You have the whole family together and you’re ready to get started on planning an island family vacation. You want to choose an island that is safe, everyone is happy, and no one is bored (especially those teens). Here are some tips on how to plan an island family vacation that keeps your entire family smiling.
How to Plan an Island Family Vacation
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Planning a family getaway isn’t always easy. If traveling with small children, you need to prioritize ease and comfort just as much as you do entertaining activities. Many parents avoid journeying abroad at all, simply to avoid the hassle of booking hotels and organizing busy days with smaller children. However, with the right planning, there’s no reason to avoid your dream destinations for fear of hassle or organizational stress.
Plan Together
Searching the internet and finding endless lists of options might be counter-productive — and maybe even overwhelming. Instead, it will be far more effective to get together as a family and plan an island getaway with the family together.
Our multigenerational family likes to put together a family travel planning meeting, have dinner, chat about our trip. When we plan together, we also get excited together. This way, you can meet expectations and negotiate over what everyone wants to do.
Planning together also avoids those potentially painful moments as a family when you impulsively decide to visit a monument or national park. , only for half the family to roll their eyes and drag their heels. We also like to plan unplugged vacations together, scheduling specific times that we all put our phones away together.
Home Away from Home: Rent Villas or Vacation Homes
When you have little children, sometimes dining out is just more stress (not even to mention more expensive!) than they’re worth. If you have naturally calm and well-mannered children, consider yourself lucky! While this may not be an issue for you, for others, it can be an incredibly stressful evening out.
Our multigenerational family is huge (5 adult children, their spouses, and 8 grandchildren), and accommodating our family means booking multiple hotel rooms. That’s expensive and it’s also not conducive to time together.
Booking a villa or vacation home offers families a home away from home. It also makes mealtimes far less of an ordeal, and also saves you a little bit of money in the process.
If you were visiting Mykonos, for example, you could find self-catering villas at lecollectionist.com offer the freedom to create your ideal getaway. Your secluded space is just that – all yours, with no rules and restrictions! So that could mean a late breakfast on your villa terrace, followed by a lazy afternoon by your private pool. You’ll still get that feeling of indulgence, but without having to constantly remind your children to keep napkins on laps and behave at the table.
Downtime Together and Apart
Adults can spend all day on their feet hitting the streets and soaking up all the culture they can possibly get. However, as you will know, as a parent, children can become volatile or sleepy once they begin to run low on energy.
This is why planning breaks and rests with snacks and drinks is so important to ensure that everyone has a good time.
Be Adventurous
Just because you have little children in tow doesn’t mean you have to tailor all activities to their interests. While theme-parks and adventure playgrounds offer fun for your little ones, they might not top the vacation list for everyone.
Instead, try and find activities that appease everyone. During your family travel meeting, ask everyone to list their top activities. On an island family vacation, consider beach time, book a sailing adventure, ride bicycles, shop for souvenirs.
When it comes down to it, family vacations are all about compromise. It’s about living and let live when you don’t get your own way, and not giving in to peer pressure to shell out for expensive experiences.
