One Size Does Not Fit All

Due to unforeseen circumstances – mainly Leonardo’s mouth growing so much in a week that the plate they sent out by mail didn’t fit – we had to make a repeat journey today of our epic adventure into the CBD. Apart from the fact that it was at least 42 degrees (that’s over 107 y’all) it was a much smoother and more successful trip. Yes, it had MOMENTS, but for the most part it was a much easier trip. The key reason for this was that I cashed in all my baby sitting chips and only took Leonardo. Wow, just taking only one child somewhere is a whole different ball game from taking the whole team.

*Disclaimer* Now I must warn you that probably after reading the next bit you will think I am Queen CrankyPants but I will remind you that it was 42 degrees and I am obviously still suffering from the after effects of our last mission impossible. And my parents dog died this week – which has nothing to do with this – but I am just saying.

Anyway, the thing is that last week sometime I read a comment a gentleman travel blogger had made about travelling with kids. He was referring to his travels with his child and said something along the lines of … “this has been a fantastic experience and our kid has coped brilliantly … kids totally do not need gameboys and other electronic rubbish when travelling.” You have to realise that isn’t the exact quote but a paraphrase. But it has completely irritated me on sooooooo many levels. I’ve been stewing on it all week and now I have to vent before I spontaneously combust.

First up – all kids are different. If you have a lovely, quiet, compliant girl who likes to sit and read horse stories   for hours on end, you may not need a gameboy.

Of  course, if we had one of those types of kids, we’d probably still buy them an ipod and make them read their stories on that, but moot point, as we completely forgot to have any children like that. All kids have different learning styles, temperaments, energy levels and sensitivity levels that make them completely different as travellers.  With the same gene pool, environment and upbringing we ended up with three completely different kids who cope completely differently with travel. Leonardo was a dream baby who would happily go anywhere, anytime and sleep anyplace. CityHall was a baby who would start screaming ten minutes after leaving. She’s downgraded to “are we there yet” but it’s still sapping. I guess if it hadn’t been phrased as a blanket statement but rather “this was our experience and we found OUR child was perfectly happy without being plugged in”, I’d have been a lot less irritated. As it was, to me it came across as pretty judgemental.

Secondly, as I was made aware today, the number of kids you take with you makes a big difference. One kid plus one kid makes it about twenty times more complex. I tell you I am in awe of anyone who makes it out of the house who has more than three kids. I am convinced that if we had ten kids, I wouldn’t even make it out to the mailbox to collect the mail. 

Thirdly, IPODS AND GAMEBOYS ARE AWESOME, what is wrong with him?

Tags: gameboy, ipod, Kids and Teens, Shopping, Travel

The Holy Grail of Family Travel Guide Books

After Christmas I went and did the rounds of our local libraries, I have to confess I was hoping to find a guide book along the lines of “Where to Stay in Europe if you Accidentally take Your Children”. It became painfully obvious that our local libraries are not inundated with families travelling to Europe, hmmmm. One of our libraries had a copy of the excellent Take Your Kids to Europe, 7th: How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe with Your Children

This is a fantastic book which I can’t recommend enough. After I finished reading through the library copy I realised I had bookmarked every second page and so it was necessary to buy our own copy. It is absolutely loaded with information and is a fantastic resource in planning a trip in general. However, there are a few areas where I wanted even more specific information. Although Harriman encourages families to travel “off the beaten track” because of the scope of the book, she does not go into details about specific locations. There are recommendations scattered throughout the book but for the most part, the book is about managing the trip. Also Harriman’s emphasis is on going for as long as you can rather than squeezing as much as you can into a short space of time.

Another guide book series that is excellent in terms of getting off the beaten track are the books by Rick Steves and Co.  These are great in that he is all about travelling very economically without necessarily backpacking (and you can find location specific advice). He does include information for families in each book but overall his target audience are “mature travellers” and those requiring standard accommodation for one or two people. Plus guidebooks for specific locations.

The best guidebooks for details about sights to see are the Eyewitness Travel Guides by DK.  These are stunningly beautiful books with illustrations of all the best sights and loads of historical information. They are like having a tour guide on tap and I think particularly helpful in deciding which sights you want to see in a particular area. However, I wouldn’t rely on them for affordable accommodation or even eating recommendations.

All of these guidebooks are great and I’m using all of them, however none of them could be classified as Family Travel Guidebook Nirvana. But I did not despair. Well, ok, actually I did despair, quite a lot. But I did not give up and my intrepid searches on Amazon were finally rewarded by finding the Holy Grail of Family Travel guide books. Frommers have just published an entire series of books for families and they are brilliant!!!

You can find the list of Frommer’s with Families guide books here:

Tags: Europe, Family Travel, Guidebooks, Holidays, Kids and Teens, Travel with kids