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I am currently planning a trip to Vietnam with my husband for his birthday which I previously made a post about. We are taking our whole family (along with my sister, husband and her kids) on a short cruise to Mexico at thanksgiving.
We want to start traveling domestically and internationally with our children. We have a 15 year old and 5 year old that live with us, both boys. I mentioned to the 15 year old that we were considering Ireland and he seemed uninterested in that and said there is nothing to do there and everyone wears kilts ("those little skirt thingies"). I told him he doesn't know anything about Ireland. He seemed interested in Germany because they have interactive cross walks.
So, my question is, given their ages and vastly different interests where would be a good place to introduce them to international travel? The older boy is a bit fearful yet so he wouldn't enjoy a trip that was in a place without a lot of English speakers. I know the general European countries but more specifically cities within those countries that would appeal to a broad age group and be a good way to dip their toes into international travel.
I'd probably stay away from the very big cities like London or Paris until the kids can handle the chaos a bit better. For cities that are kid friendly, I'd look at Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Edinburgh.
I'd also look at some combination of city and driving tours. Cars can be "safe places" with kids, and they can let you get to small towns and countryside that are very difficult, or even impossible to reach using public transit.
For example, look at this idea. Fly from NYC to Edinburgh and spend a few days exploring that wonderful city. In addition to castles, palaces and marvelous architecture, there are parks, a killer children's museum, beaches to walk on... one of the best cities in Europe for kids IMO.
Then get a car and drive south into the north of England. There are tiny villages, spectacular castles, more beaches, wildlife tours, a couple of amazing cathedrals... End in York with its Viking and railway museums, then take the train to either Manchester airport or down to London, then home. This is doable in 10 days and will provide enough variety - and enough stability - for the kids.
West of Ireland is spectacular and great for kids. My wife spend a week exploring County Kerry and County Clare and it was one of our all time best vacations. People are super friendly, and you can stay in small villages and towns that are not intimidating. Love the Dingle Peninsula, Killarney National Park, Cliffs of Moher, and the Burren.
We want to start traveling domestically and internationally with our children. We have a 15 year old and 5 year old that live with us, both boys. I mentioned to the 15 year old that we were considering Ireland and he seemed uninterested in that and said there is nothing to do there and everyone wears kilts ("those little skirt thingies"). I told him he doesn't know anything about Ireland. He seemed interested in Germany because they have interactive cross walks.
I'd do some research on Ireland, focusing on things that would be of interest to him, and look through it together. He doesn't know what he doesn't know, so of course he's not going to be excited. (And reassure him that no, everyone doesn't wear those little skirt thingies.)
I'd probably stay away from the very big cities like London or Paris until the kids can handle the chaos a bit better. For cities that are kid friendly, I'd look at Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Edinburgh.
I'd also look at some combination of city and driving tours. Cars can be "safe places" with kids, and they can let you get to small towns and countryside that are very difficult, or even impossible to reach using public transit.
For example, look at this idea. Fly from NYC to Edinburgh and spend a few days exploring that wonderful city. In addition to castles, palaces and marvelous architecture, there are parks, a killer children's museum, beaches to walk on... one of the best cities in Europe for kids IMO.
Then get a car and drive south into the north of England. There are tiny villages, spectacular castles, more beaches, wildlife tours, a couple of amazing cathedrals... End in York with its Viking and railway museums, then take the train to either Manchester airport or down to London, then home. This is doable in 10 days and will provide enough variety - and enough stability - for the kids.
What about a Harry Potter themed DIY tour of Great Britain? The 15 yo could help plan and you could read the stories to the 5 yo to get him excited.
this would be in my top 10 vacations, I LOVE Harry Potter so does my 5 year old. The teenager though wants nothing to do with it. Hes a big sports and car kid, like his dad
this would be in my top 10 vacations, I LOVE Harry Potter so does my 5 year old. The teenager though wants nothing to do with it. Hes a big sports and car kid, like his dad
Maybe a mix of both? My kids are close together in age but completely different. How about some HP themed places and then maybe take in a futball game? Is the 15 year old into all sports or just certain ones?
I suggest you make it as painless as possible for the first trip. Use the United 8:30am EWR to London-Heathrow flight so you're not making people do an overnight on a flight. On a Saturday morning, you have a trivial ride with no traffic to Newark. You're getting up early enough that you're already at least partially on the way to getting adjusted to the time zone change and it's only 5 hours. Booked way in advance, you should be able to find a nice highly rated AirBnB SuperHost apartment walkable from Heathrow Express/Paddington Station for a week in London. It's really easy to use the commuter or intercity rail to do day trips outside of London. Oxford is an hour. Cambridge is an hour. Bath is 90 minutes. There are easily a dozen good options with that kind of travel time. You can even do Eurostar to Paris as a day trip or an easy overnight leaving most of your stuff in London at the AirBnB.
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