Family Travel Advice

Knowing is half the battle

Going on a family vacation takes a ton of time and energy to organize, and even then it’s hard to get everything perfect. Room booking, travel accommodations, food, activities, helping the kids pack and making sure you have all the necessary baby travel products can stress out even the most organized parents. This is where parents come screaming to us for family travel advice.

There is plenty of planning that comes along with planning a family vacation. Many factors contribute to what kind of travel advice people ask. First, answer the following questions:

  • Are you staying domestic or going abroad?
  • How are you getting to your destination?
  • What is your budget?
  • What kind of vacation will please the majority of your family?

Answering those questions will put you on the right path to finding the best family travel advice. For example, note the key word in the last bullet point – majority. Our first piece of overall family travel advice?

You will never please everyone.

Picking your battles is something that every savvy parent must learn, and it doesn’t change when the family leaves your home.

Talk with your family before planning a family vacation to get everyone’s opinion. Your husband might want to go somewhere with a golf course, you might want somewhere with a spa. Your teenage daughter only cares about being by a pool, and your pre-adolescent son doesn’t care where he is as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection. A great family vacation destination for this example would be Orlando, Florida. Although your son will be grouchy when you tell him the laptops, smart phones and iPads aren’t allowed, he can be distracted by the amusement parks, beach scene, and other family-fun activities.

The Basics of Family Travel Advice

Now that we’ve spilled the beans on the #1 secret when it comes to advice on travel, here are other tips to keep in mind:

  • Make a vacation budget and stick to it
    • Everyone is on a budget these days. The money used for going on vacation with your family generally comes out of family savings. However, you don’t want to be in debt when you get back. Therefore, budgeting your vacation before it even begins will help keep the trip manageable.
  • Choose a destination that will please the majority of family members
    • As we previously mentioned, no family will have 100% ecstatic responses from everyone in the family, but try to choose a destination that has at least one entertaining thing for everyone.
  • Look into family travel deals
    • Family travel deals and packages will often take off 10-60% of your overall cost of a family vacation. Different deals and packages are offered at different times, so make sure to research any and all family travel deals through online vendors, calling places, and talking to the locals.
  • Book family activities in advance
    • This goes hand in hand with booking family travel deals in advance. Many activities offer deals to those who book in advance; a great example is amusement park tickets.

Another family travel advice tip to keep in mind has to do with transportation. Unlike most aspects of a vacation, when choosing how to get to your destination, price should not be the primary factor. When it comes to your family, comfort and reliability (safety) should be your leading concerns.

A plane ticket might be more expensive for a simple trip from Maryland to Boston, but if your kids are older and can handle a plane-ride that takes up a quarter of the time then it might be more practical to spend that extra cash for happier kids at the destination.