Vacations as a kid: Flying to California staying with grandparents for two weeks....later on staying in a hotel. A couple trips to Disneyland, but mostly relaxed around the house. Meals were mostly take out, but aside from Disneyland we didn't do much else but enjoy the cooler than KC temps and play outside.
Vacations now with kids: Road trips in our Versa. We try to find places with kitchenettes and only eat out (cheaply) for one meal a day. We have taken 3 KC-CO-UT-CA trips with my daughter, two with the boy. We just got back from a Chicago trip that was designed around some company paid training for my husband. The hotel was paid for, our gas would get taken care of, plus the per-diem food allowance would cover our entire family. So we took the kids and while my husband was in training the kids and I explored different parks, nature reserves, the Brookfield zoo. We managed to squeeze in two museums (free with our KC Science City pass!) with the husband on Sunday and Saturday before/after his training. I must say, I did get extremely tired of chocolate (nutella) sandwiches on this last trip, but the kids loved them! We are hopeful to get approved for more training in Seattle later this year, and we'll plan another road trip around it and reuse our Nat'l Park pass that will still be good from our last CA trip and hit up three more parks we haven't seen yet.
So while our trips are inflated in some ways (more activities, more sights, more overall hotel stays) they are different, too, in that we aren't flying everywhere. It's kind of hard to compare. While I have very fond memories of my vacations growing up, I do prefer how we travel now and stay busy. I'm a SAHM, so travel is more about seeing new things, doing things with the kids and the hubby, and I get my break from not having to meal plan (too much) and clean/do dishes. Plus it's an adult/kid ration of 1:1 so that's easier for me.