Family adventure holiday tips
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Adventure holidays mean different things to different people. Nowadays, your family can do pyramids and sphinxes, lions and tigers, whales and dolphins and even bungee jumping and white water rafting (although maybe not with toddlers). On every single continent.
And at Take the Family we can't recommend them highly enough, though we also recognise that they're not for everyone. You certainly need to spend more time preparing things to take and managing your children's expectations. Here are some things to think about:
Travelling with other families - most adventure holiday tour operators arrange these trips for small groups of 15-20 people, which means around 3-5 families. You'll need to be the kind of family that can get on with other families and do bear in mind that you'll share their company with few breaks for a week or two. You could, instead, dust off your old Lonely Planet and travel independently...but that probably won't suit most families.
Health
and stamina - although the itineraries for family adventure
holidays are less taxing than those catering just for adults, your
family will need to be relatively fit and used to walking / excursions.
Depending on where you travel you may also need a number of jabs beforehand.
And you'll need to look after yourselves well in the heat. Hygiene
standards may be lower than those to which you are accustomed. The
combination of heat, physical exertion and poor hygiene can, minimally,
require your family to take it easy for a day or two and opt out of
planned excursions.
Culture shock - depending on where you go it may take a while to adjust to your new surroundings. Locals may take a strong interest in your children, albeit normally friendly, and you and the kids could find that unsettling at first. Cities, while fascinating, can be very crowded and noisy.
Accommodation standards - don't expect luxury on these trips. But do expect clean and comfortable rooms. They're perfectly fine as long as your not expecting to stay at the Ritz Carlton each night.
Check out our family adventure holiday guides to the Canadian Rockies, Peru, Egypt, Jordan, Andorra, Thailand, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, South Africa, the Bay of Naples and Finland. We'll be adding others shortly.
