Traveling with a big group of family or friends takes planning and patience. Even with if you are going with one other family, you will be a “Magical Gathering” with a group of 8 or more. Remember that you will be with people who have a different schedules, different tastes in food, want to rides things you wouldn’t. We have traveled with one other family of 4 with girls the same ages.  Our group of 15 people included elderly, teenagers & preschoolers. It is a lot easier to travel with girls the same age than with the range in ages.

My recommendations for group travel:

• Be patient and lower your expectations
• The larger the group the slower you will be
• You need to add extra time for travel and waiting for others to catch up
• Don’t assume that you will be able to stay together and do everything together the entire trip
• Plan meals together
• Plan for time apart, otherwise you will drive each other crazy
• Talk about your schedule. If the other family likes to sleep in and you will be up early, make a plan to meet up at a certain time (like a meal)
• Having other adults can give you flexibility with the kids. If some need a break and the others are still going strong, you can take turns going back to the hotel early
• Everyone has cell phones, you can find each other if you go your separate ways
• Involve everyone in the planning so no one feels pushed around