What you need to know before vacationing with other families

Going on vacations are so much fun but what happens when you find yourself sharing a vacation with someone. Maybe friends, inlaws, people you don’t know (that has happened). I love taking a good vacation but sometimes to save on cost I like to go with other families. There are some unspoken rules though that must be discussed before going on vacation with others even if you know them. My mom always had a saying come see me isn’t like come sleep with me. You don’t want to have a falling out over something that could have been laid out in the beginning. So here are a few tips that you need to know before vacationing with other families.

What you need to know before vacationing with other families

Finances

First, discuss who will pay for what. If you are vacationing with other families you will probably want to rent a house. Airbnb, using a friends house or renting out a few hotel rooms right next to each other is the best option if it’s more than a family of 4. If you are renting a huge house make sure everyone knows who is paying for what. Will all of the families split the bill, will one family take care of the bill while the other does the food and activities. Have these conversations up front. Whose paying for the meals, will you split the meals. I prefer to have everyone split the cost down the middle that way it’s fair for everyone. So if the place costs 3k total then all the adult family members should take on that cost and split it. Or you can have each set of family members split that cost. With food, if there is a list and one person goes to the store they should bring the receipt back and then the other family gives you half of what the total cost was.

Be considerate

I went on vacation with the bestie and since I sat the place up and did all the leg work she allowed me to get the master bedroom of the place we stayed at.  I also made sure that my kids went to bed at a certain time so that they didn’t disturb her and her kids. We set a bedtime up of 10 pm for everyone to be out of the main living area so that it can be quiet. Some people want it quiet at a certain time at night to maybe do some work or read and you want to be considerate of that. Ask folks if they need anything if you plan on making a run don’t just run to Starbucks and don’t offer to bring anything back.

Togetherness

Are you and the other families doing things together on a set schedule? If there is a schedule then make sure it’s communicated with everyone. I know sometimes schedules can change because of kids but have a basic itinerary together. If you are going to Disney with the family will all of you visit the same park or will you split and some go one way while the others go another way? An example of this is I went on vacation with friends and they wanted to do their own thing while I wanted to go do something else. We discussed this ahead of time and decided to have a day within the vacation to go and do what we wanted to do while using the other days to hang out together.

Parenting Styles

Don’t you hate that when you are on vacation little Johnny gets to have a snack before bedtime with soda and your kids come to you acting brand new talking about why can’t they have a soda like little Johnny. You want to say this isn’t Lil Johnny house but you need to remember that it’s a vacation and everyone parents differently. Discuss that ahead of time with the other families and with your kids. Let them know that just because Johnny does something it doesn’t mean that we do it. Don’t have these kids guilt you saying well it’s vacation time…no it’s still rules that we will follow on vacation or not.

Stay positive

Look I know that things can go wrong but it’s a vacation and if you have kids then there will be some hiccups along the way. Stay positive and have a good attitude. I know that you may vacation with people who are never on time. Be patient and remember it’s not a daily routine it’s just a vacation with others for a few days let go of that control. Although I will say that if we have to be at a spot at 1pm and you are just getting up at quarter to 1 I will have a slight attitude lol. Say to yourself I will remain positive and find the good in the situation.