Summer is fast approaching. For kids, it’s time to kick back and savor long, school-free days. For parents, it’s time to embark on one of the year’s scariest roller-coaster rides: the family vacation. A successful family vacation is as good as it gets: Encountering new places and people with your children (and if you’re lucky, with your parents, too), away from the routines and roles of home, can make for lots of laughs, lessons, and the kinds of unexpected, unforgettable moments that will bind you even when you’re apart years later.
But family journeys aren’t easy, and they’re certainly not naturally successful. You have to work at them, and the work begins well before you roll your bags out the door. One way to minimize the hassle and maximize the highlights is to take an organized family adventure tour; these trips are planned and led by seasoned professionals and feature road-tested, family-friendly itineraries and experiences. Family tours offer time for kids to engage with kids (and parents to engage with parents), and then time for families to re-group and share the day’s discoveries and delights. Some of our most memorable family journeys have been on organized tours. If you’re looking for some inspiration, I’ve listed ten wonderful, family-friendly trips at the end of this column.
Whether you choose to travel on a tour or on your own, here are five lessons from my own five decades of family travel, as child and as parent; I hope they help ensure your summer adventure is a blast and not a bust.
1: Location, location, location: You have to choose a destination that will maximize your chances for success. Take into account the weather, amenities and activities your family likes. We’ve found traveling with our kids in Greece, Fiji, Japan, and Australia to be especially easy. Other famously kid-friendly countries include Italy, Vietnam. Costa Rica and New Zealand. Of course, North America is family-friendly too! The bottom line: Look for a place and a trip – whether it’s biking, backpacking or beach-combing -- that will engage everyone.
2. It’s a family affair: Be sure to include your children in the trip-planning, so that they have a sense of “ownership” of the trip. If they’re older, it’s wonderful to involve them from the beginning of the process as you narrow your plans by region, country and activity. Once you’ve settled on a destination, buy a map and pore over it with your kids; read brochures and guidebooks together and get them to talk about where they would like to go and why. Buy a picture dictionary or phrasebook and practice saying simple phrases together. By the time you’ve finalized your itinerary, you’ve already begun the journey – with everyone feeling a part of the plan.
3. Better understanding through cuisine: If you can, introduce your kids to the local cuisine before you leave. If you’re going to Thailand, say, go to a local Thai restaurant. Ask the waiter to describe the various culinary specialties and have everyone order something different so that you can sample as much as possible. Tell the owners and/or staff that you're planning to visit their country; in many cases, they’ll offer kid-friendly suggestions about where to go and what to see and do -- and they'll be a first living bridge for your kids to the people and customs of the region.
4. Children first: In your planning and on the road, pay attention to the needs and pacings of your kids. Reward patience in a museum with an ice-cream cone from the vendor outside. Look for parks: A swing-set in Athens or a slide in Singapore can suddenly make the whole city seem more familiar and fun. Where possible, visit the beach: Kids can play boisterous beach games together without having to speak a common language; and they can be great ice-breakers for you to meet local parents, too. For older children, consider giving them an afternoon free and then reconvening for dinner. This will allow them – and you – a little decompression time and the chance to make individual adventures. It’s exciting to see them begin to gain confidence on their own in the world, and to explore that world through their eyes and experiences.
5. Finally, have everyone make a record of the trip. If you have younger travelers, bring a journal and glue sticks and paste in the pages what your children collect along the way, from leaves and candy wrappers to maps and brochures. Have older kids pack a diary for drawings, maps, and travel tales; make time for them to write -- even just a few sentences -- every day. Encourage them to get creative. Teens may want to make videos they can show back home, or create an ongoing blog of the trip en route. And be sure you keep a record too – the years blur by all too fast, and these memories will grow more and more precious as time passes!
My best journeys have been with my family – first with my parents, then with my children, and then with my children and parents together. There’s a kind of multigenerational magic on these trips that creates unique and irreplaceable discoveries, joys and memories for all. May that magic infuse your family’s adventures too.
To whet your imagination, here’s a range of family-tailored trips offered by the members of the Adventure Collection:
Backroads -- Tuscany Family Biking
Bushtracks – Southern Africa by Private Air: A Family Adventure
Canadian Mountain Holidays -- Family Heli-Hiking Adventure in the Bugaboos
Geographic Expeditions – Galapagos Islands
Lindblad – Baja: Where the Desert Meets the Sea
Micato Safaris – The Heart of Kenya and Tanzania
Natural Habitat Adventures – Family Adventure in the Canyons of the American Southwest
OARS -- Main Salmon River Rafting on the River of No Return
Off the Beaten Path – Wild Western Adventure: Cowboys, Indians, and Yellowstone National Park
NOLS – Yukon Backpacking
To explore the Adventure Collection’s full world of family odysseys, visit adventurecollection.com. Happy travels!
