Eleven months ago, my family sold everything and left the US to travel the world, with no plan to return. Since then, we’ve visited ten countries on three continents, walked hundreds of kilometers through countrysides and cities alike, taken countless trains and planes, met amazing people, and made lifelong family memories.

Scotland is a land of mystery, history, and the great outdoors. It’s a perfect place for family travel – your kids will LOVE everything about Scotland! From looking for unexplained wave patterns to trying haggis, Scotland is full of hidden and obvious joys. It’s also a place for all ages, where activities can be enjoyed by all.

 

Picture this: Paris, summer, happiness, much good food, reading (all those bookstores!), and…city crowds? If you’re a bit tired of the city (and even with Paris, this is possible) and you’ve already visited Versailles, Normandy, and Giverny, there are several unusual and adventurous one day excursions from Paris – easily doable, within a short drive, and full of fun.

In the many times I’ve visited Walt Disney World, I had never once been to a water park – until my most recent trips. Although a few half-day visits hardly make me an expert, I thought I’d share some of my first impressions of the Disney water park experience, and perhaps offer some useful tidbits to Disney travelers new, like myself, to Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

While preparing for a trip abroad with children, you must be not only very responsible choosing the direction of travel, but also the place where you are going to stay too. If the primary goal is to change the family environment, rest from the routine and you are planning to spend most of the time at the hotel, the choice where to stay becomes even more necessary.

Have kids who love art? We do, and we're always scoping out art experiences for her when we travel - from art museums to galleries to classes. We can't get enough - and often schedule our travel plans around art events and classes.

 Traveling with Artistic Kids to Newfoundland? Read this...

Some books come into your life and stay with you. For whatever reason, they strike a chord and fit right in. And while this is rare, it does happen. One book that is forever lodged in my heart is Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America's National Parks, by Mark Woods. It's a personal look at natural spaces, at family and friends, at moving and doing, at being in nature. It's a thoughtful record of exploration and listening and thinking, of love, of essence of place.