if
you yourself see value in the venture. If you yourself have cold feet, I don't know that I as a stranger am going to persuade you about the value of family ties. "I don't like what they do... " just wouldn't stop me. They are family. They'd have to be really ugly people on the inside, for me to avoid them.
Plus the expense, take a trip and start adding a multiplayer when you have a family (think, say a plane trip is $400, but you have to buy three tickets, hotel, food for three, ground transport ... just a next state hop starts getting into a few thousand easy).
For a family, it's economically irrational to take a plane 1 state over. Often even several states over. You do have 2 adult drivers, who I'm assuming can switch off, so I'm not really seeing the problem there. My Mom is in her 60s and was managing 10 hour drives by herself, although now she's sick of it and says she's gonna fly from now on. She has the money and it's only her going, so not that big a deal for her.
You can buy groceries. You don't have to eat out. No, food on the road is not
that tiring to deal with. Cooler, sandwich stuff, yogurt, vegetables, whatever. I live this way permanently. Helps that literally half my life is at a grocery store, to get the free electricity and wifi. Anyways even if you do intend to eat out sometimes for convenience, carting your own groceries around greatly alleviates the cost. My family bought "breakfast and lunch" stuff even when visiting the Cayman Islands, not a cheap trip by any means. It can also just be faster than sit down service. Eat and go.
Motel expense doesn't sound like it's going away in your case. They can be made to have microwaves or mini-kitchens. Failing that, bring a hotplate. I mostly cook with an electric skillet I got from the Goodwill for $10. They retail for about $20.
I appreciate your suggestions, and QuickTwists relevant comments, but I have been all over this issue and there's no simple answer. It's a fairly common pattern with large ES dominant families, the Kennedy's were like this. I think Jackie was the lone intuitive who had equal difficulty with them.
I'm not buying that it's an 'N' problem. Sure, they all want to do different stuff than you... but isn't the real problem, that you don't want to have to assert yourself to do
something else? That sounds more like an 'I' problem.
I'm 'I' but not strongly so. I'd just assert myself and we'd do something else. Not everyone, of course, but I'd find my contingent and my time slot. And if my first attempt didn't 'sell', I'd try something else. I think I'd find something.
Ever played the game "Mad Libs" ? That would probably work.
Backgammon is a good game for stupid people, that won't bore you for a little while at least. You can try making deliberately bad moves if it's not challenging enough. They probably won't notice.
There are some good casual dice games of the "press your luck" variety that can be common ground. I recommend "Inca Gold". Technically I guess that's "cards being turned up randomly", not dice. Too many cards turn up, and the tomb collapses. Your job is to get massive wealth before it does. If everyone else bails out early, you have more loot to take!
