As a kid, I enjoyed a lot the travel experiences. Every summer, for almost three months, I was happy to move from a place to another: first exploring the mountains, with very long trips and various orientation challenges, after, going to the seaside for swimming and eating lots of icecreams. For me, this was a very good education that oriented my life thereafter.
It is why I considered natural to offer to my family the same pleasures of travel. As we were living in a different country, with different opportunities and the times are also different - including from the point of view of the opportunities to travel fast and, sometimes, with a bit of planning, cheap - I decided to spend as much time as possible by travelling, be it only for two days, only for enjoying something new and useful from the cultural point of view.
It took me a lot of time to realize that...of course, not everybody loves to be woke up early in the morning for catching the very cheap offer of flight, to visit as many places as possible in only 24 hours, to eat only on the road, and to go to sleep very late in the night, only for a couple of hours.
After a couple of months, the young part of the family started no only to have enough of this lifestyle, but stubbornly refused to accept the idea of going (again) on a new trip. First, by asking naively about the opportunity to spend the next days in a new place, after by complaining as much as possible in order to almost destroy the peaceful travel plans.
Something was obviously wrong, and it was not a black-and-white situation. Not at all. It was the wake-up call for the enthusiastic adults. Time to think about what was wrong in our project and what we needed to change for continuing our world adventures, but in the same time offering a normal life to the kids.
What we discovered was that we were too much focused on programs exclusively dedicated to adults. Museums are very exciting places to be, but if you are a 5-year old...or a 8-year old...Nothing exciting although your parents are desperately showing up a Van Gogh or a Velasquez as the most wonderful thing ever. On the other hand, many museums have special places for kids with special programs. They can stay together with other kids, play at a computer and do some drawings, while the crazy parents are procrastinating in the front of the works of art.
This is available for any other touristic destination. Little by little, during our planning, we started to add various children-friendly locations - a toy museum, or a science museum. After walking for two hours, we always looked at the map for some parks where to rest, while they were enjoying the international trends of playgrounds' design.
Plus: respecting the eating time - preferably in a normal, children friendly restaurant - is holy. Looking for special meals for kids might increase their interest in various cuisines and their love for travel. If a nice circus or a special show for kids is in town, don't hesitate to reserve tickets - if the online option is available - they will enjoy it, for sure! Automatically, Zoos and Aquariums and Botanical Gardens should be included in the program. At the end of the day, it's interesting for us, the humourless adults, to clean our eyes and brains with some nature.
Buying them a photo camera helped us a lot: now, they make their own picture, download and edit and create their own memories. Also, after every trip, we buy them small and symbolic presents, reminding them about the places they've been to.
One year after: we are happy to travel together and the kids are now asking us when it will be the next trip, sometimes even by suggesting themselves the next destination.