Traveling in Packs

February 6, 2008

Photo by author

Our family travels the same way wolves hunt. We do it in packs.

Perhaps this is because I come from a large, yet very close family, where even distant relatives are considered part of the immediate family. Or maybe it is because we fit perfectly into the Hispanic stereotype; like that scene from the movie ‘Fools Rush In’ where the beautiful Salma Hayek takes Matthew Perry to a typical weekend dinner at her parents’ home where dozens or relatives are talking and laughing around the dinner table and she mentions that only half of the family was able to make it that day. But whatever the reason is, our family vacation usually involves 6 or 7 households with a dozen adults and similar number of children.

It usually begins when one of us gets an email, or sees an ad in the paper with a very attractive vacation package. It really doesn’t matter if it is a weekend in Orlando, Florida, a seven days cruise or 5 days in an all inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Like wild fire, the word spreads among us and the next thing you know everybody is asking for time off from work, or working overtime to get some extra money to pay for the trip.

Sometimes, especially during a long weekend or a holiday, there are just not enough rooms available in the hotel to accommodate all of us. For ‘our pack’ that is not a problem, but an excuse to go shopping for air mattresses in order to fill every available empty space in the few rooms we are able to secure. At bed time those rooms look like refugee camps with people sleeping all over the floor.

Many people would anguish over the idea of traveling with relatives, or sharing a small hotel room with other family members. Not us. We look forward to spending time together. Perhaps it is because we actually have a lot fun when we travel in a pack. The kids love interacting with their cousins. The adults always have a good conversation to share over drinks by the hotel pool, and we specially enjoy when a fellow traveler sees all of us together and ask us if we are a church group, because for them it is hard to understand that we are such a large family.

Our family has traded solitude, peace and quiet for companionship, chaos and noisy kids running around. Not a bad trade off when you consider that our children are forging a long lasting relationship with other family members, or when we use vacations as an excuse to bring our family even closer.

Last August during our summer vacation, even more relatives decided to test the waters and see what this ‘family vacation’ thing was all about. They enjoyed so much that they have already asked me twice when our next outing is going to be. By the rate we are going, we’ll be able to fill a small hotel in a couple of years. As it is, we are already getting group discounts on most of the vacations we book!

About the author: Jorge Gomez is the editor of Places and Trips which shares various insider tips about travel destinations.