Last updated April 11, 2024
Traveling with children or grandchildren. Probably not the most relaxing way you imagine spending a vacation. I mean, between the extra carrying around, the not sleeping as much and the additional planning involved, you would think that family travel is very far from relaxing—more like exhausting—right?!
You know what? You’re absolutely correct. Hear me out, though.
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Did you know that family travel could also be a resource to help you not only create, but sustain that “ready to conquer the day” feeling and positively impact your overall family well-being?
As a “travel mama” of two little ones (and one on the way), I’ve experienced more than my share of overwhelm and body aches. What I remember most from every single family travel is the good times and the happiness we built together; as well as the learning and social skills, and emotional intelligence instilled in my children.
Six Benefits of Family Travel
Are you ready to give family travel a chance? Here are six ways in which family travel matters.
1. You Spend Time Together
But not any type of time. Not like the one you spend at home between daily routines. It’ll be quality time you get to spend with your partner and your child.
Time when you’ll discover, learn and figure out new things together. Time building excitement while at the same time building patience. Sometimes you’ll get to run around laughing; other times you’ll learn to be comfortable just BEING with each other.
When you travel with your children, you’ll reap experiences that’ll last forever. You’ll go to bed somewhere around the world smiling while you talk about the wonders that you’ve seen.
You’ll get to spend time that you wish could stand still—becoming aware and appreciative of what’s happening in the present moment.
2. You Interact with Different Environments
When you bring yourself and your family out of what’s familiar—it can be a bit intimidating at first—but, you’ll start building new brain connections about the way you perceive the world while you also stretch your comfort zone.
Travel opens the doors to the unfamiliar and lets your family interact with different places, cultures, people and languages. When you expose your children to what’s different, you teach them to be flexible, tolerant and welcoming. Behaviors and characteristics that they’ll take with them and strengthen as they grow.
Family travel invites children to question and wonder. It builds a sense of understanding of the world and how they get to interact with it, which enhances their wellness by creating self-belonging.
3. You Disconnect from Your Routines
Even if you don’t have a routine at all! When you family travel you’ll bring yourself out of your “daily ordinary” which can include a lot of fun things, but could easily become draining, monotonous and uninspiring.
I’ve found that as a working-from-home-mom, every time I return from family travel I feel recharged in mind and body, and usually bring back tons of new ideas for my business.
Taking our kids away from a routine through travel sparks excitement and can boost creativity for older kids. For younger kids and babies, family travel is a great way to stimulate and awaken the senses by doing activities that you typically don’t do at home.
Imagine being able to enjoy a Turkish breakfast in Istanbul one day or stargazing at a national park another. These are the moments that you and your kids will cherish, and the ones that will build your unique family memories.
4. You Activate New Life Skills
Although kids are natural learners and explorers throughout their entire childhood, this statement is especially true for babies up until three years old.
In the first few years of a child’s life, we are setting the foundations for how they’ll understand, relate and react toward things, people, situations and challenges for the rest of their lives. The moment we choose to travel with them, we immediately maximize the sources from where this fundamental knowledge will come from.
When children are able to learn simple concepts like say, water, through the lens of travel, they’ll unlock a deeper dimension of understanding. They will not only know how water looks like, but they’ll also be able to taste it and see it move in the ocean; they’ll be able to feel it and smell it in a rainy forest. They’ll get to see it far from a plane or very close from a boat. Flowing, still or frozen. They’ll see water in so many colors! Pink in Mexico or turquoise in Croatia.
Family travel can help boost your child’s wellness and mindfulness by giving them an overall broader understanding of the world and how they relate to it.
5. You Awaken Your Curiosity
Oh, the wonders of seeing everything through your child’s eyes. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we, as adults, could hold on to these magic lenses that as children we get to have?
But wait… we can! And traveling with your child can give you one of the quickest ways to access this.
Just as they are natural learners, kids are naturally curious little beings. In fact, a lot of the things we learn as kids, we do thanks to our innate curiosity.
How do you think we learned that some foods are spicy? Or that the sun “goes to sleep” at night? We asked questions and let ourselves discover. But then we grow up, and we suddenly stop looking at the world with wonder.
Travel can help you regain that curiosity, especially if you travel with an inexhaustible and expandable source of curiosity, Yep, your children!
Next time you family travel, tap into your inner child and join your kids on their world-exploring journey. Get sand on your feet, get ice cream on your face, and open yourself to the laughs and sense of wellness you’ll all feel.
6. You Expand Family Well-Being by Including Grandparents
When we think about family travel, our first thoughts might take us to traveling with younger children. Family travel can actually include many types of travel. Traveling with teens, traveling with siblings, and of course, traveling with our beloved gramps and gams.
By including grandparents in your travel plans, you can boost your entire family’s health, mindfulness and well-being even further.
- Kids get to spend valuable time and build strong connections with grandparents
- Grandparents feel included, acknowledged and take an active part in the travel experience
- The entire family gets to stay active while having adventures together
- Grandparents have the opportunity to be with grandchildren for an extended period of time
- Parents can enjoy the beautiful interconnection between their parents and their children
As we wrap up, I guess the last thing that’s left for me to share is this: Travel with your family, travel with them now! Travel while your kids are little, travel while your kids are still growing up. Don’t wait any longer to activate the ripple effect of wellness benefits you’ll be gifting to yourself and to your entire family.
About Vacayou
At Vacayou [pronounced VACAY – YOU], we believe that travel has the power to change lives. The power to revive, rejuvenate and redirect your inner wellness warrior. And that’s why we’re here. Vacayou brings the world of wellness travel to you!
No matter how far or how adventurous, our team scours the globe to curate the best in wellness travel. But the booking process can often be time-consuming and complicated. We’ve made it much easier for you to search, discover, and book wellness and active vacations. With Vacayou’s Instant Book, your dream wellness getaway is now just one click away.
Start the trip of your lifetime today, with Vacayou. We are here to help create a healthier global community through wellness and active travel.
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