 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Family Affair
Traveling with children: Taking the kids to Europe
Yes, you can take the kids! Trips to Europe can often have a much more profound impact on the children than the adults, opening their young eyes and minds to the diversity of the world's cultures and peoples. I mean, look at me: my parents took me to live in Europe when I was 11, and now I make my living by traveling around the world.
Europeans expect to see families together, because it's how they travel. You're likely to encounter entire clans, from grandmothers to babes in arms, caravaning around. In the Mediterranean countries especially, locals tend to love kids. You'll often find that a child guarantees you an even warmer reception from hotels and restaurants than you'd normally receive.
Most Europeans will coo over an infant or toddler, and an adolescent or teenager struggling to order her meal in the local lingo will receive loads of encouragement and attention. (Honest. This is embarassing, but, as a 12-year-old living in Italy, I was often responsible for getting my family extra attention at restaurants, whether it was the owner deciding to oversee our meal personally or a free round of grappa at the end of the meal; they just thought it was so darn cute that this little American kid could speak some rudimentary Italian. It's a wonder I haven't needed therapy.) Ask waiters for a half-portion to fit junior's appetite. If you absolutely feel the need for a romantic dinner alone one night, your hotel can undoubtedly rustle up a baby-sitter for you.
Be prepared to take things a bit more slowly. Don't go into full-bore sightseeing mode. In between heavy-duty cultural sights, do some stuff just for fun—which is actually good advice for any traveler, regardless of whether he or she has kids in tow.
As an added plus, traveling with a pint-sized person usually entails pint-sized rates. An extra cot in the room ranges from free to, at most, 30 percent tacked onto the room rate. Most museums and sights offer reduced-price or free admission for children under a certain age (which might range anywhere from six to 18, but usually the latter). Plus, kids also almost always get discounts on train tickets (usually up to age 12).
Resources for traveling with the family
Family Travel Network (www.familytravelnetwork.com)
Family Travel Forum (www.familytravelforum.com)
Single Parent Travel (www.singleparenttravel.net)
VacationKids (www.vacationkids.com) - As a travel agency,
deals almost exclusively with Mexico and the Caribbean, but it also
has a "Travel School" section loaded with scads of general
tips for families that apply for travel anywhere.
Tours aimed at family travel
InfoHub.com (www.infohub.com) - Hundreds of family tours and travel opprotunites from dozens of different operators.
Smithsonian Journeys (smithsonianjourneys.org) - The Smithsonian
run highly regarded, rather expensive educational and adventure
trips specifically designed for the whole clan.
Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org/outings) - Yes, the premier
outdoors network of the USA also plans lots of family-friendly
trips abroad, including ones in Europe.
Rascals
in Paradise (www.rascalsinparadise.com) - One-
and two-week trips in such popular places as Italy, France, Scotland,
Ireland, and Finland.
Journeys International (www.journeysforfamilies.com) - Trips
and tours, designed for families and timed around school vacations,
in more than 60 countries.
Books on family travel
General
Take
Your Kids to Europe, How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe
With your Children by Cynthia
Harriman (2003)
Lonely
Planet's Travel with Children by Cathy Lanigan (2002)
Adventuring
With Children by Nan Jeffrey (1996)
Travel
Wise with Children: 101 Educational Travel Tips for Families by Mary Rodgers Bundren (2004)
Fodor's
FYI: Travel with Your Baby: Experts Share Their
Secrets Ed. by Fodor's (2001)
Travelers' Tales Family Travel: The Farther You Go, the
Closer You Get Ed. by
Laura
Manske (1999)
Gutsy
Mamas: Travel Tips and Wisdom for Mothers on the
Road by Marybeth Bond (1997)
Safe and Sound: Healthy Travel with Children by Marlene Coleman (2003)
DESTINATIONS
Britain
Cadogan's Take the Kids: England by
Joseph Fullman (2004)
Cadogan's Take the Kids London by Joseph
Fullman (2002)
Fodor's
Around London with Kids by Jacqueline Brown (2006)
Dorling
Kindersley's Kid's London by Simon Adams (2000)
Let's
Take the Kids to London by David S White (2001)
London for Families by Larry & Michael Laine (2004)
Ireland
Cadogan's Take the Kids Ireland by Amy Corzine (2006)
Ireland
for Kids by Derek MacKenzie-Hook (2001)
France
Cadogan's Take the Kids Paris & Disneyland Paris by
Helen Truszkowski (2006)
Cadogan's
Take the Kids: South of France by Rosie Whitehouse (2003)
Fodor's Around Paris with Kids by Emily
Emerson (2003)
Italy
Fodor's
Around Rome with Kids (2002)
The Netherlands
Cadogan's
Take the Kids Amsterdam by Rodney Bolt (2000)
Related Articles |
Outside Resources |
This material was last updated January 2007
. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998-2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
The Travel Store
|
PARTNERS |
|
Find a Flight - Orbitz.com |
