I am at a point in my life where I am happiest when I’m in that perfect space of just returning from a trip and planning my next getaway. Travel adrenaline makes me feel truly alive – it quenches my thirst for new and different experiences. 

And I am proud to report that I have passed this wanderlust on to my children. One great way to get adult kids on board with traveling is to make a present out of travel. I don’t mean sending them off for a posh trip without you. Some of the best bonding can happen when you and a grown child escape from town together.

Best Family Road Trip: Go With Your Grown Child 

When my daughter Jenna graduated college (already more than a decade ago), my gift to her was a 10-day road trip. For us, the planning and anticipation of a trip became as exciting as the trip itself. We spent months leading up to our adventure musing over the itinerary, the length of time we wanted to drive each day, where we would sleep, and most importantly, what car snacks we would pack. Would a tin of Garrett’s cheese and caramel popcorn, a pound of natural Australian red licorice, a party-sized bag of peanut M & Ms, and three packages of Haribo sour peach gummy rings sustain us?  We agreed a bag of Granny Smith apples and a case of black cherry-lime Vitamin Water would fulfill our daily fruit requirements.

The car vacation for just the two of us would be a departure from our typical family trips that began and ended in an airport.

This car vacation for just the two of us would be a departure from our typical family vacations where other family members (who shall remain nameless) required trips that began and ended in an airport. Too antsy to be trapped in a car, our family leaned more toward standard vacations, like cruises or resort hotels. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those too, but I longed for something more meandering and less predictable. Jenna remembered a report she wrote on Monument Valley when she was in high school. The massive, majestic landscape of that national park often appeared in her dreams, she told me. She always wanted to see Monument Valley with her own eyes. Of course, we made it the centerpiece of our route.

Hitting the Road: We Drive at Dawn

We pulled out of our Los Angeles driveway as the sun rose, inky skies replaced with a rosy orange glow. Five hours and three freeways later, we spotted our first stop on the flat desert horizon.The iconic red, white, blue and gold “Welcome to Las Vegas” made us feel like we had time traveled back to the Rat Pack era with its neon, Mid-century modern starburst ushering us into Sin City.

We pulled out of our driveway as the sun rose, inky skies replaced with a rosy orange glow. 

Feeling fortified after one of those legendary all-you-can-eat buffets and a good night’s sleep, we headed out for our wide scenic loop, hitting all the national parks that our AAA TripTiks (yes, old-school paper maps!) had recommended.  

In less than four hours, we checked into our cabin at Bryce National Park, craning our necks to see the mountain tops. No steep cliff rappelling for us: We found the most relaxing flat terrain to hike and enjoyed the view of those summits safely from ground level.  

The Soundtrack to Our Travels

Zion National Parks was next;  a hop-skip of a drive, less than two hours from Bryce, so our time in the car felt carefree and quite relaxing. We each played our favorite music singing along, sharing stories of broken hearts and new love that the songs evoked.   Jenna played Jay Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind “ on repeat, while detailing with great anticipation how excited she was for her move to New York city for her post college job.

Outwardly, I smiled and sang along with encouragement. I kept my emotions to myself as Kelly Clarkson crooned her  #1 hit, “My Life Would Suck Without You.” These flashes of intimate connection would never happen on the deck of a cruise ship as our family was serenaded by a steel drum band. These moments were just for us.

Sitting in the car, I realized these flashes of connection would never happen on the deck of a cruise ship, being serenaded by a steel drum band.

Monument Valley was everything Jenna hoped it would be. Remote, frozen in time, and filled with Native American lore. I watched her take in the majesty of this terrain and felt so fortunate to be with her, in this place she’d been so eager to see. In her eyes, I saw an adventurer, excited to see more, and I was confident she would embrace travel for the rest of her life.

Next stop, the Grand Canyon, where we hovered over its massive hole in the ground and ogled over the gradient hues ribboning around the canyon, undulating in the changing light. I kept stealing glances at my newly adulting daughter, who I found as beautiful as our scenery. After a not-so-grand stay in a creepy motel near the Grand Canyon, we headed back through Las Vegas, and then home to L.A. 

The Joy of Road Trips With a Grown Child

Each park was magnificent, but the drive that led us to each new location was even more special, filled with meaningful chat, raucous laughter, and truck stops with cheesy souvenirs. This was the perfect example of how a journey can be as – or even more – memorable than the destination itself.  

This was the perfect example of how a journey can be as – or even more – memorable than the destination itself.

The gift I wish for every parent of grown, launched children is a vacation getaway for just you and them. Because let’s face it, there is never enough time with an adult child. Their lives are their own. Their time is spent primarily reinventing themselves from your dependent child to their own independent adult. (And, as in the case of my daughter, they’ll soon enough have families of their own to focus on, making trips with a parent a tricky thing.)

Travel can be the most mind-bending, life-changing gift. Instead of buying things for your kids, invite them on an adventure. Each of you will get so much out of it. Sure, my daughter saw the landscape she’d been dreaming of. But to have my daughter to myself for 10 glorious days was perhaps the most selfish, most wonderful gift I’ve ever given.

Claire Berger is an acclaimed comedian and the author of “How Much Is Enough? Getting More By Living With Less,” a mash-up of memoir and self-help genres that invites audiences to join her in the search for “enough” in all aspects of our lives. Visit www.claireberger.com.