Because as people who have traveled with both parents and children will tell you, it’s not all about socioeconomic factors or time-management issues. On the other hand, it might have been just what they needed. One tries to imagine the Lomans spending Christmas in the Scottish Highlands or Steinbeck’s Trask clan hitting the beach at Waikiki. Families with dysfunctions that might not fare so well at high altitudes or over the international dateline. Fortunately for literature, and the therapy industry, most of us come from more interesting families. They want to have this experience as a family because they don’t see each other enough.”Īll of which sounds very reasonable-if he were talking only about those shining happy families Tolstoy found so boring. And so many families are scattered-the grandparents live in one state, all their kids in 10 others. “People are unwilling to take vacations without their kids now,” says Mike Hannen, co-owner of Marin Travel in the Bay Area, “because they don’t see their kids enough during the week. Retirees are younger and more adventuresome-and often have the finances to treat their progeny to that cruise or vacation rental.īut most important, families are so often fractured by physical distance and increasingly busy schedules that vacations provide the only opportunity for that infamous “quality time.” Two-career couples see travel as a stress-reducing necessity rather than a luxury, says Andre, and traveling even internationally is so much cheaper and easier than it was a generation ago. Many factors contribute to what is the biggest trend in the industry, says Filomena Andre, director of marketing for L.A.-based Leisure Travel Group. Now people come up and tell me I’m their role model.”

“But it’s the perfect solution for me and everyone has fun. “At first people thought I was crazy, traveling with my parents,” says Rena Ronson, co-head of William Morris Agency Independent. Some cruise lines estimate that multigenerational groups account for almost half of their annual business, and summer house rentals, both here and abroad, are at an all-time high, industry experts say.Įven at this year’s Cannes Film Festival the hottest accessory was parents, brought along to enjoy the sights and do nanny duty while the films were screened and the deals were made.

Where once couples ditched the kids at their parents’ before jetting off to Hawaii, now they’re poring over Web sites and travel books, trying to find a destination and accommodation perfect for everyone from the infant to the octogenarian.Īccording to a recent Better Homes and Gardens Family Vacation Report, grandparents are included in 16% of family vacation trips. The travel industry has never seen anything like it. But recently, the reality has quietly slipped away from that cultural standard.Īfter decades of rebelling against, criticizing, psychoanalyzing and generally distancing themselves from their parents, baby boomers are now boarding cruise ships and flights to Montreal, renting cabins in Yosemite and houses in Tuscany with. Not exactly ringing endorsements for family cruise specials or those intergenerational getaways to Club Med.

For years, the latter tendency dominated conventional wisdom and popular culture.Įxtended family adventures were the stuff of slapstick episodes of situation comedies and tales of uneasy cabin-or cottage-bound reunions in which one or several of the participants invariably announced his or her recovered memory of sexual abuse or impending demise.

There are those who believe that adults are divided into two distinct types: those who have been known to take a trip or two with their parents and those who would rather eat broken glass.

Cottage caboodle