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Wondering when is the best time to book a family vacation these days? Well, I can tell you that the short answer is as soon as possible. Today I’m sharing some travel trends, some interesting things I’ve personally seen, and how I recommend reaching your 2023 family travel goals!
Where To Take My Family On Vacation
Planning a family trip is very different than booking a trip for a solo traveler or couple. For the latter, airline tickets for 1-2 people are easy to find and almost every type of hotel room can accommodate 2 people, but families traveling should look for double rooms or suites. So while I’m finding some great deals to travel the world alone, which can be a little tricky with two kids at home, this blog post focuses on family travel using my family of four as a data point.
What I Wore On My Family Vacation In Northern Michigan
As I write this post in November 2022, I feel it necessary to point out that travel is not only back to “normal”, but back with a vengeance. Many factors play a role in this! And with people spending more than ever on travel, it looks like a recession won’t be one of them!
With no or very difficult travel options in 2020 and 2021, people want to travel more than ever. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder! Along with this desire to travel, many people are finding more money in their travel budgets from canceled trips and not being able to travel, which has led to an endless number of popular destinations to attend this fall. Everyone wants to book flights!
But now let’s talk about this year. 2022 has been a wild ride to say the least! In the first half of the year, many American families are still reluctant to travel (especially overseas), mainly due to travel restrictions and hassles. Let me tell you, there is nothing more stressful than making an appointment at a random CVS in Tallahassee for a nasal swab test en route to Cape Canaveral for our vacation to the Bahamas, only to find out the next day that they lost my sample. There are Thank you to the kind pharmacist in St. Augustine who came to my rescue and sorted us out less than 24 hours before our cruise left.
I know my experience is not unique and fearing situations like mine, there are many opportunities to find good places and discounts for family travel in 2022. Booking a trip at the last minute is easy and I know my wheels are constantly turning as I plan trip after trip (mostly fictitious) for my family. We are limited by school and sports schedules and it makes us wish (for a moment) that we could still homeschool the kids!
Important Life Lessons From Our Family Vacations
But the travel industry has changed dramatically in recent months, and clear trends are emerging that show us what to expect when planning a family vacation in 2023. Personally, when planning trips during the school holidays I face some hurdles and higher prices than ever before. Mostly because we’re going to Europe next week because it’s honestly cheaper than anywhere else I’ve looked (especially the Caribbean and Mexico). We’ve also given up on the tropical vacation we wanted to take at the end of the year and instead are getting some great deals to see family in the Midwest and save money!
So we’re going to both Greece and St. Louis/Dallas by the end of the year, and if you’d asked me a few months ago what our travel plans were for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they wouldn’t even have been on my radar. However, here we are planning for both!
With only six weeks until 2022, I’ll be focusing on family travel in 2023 and I’m sure the trends we’ve experienced recently in booking travel for my family will become even more evident next year! So you need to plan ahead and/or be flexible.
And even though I put them out of my mind, research shows I’m on the right track. From a recent survey conducted by the Family Travel Association (I serve on the media committee) and the NIU School of Professional Studies, a few things really stood out to me!
Ocean City New Jersey Family Vacation
85% of parents say they are likely to travel with their children in the next 12 months
Willingness to use a travel advisor for family travel is 52%, a significant increase from the behavior reported in 2021 when 17% used a travel agent.
. I also found it interesting that the parents surveyed indicated that their priorities for family travel were:
Children discover new places and new experiences, bond and grow together as a family, and relax and unwind
My First Vacation Without My Ex Was Eye-opening
. Research clearly shows that in addition to wanting to travel with family, nearly 50% of people also plan to spend more. Of the 1002 parents who participated in the study, 5
My thoughts and research aside, you might be here because you want to travel with your family in 2023 and know what to expect! In the following sections, I’ll give you my recommendations based on three regional destinations: Mexico and the Caribbean, domestic and international. I hope you find this information useful and would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. So leave a comment on this blog post!
I decided to talk about family travel in Mexico and the Caribbean first because I personally see the most demand here, which isn’t great because those are my favorite places too! People want to go to both countries because they are tropical destinations with warm climates that are easy to get to and really feel like being on vacation. For many Americans, this is the big trip they’ve been waiting for!
If you want to visit these tropical destinations, I would book your trip as soon as possible. Especially if you haven’t booked your spring break, it might be too late and you should definitely make your summer plans now. When I researched for our spring break, I was already seeing much higher prices than I was used to and had a hard time finding a place with reasonable airfare and accommodations. I found a few flights that looked promising, but found that a mid-range all-inclusive resort would cost more than $7,500 a week.
Eating Out With Picky Kids While On Vacation
So I can safely say that there will be some good places here and no last minute discounts for places in the Caribbean and Mexico. You might be lucky enough to find cruises, which I think are a great option for families, so make sure you check them out too!
You may also want to check out sample tours for Autumn Holiday 2023 and Winter Holiday 2023 to see what’s on offer. I think my motto would be: the early bird gets the worm! And unfortunately for me, I overslept!
Domestic travel will be interesting in 2023! I think many families get “stuck” when planning trips to other destinations that require flights.
What does this mean to you? A destination far away from you probably has some big gaps to fill. And often, when your kids are as busy as mine, a three to four day trip is all you can do. So check out cities near you, lesser known beach destinations like Jekyll Island and similar places. If you have teenagers, make sure to do something active and outdoors. We are still talking about how much we enjoyed our rafting trip with Wildwater Limited! Keep an eye out for hidden gems like swimming with manatees in Florida’s Crystal River or taking a boat tour in Austin, Texas.
Wendy Correen Smith: Our Family Vacation To Indian Shores, Florida
I also assume that any airfares here are for domestic travel, but also to places that aren’t traditional “vacation destinations”. For example, we couldn’t find warm places to visit during winter break that were close to what I wanted to pay. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate luxury travel, but all I found in my searches were uncomfortable flights and mediocre accommodations at above-market prices.
For this reason we decided to relocate and relocate from Panama City Beach, FL to St. Louis, MO
