Figuring out how to plan your family vacation is a subject which is very near and dear to my heart right now. We will be flying for the very first time EVER with Mackenzie in less than a month, and I have to say the prospect is making me a bit antsy. But she’s a pretty laid back, well behaved kid anyway — so I can only hope that the same will be true when we’re up in the air. And I’m sure we’ll allow plenty of time for her to run around the airport like a maniac before the flight since we have to be there approximately 17 hours before the departure to clear all the security rounds. Yes, I’m exaggerating about the 17 hours — but it sure does feel that way sometimes.
Planning a vacation can be a stressful ordeal because there are virtually an unlimited number of places to go. You might want to stay local or you may have ideas of going somewhere far off. For us, Florida was a no brainer. But if you have no idea where to even think about going with your family, you can start with a list like TripAdvisor’s best family friendly destinations.
Setting a budget is highly recommended, not only for what your actual accommodations such as hotel, car, flights and food will cost — but also what sort of daily spending allowance you want to give yourself for souvenirs, excursions, sight seeing and other daily expenses. Do keep in mind that if you’re planning to go to somewhere that tourism is big business, you may be able to get a great package deal for hotel and entertainment — and might even score some food as well.
Since we are going to be in Florida, we thought it would make sense to check out what we might be able to do in Orlando with a 3-year old. Disney’s not a very good option (and the prices are insane) but we found out that SeaWorld has huge potential…and you can get crazy package deals that give you park access, food, drinks and hotel for about $100/day. Now that certainly beats the $300+ price tag of paying for everything separately — and those sorts of deals are quite easy to find online!
It’s also really important to keep the common interests of family members in mind and use that to plan a great family getaway. A family vacation is meant to be a time for the family to spend time together, possibly share new experiences, bond and just be able to have some fun outside of the usual daily grind. Does that mean that you can’t ever send the kids off to the daily activities the hotel plans? Of course not — parents need some alone time too and your kids are probably going to be thrilled to get to play the whole time. But if you are thinking about putting together a family ski holiday while your spouse dreams of Hawaii — and your kids just want to get face time with their cell phones…it may be worth talking things over with the whole family to decide what appeals to all of you. With all the options available out there, I’m sure you can find a common ground.
I really like to be prepared when we go on vacation — or at least know what our options are. Thankfully, that’s really not hard at all when you use the Internet. You can search out great restaurants, hotels, entertainment, recreational areas and just about anything else you can think of online. And just because most people go mainstream and hit up big amusement parks or huge national monuments, there is absolutely no reason your family has to fit the mold. Go spend a vacation off the beaten path instead and just unplug yourselves from the world. There’s no better way to get back in touch with each other than to cut off contact with just about everyone else.
Even though we lived in Miami and spent a lot of weekends in Naples, we have still done a lot of research about what to do with ourselves while we’re there. For starters, we never had a child or friends with children while we lived there — so we’re pretty clueless about those sorts of activities. And because things are always changing, you can never assume that a place you went to 1 year or even 6 months ago is still going to be the best place on earth.
Overall, I believe that ample research, plenty of planning and mutual agreement are the crucial elements required for creating a fantastic family vacation you’ll all love and talk of fondly for years to come.
What’s the most important element of your family vacations?
