When they were very little, we used to call vacations with kids “palm tree babysitting.” Now that they’re teenagers, maybe it’s more like “traveling with idiots.” I mean, sometimes they’re grateful and committed. But just as often, it can feel like every decision is being evaluated by the most ruthless and genius jury of tired,
When they were very little, we used to call vacations with kids “palm tree babysitting.” Now that they’re teenagers, maybe it’s more like “traveling with idiots.”
I mean, sometimes they’re grateful and committed. But just as often, it can feel like every decision is being evaluated by the most ruthless and genius jury of tired, bored, entitled judges.
We travel a lot and I have realized that there are tricks to make your vacation worthy of a teenager and, at the same time, have the best time. Some are easy, others are annoying. But when the kids are happy, everyone is happy, right?
We spend 30 minutes in museums, maximum.
If you don’t have kids at the museum, go anyway, but limit your time. (If you do If you have children in a museum, your vacation is clearly very different from mine). This is really the key.
Even in the New York area where we live full time, we visit museums regularly, but we don’t stay for hours. Yes, you paid all that money for your ticket, but you decide how much time to spend there. For my kids, 30 to 45 minutes is usually more than enough time to watch the stars of the show and choose their favorite pieces to talk about over pizza later.
Nobody gets in a bad mood. Nobody fears the visit. As they grow, maybe you can stretch it out.
We still do things we can do at home.
Yes, we all saw the go-kart place we just passed on the highway. But we are in Barcelona. And why would we waste a beautiful afternoon in Catalonia doing what we can do 20 minutes from home?
Because it will be an adventure in some ways, different from the place back home in interesting and unexpected ways, and you will all really have fun. Do it.
We like to explore cities in different ways.
Take a city tour of Budapest, but do it on a three-wheeled Segway. My kids love finding weird ways to sightsee now and they actually learn a ton about our locations.
The author’s family likes to explore new cities in different ways. Courtesy of the author
In Marrakech, we toured the city from the vantage point of Soviet-era motorcycle sidecars. Sometimes there are age restrictions that mean you have to skip, but when it works, it’s hard to beat.
Know what your kids like and plan around that
Are they a teen club? If so, amazing! When you go on vacation to the beach, that means you’ll have plenty of options. We loved the Grand Velas in Riviera Maya, Mexico, any Club Med (the new one in Miches, DR is amazing), or the beaches in Turks and Caicos. The best possible outcome is that they make friends and have the best week doing their thing with their peers. If the teen clubs they are not yours, don’t turn it into something. There is nothing worse than your mom forcing you to have friends.
Take great classes
We do a cooking class wherever we go now. In Santa Fe this year we took a super interesting one, making sauces from the region. We learned a ton about indigenous history while also developing a point of view on the ubiquitous local question: “red, green or Christmas?” In Bogotá, we learned how to make delicious mashed plantains that my kids now order every time they see them on a menu and compare them to their memories of what they tasted like in Colombia. In Fez, we prepared a full five-course meal in a private house deep in the medina.
The author suggests taking a cooking class when traveling. Courtesy of the author
My kids love to cook (we do too), so this is a destination “souvenir” that we cherish and refer to again and again.
Screen time is flexible
If they would just hang up the phone, they could appreciate the incredible once-in-a-lifetime view. But spending every minute traveling (and maybe sharing a hotel room) with your parents can be difficult.
If they’re spending more time than they’d like on their device, but they’re still busy, I let it go. Offer to help by being the photographer and photograph them in 4,567,354 poses for their only IG “post” from the trip. There. Now you’ve turned it into a family activity.
Divide and conquer to do what everyone loves
My son loves golf; I couldn’t care less. So we create a time of divide and conquer when each of us does what we love. (And hey, they’re teenagers now, so they don’t need me every minute!) I walked the galleries of Canyon Road in Sedona and had the best morning of my life, while my son took his dad to play nine holes against the most spectacular and surreal red rock backdrop. It was his favorite day of the trip.