The family holiday is the perfect chance to spend some quality time with your partner and children, and maybe even other family members, depending on who else you take.
It’s not unusual for parents to be invited on family holidays, or siblings and their children. It all depends on the dynamic you are looking for.
It might be that you only have this week or two to really be with your family, and when you are back home, you’ll be working as usual, or everyone will be off doing their own thing.
This is why it can feel so important to make the most of this time away together. Here are some ways to do it.
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Enjoy The Build Up
Most of the fun of the holiday is going to take place when you are there, but don’t forget about the build up to the break as well.
Building the anticipation of your trip is always going to enhance the break away, making it so much more exciting.
If everyone is keen to go, it will make the holiday much more fun and much easier to get started; no one is going to be straggling or not want to get involved.
In order to really enjoy the build up to your holiday, you can start to plan it from home.
That doesn’t mean you should plan out every minute of every day, but you should begin to look at the activities available to you and decide if there are any you definitely want to do, or sights you definitely want to see.
Make a list and book what you need to in advance and this will not only build the excitement but also help you when you arrive.
This way, everyone will get the holiday they have been looking forward to, whether you’re going to be lazing on a beach or having an active adventure.
Find The Right Accommodation
When you begin thinking about arranging a trip, your mind can automatically think of hotels.
However, hotels can be challenging, particularly if you have a small family to take with you or if there is a large number of you travelling on a family trip.
Children need their own space, and hotels aren’t always equipped to accommodate; the same is true of bigger groups that want to be together but may be split in a hotel. This can be distressing.
In order to unwind, look into what villa accommodation could give you.
Villas are the ideal form of accommodation since they are self-catering, meaning you can be in total control of what you and your family are eating (there won’t be any outbursts in the restaurant in a magnificent villa), plus you can have a greater amount of room to live in.
All in all, a villa is a more peaceful place to stay than a hotel. If you’re going to Florida, Ocean Florida has what you’re after in terms of the ideal villa to stay in for your whole group.
Make sure you check out what you need and that where you pick ticks all the boxes.
Make Time For New Experiences
It can certainly be tempting to stick to the tried and tested when you go away, and this is especially true if it’s somewhere you’ve been before.
It’s true that children do thrive on familiarity (and adults are happy with it as well for the most part) but trying new things is what makes a holiday into something to truly remember, and you never know what you are going to come back home having done; perhaps something that you then decide to turn into a hobby or a small business.
Even if you don’t carry on with the new things you’ve tried, they will be memories that you and your family can talk about for many years to come.
And of course, if you truly want to have many memories to look back on, then you’ll want to take plenty of photos too. Going to Florida without coming back with plenty of discovery cove photos would be a real shame, for instance, and would mean that you didn’t really make the most of the experience.
Trying new things is exciting and will make your holiday much more interesting for everyone, whether that means you are sampling new cuisines, trying new activities, or experiencing new places.
It’s also a good idea to make time for the familiar, though. This will help younger children especially as they will feel at home from the moment they arrive – it’s good to try new things, but being settled in a new place is also important so that you can make the most of your time together.
Try to have meals at the same time as you would at home if you can, and remember to bring a small number of toys and books that are recognisable and comforting.
The Journey Is The Holiday Too
If you really want to make the most of your time away together as a family, don’t forget that the journey is all part of your holiday, so you should treat it as such.
This will give you an extra few hours, perhaps even a day, together, so if you think of it as part of your holiday time and have as much fun as possible, it will be better for everyone.
By treating the journey as part of the holiday, you can start to enjoy yourself much sooner and relax much earlier.
By the time you arrive, you’ll be ready to have a wonderful time away.
Compare this to someone who stresses about the journey and wishes it would just be over and done with; by the time they arrive at their destination, they are stressed, anxious, and everyone with them is feeling the worry as well.
This is a waste of precious holiday time.
To get to this point, you just need to get organised as soon as you can.
Pack early, have your tickets and directions ready, ensure your passports (if you need them) are in place.
Know where you are going and when you are leaving your home.
Plus, if you are going by plane or train, check you have something to keep you all entertained on the journey.
By the time you arrive, you’ll definitely be in a holiday mood if you prepare in advance.
Unplug
Technology is a wonderful thing, and we use it all the time. We use it much more than we probably need to, and that is especially true when it comes to both social media and work.
It’s so easy just to pick up the phone and scroll through your Facebook feed, for example, often without even realising what you are looking at.
You might do it multiple times through sheer habit.
This does nothing for you except take you away from the here and now, which, when you’re on holiday, means taking you away from experiencing the fun and making memories with your family.
Work is another issue. Again, because it’s so easy to just check in with your work emails, text a quick reply to a query, or even catch up on reports and correspondence thanks to cloud computing and the fact that you can work no matter where you are, people often do.
They think it will help them when they return because they’ll have less to do, or they do it out of habit or a sense of responsibility and loyalty.
However, when you are on holiday, you shouldn’t be working at all.
You should be relaxing and taking time out away from work – that’s the point.
If you continue to work while you’re away, you won’t be able to entirely relax, and when you return, you won’t feel the benefit.
Unplug all your tech and just enjoy the day-to-day fun of a good family holiday.
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Happy Travels!
