{"id":4901,"date":"2018-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2020-04-02T05:35:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T19:35:01","slug":"why-i-love-travelling-with-grandkids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/real-travel-stories\/family\/why-i-love-travelling-with-grandkids\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I love travelling with my grandkids"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been on a few holidays with my grandsons since they were born \u2013 one of the more memorable being a three-week road trip down the Highway One coastline in California<\/a>, taking us from Santa Monica<\/a> to San Diego<\/a>. While it is more work than travelling with adults, holidaying with your grandkids is an experience I highly recommend.<\/p>\n

We travelled frequently (and mostly locally) with our daughters when they were in primary school \u2013 for the most part just up and down the coast of WA<\/a>. One Christmas school holidays, we spent almost a month driving from Geraldton<\/a> to NSW<\/a> and back. When the opportunity to do the Californian road trip with my eldest daughter and her sons came up almost 30 years later, I was stoked I\u2019d get to experience a similar holiday with the boys. As a bonus, at eight and 11, they were at the perfect age for a trip like this \u2013 we didn\u2019t need to work around naps, and they were old enough to have input into what they wanted to see and do.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Being the grandparent, I got to enjoy the trip a little more this time around… and have a giggle at my daughter trying to keep her patience as her kids presented her with all the same challenges she and her sister had given us all those years back.<\/p>\n

So, what are the highlights of travelling with the grandies in general?<\/p>\n

#1: I have made lasting memories with them<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This holiday is one they\u2019ll remember for the rest of their lives, seeing some of the most amazing sights in the world along the Californian coast. Being little pop-culture boffins like their mum, they got to see sets from their favourite shows, and drive past places they\u2019d only read about or seen on TV. They swam in the Pacific Ocean at famous beaches \u2013 including Laguna and San Diego \u2013 and ate ice-cream on the Santa Monica Pier. These are the kinds of memories they\u2019ll probably go on to recreate with their own kids one day, and I\u2019ll always be a part of that for them now, which is priceless to me.<\/p>\n

#2: You get to know them better<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Spending a couple of weeks together means getting to know them on a deeper level. While we see our grandkids a lot, it\u2019s not the same as being there from breakfast time until they go to sleep \u2013 there are so many informal conversations, jokes, and mini-experiences you get to have that don\u2019t happen in smaller time parcels. They are also free from the usual commitments of homework, chores, and extracurricular activities, so they are more relaxed and open to chatting and chilling out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#3: You experience things you otherwise wouldn\u2019t<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that I\u2019d find myself visiting places like Legoland (or staying in the hotel, with its Lego rooms and disco elevators) or going on roller coasters on an adults-only holiday. With the kids in tow, I did all these things and more, and with their enthusiasm, I enjoyed them immensely. Californian trip aside, we\u2019ve also taken them to some of the places around Australia we particularly love, and it\u2019s magical introducing them to these special spots.<\/p>\n

#4: It\u2019s fun!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As well as sharing a laugh, who else will convince you ice-cream is an acceptable breakfast every now and\u00a0then?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever considered taking the grandkids away on a holiday, but you\u2019re not sure what to expect, all I can tell you is you\u2019ll be building memories with them that they\u2019ll take into their adulthood. Even if you prefer to do the main trip with their parents in tow, do take the little ones out separately for a few activities on your own while you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n<\/i> Plan your next family holiday<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been on a few holidays with my grandsons since they were born \u2013 one of the more memorable being a three-week road trip down the Highway One coastline in California, taking us from Santa Monica to San Diego. While it is more work than travelling with adults, holidaying with your grandkids is an experience …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":4903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,760],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4901"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5349,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions\/5349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wotif.com\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}