Travelling together as a family is an excellent way of getting some quality time, but for a lot of families, it can also be a source of stress. The good news is, it is possible to make family travel much more fun, and here are a few ways you can do that:
Build up the anticipation
Numerous studies have shown that the anticipation of a vacation is as good as, if not better than the actual trip in terms of enjoyment. So, before the vacation, try to get your kids really psyched for the experience. Tell them about the place, show them pictures of the landmarks you’ll visit, learn more about the culture, and they will be so thrilled to be finally experiencing it all in the flesh that fewer meltdowns are likely to occur.
Start with a clean slate
If you want your family vacation to go as smoothly as possible, and you want to have as much fun as possible while you’re there, then it’s a really good idea to address any of those niggling family issues and petty squabbles before you travel, Draw a line under them and don’t let them drag your family vacation down.
Travel at night
If you’re travelling long-haul and you’re bringing the kids, travelling at night is a good idea because they can sleep on the plane, which means fewer travel tantrums and children who are less likely to be tired and grumpy on the first day of your vacation.
Turn it into a learning experience
When you have young kids, their brains are like sponges and they love to learn new things. Taking them on vacation is an excellent way of exposing them to new cultures, ideas and ways of thinking. Whether you take them to Spain because they’ve been learning the language with the help of an online Spanish tutor or you take them to Egypt to see the pyramids they’ve been learning about at school, anything you can do to help them engage their brains will mean that the trip is more enjoyable for you all because as you will know, boredom often leads to vacation tantrums.
Try new things together
It’s a family trip which means you should all make a real effort to do things together. Of course, what you find fun and what your five year old enjoys doing is likely to be significantly different. But you know what? It’s fun to try new things with a spirit of openness, so let every family member choose one new activity to try and make sure that you all throw yourselves into it with joy. You’ll be surprised just how much fun you can have when you’re doing something new and exciting with the people you love most in the world.
As you can see, there are lots of simple things you can do to make family vacations more fun for you all, and the more of them you incpor=porate into your next trip, the more memorable it will be for all the best reasons.
