Some of my favorite childhood memories consist of cramming my family and our excessive amount of luggage into the back of the old minivan and hitting the road. Growing up, family vacations were always the highlight of my year. Even if the vacation consisted of just driving a few hours away to swim in a lake for a weekend, those simple times were the blueprints for my adolescent daydreams.

However, as I've grown up and expressed my feelings to other people, I've found that not everyone feels this way. Some people dread spending a few days isolated with their family members — which makes me all the more grateful for my parents and my sister. Somehow I won the familial lottery. Our vacations are so nice because they are so easy.

I think one aspect of our family dynamic that makes for a successful family vacation is our ability to communicate what each of us wants out of the trip. I'm obsessed with boutique shopping and exploring local town centers, my dad loves to rent a car and spend a day driving nowhere in particular, and my sister just wants to relax by the pool. Because we all know each other so well, we are able to compromise and fulfill everyone's vacay goals.

For me, this is different than vacationing with a group of friends. As someone who likes to kind of go with the flow with my friends, I sometimes fail to voice my opinions about what I want to do on group trips. Vacations with my family are different.

Another reason family vacations work so well in my family is that there is no pressure. I can sit in silence by the pool reading without feeling awkward with my dad, my mom's feelings don't get hurt when I need some alone time for a few hours, and I can sense when my sister is getting hangry before she can. This ability to be so in sync helps us to stay positive throughout the trip, making it easy to take full advantage of our time together.

And although the destinations have expanded over the years (I'm currently typing this from the beach in Mexico, and while I still love those lake days, I'm DEFINITELY not complaining about this location situation), my love for spending quality time with my family really hasn't changed at all. In fact, I think we need these days together even more now.

With both my sister and I now living away from home and each of my parents' busy lives, it's very hard to actually sit down and talk about everything going on in our lives. These getaways give us a chance to naturally catch up on the mundane aspects of our lives, laugh at things that only my sister and I could find hilarious, and reminisce on all the adventures we've been on together over the years.

And, while as a broke college student the fact that I don't have to pick up the check is a huge perk, I can't wait to be able to take my family on vacations in the future to thank them for the good times and give the same magical days to my own children someday.