Benefits of traveling with family
You may be thinking if you should plan a vacation with family or leave your kids behind. In this article, we will go through why it is important to travel with family and the benefits of traveling with family.
Families that travel together have some of the best times which they will cherish for the rest of their lives.
So, let’s go through why you should travel together with family.
1. Start talking to each other more
When you are planning a family vacation, everyone will have their own version of their perfect holiday.
It can get difficult to talk to each other as everyone these days have busy routines.
Planning a trip together will create good communication between family members and everyone will start to talk to each other again about what they want on the trip.
Family members will research a new place they want to explore or a place they want to eat. Everyone will research what they want to do, where to go, what to eat, activities, and share their ideas.
They will come up with an itinerary together while talking to each other more. This will lead to families talk about other things about their lives, not just travel plans.
2. Travel creates a unique family bond
Travel creates a unique bond and it brings families closer together. When families are away from their regular home and their routine, they rely on each other for support. They spend more time with each other without all the distractions at home.
Families may explore places or try meals at a new restaurant together. They will share their experiences with their family members first instead of someone else.
They will talk to each other if they liked the experience or they didn’t. This creates families talking to each other more and creates a bond which they wouldn’t be able to create if they are at home having a regular routine.
3. Kids will learn new things
Kids are inquisitive and they become more curious when they are in a new environment. Travel teaches us and kids new things that you may not be able to learn in the environment you live day in day out.
If you go to a city like Tokyo, you and your family will get to experience new dishes, see crowded streets which you may not be common where you live, Japanese culture and modern technologies which you may not have seen before.
If you go to Rome, your family will be able to learn about Roman history and experience places like the Colosseum where they will get to see the architecture and the creativity of the Romans.
You may be someone who likes camping and adventure. When you go camping, your kids will be able to learn about nature, how to live outside a house.
Some campsite may not have the internet or electricity where kids will need to come up with a new way to entertain themselves. This will allow your kids to be creative and they will be distracted from their mobiles and television and admire what nature has to offer.
They may bring some of that creativity back home and not be glued on the mobile or internet all day every day.
4. Appreciate what they have got
When you travel to a place where kids lack the facilities of your home, they will appreciate how lucky they are.
The place that you visit may not have the best beds or the best mattress that kids are used to. They may not be able to travel in a comfortable car that they are used to.
You may also visit non-privileged countries where you and your family will see the lifestyle of poor people living in a minimalist way. That will be an eye-opener for the family and appreciate what they have.
They will be less likely to complain about small things and start appreciating things that they have got.
5. Learn from others
Traveling is a great way to get to know how other people live. You can learn from others what kind of food they eat, what kind of homes they have, what clothes they wear, what they like to do for fun.
When you are not at home distracted by everything you have got, you and your kids will be more open to learning new things.
Whether it’s new cuisine or perhaps a new language, your kids or you may bring back a new thing that you will like for the rest of your life.
When you are traveling, you should make sure that you get to know the locals. Whether you book a share accommodation or take up cooking lessons with the locals, you should learn new things from the locals.
6. Kids become more responsible
When we go traveling, we make sure that we all take some responsibilities. We asked our 3-year-old daughter to carry her own bag which had her water bottle and a light blanket. We asked her to make sure she takes care of her things.
We would tell her our plan for the day and tell her she will be able to do things that are on her list but she needs to get ready at a certain time. She would listen to us, eat, and get ready by herself.
It was amazing to see how a new environment changed the way she behaved especially when she was going to places she wanted to go.
When we got back home, she would respond to things she didn’t use to in the past. We could see that she was more responsible in the way she was handling her things and traveling made her more responsible.
7. Travel makes family flexible
Things don’t always go as planned on your day to day life and things don’t go as planned when you are traveling.
When you are traveling, not all things go as planned. You may have made plans to have lunch in a certain restaurant. Due to traffic, you may not have been able to reach the restaurant you wanted so you need to find an alternate restaurant.
These situations make families more flexible to adapt to situations and find a way to solve problems. This sort of environment gets kids outside their comfort zone and they learn to become more flexible.
8. Recharge yourself
Travel allows you and your family to recharge yourself and take a break from your daily routine.
When kids see new things, meet new people, breathe fresh air and try different tasting water, their body will react in a positive way.
When you are not following the daily fast-paced routine and slow down when you are on vacation, you will feel a lot different and feel a positive energy.
You will be able to only do a handful number of things in a day when traveling.
You may only visit a couple of museums, temples, parks or markets in a day. You and your kids may not have time to do a lot of activity in a day which means that you can rest more and recharge your body.
Make sure that you don’t schedule too many things on the same day when you are on vacation. You are meant to have fun and relax while you are o holiday. You should be trying to sleep in and rest as much as possible.
9. Be a kid again with your kids
When you are traveling with your kids, you become more active yourself. They may want to go to parks, go for a hike, go to Disneyland to try rides.
These activities will bring back your inner kid. You will feel more energetic and fresh after doing things that kids do. You may want to do silly things with your kids and no one will judge you as you are with kids.
So let loose and have fun with your kids when you are on vacation.
10. Kid’s age matters
I feel like when my daughter was 1 year old, it was the best time to travel. We didn’t have to pay full fare on the flights, she didn’t complain about the places we took her. We just needed to make sure we fed her on time, she got her sleep and change her nappies.
When kids grow up they may become more demanding. They may not listen to you and may not agree on things that you want to do.
If you are traveling with family, it’s best to plan ahead. Think of destinations where you want to go with kids when they are young and when they are teenagers.
Your destinations may have to change depending on your kid’s age but you will get to go to different destinations as your kids grow older.
11. Get privileged access
When we travel with kids, we tend to get more attention. When we are boarding a flight, we get early access on the plane.
When we go to hotels, you may get a bigger room at no extra cost. You may be surprised how many times you may get a bigger room that you wanted but didn’t want to pay extra for it.
You may have noticed at the immigration lines, you get privileged access when you are with kids.
One time we landed at the Bangkok airport late at night, we were tired and noticed a massive line to get past immigration. A lady on duty saw us how tired we were and we had a kid. She kindly opened a line for us so we can be served before others.
This has happened to us on a few occasion so I think this is one of the perks of traveling with kids.
12. Share memories for life
Families that travel together will share memories for life. One of the benefits of traveling with family is you create memories together that you can share with each other for the rest of your lives.
For example, our daughter was 4 years old when we went to Bali. After a few years, she still remembers the name of the driver we had hired in Bali.
She remembers the hotels we stayed in and the fun we had together in the pool. She still cherishes the culture that she experienced, the locals she met, local food we tried. She still has some of the souvenirs she collected from Bali.
We had one of the best times with her in Bali as she was at the age where she understood things but she wasn’t too demanding. I am sure we will remember the memories we created together for the rest of our lives and talk about it for years to come.
You may be interested in a guide to hire a private driver in Bali
13. Peace of mind
One of the most important things is the peace of mind that we have our kids are safe and sound with us.
Our friends and parents are great and they will look after our kids but it’s not the same as our kids being in front of us and knowing they are safe.
Fact that you won’t be thinking about your kids safety will make your vacation less stressful.
You will get a good feeling when we can say good night to our kids in person.
If you need some alone time, depending on where you go you can always hire someone to look after your kids or put your kids in the daycare that’s provided by the hotel.
When we went to Phuket, we hired a nanny for a few hours to look after our daughter. She was great and we trusted her as she was a staff at the hotel who worked at the daycare during the day.
This is something you may consider if you want some time for yourself.
Recommended Articles:
Things to do in Bali with family
Things to do in Fiji with kids
Conclusion
Traveling with family can be rewarding and satisfying. Knowing that your kids are learning, exploring the world with you, getting to learn new cultures, and knowing they are safe with you is the best feeling you can have.
You can be kids with your kids and have fun with the whole family.
We hope you enjoyed our article on the benefits of traveling with family.
Tell us about your experience of traveling with family. Share with us why is it important to travel with family?
