Take a 3G holiday. No, we aren’t talking phone connectivity. Rather a real one with three generations – your children, your parents and you
When was the last time you had real heart-to-heart with your mom or dad, stole some quiet moments where you could reconnect with either of them, like you used to ask as a child? With children of your own, work pressure, marriage responsibilities all weighting in, one hardly has the time to connect with his or her parents. In nuclear families, children miss out on the unique bond with grandparents as they often stay far off or in different cities.
But ‘genervacation’ or ‘multi-generationational family trips’ is changing all that. Recent research suggests that more and more people are going on holiday with three or more generations of their family. In fact, during the last 12 months, an astonishing 20.8 million US travelers have taken at least one multigenerational trip!
You get to travel with your parents and children to far-off-destination, where your mind is away from your regular life, and you get the chance to bond as a family – a whole family. It could be both sets of grandparents, and even include your favorite uncles and aunts.
Says travel blogger Bhushavali, “ With growing disposable incomes, and traveling being such a vital part of people’s lives, youngsters and elders can find many platforms to make travel a unique experience together. The joy of discovering new places and having shared memories makes these trips exciting for all age groups.
The fun of inter-generational travel is about overcoming age and personality differences. Writes Linda Morgan, author of Beyond Smart: Boosting Your Child’s Social, Emotional, and inter-generational, and Academic Potential, “You can’t engineer an inter-generational vacation that goes off without a hitch. Anticipate them but it should encourage you to travel together rather keep you from it.”
Delhi-based couple Mandip and Anita Singh Soin travel with their two children frequently. Says Anita, “Genervacation is wonderful idea. Older kids don’t need looking after. It gives you the opportunity to bond and take care of your parents at the same time. We all have hectic lives and it’s rare chance for us to live alongside each other as a family again – to have time for proper conversations and just be relaxed with each other. Also, when different generations travel together, they share and develop a better, much larger, worldview.”
Another major reason a huge trend 3G vacations are becoming a huge trend these days is that today’s grandparents are in far better shape travel to far-off locales.