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5 Travel Tips For Successful Vacations With Children Of Any Age
1. Plan a progression of travel with your children Just like we would not hop on a plane and travel to a new and different country on the other side of the world without some kind of preparation, children also need some progression to prepare for a big trip. So before you take them to Europe for two weeks, try some short journeys to prepare them. For example, visit museums close to home, camp overnight in the backyard, drive for a few hours in a car or take a short plane flight. This way, they (and you) can have some experience together before taking that longer (and more expensive) vacation. 2. Provide them with some background on the place you are visiting No matter what the age, there are books, DVDs and Internet materials available on your destination to share with your kids prior to the trip. When our children were six and nine we took them to Europe for three weeks. We spent time before the trip reading and looking at pictures with them of the Swiss Alps and Paris to get them acquainted with these destinations. This helped them understand where they were going and what to expect. 3. Have age appropriate material for them Vacation items for children can be inexpensive, such as travel games, coloring books, picture / reading books, and small toys. The important thing to remember is that the material is something that children can have when they are in the car, at the airport, or on the plane when they can easily get bored. On longer vacations, give them some things at the beginning of the trip and save other items for later in the journey or even for the trip home to provide some variety. Along these same lines, purchasing small mementos along the way can serve as a reward for good behavior. On the first international vacation with my three and six year old children, I bought the six year old a small plastic toy lamb (for less than $2.00) in Oxford, England, as a reward for her good behavior during the first part of that trip. She loved that lamb and played with it during the rest of the vacation. Other barnyard friends were added from other toyshops along the way as a continued motivator throughout that trip. 4. Plan some activity every day for them This may not be possible every day of the vacation, but even a short excursion, such as a visit to a park or the swimming pool, can provide children with an activity they want to do. I took our children to park playgrounds in England (when they were three and six), Japan (when they were eight and 11) and Thailand (when they were 10 and 13). We also went to swimming pools in Switzerland (when they were six and nine) and Australia (when they were 10 and 12). When they were older the desired activities changed to wanting ice cream or checking the Internet. 5. Create a memory of your trip when you return When our children were little, we saved mementos, such as ticket stubs, brochures and maps, while on each vacation and made old fashioned scrapbooks. Now this has evolved into creating websites or Facebook photo albums but the concept is still the same. Even today, when we look through the old pictures, it brings back memories of those special family vacations that we have taken. To view a full list of 10 timeless travel tips for successful vacations with children of any age, visit the Our Distant Journey websie. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Sandy Van Soye has chronicled her global adventures since 2000 on the website www.OurDistantJourney.com. To date, she has visited 40 countries on six continents. In 2003-2004, she took a four-and-half-month around the world with her husband and children. Sandy likes to mix visits to the iconic places in the world with the adventure that keeps travel fresh and exciting. To experience her travelogues visit www.OurDistantJourney.com. |
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