Family travel and the art of compromise

Before starting a family, author Peter Moore travelled to the far corners of the globe. Now he has to master the art of compromise. How will he fare?

5 mins

I married a woman who doesn't like travelling. Well, not the same way I like travelling. I like to grab a pack and see where the road will take me. She likes to lie beside a pool and forget about the stresses of life and work.

In other words, I like to explore, she likes to relax.

Since we've had a child and that child has started school that divide has become more apparent. Family holidays have become even more of a compromise.

When my daughter was small, that compromise was renting an apartment as our base for a week. It had several advantages. We could prepare the kind of food my daughter was eating at the time, and we could plonk her in a cot in another room at her bedtime rather than switch off the light and join her as we would have had to do in a hotel room.

I got to venture out from that base in places such as Bergen and Gdansk. Granted, it wasn’t like venturing off into the Baluchistan desert, but I did get to go to Hel and back.

As my daughter got older, travelling to somewhere warm with a swimming pool became the priority. Well, for my daughter and wife anyway. I tagged along for one such buffet breakfast and lounge by the pool affair and was ready to run away by the second day. 

From that experience sprang another compromise. My wife and daughter would have their sunshine break for week. Then I'd take my daughter on a mini-adventure for a week. The added bonus, with both of us working, was that we got to cover childcare for a big chunk of the six-week summer holiday.

That worked for a while. I took my daughter off on adventures in Iceland and Morocco. My wife took her to Mallorca for tapas and vitamin D. But no matter how many times we told ourselves it was a sensible decision, there was always a nagging feeling that it wasn't quite right. It wasn't a family holiday. It felt more like an access agreement.

So this summer we're trying something a bit different. We are going to travel as a family, but this time with a little more give and take. We’re going to spend a bit of time in Dubrovnik, soaking up the sun and splashing in a pool. Then we’re heading down to Montenegro for more of the same, but with added remote mountain adventures.

In other words, we are going to compromise. Really compromise.

I'll let you know how it works out.

 

How have you had to compromise as a traveller since staring a family? Tell us in the comments below.


Main image: Family discussing the best way around the Dolomites (Shutterstock.com)

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