Honestly, the small challenges are what make traveling worthwhile as a learning experience. It'd be great if we had seamless experiences every time, but missing a flight or our accomodation not being what we want or a 4 hour train delay at the end of a full day in NYC (that one might be personal) are the things that teach our kids how to be flexible and make the best out of the experience.
We travel to Europe a lot as our whole family are spread out there, and some of it has been wonderful and some of it has been terrible and those experiences create our family lore. "Remember the trip to Rome and the roof of the tour bus leaked and we got SOAKED" is a story told with a laugh. It SUCKED at the time but these are the bits that bond us and the story maybe grows some arms and legs as it is retold, but it's part of what makes us, us. Generally I would agree in keeping tales of kid meltdowns to a minimum out of respect for them, but I also get wanting to be honest about travel. You do such a great job of being respectful of them on your page, and it is so hard to balance. I'm sure you will all figure out how to handle it.
This is such a great comment and so true. I think about this in writing all the time. If everything went perfectly according to plan, I wouldn't have any stories to tell. But I never thought about it this way in terms of how my kids synthesize experiences. I love the idea of family lore!
I love this perspective. And thinking back to my own childhood- we have so many wonderful travel memories, but there is also the handful of "Remember the time"s and they are just as cherished.
Oh thank you for the share! I have traveled a lot with three kids. It is always ups and downs. And like another commenter said my kids favorite stories are all about me and how I handled (or didn’t!) the situation. Sometimes good “Mom, we didn’t believe you could speak French and then you yelled at that guy and he listened!” Haha. I will say that our travel got so much richer when I made the planning and picking things a group effort. My kids are old enough to find things to do. To vote on accommodations / weigh pros and cons from a list of options ahead of time. When we went to Rome last year my oldest wanted to also go to Venice. I told her to figure it out. She made a doc with links to train times, figured out cost where we could stay, what we would do in 48 hrs there. It was amazing and she was so proud as we did the things (and understood frustration when some didn’t work out as planned).
Ha, we had a similar bad day on a trip this spring... My husband is a musician and was performing in Oslo for a week, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take my kids on their first overseas trip (two boys, 13 and 10). We broke it up and did 3 days in London, which went to plan and were fantastic. For the Oslo leg, instead of staying at the hotel where my husband was, I had booked an apartment half a mile away because it boasted laundry and three bedrooms - it looked really nice online.
The travel day to Oslo started fine and got worse as it progressed. We got to the baggage claim post customs and a suitcase identical to mine but not mine was the only one left - some lady from Oregon had taken off with my luggage. Fortunately, she left her contact info all over her suitcase, so I was able to text her (already on the train into the city) and she came back and we exchanged. At this point I made the executive decision to eat dinner in the airport because it was already 7:45 pm but this meant more limited food options and I'd miss the office hours for the apartment. No problem, they had an after-hours lockbox for keys. We eat, take the train in, get turned around in the train station, and get to the office about 9:45 pm. I find the keys and the map to the apartment. Turns out the apartment was in a different location than the office (which I didn't realize), the map they provided was basically a blank sheet of paper and the few written directions that were on it were in Norwegian, which I don't speak (I had been counting on talking to a person, and most folks speak English). I could NOT figure out where we were going and had a breakdown in the courtyard of the wrong apartment complex at 11 pm as we were dragging our luggage all over Oslo. I called the after-hours security number who started off by telling me I was not in the right spot, and I should come over to the address on the map. (SERIOUSLY I KNOW THAT IS WHY I CALLED YOU) We finally got to the right place at midnight and the apartment was much smaller than I expected and had a washer but not a dryer. We gave up and went to bed. After a good night's sleep, we decided we could deal with it because it was only 3 days, and we had a nice balcony we could hang dry what we needed to.
A few months later, we can all laugh about it - "Remember when Mom lost her mind in Norway?" I will say, I did NOT post pictures or updates on social media of any of that, but I did take a picture of the Terrible Map(tm) so we wouldn't forget.
I actually love hearing the honest, real and difficult stories behind the beautiful Instagram travel posts because it reminds me how normal it is when things don't go perfectly on my own family vacations! It's also helpful because I'd love to plan a similar trip with my family one day, and you brought up a lot of things I might not have considered in choosing places to stay. Thanks so much for sharing!
I'm so glad you shared this. When you left us I found myself thinking "oh my god, that does not look fun at all". LOL. I love knowing that even though it wasn't all magical - it was worth it.
My family just got back from a trip where things just kept going wrong. It was refreshing to read this post and hear that all families have moments that just don’t go the way you want them to. ♥️
Sometimes our best memories are simply impossible to recreate - I lived in a quaint Spanish city while in my 20s and it was life changing and beautiful. I often debate whether to introduce it to my husband and son - as my stories are fairytale and what if the trip doesn't live up to the hype? Wanting everything to be perfect sometimes sets us up for disappointment - because who really knows what is going to happen.....I love that you took the chances, involved the kids in the decisions, and ultimately let this time in Positano be a different and new experience.
We had a similar experience. We lived in London back in our 20’s. While there we took a ski vacation to Liechtenstein with 4 other friends. It was the best long weekend, and my husband declared it his favorite place on earth. Fast forward almost 20 years and we took our kids in 2022, with 2 of the friends from the original trip, and their kids. The people they encountered weren’t nice, 4 of us had Covid, finding food for our gf traveler wasn’t easy, etc etc etc. He’s like I should have left the dream in my head instead of tainting it. Now he doesn’t view the place the same. ☹️
Honestly, I stopped following the Italy content because I was feeling too jealous and I didn’t like that about myself. It’s just that I’m not in a European vacation place right now. But reading about the reality of the trip - hot kids, too many stairs, reminded me that everyone’s vacations have those moments. Thanks for your honesty
You made such a great point when you wrote, "...I want them to think back on it fondly. Mainly because I want them to be excited for future family vacations together...". It's so true. sometimes we make decisions and forget to think about the big picture. this is it.
sounds like a great trip in the end and may you have many more!
Sometimes I wonder if I love travel so much because I didn't get these opportunities as a kid. We went to Florida to visit my grandparents for vacation every year! And I have friends who are not big fans of travel because their parents dragged them around Europe as children before they could appreciate it. So I hope I strike a balance! I've been seeing more and more adult children posting on social media about still going on family vacations and it's making me see that our window for family travel isn't as short as I previously imagined. Provided you make it fun and the kids still choose to go!
Thank you sooooo much for the real post. Honestly, I was getting a little annoyed at the stream of perfect posts. Our family trips have been filled with weather related natural disasters over the years and it has become a running joke. So we tread very carefully when traveling and expect the worst, hope for the best. We have reached the point of laughing about it though. And I totally agree with you about sacrificing some in terms of location. We have been doing that for many years and definitely prefer that tactic. Love the pottery painting idea! We are going to Croatia soon and will keep that idea in mind. And I do love all your posts, just wanted to be honest about my slight annoyance, ha!
Thanks for sharing! I was wondering why you hadn’t wrapped up your trip on your stories, I was watching them religiously everyday!
My boys are currently 3 and 4 and I love following you - to me it showcases a glimpse into my future with older kiddos. Everyone has heart ache over the baby years, (which I also LOVE) but as they get older and independent, it feels nice getting back into my groove too.
We were in Italy around the same time as you with our two tween daughters. We did not overlap any cities with you—we were in Lombardy and Veneto. Took the girls to Tuscany two years ago and your stories made me want to go back.
Never underestimate how much being hot can affect your opinion as well as how much it can change once you’re comfortable! I’m glad the kids decided to stay there…it adds to the memories/stories they’ll have of this trip.
We just got back from a week in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We rented a VRBO and planned to travel with my parents (78, 82), my in-laws (78, 94) and our son (20). Our daughter couldn’t make it. My FIL decided he didn’t want to go literally 6 hours before our flight, so my in-laws cancelled. In hindsight, at 94, my FIL would not have enjoyed any facet of this trip. While we overall had a good time, there were things we didn’t know that would have definitely affected our decision and unavoidable things that affected our enjoyment.
- our first flight was delayed, so we barely made our connection in Miami. Our luggage did not make it. We were stuck in 90°/85% for 2 days. I was in jeans.
- everyone buys their water. No drinking from the tap, even for brushing our teeth. I won’t get into the nickle and dime of charging us for water but we were always sputtering water to make sure we didn’t swallow it when showering or washing our faces or swimming.
- this one was gross and will be a deal breaker for me on subsequent trips…there is no flushing paper! It wasn’t just our house, but places we visited, too. This one is enough to have me insisting on an all-inclusive resort that I can’t imagine would make us do this!
- it was hot and only the bedrooms have a/c. Tradewinds are decent, but having all the doors open means so many bugs and bug bites!
Overall, great trip. But yeah….more for us to consider as we plan future trips. Maybe we’ll just stick to cruising…
My kids are grown now, but I can chime in with this. It is always hard when the accommodations don’t blow you away at the first look. But after the first 24 hours things usually work themselves out, and the positives reveal themselves. Like your scenario, and in line with what the others are saying, great memories are still being made! It’s just “life”! Not all perfect! Can’t wait to hear what the girls say after a month or so. Thinking it will be positive!
Sounds like you guys made the most of it. I’ve always heard that Positano had become incredibly crowded in recent years and that there are other, similar options a little more of the beaten path! I’m glad it all worked out for you and everyone ended up enjoying. 💕
Honestly, the small challenges are what make traveling worthwhile as a learning experience. It'd be great if we had seamless experiences every time, but missing a flight or our accomodation not being what we want or a 4 hour train delay at the end of a full day in NYC (that one might be personal) are the things that teach our kids how to be flexible and make the best out of the experience.
We travel to Europe a lot as our whole family are spread out there, and some of it has been wonderful and some of it has been terrible and those experiences create our family lore. "Remember the trip to Rome and the roof of the tour bus leaked and we got SOAKED" is a story told with a laugh. It SUCKED at the time but these are the bits that bond us and the story maybe grows some arms and legs as it is retold, but it's part of what makes us, us. Generally I would agree in keeping tales of kid meltdowns to a minimum out of respect for them, but I also get wanting to be honest about travel. You do such a great job of being respectful of them on your page, and it is so hard to balance. I'm sure you will all figure out how to handle it.
This is such a great comment and so true. I think about this in writing all the time. If everything went perfectly according to plan, I wouldn't have any stories to tell. But I never thought about it this way in terms of how my kids synthesize experiences. I love the idea of family lore!
I love this perspective. And thinking back to my own childhood- we have so many wonderful travel memories, but there is also the handful of "Remember the time"s and they are just as cherished.
Oh thank you for the share! I have traveled a lot with three kids. It is always ups and downs. And like another commenter said my kids favorite stories are all about me and how I handled (or didn’t!) the situation. Sometimes good “Mom, we didn’t believe you could speak French and then you yelled at that guy and he listened!” Haha. I will say that our travel got so much richer when I made the planning and picking things a group effort. My kids are old enough to find things to do. To vote on accommodations / weigh pros and cons from a list of options ahead of time. When we went to Rome last year my oldest wanted to also go to Venice. I told her to figure it out. She made a doc with links to train times, figured out cost where we could stay, what we would do in 48 hrs there. It was amazing and she was so proud as we did the things (and understood frustration when some didn’t work out as planned).
Ha, we had a similar bad day on a trip this spring... My husband is a musician and was performing in Oslo for a week, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take my kids on their first overseas trip (two boys, 13 and 10). We broke it up and did 3 days in London, which went to plan and were fantastic. For the Oslo leg, instead of staying at the hotel where my husband was, I had booked an apartment half a mile away because it boasted laundry and three bedrooms - it looked really nice online.
The travel day to Oslo started fine and got worse as it progressed. We got to the baggage claim post customs and a suitcase identical to mine but not mine was the only one left - some lady from Oregon had taken off with my luggage. Fortunately, she left her contact info all over her suitcase, so I was able to text her (already on the train into the city) and she came back and we exchanged. At this point I made the executive decision to eat dinner in the airport because it was already 7:45 pm but this meant more limited food options and I'd miss the office hours for the apartment. No problem, they had an after-hours lockbox for keys. We eat, take the train in, get turned around in the train station, and get to the office about 9:45 pm. I find the keys and the map to the apartment. Turns out the apartment was in a different location than the office (which I didn't realize), the map they provided was basically a blank sheet of paper and the few written directions that were on it were in Norwegian, which I don't speak (I had been counting on talking to a person, and most folks speak English). I could NOT figure out where we were going and had a breakdown in the courtyard of the wrong apartment complex at 11 pm as we were dragging our luggage all over Oslo. I called the after-hours security number who started off by telling me I was not in the right spot, and I should come over to the address on the map. (SERIOUSLY I KNOW THAT IS WHY I CALLED YOU) We finally got to the right place at midnight and the apartment was much smaller than I expected and had a washer but not a dryer. We gave up and went to bed. After a good night's sleep, we decided we could deal with it because it was only 3 days, and we had a nice balcony we could hang dry what we needed to.
A few months later, we can all laugh about it - "Remember when Mom lost her mind in Norway?" I will say, I did NOT post pictures or updates on social media of any of that, but I did take a picture of the Terrible Map(tm) so we wouldn't forget.
I actually love hearing the honest, real and difficult stories behind the beautiful Instagram travel posts because it reminds me how normal it is when things don't go perfectly on my own family vacations! It's also helpful because I'd love to plan a similar trip with my family one day, and you brought up a lot of things I might not have considered in choosing places to stay. Thanks so much for sharing!
Yes, that's why I felt like I should share. Proceeding without acknowledging that tough transition day seemed a bit like lying.
I'm so glad you shared this. When you left us I found myself thinking "oh my god, that does not look fun at all". LOL. I love knowing that even though it wasn't all magical - it was worth it.
My family just got back from a trip where things just kept going wrong. It was refreshing to read this post and hear that all families have moments that just don’t go the way you want them to. ♥️
Sometimes our best memories are simply impossible to recreate - I lived in a quaint Spanish city while in my 20s and it was life changing and beautiful. I often debate whether to introduce it to my husband and son - as my stories are fairytale and what if the trip doesn't live up to the hype? Wanting everything to be perfect sometimes sets us up for disappointment - because who really knows what is going to happen.....I love that you took the chances, involved the kids in the decisions, and ultimately let this time in Positano be a different and new experience.
We had a similar experience. We lived in London back in our 20’s. While there we took a ski vacation to Liechtenstein with 4 other friends. It was the best long weekend, and my husband declared it his favorite place on earth. Fast forward almost 20 years and we took our kids in 2022, with 2 of the friends from the original trip, and their kids. The people they encountered weren’t nice, 4 of us had Covid, finding food for our gf traveler wasn’t easy, etc etc etc. He’s like I should have left the dream in my head instead of tainting it. Now he doesn’t view the place the same. ☹️
Honestly, I stopped following the Italy content because I was feeling too jealous and I didn’t like that about myself. It’s just that I’m not in a European vacation place right now. But reading about the reality of the trip - hot kids, too many stairs, reminded me that everyone’s vacations have those moments. Thanks for your honesty
You made such a great point when you wrote, "...I want them to think back on it fondly. Mainly because I want them to be excited for future family vacations together...". It's so true. sometimes we make decisions and forget to think about the big picture. this is it.
sounds like a great trip in the end and may you have many more!
Sometimes I wonder if I love travel so much because I didn't get these opportunities as a kid. We went to Florida to visit my grandparents for vacation every year! And I have friends who are not big fans of travel because their parents dragged them around Europe as children before they could appreciate it. So I hope I strike a balance! I've been seeing more and more adult children posting on social media about still going on family vacations and it's making me see that our window for family travel isn't as short as I previously imagined. Provided you make it fun and the kids still choose to go!
We found that when we offer to pay, the kids (and their kids) are very happy to go 😂
This will be the family inside joke for years and years.
Thank you sooooo much for the real post. Honestly, I was getting a little annoyed at the stream of perfect posts. Our family trips have been filled with weather related natural disasters over the years and it has become a running joke. So we tread very carefully when traveling and expect the worst, hope for the best. We have reached the point of laughing about it though. And I totally agree with you about sacrificing some in terms of location. We have been doing that for many years and definitely prefer that tactic. Love the pottery painting idea! We are going to Croatia soon and will keep that idea in mind. And I do love all your posts, just wanted to be honest about my slight annoyance, ha!
Thanks for sharing! I was wondering why you hadn’t wrapped up your trip on your stories, I was watching them religiously everyday!
My boys are currently 3 and 4 and I love following you - to me it showcases a glimpse into my future with older kiddos. Everyone has heart ache over the baby years, (which I also LOVE) but as they get older and independent, it feels nice getting back into my groove too.
We were in Italy around the same time as you with our two tween daughters. We did not overlap any cities with you—we were in Lombardy and Veneto. Took the girls to Tuscany two years ago and your stories made me want to go back.
Never underestimate how much being hot can affect your opinion as well as how much it can change once you’re comfortable! I’m glad the kids decided to stay there…it adds to the memories/stories they’ll have of this trip.
We just got back from a week in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We rented a VRBO and planned to travel with my parents (78, 82), my in-laws (78, 94) and our son (20). Our daughter couldn’t make it. My FIL decided he didn’t want to go literally 6 hours before our flight, so my in-laws cancelled. In hindsight, at 94, my FIL would not have enjoyed any facet of this trip. While we overall had a good time, there were things we didn’t know that would have definitely affected our decision and unavoidable things that affected our enjoyment.
- our first flight was delayed, so we barely made our connection in Miami. Our luggage did not make it. We were stuck in 90°/85% for 2 days. I was in jeans.
- everyone buys their water. No drinking from the tap, even for brushing our teeth. I won’t get into the nickle and dime of charging us for water but we were always sputtering water to make sure we didn’t swallow it when showering or washing our faces or swimming.
- this one was gross and will be a deal breaker for me on subsequent trips…there is no flushing paper! It wasn’t just our house, but places we visited, too. This one is enough to have me insisting on an all-inclusive resort that I can’t imagine would make us do this!
- it was hot and only the bedrooms have a/c. Tradewinds are decent, but having all the doors open means so many bugs and bug bites!
Overall, great trip. But yeah….more for us to consider as we plan future trips. Maybe we’ll just stick to cruising…
My kids are grown now, but I can chime in with this. It is always hard when the accommodations don’t blow you away at the first look. But after the first 24 hours things usually work themselves out, and the positives reveal themselves. Like your scenario, and in line with what the others are saying, great memories are still being made! It’s just “life”! Not all perfect! Can’t wait to hear what the girls say after a month or so. Thinking it will be positive!
Sounds like you guys made the most of it. I’ve always heard that Positano had become incredibly crowded in recent years and that there are other, similar options a little more of the beaten path! I’m glad it all worked out for you and everyone ended up enjoying. 💕