There will always be times when you will be hailed by your family to go on trips together. The great Indian family mentality entails that you, regardless of how independent you are or in which city you are based in, are supposed to attend these family trips. However, gearing up to face your siblings and parents at 25 needs a little preparation.

Spending quality time with family may not always be a cakewalk. You being their cherished son or daughter who is living in a different city have become a thing of inquisition. You now have a life they have little or no idea about which mean you will be prodded with questions of where you eat, where you shop for groceries and the ultimate, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Do not get jittered by them, take them in zest and reveal as much as you would like to reveal. Do not feel scared or shy to agree to the existence of a partner in your life because you are now 25 and not a high school kid. Believe it or not our parents and relative have modernized enough to gulp down the concept of partners before marriage.

As much as you may enjoy eavesdropping on your mother and aunts gossiping about other relatives, the discussion may get a bit boring for you when it turns to sour relationships between certain mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law. For occasions such as these, carry your own entertainment pack. Keep your Kindle, ipad, MP3 players and the rest charged well in advance. On family trips there never are enough electric sockets in hotels. If you are not very comfortable with the idea of your beady eyed niece or nephews playing games on your phone, be a little selfish and delete Candy Crush in advance.

The benefit of travelling with family at 25 is that your get to lead the pack and also be considered responsible. Your younger cousins now look up to you which mean you can now introduce them to the little clandestine joys of life. A little nip of beer or a drag of the cigarette for you teenage cousin after the elders go to bed will never hurt anyone.