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Planning a great family vacation can be exciting and fun, but it can also be stressful. I am sharing a few tips that may help you when planing your next family vacation. This also kicks off the Organized Island travel series in which will offer some travel tips I have discovered over the years.

First let’s talk about what makes a family vacation great.

Elements of a Great Family Vacation

Usually it is things like:

• location
• weather
• something for everyone
• fun experiences
• reasonably priced

When picking a location for family travel, we looked at family friendly and fun destinations. Once we knew where we were going, we would have a family meeting with the kids to talk about and plan the trip. As the kids got older, the kids responsible for planning activities and were assigned research for the locations we were going to be visiting.

With a little bit of research you can save a lot of money. Many museums have a day of the month or week when admission is free. Festivals and fairs may be going on that can provide you with a fun day of activities for a very low cost or even free! If a city has a hop on hop off bus, it is a great way to see the highlights and decide where you want to go back and spend more time.

 

Consider Lodging Options

Now more than ever there are so many different types of lodging available. Besides hotels and motels, vacation rentals, condo rentals, and community lodging options are now available and easier than ever to find.

Some of our best vacations have been in a home rental where there is a kitchen, living area and in some cases, a private pool. In London, we rented a cool and cozy flat next to the British Museum with a kitchen and a family room stocked with games. We had a blast and although we had to climb stairs to get to it, we felt like were residents, at least for a few days!

Be An Organized Planner

Keep a Flexible Itinerary  

We always plan some downtime in our itinerary. Know that they’re going to be times when someone’s stomach doesn’t feel quite right, or the weather doesn’t cooperate or someone is just plain tired. A balance of exploration and relaxation is therapeutic for everyone. This allows for local events and activities that may be happening that you did not plan for. We have stumbled upon some cool festivals and street fairs that we did not know existed and it is a great way to experience regional food and music.

Not every trip has worked out perfect, but it was not for a lack of planning. There was one trip the one trip from hell that we took where we all got sick…one by one. But, I can honestly say that all of our planning efforts have worked in our favor in terms of getting everyone involved and leaving everyone with fun and wonderful memories and that is what it is all about.