I just got back from an unforgettable vacation at Beaches Turks and Caicos as part of the annual #BeachesMoms #SocialMediaontheSand event. As much as my husband and kids wanted to come along, I found this to be the perfect opportunity for a getaway with just my mom and my little sister. 3 generations of women, 3 different personalities, and 1 hilarious vacation at Beaches Turks and Caicos!
A Baby Boomer, Gen X-er and a Millennial
We saw the signs of our generational personality traits throughout the trip, but it was really brought home by a presentation we had by Kirstin Castillo, VP of Strategy at Trendera about generational traits and behaviors; and it all started to make perfect sense what was going on. From what we expected during our Beaches Turks and Caicos visit to what parts we all wanted to participate in. Fortunately, this vacation had something for all of us!
Remember early on in this blog when I shared with you all my big, fat African family? Well allow me to reintroduce some of them.
Baby Boomer = Self Assured, Resourceful, Disciplined / Life Stage: Focusing more on Being and Experiencing
First, meet my mom – Nadia. She’s fun loving, creative, independent, and outspoken (read: she has very little filter). She has always been a woman who enjoys life and her number one goal at this stage in her life is to live her best one.
On the flip side, she still brings out her old school ways here and there, especially when it com to holding on to her more conservative values and habits. For example, sometimes we’d have to remind her that flip flops are an acceptable form of footwear, just as tank tops are still, in fact, real shirts. Oh, and there’s the fact that she will tell us to wear a shawl each and every time we’d leave the room after 5pm. Like, seriously, the shawl thing was BIG and pretty comedic after a while.
Gen X = Independent, Balanced, Understated Style / Life Stage: Building Careers and Raising Kids
Then there’s me of course, a borderline Gen Xer with the social media habits of a millennial. For the most part, I’m in that middle stage of life – raising kids, building my career…lacking sleep! Yeah, I still love to have fun, but sometimes this overworked mama just wants to relax! Not to mention the fact that this trip was still technically a work trip, so outside of running around doing #BeachesMoms stuff, I was on full-on chill mode most of the time.
Hanging out at the pool with a cocktail, breaking my diet and being a total foodie, spending a little time at the spa and then a little partying once all my work is done. Being a mom myself, I’m pretty sure my mother secretly hoped I’d freeze to death each time I refused to wear a shawl over my tank top just to say “I told you so,” but of course that didn’t happen in the beautiful Turks and Caicos weather.
Millennial /Gen Z = Entitled, Eager, Anxious, Curious / Life Stage: Coming of Age (Gen Z especially)
Finally, there’s my sister-Chadia. She’s the baby in the family, 16 years younger than me. She’s the quintessential millennial (or technically Gen Z, depending on the chart). Her goal from day one of this trip was to do All Of The Things and with each day passing, would get more and more stressed out about the things she hasn’t gotten to yet. This actually made a lot of sense because it was her first vacation as an adult to an all-inclusive resort and there were so many pretty desirable things to get into at Beaches Turks and Caicos. She managed to explore some pretty fun excursions while I was working, including the glass bottom boat and snorkeling, but there was still so much to explore!
In truth, she’s traveling for all the instagrammable moments – beautiful scenery, flawless backdrops, perfectly plated food, etc. And judging by her social media accounts, she surely found them!
Multi-generational Travel at Beaches Turks and Caicos
The most important thing to consider when planning a multi-generational vacation is to choose a resort that has activities, excursions, accommodations and amenities for everyone. Beaches Turks and Caicos had just that. From adventure seeking excursions, to relaxing pampering at Red Lane Spa, to music concerts, fitness events, night clubs, karaoke, casual to fine dining, teen and kids clubs! Amenities at Beaches Turks and Caicos include, but are not limited to the following:
- 6 pools, 3 with swim-up bars
- Dedicated toddler pool with
- Huge Pirates Island Waterpark
- Xbox Play Lounge
- Liquid at Beaches Nightclub
- Family suites for large families
- 21 specialty restaurants
- 15 bars serving unlimited premium spirits
- Supervised kids camp for kids of all ages
- Trench Town Teens-only gameroom
- Top scuba diving destination
- Comprehensive scuba diving program
We didn’t get to take part in all of them, but those that we did take part in… Let’s just say gave us quite the story!
A Baby Boomer, Gen Xer and a Millennial walk into a bar…
I think the 3 of us would agree that one of our most unforgettable nights started at a hibachi restaurant on the property called Kimonos. It happened to be my sister’s first experience at a hibachi restaurant, but even I can honestly say I’ve never been to one like this! Besides the great food and the free-flowing sake, this experience set the tone for an evening of fun, new friends and new experiences. Our table seated 12 total, including our #BeachesMoms friends (Daily Baez, Ciaran Blumenfeld, & Debbie Bookstabber), along with another multi-generational family from Manchester, England who became our fast friends.
The servers at Kimonos are extremely fun and entertaining and literally had the entire restaurant singing along and dancing as we watched the food cook on the grill. To start the comedy of the evening, my “virgin-drinker” sister ordered the green tea drink and earned herself the name “Green Tea” for the entire night. In truth, she was actually stepping out of her comfort zone and the drink really came with sake. However, by the time everyone realized it, the name had already stuck. More comedy ensued when one of our Manchester friends made a song request of none other than “Wannabe (Tell Me What You Want)” by the Spice Girls. Not surprisingly, he also earned the nickname “Spice Girl” for the rest of the night.
A Baby Boomer, Gen Xer and a Millennial walk into a bar…Hilarity Ensues
I’ve been to karaoke before – usually with a group of friends my age, but there I was with my mom, a mom and dad from Manchester, my millennial sister and a room full of energetic and lively adults of all ages. And then it was time for us to pick a song and thus began our next round of multi-generational comedy. While my mom and her new friends searched for Lionel Richie and Diana Ross songs, my sister and her new friends search for whatever YouTube hits and the latest boy bands. So, we went for the only logical song choice – one that none of us actually knew the words to, but seemed most fitting for the evening. Yes, we selected and collectively performed Wannabe (If You Wanna Be My Lover) by the Spice Girls!
Hilarity surely ensued! We were off beat, out of tune, and totally abandoned they lyrics. But we also had the most fun we could possibly have as karaoke performers! My only hope is that there is not a video that exists of this performance! Seriously!
Side note and speaking of boy bands…
We soon discovered that our Kimonos to Karaoke group also included an actual boy band called In Real Life. They performed Despacito shortly after we did and needless to say, completely rocked the house! Who know what a difference actual talent made in karaoke performances?
Once the karaoke bar closed and everyone exited the building, we somehow then found ourselves move with the crowd (led by the boy band) to one of the Beaches Turks and Caicos night clubs. I was sure my mom would then call it a night, but NOPE…she joined the fun! My sister and her new friends were totally in their element and had a blast on the dance floor…as did myself and my mom! We all partied until the early morning before I had to convince my mom to give my sister some time to herself, so we left the young folks to hang out.
I’m not even sure what time my sister made it back to the room because, as you can imagine, I just needed some sleep to prepare for my next “work day.” Meanwhile, I’m sure my mom waited up for her…probably wondering whether or not she had a shawl. 🙂
Many, many thanks to the team at Beaches Resorts and all of the wonderful sponsors of the event for helping us create these memories we’ll treasure forever!
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