Travelling with your family is one of the best ways to live your life. Even though it can be a little bit of an adventure, that’s what makes it all exciting and great! And to help you sprint over the challenges that come when planning a family trip, we’ve created an elaborate checklist. Don’t worry, this is a pretty precise guide! So, all you need is a few a minutes to get pumped up about your next family vacay!
Before we dive right in, we want to bid goodbye to the elephant in the room. That’s your doubt about if this is a good time to be travelling. The truth is the perfect time to travel never exists, especially with your family. You just to need to make it work. And these are the factors you should consider.
The Right Location
Unlike solo travel where you think of a place and *magically* appear there, planning a family trip means different opinions, mostly.
Location Selection Process
Start with a quick meeting at the living room or via Zoom to shortlist everyone’s go-to destination. Each person should give have one location preference, ideally. Once you have that, add all the options to a Google form. And ask your family to pick an additional option in addition to the one they wanted. So, that way they are not just picking the ones they ask for. Then, the majority wins, obviously. But what happens when there is a tie? Have another meeting to decide which one can be postponed as the next travelling destination based on budget, season, etc. Whichever destination has more pros than cons to the whole family group, gets to be the one.
One Person Hates the Selected Location?
Find out what the reason is and see how best you can manage it to join the trip. And if it’s an unavoidable one, you can move onto the next location while keeping this as a separate option for a trip without this family member. However, 99% you can always find ways to make the trip happen with this member. By them choosing to come in different mode of transport in case of specific motion sickness or finding ways to manage any allergies. Because changing the location for one person without a valid reason is not fair for the rest of the family. Having said that, being flexible with the other details of the travel for this one person is very important. Because they are family, you know.
The Ideal Travel Itinerary for your Family Trip
Never leave the home thinking you can wing it, planning ahead is crucial. Especially, when travelling with kids or more family members. Whenever people decided to skip this step when planning a family trip, they end up running around like a headless chicken. And by planning, it’s not jotting down a few activities, there’s more to it.
Find out the travel motives
Some people travel to explore. Some for leisure and fun activities. And others for staycations where the itinerary is doing nothing but relaxing. Therefore, find out what each family member needs to do and craft a plan that meets everyone’s travel fantasies
How to make everyone happy
Also, remember if one or two members want to excluded from certain things it’s fine. Plan something to suit their needs during that time. Having said that, it’s best to do majority of the things together than other way around.
At the end, the plan should have at least one favourite activity of each family member.
The Right Duration
This depends on whether you’re travelling with your nuclear fam (spouse and kids) or extended family. The larger the number, the shorter the better. We’d say seven to ten days at the most. However, with your partner and/or kids, you could go as long as it doesn’t clash with important school or work dates.
Therefore, plan your work well ahead of time so you’re not typing emails before the flight is boarding. Or worse, getting this wrong can even make you postpone the trip indefinitely and that’s a big bummer. So, get the important work scheduled well before or after the trip. Make sure your employees, employers and colleagues know that you are going away so they don’t bother you during the trip. With kids and school, try to not bring the vacation too close before a test as that can bring the mood down for them.
Picking the Right Accommodation
Your place of stay is not just somewhere to sleep at night and keep your bags. This is no matter how outdoorsy or quick your trip. Picking the right accommodation is uncompromisable when planning a family trip. And these are the factors that determine the quality for your vacation.
Safety
This goes without saying. Never pick a shady area to save costs, you’d rather stay at home for that. Always check Google reviews on the place you’re staying and what people have to say about the safety.
Cleanliness
Again, a big one. Especially, after the pandemic, you need to ensure that the place is following the safety regulations, etc. Also, Google reviews can help with this one too.
Space
Try not to fit in your family in a small room as this can make them feel more exhausted. You will all be already tired with all the luggage carrying, jetlag and in between activities. So, make sure you all fit in and have enough space to wind down and relax. One easy to avoid this when on a budget is to consider Airbnbs over hotel rooms. You can get one house for a spacious and fun vacation. And when you pick the ones with kitchen facilities, you can cut costs with dining out by preparing your own food. Also, it becomes a wholesome family experience.
Excursions
Make sure this place close to the activities in your travel itinerary. If not, you’d be spending a lot of time and money travelling up and down. And some places have private entrances to main tourist attractions. They can be pricey, if you have the budget, it will make things so much easier with a larger group.
Note to staycation-ers
For those who are travelling to relax at a great accommodation, look for hotels with heritage, architectural values, interesting interiors and in-house activities like spa. If not, you can get bored very quickly.
Planning the Perfect Journey
This is the fun part of planning a family trip. *lots of sarcasm intended* While, we all love the destination, the journey to get their is usually not the part that most look forward to. You’ll be dealing with luggages, fussy kids, jet lags, motion sickness, flight delays and any general motion discomfort. Honestly, you can avoid it all with the right planning.
Pack Lightly
When we say this, we don’t necessarily mean a hyper-minimalistic luggage. You can carry a few not-so-essential items and still have a lightly packed bag, unless you’re backpacking!
For this, you need to begin with the absolute essentials. This depends from person-to-person so ask yourself what are the things that will bring your mood down or put a hault in travel plans if you don’t have it. And it will usually include things like passport, debit cards, sunscreen, your go-to sunglasses, etc. Once you’ve listed it, find ways to fit it in your bag effectively. And for personal care or beauty items, you can have a dedicated bag with carefully packed toiletteries. What’s more look up on ways to fold your clothes and fit in your essentials more effectively. Don’t forget to check out the clothes compressing vacuum bags on Amazon, they are life changing! Thank us later.
With items that you love to take but can do just fine without it, check out the remaining luggage and quote and make a decision. Also, keep in mind to save some space for souvenirs and other items you may buy during the family trip.
Leave early
On the day you’re leaving home to catch the flight, train or get on the road, don’t leave on time. You need to be ready to leave a little early with at least two hours of buffer time, especially with kids. So, you can could accommodate for any toilet breaks or last-mine I-forgot-this-that situations. This way, you don’t have to be rushing to board a flight or panic when there’s unprecedented traffic.
Also, try not to be that family that spends more than 5-6 hours at the airport because they were too early. And that’s just a waste of time. Sometimes, things go out of control anyway, therefore try not to take extreme measures that will bore everyone.
Bring a Bag of Entertainment
This can be little snacks, books, little new toys for toddlers. Flight delays happen and when you leave early, you may some downtime at the boarding lounge. Therefore, make best use of your time with a little read or even watching something on your phone. And with kids, it’s best to make sure they don’t sleep before a flight so they can sleep mostly during the journey. Therefore, toys can help to keep them occupied.
Preventing uncertainties during travel
Now, after the passing exit checkpoints or upon entering your dream holiday villa, things can still go wrong. No matter how great you are at planning your family trip, you can’t control everything. However, you can prepare for the unprecedented with the following factors.
Insurance
Skipping travel insurance is like gambling. In case, anything like medical emergencies or flight cancellations, you have to bear the extra costs that give you no travel pleasure in return. Therefore, leave the firefighting to the insurance company. Let them take care of the medical expenses and any overnight stays.
Perspective
It’s only normal to get frustrated when things go wrong after weeks or months of planning a family trip. The truth is you can’t do much about it after it has happened. Unless you move on and make the best use of every following second. And most of the times it happens due to factors like weather which you can’t control.
Also, be extra kind and patient towards your family who are under similar stress as you and want to have a good time with the loved ones. Furthermore, don’t forget to practice empathy with service workers. They are doing their best to make sure you have an unforgettable experience.
Taking Risks
Travel is not risk free. The places you go to are usually the ones you are not familiar with. So, do your research on any climate updates, scams and other safety concerns. This way, you and your family members are prepared.
Dealing with kids during travel
Your little ones can get a bit unpredictable. Therefore, try and reduce their level of frustration by booking direct flights or picking faster travel routes. If you think you need a hand during your travels, pick hotels that have nursing rooms or activities dedicated to your kids.
If your kids are old enough to understand, have a chat to mentally prepare them for the journey and planned excursions. Also, educate them on how to act if and when they get lost in a crowded space. For instance, by getting them to memorize numbers or emails.
Travelling with allergies
Never overlook this. If you’re travelling in a large family group, double check to make sure nothing goes wrong. You don’t need an unpleasant peanut allergy surprise at the dining table in a foreign land. Also, inform the hotel staff and/or tour companies about the allergies.
Being spontaneous
Let’s say the family travel is going well. Then, you and your family come across something more interesting to do. In a time like that, swap out things, make a few doable changes and try out new things. It’s good to be curious and have an interesting experience rather than doing something safe and alright.
Planning a family trip is not easy but that doesn’t you should limit the fun. The bonding gets better with more interesting experiences so go for it!
Have fun! 😀
For more lifestyle content:
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- Travel Beauty Essentials: A Practical Guide to Packing Lightly
