Wonderful Travel Experiences with Your Child/ren

[5waldos]

I tire of hearing about all the awful experiences people have with kids and cruises/planes/travel in general. Most often other people's children but also their own. This thread is for the memorable and great ones. One of mine to begin-

 

I remember taking a small boat out to an island for the day in the China Sea. On board were my 3 (an islander and 2 Tibetans), plus a child from the Phillipines, one from California, one Jamaican/Canadian, one from Israel, and a Dutch child. As we sailed along the kids all sat together singing, in very loud voices, The Barney Song. (as in I love you, You love me, etc etc). I have it on video and whenever I wonder about the impossibility of people living together on this planet, I play it.

[happybooker1]

Because we are VERY flexible and I understand different cultures, travelling, etc. we are hardly EVER upset by things that happen. We just roll w/whatever. We have been on one cruise (scheduled 2nd one for this summer) when son swam w/the dolphins in water so cold his lips were blue! We have been on an Amtrak trip where the train was 10 HOURS late but the scenery was beautiful! We have been camping in other states and in our own NUMEROUS times with ants, bugs, chiggers, etc. & STILL had a good time.

 

I couldn't pick out just ONE time when it was memorable -- it's ALL good!

 

But your video sounds wonderful! Is it on You Tube or somewhere you could link to??

[graysladymurphy]

I'll never forget the look on my 10 year old daughter's face the moment she saw our cruise ship. She had never seen a cruise ship before and was completely overwhelmed with the size. She was so thrilled. Her expression was priceless. Our cruise has been our best family vacation yet.

[5waldos]

Either this thread is boring to most people or great experiences with kids are hard to come by. Hope it is the former;)

[2Cruise4Ever]

Our 2 kids have always been good travelers. But, on our first family cruise, DD was 2. We were sitting out on our balcony watching the sea go by when she pointed to the water and said, "Dis A MY water!" and then to the ship, "Dis A MY ship!" Then, she proceeded to explain how our day care provider had taken her hose to fill up the ocean!

 

We still laugh today (4 years later). When DH picks up something off the counter and says, "Whose is this?" I say, "Dis A Mines!"

 

We are going on our 4th family cruise in June and can't wait. We love traveling with our kids.

[brazilgirl]

It isn´t boring , it is lovely! I love your China Sea story.

 

My middle son is a very quiet , studious boy. He loves history and geography. He has always been very interested in Ancient Greece and Rome.

 

Last year , while climbing the steps of the Acropolis (lots of steps!) , he stopped and said , "Mom , this is the best day of my life."

 

What more can you ask for?

 

Traveling with our children has been the most rewarding , wonderful experience in our lives. I know we will continue to have these great moments.

 

Kik

[SelectSys]

I tire of hearing about all the awful experiences people have with kids and cruises/planes/travel in general...

 

Travel like life is what you make of it. If you look for problems they will find you.

 

... We are going on our 4th family cruise in June and can't wait. We love traveling with our kids.

 

We almost always travel with our kids. Each of our trips create great memories which I hope will last with them as well.

 

...Traveling with our children has been the most rewarding , wonderful experience in our lives. I know we will continue to have these great moments...

 

Agreed! Now that my kids are getting a bit older I can see a time when they will be off on their own and unable to join us. I plan on enjoying family travel as much as I can as time zooms by pretty fast.

[5waldos]

Or worse than growing up they will become teenagers, which can mean unpleasant travel. That ad for cruising with the young girl who finally smiles really does capture what the experience can be like. We traveled bunches with our kids and the New Year's over the millenium was great- most of the "exotic" places and people brought comments like- he looks like this kid who used to live next door, oh I used to do that dance, I've been to that beach, etc. Made all the hassle, and there was certainly some hassle, worth while.

 

I love the thought of a young girl spying a cruise ship for the first time- hey, my husband took his first cruise last month and had sorta the same response:D

[Florida_cruisers]

By the time my son is 4 he would have been on 4 cruisers and numerous land vacations. We take him everywhere, his first vacation with us was at 7 months to San Francisco and Napa, since then we have taken him to NYC, Virginia, Texas, Skiing to Colorado, on a cruise to Northern Europe, this Summer he will be coming with us to Canada and next year on a South Caribbean cruise. We always bring him along (except on our Las Vegas/Grand Canyon trip last year because it was not kid friendly and only meant for mommy and daddy) because he is part of our family and I work full-time so that time we spend with him is very precious and we build a lot of memories that way.

 

I cannot wait until he goes to school and learns about Ancient history. I will take him out of school to take him to see the real Egyptian Pyramids, the Forum of Caesar, the Vatican, the Louvre, etc... I think that learning about other cultures and countries is an important part of education.

 

However, because he is still somewhat little we do travel with a conscious. We know that he takes a nap every day after lunch and that he goes to bed a 8pm so we try to be respectful of his schedule and know that we cannot do everything with him, but we still have a lot of fun. He loves traveling.

[SelectSys]

Or worse than growing up they will become teenagers, which can mean unpleasant travel...

 

My kids are teenagers! So far so good. The worst thing so far is that my son doesn't really like to have his picture taken. We have sort of worked out a quota system so that he gets in a few pictures.

[5waldos]

My kids are teenagers! So far so good. The worst thing so far is that my son doesn't really like to have his picture taken. We have sort of worked out a quota system so that he gets in a few pictures.

 

You are lucky he is still willing to be close enough to the family that you could get him into a picture! I have been told by reliable sources that they do grow up and get over this teenage stuff, but so far I haven't seen any indication that this is true with my kids.

[JLK22]

I like reading these great experiences with kids. I am a single mom about to embark on my first cruise with my DS, 9, in just under 2 weeks. I am soooo excited and one of hte things I am most looking forward to is seeing the reactions and smiles on my son's face as we do all the fun stuff!

 

I am hoping to have a great story to post on this thread when we return!

 

Keep the stories coming!

[reallyitsmema]

I tire of hearing about all the awful experiences people have with kids and cruises/planes/travel in general. Most often other people's children but also their own. This thread is for the memorable and great ones. One of mine to begin-

 

I remember taking a small boat out to an island for the day in the China Sea. On board were my 3 (an islander and 2 Tibetans), plus a child from the Phillipines, one from California, one Jamaican/Canadian, one from Israel, and a Dutch child. As we sailed along the kids all sat together singing, in very loud voices, The Barney Song. (as in I love you, You love me, etc etc). I have it on video and whenever I wonder about the impossibility of people living together on this planet, I play it.

 

Or worse than growing up they will become teenagers, which can mean unpleasant travel. That ad for cruising with the young girl who finally smiles really does capture what the experience can be like. We traveled bunches with our kids and the New Year's over the millenium was great- most of the "exotic" places and people brought comments like- he looks like this kid who used to live next door, oh I used to do that dance, I've been to that beach, etc. Made all the hassle, and there was certainly some hassle, worth while.

 

I love the thought of a young girl spying a cruise ship for the first time- hey, my husband took his first cruise last month and had sorta the same response:D

You tire of hearing about awful experiences and started a thread for good experiences yet then you post about how bad teenagers are to travel with? Do you actually have any teenagers? Not all of them act out when they travel. Many of them are a pleasure to travel with just as they were when they were little. We just had a great weekend in PA with our son.

[mom2girls]

My girls have been on 5 cruises with me. We've also traveled to other places. I really enjoy traveling with them. I'm happy that I'm able to give them the traveling experiences I have since many single mom's are unable to do it. I love seeing their faces as the see new things for the first time. For good travel stories my Imagination and Sensation reviews have great stories from our travels. (They didn't go with me on the Legend.) The links for the reviews are in my signature.

[5waldos]

You tire of hearing about awful experiences and started a thread for good experiences yet then you post about how bad teenagers are to travel with? Do you actually have any teenagers? Not all of them act out when they travel. Many of them are a pleasure to travel with just as they were when they were little. We just had a great weekend in PA with our son.

 

Lighten up. I have 3. And in fact they are great when we travel. They were also great when they were 0 5 and 6. It is the rest of the time when life could be better:eek: It is part of the developmental stages of life that teenagers struggle with separation and independence. And it was not meant as seriously as you have taken it. But I do like the ad- I have indeed had times like the one portrayed.

[reallyitsmema]

Lighten up. I have 3. And in fact they are great when we travel. They were also great when they were 0 5 and 6. It is the rest of the time when life could be better:eek: It is part of the developmental stages of life that teenagers struggle with separation and independence. And it was not meant as seriously as you have taken it. But I do like the ad- I have indeed had times like the one portrayed.

Maybe if you "lighten up" you will learn to deal with "the rest of the time". It is unfortunate that people feel the need to make sweeping generalizations about teens. Enough teen bashing goes on in the other forums, it would be nice to keep it out of the family forum.

[Love2Cruise - IL]

My DS is 4 and May 2009 will be his first cruise as typically DH and I have gone by ourselves. I am so excited to see all his firsts with him - first plane ride, first cruise etc.

 

Last summer, we took him on a long weekend to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. It was so much fun as everything we new to him. He loved the water rides and the amusement rides. I just figure you can't get these moments back and love to savor them.

[Warm Breezes]

I have a DS(14) and DD(12). We have taken them on 5 cruises, Disneyland and Disney World, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Las Vegas, San Diego, Niagra Falls, Mackinaw Island, Louisville, Chicago, Wisconsin Dells, etc. They have both had there first airplane experience at 6 months old and have done 24 hour road trips to Florida. They are the best travelers and I love seeing the world through their eyes. DS(14) just came back from spring break with the high school band after marching in Disney World. His first big trip without us. I asked him if he would do it again if he had the chance. His response was "No - I'd rather go there with just my family." You gotta love em.

[2Cruise4Ever]

DS(14) just came back from spring break with the high school band after marching in Disney World. His first big trip without us. I asked him if he would do it again if he had the chance. His response was "No - I'd rather go there with just my family." You gotta love em.

 

Awww! That would absolutely make me cry! What a good son! Treasure those moments!

[gt95stang]

A trip that none of our family will ever forget is when we took our 2 1/2 year old daughter in 2006 on a trip to Vietnam to meet her elderly great grandma. We used frequent flier miles for the trip, so we didn't get the most direct routing. We ended up with about 36 hours on planes each way (including layovers) and had to make 5 connections both ways. DD was good on the flights, but it was extremely exhausting for me trying to entertain a toddler for that period of time. But after all was said and done, I wouldn't have traded that trip, and her experience on that trip, for anything. The effort was most certainly worth it and she loved, loved, loved the country. The importance of that trip has been on my mind again recently as Great Grandma passed away last month.

 

Another great travel memory I have with my daughter is that annual Daddy-Daughter weekend that we've been doing every year since she was 2. Its usually just a beach weekend, but its just the two of us and she gets to do all the things that she wants to do. I treasure those weekends more each year because as each year passes, I realized we're one year closer to the year that she no longer finds it "cool" to hang out with Dad for the weekend.

[Warm Breezes]

Awww! That would absolutely make me cry! What a good son! Treasure those moments!

Believe me - I treasure every second. I can't believe he is 14 already - and your right he is a good son. He took the time to buy souvineers for all of us including a necklace for his sister. We do take a mom and dad trip every couple of years but I love traveling with my kids and am afraid of the day when they won't want to come with us. Their favorite trips are cruises and if they had their way we would do one every year (me too - but schedules are getting tighter as they get older). I feel sorry for the people who don't enjoy this time with their kids and do everything possible to make every moment count with them.

[deanna1178]

So refreshing to see positive trips with the kids...thank you for posting this!!

 

We are taking our first cruise with ds this summer and he will just have turned 1y/o.

 

I read most of the negative reviews and take them with a grain of salt because people are more quick to talk about negatives than positives, unfortunately.

 

while it will for sure be a different vacation, I am excited to start sharing our vacations with ds :-D

[sdfamily]

"Either this thread is boring to most people or great experiences with kids are hard to come by. Hope it is the former"

 

It's just that most people able to respond to this thread are putting their kids to bed!

[sdfamily]

btw - we're West Coast so it's earlier!

[Crusin6]

Last summer on the Grand Med cruise we spent 3 days pre in Bella Roma!!!! We of course hired Stefano of Rome Cabs to be our guide and we feel as though we have known him forever....we have sent him plenty of business.

 

So, he comes to gather us at the Hotel Mozart ( we had an apartment in a several hundred year old building around the corner from the main hotel) WOW!!!!

 

We meet and greet him, get in the Mercedes van and as we drive off, he keeps his left hand on the wheel and turns 180 degress around to talk to us!! Occasionally he turned back to see the cars coming...but he didn't miss a beat...and gave us the best tour around! Now, I had prepared my Sicilian born DH, who left when he was 4, and my 4 gorgeous dd's to be prepared for a slightly different way of doing things in Italy as this was my 5th time there......so did this bother any of us? Of course not....and yes when we talk of Stefano that is the first thing we say....and are thrilled with the memory!

 

 

A few days later when we were in Taormina, and DH was back on the island of his birth after so many years, as usual DH wondered away from us ( we take turns watching him, even the 7yo helps out here), of course we don't even give it a thought anymore as we have gotten more than used to it, well when we did catch up with him a few minutes later, we found him dancing with the street musicians to authentic sicilian music!!! All 6 of us are 100% Sicilian, btw, so it is just in our blood....but what a beautiful sight to see this beautiful man dancing to his birthplace music and basking in the glow of being in his homeland. The girls are just so humbled at the wonderful opportunity we all had to go to our ancesteral birthplace!

 

Never stop travelling and do it as often as you can...take the kids...but truthfully it only gets better with them as they get older!!!