The days leading up to a vacation are torture. Work needs to get done, but the thoughts of a piña colada in your hand, the sun on your face, the smell of salty water, and, of course, not working, are all way more fascinating. It’s not every day one gets a vacation, compared to yet another RFP – your 8th that week. Can’t work get on the same page and go take a hike? I hear it’ll be beautiful from the top!

Ninety-five percent of my vacations have been with my family. Only one has ever been a vacation with my friends. Pretty sad.

It gets sadder that there’s likely never going to be another friends vacation for us. We’re in the stages of life that include careers, engagements, marriage, and babies, which often makes it difficult to arrange time, even weekend getaways, to see each other. Unfortunately, that’s the sad truth of life and growing up. 

It was a nice summer day in Morzine, a small town in the French Alps about an hour east of Geneva. The trees were highlighted with morning sun, the stream below the house was roaring, and I was fast asleep. 

I don’t remember much about getting up that day, but there is one thought that still goes through my mind every morning: Waking up is difficult. Especially when you start thinking about getting ready to seize the day, ugh… so much work. 

Vacation. What a wonderful thing. Family. What a blessing. Vacationing with family? It should be wonderful blessing. It’s a time to relax with your loves ones. So why am I suddenly thinking I don’t want to vacation with them? 

Now...it did not start well. A wifely expletive, just as I'd closed the door of the apartment; the gut-chilling realisation that the security swipe card and keys were inside. So too, the bag containing the flight tickets and a wad of currency. Duck indeed! Contact the building manager. He'd gone home. Messages left, taxi cancelled. Time critical, called Wendy's daughter Emily, a last resort. She had a spare key and security swipe card, but was also 25 minutes away, and with Sydney traffic ...

Everyone on the boat – Check. Enough life jackets – After a minor delay, Check. Gas – Check. Already completed half the trip – Check.

Recently, articles have been popping up about whether you should vacation with your extended family, and the answer is a big, fat YES! Whether your family is close and already does it, or you barely know your cousins and think of them as strangers. You should vacation with your extended family, because something special happens when you do.