The Benefits of Family Vacations: Your Sanity, Health, Happiness

and Well-being is Worth the Sacrifice

and Well-being is Worth the Sacrifice

By Marcella S. Meeks

The year of the pandemic was troubled times for many Americans. The uncertainties and travel restrictions brought on by the pandemic put this country in a stressful state, in more ways than one. Still, a lot of families are still afraid to travel because of the fear of catching a disease or getting quarantined in a city other than their hometown. But the pandemic is over now and people can start living their lives once again and doing the things they love to do.

One of the things my family enjoys is vacations. Vacationing is essential for me and my well-being and sanity. Believe it if you will but it’s true. The year we had the pandemic was the most stressful year of my life. I took a trip to New Mexico that year and had to turn back because of travel restrictions. I never got Covid-19 during that time and I really wasn’t that worried, but the stress of it all nearly got me down mentally, emotionally and physically.

Since then, I’ve had Covid twice after the pandemic was over. For me, it wasn’t as bad as doctors claimed it to be. I had the flu several times during my lifetime and it buckled me to my knees and almost put me in the hospital each time. When I got Covid, except for a headache, diarrhea, and a little off and on fever a couple of days, I never would of known I had it had I not been tested for it. I’m not saying it’s not bad because for some, it could be. I had Stage 4 cancer twice, and Stage 1 cancer – all within a 5 year period and have to have two rounds of radiation for five days a week for six weeks (two different times) and believe me, my immune system is pretty darn weak. The second Stage 4 happened while the pandemic was still under way and I was hospitalized for three weeks without family around and that made it even worse than it was.

That’s over with now, thank goodness, and we Americans are striving to get back into living a normal life. In doing so, this one America (ME!) is going to spend as much time as I can traveling around the country. And it’s starting very soon! I saw what shutting this country down did to us. I lived through it and felt the pangs of stress and immobility for months on end. Our children suffered greatly when they were forced to stay home and go to school virtually. They were scared and didn’t know what was happening. We couldn’t visit friends, we were restricted and not allowed around friends and family and it put a toil on our children, as well as parents nationwide.

I am a grandmother and I am raising my twelve year old grandson Kendray who has been used to traveling frequently by car to different places. Kendray’s grades dropped drastically to C’s and D’s. when the pandemic hit. It took several months for him to finally start doing good in school after the pandemic went away, grade wise.

The masks were another problem. That was the biggest joke I ever heard of but that is my opinion and mine only. Two of my grandsons has asthma and ended up in the emergency room several times with breathing problems because of wearing masks.

Because I did have Stage 4 mouth cancer twice and the radiation afterwards, it burnt my bronchial tubes and I already had existing breathing problems. The masks were a no-no for me because I couldn’t breath with them on my nose and face. I wore masks only when forced to. The pandemic took it’s toil on this country in more ways than one.

Businesses suffered greatly and some even shut down for good.

But this story is not about the pandemic – it is about the essential benefits of travel and what good it does for a person’s well-being. Now that the pandemic is behind us, it’s time to get out and go somewhere. Regardless what it will cost me in gasoline to go on a long extended vacation, I will pay the price for my sanity’s sake. My health depends on it. My family’s health and well-being depends on it too. We can’t live confined to one place all the time. We are Americans and we live in the land of milk and honey, the land of the free, and not being able to travel for some of us is like putting us behind bars.

For most working people, after vacation time, employees who took a vacation are relaxed and more focused on their jobs, motivated and more productive. Travel is essential because it lowers stress, people have a better outlook on life, and they are happier and satisfied. Traveling relieves anxiety and depression, and people are more relaxed and at ease on the job or off.

Sometimes, though, traveling can create stress if a trip is not planned properly. The key to achieving a successful trip is to plan. It’s not necessarily where you go that makes a trip successful, it’s knowing how you’re getting there, how much money you have to spend, where you’re spending it at, and making sure everything is done according to plan, allowing for the extra surprises and activities you encounter along the way.

If you’re traveling with children, you want to make sure there is a pool at the motel, possibly an arcade or game room. Having a few rolls of quarters stashed in your travel bag is always a good idea. You sure don’t want to be sitting a room with two or three children with no pool or game room somewhere in the building or on the premises. You’re on vacation so make the kids vacation is as entertaining as your own. You’ll be happier in the end.

Families who travel together bond. They create long-lasting memories that last a lifetime, and they are much happier and satisfied than those that don’t travel. After a trip, the kids will talk about their vacation for weeks and weeks afterward. The key is making memories they’ll never forget, and passing that on to their own children.

There are a lot of places you can take your family, but there are places that are seldom overlooked. Sometimes, just finding a diamond in the rough (a travel oasis the whole family will love) is a blessing in disguise. And there is such a place, if you love nature. It is a ‘the place to be’, especially in the summer months.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, near Alamosa in southern Colorado is a great place for families. The best time to visit the Sand Dunes is early in the morning before six or seven – before the sun comes out and heats things up.

The Great Sand Dunes Lodge (Mosca) is located about five miles from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and is about twenty-five miles from Alamosa, the nearest town. The Lodge opens for business in early March and closes about the middle of November for the winter season. All nineteen rooms/suites are clean and comfortable, each one with a patio for your enjoyment. The Lodge is pet-friendly which is a plus for families with fur babies. They serve breakfast and have an indoor pool for your convenience.

Mornings are cool in the mountains but having breakfast on your private patio is relaxing and gratifying to your soul. The hummingbird feeders are always full and the little birds come back every year. There’s nothing like sitting outside early in the mornings with no worries except what you will do for the day with the kids. .

You can stay two or three days or the whole summer if you want. You don’t have to go into the Sand Dunes if you’re not physically able but just seeing them is well worth the drive.

Bring the family and enjoy the blessings of Colorado’s beautiful scenery. The Sand Dunes awaits… Pack up the kids, the fur babies and head out to Colorado this year. Remember, your sanity, health, happiness and well-being is worth the trip and sacrifice.

Happy travels… Be sure to tell everyone The Family Travel Host USA sent you…