The Hidden Benefits of Family Travel

The Hidden Benefits of Family Travel
Looking for inspiration for your next family adventure? In this episode of TravelEssary, we explore the real benefits of family travel, from stronger bonds and better communication to building confidence and resilience in kids.

We share stories from our own travels and practical tips for traveling with kids, staying flexible when plans change, and turning every trip into an unforgettable learning experience. This episode will remind you why family adventure travel is one of the best ways to grow together.

🎧 Listen now to discover how exploring the world as a family can shape hearts, minds, and lifelong memories.

#FamilyTravel #TravelWithKids #FamilyAdventure #TravelEssary #RoadTripLife #RVFamily #FamilyBonding #ExploreTogether

Transcript

 We're the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. On today's episode of TravelEssary, we are going to chat about the hidden benefits of family travel. Let's chat. Welcome and thank you for joining us on this episode as we talk about the benefits of family adventurous, and this is something that.

Through all the years that we have been traveling, this is one of those things that we didn't fully comprehend or we didn't fully take advantage of. Yeah, I think maybe it was a lack of understanding, total lack of understanding of how this could, you know, really be used. But before we get into that, there has been some wonderful developments.

, In our lives and in our location, and you know, like always go and check out our YouTube channel if you don't already, so that you can see some more of our travels. We love our family. We love spending time with our family. I hope we love our family. And, and, well, it's not for everyone. I mean, like extended family. So yes, there is, you know, there's husband, wife, there's children, we all love each other.

Oh, okay. But the extended part. Mother-in-laws, father-in-laws, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, you know, aunts, uncles, you know, sometimes Okay. Families don't really get together. Mm-hmm. , They have a hard time gelling together really well. And we love spending time with our family. And this is something that will benefit a small group, like a core group of family members.

Mm-hmm. Or even an extended. Family group, in my opinion. Yeah. I think, okay. I am gonna be honest. I'm gonna be more realistic than you. I think the larger that family group is, the less benefits there are to that experience. Yes. And the more difficult it is because you have a lot more differing opinions and plans and mindsets and ways of doing things like, okay, so the first thing I wanna talk about is how it can strengthen your bond.

As a family to travel together, but the larger that family is, sometimes it causes more strife than it strengthens anything. If you're, yeah, it may break down a couple things. Yeah, like especially now family reunions, that's a different thing. But if you're traveling a big like vacation type trip and you're traveling with a huge family.

There's gonna be issues, you know, I think of home alone when they're like fighting the entire movie. Oh, absolutely. Whenever they all try to get onto the plane and they're flying wherever, and there's so many of them and they have aunt and uncles that are there, and so many cousins, and , it's total chaos.

The entire movie is total chaos. Yeah. When I think of the benefits of family travel, I think of your core family, your family that's in your home, , your spouse, your children. That's what I think of when I think of the

hidden benefits of family travel. That's my thoughts. I mean, I do see how even with extended family, we have traveled with extended family before. Oh, absolutely. You know, even on both sides. Yeah, even across the country and stuff. And we have enjoyed it and it's been great, but it wasn't a very large group, so not so bad.

But yeah. So it strengthens the bonds of that family. Why do you think it strengthens those bonds? It strengthens bonds because you're on vacation. Together. There's no getting away. No getting away there. There's no easy escape. The kids that can drive just can't go get in their cars and go to their friend's house for the evening.

, For lack of better words, you kinda have everyone kidnapped in one little area. Yeah. And you're building those memories and those adventures that you're gonna retell together forever. Yeah, that you'll always be able to, I mean, I still hear you and your family members all the time, retell stories about when you were younger, of things that happened even 25 years later.

Absolutely. 30 years, years later, y'all are still telling those stories and it's different aspects of it. Like we will tell it from the cousin, the kids side, and then the aunts and uncles will tell it from their side, , the younger cousins are hearing it for the very first time.

And , it's so awesome just to hear the different aspects, especially me. I love hearing older stories of kind of what families went through on vacation because they didn't have the technology that we have now, for sure. Mm-hmm. But it was also the way they traveled was just different.

It was just so different. Yeah. I think that, you know, having new experiences, doing travel traditions together with your family, creating those memories, all of that together helps to strengthen , the bond of your family and if you travel the right way, if you travel, you know, with a lot of peace and you're not constantly fighting with each other.

Then you are going to strengthen those family bonds. Absolutely. And it's also one of those things where this is definitely one of those things you have to work on. You know, how does anything ever get stronger? It's gotta be worked on practice. Yeah. You got, you gotta work it, which means we think you should travel more.

Absolutely. But it's also one of the things where, you know, we don't let our children pop in headphones. If we're trying to have like a family communication or we're trying to do an activity or we want them to experience something, look at some scenery, you know, not just screen time the whole time now.

..  And so by doing that, you open up dialogue, communication, and it's gonna strengthen those bonds. Right. It also teaches through experience. I think we've talked about this on a podcast before of like the benefits of traveling with your children, like how it helps your children specifically.

But as a family, you're going to have experiences that teaches you things where you're going to gain knowledge, whether it's through a museum or you're doing some type of tour,, you know, different things. You're going on a hike and you're learning about. Yep. . The plants and the animals of that area, you, , go through a national park.

They're very educational. There's signs everywhere, and you stop and you read those. , It's very educational for the entire family. And then again, that gives you something else too. You're learning together, you're experiencing this new thing, this, you're educating yourselves together. And that's another way that it strengthens that bond.

And so just having , those experiences together, teaches so much. It builds , the understanding between everyone and their knowledge level and then what they're interested in, and then just the uniqueness of it, because not everyone's history is going to be the same.

Texas history is not the same as California or Pennsylvania or Florida. The United States is so diverse in its education and in , it's history and culture that wherever you go, you can experience that and there's no better teaching tool than experience. Yeah. And then being able to do that again as a family that's a great benefit to have I think that's a good family dynamic to have where you can learn things together that gives you conversational pieces and to be like, you're on the same wavelength. You're doing the same things, you're learning the same things. I think it's just a good family experience all around.

, Another way that it benefits your family is it encourages communication. That's one of the biggest thing nowadays. Being, an ex youth pastor, I have seen a group of young people all sit there and they're all giggling and laughing and no one said a word.

Because they're all on their phone texting each other. Getting especially the younger generation to communicate, to open, up, , to express one through words, , is such , a crucial thing for development of the family. Yeah. And when you go on an adventure together, whether it's a day trip, a road trip, a vacation, whatever it is, , whatever type of family adventure you're doing, then , it's an excuse to open communication with your kids.

It helps you to connect in ways that you cannot or do not at home? Oh, it absolutely gets you outside of your bubble because it's not your normal, you know, the kids aren't stressing about school. They're not worried about, , trying to go to the mall and get the next greatest, latest gadget or whatever.

There on a vacation to relax and have a good time. And by opening up that communication, it's just , the sugar on top. I think it also . Encourages them to communicate with people around them outside of the family in different ways. , Like say you're going on a tour and you're gonna ask the tour guide questions, or , you're somewhere new and you need to find out information, then your kids are learning.

They see you do it. And then as they get older, you know, they're doing it. We're encouraging them to do it. Is they're talking to the locals whenever we're like, Hey, where should we go? What should we do? They're listening to the stories of the people around them. It helps encourage them to communicate with others as well, which I think.

Communication in this day and age is very important. Like Jeremy was saying, I think it's so important to know how to communicate and not just inside of your family, but outside of your family dynamic. , So one of the things we have done with our children and what we will do with Jasper is whenever we go to a new place.

Especially a new restaurant. Mm-hmm. We make them order. We make them speak for themselves. We do not order for them. They have to communicate either with words or at least point at the menu. Oh my gosh. When our oldest first moved in with us, oh my goodness, this mortified her so much. She had so much like social anxiety and she didn't wanna speak to people, and she was like, no, I'm awkward.

And I'm like, no, you're going to order your own food. She's like, can you just tell 'em what I want? And I'm like, no. You're going to do it. You can do it. , And now, man, she's so good at communication and, and what she does, , in her job. I mean, it requires great communication and she has it now. But yeah, that's one of the ways we do it.

If they wanna purchase something from a store, . While we're on vacation, we make them go and do the purchase. And we have, since they were very small, very small. Now we are gonna be there to assist and to help, but we make them say, this is what I want. We make them interact with the cashier .

. Those are skills. , Every child should grow up knowing how to do. And unfortunately, I know some young adults that can't do these type of things because they get anxiety. Like going through the drive through to order food gives them anxiety , and to me that's just. So odd.

Because , they want kios where they don't have to talk to anyone, which I hate those kiosks. Get rid of them. Yes. Get rid of the AI people., I want to talk to a human being. Yes. I want that connection and that communication. I do believe that exploring and traveling and going on adventures, it helps to bring your kids outta their bubbles a little bit.

Mm-hmm. And especially if you, the parent, , helps. Push them a little bit into that communication. By building the bonds through the experience and the communication builds confidence. Oh yes. Absolutely. And we're not just talking about children at this point in time. Oh yeah. Our teenagers, uh, young adults.

Us even , as old people. Do you need to build some confidence? I think you've got plenty of confidence. Well, you may not be confident in every situation you roll into. Okay. But by having that open dialogue and that open communication and by being encouraged and you know, understanding is like, hey, my family may laugh at this later, but this is gonna be one of those good experiences.

Mm-hmm. Like, Hey, where do we do this at? And then they're like, oh my gosh, why, why'd you ask that question? But then you go do that experience and it's like, that was a great time. Yeah, we had a great time doing that. And so building that confidence , of kind of working outside your bubble, having that communication just builds confidence.

And it not only builds confidence within yourself personally, but it builds confidence within the family. As a whole as well. Yeah. Like we talked about whether, you know, your kids are , ordering food in a new place, whether you're learning how to navigate a map, you know. Sometimes GPS spells us.

We have talked about that before, but as a family, us trying to figure out where to go. I do enjoy when we go to theme parks or we go to state parks or on a trail or something like that. As a family, we are trying to figure out, okay, where do we go next? Let's look at this map. Sometimes there are big signs that you try to follow and like you are here and you need to get here.

And as a family, we try to do that together. And then when we accomplish it, , you know, it builds that confidence of the individual and then also the confidence of the family . And it goes into the same thing. It teaches communication, it strengthens those bonds. It all ties in together. And, you know, travel,

it grows your self-esteem and your independence. And so two things that I can definitely think of is, number one, in the planning process, we ask our children, Hey, we're going to this location. Is there anything special you might think of? And it allows them to have some confidence to search it out. Mm-hmm.

Do some research on wherever we're going and be like, oh, hey, I saw this. That'd be pretty cool if we wanted to. And then, you know, allowing them to be a part of the planning process, which is an adventure all within itself. Mm-hmm. To get out there and to express through communication what they want to do.

You know, I think it's good for the parents , to relinquish some of that control. To their children , and allowing them to help plan things and let them lead into something. For example,, if Justin says, Hey, I really wanna try this, we should go there. Then we're gonna be like, Hey, you did the research.

You tell us where we need to go, what we need to do, what are we supposed to do? You know, that helps them gain that confidence. But I think it's great for the parents to step back just a minute too. , And to relinquish some of that control to help your kids, you know, gain that independence and that self-confidence.

That's crazy because that was my point number two. Was it really Yes. Of let them do it? Yeah. Whenever, like, hey, , I wanna go check out, , a place at the mall. I wanna go to this store. You're leading, where are you taking us? Yeah. And no, even if it's a disaster and it wasn't Oh yeah. All that it chalk up to be, it's a good learning experience for the family as a whole, especially the child that planned, and I'm doing air quotes 'cause they may not plan the same way that you do and that's fine.

, But I think it's great, you know, it gives the parents a chance to step back and take a breather and be like, okay, I'm gonna let you have this. Yeah. Because like Missy said, we've had both sides we've had where a kid has planned something, say, Hey, I want to go check this out. We go check it out and have a wonderful time.

Mm-hmm. Other times they're like, oh, hey, let's, let's go over here. And we go over there and it's closed because they didn't read, they didn't do the full research that it's closed on a Wednesday. It's only open, you know. Hey, I've done that a a few times too. Yes. But it, gets them , to understand the whole process.

Of planning a trip because whenever they get older, of course we always want our children to do bigger and better things that we've ever done. Right. And I want them to be able to function in this world without me, right? And I think that traveling and going on these ventures helps to instill the things in them that I want them to learn to be able to do that.

And if they totally bomb, they just have a total meltdown at a situation or whatever that the. You can simply tell your kids, this is a once in a lifetime thing, you'll probably never see that person ever again. Oh, yeah, man. Kids get so much social anxiety and so they're so worried about, oh, what this person's gonna think of, this person has no idea of who you are.

They will never see you again. I don't know unless. Caught on film and it goes viral. Well, that is true, which can happen in this day and age. I do get that aspect of anxiety a little bit because we did not have that social media aspect growing up. Not until, I mean, I think MySpace came around my senior year or something.

Oh yeah. Way later. Something like that. And so these kids, they do have a little bit more to worry about as far as like. The viral part of it and the internet part, but for the most part, yeah, no one's gonna know. No one's gonna see. We're gonna get over it and you're gonna learn from this experience and we're gonna move on.

Which is why,, it comes to the next point. It builds flexibility, resilience, and adaptability. So speaking of that one where it was closed. They immediately got on, started doing more research and found another place. Yeah, that was almost just like it, like a couple blocks away. Yeah. So we got into our car and traveled to the next spot and then had a good time.

Yeah. I think travel is a good time for parents to focus on being the person. That they want their children to be. If you want your children to be a certain person, you need to be that person as well. And a lot of times in our day to day lives, when we get caught up with all the stressors and all the things going on, we are more focused on those things instead of training our children into the adults and the human beings that we want them to be.

And in travel, I think we have a moment to just kind of put everything else aside and , , you're able to be that example for your children and if they see you be adaptable, if they see you be flexible, if they see how resilient you are to certain negative situations, then they're going to learn to model that behavior in return.

Yes. Because you are teaching them through their experience. So whenever you plan something, we plan something in New Mexico, the whole reason for our trip, and then it got canceled. Mm-hmm. And we could have simply packed up and left and been like, that was the worst trip that we ever had. But instead, we flexed, we pivoted,

. , We had a great, wonderful trip. Yeah, we did. We had a amazing time. And so, being flexible and not being so st stringent that everything has to be absolutely perfect, vacation is not gonna be perfect. Oh, it never is. There's so many things that could go wrong that doesn't go as planned.

, Learning to adapt, teaching the kids how to problem solve. You know, them watching you do it helps teach them. Do it in return. And if you keep going with a positive attitude. It teaches them how to keep going with a positive attitude, and that circles all the way back around to strengthening those bonds.

So, I don't know if you thought about this whenever you made this list but do you remember that older movie that Robin Williams made. Called rv. Oh my gosh. , I think we talked about that a few episodes ago, or I think me and Justin talked about it. You and Justin talked about it on our Patreon bonus episode, and it's such a good movie because it's like everything we're talking about right now, everything that we're talking about.

And no, we didn't get our list by watching that movie, but that, but no, now that you mention it, that movie is legit. Whenever , you have a family adventure. I think it's a remake of the long, long trailer that has like Lucy and Desi in it, isn't it? Yes. Whenever they're traveling across. Yeah. And like, which is also hilarious.

Hilarious. She's like making sandwiches while they're driving down the road. Mm-hmm. And she's getting thrown around in the kitchen. , But it's just one of those things where. , You have an adventure. It doesn't matter if it's gonna be a long adventure where you're trying to go somewhere for weeks on end, or if it's just a weekend adventure, nothing's gonna go perfect.

The weather is not always gonna cooperate. , The timing will not always, , be right. You could plan a wonderful spring vacation , or a fall vacation in September in Colorado, and then it snows on you and unexpectedly. Yeah, I guess you better go skiing and sad. So yeah, you gotta, you, you gotta be flexible and whenever you're with your family, especially whenever you're with your family or friends, we'll even throw friends in there and you're on a vacation.

Your attitude and the way that you approach things. Is gonna have a huge outcome. I feel like we're, , starting to reminisce a little bit on our podcast episode, dealing with disappointments on vacation. Absolutely. Because it's one of those things that not every vacation is gonna go great, right? You're gonna have some bad ones, you're gonna have some good ones.

But every adventure allows you to do these top five things. I do believe that every travel experience, every adventure that you do together as a family is some sort of learning experience in one way or the other. Whether it's, you know, literally a learning experience, like you're learning things like from a museum, right?

Or something like that. Like in the very literal sense of learning or whether . You and or your children are learning, communication, confidence, flexibility, adaptability. , All that just made me think of something that our family has currently had , a talk about this not too long ago. Okay.

So escape rooms. , Our kids have done escape rooms several times now. Several times. Extensively. , They're almost masters at it. And so we're like, Hey, let's go make this a family adventure. And my kids were like, mom can come. And I'm like, whoa, what's going on? Why? Why can't I come? Because I have that alpha.

You have a takeover, you wanna control every aspect of it. Yeah. Because you're extremely competitive. I'm very competitive. And so they were like, yeah, mom can come. And it, was one of those things that just kind of clicked in my mind of going, okay, whenever we're on vacation or whenever we're doing adventures, whether it's escape rooms or mm-hmm.

Theme parks or whatever else. Gotta let go a little bit. Yeah. I don't always have to be in control I need to teach the kids that. , It's okay to sit back and just enjoy it. Yeah, it's not just the kids that are learning things on vacations. We, as adults, we're learning how to be better parents.

We're learning how to be better spouses. And like I said, I think that when you are traveling. You have a moment to step back from everything else, and it's a good time for reflection because you are stepping back from your job, you're stepping back from school, you're stepping back from your bills, the household chores, and you can take that time and do a little bit of self-reflection and see, you know, who you are as a person and who you are in regards to your family dynamic.

And I know that we've mentioned family a lot as far as like, well wait is a family travel podcast, adult spouse? Kids, children, but even just a couple. Mm-hmm. Going out. I mean, these five things, what a couple are crucial is a family that is, if that's all there is, that is still a core family. You and your best friend going out and doing an adventure, , you're gonna get these five.

Mm-hmm. And it's still a great time for self reflection and it's still a great time. So no matter what kind of adventure that you're doing, if you're doing it with someone else. It opens up all five of these. Yeah. I think who you are on vacation is like who you really are. Who you are. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. Who you are at , the eight to five job, whatever you're doing for your living. We know that's not who you are. Yeah. Because there's just so many factors that go in, but I, believe that when you're traveling, when you're on vacation, whether you're. Super uptight about it or you're a go with the flow kind of person.

I feel like that's like, that's who you are at the core is whenever you're out there during the moments that are supposed to be relaxing, during the moments that are supposed to be fun, during the moments that are supposed to be, , you know, bonding experiences. That's who you are at the core. Who are you guys?

Who are you? What do you like when you're on vacation? That's a, that got deep. That got deep. That got so deep. I actually had like, did not plan that last little bit at all about, about the self-reflection, but you know, it makes sense and it totally goes with everything we just talked about. Who are you on vacation?

Man, I just got a whole new podcast episode. Whenever you're not having to be uptight or worry about what your boss thinks, whenever you can actually cut loose mm-hmm. And relax and. Let the hair down like they say in the old days. But what if you don't? What if you're not letting loose? What if you're not relaxing?

What if you're super uptight? What if you're snapping at your children and your spouse? Like, what if that's who you are? And I mean, being willing to see that and admit that and try to change that is yeah, , a big thing.

So we absolutely think you should get on the road more, travel more, discover who you are and you know, allow these benefits to take hold of you and your family because it is a great benefit to your family to go on adventures together. Be adventurous. Be spontaneous. Yeah. And we are currently doing that and can't wait to share more about it.

So make sure that you guys continue to tune in every Friday.