- I’m the eldest daughter, so every year I plan our family vacation.
- These trips have left us with success, but also trauma due to the different interests of each one.
- A Mediterranean cruise appealed to everyone.
Family vacations it’s one of those things I plan every year that brings excitement and nausea.
like the eldest daughter of my family with aging parents who, after a busy life, now finally have the surplus of free time and assets needed to go on vacation, I can play travel agent. The good news is that I don’t have a strict budget other than the desire, long instilled by my Asian parents, to buy a good deal that won’t hurt my eventual inheritance. The bad news? I have children whose ability to hold it together and not have a total meltdown depends on secret forces that even I, as a mother and psychologist, have yet to understand.
The trick, of course, is to go on vacation that leaves behind only lifelong memories (plus Instagram proof, in case my kids are inclined to forget and come back to complain about their lives), but not withdrawal or therapy.
To further complicate this 3D conundrum, my mother is an Anglophile who just wants to go to Europe and stroll the cobblestone streets. My youngest son is a toddler who seems allergic to walking and only likes Asian food, while my oldest son is a teenager who thinks all of the above would interfere with his riza (or aura, or whatever Zoomers call gravitas these days). Meanwhile, my father has no preferences except that we do not spend more than necessary.
We’ve all enjoyed a cruise
Historically, this involved traveling – with varying degrees of success/trauma – on trains, planes and cars, but the best family trip for many generations to date occurred during a week-long cruise in the Mediterranean last summer.
Celebrity Edge ship we sailed started in Barcelona and ended in Rome. Over the course of seven days, she sold just about every member of my family from ages 6 to 68 that cruising was the ideal way to travel when young children and the elderly are involved.
Barcelona fascinated us as a port of departure for nearly a week before boarding our ship. Whatever hangovers or fatigue the elderly or younger family members had left by the time we docked at the cruise port evaporated the minute we set sail. To everyone’s shock and delight, the speed and lack of lines at boarding made airports and train terminals feel like the DMV by comparison.
Once we got to our rooms, we were ready to sell our souls to become one of those lifelong travelers who have their own monogrammed badges and dedicated lounges, albeit for different reasons: the adults marveled at the windows overlooking ocean (complete with a seating area in the larger of our two rooms) while the kids fought over the collective necklace (with special colored pendants that would were hidden every day board) waiting for them in bed.
We all loved the food
A quick look at our dining options turned into Sophie’s Choice, albeit in the best possible way, because instead of a single main dining spot, we had to choose from four specialty restaurants, the names of which my parents couldn’t exactly pronounce but whose vibes screamed European. a hint of Vegas: Tuscany, Cyprus, Normandy, cosmopolitan.
The author’s 6-year-old had a blast along with his grandparents and sister. Courtesy of the author
We spent the rest of the week trying each one. Until our last day at sea, we couldn’t exactly tell them apart, but no matter – between lobster night and endless repeats of surf-meets-turf, not a single adult left the dining room unsatisfied and what my kids couldn’t eat in hamburgers or chicken tenders, they made up for with after-dinner trips to the Oceanview Cafe buffet. Even my parents – whose aging appetites seem to have diminished by the year – couldn’t resist a second helping of dessert at the ice cream counter or in the form of a fruit plate.
There were activities for everyone
When we weren’t eating, our multi-generational group was busy doing what we each loved to do best: My 6-year-old spent his evenings and most of his sea days playing at Camp at Sea, while my 13-year-old my soon. found his multi-national crew at Teen Camp. I took my mother to a watercolor art workshop and my father to the nightly entertainment at the aspirational theater called the Club.
When we docked, we hit the road at our own pace to explore the markets and museums of Valencia before spending long days by the water in Ibiza and Corsica. Portofino and Cinque Terre required shore excursions, but landing in Rome allowed us to explore another timeless city the old-fashioned way, on foot.
When we boarded our plane to return home, we all vowed to take another cruise as soon as possible. Considering that was last year and we’ve gone on two more cruises since then, I think the evidence speaks for itself: cruising might just be our favorite way to travel for generations.
