Statistics show that more and more grandparents take their grand children on a vacation. While in former days, the kids visited their grandparent’s houses, today all of them discover new places and have their travel adventures together! Which kid (and his or her parents) can say no to this opportunity? Travel Industry Association of America found out that 30% of all U.S. American leisure travelers who are grandparents, took their grand children on one trip or more! Did you know that there is even an official name for grand parents traveling with their grand children? It’s called grand travel! Even more and more kids and teenagers feel confident traveling with their grand parents – but what should all of them know and consider? Fox Rent A Car prepared a list of useful tips for traveling with grand children:
Travel with Grand Children: Medical Security and Official Documents
Make sure you have copies of the medical cards for all of your grand children, as well as permission from the parents that you can make medical care decisions! Note – you will need a notarized letter in case of an emergency. Also take all prescription cards, make sure your grand children have dental insurance and their insurance is valid in the location you will go to! Always have a list of emergency contacts with you. Also, you need to make sure your grand children have a valid ID card with them. Eventually, even take their passports too. This is a worst case scenario, that nobody wants to happen, but if it does, it helps if you are prepared.
Travel with Grand Children: Planning Phase
Who decides where to go to, what to do, where to stay, when to travel? It may take a little longer to prepare everything, but discuss options with your grand children. Where would they like to go to? What can you do with them, and what is just too much for all of you? Combine your experiences and their creativity; the results will amaze all of you. You can also plan by using senior and kids’ discounts – in the end you will pay less with those discounts than using a family ticket!
Travel with Grand Children: On the road/ airplane
Remember how it was when you traveled with your own children? They needed to be entertained, especially in those “boring times” of sitting in the car, on the airport or in the train. Make sure you have some games handy, some music or books. Try to do something exciting with your grand children – they can watch their DVDs at home, too. Play and learn, isn’t that what grandparents offer to their grand children? Also check out our collection of posts about traveling with kids.
Travel with Grand Children: Your trip
Again – playing and learning is what your trip should be about. Show your grand children that there is a life without TV, computer and Xbox. In the end, it is just like in the old days: the more energy the children use during the day, the better they will sleep at night and the more comfortable they will become to spend time with their grand parents. Respect each other though – the world has simply changed so much during the past decades, you may just need to accept new hobbies, as weird as they may be for you! Consult the parents if you are not sure. Also, don’t forget that the kids won’t get tired as easily as you will!
Travel with Grand Children: After the trip
When everybody gets back home, its always a feeling of relief, but even a little sadness since the adventure “grand travel” is over. But take a few hours, and prepare a little presentation of your trip with your grand children! Using their computers to show the pictures, tell everybody what a wonderful trip it was! Be a good example of a person, parent and grand parent, and enjoy the time with the little ones as much as you can!
Have you traveled with your grand children before? Where did you go to, and what advises do you have for other grand parents? What is a must-do, what is a must-not-do? Share your stories and experiences, and help grand traveling even more!
About Fox Rent A Car:
Fox Rent A Car, your discount car rental company, has been providing excellent customer service along with low rates for rental cars since its founding in 1989. Today, our success in these areas has enabled us to develop into the largest independent car rentals company headquartered in California. You will find Fox Car Rental offices conveniently located at major airports throughout the world.
