The joy of the aunt-uncle trip with kids
Jo Sharp has taken each one of her nieces and nephews on an international trip for their high school graduation present. Sharp, a Realtor in Springfield, Mo., who doesn’t have a child, comes from a tight-knit family with siblings who are happy to share their children’s lives.
“We’ve been stranded on jet skis in the Caribbean, ended up driving into a piazza in Italy by mistake, rode horses on the beach and eaten fabulous cuisine. These trips brought me closer to them at times in their lives when they were becoming more independent,” Sharp said of her trips with her nieces and nephews.
A 2021 Pew Research Center survey finds that a rising share of U.S. adults who are not already parents say they are unlikely to ever have children. Their reasons range from just not wanting to have kids to concerns about climate change and the environment. Travel, and the time to do so, also plays a part. My husband and I are part of this statistic; we’ve chosen to be child-free, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t want to travel with kids.
The solution? Borrow them from a sibling.
Let’s call it the aunt-uncle trip — traveling with your niece or nephew but leaving their parents at home.
Like Sharp, my husband and I let our now 23-year-old niece, Molly, choose a destination for a high school graduation gift. We gave her a year to decide so that we could plan and save money. Then the three of us spent a week in Peru eating our weight in ceviche, taking an astronomy tour and climbing Machu Picchu. Molly said the trip is one of her fondest memories.
In January, we took our 20-yearold nephew, Brett, on a delayed high school graduation trip to Sydney. The ultra-long-haul economy flight bought on points was well worth it to have a week of uninterrupted time with him.
A GIFT TO US
The experiences we’ve created from these aunt-uncle trips are just as much as a gift to us. It allows us to bond with our niece and nephew on an individual level. As we toggle between friend and family member, my husband and I want to be good role models — to teach our niece and nephew about the joy of travel. But we also learned from them — not just how to Snap (as in Snapchat; hi, I’m old) — but about their cares and worries as a young adult navigating a world that is so different from ours at that age. I walk around with a new perspective — and the ability to play Texas hold ’em, thanks to my nephew, Brett.
Katie Sweet, an engineer in the Seattle area, took her six nieces and nephews on individual trips: The oldest niece got to see the fake Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas; one nephew chose an ATV tour on the beach in Oregon; other nieces picked amusement parks; and the youngest had a local adventure to the water park with a night in a hotel.
“All the kids thought that the auntie trips were a gift to them, which was true, but they were also a gift to me. Investing in time together through the experience of seeing the world will always be priceless,” Sweet said.
EXPERIENCES NO. 1
The takeaway from these trips is that experiences trump material objects. “When there were no presents under the tree for the kiddos for Christmas from me, they were not phased at all; their question was: Where are we going next?” said Sweet, who is newly married. “This year, I’m taking the four older kids with my husband on a snowboarding trip.”
Kristin Luna and her husband, Scott van Velsor, photographers from Tullahoma, Tenn., took their oldest niece (now 20) in July 2022 to Italy and Switzerland for her high school graduation. The couple set specific parameters, which included: destinations that were easy to reach and not exorbitantly expensive to fly to; places that
were easy to get around in and offered diverse experiences; and cities or regions with vacation rentals that were within a reasonable budget.
“One of the benefits of not having kids of our own is that we have the time and resources to devote to the children in our lives like our nieces and nephews,” Luna said.
QUALITY TIME, MEMORIES
The goal for these aunt-uncle trips is not Michelin-star meals or posh resorts; it’s about the quality time and the core memories. Tyler Miller, an animal health sales manager in New York, flew to his sister’s home in Carlsbad, Calif., to spend Memorial Day weekend with his then2-year-old nephew while his sister attended an out-oftown wedding.
“We started the day with an uncle-nephew lunch at one of my favorite LGBTQ+ restaurants in Hillcrest. After, we went past the harbor so he could see all of the sailboats in the water,” Miller said. They spent the rest of the uncle-nephew time at nearby Coronado Island, having dinner at a Mexican restaurant with a mariachi band, and “watching the same Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show about 500 times,” Miller said.
“Growing up, my sister and I were both extremely close with our uncle Chris and aunt Lori; they were like our second parents, and I want the same for my nephew and niece. I want to be the uncle that they can look up to, and someone that they can talk to and reach out to for advice.”
Miller is lucky to have such a close relationship with his sister, but that’s not the case for everyone. Only children or those with fraught family dynamics can still partake in this travel trend.
THE GODMOTHERS
My group of girlfriends in New Orleans have dubbed ourselves the Godmothers (GMs for short). There are six Godmothers in total, and just two have children, but we all play an important role in their kids’ lives. This past summer, the oldest of the GM children took his first solo flight, from New Orleans to New York, to visit me, and we spent a whirlwind weekend checking off his Big Apple Bucket List: Central Park, riding the subway and eating an unhealthy amount of hot dogs. Our weekend was not only budget-friendly, but also allowed us to have quality time with our dear friend’s child that was just as fun for my husband and me as it was for Max. Not to mention, it often gives the parents a much-needed break.