How to survive a multigenerational vacation?
Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels
In the vast underworld of prematurely discarded ideas, organizing a multigenerational trip unjustly pickles as one of the potentially most fun and rewarding experiences you and your family members can engage in!
(Of course, there’s a good chance that trip could end a complete and utter disaster, straining your family ties for years to come.) But hey, what are you – a negative Nancy?
The truth of the matter is, even the toughest idea to sell can end up a success story, provided you do some planning and make sure what you’re doing unfolds roughly according to the original plan.
You see, as rough and unadventurous as it sounds, having a sound plan of activities once you’re on holiday with your gran, your kids, and your weird cousin AND their momma, can save you from having a miserable time at your favorite destination!
In this article, we’re going to talk about how you can make a holiday with an entourage of family members, some of whom have seen Regan on telly live, and some of whom are busy completing their potty training not only possible – but a complete bullseye success.
Right then, without further ado, here’s the deal.
Set rules for handling finances
When it comes to multigenerational holidays, what you have to understand is that there’ll be at least two, if not three or more different sources of income. Therefore, making a unified budget can be quite tough.
So, to make it happen, what you may want to go for instead of a budget is simply to agree upon who pays for what and ensuring everyone is bringing some extra money just in case. Nothing worse than running out of petrol halfway in your holiday, right?
Don’t think of your grandparents as free manual labor
A big reason why many couples with kids bring their grandparents with them on their holidays is so that the oldtimers can take care of the little ones. Of course, your grandparents (well, actually your parents) will be more than willing to take up this merry task, but here’s the deal – they aren’t just there for your sake.
You have to understand that they will also be interested to go out for a drink or have fun at the beach! In short, as long as you don’t treat your parents as a free manual labor and babysitting force, the grandparents will be satisfied and so will you! (Unless they turn grumpy half-way there. In that case, may baby Jesus help you.)
Document this freakishly rare experience
And we mean ‘freakishly’ in a good way.
The thing is, being able to gather your family members together for a multigenerational holiday is quite a feat in and of itself, so make sure to make plenty of footage, photographs, audio tapes, oil on canvas, cave paintings, however you tend to capture those special moments!
A relatively successful multigenerational holiday is up there with Aurora Borealis and the New Caledonian owlet nightjar somewhere in the wilderness of Australia – it’s quite a rare sight. Aaand it needs to be thoroughly documented for posterity, the members of which you probably already filmed spreading ice cream clumsily all over their little merry faces.
The footage will be a hit at family gatherings for years to come!
Plan for some fun activities
Whether it’s going to the beach together or visiting a local winery, your holiday needs to have some activities that will make it interesting and allow your family members to spend some quality time together.
You can even go out for a destination slightly outside of your holiday town if it’s interesting enough. Remember, you can always hire a local trolley or other transportation option to take you there and end up paying not too horrible a fee. (One of the advantages of traveling in bigger groups is there’s always some discount waiting for you just around the corner. It’s a dream come true for frugal folk, really!)
Have a proper pow-wow befor you set off
If something can throw a big ole heavy and cumbersome spanner in the works of a multigenerational family holiday, it’s a lack of planning and accord between the different parties. (Kids included!)
You see, as much as you love your family members and are on good terms with all of them, ensuring you’ll be able to figure out what to do in case you run out of money, or there’s a 10-day long sour weather spell once you get there, will prevent a lot of headaches down the road.
Remember, negotiating with your grandparents and kids, to an extent, can be quite exhausting at times, but you do need to listen to them carefully if you mean to build a holiday everyone will love and hold in fond memory later on!