Family Vacations. Remember When…

When Family Vacations Were About The Ride

In my generation, you took family vacations together – the back seat of your minivan or station wagon sitting three across for hours upon hours.

There were times we stopped on the side of a road for lunch, we always packed a cooler and most times we stayed at a motel or with family. It was about spending time together, creating new experiences on a shoestring budget. We never had extra money as a family yet still had time for an annual vacation and time together.

Today is a new world. We are privileged to have the flexibility to travel and enjoy great vacations as a family. How do we teach our children to enjoy and appreciate the benefits of being fiscally responsible if they don’t understand or have ever experienced the ‘Griswold’ vacation? Yes, I am referring to the 1983 road comedy, starring Chevy Chase.  This is when we had an epiphany.

We are starting the journey towards our first ‘Griswold’ vacation and wanted to share with each of you. While you can shave several pennies off of your next family vacation (always a good thing) most of this post is about life and teaching our kids about good habits and giving them a new perspective.

Family Vacation Idea #1: Enjoy The Ride. Make Great Memories

While the largest ball of twine is about 1400 miles from where we live, there is great culture across America. Many of us have never seen them unless it’s on an image on their iPhone. While we love a trip to Disneyland, we have not spent time seeing all of the great things between the 500 miles in between. There are countless ways to experience the world differently and take the time to great make memories on your next family vacation. This is about balance, slowing life down and enjoying the ride along the way.

Family Vacation Idea #2: Simplify.  Turn Back The Clock

The idea of bringing back the family vacations we had as kids has a few components. While we cannot bring back the 92′ Dodge Caravan or a Wagon Queen Family Truckster, we can teach our kids about making smart financial decisions. A part of this is about new experiences and giving them perspective. Remember to make it about the experience, not just the final destination.  That experience is invaluable. Our current ideas are to pack our lunches, stay at a simple, safe motel, even considering camping along the way.  Who remembers pulling to the side of the road to eat lunch or take one of those awkward family photos? We all do. We will stick to our budget, build good habits. Call it a good old-fashioned road trip with a stereo, side of the road attractions and everything in between.

Family Vacation Idea #3: Have Them Contribute. Plan Together

Get your kids involved and ask them to contribute. Teach them about the importance of financial choices and managing a budget and how to spend money wisely.  We experimented with this last weekend in Las Vegas having them help us navigate the airport, find our rental car and even the route to the hotel.  They helped us plan and even make choices for meals and how we spent our time. It was amazing how fast they learned. Our current plan is to have them choose the things to see, have them decide how we spend our vacation money and even where we stay. It’s all about choices.

Family Vacation Idea #4: Go Analog. Our World Is Not Flat. Don’t Pinch Or Swipe

In today’s world of technology, its overwhelming all-consuming and can be destructive with things like decision-making, interaction and seeing the world, etc. Our current plan is to go analog. On our next family vacation we plan to use real maps, play the games we used to play in our car rides, no devices.  Just enjoy the sites and surroundings. See the real world and be present. Does anyone remember the license plate or the ‘ABC’ game.  We spent hours just being together as a family (miserably at times) but they are the fondest memories we have.

Remember that life is a game never won or lost, only played.