Meadowbrook Travel co-founder Rebecca Ruprecht-Barrett has personal experience in planning multigenerational trips, including a family trip to San Diego, California, where they embarked on a San Diego Harbor Cruise. Photos: Meadowbrook Travel
Local travel agents explain the how, what and why of family travel.
Throughout the decades, various travel trends have emerged: cost-conscious travelers using budget airlines, digital nomadism and solo travel, cruises and influencer travel. Now, there’s an uptick in focused time spent with family as multigenerational travel is rising in popularity.
Multigenerational travel can include two, three or even four generations of family members traveling together. As co-owners of Meadowbrook Travel, Rebecca Ruprecht-Barrett and Lee Faulkner have helped plan an increasing number of multigenerational trips in recent years. The women, who have known each other since middle school, have traveled most of their lives. After venturing into different professions, they eventually found themselves individually helping their families and friends plan travel. It’s something they both realized they enjoyed doing, which prompted the opening of their business in 2023.
Neither is surprised by the uptick in multigenerational travel. They’ve both taken numerous trips with their own families and value the time spent together. “The most common that we see would be parents, generally in their 30s or 40s, where their parents are the grandparents, and then their kids too,” Ruprecht-Barrett says. “There seems to be a trend for experiences over things. There’s also a finite amount of time in life to be able to travel … Time seems to keep going faster, so if I can take a trip with both my parents and my kids at the same time, it’s a win-win.”
The motivation for travel tends to differ from generation to generation. “Oftentimes, grandparents are coming from a generation where they have worked for their whole life and have maybe not done as much traveling as they wanted to,” Faulker says. “Then we have the ‘parent’ generation who’s coming with more of a ‘seize the day’ or ‘make it happen’ approach.”
Lee Faulkner, co-founder of Meadowbrook Travel, has taken multigenerational travel to the international level, as seen here on their family vacation to the Angkor Wat Theraveda Buddhist temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Throughout their years of planning vacations, Ruprecht-Barrett and Faulker note several key topics to consider when planning a multigenerational trip. While two families can visit the same destination, they can have completely different experiences based on the wants and needs of their own families. Make sure family members are on the same page about what a trip will look like and what everyone expects from it.
- Budget: Consider how much will be spent in total, including the quality of lodging and airfare or which excursions to do. Higher-class and budget-friendly options can carry significantly varying price tags.
- Destination: The location is one of the first aspects to discuss. From a domestic trip to an international locale, there are many spots to choose from.
- Expectations: How will the vacation be structured? Is the goal relaxation or exploration? Will travelers want to squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible, or sleep in every day and do one activity during the day? Know what type of activity level everyone prefers.
- Timeframe: What time of year will the trip take place? Retired grandparents may be more flexible with timing, whereas working parents with children involved in school activities may have more things to work around.
- Togetherness: Will everyone be together the entire trip, or will travelers split up for certain activities and come together every evening for dinner?
These aspects of travel are just the beginning when it comes to planning. While this can seem daunting, it’s exactly where travel agents come into play. From researching destinations to booking flights, hotels and excursions—and anything in between—travel agents can take the burden of responsibility off the traveler’s plate. Additionally, they can supply a packing list and ensure that travelers have their most important documents, whether that’s a REAL ID or passport—and ensuring a passport doesn’t expire within six months of travel, which some countries require—a visa or a preapproved electronic customs form. “With all of the logistics involved, it makes it much less stressful for everyone,” Faulkner says. “There’s usually a point person for the group that we’re working with, but for that person to not have the stress of figuring out all the details, making all the decisions, that’s what we’re there for.”
In terms of when to start planning a multigenerational trip, the old adage of “the sooner, the better” applies. Planning and booking earlier will allow for more options, especially for larger groups that need more seats on a flight or more rooms at a hotel.
Throughout the process of planning, booking and preparations, it’s important to remember the reason for taking the trip in the first place. “The bottom line that we tell people is enjoy the time together,” Ruprecht-Barrett says. “I tell families who are going to Disney, ‘Don’t be so focused on getting on a particular attraction’ … or ‘Don’t be so focused on seeing a particular landmark in Europe or a particular excursion in the Caribbean, that you lose sight of the fact that you are fortunate enough to be able to spend this time away from daily lives together. That’s why you’re doing this.’”
Meadowbrook Travel
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