Why our next vacation won’t be a road trip
The one thing we learned during our recent road trip is how different traveling with kids in your thirties is from traveling as a couple in your twenties.
A decade ago, we used to get excited about planning only one or two days ahead, not knowing where to go, what to do, or where to sleep beyond that.
We have plenty of fond memories from that time, so it’s no wonder we imagined our four weeks on the road would feel the same.
After a week, however, the excitement had worn off. Instead, we just felt exhausted.
Turns out that the last thing you want to do after a busy day with the kids is to spend your evening hunched over your phone, looking for things to do and places to stay for the following day.
Don’t get us wrong though: we had a great time, and our trip was packed with adventures, new impressions, and memories! But we don’t want our vacations to be exhausting, so we came up with a few changes for the next one:
- Pick a single place: staying in just one location for an entire trip means less packing, less organizing, and less time getting used to a new place.
- Stay for at least one week: one or two nights in a place are fun, but are too short to really explore it or to settle into a slower rhythm.
- Book early: when looking for apartments, we often found that the nicest ones weren’t more expensive, but they were just booked first. By looking for a place early, we hope to book those nicer apartments.
- Research beforehand: instead of spending our precious vacation evenings looking for things to do, we’re going to do the research up front and prepare a list of ideas.
- Get a kid-friendly apartment: an apartment with enough space and a couple of toys really makes a difference on a bad-weather day. Without that, the kids can quickly feel trapped inside.
- Meet friends or family: having extra adults to share the childcare or having playmates for the kids makes the trip more fun, relaxing, and memorable.
- Bring an AeroPress: we like to start our day with great coffee, which unfortunately is something that most apartments lack. So we figured we’d just bring along our own equipment, which is small and light.
Admittedly, with these changes our next vacation will no longer resemble a road trip at all. Instead, it will look more like the kind of vacation that most families go on.
Our younger selves would have loathed that, but you know what? We don’t care.