Our mission here at The Jetsetting Family is to provide the resources to help people travel more together. Over the years, we’ve tried out basically every type of family travel on this list, and met lots of amazing fellow family travelers along the way! In this blog post we break down the different types and styles of family travel that we’ve seen. Let us know if one of these types of travel resonates with you or if you identify with several of them!
The Explorers
The explorers are those that prioritize seeking new experiences when they travel. Whether that’s outdoors activities, camping, cultural events, new museum exhibits, theme parks, etc., they enjoy the thrill and feeling of experiencing something for the first time. Explorers often have a tough choice deciding whether they should travel somewhere new or return somewhere that they enjoyed in the past. We identify very closely with Explorers. If you see someone with the world map on their wall and pins identifying the different places that they’ve been to, chances are that they are Explorers!
The Traditionalists
Traditionalists are basically the opposite of Explorers. Traditionalists have their one family vacation destination, and that’s what they plan to visit year over year. They know their destination intimately, and have even created family traditions based on that destination. Traditionalists don’t feel the need to explore new places, because the one place that they love gives them everything that they look for in a vacation: relaxation, familiarity, known activities, and comfort. For example, when Jess was younger, her family would vacation to Ixtapa, Mexico annually, because they loved the area, people, and food there. If you know what you want and you found it, then it’s a great idea to be a Traditionalist!
The Full-Timers
Full-timers don’t just like to travel, they love it so much that they design their entire lifestyle around it! These family travelers pack up their entire lives basically into a few suitcases and backpacks, and live across the world for days, weeks, or months at a time. Whether it’s slow or fast travel, full-timers appreciate the beauty of the journey itself, and enjoy experiencing new and familiar destinations. This also includes those that live on an RV, since they have the flexibility and mobility to go where they want when they want to. After traveling full-time for 2 years, we absolutely adored this type of travel and hope to do it again sometime in the future!
The Cruisers
In the past few years we’ve learned a lot about the cruising industry through our partnership with Royal Caribbean, where we’ve sailed for more than 50 days. Cruising wasn’t generally our style of travel before then, but that experience has really opened up our eyes to the beauty of cruising! If you go on a cruise, you’ll easily be able to spot the Cruisers. These are the ones that have matching t-shirts with a funny pun or slogan on them, and they decorate their stateroom doors with intricate designs. They’re the ones that leave rubber duckies throughout the cruise ship for other people to find and trade. They proudly wear the lapel pin denoting their exclusive elite tier from the loyalty program. Cruising is an awesome way to travel, and the Cruisers know the ins and outs of how to maximize their time while cruising because that’s their preferred way experience new things!
The Theme Park Connoisseurs
Theme Park Connoisseurs are basically the land version of Cruisers! They know the ins and outs of making the most from a theme park experience. They know how to navigate the Disney app so that they don’t wait in lines and ride every single ride in a park in one day. They can give you the history and background of certain rides, what ride they replaced, and what’s coming down the pipeline. They love the “magic” that you feel from being at a theme park, and typically have annual passes to multiple amusement parks. When they travel to cities they haven’t visited, they’ll make sure there’s a Six Flags, Universal Studios or other theme park that they can enjoy.
The FOMOers
I think FOMOers are a new style of traveler that has been primarily brought on by the rise of travel content in social media. FOMO is the “Fear of Missing Out,” and these family travelers are out to experience the hottest trends in travel! They’re the ones that watch viral travel videos of certain destination and think, “I have to go there!” We’ve done plenty of FOMO travel based on this. In Bali, we felt like we needed to go see the famous Bali swings that we kept seeing on Instagram, and had mixed feelings of that experience. When we visited Vietnam, we wanted to see the famous “Hands Bridge” which was in a theme park on the mountains, and had a pretty good time. FOMOers chase the thrill of being at a popular destination, and the satisfaction of having been there is what drives them to continue to travel.
The Resort Lovers
Resort Lovers leverage travel to get a vacation in the truest sense of the word. They don’t want to worry about having to plan activities and events, which drives them to resort destinations like Cancun or the Caribbean. They love all-inclusive resorts where they can really rest, try out a bunch of different tasty food, and see a new show at the resort every night. They don’t feel like they need to leave the resort, because everything that they want is already in there. We love all-inclusives for how easy it is to relax, follow along on an activity schedule, and not have to make a lot of decisions. Sometimes a resort vacation is truly the best way to relax.
