The Travellers Warehouse

I know people are always wondering when to take a trip to get away from it all. Often, children are left at home with the grandparents while Mom and Dad escape to the mountains or the shores of Bermuda. I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world, and I can honestly say the most enjoyable trips were with my daughter. She started traveling in earnest when she was only 8 years old. By the time she was 14 she had been in a lot of the United States, and paid a couple of visits to Canada and Hawaii. Later she would be able to visit Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France.

A 14 year old sometimes can be difficult, especially when Mom has to go the Caribbean and South America, and being a typical teenager she really doesn’t want to go because she and her girl friend have tickets to a Bon Jovi concert during that time frame. “Why can’t I just stay home?” she asked. How dare I tell her that this time in her life was very trying for me—in fact, year 14 and 15 in my daughter’s life was one of the reason’s my hair started to go gray. “I could stay with Aunt Susie,” she pleaded. I was thinking, “No, I wouldn’t do that to Aunt Susie.” After coming up with several more inane ideas and claiming she would get behind at school, and me telling her that we would work out something with her educational mentors, she stormed into her room. Finally, she decided that Bon Jovi would have to wait. Then her teachers said she could go if she made a travel log of the trip, and took her homework with her. It turned out to be one of the most wonderful periods of time we ever spent on the road. She learned more on that trip than she ever did at a desk. Those few weeks changed the way she viewed the world. She saw some pretty exotic places, but also saw the down side of those areas. Everything in that part of the world is not the way it is portrayed on television.

The travel itinerary would take us through Puerto Rico, then to Trinidad, Barbados and to Caracas in Venezuela. We would be traveling with several other people, and this turned out to be a boon, and she genuinely enjoyed the company. Particularly, in Caracas she saw the up and down side of the city. We took the ski lift up into the Andes, and could view small mountain villages from lofty heights. We visited the home of Simon Bolivar the famous freedom fighter of South America. The hotel accommodations were excellent, and out daily adventures out into the city were marvelous and educational. But, her tutoring did not stop there. For the first time in her life she realized just how hard things could be for people. There were places where people lived in cardboard boxes, and the beggar children had a hungry look in their eyes. She would never have had this experience behind a desk.

There have been other trips we took together to more affluent parts of the world. Even, then she learned about different cultures and ideas. In short, taking the children along opens up new worlds for them, and actually gives them an edge in their education.

There is a great book entitled Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up. This book briefly gives a description of the site to be visited along with pertinent phone number, accomodation suggestions, and age recommendations. For those who can afford it this book covers information about a trip to The Great Wall of China or The Oracle at Delphi in Greece. But the narrative also covers areas that may be closer to home like Carlsbad Caverns or The Cable Cars of San Francisco. It is a good idea to start travel education for the kids in your own back yard.

California is still one of the hottest tourist spots in the world. Los Angeles has millions of visitors every year. Open Road Publishing has published a great book by Elizabeth A. Borsting called L.A. With Kids, 1st Edition. The book gives a lot of great ideas and tips about traveling with children. Borsting says, “As parents, we’re accustomed to telling our kids what to do and when to do it. But try to remember this is their vacation, too. Involve them in the decision making by letting them help plan the itinerary.” This is a perfect book to help them and you plan a great vacation. She also covers information about Orange County and San Diego and Catalina Island.

Another publisher, Ulysses Press, puts out a whole series called Weekend Adventure Getaways. The one I picked up was about Yosemite National Park and the Lake Tahoe area. Along with all kinds of travel information such as hotel and campsite information this books gives a pretty good amount of historical data which is nice to have when making a visit to any new place.

Traveling with children can be difficult, but the rewards overshadow the problems. I still remember the year when our family visited Yellowstone Park, and I caught my first glimpses of the blue skies of Montana. My daughter now has three children of her own, and she is already finding interesting things for them to do right in her own backyard. Eventually, the family will spread its wings and maybe end up at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.