If you’re planning a family holiday with your parents or older relatives as an adult, it can be difficult to know what to expect. Will it be wonderful now you’re all mature and you can have conversations and laughs and bond like never before? Or maybe you’re having flashbacks of long car rides in frosty silence after an argument about where to stop for lunch. Navigating parent-child relationships as an adult is hard enough, but throw the stress of travel into the mix and the whole thing can easily devolve into chaos. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As long as you go into a family vacation with some clear expectations, you may find it to be everything you wanted and more. Here are my top five tips for travelling with family as an adult.

Schedule alone time

You may have gone on this trip to spend more time together, but that doesn’t mean you don't need your space. Book separate rooms, get separate tents, even schedule a few separate activities. If you’re on a vacation it’s likely you had to book time off, and while it’s admirable that you’re choosing to spend this time with family, you still need time to relax in your own space. It will also take the pressure off of the family unit as a whole if you have your own corners to withdraw to and potentially cool down.

Make sure you have boundaries and that they are respected