The More, The Merrier (Usually)
The first time that we traveled with friends en famille, our daughter was only 9 months old. Four families who had enjoyed a share house together in our child-free years brought our babies back to Nantucket, crowing about how we weren’t going to let parenthood crimp our vacation style.
The fact that there were more baby bottles than wine bottles strewn around the house that week was clear evidence that we had indeed let parenthood crimp our vacation style in a major way. Nonetheless, that trip was enough of a success that we returned to Nantucket again the following year. (Only once more, though. Four toddlers under one roof? Oy.)
Since then, our family has enjoyed three other group vacations, in locations ranging from Portugal to the Jersey shore. Along the way, I’ve learned quite a bit about my friends’ quirky travel personalities.
Some families seem to chuck scheduling and routines out the window when they travel, others adhere tightly to familiar rituals. Some like to cook whenever possible, others believe that vacations and meal planning should be mutually exclusive. There are see-everything-on-the-vacation-spreadsheet-by-noon families and there are I’ve-got-everything-I-need-right-here-on-this-deck-chair families. Families who blow the bank on vacation and those who would sooner stay indoors than pay THAT for sunscreen.
Will I lose my credibility a bit if I admit that I’ve knowingly and willingly vacationed with all of these types, sometimes all at once?
I’ve taken care of tearful babies while my own slept peacefully (no, really, guys, she was no trouble while you were gone). I’ve surrendered my own restaurant reservations in order to get some extra time with the group. I’ve talked vacation partners into some not-so-bright ideas (Portuguese Flea Market, anyone?) and taken the endless flack that resulted. I’ve endured countless squabbles and tears (most, but not all, from our offspring).
And yet . . . I am a huge fan of vacationing with other families.
Our kids’ need for sleep is hardly a hindrance if we can all sit out on the deck with a bottle of wine once they’ve gone to bed. My desire to shop and my husband’s need to golf can both be indulged when we both have playmates. Our kids have built in playmates, too, which up the odds considerably that I might actually finish my novel.
Best of all, when we travel with friends, we all seem to laugh more. If travel is about happy memories, then who better to create those memories with than the people who make us the happiest?
January 6th, 2009 | by Rebecca Tompkins 9 comments
1. Gudrun on January 7th, 2009
ok, I will admit it, I think you are daring. I love traveling, and we do a lot with our kids, but I have a hard time imaging traveling with another family (or two!). I am not sure why – coordinating the details with my own family seems to be enough, adding another group into the mix would be hard.
That said, we did go to Hawaii in 2007 with some friends – actually, we went and they came and met us about 4 days into our trip. I would say they adapted more to our schedule, and they stayed at a different hotel, so we were not all together all the time, but when they left, I was kind of glad to be back to just our family unit.
Interesting post, thanks for sharing your perspective. Maybe I should look harder and find some compatible traveling partners!
Cheers,
2. Kayt Sukel on January 7th, 2009
We traveled a lot with other families growing up and it was always a blast. We haven’t yet attempted it with our own family but perhaps the idea should be explored. Great post!
3. Peace Mitchell on January 7th, 2009
Great post, we love traveling with other families, there’s always an extra set of hands to help with cooking, cleaning up or playing with the kids and the kids all have someone to play with.
4. Carolina on January 7th, 2009
I haven’t done the traveling with other families thing, but I have done a weekend trip with a friend of mine, and her two daughters. That was actually pretty awesome. We sat out on the deck with pizza and wine, and they entertained each other playing inside. I don’t know how it would’ve been if we had to actually do sightseeing and stuff though.
5. Amy @ The Q Family on January 8th, 2009
We haven’t done much of traveling with other families. The only time we did, we went on a cruise so it was easy enough and we didn’t do much together.
Do you have any tips on how to make it a successful trip? We are thinking about one with our group of friends but never get anything in motion. What are the steps you took to make it happen?
6. Shelly/TravelswithBaby on January 8th, 2009
We once had a great camping trip to Yosemite with 7 babies ages 7 months to 14 months. Once! Returning the following year with 7 toddlers didn’t seem wise to anyone! ;-)
7. Meliss on January 8th, 2009
We’re on Year 19 of vacationing with a group of friends and their families. The babies of Year 1 will have just graduated high school when we get there this year. We have 8 adults and 10 kids under the same roof–granted, it’s a big roof (6 BR/6.5 bath beach house) but still. The same roof. Every year, we tell people that we have no clue how it all works, it just does and we’re not messing with it. We went through the years and YEARS of diapers and toddlers and now it’s more teenagers and Wiis, but kids have ridden the bus for 18 hours to get there when school-sponsored trips have made them miss their rides with their families and have turned down trips to some pretty exotic locales to come sit on the beach in SC. Anything that’ll make a teenager do that is pretty awesome in my book. =)
8. wandermom on January 9th, 2009
Hmm, I’m obviously having some technical issues this evening because my comment on this post keeps getting kicked back at me.
I LOVE multi-family trips. We’ve done tons – usually to rent a house or condo and stay with family for a week or so.
Check out http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/wandermom/2008/09/09/family-reunion-in-tuscany/ for details of the last such trip I organized. And http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/wander-tips/6-tips-for-planning-a-destination-family-reunion/ for tips on organizing such a trip yourself.
9. Sharlene on January 10th, 2009
I have done lots of cabin type trips with other families and it has always been fun. Chaotic, but fun
9 Responses to “The More, The Merrier (Usually)”