Traveling With Kids and Older Relatives

A mixed-age outing has to work for the slowest person in the group, not the most ambitious one. That's true in our house, and it's true in the car.

We've got kids and older relatives, and sometimes both in the same day. Bedtimes don't match. Energy doesn't either. Walking, heat, and stairs land differently on different bodies. After a stroke, I'm often in the slower group myself. The day has to be built for that, or it isn't a good day.

I use the same questions I use for any trip. How hot will it be, and is there a real way to get out of the heat? How much walking is required, and where can I sit? Who is coming? What does the day after look like at home? Those questions are in How I Decide Whether a Trip Is Worth the Energy. Close-to-home days matter here too, and I wrote about those in Arizona First: Traveling Close to Home.

The day after matters as much as the outing. A mixed-age day that only works if everyone comes home and pretends they are not tired is not our kind of outing. Build in a quieter evening, a simple meal, leftovers if you have them. The trip is not over when you pull into the driveway in Anthem. It's over when the house is livable again. I wrote about that in The Day After We Get Home.

I don't have a packing list of cute tricks, and I'm not going to invent a story about a perfect family day. What I can tell you is the pace. Short enough. Cool enough. A place to sit. Food when people are tired. Then go, if the day can hold it.

If you want the bigger travel idea, start with The Pace I Travel Is the Pace I Live. Destination guides already live at Travel at My Pace.