How to Plan Vacations with Young Adults

While traveling as a family can be a great time to make memories, sometimes taking a vacation when your kids are older or with other adults can be where the longer-lasting memories are actually made. But trying to get a vacation on the books with young adults can prove to be tricky and can raise a few questions you might not have considered before. If you’re looking for some tips to help you plan a vacation with young adults, here are some things to consider while planning.

5 Tips for Planning Adult Family Vacations

Who is going to pay?

As you start to discuss your trip plans and what is involved with everyone traveling together, you need to discuss a lot of things, but the most important is who is paying for what. Set the expectations early about what you will and what they will be paying for while traveling. This includes if you will be paying for them as well and if this includes their significant other or not. 

Be very clear on expectations for this. And if you really want {often cash-strapped} young adults to join you, paying for the more expensive parts of the trip like plane tickets or lodging will make it easier for them to want to join your vacation. 

Keep vacation days in mind

As with adulthood comes the need to work and earn money, this means that you will likely have to balance vacation days and plan ahead for those days off. You also should go in with the expectation that your group might not all be able to make it or stay together because of those obligations. Make sure to discuss this with your group as you plan your trip so you can ensure anything important together is done when everyone is able to make it.

Your family may have a trickle of young adults visiting on vacation depending on how many vacation days they can take from work. Some jobs are more flexible but don't take offense if your young adult children don't want to use every last day of their vacation on your family trip. Expect them to have other plans for things they want to use their limited time for and don't take it personally!

Will you stay together or separate?

There are pros and cons for both sides when it comes to where you stay. On one hand, sharing a space can mean saving money and more quality time together, at the expense of your personal space. In some cases, it might make more sense to split up the group for hotel rooms or cruise cabins where staying together can make things more difficult.

Find a VRBO for the whole family!

If you choose a shared space, make sure everyone has enough room to retreat to at the end of the day. We have learned from traveling with teens, that if everyone has a bed and a door to close at the end of the day it generally makes traveling together more enjoyable! And if you are splitting lodging costs, keep in mind equitable spaces. Single adult children don't want to sleep on the pull-out couch in the shared living room AND pay the same amount as the couple who has an en suite. 

Read more: 10 Reasons to Stay at a VRBO on Your Next Trip

What kind of trip do you want?

Talk with your group before you go about what the expectations for your trip are. The last thing you want to do is get everyone together just to realize everyone has different plans. Schedule a few set-in-stone things you all want to do or expectations you have, and make sure that everyone is able to make the most of their trip.

Reach out before the trip and encourage everyone in the group to plan an activity. Then give choices and don't expect the whole crew to join in. 

Another conversation around this could also focus on food and dining. If you are renting a VRBO with a kitchen, discuss who will be in charge of mealtime. Maybe you want to have one meal together and every night someone different is in charge of preparing it. 

You might want to consider a meal planning service like Hello Fresh that can be delivered when you arrive to make cooking easier!

Here are more tips: Making Mealtime Easy in a Vacation Rental

It’s okay not to do everything together

You may be thinking to yourself that because you are traveling together you need to do everything together. While this can be the case and can make for a great trip, that probably isn’t going to happen. Someone will want a nap or to freshen up, someone will want to be constantly seeing the sights, and someone else will need an early breakfast. It’s okay to separate as long as you make plans to meet up again.

Hopefully, this post will help you plan a fantastic trip with your adult kids or friends! There are so many tips to cover, and this post only brushed the surface, but this should be a great stepping stone for starting the conversations around your trip.

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