All-in-the-Family Vacations
More families are opting for group vacations – here’s how to gather the clan for a memorable, peaceful trip
Going on vacation with a dozen or so of your closest relatives is a frightening proposition. Will you get along together, day in and day out?
It isn’t easy. But it is absolutely worth doing.
“In the last few years families have been traveling together in record numbers, and one in five such trips taken in the last year included three generations,” says Peter W. Mason, travel marketing director for the Meredith Corporation which surveys travel trends. Often it’s the grandparents who organize the whole thing because the parents are so busy working and coping that they don’t have the time or the energy.”
Family vacations have historically been simple affairs, camping out in the park or piling into a rented house at the lake or Great Aunt Sally’s farmhouse upstate. While those types of vacations are still popular, more sophisticated options include cruises where the kids are busy all day and the adults are offered more entertainment than they can possibly absorb.
A vacation together gives everyone a chance to hang out, get reacquainted, retell old family stories, have fun and bond. But take care - it also provides the perfect opportunity to dredge up resentments that have been simmering since childhood and to settle old scores, especially among grown siblings.
We all tried very hard to be accommodating, uncritical of whatever behavior we noticed among the others, on time for shared adventures and were ready to have fun.
Family Vacation Rules
A group vacation requires careful planning and nurturing if you want to
return to your respective homes with your relationships in good condition.
Here are some tips:
• Before you go, talk everything over with everybody, making sure you all agree on where to go, what to do and, most important, how much to spend.
• Decide who is paying for what. Establish a budget all participants can afford. Then stick to it.
• Appoint one person who will coordinate the trip and make the reservations. In every family, there’s someone best suited for the job, or at least willing to do it.
• Plan far in advance so the timing will suit everyone’s schedule. Once the date is decided upon, agree that it will remain firm. This is especially important if airfare is involved. Backing out at the last minute, except for an emergency, is unacceptable.
• If children are among the vacationers, try to settle in one location for the duration. Moving from place to place with a big group that includes youngsters can be a nightmare.
• Take plenty of toys, books and games. Talk to the kids and discuss the rules of behavior before you leave, letting them know what is expected of them. Except in cases of dire necessity, do not reprimand other people’s children. And don’t even roll your eyes when you observe parenting skills that don’t meet your standards. The same goes for marital relationships.
• If you don’t choose a place that comes with housekeeping or cooking, make sure not to stick one or two family members with all the work. Talk it out beforehand and determine who’s going to do what, including the men.
• Respect the need for privacy and space. Allow for plenty of quiet time and opportunities to get away from one another. Don’t expect everyone to participate in every activity.
• If you’re not sure a long vacation will work for you, try a long weekend first.
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