And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind.
Dave Barry
How does a family of eight travel to an expensive city and find a place to stay everyone can afford, have everyone get to do what they want to do -- and no one hates each other at the end of the trip? Question before us a few months ago as we planned travel to NYC for youngest son's graduation.
Ingredients:
Husband/wife
Three sons
Two most significant others
Two uncles
Guidebooks
Google Maps
AirBB
NYC Subway
Citymapper
Step One: Go to AirBB and find an old brownstone in not the most popular neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Step Two: Eat at the airport after the long flight so no one is hungry while progressing to final destination. Study car services before getting there so you don't get highjacked into paying some outrageous price to get to your place of stay - and a car that arrives at the appointed time.
Step Three: Don't try to organize anybody other than yourself -- for whatever. Supply information on the subway, phone Aps for directions, Broadway plays, sports events, parks, gardens, museums, bus tours, etc., and let it play out on its own.
Step Four: Keep your cell phones on to send or receive texts every now and then that say, "Hey, we're here and gonna do this. Anyone want to join us?" If you feel like it. Meet in good people watching places - Bryant Park, the fountain in front of the Plaza Hotel, the yellow and purple egg at Rockefeller Center.
And while you are waiting, take a quick stroll through the bottom end of Central Park.
Step Five: Make certain where you are staying has a huge table in the dining room so all can gather at the end of the day, toss down their collected brochures, ticket stubs, found treasures, and share their tales of the day.
Tales which might have included
 |
| The Guggenheim |
Food!
Baseball!
The theatre
Or more eggs.
Bike riding through Central Park
 |
| This old broad made it 7.3 miles around the park. This is me at the end. |
 |
| Some of us, uh... |
 |
| Brothers loose in the city. |
Step Six: Have a son who is a chef so he can come over and cook for you one night.
with the assistance of his sister-in-law - the only one who can keep up with him in the kitchen anymore.
while his dad and oldest brother do plate prep and cleanup.
And the rest of us fart around waiting for the food.
Which was well worth the wait.
Step Seven: Converse and enjoy.
There you have it. Recipe for successful family trip without scar tissue.
Take that Dave Berry.
