How to Plan a Fun and Relaxing Family Vacation

How often does your family travel each year? Once? Twice? Unless you are lucky enough to have an employer who is incredibly generous with vacation days, your family is not likely to travel much more often than that. And that isn’t even considering the costs associated with taking a vacation–many families cannot afford to travel often because it is simply too expensive.

So, when your family does go on a vacation, you want that trip to be the best it can be, right? You want your days filled with excitement, you want to visit every nearby attraction or park, and you want everyone to have fun–or else. Sometimes we get so focused on scheduling our vacation, making sure it is jam-packed with adventure and activities, that we forget to just relax and enjoy our time away from home. Having such a restrictive itinerary for every day of the trip is just asking for a stressful vacation.

What can you do, then, to plan your trip to make sure that it is a fun (and still relaxing) one? Here are some vacation-planning tips:

Decide on your budget. Figure out exactly what you can afford to spend on your vacation. This should be your starting point for planning–if you start by making travel arrangements first, you may find yourself spending more than you can comfortably afford.

Decide on a destination as a family. Sure, maybe you would love to go to Niagara Falls, but does the rest of the family? Sit down together and talk about where you would like to go–and be sure to discuss destinations that will fit in the budget.

Once a destination is decided, choose must-see attractions. No matter where you go, it is possible to schedule side-trips and activities for every single day of your trip. This is not your goal–that would be too stressful. So, talk with your spouse and kids about which activities and attractions they definitely do not want to miss. Some may be full-day attractions (such as amusement parks), while others may be relatively short ventures (such as a factory tour). Then, see if these must-do activities can fit into your trip without over-scheduling your days–if not, narrow down your list so that only about half of your vacation time has planned activities.

Choose a family-friendly hotel. You want a hotel that has as many amenities for children as possible. Maybe you aren’t planning on spending a great deal of time at your hotel, but you will be there every evening and at various times during the days–and wouldn’t it be nice if you and your spouse could relax without the kids bouncing off of the walls at those times? Some hotels have video game systems, VCR’s, and DVD players in the rooms–all of these will occupy your children and give them a little down time. You may also be able to find a hotel that has a game room, room service with a children’s menu, free breakfasts, and babysitting services.

Choose a hotel with a swimming pool. Even if your vacation destination is the beach, and even if your hotel sits right on the beach, it is still best to choose a hotel that has a swimming pool. Why? Some kids just do not enjoy swimming in the ocean–the waves may be a little scary for younger kids, or some kids may not like the feel of the ocean floor. Plus, hotel swimming pools are monitored by lifeguards, whereas some beaches do not have guards. Pools can be fun, too, because many have special slides and diving boards. Of course, you can still lounge on the beach and go for an ocean swim, but it is nice to have the option of going to the hotel pool.

Give kids a personal souvenir budget. Younger children may need help with this, but all kids will have a better understanding of the value of money if they are spending their own money instead of yours. Make sure that they understand that once their souvenir money is gone, they are done buying items for the rest of the vacation. They should use their own money each time they want to buy a souvenir or memento of the trip–parents should still be responsible for purchasing everything else.

Let kids help choose where to dine. Hopefully your hotel offers free breakfasts–it is nice to start each vacation day the same way, with a discussion of the day’s activities over a quick hotel breakfast. If not, it may be a good idea to send one parent out to get some carry-out breakfast from a nearby restaurant. But as far as lunch and dinner go, these will be different for each day of your trip. So, why not let your kids help you choose where to eat? Or, perhaps you could let the kids choose where to have lunch and the adults choose where to have dinner. Either way, kids love to be a part of the decision-making process!

Above all, remember to go with the flow. No plan should be written in stone. For example, if your plan is to go horseback-riding on a Tuesday morning, but when you get up that morning the weather isn’t cooperating, change your plan–it wouldn’t make sense to still do that type of activity in the rain, would it? Or if you originally wanted to visit a science museum on Thursday afternoon, but after lunch your spouse isn’t feeling too well, change your plan–maybe you can take the kids to the beach and let your spouse take a nap.

Being flexible is the key to having a relaxing vacation. You can’t plan ahead for everything, so if you can open-minded and easygoing, your days will be much more enjoyable. Your vacation will be both exciting and rejuvenating if you follow these tips.