Published 15th Dec. 2025
Written by Tom Barber
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This blog is a love letter to a type of holiday I can't recommend enough – the Bonding Holiday. At its heart is a simple belief: shared experiences strengthen relationships. These are trips where just two family members travel together – parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, godparent and godchild. The best ones revolve around a shared interest – art, music, wildlife, food, history – and the aim is beautifully straightforward: to enjoy time together away from distraction and family politics.
For full disclosure, I'm not just preaching; I'm practising. It began as an aged twist on the parent-child theme. For my father's 80th, I gave him a voucher for travel anywhere in the world – just the two of us. He didn't hesitate: Uzbekistan. The perfect choice for a man fascinated by Russia and China, and somewhere my wife was more than happy for me to visit without her. We travelled the country by train, starting in Samarkand with its majestic Registan Square. Next came Bukhara, a lovely, low-key gem where we sat in the shade by the Lyabi-Hauz pond watching old men play dominoes and enjoying the excellent local beer. Our final stop was Khiva, a tiny jumble of mausoleums, mosques and madrassas. The sights were unforgettable, though the real highlight was sharing them with my father.
Tom and his father in Registan Square
Next came a trip with my mother, shortly after my stepfather died. We took a cruise on the Nile aboard the glorious Steam Ship Sudan – a nostalgic journey through ancient Egypt that reminded us both how travel can heal. Sudan is the last remaining steamer from the original Thomas Cook fleet, and the very boat Agatha Christie sailed on before writing Death on the Nile. Amir, the wonderful director onboard (once famously described as 'half man, half honey'), and his crew took my mother under their collective wings and ensured the whole voyage was beyond wonderful – even before we encountered the astonishing ancient sites en route from Luxor to Aswan.
Tom and his mother with Amir on the Steam Ship Sudan
Since then it has been my children's turn, starting with the youngest, Athena. Her obsession with dogs made the destination obvious: dog-sledding in Swedish Lapland. We had three extraordinary days of shared firsts – from mushing her own team of huskies and glimpsing the Northern Lights to meeting a Sami reindeer herder and snowshoeing through snow-clad forests. Every moment felt magical.
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Athena in Swedish Lapland
This October half term just gone saw 15-year-old George and I head to Egypt's Red Sea coast so he could learn to dive, after a taster dive in the Maldives that he'd described as 'the best hour of my life.' We're just back – both sun-kissed, him newly PADI-certified.
Mezen, the dive instructor, with George in Egypt
With our twins, India and Siena, I'm cheating slightly by taking both to New York for their 18ths in January, but solo trips will follow.
What makes these holidays special is their simplicity. They create space for conversations that otherwise never happen – some funny, some overdue. You share memories, laughter, sometimes silence, but always a sense of closeness that lasts long after you're home. The hardest part is carving out the time, but you'll never regret it.
One client deserves special mention: she takes each of her grandchildren away when they turn 13. The feedback from their shared adventures is, without fail, heart-meltingly amazing.
So I urge you to plan a bonding holiday. Just two of you, anywhere that means something to both. It might be grand, it might be simple, but it will almost certainly be unforgettable. Might be time to go on holiday with my wife now!
Practical advice and inspiration for your next trip
With four teenagers in or entering sixth form, my family have noticed firsthand that A Level study demands not just recall but interpretation. The jump from GCSE to A Level is substantial; essays are longer, critical thinking matters much more and independent evaluation is rewarded. Several experts suggest that examiners across AQA, Edexcel and OCR consistently reward students who demonstrate awareness of competing perspectives, real-world examples and a confident grasp of context.
26th March 2026 - Family Travel
With four teenagers currently moving through the GCSE and A Level years in our household, we have become mildly obsessed with the idea of the ‘incremental gain’. Not in a hot-housing sense. More in the way that any decent sports coach knows that small, cumulative advantages often show up where it matters – in the final scoreline. Because one thing becomes very clear very quickly when you have children doing GCSEs and A Levels across AQA, Edexcel and OCR:
24th March 2026 - Family Travel
It’s no secret that we’re strong advocates of a family sabbatical, so amid the downpours of February, we were delighted to host an event at the Royal Academy discussing just that. Bringing together Thomasina Miers of Wahaca, Walter Kerr of Oppidan Education and, of course, our very own Tom Barber, the event opened the floor for a practical and frank conversation about the best way to take a sabbatical with your children.
26th February 2026 - Family Travel
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