According to a new Family Travel Survey from TripAdvisor , 75 per cent of travelers’ children have visited more than six states, compared to just 37% of their parents by the same age.
Tell the kids that when you are on your way to this summer’s vacation. According to the survey, the vast majority of of us travelers with kids—92 per cent–are planning least one vacation this year, up from last year. And 75 per cent plan to spend as much as they did last year or more.
Of course the best part of vacations, 48 per cent of family travelers say, is the time together. All the more reason to get away to a place like Park City where you can unplug and hike, fish, mountain bike and just spend some fun time together. When was the last time you flew down an Alpine slide screaming at the top of your lungs?
In the sad-but-true category: A Third of travelers surveyed for a new TripAdvisor poll said they’d pay extra for a seat in a child-free section of a plane. At the same time, 44 per cent of parents surveyed said that airplanes are the most stressful mode of transport with kids.
I feel for both groups. There’s nothing worse than being the parent of an infant who screams his way across the country on a flight or a toddler who won’t sit still. There’s also nothing worse than being a child-less adult who is sitting next to that family.
I think parents flying with young kids have to be as well prepared as they can with diversions (all the easier now with smart phone aps) food, drinks, books and more. They also have to be prepared to focus on their kids. That means keeping them from kicking the person in the seat in front of them.
At the same time, those who are kid-less have to have patience and appreciate that air travel these days is stressful for everyone. Maybe they can “pay it forward” and help the hapless mom (that was me many times) traveling solo with three children. Maybe they’d actually enjoy having a conversation with a child!
As for the child-less section of the plane– Doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me.
