Vacation ideas for a large family

[Burt_Macklin]

As part of my job I’ve logged close to a million frequent flyer points. Seeing as how it makes little sense to save them, I was going to book a flight to somewhere. It would be me, my wife, six children, and a nanny flying. With as many points as I have just about anywhere in the world is possible as long as we can survive the flight. With as many people as I have, staying in a hotel is out of the question, so I will be looking into renting or exchanging a house somewhere. We will probably fly into a major airport, change cities 1 or 2 times and then fly out of another major airport.

The only thing I need is suggestions as to where to go. Has anybody done something similar with a large family? Where can you recommend going that is family friendly? I don’t really want to chase after six children in a large, hectic city so I was envisioning sticking to smaller towns and more rural areas. So far I was thinking of going to Germany: fly into Frankfurt, take a train between a few small towns (no idea where yet), and then return out of Munich. Germany is safe, has good infrastructure, is relatively cheap outside of the large cities, and the flight isn’t too long. Any other ideas or recommendations?

 

[pensmama87]

I was going to reply to this thread to suggest some domestic locales, but looks like you’re looking a bit further than that!

You might want to check out the Catholic All Year blog - the author has seven children and they just got back from a trip to France. Several years ago they all went to Rome. She discusses some of the ins and outs of travelling with a bunch of kids.

I know in Europe hostels are popular to stay in, but I don’t know how well they cater to families.

 

[EasterJoy]

Being from a family of eight, I’d say it would be a good idea to pick somewhere safe enough and interesting enough that the family can occasionally break up into smaller groups without the group who takes the car stranding everyone else with nothing to do. IOW: a place with amenities for everyone that are within walking distance of your accommodations.

The other consideration is how are you going to keep in touch if you break up into smaller groups. Does the phone plan of those of you who have phones operate cheaply in a foreign country? Can you cover your foreign country for just the length of your vacation? It might be possible.

Also look into medical transportation insurance. It is usually very reasonable, but it saves you from being stranded in a foreign country if someone has an accident that keeps them from traveling in a normal commuter aircraft.

Thirdly, of course it would be good to be able to buy local food easily and cook it. I’m assuming you are all over that one, though.

I would also plan a trip that allows everyone to take everything he or she will need on his or her own back. If it won’t fit into a carry-on that your child can wheel around by himself or herself, leave it at home. Each child ought to also carry full information about how to re-connect with you and even the folks back home, if he or she gets separated or there is some local catastrophe.

I am a big fan of Rick Steve’s books, such as Europe through the Back Door. We found some places that were small and wonderful that way.

This is his taking-kids-to-Europe page from his web site; libraries very typically have his books.
ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/kids-in-europe

On my trips, I’d say PLAN-PLAN-PLAN when it comes to knowing what options you will have when you get there, but do not over-schedule. Know what the weather is likely to be like, for instance. When we visited Germany and France, we were hit by a heat wave–oh, good grief, were we miserable! The water out of the tap was about 90 degrees, the humidity was through the roof, and our hotel had no air-conditioning. If you’ve planned ahead for what you’re going to do if different situations come up, you’ll be miles ahead. Have a Plan B and a Plan C and even a Plan D, so you aren’t stuck with one option that doesn’t turn out to be a good one.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

I was going to reply to this thread to suggest some domestic locales, but looks like you’re looking a bit further than that!

You might want to check out the Catholic All Year blog - the author has seven children and they just got back from a trip to France. Several years ago they all went to Rome. She discusses some of the ins and outs of travelling with a bunch of kids.

I know in Europe hostels are popular to stay in, but I don’t know how well they cater to families.

I’m not against staying domestic. I know just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should, and taking a 10 hour flight with a bunch of young children doesn’t exactly sound thrilling the more I think about it.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will check out the blog

 

[pensmama87]

I’m not against staying domestic. I know just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should, and taking a 10 hour flight with a bunch of young children doesn’t exactly sound thrilling the more I think about it.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will check out the blog

Well, my first thought when I saw your thread was the beaches in North Carolina. There are several that are not heavily built up (and are proud of that), and even the bigger houses are cheaper than staying in a hotel, plus you’re not stuck going out every night. A few of them are sea turtle sanctuaries, too, which is fun for kids and adults alike. There’s a lot to do, the breeze from the ocean makes even the hottest days bearable, and all the houses have A/C. I like it up there better than further south because there are a lot fewer people, even in the middle of summer. You can get a large area of the beach to yourself, pretty much.

Of course, beach vacations aren’t for everyone, but IMO if you can find the right place to stay (so not the kind of place that caters to the spring break/college crowd) they are perfect for family vacations.

 

[Musician]

We always rent vacation homes for our large crew. It is a very reasonable alternative to hotels. Check out www.vrbo.com or homeaway.com. We stayed in Florida last year for really cheap, right near the beach on the Emerald Coast. We’ve taken our brood abroad as well. It is lots of fun.

 

[PaulGH]

As part of my job I’ve logged close to a million frequent flyer points. Seeing as how it makes little sense to save them, I was going to book a flight to somewhere. It would be me, my wife, six children, and a nanny flying. With as many points as I have just about anywhere in the world is possible as long as we can survive the flight. With as many people as I have, staying in a hotel is out of the question, so I will be looking into renting or exchanging a house somewhere. We will probably fly into a major airport, change cities 1 or 2 times and then fly out of another major airport.

The only thing I need is suggestions as to where to go. Has anybody done something similar with a large family? Where can you recommend going that is family friendly? I don’t really want to chase after six children in a large, hectic city so I was envisioning sticking to smaller towns and more rural areas. So far I was thinking of going to Germany: fly into Frankfurt, take a train between a few small towns (no idea where yet), and then return out of Munich. Germany is safe, has good infrastructure, is relatively cheap outside of the large cities, and the flight isn’t too long. Any other ideas or recommendations?

If it were me, I would probably take my family to Rome. We would visit the churches, the museums, the restaurants, the historical sites, and so on. But I doubt that lodging in Rome is cheap for a family of eight, so this might not be the best option for you.

 

[marlap2]

We went to Europe with five kids and four adults in 2012. It was fantastic! We rented a big Peugot van in Paris and drove all over the place.
Holland, France, Italy, ferry to Croatia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and back to Holland.

There are a lot of apartment rentals in Borgo Pio in Rome that can fit a large family. It’s only two blocks to the Vatican! You can hit a morning Mass at 7am and skip the large crowds and lineups! It was awesome! Go for breakfast with the kids after Mass and you have the whole day to enjoy.

We went to Assisi and stayed just outside of the city on the flat land just a block away from the big church which encloses the little church where Francis built his church. It was inexpensive where we stayed. We had two large apartments with big kitchens and lots of bedrooms. We just went shopping for food and made our own breakfasts and dinners. (We ate lunch in Assisi).

Everywhere we rented had a kitchen for making boxed lunches and dinners if we chose. It was way more fun going to the marketplace and getting food to cook. (Mind you, the four adults all love to cook, so it made it easier).

We bought a cooler/lunch carrier on wheels so that we could stop at parks, etc. so the kids could eat, drink and run around. We found it was important to find lots of places for the kids to run around and have fun. Not always going into churches. HOWEVER, they loved the churches! It was a blessing to pray a rosary with my niece in the Vatican. We prayed for her future husband. (She was only 13 at the time, but it’s neat to know that we’ve prayed for him there).

Take lots of breaks and enjoy yourself. It’s not a race. Don’t overbook too much things and overstretch yourself. The only mistake we made was too big of a drive from Paris to Assisi. Did it in one day. Big mistake. Other than that… wow. It was fantastic!

If you want to see a youtube vid of it, message me.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

Being from a family of eight, I’d say it would be a good idea to pick somewhere safe enough and interesting enough that the family can occasionally break up into smaller groups without the group who takes the car stranding everyone else with nothing to do. IOW: a place with amenities for everyone that are within walking distance of your accommodations.

The other consideration is how are you going to keep in touch if you break up into smaller groups. Does the phone plan of those of you who have phones operate cheaply in a foreign country? Can you cover your foreign country for just the length of your vacation? It might be possible.

Also look into medical transportation insurance. It is usually very reasonable, but it saves you from being stranded in a foreign country if someone has an accident that keeps them from traveling in a normal commuter aircraft.

Thirdly, of course it would be good to be able to buy local food easily and cook it. I’m assuming you are all over that one, though.

I would also plan a trip that allows everyone to take everything he or she will need on his or her own back. If it won’t fit into a carry-on that your child can wheel around by himself or herself, leave it at home. Each child ought to also carry full information about how to re-connect with you and even the folks back home, if he or she gets separated or there is some local catastrophe.

I am a big fan of Rick Steve’s books, such as Europe through the Back Door. We found some places that were small and wonderful that way.

This is his taking-kids-to-Europe page from his web site; libraries very typically have his books.
ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/kids-in-europe

On my trips, I’d say PLAN-PLAN-PLAN when it comes to knowing what options you will have when you get there, but do not over-schedule. Know what the weather is likely to be like, for instance. When we visited Germany and France, we were hit by a heat wave–oh, good grief, were we miserable! The water out of the tap was about 90 degrees, the humidity was through the roof, and our hotel had no air-conditioning. If you’ve planned ahead for what you’re going to do if different situations come up, you’ll be miles ahead. Have a Plan B and a Plan C and even a Plan D, so you aren’t stuck with one option that doesn’t turn out to be a good one.

All very good points. I have a few old Nokia phones that I use to buy a local cell phone plan when I travel. I have International SOS for myself but I would extend the plan to my family if we go. Getting medical treatment in Germany would be free, so it would only be medical evacuation that I would have to worry about. Eating out for every meal isn’t possible so we would be cooking most of our own meals.

I do plan on leaving my options open with accommodations but I have to book the flights about a year in advance to get enough seats. I suppose it would be fun to book a flight from Frankfurt and then a flight from another city and leave the middle unplanned with option A, B, C, D… I don’t know but I have my heart set on flying with Lufthansa because of how nervous I am about flying with kids. Lufthansa is a good, reliable option and they have kids meals and good entertainment for the kids.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

Well, my first thought when I saw your thread was the beaches in North Carolina. There are several that are not heavily built up (and are proud of that), and even the bigger houses are cheaper than staying in a hotel, plus you’re not stuck going out every night. A few of them are sea turtle sanctuaries, too, which is fun for kids and adults alike. There’s a lot to do, the breeze from the ocean makes even the hottest days bearable, and all the houses have A/C. I like it up there better than further south because there are a lot fewer people, even in the middle of summer. You can get a large area of the beach to yourself, pretty much.

Of course, beach vacations aren’t for everyone, but IMO if you can find the right place to stay (so not the kind of place that caters to the spring break/college crowd) they are perfect for family vacations.

We all love North Carolina, although we’ve only been in the Smokies and not to the beach as of yet. NC is the perfect place because it isn’t too crowded and it has something for all of the interests in our family what with the caves, hiking, and rafting. I have my eye on a cabin in Murphy, NC and that is where I would go if I didn’t want to use the miles I’ve accumulated.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

We always rent vacation homes for our large crew. It is a very reasonable alternative to hotels. Check out www.vrbo.com or homeaway.com. We stayed in Florida last year for really cheap, right near the beach on the Emerald Coast. We’ve taken our brood abroad as well. It is lots of fun.

I either use vrbo or booking, I’ve had success with both. The only thing is that Florida is a place that I would usually drive too. I would really like to see the Florida keys but it flights are really scarce going that way.

 

[MessyMom]

We’re looking at going to Puerto Rico for Christmas of 2015. It’ll be 3 adults and 5 children (our family of 6 and our goddaughter and her mom.) You can find a lot of cheap and beautiful homes to rent on vrbo and homeaway that are near the beach and other touristy stuff.

 

[theCrow]

one word: Disneyland!

Truly the happiest place on earth. You may not be ready for that…

but your kids are gonna love it!

 

[NFPWife]

I was going to second the Emerald Coast, but saw you’d drive there. For future reference, I’d really recommend Navarre Beach.

For your miles, you can book multi-city trips? I only ask b/c I have USAir miles and, currently, that’s not allowed. (Changing with the merge.)

You don’t have hotel points to combine with the miles? I also travel for work and we typically can combine points and miles to have a very inexpensive vacation.

You might look at one of the European cruises. A lot of the cost of the cruise package is the air fare. Several flight attendants have told me they done those cruises $30 - $40 a day pp. When you factor in that it’s all meals and lodging, it might make sense.

I love the idea of Europe, but, as you’ve said, those are long flights. Are your children good travelers? What about a National Park? You can fly into (near) most Nat’l Parks pretty easily and the flights wouldn’t be too long. There are lots of lodging options in and around. You could do the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion in one trip. You could also do Yosemite.

Or, what about a California coastal trip? Fly into San Diego, work your way up the coast, and fly home from Oakland IMO, OAK is 100% better than SFO. (That’s on my radar if we can do multi-city itineraries on miles.)

One last thought, it’s often just a smidgen more in terms of miles to do a first class ticket vs. coach. On a recent trip we took first was only 5K difference. That could make a huge difference on a long-haul flight.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

I was going to second the Emerald Coast, but saw you’d drive there. For future reference, I’d really recommend Navarre Beach.

For your miles, you can book multi-city trips? I only ask b/c I have USAir miles and, currently, that’s not allowed. (Changing with the merge.)

Yes, one of the advantage of using miles is that I can book multi-city trips, fly open jaw, and include stopovers all for the same cost in miles. So I could fly into Paris, stopover for a week, continue on to Frankfurt, and then return out of Rome. I’d have to be insanely lucky to get that itinerary for 9 people but it is possible. Most of my miles - like 500,000 or so- are on United - but I also have miles on BA and Delta. I’ll be using the United points as I haven’t found any use for Delta points yet and the BA points are only good for short haul.

I don’t know the rules or difference between multi-city and open jaw but I do know that US Air allows open jaw and stopover but that they you can’t use them both on one trip.

You don’t have hotel points to combine with the miles? I also travel for work and we typically can combine points and miles to have a very inexpensive vacation.

You might look at one of the European cruises. A lot of the cost of the cruise package is the air fare. Several flight attendants have told me they done those cruises $30 - $40 a day pp. When you factor in that it’s all meals and lodging, it might make sense.

We might stay a night or two in a hotel but for the most part will stick with places with a kitchen. I haven’t really gotten to collect that many hotel points because I usually have to stay in staff houses when I travel.

I love the idea of Europe, but, as you’ve said, those are long flights. Are your children good travelers? What about a National Park? You can fly into (near) most Nat’l Parks pretty easily and the flights wouldn’t be too long. There are lots of lodging options in and around. You could do the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion in one trip. You could also do Yosemite.

Or, what about a California coastal trip? Fly into San Diego, work your way up the coast, and fly home from Oakland IMO, OAK is 100% better than SFO. (That’s on my radar if we can do multi-city itineraries on miles.)

One last thought, it’s often just a smidgen more in terms of miles to do a first class ticket vs. coach. On a recent trip we took first was only 5K difference. That could make a huge difference on a long-haul flight.

Wife and I had thought about breaking up the miles into 4-5 domestic trips instead of doing one international trip. We could do a few trips to California, a few trips to Alaska. Maybe get to know our own country for a change.

 

[NFPWife]

…

Wife and I had thought about breaking up the miles into 4-5 domestic trips instead of doing one international trip. We could do a few trips to California, a few trips to Alaska. Maybe get to know our own country for a change.

I love this idea. Probably because we’re currently doing that

 

[EasterJoy]

…Wife and I had thought about breaking up the miles into 4-5 domestic trips instead of doing one international trip. We could do a few trips to California, a few trips to Alaska. Maybe get to know our own country for a change.

I grew up in a family with seven kids, and every summer we’d go on a trip (usually with a few hangers-on) where it took essentially all day to get there. I’d say that my favorite was to travel and then stay somewhere awhile, and then come back, rather than travel that took more packing and unpacking. Still, it depends on your kids. Some of us get our travel fun meter pegged in a few days, and we are incapable of letting anyone else have fun after that. It is essential to take temperament into account, IOW.

When my husband and I took our twins somewhere, everything we took was on a list–every toy, every sock, every pencil. Every bag had a list of contents, and the master list had the list of bags and oversized-objects. Over many years, we never left anything anywhere. I cannot tell you how good it feels to look at that checked-off list and get into the car knowing for sure that you have everything. Group travel is more fun when there is organization. Just like with schools, too, I’d make sure every kid has a buddy and an “assigned adult”. It also feels good to get into the car and know you haven’t left any kids behind.

 

[NFPWife]

I …I’d say that my favorite was to travel and then stay somewhere awhile, and then come back, rather than travel that took more packing and unpacking. …

This is one of the reasons I like cruises. You unpack once and you’re seeing, on average, 3 different places.

I do a “hotel shuffle” on business trips - stay one night in one hotel, the next night in another in the same “family.” One of my co-workers taught me the trick – the goal is to keep your status high. I grouch about it when I’m doing it, but the perks of the highest status level keep me hooked.

 

[EasterJoy]

I love this idea. Probably because we’re currently doing that

We had to cancel a summer trip one year because we had planned to go to a national forest that was closed due to a forest fire. We did planned day trips from home, instead. We did a county fair, we did Mt. St. Helens, we did all sorts of local day trips. It was great. That may not be the best strategy for every locale and I don’t think we’d want to do it every year, but we’re very glad we did it that year.

The other thing our kids like is to split up into different groups. Have all the girls go somewhere with Dad and all the boys go somewhere with Mom, that kind of thing. Even “buddy” the siblings up differently than they are usually divided. That can be memorable, too.

 

[Stilldreamn]

So far I was thinking of going to Germany: fly into Frankfurt, take a train between a few small towns (no idea where yet), and then return out of Munich. Germany is safe, has good infrastructure, is relatively cheap outside of the large cities, and the flight isn’t too long. Any other ideas or recommendations?

I went to Germany last September with a family group that ranged in age from 21 to 80 - not any youngsters, but it would have worked well if we had some with us. We flew into Frankfurt on Lufthansa out of Detroit, then used our pre-purchased railpasses everywhere. They are also useable on certain river cruises!

We mapped our trip around castles and cathedrals and loved every minute.