Traveling as a kid

Today's assignment is about traveling with the kids, or memories of the same topic.

As a kid we lived in Germany. At first we thought it would only be a year, but even though it turned out to be four years my parents still took us on a big outing every Saturday to make sure we saw the country while we still could. I remember wishing we could just stay home and play with our friends, but in the end I loved all of our outings, home made picknicks and walks around famous gardens, castles and churches. I would often pretend to be the real princess who used to live in that castle and talk to my prince as we walked along.

I also remember our long trips to Graz Austria, especially because it was before strict seatbelt/carseat rules. We would go through these really long tunnels in the mountains and then we would sit backwards in our seats with our feet up at the rear view window because we thought it looked cool to see the mountain from that view as we exited the tunnel.

Trips were easy, because we all loved to read and we all became readers at an early age, so we just brought loads of books and that kept us entertained. We drove as a family all the way from England, to Italy, to Spain, to Switzerland, France, Prague, and all around Germany of course. As I write this I once again realize how lucky I was to have those experiences.

Since we're an international family my kids get passports as soon as we get home from the hospital. Baby Joseph was so little that we could hardly get him to stay awake for his passport pictures and they had to have his eyes open! I have traveled by myself overseas with one and with two little ones. It was survivable, but oh so exhausting. After the last time I said I wouldn't do it again. We'll see. No immediate plans, but I may have to go back on my word someday. It's not my idea of comfy traveling though... three different planes, three different countries, a stroller, car seat, baby, toddler, carry on, purse, valuables.... Especially the whole going through security thing and getting all your stuff loaded up onto the x-ray machine, taking off your shoes while holding on to your kids, getting everything put back together.... It was quite the adventure. 24 hours on the road.... yes, absolutely exhausting. But you do a lot to go see grandma and grandpa. As the family grows and the expenses increase it feels like it's going to be a long time before we do a big international family trip again. Hopefully it won't be too long.

At home our trips have been long car rides to Utah and back. Our kids do great. We hook up the DVD player and that pretty much keeps them entertained the whole trip. I really can't complain. I've written a blog post about tips on enjoying Disneyland as a family, so I won't repeat that travel information here.

Our two big family reunion trips (last year and this year) turned out to be somewhat of a disaster with a lot of sickness. But the views were still pretty and the kids still had a great time seeing their cousins, so in the end I think it was worth it. That just about wraps up my travel assignment for today. Ta ta for now!