Once in a Lifetime Family Trips

Six kids on a family trip, sitting on a wall together in Queenstown, New Zealand.

As I sat in a chairlift, suspended in the air above Queenstown, snow began to flutter down. The kids stuck their tongues out to catch snow flakes and the gentle flakes began to flurry. For a family from a subtropical coastal town, this was one of those moments. I breathed in deeply, trying to take it in, to capture it and be fully present. We squealed with delight and then I just stared in silent awe. It felt magical to our little family.

Sitting on the chairlift to go up to the Luge, Queenstown New Zealand (that’s my brother on the lift behind us!)

Incredibly, we had many moments like this on our family holiday to Queenstown New Zealand. It was magic moment after magic moment. A true once-in-a-lifetime trip that we made the absolute most of. And as we drove home, exhausted and vowing to avoid airports for at least twelve months, we began to talk about what would be next.

When would we go back? That once-in-a-lifetime trip…could it be a once-every-two-years trip?

But if we go back, could we have the same amount of fun and awe that we experienced this time?

As we chatted about the logistics of going back to a place that had given us some of the highlights of our lives, I began to realise that even if you go to the same place and do the same things, it will never be the same again.

Playing in snow for the first time! At the Snow Farm, New Zealand

In some ways, every trip or adventure is once-in-a-lifetime, because each moment is unique in time.

Next time we might be with different people. We might go to different places or stay in a different place. There will be familiarities rather than everything being new. You can only have a first time one time. We will all be older, and that will cause all sorts of changes and opportunities for our experiences.

None of this is good or bad, it just is what it is. Even if we go back to the same place, it will be a chance to have another once-in-a-lifetime trip. We will all be different people then, especially the kids as they grow so much each year. And that’s pretty magical if you think about it.

Read Next: