Note: This post originally appeared on Travelocity’s Inspire Hub.
It Started with Penguins
It was a simple request: “I want to go to Antarctica.” It came from my daughter who was studying penguins in school. She was three. I said yes.
I mean, of course I said yes. I wanted to go to Antarctica, too! And she was my first child and I had no idea that other parents didn’t let their kids choose their travel destinations.
I picked up the phone, called National Geographic Expeditions, and asked them what an appropriate age for Antarctica was. They suggested eight, since at that age kids can appreciate where they are in the world, follow the educational sessions that would be taking place on the ship and entertain themselves on the ship. I hung up and told my daughter that we would go when she turned eight.
She was a little disappointed with the time frame, as was I.
But It Really Started with a Cartoon
Looking down at my disappointed daughter, I quickly asked if there was anywhere else that she wanted to go first. She said that she had seen the Sydney Opera House on a cartoon and wanted to see it and touch it in real life. Plus, Australia has kangaroos and koalas and all sorts of fun animals. We quickly went online and booked a trip.
Feeding a kangaroo at Featherdale Wildlife Park outside Sydney (4 years old)
A New Tradition
That trip to Australia in April 2010, just a few months after my daughter turned four, was the start of a tradition. Every year after that I asked her where she wanted to go, and every year we went. We visited Hong Kong. We traveled to Sydney again. We visited Bali a couple of times. And for her eight-year-old trip we went to Antarctica. Antarctica was amazingly kid-friendly, and National Geographic had been correct with its age recommendation – eight was perfect.
In Antarctica (8 years old)
In Bali’s Monkey Forest (9 years old)
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Could you please share more about the process you have for letting your kids pick and/or let them help with planning their trip? (or point me to where to read) My daughter is 10, we travel a lot and are homeschooling now – I think something like this would be great for our family. I’d love to hear specifically – do you help guide them at all? Do you have a specific day every year you meet with your kids and they pick or is it more fluid/evolving? Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth. I touch in various posts how the kids have picked specific destinations, but really there’s no defined process. At some point after their birthdays we’ll start talking about where they want to go in the next year. Then I’ll do some research on the best time to visit and look at the school calendar and we’ll figure out roughly when it makes sense to book a trip. At that point we start to look at flight schedules and see if there are other destinations that make sense to add in – easy stopovers, etc… If I’ve seen an amazing resort or island somewhere and it fits perfectly with the destination or layover options, I’ll bring up a website and show the kids what else we could add in. So from that perspective I guide a little? But really the final itinerary is up to them – one stop, multiple stops, island, big city, around-the-world, whatever.
This info is helpful Eric, thanks! So glad I was pointed towards your blog – we have loved traveling worldwide with our daughter and it’s so great to know other families share the same passion.
Eric, love your blog! Wondering if you could provide any tips on how you convinced your wife to stay home while you took the kids on these awesome trips! Does she do something similar with the kids?
Thanks! And keep posting!
There was no convincing needed! She loves to travel and is welcome to take the kids anywhere, anytime, but I like traveling just a little more. And she gets the advantage of being at home with just 1 or 2 kids when I’m gone, which is a different dynamic as well. It’s all good. We’re together as a family the vast majority of the year.