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Organizing a Large Family Vacation – Tips and Tricks
Large family vacation or trips are supposed to be about having fun and sharing time with the people you care the most about. Organizing that vacation is one of the most vital steps to make sure those plans stay on track. Poor planning will ruin everything. Here are some tips and tricks that will keep your vacation on track and your family having a great time:
Have a Family Meeting and Decide Who Is Handling Plans
If you have more than one leader trying to plan the trip, it will not work. Take a vote and allow one person to run the show. If you are reading this article, that person is probably you and the rest of the article assumes that.
Pick a General Location
If you have at least a general idea of where everyone wishes to go, then you can make an educated decision about what you all will do and where. Take everyone’s ideas down. One fun way to do this is hidden votes. Have everyone write down where they would like to go secretly on a piece of paper and then read them out loud one by one. Because they will be secret, folks are more likely to be honest about what they really want. Use that as a discussion starting point and work to a general consensus. Majority should rule if you can pull that off.
Get All Money Upfront
If you wait to get your money from everyone later and front the cash for the trip, you will very likely have some troubles. Make sure you are prepared to shoulder the cost if you don’t collect it upfront. Things happen and you can avoid risking your own if you get it up front.
Take a Head Count
The first thing you need to do is narrow down exactly how many people are going. This sounds easy, but it is anything but. Just going around and nailing down a strong count will take some time and needs to be done in person if possible. (People tend to see how important getting an accurate number is better that way) Having a solid number is the first step.
Take Down Specific Needs
When you are dealing with a large family vacation, there may be certain things that are necessary such as handicap access, oxygen-friendly rooms, non-smoking rooms, Internet access, portable cribs/playpens and pretty much anything else on the planet. Some folks have special requirements and you need to know these things if you are taking charge of the trip planning.
Get Specific Wants Upfront
See needs above. All the same things apply but you need to make sure you let them know that speaking up later will be too late. If they want you to consider something, make sure they know to tell you right then.
Begin Searching With Plenty of Information
Now that you have all you need, go ahead and try to find what works the best for the requirements. Try to be balanced and make sure everyone gets a bit of what they want. That is not always possible, but do your best.
Here are a few of my favorite money saving sites and agencies to start with:
https://www.groupon.com/getaways
Share Before Locking It In
Once you have your location down and the details in line, group email the family and make sure it works for everyone and everyone is on the same and final page before locking it in. The key here is to let everyone feel heard and important. That will keep arguments or frustration to a minimum.
Even if you follow every one of these tips and do them perfectly, there is still a decent chance that some folks will complain. All you can do as a leader of the family is to try your best. The majority will appreciate your efforts and the vacation should go off without a hitch!
