Big Blend Radio

Travel Advisor Cheryl Ogle - Planning a Family Reunion

Celebrate Family Reunion Month with this episode of Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station "Hey Wanna Go" Travel Show with travel advisor Cheryl Ogle. From cruises and resorts to budget-friendly adventures, hear about ways to reunite with loved ones of all ages and abilities to create those special memories.

Check out Cheryl's blog on family reunions and multigenerational travel: https://tinyurl.com/ywr392af

On Big Blend Radio every third Wednesday, Cheryl is a world traveler, accredited travel advisor, and owner of Hey Wanna Go that specializes in travel to Europe and the UK, as well as river and ocean cruises. More: https://heywannago.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duration:: 30m
Broadcast on:: 18 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station Travel and Leisure Show. Welcome to Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station Travel Show, where we get to chat with Cheryl Ogle every third Wednesday. She is a travel advisor, she's a world traveler, and she's a friend, and she rocks. You can go to haywannago.com, and that is the website to check her out, and if you go on Facebook, go to Haywannago Travel, put that in there, and she's on Instagram, and she's always posting cool places to visit and explore. But you know, July and August, these are known as the family reunion months. And I'm going to say the two months, because no matter what website you look on, it covers all these kinds of holidays in the world, they argue. So we're just going to celebrate family reunion summer, because why not? And it may be too late to do, and I don't think it ever is. But you know, if you're pulling family from around the world or across the country together, you're talking about multiple generations, probably, and multiple likes and interests. So today, Cheryl is going to talk to us about what we can do to plan, what are some good ideas so that there's something for everyone, because you know, we all want to please everyone, and you know, that's a healthy thing to do, right, Cheryl? Welcome back. It's always good to be with you, Lisa. Hey, hey, so Cheryl, yeah, you know, these multi-generational, you know, reunions. Yeah, and I think we're really at that multi-generational mark, but we have something in common in our age groups is that I think everyone wants something unique and memorable when they travel. Yes. Absolutely. And you know, I mean, this is the time of your kids are out of school, and so families are having those family reunions. But sometimes it means, you know, five generations, or you've got grandma and grandpa, and their brothers and sisters and, you know, second cousins and all of that, it can be huge, or it may just be a smaller family group, and mom and dad and their kids and bringing grandma and grandpa. But it's just the time to come together and just relax, experience something new, and enjoy each other, learn more about each other. Oh, learn more. You've got a great blog on this and everyone is linked in the episode notes. And if you go to hey, want to go.com, you can just click on the blog link and you'll see it. You talked about these cards to have for like a conversation kit of cards for folks to get together. I mean, that's the thing. You may have cousins that you've never met, but you get all shy, depending on your age, too, right? Remember those shy lives of our lives? Right. I don't know if I ever was. Yeah. I still am. I am. I'm shy. That's why, yeah. It's like, oh, we have to do some videos now. What? No. But, yeah, these cards can help unify people. You want to tell us about them? Yeah. And I actually saw this when I was at a girls reunion weekend with some friends recently. And these cards go through, they're a lot more that, you know, we all know the games that are out there. I don't even need to get into them, but, you know, are really funny and everything. These let you get to know someone. So things like, you know, a significant job you held, something you learned from it. Something you shared or a gift you've given someone else that's maybe changed their life or vice versa. So it's a way to get to know different people, reflect a little bit. It can be serious, it can be funny, but it's impactful, I feel like, when you're talking about your friends and how you try to be a friend of someone or a job or your faith, so many different things about learning a life story from others. That's cool. And I think especially, you know, a lot of us are on the family history genealogy kick, right? And about when you get these family reunions, it is a time to get that recorder out or use your phone to document, you know, your family history, so you can go look it up on your computer later, not during the reunion, bond and connect during the reunion and start to learn more about your history, you know, ask grandma, you know, she wants to tell you what has happened in her life, you know, it just start asking, asking those questions because down the road, you're going to want to know, you know. Right. And those stories, if they're not recorded, they will be lost. Mm hmm. No, it's true. They'll be lost forever. Take advantage of it now. I mean, what I would give to have another conversation with any of my grandparents. Mm hmm. I mean, it just, it's gone in an instant and, you know, you don't realize it at the times you're busy with kids or changing diapers, you don't want to call grandma, you know, she may have dementia and ask you the same thing 10 times, but call grandma, you know, do it. Ask for that recipe for the peach crisp that she always brought and you never could get quite right, you know, make the time because these things will be lost. Mm hmm. So when it comes to travel, I mean, this is, huh, what happens with the budgeting of something like a family reunion because I would just did a episode with Nakadish Convention and Visitor Bureau in Louisiana. And they just had a family reunion come to town. It's a small city, you know, skyscrapers, right? Um, 500 people came to town for this family reunion and I'm like, who's footing, who's footing the bill for this? And what happens if some members of the family can't actually afford to do that and some may have the money bags? You know what I mean? So like, I was like, wow, I wonder how this is all working. Are they renting vacation? And she said everything, hotels, bed and breakfast, vacation rentals, you know, they took up the town rooms, you know, I'm sure they still have more rooms because they have like a mini hotel circle there. But, um, you know, if you can get vacation rentals or something like that too, that is often nice. But how does the financing normally work for these kinds of things? It can vary, I know, um, my sister's in-laws, they have a big family reunion every June. And it's every single summer, every June, they do this, which I've never been to a family union except for my brother-in-law's family, they take me in. But they do, they book a block of rooms at a local Marriott and they, the Marriott does give them a meeting room. And so they have that where they can have coffee and juice and free and pastries. And so the room itself was provided because they booked 10 plus rooms and they said you may have use of this room for a certain number of hours on a census Saturday. So that made a big difference because either way, these people are coming to town needing to book a hotel room. So they just asked, please stay at this, this one central hotel and then we get the meeting room as a result. And so that helped and then when they went out, they had another meal at a restaurant in the afternoon and everyone had separate checks. And that was pre-arranged with a restaurant and approved that way. Okay. Their particular one did not cost much, really. I mean, you had your hotel expenses and then another, a local cousin hosted an evening get together at her pool and did s'mores and things like that. And so that was no cost at all on that. But it was a time for them to get together. And I know a lot of them just because I've been around them, but they've been married nearly 40 years, so I feel like they're kind of my distant family as well. And so I know them and they included me in a couple of the things as well. And it was fun, but it doesn't have to cost a lot. And so when you're coming to the concept and you have a budget, pick something local. You don't have to go get on a cruise ship. You don't have to go to Disney World and send thousands of dollars to get together and make memories. You really could sit in the meeting room or someone local who has a large yard. People can bring camping chairs. It's just about being together and that does not have to cost anything. And sometimes family meetings are not 500 people, right? So it was interesting that they are descended from this region, right? And so they have like a genealogy library there and everything. So it's kind of cool for them to walk in ancestral footsteps too, when you can go back into a family region. But also doing things like a cruise, because if you're blocking out as a group, that's where prices go down a little bit, right? So and I think sometimes family does help each other out to make it, you know, if someone needs a little push and help, then you do. You raise each other up to have that unity, right? So I think if it's something a goal, you know, for families to know that they can say, okay, we're doing this every year, put money aside, you know, just put money aside if, you know, know that and even the kids can get involved and, you know, do something with their pocket money if they want to do something special, you know? So it's. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Plan for it, just like you would plan for anything else, you know, budget for that and put a $50 a month or, you know, or whatever it's going to take to get there, just make an effort to get there. But for some reason, you know, you can't afford the Marriott and you're saying to super eight next door. That's okay. Do the best you can for your family. Don't go into debt or over something like this. But just do what you can to get there and see it on the wisdom of the people in your family. Mm hmm. This is cool. And then so there are some things that you can do, like you do talk about cruise ships because some of them, like, I don't know if you're going to all go on a Viking, like, you know, but or one of those small barge cruises through burgundy, but you may all get on like a, you know, a big kind of like the Bahamas ones, you know, something that's kind of a lot of cruise ships are that multi-generational cruise ships that there is something for everyone. Exactly. I feel like most of the big main cruise lines have something for all ages. And so when you can go and you know, your kids can play in a child-safe pool, maybe grandma and grandpa don't want to sit there, it's a loud tool all day. They're down in the adults-only part. And you meet up at lunch or you say, okay, every night at dinner, we're having dinner together at 6 p.m. And then we're doing the show at eight, whoever wants to do the show. You can have your space. You don't have to be together all the time. You can, you know, you customize it for whatever works for your family. The cruise ships really do offer, I think, I think they're such a great value because you know, your meals are included. You're not being nickel and dime to get, you know, as you go. And oh gosh, we've got to feed these kids again and, you know, it's expensive to buy food when you're traveling. And especially as a, you know, well, you had 6 in our family and when we traveled, it added up, you know, because every kid wants to eat every meal. So what can you do? So when you're on that cruise ship, you have as much ice cream as you want. Yeah. Go get yourself another hamburger, more mashed potatoes, whatever you want is all included. And so that can be a really good value. And when cabins hold, most of them will hold four people or up to four people. If you've got kids who can climb up into a bunk bed, that it's a great way for a family to cram into a room and get the best bang for your buck. Do you do a lot of that kind of work as a travel advisor helping, you know, like a big family get together, especially if they're doing something epic. And not before we've talked a little bit about this before, like sometimes, you know, a family will have a reunion, but the core part is like a few days. And if it's a destination or part of a cruise experience, some of the others will say, hey, I'm adding on to this and I'm going to go hang out and do this. So it could be the family are all coming in for a few days, but the rest are like going to keep cruising. Right. I mean, anything is possible and everything can be customized, so that's the main thing about travel is you don't have to say, okay, everyone has to do this seven day cruise, or we're doing two, two, three days back to back, do what finds what works for you and your budget. And I can't stress the budget enough because we all have a certain place where we come and we assign our dollars, and don't, you know, avoid debt, don't go into debt needlessly save that for when you really have an emergency, you know, be smart about how you spend your money. I'm not in this to sell and talk you up to something that you're uncomfortable with, but plan for these things and do what you can to make these experiences happen for your kids, to grow up and know their grandparents, their great-grandparents, their great aunts and uncles and their cousins and all of that, that is so rare in this life. We get busy and you forget about it. Hmm. That's true. And then, you know, to me too, I mean, there's so many different things you can do on an economical way, but you know, sometimes, you know, the grandparents are like saved for this kind of thing. Sometimes it's not having to be a reunion every year. It could be every five years we're having a big blowout, you know, we're going to go somewhere cool as a family. So sometimes in families, somebody has that discretionary income that they can do that and help with. And it's often the grandparents, I think, that are able to help with that. You know, the families are busy, you know, paying off house mortgages, putting kids through college, you know, all of that, the expensive kids, which we all know, it has an expense. Right. Well, yeah, really, it is. And so, you know, I come across where grandma and grandpa are paying for everything and they're very generous, but they just want to see it happen. And if it means that they, that they pay for it, they'll do it. And I love that. I've got, in fact, I've got two groups who are heading to Ireland in a month and they're going there for a family reunion. I thought, well, our family reunions have to kick it up a notch a bit. But they're in one, in one booking, the grandparents are paying for everything. And for their adult children, which I think is lovely if you can. Yeah, I agree. I agree. If you can, and travel really bonds people, you know, and you get into different circumstances and different places, so there's something to bond with and maybe there's an obstacle on the road. You know, that happens as you travel and it's a way to grow together. You know, maybe go, oh, we had this planned, oh, the weather ruined this excursion. So we're going to go do that excursion that none of us really thought would be interesting. But once you get there and you do it together, you find out you really like something. So it's a way for families to discover new things, I think. Absolutely. And you know, and things that will stick with you may surprise you. I mean, I still remember in my own family, you know, as an adult with our four daughters, the last trip we took with all four girls. And because, again, it's over in an instant. But for whatever reason, the Beatles song Hello Goodbye kept coming on the radio. And this is back in the day, you know, when you actually had radio. And it just kind of became our little anthem, we'd start the car and turn on the radio and, you know, you've got the Beatles singing. And so it became a joke every time we got in, we all started singing the Beatles. And that's a sweet memory to me. I mean, we had just gone to the coast in California, we hadn't done anything special or big, but we all remember that. And you make those memories. So we can sit down together, I can mention it to my daughters and sing and we all just start laughing. You have those inside jokes that are just the core, you know, your core family, which is your safety net. And those times together make those memories special, they make the memories. Yeah. I agree. You know, it's, yeah, you've got to have those memories because it's what, you know, when, when, you know, people pass, right? It's those memories you want to remember, you want to hold dear, those funds, the times you laugh, the times, you know, maybe you fell down while you were hiking and got, you know, mud on your butt, you know, whatever it is, right? It teaches you to laugh and not to sweat the small stuff either about going on trip. Exactly. Also, holding each other's hands, like, so like, maybe you go on a hike together and it's supposed to be easy, but what is easy for whoever wrote the hike description is not maybe easy on one of your family members, right? And it's about everyone working together over that and not putting each other down, but working through it, you know. And I think that's the thing about travel is that you're seeing something new. You discover things you didn't know you were interested in. You can share in it, but also help each other through things that, you know, you're going through. And there's also times where you get the giggles in places you shouldn't. That happens a lot to us. Yes. That happens. I think in every family. And that's fun. I mean, yeah, you've got to rain it in during funerals and things, but it's the game over good. No, Nancy and I are known for that. And funerals are the worst. And I know that everyone's like, oh, that's a form of hysteria. Yeah, you're, you're, I don't know, it is what it is. You know, we went to my mom's best friend, Funeral. And she said, well, he says this if the preacher says this, I'm going to flick the lights because I told him not to say it. Well, he did it. And the lights flicker didn't Nancy and I got the giggles so bad. We had to leave. We had to leave. I can see that. Well, you know, you know, but, you know, but that's the thing. You know, you just have those experiences, go figure out what you can all afford. But I really do appreciate what you're talking about in regards to the cruises. But you also say in your blog, you know, go to a US destination like National Parks and things like that. You know, I have to bring that up, but, you know, and camping, see, that's really cool. You know, and a lot of destinations have resorts that are family friendly or like these lodges too, like you could be a family camping with your kids and grandparents are staying in the historic lodge at the National Park, which is an amazing experience. Right. There are options. You don't, it doesn't have to get expensive. I mean, you can, you can tent camp. You can rent a camper or you can stay in the lodge, but go out and explore your own backyard. We live in a phenomenal country with so much to see and do and get out, get out of your house. Turn off your news. Turn off your news. Yeah. Get out there. Get out there. Well, actually, but that's really a good point. I mean, you need to be aware of what's going on in the world, but don't over. They're not 24/7, you know, no, that's not healthy, right? That's not healthy. It just isn't healthy, but you will find when you do this kind of thing, when you, when you go off and you travel with your family, you'll find similarities and, and try not to have the big family war over politics, you know, it really don't. It's not worth it. Try and find where your common bonds are. And that's with friends too. Instead of focusing on the, the argument or what we don't get along with, it's important to focus on what you do get along with. And that's, again, where travel comes in, you know, it's like, oh, well, we found this waterfall around the corner we didn't know and, oh my gosh, you know, and I don't know, it's just focus on what your common bonds are and try to grow from there. And I think family reunions are part of that. It's just, you know, make a family movie too. That's the thing for kids to get involved, like, you know, they're all attached to phones and stuff and it gets to a point of I feel like families need to have a game where it gets away from the phone consistently. So use the phones for something good. Look, use all the apps to identify plant species or bugs, whatever, if you're camping. But do something where it's kind of a family game, which creates unity, you know, it's like those cards you're talking about. Maybe you're all going to put on a play at the end or something. I don't know. But do something like that, wouldn't you say to kind of bolster that unit? I think people need to go to a unity sessions now. I'm into that. Like, we need to figure out unity instead of division and it starts with family but does because family has finally stuff that we don't need, you know, just like you're saying, turn off the news and focus like on your trip. It's far more fun. It really is. Yeah. Well, and even, you know, kids want their phones for a lot of different things, but create a photo scavenger hunt, put everyone's phones on airplane mode and so you're not getting notifications and things like that. Use it as a camera or go get a camera, but come up with a scavenger hunt of who can find this and that. And so you're working together in teams, use your phone as a tool, you know, where you're not just staring at it also. But, you know, I like the scavengers. That's cool. Well, yeah, I think there's a lot you can do. They don't, phones don't have to be inherently bad, but yeah, turn it on, turn it on airplane mode and cut the notifications. I, you know, I had an Apple watch for like 20 minutes and I hated it because I was connected. I couldn't even go to the bathroom for two minutes without my phone hanging and thought they're saying to you, Cheryl, you've been in there for two minutes. Get out. It's time. Right. And so I don't, I, I want to break from being connected. I don't want to be reached every minute of my day. And sometimes you just need to go in to do not disturb mode or something and just breathe. It's not healthy when we're so hyper focused on the pings from news, text, you know, anything like that. You know, we need a, we need a break from, from our routines. Well, I think what's, and I think that that's what travel does for us. You know, the cruise ships, you know, going back to them, they, and in even the parks, right? National parks always have Ranger programs and yeah, go see, you know, go look at the stars together and, you know, it's, it's a cool time to bond where, you know, parents and elders can, you know, they've got knowledge of this, but the kids are finding this, the big dipper for the first time or the Milky Way, right? It's so cool to kind of all be in a, where somebody else is doing the education gives parents a break and it's, you know, you're not being the parent that's like, now this is what you need to learn today. Nobody needs that. But they can all be in awe over something together, right? And discover things and ask the kids, what did you learn? You know, we want to know, you know, so I think there's, there's those opportunities, but like even the cruise ships, you have all these excursions, but they also have activities on board the ship beyond swimming in the pool, right? There are activities and there's lessons and even, you know, crafting and stuff like that. I mean, that isn't that a way to, for families to do something fun together. Absolutely. I mean, do something different from your norm. You know, most people, you work, your kids are in school, your kids are in sports. You maybe go to church on Sundays or Wednesdays and that's, that's what you do over, you know, rent and repeat over and over and over. Do something different. Make, mix it up a little bit and again, pay attention to your budget and if your budget can't support travel, I get it, then they're done that, you know, and but find something. Is there a neighboring town with a cool ice cream partner that even surprised your, your family go, go meet grandma and grandpa, you know, in a town halfway and spend a day getting ice cream and hanging out at a park, you know, think outside the box. How can you make some kind of a family reunion, whether it's five people or five hundred? How can you make that happen and, and just, just cherish each other? Yeah, and even like you're saying, if it's something simple and, and budget friendly, you know, if you're, everybody bring food or kind of like it, maybe it's a family reunion with somebody's house and, and things like that in the same, you know, it's town, could be your hometown, right? Yeah. Everyone brings food or does something and get the kids involved. Let them make something. Even if it's the decorations, you know, have those extra things, it sounds like, oh, why do we do we have to say, you know, whatever family name or union, blah, blah, blah, make like a sign, because it makes it real, you know, it, it solidifies doing those extra steps go so far and having the kids do it, I think it's important, have the kids be part of that process, not don't leave them out of the planning or the doing, you know, maybe kids, they know how to do some kind of snack, whatever. I mean, come on, didn't you like baking with grandma? Absolutely. And those things, and when kids get to have a say, they're going to be more interested instead of being told, hey, you know, on Thursday, we leave for family reunion and, and all they're thinking is, oh, my gosh, you know, it's a room full of old people. You know, get them involved, get them to come up with a plan to get to know the others. You know, I'm glad we're talking about this in July. You know, why? Because Christmas in July, because a lot of times the family reunions happen around that timeframe, Thanksgiving through Christmas, you know, and even into the new year. And sometimes, you know, depending on people's work schedules, it's even off, like, it's not on Thanksgiving. It might be the weekend after or whatever families have to do, but that time of year gets busy for the actual reunions, depending on people's work schedules. So you have time to do it to plan it, you know, six months away. It's almost Christmas. Really? Are you ready? Yeah. Show. No. Are you ready for Christmas? Not yet. I got a plane ticket to buy. Oh, okay. See, there it is. There it is. I love it. Don't you have a cruise or something that you're doing? I always have something going away. Well, earlier in the month, I do have a Christmas market rip or cruise. And we've got, I think, 16 in my little group, and then some others from a couple of other colleagues, we've banded together to make a group. And so we are cruising round-trip from Cologne, and we're going to go see German Christmas markets. So that's early December to get us in the mood for Christmas. So we still have a couple of cabins available if anyone is interested, reach out. But we, some of us are going to bruise first, Belgium, and then we're going to finish in my favorite city, London. Of course. Yes. We go to London. Well, London also has a lot to offer at the holidays, and I just think it's magical. They do Christmas upright as well. So several of, I think about 10 of us are finishing in London for several days. So it's going to be fun to be there. He is running. He is, for the best of my knowledge, he is not. But you know, I'll always check the schedule for concert because he gets closer. That's funny. No. That's funny. Well, Cheryl, always fun having you on the show. We can't wait for next month. And everyone again, go to HeyWannaGo.com and also follow Cheryl on social media. I've got the links for her website and also her blog post in the episode notes. She's here every third Wednesday, and it's always fun, always insightful. And it is always about making memories, happy memories, even if you're traveling solo or doing a family reunion, even if it's 500 or even a thousand. Oh my gosh. How big is your family? And you know, that's, yeah, if you, if you, if you're, you know, 500 people, you better call Cheryl, like seriously, or not, she's like, no, you know, no, at that point, when that happens, then you need to deal with one person. I know that, you know, just even in the work we do, it's like you always need to do a lot of work with organizations. I'm always like, I want one person to deal with, not 10 people changing their minds on me all day long. Can't do it. Exactly. I can't do it with 500, but I can deal with one and we can certainly do, do what necessary to get a family reunion together. Absolutely. That's cool. Very cool. Well, take care and happy travels, Cheryl. Thank you. Oh, by the way, what cake is going with that ice cream, not letting you go without cake and ice cream. You mentioned ice cream. What cake? What's, what's the call of what cake cake should almost always be white cake with white frosty. I'm, I'm a very, very, very family reunion needs cake and ice cream, as far as I'm concerned white. There you go. It's an Ella cake. It's an Ella frosting. Oh, yeah. And some ice cream with it. I want ice cream. I do. Ice cream month. So just saying. All right. I had to bring that in. And I'm not letting tradition go on the wayside. That's what family reunions are about. Traditions, ice cream and cake must be part of it. All right, good show. Bye. Thank you for listening to Big Blend Radio's vacation station travel and leisure show brought to you by Big Blend magazines. Keep up with us at bigblendradio.com or blendradio and tv.com. Happy travels. (gentle music)