Every family travels differently. Personalities, interests and mindsets greatly influence how you experience a vacation. Some people will pile into a car and go on the great American road trip. As a kid I went on two different cross country trips with my parents (both teachers) and loved it… as much as any tween/teen could enjoy spending six straight weeks on the road with their parents.
My wife is not a car person so driving more than 3 or 4 hours is not something that is often on our travel option list. Living in the northeast, there are a lot of things within a few hours drive to see and do without having to drive too far, though we try to get further away when we get the chance.
When we do fly it’s almost exclusively in coach. It gets very expensive very quickly to fly in business class when there’s four of us and we’d rather spends our points and money elsewhere. I’m over 6 feet tall so coach is always going to be a crunch on my knees but after years of flying between the coasts. The kids are mostly interested in whether the plane has a screen and my wife is generally happy with an aisle seat and a half ton of magazines to help pass the time.
When available on the planes we’re flying we enjoy the rows of 2 seats and we’ll each taking one of the kids. When there’s a row of three seats, I often sit with both kids in the middle seat and lift up the arm rests. This allows me to spread out and and the kids to use me as a pillow during an overnight flight. It also keeps them separate so they don’t get on each other’s nerves as easily! We ALWAYS pay extra for seat assignments to be sure there is always an adult with each or both of the kids.
When we’re looking for a hotel at our destination we often look at what most people would consider 3 or 4 star hotels. We’ve had some stays at 5 star hotels and some perfectly fine stays at 1 or 2 star hotels. Location in the center of the city and a hotel brand where we have status are usually the top priorities when choosing a hotel. Price obviously pays a big role whether it’s cash price or the price in points and miles. The nicer hotels we usually end up paying with points.
Getting free breakfast, either in the room rate or as a perf of whatever hotel status we have is high on our list of desired hotel features. Not only is paying for breakfast for four relatively expensive, it can take a considerable amount of time to find, got to, and eat at and that’s valuable time you aren’t doing vacation things!
To get around the city, we’ve found public transport to be an economical and convenient way to get around most of the time. This is especially when we’re in a foreign country. We prefer not to rent a car because in a city the rental car is usually more of a pain to park than it’s worth. I refuse to consider renting a car where they drive on the “wrong side” of the road. It’s tough enough figuring out which way to look on a crosswalk, must less encountering a rotary or roundabout. Some people can adjust. I’m pretty sure it would end in disaster for me so I’ll let someone else drive.
Public transport systems can be confusing and intimidating at first. We’ve found Google Maps to be invaluable during our trips. For most major cities it will give you transit directions. You type in your destination and it’ll tell you which bus, subway, water taxi or whatever you have as an option. It’ll give you several alternatives and tell you where to walk to in order to get on, when it’s arriving, and how many stops to take. It’s like magic!
We’ve discovered that we like busses more than subways in many cases because it’s easier to see the city. In the subway it’s dark and you only see the stations, though in many cases it’s faster to get to your destination. Walking is also an amazing way to see and experience a city. Our FitBits don’t get any days off on vacation, that’s for sure!
There is never enough time to see everything in a city so we have to pick and choose what seems most interesting to us. We usually have a list of highlights we’d like to see based on our research and recommendations we’ve received, but unlike the logistics of getting to and from the destination, the time at the destination is not over-planned. We often find some unexpected gems during our visits. We have a plan, but we go with the flow.
Museums and monuments are usually tops on our list. Having two active boys we are no stranger to parks and playgrounds. We’ve been to science museums in many countries and played soccer in the shadows of many famous landmarks. If our hotel has a pool we always take advantage.
Overall our vacations are usually on the active side though it can be different for every vacation. Disney trips are highly planned while beach trips… not so much. We make sure not to stress about trying to “see everything”. If we don’t get a chance to see something, then it’s an excuse to come back!
Tomatico Travels 