“One day...we’re going to take the kids to Hawaii!”, “We really want to travel over to Europe,
but we’re waiting until the kids are older”; “We really want to go out West and see the
Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but our summers are just too busy”. Do any of those
statements sound familiar to you? The average American family doesn’t think they
spend enough time together (guilty). Between school, work, sports, and
extracurricular activities it’s no surprise that we are all feeling disconnected and
burned out. The best way to reconnect with your loved ones is to getaway. No
distractions and no excuses: just you and your kids (or Grandkids) spending “quality
time”, enjoying each other’s company and maybe even experiencing an unfamiliar
culture together. “Next Year, maybe” turns into the year after that...and so
forth...until you “blink” and are sitting at their high school graduation wondering what
the hell happened!
Travel is proven to be a wonderful learning tool for children. Seeing how people live
in other countries can open their minds and hearts and expand their imagination
exponentially. With a little planning, we can educate. Between all the ocean cruising destinations, the numerous river cruise itineraries, and guided tours (relaxing AND active) available, there are opportunities abound!
Here are a few things that travel can provide for your family:
1. It can create lasting relationships...both between your own family members
and people you meet while on the road. These folks that you run into along
the way give you a glimpse of what life is like outside your regular circle of
friends and can give you a fresh perspective on how other cultures live.
2. You can learn another language...There is something very exciting about
being able to throw around a few words of French, knowing how to say hello
and thank you in Portuguese, or ordering off of a menu written totally in
Italian...and hoping you don’t end up with something inedible! And...knowing
that if you do accidentally order goat’s testicles, that your whole family will still
be laughing about it 20 years from now!
3. It gives you and your kids perspective...Meeting folks from other cultures
will teach you that the way you look at the world (maybe through the distorted
lens of our mass media) is not the way everybody does – and that you could
be dead wrong about some things! We have had many meaningful
conversations about why Europe is so far ahead of the U.S. in its
transportation infrastructure, why people of Native Hawaiian descent still
protest becoming a part of the US, and why so few French and Italian
teenagers feel the deep temptation to drink alcohol to excess like ours do here
in America.
Are you reading this and thinking “Boy...I’ve always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean
with my kids”? If you want to do it now, you’ve probably always wanted to. You’ve
imagined it, daydreamed about it, envisioned it. Guess what? Now’s the time to DO
IT! I have several vacations on my desk right now for folks just like you, who are
wanting to finally take their 16 and 21-year-olds to Europe before they are “gone”...or
who are celebrating high school graduation with a trip to Hawaii – the destination
chosen by their son. Remember...you only have 18 summers!
Erin Smith ~ Affinity Group Travel Advisor
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