Travelling with adult children: a parent’s guide – 13 tips for a happy, stress-free trip
- Travelling with adult children might seem easier than holidaying with youngsters but in fact brings with it a host of different challenges
- US-based Elizabeth Chang took an 18-day trip to China with her husband and two 20-something daughters. Here are her guidelines for success
Though it gets less attention than travelling with young children, there are just as many joys – and as many complications – in travelling with your adult offspring.
I learned this when our family of four – my daughters were 21 and 23 – took an 18-day trip to China together last summer, spending much of it touring Yunnan province, where our younger daughter had been studying.
Over the trip, we had to catch seven flights, spend a night together in a tiny sleeper train compartment, find restaurants to please every palate, and survive two illnesses, a mountainside van breakdown, altitude sickness, a shakedown and a couple of questionable hotels.
Amazingly, we returned still speaking to one another.
But, more importantly, we bonded over experiences – including the terrifying, the humorous and the sublime – that have been knit into the tapestry of our family’s collective memory. And my husband and I got to see China through the eyes of 20-somethings born years after Tiananmen Square, who mostly envisioned it as a country of dirty air and delicious food.
Here are some guidelines we gleaned from that adventure and have improved upon during a few short trips since.
Consult everyone about the itinerary