The must-know secret to enjoying a family holiday? Have you any secrets to enjoying family vacations? Here is one secret that I have realised only recently after travelling with my family for over a decade.
We spent the summer holiday in Southeast Asia and I have realised one thing from our trip this year. After travelling as a small unit for 13 years, we have been through trips’ highs and lows and just realised that the secret to enjoying family trips is accepting that there will be challenging times.
Every family holiday or vacation is a time away from home. We still work however, there is nearly zero time in the kitchen which I look forward to. For my daughter, it would be time away from school and getting up early. As for my husband, he has a break from me barking about housework.
Those are a few bits of highs about going away. There certainly are bits of lows sprinkled during the trip. Sometimes we get over them quickly but sometimes time is needed to let those pass.
Accepting that something will go wrong before and during a family travel after years of trips is the key to enjoyment.
Things become tricky sometimes as soon as you close the door behind you to start the journey. What can go wrong this time always plays in the back of my mind which has become normal.
After the Covid hooha, we all had, everyone in the family was excited to go on a family trip. Not everyone is out and about yet in 2021 where our trip down memory lane will start.
Family Holiday challenges
- Sandfly bites – I was badly bitten by those pesky sandflies and we had to cut our trip to the beach in the quiet, beautiful sandy beach of Thailand
- On our recent trip, our phones got wet from the boat ride and they stayed damp until we got back to the mainland. As you would have expected, our phones played up the whole time and everyone became cranky when we could not work with them. FYI we need internet for work and the phone connection is a must.
- We accidentally hired an electric car that needed charging an hour into the journey and we still had 3 hours to go
- The taxi did not bother to turn up – we waited and waited but nada we had to look for another taxi to go back to the capital
Some epic parts of family holidays
- Quiet time in a temple – If and when city scenes became hectic we found the temple grounds the place to escape to
- On the beach food vendors had everything we could ask for, from fresh fruit to grilled food, from salads to scarves
- Massages – Amon and I have been for a massage whenever we have free time and they are around 7 days a week
- We had the swimming pool at the hotel to ourselves most days and just played and floated on our backs happily
- We ate street food, food from different cuisines like Japan and India. The choice of food is incomparable.
- A dash to a cat cafe for some feline comfort vibes was a nice way to relax and entertain ourselves because we missed our cat.
- Signing up for an activity like a cooking class with the family was a great way to spend time together but you don’t have to talk to each other if you don’t want to. We consider that to still be an upside.
Day trips locally
Day trips to the beach in England or some village here and there that we have not been to are still trips that we’ve made.
Even with the help of a sat nave we still managed to find ourselves in a pickle as to our destination and the fun and not-so-fun part begins from there.
We discover new things, tough experiences come along with good ones. No matter the experiences they help us grow, stay together and always hope to be better as a family.
Here are a few photos from our family trips.
The most challenging times sometimes turn out to be the most memorable. Most seasoned parents say trips and travels are about making memories with the kids and not about relaxation.
And the secret to unforgettable family travels is to embrace those tough and good times. Looking at those challenging moments in a different light and changing the way we look at them might also be the other secret to enjoying family holidays. Don’t you think?
Everything is part of the trip, be present and go with the flow. One day there are meltdowns and disasters, other days are more relaxing.
How do you deal with glorious but imperfect adventures with the family?
Have you ever had trips when everything seemed perfect?
What about you? Can you remember trips when days became awful from day one?
Are you planning for a family holiday?
Are you thinking about going near or far?
Here are tips from a kid for kids to survive holiday travel this summer break.
If you are going to Bangkok you might want to check out Things to do with Kids in Bangkok.
Or if you want a couple of days out of Bangkok spend them in the Northeast of Thailand.
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