Perth to Esperance road trip
The route, the stops and how long to allow for the drive from Perth down to Esperance and its white beaches.
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Travelling with young adults is one of the most enjoyable stages of family life, and now and then one of the most complicated. Here’s how we plan around different dates, budgets and partners, so the trips still happen.
Your children are no longer children. They have their own schedules, budgets, jobs and increasingly busy lives. One might be at university, another starting their first job, and another already juggling a career and limited annual leave.
Yet time away as a family matters more than ever. Even as everyone starts organising their own travel, it’s lovely to have some time together when the logistics allow. This guide is part of our travel companions series, and it’s about how to travel with young adults and plan holidays that work for the whole family.
We’re in this stage ourselves, while also finding out what life is like as empty nesters. Instead of managing children, we sometimes travel alongside young adults. The conversations are different, the pace is different and everyone brings their own ideas. It just takes a small shift in how you plan.
Quick answer: Agree dates early, be open about who pays for what, choose a base with space for everyone, and plan a few shared highlights each day rather than a full timetable. Accept that not everyone can make every trip.
When children are younger, parents choose the destination, organise everything and everyone follows along. With young adults, that works much less well.
This stage can feel a little unpredictable. Some of your children will be keen to come, others can’t get the time off, and others will already have plans. We’ve had trips where not everyone could make it, and while that’s never ideal, it’s part of this stage of life.
The upside is that you’re no longer tied to school holidays. Travelling out of season often makes trips more affordable, quieter and in many ways more enjoyable.
We treat travelling with young adults separately from travelling with teenagers for one reason, which is independence. Whether it’s university, work, moving out or travelling on their own, young adults have had a level of freedom that changes how family trips feel. When it comes to planning, you’ll usually find they fall into one of two camps.
You’ll know your own family best, and somewhere in between usually works well.
With young adults, timing gets far more complicated. University terms, internships, apprenticeships, new jobs and limited annual leave all come into play, and simply finding dates that work for everyone can be the hardest part of the whole trip.
Planning early makes all the difference. Often it starts with a simple conversation months ahead, just to get a rough idea of when everyone might be free. Shorter trips work really well at this stage too. A four-day city break is often far easier to organise than two weeks away. We’ve used an online date poll, Xoyondo, to find dates that suit everyone, which saves a lot of back and forth in the family WhatsApp group.
Everyone may be in a completely different financial position. One might be a student watching every pound while another is already earning, and parents are somewhere else again.
We’ve found that being open about money early on avoids awkwardness later. Some parents cover certain things, like the accommodation, the flights or a few meals, while everyone pays for their own extras. Other families split things more evenly. There’s no right answer, as long as everyone knows the plan from the start. And fair doesn’t always mean identical.
To make sharing costs easier abroad, it helps if everyone has a card that’s good for spending overseas, so nobody loses out on exchange rates and settling up is simple.
Once you’ve found the dates and agreed the budget, two things make the biggest difference to the trip itself. Space, and a looser plan.
If there’s one thing that makes travelling with adult children easier, it’s space. Giving everyone some privacy makes the whole trip feel more relaxed, which is why villas and larger apartments work so well for us.
They give you a shared space for breakfast or evening drinks, but also let people retreat to their own room when they need some quiet. If you’re heading somewhere warm, outdoor space makes a huge difference too. Add a pool, a terrace or a barbecue to a bit of music, and you have the setting for the relaxed evenings that end up being the highlight.
With young adults, rigid schedules rarely work. Rather than planning every hour, we plan a few shared highlights and let the rest of the day unfold. One person might head to a museum, another might hunt down a good café and someone else might simply sunbathe. That flexibility makes the time together far more enjoyable. A typical day for us looks something like this.
Our family tends to get up early and go exploring, then slump through the midday heat. Adjust the shape of the day to suit yours.
There are a few trip styles we lean into more now our children are older and have taken up hobbies of their own.
Cities work well because they offer variety. Everyone can follow their own interests during the day and meet up later for dinner or drinks.
When we spent time together in Dubrovnik, our eldest, who has a real interest in Roman and medieval history (and a soft spot for Game of Thrones), loved exploring the city and doing the tours. From there the trip evolved quite naturally. The children went off on their own to Split, their first independent trip abroad together, where they had to manage their own budgets and plans. It was a big step for them, and we were very proud.
Villa holidays have always worked for us, but even more so now. Puglia stands out. We had a mix of ages at the time, some young adults and one still at school. During the day we explored olive farms, UNESCO World Heritage towns and local landmarks, but the evenings made the trip. Cooking together, music playing and everyone gathered around the pool. Those are the evenings you remember.
Road trips work well with young adults because everyone can contribute along the way, whether that’s taking charge of the music or finding somewhere for lunch.
Not everyone can always come, though. On our Costa Rica road trip, our eldest stayed behind because of university and some allergy concerns about flying. It wasn’t quite the same without him, but it was a reminder that this stage of life doesn’t always let everyone be in the same place at once. More recently, we drove through the Canadian Badlands and Prairies with two of our children while another was backpacking in Australia. It was a completely different trip again, and still a brilliant one.
Trips built around a shared activity often create the strongest memories. We found that in Croatia on an earlier trip, when we joined a multi-family adventure group for a week of sea kayaking, cycling, hiking and even zip lining. It pushed everyone a little out of their comfort zone, in the best way, and gave us a real sense of shared experience.
One of the biggest differences with young adults is that everyone is no longer at the same stage of life. You might have one child at university, another working full time and another building a career with very little time off. Sometimes this overlaps with younger children still at home, which brings school holidays back into the picture.
It isn’t always straightforward, and sometimes it simply isn’t possible for everyone to come. We’ve learned that isn’t a failure of planning. It’s just the reality of this stage of family life.
Students can look as if they have loads of free time, but their availability still revolves around term dates, exams, deadlines and placements. University holidays look long on paper, but they’re often taken up with revision or a dissertation. Apprentices have paid holiday like any other employee, but it can still feel limited, especially early on when they’re settling into a role.
Budget matters too, with loans, living costs and lower wages to balance. In our experience, students are usually more than happy to come, but it has to work around their availability and what they can afford. Plenty of notice, and a plan that lets them keep their own costs down, makes it much easier for them to say yes.
The first year or two of full-time work can be one of the hardest times to plan around, whether that’s in an office, a bar, a warehouse or a trade. Annual leave is limited, schedules can be less flexible and there’s often a feeling of needing to prove yourself. Your child is likely to be on an entry-level wage too, so the holiday needs to stay affordable. Shorter trips work particularly well here. A long weekend can feel much more achievable than a fortnight.
As careers develop, time often becomes the biggest constraint. Budgets may improve, but some roles come with fixed leave periods, busy seasons or little chance to step away. That’s when quality of time matters more than quantity, and a few days together can be just as valuable as a longer holiday.
At some point partners become part of the conversation, and that can change the dynamic of a trip quite quickly. For some families it feels completely natural, and we’ve had quite a few partners join us. For others it takes some adjustment. We’ve found that being open to partners joining, without overcomplicating the planning, makes the trip feel more welcoming for everyone.
We haven’t reached this stage yet, but we know it will come. When it does, we’ll be back to planning around nap times and routines, this time as grandparents, on trips that blend every generation at once. Our travelling with kids guide is where we’ll start.
This is one of the hardest adjustments. Sometimes one or more of your children simply can’t make it. We’ve had trips where not everyone could join us, and while it never feels quite the same, it doesn’t make the trip any less worthwhile. If anything, it makes the times when everyone can be together feel even more special.
These are the guides that suit holidays with young adults best, from long road trips to slow villa weeks. The Adelaide and Great Ocean Road guides were written by Tom from his own trips.
Road trips
The route, the stops and how long to allow for the drive from Perth down to Esperance and its white beaches.
Our two-week itinerary through the Badlands and the prairies, the road trip we took with two of our children.
Tom’s road trip itinerary from Adelaide along the Limestone Coast, with the stops worth breaking the drive for.
Tom’s case for driving the Great Ocean Road west to east, the quieter way round, and how to plan it.
Cities and short stays
An honest look at Australia’s most underrated city, and how much time to give it on a Western Australia trip.
Tom’s one-week plan for Adelaide, from the city itself to days out in the hills and the wine valleys.
How to plan an August visit to the Edinburgh festivals month by month, from finding a bed to choosing shows.
What to know before a first visit to Dubai, from where to stay to balancing the old city with the new.
What to see in Houston with a day or two between flights, a good way to break a long-haul journey.
Is it worth leaving the airport on a seven-hour layover in Dallas? How to use the time if you do.
Villas and slow weeks
How to plan a summer villa break on the southern Dalmatian coast, with Dubrovnik’s old town within easy reach.
A five-day stay in Split that wasn’t in the original plan, and what to see and do if you find yourself with time there.
Our week in a Puglia villa with a mix of ages, with day trips to Alberobello, Lecce and Ostuni.
Our villa holiday in Mexico, and how to plan a winter sun trip to the Riviera Maya, from choosing a base to day trips.
Outdoors and last-minute trips
How to book the West Coast Trail and what the multi-day hike is really like, for adult families who want a challenge together.
How to plan a spontaneous weekend away, from our camping trip to Lincolnshire, for when everyone suddenly has a free weekend.
There's no single right way, and every family handles it differently. Some parents cover everything, usually when the priority is getting everyone together and some are still studying or early in their careers. Others cover the big things, like accommodation and flights, while everyone pays for their own meals, drinks and activities. When all the children are working, everyone often contributes. Whatever you choose, be clear about it from the start.
It's a slightly awkward question, but a very normal one. Some families treat partners as guests and cover the accommodation, while the partner pays for their own flights and spending. Others prefer everyone to contribute, especially if the partner is working. There's no set rule. The important thing is to be clear about it when you invite them.
Most disagreements come from small frustrations that build up rather than big problems. Go easy on the first day, when everyone is tired and finding their rhythm. Talk about budgets before you travel rather than during the trip. And remember that not everyone has to do every activity. If someone wants to skip a museum and sit by the pool, let them.
Ask everyone for one or two things they'd really like to do, and build the shared highlights from those. We often let our children loose on an activity booking site such as GetYourGuide to pick what they'd like to do. If you're not keen on joining in, you don't have to.
The usual sticking points are finding dates that suit everyone, different budgets, and not enough space or time apart. Plan early, agree who pays for what before you book, choose accommodation with room to spread out, and build free time into each day.
Travelling with young adults is one of the most rewarding stages of family travel, even when not everyone can come. The trips feel more like holidays with friends who happen to be family, and the evenings together are often the best part.
Plan early, be open about money, give everyone space and let the days breathe. And when the children are off on adventures of their own, our empty nesters guide is all about the trips that come next.
Happy planning, and save us a seat by the pool.