Family vacations now include grandparents, too

When I was growing up on Long Island, "multigenerational travel" usually meant Mom and Dad piling their four sons into the station wagon, then trekking out to Riis Park Beach in Queens to meet up with our grandparents, who would drive east from Brooklyn. Sometimes we would even do this in winter, since my grandfather liked to swim in the ocean year-round - a kind of one-man Polar Bear Club.

But as with all things Boomer, multigenerational travel has taken on more ambitious standards these days, with many extended families undertaking vacations on a global scale. "It's very popular today," says Roz Resnick, vice president of leisure travel at Melville-based Austin Travel. "You didn't see it much years ago." Grandparents may have taken their families to the Catskills, she says. "Now we take cruises."

Nearly one-third of American grandparents who went on a vacation trip in the last 12 months traveled with their grandchildren, according a study released earlier this month by YPartnership and the Harrison Group, two market research companies specializing in leisure travel.

One reason for the increased popularity, Resnick suggests, is that many grandparents today are younger and more active - and often have more money. But another big factor, Resnick and other observers say, is the time crunch many families face year-round, with both spouses working and trying to fit in myriad school, family and leisure activities.

"This is a way to spend time together, combining a vacation with seeing family," says Bruce Frankel, owner of TheMindfulTraveler.com. "Sharing the time with family enhances the experience. For seniors, especially, it's incredibly rewarding. And you bring back great pictures."

Not surprisingly, many popular family resorts, such as Disney World, Busch Gardens, Club Med and Colonial Williamsburg, are targeting the multigenerational market. You can also book upscale vacations at Caribbean villas or less expensive packages at oceanfront houses in Virginia Beach or Pensacola, Fla. Increasingly popular are family-reunion vacations, adds Frankel, who handles frequent reunions for one extended family where various branches take turns deciding where to hold the gathering. (The next one will be at a dude ranch in Montana.)

But there are ways to sneak in less grandiose but rewarding multigenerational jaunts, too. A few years ago, for example, George Haber, a Jericho-based public relations consultant, and his wife, Elinor, turned a business trip to California into a vacation with their son Jeffrey and his family. Elinor, her daughter-in-law, Kathy, and toddler grandson, Zach, went out first. Elinor watched Zach, while Kathy, an economist, prepared for a presentation she was giving to a group of executives. A few days later, George and Jeffrey, who lives in New York, flew out to join them. "It gave me an opportunity to bond with my grandson," Elinor recalled. "I also got close to my daughter-in-law . . . And it gave us an opportunity to go out on our own." Actually, George told me, it was a week where "everybody was celebrating something": Kathy and Jeffrey's wedding anniversary; George and Elinor's 40th wedding anniversary, and Zach's birthday (July 4), all within a few days of each other.

Most experts and travelers extol the benefits of intergenerational travel. "You see the world again through the child's eyes," says Elinor Haber. But they also caution that it's not easy. Here are five steps to help your trip come off without a slip:

1. Plan ahead - way ahead. Many agents advise families to plan at least six months to a year in advance. "You'll have a better trip and enriched experience," says Frankel. Not only can you obtain early-discount prices and upgrades, he says, but you'll have an opportunity to map out different vacation scenarios and not waste time weighing options when you arrive.

2. Get input from all the families. One of the biggest mistakes people make is not discussing the trip with everyone who's going, experts say. When choosing a particular destination, "You really need to sit down and make some decisions together, deciding ahead of time at on a destination, a particular place and price," Resnick says.

George Haber adds that parents and grandparents need to decide how much freedom to give their kids during the vacation, including adult children, who may want to go out to a nightclub - without their parents. "You have to include adult kids in the planning part, so there are no surprises," he says.

3. Decide what kind of experiences you want. Look for vacations that can accommodate everyone's specific interests. "You want to go to a place where there's something for everybody," Resnick says. Many resorts have activities or day care facilities "so people can do separate things during the day, then meet up for dinner," she says.

4. Do plenty of research. Thanks to the web, there are lots of places to get information on multigenerational travel packages. "I sometimes arrange conference calls [for family members in far-flung locations] and pull up websites for people to see," Frankel says. The Habers, who have traveled widely, tout interactive sites like tripadvisor.com, where users can read reviews of various destinations as well as get advice from fellow travelers. "It's a terrific resource for people traveling with kids to ask questions," George Haber says. In particular, Elinor looks for detailed information about the availability of services like baby-sitting; the "appropriateness of activities" for children in multigenerational settings; and, of course, the food.

A sampling of other websites specializing in multigenerational travel:

familytravelnetwork.com

grandtravel.com

generationstouringcompany.com

exploritas.com

5. Be clear about your budget - and who pays. How much do you want to spend is always a key question, but before you make a decision based just on price, think about the "lifestyle" of your trip, Frankel says. Do you want travel that includes some high style or are you looking forward to a mostly dress-down holiday? Get a complete breakdown of all costs in writing before you decide to make your travel purchase. Some online deals don't disclose everything until you have already "clicked" through the purchase, he adds.

George Haber and others point out that it's important to make it clear who's paying for what upfront, to avoid embarrassment as well as hard feelings. Otherwise, the trip will end up being "a stressful, not a restful, thing."