Selecting a Location for a
Family Reunion Vacation
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            When selecting a location for a family reunion vacation, keep in mind that the event is not just a reunion, but may be the only vacation many family members take that year. If they spend their hard-earned money and scarce vacation days on a family reunion, you don’t want them to regret the trip. Not all in-laws will be thrilled to spend their only vacation time with the spouse’s family. 

            When Selecting a Family Reunion Site look for:
                        Central location
                        Avoid high altitudes
                        Available public transportation (near airport)
                        Affordable for all family members
                        Variety of nearby activities, for varying interests
                        Accommodations which foster socializing
                        Nearby meeting area, suitable for group meals

Select a Central Location

            Consider a central location, equally dispersing the burden of travel between all family members. If you have family members on both coasts, check out mid-west reunion sites. If you intend to have regular reunions, such as we do every three years, alternate the reunion sites, with some being close to one coast one year and closer to the other coast during the next reunion.

You can’t get there from here…

            Some family members will decide to fly to a reunion site, while others will drive. Those who fly will typically need to rent a car once they arrive at the airport.  If the airport is located hours from the reunion site, this isn’t just eating up more of the family member’s time, it can be very costly.
            Consider transportation to and from the reunion site.

Reunion Site Altitudes

            When our daughter was an infant, we moved to a charming California mountain community, at 6,000 feet. I had visions of Norman Rockwell Christmases, where my parents, in-laws and sister’s family would join us at our home for a white Christmas.
             I failed to recognize the hazards of icy and snowy roads, for family members as they traveled to our home during the holidays.  Yet, a more significant issue was the altitude. The first Christmas it knocked my sister’s father-in-law to his knees, due to his emphysema. Later, when my father came down with congestive heart failure, visiting us was difficult.
            We should have remembered this when family members decided to plan a reunion at Angel Fire, New Mexico – at an altitude of over 8,000 feet. While I enjoyed that reunion, not all family members felt the same, especially one relative who had difficulty breathing.
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