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Why Planning Family Travel Differently Is the Key to Actually Enjoying It
I started Mango Tree to disprove the most annoying phrase on the internet:
“It’s not a vacation with kids, it’s a trip.”
Start Googling “traveling with kids” and this phrase is bound to come across your screen. The subtext? Now that you’re a parent, you must accept chaos, expect stress, and lower the bar for your own enjoyment when you travel.
Because once you have children, vacations aren’t for you anymore, right? You’re just parenting somewhere else, with sand in your snacks and people who need constant entertainment and attention.
Wrong.
What if planning a vacation with kids didn’t have to feel like another full-time job—or worse, a letdown? What if your next family trip could actually feel like a vacation for you too?
The Default Parent Carries the Load
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re the travel planner of the family. The researcher. The one who manages the calendar, books the flights, and screenshots (or spreadsheets) of potential destinations, flights, hotels, and activities.
But let’s be clear: Now that you’re a parent, you’re no longer simply “booking a trip.” You’re managing everyone’s expectations, logistics, sleep routines, and food preferences. You’re trying to create magical memories and get a break yourself, all while being the glue that holds it together.
It takes so much time. And it’s exhausting. And the pressure of getting it “right” only adds to the mental load.
So if you’re staring at a trip idea that’s half-baked—or maybe already abandoning the idea entirely because planning feels like one more thing on your plate—let’s take a breath.
You deserve a different way.
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Why Are Family Vacations So Stressful?
You want a trip that works for everyone—but figuring out where to go, which hotel will actually be good, and how to set the cadence for your trip can really feel like yet another job?
Busy moms who love to travel often get stuck in decision paralysis. That’s partly because of the unlimited resources that are supposed to help you plan but really just take hours on end to sift through.
Too often, moms also end up invisible in the planning—focusing on “kid-friendly” instead of family-friendly — which takes so much fun out of the planning, and then out of the trip itself.Â
The real reason why family vacations are so stressful? Parents are left with all the work but none of the joy. To actually enjoy the trip, you need a hotel that supports everyone, and a plan that lightens your mental load before you even leave home. That’s where things start to feel like a real vacation.
Start With the Right Question: What Would Make This Feel Like A True Vacation?
Most people start trip planning by asking, “Where should we go?” I think there’s a more important first question:
“What would make this trip feel like a vacation for each of us – including me?
Of course, each person seeks something different from travel, and even for each trip. But when we ask our clients this question, certain key themes are surprisingly consistent:
●    I don’t want to feel like a cruise director, managing every meal and activity.
â—ŹÂ Â Â Â I want it to feel easy and not like work.
â—ŹÂ Â Â Â I want a little space for myself and/or with my partner.
â—ŹÂ Â Â Â I want my kids to have fun and be entertained.
â—ŹÂ Â Â Â I want to feel like I got something out of this trip too.
â—ŹÂ Â Â Â I want to experience something remarkable.
●    I don’t want to regret spending all this money on something that’s not actually enjoyable.
These are big, honest, important desires. And the truth is: They are possible. But only if you stop defaulting to what the internet (and your stressed-out mom group texts) says is “easy.”
The Problem With Most “Kid-Friendly” Resorts
Let’s bust a big one: A hotel with a waterpark isn’t automatically the best choice for your family.
So many parents assume they need to book the place with all the slides, a kids’ club, endless entertainment, and the buffet with chicken nuggets on repeat.
But we find those choices often leave parents feeling… stuck – stranded at a mega-resort that looks fun on paper, but offers no actual rest.
Take BahaMar, for example. It’s well known among the parenting chats as a top family friendly resort – with direct flights, a lazy river, huge waterpark, kids club, dozens of pools and restaurants, there’s something for everyone, right?
Maybe. But it didn’t feel like a true vacation for me. While it may seem like the “easy button,” personally, when I experienced the $26 ice creams, overstimulated kids, and the chaos of trying to secure dinner reservations… I thought, I’d rather just go to Disney! BahaMar may look like a vacation, but this level of overwhelm didn’t hit those key themes.
A Better Alternative: Smaller Hotels With Room To Breathe
I visited BahaMar with my daughter as part of a two-stop trip. We started with a local hopper flight to a private island resort further out in the Bahamas—sacrificing the easy, direct flight to BahaMar to keep on going! Can you believe it?Â
Yes, our travel day was longer. But what we got when we arrived was peace and luxury.Â
My daughter spent hours building a hermit crab sand kingdom with one of the other children at the intimate pool, while I sat nearby reading a book.
At BahaMar, it was constant “watch me!” at the waterpark. I didn’t read a page. On the quieter island with much less “entertainment,” we had slow sunrises together on the beach, outdoor showers, and lazy moments.Â
At BahaMar, I tried to put her in the kids club, it cost a small fortune, and it was the least favorite part of her trip.
Did my daughter love the waterpark at the big resort? Of course! But did she also love spending time with me in an environment that satisfied my travel needs? Of course. And there, we both got what we needed.
That trip changed how I think about family travel. Because yes, kids love waterslides. But they don’t need them every time. And when you trade them in for a better experience—somewhere more personal, peaceful, and beautiful—it’s not just worth it. It’s better for everyone.
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How to Have Fun on a Family Vacation (Without Losing Your Mind)
The more trips I plan for families , the more I see how our travel choices reflect our parenting choices.
Think about how overstimulating it is to bounce from activity to activity after school—snacks, sports, screen time, bath, bedtime. The same thing happens to kids on vacation when we stack every minute with waterparks, kids’ clubs, and forced fun. They get tired. Cranky. Wired. And so do we.
Now imagine what happens when you slow it down.
One of our clients, Jessica, booked a last-minute spring break trip with us to a small beach hotel in the Caribbean. It wasn’t packed with nonstop entertainment—but it was easy in all the right ways. Walkable to restaurants. Spacious enough that everyone slept well. One great pool for little kids, and rooms steps from the beach. No stress, no chaos, no pressure to chase activities.
That’s the key to how to have fun on a family vacation: choosing an environment where both kids and parents can thrive. It wasn’t just about the trip for Jessica. It was about giving herself permission to stop performing vacation—and to actually experience the time away with her kids.
The specific environment may differ family by family, or even trip by trip. But taking the time to figure out what it is–that will set you up for success.
Kids Don’t Need Constant Entertainment
Let me tell you a little bit more about the hermit crabs.
On another trip, my daughter and her friend built an entire sand kingdom for hermit crabs. They collected shells, built moats, made signs. It took them hours. The next morning, three of the hermit crabs had wandered into the pool and caused shrieks of joy.
Every morning, we would go out and spend a few hours exploring our destination together—a new beach, an aquarium, a stroll through the colorful streets.
But in the afternoons, we wanted true downtime. And no, it didn’t mean screens. It meant hermit crabs. It meant space. It meant imagination.
That’s the thing: Your kids don’t need a jam-packed itinerary. They need time. Space. Some snacks. A pool. Maybe a crab.
We want to empower you to build in a margin—to let kids get bored, explore, or just be.Â
You Shouldn’t Have to Plan It All Yourself
The other big lie? That planning a trip is just part of the deal. That you have to pour over 27 hotel websites, crowdsource from strangers on Facebook, and second-guess every decision.
You do not have to do that.
We built Mango Tree Travel to make the process feel smooth. Whether it’s building a custom itinerary, recommending hotels where your kids can sleep soundly and you can actually exhale, or thinking through tiny details—like how to handle meltdowns on arrival day—we’re here to take the stress off your shoulders.
You can still be a thoughtful planner who cares about every detail. But you don’t have to do it alone.
Find Your Joy in Family Travel
Traveling with kids is a transition. You’re no longer the couple lingering over wine in a piazza until midnight (at least not every night). But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck in family-vacation purgatory either.
We’ve helped families rediscover what travel can feel like. Not just for the kids. For you.
Maybe that means booking a hotel that feels like a dream and has a door that closes between your bed and theirs.
Maybe it means including a night of childcare so you can finally enjoy that Michelin-starred meal you used to chase before you had little ones.
Maybe it’s just having someone else do the research, so the whole thing finally gets booked—and you don’t spend another spring break doom-scrolling hotels and then defaulting to something “fine.”
You Deserve Better Than “Fine”
This work is personal to me. I was once the mom on the beach with the baby in the Ergo, the toddler melting down in the sun, and the nagging thought of why did I think this would be fun?
But then, I figured out how to travel differently. With intention. With support. With hotels that understood families without treating us like an afterthought.
I created Mango Tree to help more parents have those kinds of trips—the kind where you come home refueled, not wrecked.
Ready to Rethink Family Travel? Join the Mango Tree Email List.
If this piece spoke to you—if you’ve been nodding along, thinking yes, this is exactly how I feel—then you’re our kind of traveler.
You might not be ready to book your next trip tomorrow. That’s okay. But if you’re even starting to dream, the best next step is to join our email list.
Every week, we’ll send you our thoughtful, honest take on family travel—ideas for inspiring destinations, hotel suggestions that actually work for families, and behind-the-scenes tips on how to make travel feel easier, smoother, and more joyful. All from the perspective that you, the parent, matter too.
This isn’t about travel hacks or top-10 lists. This is about reimagining how you vacation with kids—without losing yourself in the process.
Because yes, your kids deserve great trips.
But so do you.
