There’s a lot of planning and preparing that goes into taking a family trip. Here’s a few things to keep in mind when making plans to get the most out of your family trip.
Consider the Ages of Travelers. Who will be accompanying you on the family trip? If it’s very young children, you may have to limit how many activities you plan to accomplish in a single day or find out if the event or venue you may want to visit allows for small children before finalizing plans or paying for tickets. Just remember small children have very short attention spans and will need to stop for meals, snacks, and naps. For everyone to enjoy the family travel experience, plan for some down time and plan optional and flexible excursions such as a visit to the park, zoo, playground, festival, trips to the market, and other family-friendly places everyone can enjoy at any time without a reservation.
Consider the Purpose of the Trip. Remember to focus on the purpose of your trip when making plans. If you’re visiting another state to see relatives and spend time with family, don’t forget to include quality family time in your schedule so nobody feels left out. If your goal is to relax and escape your daily routine, maybe it would be better to leave more room for spontaneous activities instead of over-scheduling your trip and experiencing the same business of your daily life while on vacation.
Consider Everyone’s Interests. While it may be challenging to please everyone while planning a family vacation, try to incorporate fun, new experiences that would interest your traveling companions. Your little children may not have acquired their own defined interests yet but take this opportunity to introduce them to some of your interests or discover new experiences together. For me, it is important to introduce my children to things I enjoy such as art and music. Though they may not be old enough to appreciate a modern art museum, they did enjoy our family outing to the Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience. They loved all the moving colors and pictures of the art projected onto the walls and took full advantage of all the space to run around and explore. It was a very enjoyable outing for everyone and it went so well, I decided to share another work of art from Italy, one of my favorite vacation spots, later this month at the Sistine Chapel Exhibit.
Take every opportunity available to develop your children’s natural curiosity about the world around them and encourage them to discover new things. Children naturally have a strong desire to learn and teaching them to try new things early on will only help them become well-rounded, open-minded individuals throughout their life.
Read Organizing Your Family Trip – Part 1: Planning for more advice on planning your next family trip!