Grandparents and grandchildren, the new traveling tandem
“Grandparents are a very important figure in Spanish families. 36% of grandparents take care of their grandchildren daily, according to the Ministry of Labor. This figure increases to 53% when summer arrives , months in which they remain in their care while their parents work”.
Ana and Estefanía Olmos explain it to us, sisters, mothers, telecommunications engineers and, above all, inveterate travelers since their earliest childhood. Both are behind The Fabulist Travel , a company specialized in family trips that has been customizing adventures with children around the world for three years.
“Grandparents have been part of our adventures forever. Among our top ten trips, in 2016, we already had grandparents organizing, leading and having fun ”, they remember.
In fact, the idea of offering trips that bring together the concerns of the oldest and the youngest members of the household arose precisely from listen to your audience : “We are experts in travel and families, and the secret is to listen. We have learned almost everything from our traveling moms and dads, from all those who write to us asking for a trip and share their motivation and dreams”, they tell us.
“We have seen many beautiful stories and many motivated grandparents. We have verified that grandparents add a lot of value in multi-generational travel , and we realize that it is often they, together with the children, who have the most time and flexibility”.
Children and grandparents have the most time and flexibility
“At least 20% of our traveling families involve grandparents in some way: because they join a multigenerational trip, because they are the ones who give it to their grandchildren on special occasions such as their birthdays or Communion, or because it is the grandparents who seek to spend quality time with their grandchildren yes," they continue.
"Increasingly, grandparents connect with their little ones through hobbies, sports, or interests: there are those who follow sagas like Harry Potter together , those who share their love of reading by discovering great works old and new together, and those who teach the next generation to fish, play golf or hike.”
“Many times, grandparents and grandchildren are already spending the holidays together and are looking for activities, ideas and adventures that allow them to discover the world, spark their imaginations and open their minds. A family proposed this type of trip to us and they asked us for a specific solution for their needs. We got down to it and We got such a nice proposal that we decided to create a whole section n”, recount the sisters.
In that section there are now adventures bound for Copenhagen, Venice, Amsterdam, Munich, Lapland, London and Paris. Some are themed, like the one in London, whose protagonist is Harry Potter, or the one in Paris, which includes several days of fun at Parc Astérix.
“The objective is to offer enriching experiences to families that foster the transmission of emotional support and psychological well-being in both directions. At the same time, they are plans designed so that children put aside technology for a few days to live the summer just as their grandparents did when they were children ”, tell the Olmos.
A summer like before
Thus, the packages usually include activities of responsable tourism that awaken the critical conscience of children and adults, such as the collection of plastics in the canals of Amsterdam or volunteer work in urban farms, to learn about sustainable agriculture and livestock practices.
“The cultural proposal goes through gymkhanas in destiny , something that allows children to experiment and play while learning. To make traditional trades known, we schedule meetings with local artisans, such as in the Danish town of Funen, set in the middle of the 19th century, or at clog factories in Holland," the experts add.
Grandparents and grandchildren also experience the typical gastronomy of the destination in cooking workshops, in which they prepare the famous French macarons or German pretzels, and all the trips are completed with walks and activities in nature.
And the most interesting thing: in all of them a babysitter is offered, who lends a hand when it is most needed: “ The figure of the nanny emerges at siesta hours and also serves to provide support in some activities , so that the grandparents feel more comfortable”, Ana and Estefanía Olmos tell Traveler.es.
"Our goal is that share quality time , that they know how their grandparents had fun when they were children and that the emotional bond is strengthened through activities that are to the liking of both", they conclude.
Quality time