Travel with the family can be truly special. It’s one of those rare occasions when no one’s worrying about work or school and you can all just enjoy your time together. Whether it’s something that you do every few years or multiple times each year, creating memories of those travels is really important.
There are lots of ways to create strong memories that’ll last a lifetime. It’s always good to be able to remember and look back on those times, especially while your kids are still young. When people say you never get those childhood years back, they’re not joking. Travel gives you the opportunity to make the most of them as a family.
So read on now to find out about some of things you can do to create the very best memories when traveling together as a family unit.
Table of Contents
Focus on Fun
Off roading at Selvatica
When you’re putting in place plans for your trip to a new place, you’ll want to make sure that you choose something that’s fun and exciting. This is always where your focus should be because if you’re doing stuff that’s dry and dull, you’re never going to look back at those experiences with any kind of fondness. Focus on things that you can have a good time with and that can be enjoyable for all of you. When you travel, it’s one of the rare opportunities you get to let your hair down, forget your worries and simply live in the moment.
Plan Ahead
Planning ahead is something that’s always important if you want to travel somewhere. But if you’re going to create experiences that yield fantastic memories for you and your family, planning ahead becomes even more important. The sooner you start planning ahead, the more detail you’ll be able to put into your plans and that’s something that really matters a lot. So don’t overlook the importance of preparation, while also leaving room for spontaneity in your plans because that’s where some of the best memories come from when you’re exploring a new place.
Step Out of the Ordinary
If you have routines in place for how you travel, where you go to and the things that you usually do when you’re traveling, that’s great. But it can also be fun and interesting to step out of the ordinary and do something different every once in a while. When you step out of your comfort zone, it puts your family dynamic to the test in new ways and can often end up being a lot of fun, which is obviously what’s most important here. So don’t hesitate to do something different with your travel plans every now and then. Those diversions will be the most memorable experiences after all.
Choose Your Destinations Collaboratively
When it comes to choosing the destination for your travels, you should try to make it a team effort. You want everyone to be in agreement as far as possible about where to go. The last thing you want is for your travel plans to be ruined by one member of the family hating the location. Of course, there has to be some degree of compromise, but if everyone compromises a little, you shouldn’t find it too hard to find a balance that works for your family. You’ll create stronger and more positive memories of your travels when you’re all on board with the plans.
Create a Photo Book
Creating a photo book can be one of the most fun ways to track your travels and to look back on it in the future. If you want to do that, you should find an album and think about how you’re going to take your photos. You can have fun with it by giving each person in the family a polaroid or instant print camera that they can take photos with each day. And when you can add to the album as you go and as your travel plans progress. It’s one of the best ways to immortalize your trip.
Capture Video Not Just Photos
Flying the DJI Mavic Pro drone in Santorini Greece
As we’ve mentioned, photos are great and should definitely play a part in creating memories that your family will treasure forever moving forward. But they have their limits. You can also capture video and these moving images will always mean more and be more evocative when it comes to looking back at your travels in the future. You can learn more about drones, cameras, action cams and all sorts of options online. Be sure to find the one that’s going to offer the kind of performance you’re looking for.
Take Turns Choosing Activities
When it comes to what you’re going to do from day to day as a family, it usually makes most sense to take it in turns choosing the activities. When you do this, you’ll make sure that no one’s needs or preferences are being left behind or neglected at all. This also brings greater variety to your plans. One day you might be relaxing by the pool and the next you could be exploring galleries and museums. That variety is important and it makes it easier to create more memorable experiences for you all.
Encourage Everyone to Write a Travel Journal
Writing is one of the best ways to express your thoughts and feelings as your journey progresses. Those day to day things and the things you were thinking don’t always stay with you as the memories fade. But if you choose to write them down and encourage everyone in the family to write theirs down in a journal too, they’ll be there forever and be waiting to be looked back upon in years to come. It’s up to you all whether they’re private journals or things you want to share later.
Printable Travel Journal for Kids
Make Scrapbooks
Making scrapbooks is a good way to keep all of those little things in one place when you visit somewhere too. Whether it’s a train ticket or a free map or a ticket to a museum you visited, all of those little things make up your journey and when kept together, they act as a way of preserving the journey. You can keep big scrapbooks that you use to compile multiple trips over the span of years and decades if you want to. It’s a fun activity that you can complete together as a family.
Track Your Travels with Wall Map
Tracking your travels with some sort of pin up map that you can keep in the family home is definitely a nice idea and one that’s worth exploring. These are good because you can track the different places you’ve been to as a family and track your various journeys through the years. There are also scratch maps that make this easier for you.
Collect Mementos Along the Way
Collect fun souvenirs like these masks we got in Venice
Collecting mementos that remind you of the places you go to is a nice way to preserve your memories too. It could be as simple as buying a magnet to stick on the family fridge and keep it there for years to come. Or it can take whatever form you want it to.
Travel is all about spending time together with your family and making memories that are going to last a lifetime, so be sure to make the most of each of the ideas that we’ve discussed here. If you do so, you and your family will all have something fun to look back on and hold onto for many years still to come.
Read Next:
Secrets to Surviving a Long Road Trip With Children
How To Save Money While Traveling With Family
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