Travelling with your family can be a great and enjoyable bonding experience, but it can also easily be a time where fights and arguments break out. Here are some tips that should keep everybody co-existing happily while abroad.
Wish You Weren’t Here?
A family holiday can be a great experience that brings everybody a little bit closer together. It is a time where memories are made that will stay with you for the rest of your life and one where you really get to fully appreciate the most important people in your life. It can, however, also be a time where too much time spent together can lead to fight and arguments breaking out constantly, turning your dream break into a real holiday from hell.
Here are some tips that should make sure that everything goes swimmingly.
Photo Credit to Joelk75 on Flickr
Make Space
The biggest thing to remember is that even though you are on holiday, each individual needs to have their own private space respected. It is when people feel as though that they can’t breathe that they begin to get ratty and short-tempered. Even if you are in the middle of nowhere in the outer reaches of Norway with absolutely nothing going on but wonderful nature, you have to let everyone have some alone time. A step back from the group is important for some, so it is essential that the more socially minded out there keep this in their head.
Take Walks
It is advisable to try to get around by foot as much as possible when on holiday with your family. Buses, underground, and cars are cramped places that make people restless and quickly tired. Work out in advance where you are going, and plan the trip so that you spend as much time out walking in the open as possible. In doing so, claustrophobia is automatically alleviated and everybody gets the chance to move with a bit more freedom.
Be Prepared
If you are crossing the mountains by road, chances are that you are going to spending a lot of time cooped up in the car or bus that is taking you into that wonder. The sights out of the window will keep you entertained for most of the long journey, but you must have things ready to reduce boredom for when the going gets hard, especially when travelling with younger children. Games, mini-DVD players, books, a pack of cards, are just a few of the things that you should definitely think about working into your luggage allowance.
Take it Easy
A holiday should be enjoyed at your leisure. It should not be a mad rush from one tourist trap to another. If you impose this sort of manic movement on your family, you will soon see problems arise. If you are going to see Copenhagen this time, do you really need to squeeze in Stockholm too? Think about your trip as an opportunity to spend some enjoyable and relaxed time with your family, not as a race against the clock. Do the latter, and there certainly will be some tears.
Take the Rough with the Smooth
Everything will not go to plan. Accept this fact and react accordingly to any surprises that you come your way. How you respond to any little bumps on the road will go a long way toward determining how your whole trip goes. Treat everything as adventure. Smile even when you want to cry, and always stay positive. Keep your head up, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out that is often in adversity when people best come together.
Great advice, thanks for sharing these words of wisdom. I have had my share of stressful ‘vacations’. One of the things our family started doing is having a family meeting before we go to discuss expectations, go over the itinerary, decide as a family just what we really want to do on the vacation, etc. – it really has seemed to help.