This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
A family vacation can seem like the solution to all of life’s tensions: You’ll spend time together, bond, and experience a new place. But travel isn’t a panacea. As Kim Brooks wrote last year about her own halting attempts at taking a successful trip with her kids: “Gradually, lounging among my own dashed hopes, I began to understand that no family vacation was going to change who I was.” Today’s newsletter explores how family trips have changed, and how to make the most of your time with loved ones without expecting too much.
On Family Vacations
On Failing the Family Vacation
By Kim Brooks
How I got dumped, went on a cruise, and embraced radical self-acceptance
Read the article.
The New Family Vacation
By Michael Waters
More and more Americans are traveling with multiple generations—and, perhaps, learning who their relatives really are.
Read the article.
Plan Ahead. Don’t Post.
By Arthur C. Brooks
And seven other rules for a happy vacation
Read the article.
Still Curious?
Other Diversions
P.S.
Courtesy of Ellen Walker
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Ellen Walker, 69, shared this photo taken on Loch Linnhe in western Scotland in 2019. “We were visiting friends who live south of Glasgow and with whom we take annual biking trips,” Ellen writes. “It had rained much of the time we were exploring the west coast (as it will do in Scotland!) but I began to see the infinite varieties of grey as spectacularly beautiful. When the sun tried to peek through the clouds I snapped this photo and was so pleased to be able to capture the richness of the scene. It no longer seemed gloomy. I was in awe.”
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel
