Grandparent Travel or Why Trips with Your Mother-in-Law Can Be Cool

Back in 1997, when my husband and I were dating and working for the same travel company, we planned a (free!) trip to Hawaii. I’ll never forget when he turned to me one day and said, “How would you feel if my mother came with us?”

Huh? Your mom on our romantic, tropical vacation? (Never mind we worked for what was essentially a bus-tour company, and we’d be island-hopping with 40 other people all over the age of 60.)

To my husband, traveling with his mom was second nature. After all, he grew up taking trips with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents — from camping in Colorado to rafting the Yukon. It wasn’t so bizarre (to him) that my mother-in-law-to-be wanted to come along.

And I am so thankful she did. Truly, Bonnie made the trip. She had us hiking up Diamond Head, taking a catamaran cruise, bicycling down Haleakala and watching volcanoes erupt from a helicopter. Thank goodness it rained by the time we got to Kauai; I was too exhausted for river kayaking.

I’m thankful, too, that Bonnie passed down her love of travel to her son. Whenever I suggest a new vacation destination, my husband says, “When do I pack?” Our children, ages 6 and 8, have jumped on board the travel bandwagon, too. They were both on a plane by the time they were three months old. They know just how to put their backpacks on the conveyor belts at airport security checkpoints.

Lucky for us, Bonnie continues to enjoy vacationing with us, post-kids. A fluent Spanish speaker, she’s helped us out of more than one jam on our family trips to Mexico. She’s easygoing, patient and adventurous — would your mother-in-law take that bike ride down a volcano on Maui or swing on a rope into the river on Kauai? And she absolutely loves spending time with her grandkids.

Plus, you can’t beat having a built-in babysitter. Family togetherness is great, but for those days when my hubby and I want to snorkel by ourselves or enjoy a meal that doesn’t involve having to cut pancakes or steak into small pieces, it’s so nice to have Grandma on hand to take the kids.

Do you take three-generation vacations? If so, I’d love to hear about them!