10 Reasons Why Families Should Absolutely Vacation Together

Every family needs someone like you — the person who dreams big about how memorable it would be to get away together … and who grabs the bull by the horns to make it happen. Every day, we help folks just like you plan a memorable multi-generation family vacation.

1. Think of it as stress release … for everybody.

Adults don’t have a monopoly on stress. Over-scheduled kids race to keep up with their schedules, too. School, sports, and lessons from ballet to ACT prep … it all adds up. Everybody needs to recharge. A night in a Berber encampment in Morocco’s Saharan Desert or sea kayaking off the coast of Alaska re-channels energy and breaks the rinse-and-repeat cycle of everyday life. Muscles relax, smiles widen, bonds grow.

2. Try something new and different.

Plenty of families enjoy yearly trips to the same beach or mountain cabin. Nothing wrong with that. Yet, at some point, the summer of ’19 can start to be interchangeable with ’17 and ’15. The remedy is to add in, say, a week in the Galápagos one year, or a trip to explore, Bryce Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks. The variety spices up life and the memories you make are more memorable when you step outside your traditional comfort zone.

3. K.I.S.S. –  Keep it super simple.

The best family vacations are the ones that are plug-and-play simple. After all, you don’t want to be obsessing about logistics while everybody else is having a good time. Arranging a family trip with Classic Journeys is a surefire way to treat everybody to an active, engaging, out-of-the-ordinary experience that will run like clockwork. This strategy works whether you’re pulling something together last minute or planning a year out. Whatever your personal planning style, we can make your next family vacation one of the simplest you’ve ever taken.

4. Turn “heads down” into eyes wide open. Don’t worry about bumps in the road.

Apple just introduced an app to minimize screen time. Travel is an even better way to achieve that goal. While you’re paddling to a rainforest village in Panama or whale-watching in Nova Scotia, touchscreens go untouched. Even if your phone is also your camera, you’ll find that grabbing shots of baby sea lions in the Galápagos is a lot more engaging than checking out cat videos or the Museum of Ice Cream on Instagram. The time you all spend in the same moment is time nobody can take away from you.

5. Don’t worry about bumps in the road.

Pulling off any vacation requires somebody to keep things on track. You can count on Classic Journeys to dedicate a team of experts to make sure your vacation runs just right. It just doesn’t have to be you. Experienced, well-connected and exceptionally fun local guides handle all the logistics. Your flock can skip the endless line to see Michelangelo’s David in Florence or juggle activities to take advantage of, particularly fine weather for sailing on an America’s Cup yacht in New Zealand.

6. Tempt your family into staying connected.

We hear all kinds of motives for family trips. “I want my grandchildren to understand the world better.” “A cool trip is the only way I can bribe everybody to spend a week together.” “I want us all to have fun with each other like we used to.” Wherever you’re coming from, going on a travel adventure together really does work to make sure the people you love best stay deeply connected. And being the person who makes it all happen is incredibly satisfying.

7. Prove that you’re cool enough to matter.

Rocket Grandma — our affectionate nickname for the leader of her family pack — didn’t just make sure her grandchildren could go zip lining and river rafting in Costa Rica. She geared up, strapped in and went for it herself. If you propose a vacation that sets your family free to set their own paces, you get some serious street cred, even if you decide to hit the spa while they take a roller coaster ride on the rapids.

8. See the USA (but not in a Chevrolet.)

The U.S. — and Canada for that matter — offers great options for vacations that can fit neatly in a week. If any of you have driven together to national parks, you know that the old traditional quick in-and-out visits are not going to cut it now. And yet parks like Glacier and the trio of Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Zion are great venues for family travel when you explore with local guides who get you past the crowds and into the real fun. (Dune surfing, anyone?)

9. Luxuriate in your time together.

“Back in ancient times — the 20th Century — we took some fairly economical vacations,” admits Debbie H. “We still could, but we’re all kind of over it.” That’s why she proposed their recent trip to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. “We have more affection for luxury hotels than we used to, and nobody seems to complain about that!” The luxury hotels and inns on our family trips guarantee plenty of comforts.

10. Be smart and safe, but not boring.

Feeling safe and carefree is important, but don’t let caution cause you to settle for an overly timid trip. All of the destinations where Classic Journeys has handcrafted family trips are places where you can all cut loose, have a super fun time, and feel perfectly secure in the process. Our super-well-connected local guides know their regions inside out, and they know all of the where’s, how’s, do’s and don’ts you’ll ever need to have a smart and utterly unforgettable vacation together.