There are definitely times when I appreciate traveling with my husband. Just a few benefits of couple travel include exploring on your own schedule, a smaller budget for meals and entry fees, and focusing on your own interests and passions. There are, however, times when we travel as a part of a larger group of family and/or friends. Those trips are precious in many other ways that include time with the ones we love and want to spend expanded, uninterrupted time with.
Our family has been fortunate to experience 5 generations for the past 5 years and, while we all love traveling together, our grandparents were not able to travel. What did we do? We made visiting the grandparents a destination where we could all gather and appreciate one another. Those 5-generations times together have been such blessings and have built precious memories for each of us. So, what about the other 4 generations in our travel crew? So glad you asked! We travel together as often as we can and you can too! Here are 5 tips for making the most of a 4-generations family vacation:
- Hold regular family planning meetings to determine your travel destination(s) and what they have to offer each individual within the group. What is there for all of the generations to do and enjoy? Do you all need to do the same thing each day, or will smaller groups explore on their own? Will you meet for any of the meals (e.g., dinner together in the same restaurant in Walt Disney World)? Is the resort in a location that offers many options for the travel crew to enjoy? Does the cruise itinerary offer something for everyone both on board and in ports? And, consider using a tool such as Google Docs to jointly capture the planning from many different locations at once.
- Consider the needs of the travel crew! Do you need to consider mobility for transportation, times spent visiting museums, walking for miles on cobblestones, or standing in lines at a favorite theme park? What about the access to your lodgings? Is there an elevator, or do the bags need to be carried up 3 flights of stairs? And, how about physical needs? Are there members of the crew who need to take medications with food at certain times of the day? Is someone avoiding direct sunlight or struggling with other limitations? Are there allergies to consider such as shellfish or gluten? What about those who get motion sickness on the sea or on rollercoasters? Thinking through the needs of the crew will save lots of frustration in-the-moment.
- Capture and preserve those precious memories. We all carry cameras with us in even the most basic cell phones. Keeping our phones and cameras handy empowers us to take control of what we decide to preserve. We even interview one another on short video clips that help us remember the emotions and reactions in-the-moment. One thing to remember is that the photographers in the Disney Parks will actually take photos of your travel crew with your own camera or phone in addition to the ones we can access through our PhotoPass. The waiters in restaurants, docents in museums, and fellow passengers/travelers are frequently willing to snap photos for you as well. We usually offer to take a photo for another couple or family and they are nearly always willing to reciprocate. You can then share those memories on social media and through virtual photo albums with one another.
- Travel together when you can. Those long flights and train rides can be daunting, but the ability to get caught up with one another and reflect on your journeys can happen in the air and on the rails. Sharing photos and video clips from the most recent adventures is a great way to solidify those memories for your younger and older members of the travel crew. Talking about things you would and would not do again helps gain perspective on the likes and dislikes of your four-generations travel mates. The down time while being transported from one location to the next, and even the “at sea” days on a cruise can provide mini-breaks that bring family and friends closer together.
- Remember it’s not all about the stuff you see, the things you buy, or the activities you do – it’s about spending time together as a family and sharing those experiences. When we miss out on seeing or experiencing a location, we realize that those experiences can happen the next time we visit. We were recently in Venice, Italy for our fourth visit. Our cruise was departing from the Venice cruise port the following day and we finally made the trek to visit the Jewish Ghetto. The experience was heart-wrenching and brought many tears as we walked the square, read the historical markers, and read through every name and age of the Jewish citizens who had been taken to concentration camps from that neighborhood. I was glad we prioritized that experience for this trip. Perhaps we weren’t meant to see the Jewish Ghetto on previous trips and this was finally the “right” timing for us. Is this the right experience for our four generations? We aren’t sure, but we won’t remove it from the itinerary the next time we travel to Venice with the family!
As you journey with multiple generations, we wish you the very best of adventures! Time is something we cannot get back, so make the most of your time together as a family. You just might find that multi-generational travel is just what the family ordered! Happy Walking!