Europe With Kids

My family at the Eiffel Tower

"Travel to as many destinations as possible for the sake of education as well as pleasure" - Maya Angelou.   Traveling with kids anywhere can be challenging and traveling internationally with kids can certainly be even more demanding. But it is also amazingly rewarding and inspiring for both parents and the kids.   Watching your kids discover and explore the world is really the best gift you can give your kids and yourselves, it truly is priceless!.    

We have been so blessed and fortunate to be able to travel many summers to multiple destinations in Europe with our children.  These adventures include seeing new cultures, eating unusual foods, hearing different languages, walking through history from ages past, and learning how others live are all such invaluable experiences. What an amazing education and gift for all of us.  Whether it is climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris, eating gelato in Italy, hiking in Switzerland, walking through the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, exploring a castle in Scotland, touring the Parthenon in Athens, or boating on the Rhine River in Germany.   All of these experiences have made my children's lives, and my life, so much richer and gloriously full.

Europe is a fabulous place to take kids.  Every castle, museum, ruins, or chocolate factory we toured had extra activities that were special and geared towards the kids. Europe has a plethora of playgrounds around every corner with new and different equipment.  And everywhere we have been has been wonderfully welcoming of children.  Of course this does take an extra bit of planning but that extra planning can make the trip worthwhile.   

We have been able to travel with our children to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Greece.  During these trips the kids have ranged in ages from 1 to 13 years.  And don't get me wrong there are always tough days when you are not quite sure why you brought 2 small kids to Paris.   But by the end of the trip you laugh about the hassle on the underground with the stroller and loosing the wheel, or missing the train because we were just potty training, or realizing the stroller was a horrible idea for Venice.    

When your kids recall how much fun it was to take a gondola ride in Venice, or how amazing it was to see the black and red sand beaches in Santorini, or how your son dreams about being a knight from the castle visit in England, or how your daughter hopes to grow up and see the whole world you know you have made the right choice and traveled...  

The world is truly your kids playground....so go and take them to play.