We’re all going together?

So as an avid reader of the blog (can’t thank you enough for your support!) you know my love of all things travel came directly through my parents DNA. We love to travel anywhere, anytime. We also love traveling with extended family! Yes, that means everyone!!!

My siblings and I were truly fortunate that in their retired years, my parents provided us with large-scale family trips. Two parents. 12 children. 15 grandchildren. Twenty-seven people total from five different states. They did this every year or so.

Pop was a lover of planning, like me. Another trait I inherited. So for all of the family trips, it was a combined effort between the two of us to coordinate everything before and during the trips. Great times and memories of me and Pop working side by side.

Quick Pros and Cons About Traveling With Extended family

Most people think about extended family trips from time to time, but might abandon them due to cost or the large amount of planning they entail. Should you embark on this type of family vacation? Would you enjoy traveling with your extended family?

Let’s go through some of the good, the bad, and the hysterical of the entire prospect.

Pros Of Traveling With Extended Family

Just to highlight a few of my favorites…

• It’s a lot of fun to plan and execute this type of trip
• You get to see and hang out with people you don’t normally see
• Everybody gets to experience a new location together
• The grandchildren got to build stronger relationships
• We scheduled a”family meeting” each year

Cons Of Traveling With Extended Family

Okay…it isn’t all a bed of roses

• You might go somewhere you aren’t really interested in
• It uses up a week of valuable vacation time
• It might be during a time that isn’t convenient for you or your kids
• The spending budget might be outside of your abilities
• The fish might start to smell by the end of the week (comment if you get my reference there)

Planning schedule Before The Trip

Pulling this off for multiple generations, in multiple locations, is no easy task. It takes a tremendous amount of patience, organization and hard work on the part of many people.

However, just like my Student Organization and Eldercare blogs, ONE PERSON has to be in charge. Someone needs to be the captain of this ship (yeah…it’s all about cruising…), but that captain will need a lot of help! Let’s get into some specifics about the planning process:

Today

You need to start today with, potentially, the most important item: INTEREST.

Does everybody actually want to do this? If that answer is yes, you are good to go. If that answer is no, there is another conversation to have. In my family, my parents’ position was “whoever wants to come will come…we will keep planning” so we had several trips that were missing a limb off the family tree. Were they fun trips? Sure. Did we miss the people who weren’t present? Yup, but it was their choice.

A Year In Advance

Yup. totally serious. We planned these things at least a year in advance. We were talking about five complete families in addition to my parents, and each family had a minimum of two children involved in any number of activities.

At this juncture, you are taking any and all suggestions. For the date. For the location. Any input at all is welcome. For our family, for example, we are stacked high with educators, so our trips always fell into the summer, since that was our only chance. Pop hated making these trips in the summer—too hot, he would tell me—but it was our only hope with 15 school-aged children and some teachers.

As Soon As You Have A Date

Get moving on securing your reservations. We did a number of things over the years that I’ll blog about in detail in the future. In addition to renting adjoining houses in the Outer Banks, we rented cabins at a family camp one year, and took many cruises. Renting houses is a great alternative for several different reasons—one of which is the minimum of planning required.

For the cruises, we needed to secure a hotel (7 rooms total) for the night before, and the biggest hurdle—transportation to the cruise port and from the cruise to the airport. So how much you need to do at this stage is really dependent on what type of vacation you decide to plan. No matter what, NOW is the time to get as many of the reservations locked up as you possibly can. Not only will that give you peace of mind, but the earlier you book certain elements, the cheaper they will be!

Every Two Months Until The Trip

As the person doing all of the planning, I had all of the knowledge about a trip other adults were going to participate in. That isn’t necessarily fair, nor is it good if you have type-A relatives who think just like you do. So…I sent out newsletters!!! Yeah, I know…but remember I’m a business education teacher, too.

In the newsletters, I gave updates on planning so that people were “in the know.” I always put the addresses and contact information for where we were going, and the best way to contact us, because everybody was leaving pets and houses with sitters while we were gone. I would bring people up to date about different events or excursions we were taking, and as much detail as I could (one of the absolute favorites was the private boat stingray excursion on Grand Cayman!!! That was cool with all 27 of us!).

One Month Before The Trip

After you send out the final newsletter, I suggest you compile everyone’s travel information (if necessary), and send out a final itinerary for everyone so there are no surprises on the trip. Make the itinerary as complete as possible with confirmation numbers and times, especially for people who might be responsible for things on the trip.

What To Do On The Trip

Initial Meetup

The first night of the trip, we always converged in Mom and Pop’s room. It was a blast to greet everyone as they made it into town (whatever town it happened to be!) and see all the kids greeting each other. It became a party. I recommend getting pizza that night.

What’s For Dinner?

When we cruised, all of the food was included, but not when we rented houses or cabins. Pop came up with this plan, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Mom and Pop had five kids. Each kid was in charge of one night for dinner and entertainment. One year, for example, we did a Mexican theme for our night. We had a taco bar for everybody, which was good for even the pickiest of eaters. After dinner, we had a pinata party, with everyone beating on the poor thing until it bled candy.

The first night was pizza and the last night was “clean out the fridges.” It worked out beautifully. We are adopting this strategy with our own kids—this summer at our family trip each person is responsible for paying for one meal. They can pick lunch or dinner, and which theme park they choose to be in (we are at Disney WorldDisney World this year). With six of us total, the week is covered, everybody gets a break and only has one big bill for the week. 

Group Photo

Please don’t skip this step. Find a place and time when everyone can get together and have a nice picture taken. My parents had every single one framed and hanging up, and we all got copies. In addition to a large group shot, we all did our individual families, as well. These pics were easy to get on cruises, but when we rented places, Pop usually hired someone to come for an hour one evening to do the photos. Well worth the cost and effort.

The Big Goodbye

That last evening, have a whole group goodbye session. On the last day, people are already headed home in their minds, so saying goodbye becomes too rushed. Spend the last evening together, saying goodbye and getting those last hugs in. We made the last night a party-type atmosphere (like the first night), and always went out with a few tears and a ton of smiles. 

After the trip

You’ve spent a week building and strengthening relationships with your extended family members. I’m betting it was a great time, with a lot of laughs and fun times to remember for your entire life. The benefits achieved through this process can’t be overstated. In short: It’s always been worth the time and the money involved in the process.

NOW is the time to capitalize on these positive feelings and great memories! Reach out to the family within a month of the trip with pictures and remembrances from the trip. Encourage your own kids to reach out to their cousins to keep these relationships fresh and current.

And…of course…lock at the dates for the and locations for the next one!!!

One last thing…

This is controversial. Highly controversial. It is generally met with eye rolls and mouth sounds. But it’s worth it for the photo. It’s iconic. It sears the trip into memory.

Get the matching t-shirts. You won’t regret it.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR

Thank you for reading all about traveling with your extended family!!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out some other tips, like traveling with kids, here, or how to travel on a budget, here! Or, check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

Please leave a COMMENT about any tips you may have!! Or comment with YOUR story! What are your next steps in eldercare? Let me know!

Please, feel free to contact me or leave a COMMENT with anything you would like to hear more about! Or reach out with any unrelated questions, comments, concerns, or random outbursts of excitement by clicking here.