Back when planes had props and cars had fins, a vacationing family snapshot included a breadwinner dad, a homemaker mom and two-plus kids.
Fast-forward, however, and half the people in the picture vanish. Today, very often it’s just you and your kid vacationing together.
In 1993, says the Washington, D.C., trade group Travel Industry Association of America, a whopping 66 million trips (defined as 100 or more miles from home, one way) involved one or more children but only one adult, up from 46 million in 1988. No wonder: 27 percent of American children under 18 now live with one parent. And two-income couples, working harder and longer than ever, can’t manage to schedule dinners together, much less vacations.
The one grown-up on those 66 million trips signals a new breed of family vacationers: kids with a single parent who might or might not be custodial; one married parent carving out time for children while the spouse stays home; or a grandparent, guardian or other relative treating kids to a junket.
The good news is that the travel industry is finally catching on to the trend. For example, resort chains and cruise lines are paring the 50 to 100 percent “singles supplement” charge that penalizes solo travelers, while tour operators and outfitters are busy designing packages to attract these new voyagers.
With that in mind, travel-business agents, packagers and consultants were canvassed to uncover the latest reliable sources and tips for vacations geared to one traveler with kids in tow. Here’s where to go and what to do:
– Friendly seas. A few years back, the $8 billion cruise industry discovered that if it added shipboard kids’ menus, activities, day care, game rooms and special discounts, families would come cruising. Now some lines have expanded to include single-parent alternatives.
One popular package is offered by Premier Cruise Lines (800-327-9766)on its two Big Red Boats, holding 1,550 and 1,800 passengers. The three- or four-night cruises depart from Port Canaveral, Fla., stopping at Port Lucaya and Nassau, and including three or four nights in Orlando to visit the Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios ($1,436 to $1,799 for one adult, plus $529 to $559 for each child ages 2 through 11, except holiday weekends such as Independence Day and Christmas). Rates are only 25 percent more than per-person double occupancy.
– Affordable sand castles. All-inclusive resorts, where the package price pays for all services, activities, room, meals and sometimes airfare, make it easy to say yes when the kids want to try everything. Plus, the range of sports and recreation options allows single parents to juggle kid time with kickback leisure of their own.
After years of specializing in high value for singles, Club Med (800-258-2633) now hosts 70,000 children worldwide in more than 100 of its 114 resorts. Price for the Kids Free plan at Sandpiper in Florida, St. Lucia and Punta Cana in the Caribbean, Eleuthera in the Bahamas and Ixtapa in Mexico range from $749 to $980 a week for one child under 5 with one adult, including lodging, meals and most activities (but not airfare). The rates are not available for holidays. Anyone over 55, like a doting grandparent, gets an additional $140 off at Sandpiper, Eleuthera or Ixtapa.
– Perks for flying solo. Until Aug. 31, the 507-room Holiday Inn Sun Spree Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (800-366-6299) is offering a four-day, three-night combo for only $343 for a parent and up to four children, including meals, tickets to nearby Disney World, unlimited use of an on-site 9 a.m.-to-midnight day-care center and evening magic shows and karaoke. Although you must all share one room, you get two queen-size beds, cribs and sleeping bags; a rollaway bed is $8 extra per night.
Prefer another frontier? A weary parent can relax in a whirlpool beneath a waterfall at the 295-room Hyatt Regency Beaver Creek in Colorado (303-949-1234) while kids pan for gold and hear fireside stories at Camp Hyatt. The resort’s new single-parent package gives one adult and one child a room for two nights ($280 to $450, depending on the season).
– Bikes, boats and dogsleds. Active vacations, such as mountain climbing, bike trips or sea kayaking, are popular with single parents whose kids are older and more independent.
“Adventure trips attract a mixture of family and non-family travelers, so a single parent is not an apple among plums, just an apple in a fruit bowl,” says Dorothy Jordon, editor and publisher of Family Travel Times, a newsletter published four times a year ($40 annually; 212-206-0688).
If you’re itching for the exotic, consider Escapes Unlimited, an Orange, Calif., adventure-travel firm (800-243-7227). Last year, the packager introduced one- and two-week trips for groups of as many as 20 single adults and children over age 7 to such places as Bali, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands.
Single-parent road warriors offer the following tips for those making such a trip:
– Ask the tour operator to describe your fellow travelers, including the adults’ marital status and the children’s ages, to make sure you’ll be comfortable and compatible.
– Travel costs for a second child are often so minimal that it may pay to invite one of your kid’s friends. Then your child gets a built-in playmate, and you get more time off.
– If you plan to travel with another single parent and child, make sure the youngsters also like the idea.
– Headed overseas? Ask the embassy or consulate of the destination country whether you need notarized authorization from the child’s stay-at-home parent to accompany the child, even if you’re the custodial parent. Such permission is required in a few countries, including Australia, Brazil and Mexico.
