Hey y’all! Welcome back to Wandering on Cloud Nine! Let’s talk about family vacations. They can either be a great time to bond with family or a time to fight. From experience, I know that family vacations have their ups and downs. I understand that it’s hard to avoid fighting with family members during trips, so I’m here to lend a helping hand to all my fellow travelers who don’t know how to avoid making a family trip a disaster. Here are my top ten tips!
- Always try to compromise.
- Tell everyone the whole trip itinerary.
- Be open to changing plans.
- Actually talk to one another (instead of being on your phones).
- Ask each person where they would like to go on the trip.
- Make sure everyone packs everything they need.
- Help one another out.
- Give yourself some alone time.
- Try to get enough rest.
- Have a great time!
Considering that all of the trips I’ve gone on were with family, I have a lot of experience with all of these. One day, I wasn’t feeling well in Florence and we planned on going to the Piazzale Michelangelo after lunch. I really could not go because I was super tired and sick. After arguing for a bit, we agreed to let me rest for a few hours so I could get my energy back. It was a great compromise because we still got to go and it was during sunset and I was able to appreciate it more because I felt better. Also, my family got to rest as well (and so everyone was in a better mood.) Compromise was definitely key!
Another time, we were on a plane from Venice to London. We just took off from the airport in London and my dad asked when we were going to Paris. My mom and I were so surprised because we hadn’t even considered going to Paris on this trip. We explained to my dad that we weren’t going and he got maD because he truly thought we were going to see the Eiffel Tower. For about 20 minutes, he was looking at the map of Europe to see how far it was from Italy to France. Once again, the lesson here is to tell everyone in your family about the itinerary, or else this might happen to you!
We were in Bologna and our relatives were taking us around and my aunt asked us if we wanted to go to Milan. Milan wasn’t on our itinerary, but we had some family there. We weren’t planning on going, but my mom thought it would be a good idea, so I could see all the major cities in Italy, including one of the fashion capitals of the world. Honestly, that was one of the best decisions we made on the trip because it was so beautiful there. Even though it was only for one day, we got to see the famous Duomo. I can’t wait to go back there one day to explore more of the city. Have some wiggle room in your plans, because spontaneous trips are great!
We were on a cruise for a week without Wi-Fi, so we couldn’t use our phones (except me, because I bought some Wi-Fi, but it didn’t work in some areas of the ship). We were forced to actually talk to each other. It was great to be able to connect without someone’s phone buzzing; it was a great bonding experience. Even though I was kind of angry that the Wi-Fi was bad, I’m kind of happy it was, or else we wouldn’t have been able to talk to each other as much. The lesson here is to try talking without any phones – it’s better than you think!
Family trips are the best times to truly bond. I know it’s hard to have a perfect trip planned, but having bumps on the road is okay! Appreciate your time with family because as you get older, it will be harder and harder to get everyone together to go on big trips. I hope my tips will help y’all out during your next vacation! Stay tuned for my next adventure!
