Holidays with older only children

[applesnotoranges]

Hi there. I wonder if anybody could give me some ideas. My daughter is 20 years old. For the last couple of years she has gone on holiday with friends and my husband and I have gone on holiday separately. This has worked well as she is away at university and the timings just didn't work. However this year I would like to go on holiday as a family. Having an only child, in the past we have done club type of days were there have been lots of children.

This year I do fancy doing something like Thailand or Vietnam. Do you think three would work well? Or would we be better asking her to bring a friend? I don't want the holiday to be stressful being pulled between my daughter and my husband as they both have different interests. Luckily I have interests that overlap with my husband and with my daughter. Has anybody had any particularly successful days with older only children. All ideas would be gratefully received. Thank you

Do you mean next year? Might not be possible this year

Let's say next holiday

Ask her, she's 20. I'm sure she knows what she'd like.

What interests do you all have?

Surely there is something for everyone in Thailand and Vietnam - culture, sites, history, shopping, beaches, back packing, luxury, boat trips, cooking classes etc etc.... If the 20 year old doesn't want to come then don't waste your money taking her. But I would think you can find a good itinerary for the 3 of you.

All three - food and drink

Me and husband - art galleries, tennis

Me and daughter - - people watching, cooking

We’ve moved on from traditional family holidays to short 3 or 4 night city breaks. We plan roughly in advance what we want to see and make sure the days are very busy, no time to get bored. We do all enjoy different things but for just 3 or 4 days we all “put up” with the things we’re not so keen on and really enjoy the things we each really like. We make quite a big thing of dinner every night. Because it’s a short length of time we all make the most of it and enjoy being together as a group of adults. Surely with a country as diverse as Vietnam you can each enjoy it as reasonable adults. I imagine if your daughter invites a friend , it’ll end up as 2 virtually separate holidays

Pointyshoes - I like that! I might steal your idea of a number of shorter breaks. Sounds like you do have a lovely time.

And I agree that taking a friend might make it two separate holidays. Honestly I'm not completely Stupid but sometimes it's easier when people point things out to me. Thank you

I think she could bring a friend mainly for the night time I’m sure she would have a great time with you and DH but at night she may want to stay out later. You could add a boat trips or some type of safari so you all spend quality time together.

One word! Safari!

Ooh safari - never thought of to but would LOVE to do a safari - maybe South Africa and then we could do vineyards as well. Thank you x

South Africa is a beautiful country I love it - but there are far better safaris. The Kruger is a bit commercial.

Re the city breaks, I’ve found our daughter has always been much more of a adult friend, rather than our daughter, on these holidays. The whole relationship seems different. Back home things quickly revert, but on holiday there just seems to be much more give and take From all of us and a willingness to do stuff that someone else really wants