<p>Am just winding down a 12 day adventure, traveling with my folks, sis, BIL, nephew and my wonderful H. It has been quite an adventure from when we started all of this back around February through the trip. </p>
<p>I made all the arrangements, paid the deposits, bought the plane tickets, planned the itinerary, got travel info for everyone, etc. even supplied mom with appropriate clothing and helped her pack some. </p>
<p>It has been a fascinating time. Am do grateful for H–he has been a stalwart! All in all, it has been a nice trip, but has exposed many of the challenges of travel with family. </p>
<p>I am glad we have done it but not excited about repeating it in the near future. H says next time, I can help other plan but it’s their turn. </p>
<p>We toured Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood and Yellowstone. </p>
<p>That sounds wonderful.
I wish I had taken time to travel with my mom before she died 5 years ago.
I always expected there to be more chances.
So be proud that you took charge, Im sure everyone appreciated it- or they will eventually.
:)</p>
<p>Yes, I’m glad we did it. It was both harder and easier than anticipated. Since we were at altitude, I had to deal with logistics of lugging around extra O2 equipment for myself as well as hassles in breathing. Dad had an awful cold and took several days before I could convince him to start taking antibiotics, plus he was VERY breathless and mom was a bit as well. It was a great bonding experience overall, but definitely had its challenges. </p>
<p>Mom’s only trip to Yellowstone was over 60 years ago and H and I went 15 years ago. It was everyone else’s 1st visit. Am glad we are heading home and dad is much healthier than when he started the trip AND that he hasn’t gotten anyone else sick. </p>
<p>Memory and personality issues were more apparent with the increased togetherness, but glad it worked out as well as it did and we all had a nice time. </p>
<p>Mine and H’s parents are long gone, sadly, but my ex was able to take a few trips with my older kids, his sister and his mom. My kids still talk about those trips even though you’d think that in their early-mid 20’s they’d think they had better things to do. Ex grew up within a short drive of Yellowstone so my kids had the chance to enjoy that lovely country from the viewpoint of a native. So lucky.</p>
<p>I’m in the midst of planning a two-week trip for our family down south to sightsee and visit colleges. The entire idea gives my H hives so I’ve not only been arranging college tours but researching and booking hotels, planning routes, finding possible places to eat AND choosing sightseeing opportunities. We’re bringing D’s best friend so I had to figure her in too. Actually it’s been a lot of fun-I think I was a travel agent in a former life, lol. We leave in exactly two weeks-we’ll see how I did.</p>
<p>We’ve done (extended) family vacation every year for 20+ years. Our main goal is to get together and bond, not so much with sightseeing. So very early on we decided we would do all inclusive vacations where people could do what they want during the day and meet up for meals at night. We found it was too difficult in finding restaurants that could accommodate us, and it was hard to get young adults up before noon to go sightseeing. We used to get very stressed out when we were too ambitious.</p>
<p>H says he’s done with travel with my folks (as well as sis, BIL and nephew) for a while and is “passing the torch” to my other sibs for them to have a turn. We shall see. I’m pretty exhausted too. With 7 travelers, there are a lot of different dynamics at play. </p>
<p>Have realized from this trip that many folks have NO idea of how to pack efficiently. They wear just a few things and never wear or use many of the things they packed. </p>
<p>My sis and BIL almost had to pay a $100 overweight charge because they didn’t figure out how to distribute things well between two large suitcases. Fortunately, the ticket agent allowed them to adjust at check-in. I believe they and my folks could easily have packed their things into significantly smaller suitcases, as none of their suitcases were full. </p>
<p>My folks insisted on lugging around a heavy carry on bag, even tho one large checked suitcase was nearly empty. They never opened the carry on bag while on flight or between flights. After the first leg of the trip, H helped them put their carry on into their suitcase. </p>
<p>My family (my parents, my sister, myself) traveled with my maternal grandparents and the family of my mom’s sister (her, her husband, the son and daughter they’d adopted - who are themselves bio sibs- and her husband’s two daughters from a previous marriage). We rented houses in Maine and Maryland near the ocean, and once traveled out to the Southwest. Sometimes we would travel without my parents and people would assume that all six children were my aunt’s! They’d usually make some comment about us all being so close in age, none more than about a year apart!</p>
<p>My family also traveled to Europe with my maternal grandmother when I was 14. Brussels, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Nice, Venice, Rome, and Paris. A few years later, we traveled without my mother but with my much older sister and her daughter to Southern France, Florence, Pisa, and Paris. My niece was so excited to see the Eiffel Tower! One of my sisters and I, who considered ourselves old hands at Paris already, would explore Montmartre while my niece sat for hours with her mother and grandfather at the Champs de Mars, just looking.</p>
<p>The extended family on my father’s side also did some fun road trips and went camping together a few times. He has six siblings, all with at least one child, so these trips were huge! But, they decided to quit before I was born :(. It’s one of the unfortunate things about being the youngest grandchild.</p>
<p>I’m glad we don’t do extended family traveling. It’s bad enough to coordinate traveling for our own family of four. I’m so much in agreement with your husband.</p>
<p>My dad was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC in 1998. He paid for my family, my sister’s family, and my aunt and uncle to fly to DC do some sightseeing, and attend the ceremony. A total of 11 people, including two infants, two three-year-olds, and a six-year-old. Oh, my, that was so chaotic that we never attempted anything like it again. I guess we could try again now that those babies are 16-years-old!</p>
<p>Personally, travel with our kids is a breeze compared to travel with my extended family. Our kids tend to be extremely good packers and know NOT to complain or bellyache about whatever happens. It is wearying to hear a lot of griping with the inevitable things that occur during a trip, from the rooms not being readly the second you want them, to unreliable and slow internet, to delays in planes to other things not quite as expected. It is also tough to recommend that more clothing be worn so that people don’t get sick from being chilled, having reluctance to taking antibiotics for a severe infection, having to keep track of possessions of others in your travel group, etc. Am glad we did it but really quite tired. Perhaps next we’d do a cruise around our state so now weather issues, alitude, nor packing/unpacking.</p>
<p>We have done a couple of cruises with DH’s extended family. It worked very well. We could split up into different groups and do our own thing and then meet up later…You don’t have to keep track of other folks’ luggage…I think you have a good plan HIMom. But maybe fly to the mainland and cruise from there. </p>
<p>Yes, am very glad we’ve done it and also happy I have other sibs who can take their turns. H and I are NOT fans of cruising and my folks are not very independent travelers, so want to be joined at the hip. </p>
<p>We prefer that folks split up a bit, so everyone can have some time apart from the group. It seems to ease the group dynamics, but really can’t be done when the other group members insist on being joined at the hip with you. Ah well, se la vie. ;)</p>
<p>Congrats on surviving the trip! H and I did driving trips from WI through the Black Hills and to Yellowstone (also to New Mexico another trip)- so much easier with only two people’s wants and needs. You must have all shared dietary habits- we need to find vegetarian fare for H’s side, he’ll do fish and chicken. Matching all of the little differences can be trying- you discover things you never expected. Thank goodness we marry our spouses and not their families!</p>