Five Tips for Successful Winter Holiday Family Trips
The winter holidays are fast approaching. For kids, it’s time to savor a couple of weeks of blissfully school-free days. For parents, it’s time to embark on one of the year’s scariest roller-coaster rides: the family winter vacation. A successful family winter vacation can be one of the highlights of the entire year: Encountering new places and people with your children away from the routines and roles of home can make for lots of laughs, lessons, and the kinds of unexpected, unforgettable moments that will bind you even when you’re apart years later.
But family vacations aren’t easy, and they’re certainly not naturally successful. You have to work at them, and the work begins well before you roll your bags out the door. For the past few years, my wife and I have taken winter ski trips specifically to experiment with — and hopefully better understand — the dos and don’ts of these iconic winter family getaways. After years of experimentation, we’ve settled on Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe, California, as our escape of choice. We’re so set on this destination, in fact, that earlier this year we purchased a Christmas week timeshare at Marriott’s Timber Lodge right at the base of the Heavenly gondola. But you don’t have to buy a timeshare – though you should at least consider it! – to get the most out of a family ski vacation, or any kind of winter break escape. Here are the five top tips we’ve learned to ensure a wonderful winter getaway.
1: Location, location, location: It doesn’t have to be South Lake Tahoe, but you have to choose a destination that will maximize your chances for success. Take into account the weather, amenities and activities your family likes. We’ve chosen South Lake Tahoe because we all love skiing/snowboarding, and Heavenly ski resort offers a wide variety of blue (for Mom and Dad) and black (for son and daughter) runs, and ample terrain for both snowboarding and skiing. Equally important, as we’ve learned through years of exploring-on-a-budget, the town offers a tremendous mix of culinary options, from Subways and pizzerias to great haute dining for the occasional restaurant splurge to a supermarket with a terrific hot foods section for cheap and convenient stay-at-home meals (to balance the pocketbook after that haute cuisine splurge). The bottom line: Look for a place that fits your family’s activity interests, travel style and budget.
2. It’s a family affair: Be sure to include your children in the trip-planning, so that they have a sense of “ownership” of the trip. If they’re older, it’s wonderful to involve them from the beginning of the process as you narrow your plans by region and country. Over two decades, we’ve wintered in Mexico, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Colorado and California, and our kids have always been involved in the choice of the destination. As they’ve gotten older, we’ve given them a larger and larger role, and they’ve come to prefer the ease of getting to Tahoe – it’s just a three- to four-hour drive for us – and the fact that they can even be on the slopes the day that we leave if they want to. They also like that the town has a great range of activities, even a cinema, for family nights out. So even though every year we tell them we’re happy to consider other places, for the last few years they’ve settled on Tahoe. Bu the important thing is that wherever you go, you make sure that your children feel included in the selection proves.
3. Choose the right accommodation: We’ve tried the gamut of accommodations, from all-inclusive family resorts to Club Meds to five-star luxury retreats to barebones cabins. For the past few years in Tahoe we’ve settled on a very basic hotel, the Green Lantern, that suits all our needs – beds, TV, bathroom with hot shower, and outdoor jacuzzi – without breaking the budget. The kids love that they can jump on the beds without worrying about breaking a precious vase or armoire, my wife loves that it’s walking distance to the Heavenly gondola and the supermarket, and we all love that we can lie back in the jacuzzi after a long day, under snow-sprinkled pine boughs, and contemplate the starry, starry sky. By now it has truly come to feel like a home away from home. Even better, the management knows us by now so we get a family-friendly greeting each time too.
4. Children first: In your planning and on the trip itself, pay attention to the needs and pacings of your kids. For younger children, it may be advisable to sign them up for ski school. This enables them to ski at their level with excellent teaching, and frees you to your own adventures. We’ve tried the ski schools at Heavenly a few times over the years and have always been very happy with the teachers and the care – and more importantly, our kids have been happy. But in recent years the kids have grown old enough to ski on their own, so now we just make sure to set up a lunchtime rendezvous spot and time. Partly this is so that we can check in and hear about their morning highs and lows – and partly this is to ensure that they don’t overdo it and exhaust themselves on day one or two. So, tailor your schedule to the needs of your kids. This will pay off in many ways in the long run.
5. Finally, fit the trip to your budget. When we first started skiing at Tahoe, we rented skis and equipment because we weren’t sure how often we would be using them and thought it was wiser financially to rent. We experimented with different shops before settling on Powder House in South Lake Tahoe. As we continued to ski through the years, we finally ended up deciding three years ago that it would be more cost effective to purchase used skis and boots, and new parkas, poles, and gloves. The total came to about $350, and we’re sure that was the fiscally wise decision over time. Getting the right equipment to maximize your comfort is extremely important; it can literally make or break your trip. You also want to make sure that the total package you arrange – hotel, meals, gas, lift tickets, and equipment – fits your budget. There’s nothing more stress-inducing – and vacation-destroying – than worrying about money every day. So, tailor your trip to your budget – and give yourself the best possible chance to have a blissful winter break.
My best end-of-year journeys have always been with my family – first with my parents, then with my children, and sometimes now when I’m really lucky, with my children and parents together. There’s a kind of multigenerational magic on these trips that creates unique and irreplaceable discoveries, joys and memories for all. Through our children’s first two decades, my wife and I have been assiduously experimenting — and mostly having a good time doing so! — to try to find just the right vacation balance, and I’ve tried to pass our best hard-won lessons on to you. May they help a special holiday magic infuse your family’s winter adventures too.
To explore the Adventure Collection’s full world of family odysseys, visit adventurecollection.com. Happy travels!
