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Are you traveling with your family this weekend? I hope your hotel has adjoining rooms!
Friday’s Friendly Funny by Dave Blazek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at blog.friendlyplanet.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://blog.friendlyplanet.com.
When it comes to international family travel, it’s amazing how times have changed. My parents never even thought of taking me on a trip overseas, and while I took my children on international trips when they were younger, I suspect it was only because I worked in the travel industry. Most of friends told me I was crazy to take my five and eight year olds “overseas.” But today, international family travel has almost become the norm, as more and more parents, children, and grandparents embark on multigenerational journeys together.
A recent AAA survey found that multigenerational travel is one of the hottest trends in the travel industry today, with about 36 percent of travelers planning to take a multigenerational trip in the next year alone. Families are seeking new ways to form life-long bonds and create lasting memories, and nothing does that better than sharing in the joy and excitement of international travel.
Here at Friendly Planet Travel, we’ve seen this trend firsthand, as more grandparents and parents continue to turn to us to help them book unforgettable family excursions. That’s why we’ve just unveiled our latest family-friendly travel packages that take families to some of the most exotic destinations in our world. Our tours visit seven countries — Costa Rica, Japan, Thailand, Kenya, Greece, South Africa, and China — at special, family-friendly departure times and rates, with discounts up to $950 for children under 12.
My husband and I recently returned from an unforgettable trip to Brazil. The Brazilian beaches, nightlife, culture, and food were spectacular, but the true highlight was vacationing with our 14-year-old grandson, Ben. This was the first time my husband and I planned an international excursion with a grandchild — without his parents — and the experience was one we’ll never forget.
Travel opens a young person’s eyes like no other experience. It introduces them to foreign sights and sounds that free their minds and expand their world views. Travel teaches life lessons, like that people who look, speak, eat, dress, and behave differently are still people just like you.
By traveling to Brazil with Ben, my husband and I also expanded our own world views by viewing the country through his fresh, curious eyes and savoring new experiences through his enormous appetite for adventure. Ben’s excitement began the moment we stepped off the airplane, and he remained in a state of wonder for the entire trip. We watched him soak up every detail, ask questions, embrace a new culture and people, and try strange foods, and we were delighted as every one of his firsts transformed into our own.
The experience not only influenced our views of Brazil, but it also forged bonds among us that would never have been possible under other circumstances. Traveling without Ben’s parents allowed us to truly get to know one another in a new way, and appreciate each other far beyond the traditional grandparent and grandchild relationship.
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FAMILY TRAVEL: International family travel from Friendly Planet broadens minds and expands horizons
Forget Epcot’s World Showcase. Families today want to go beyond the ‘been there, done that’ summer vacation to see the real China, Italy, Japan, and Africa. You might be one of them — a parent who has always dreamed of traveling internationally with your children, but didn’t think it was possible because of the cost, stress, and planning required to put a trip together. There’s a lot to consider: choosing hotels, scheduling intra-country travel, knowing what sightseeing spots to visit, not speaking the local language, and the ultimate question: Will my children be OK (and actually have fun!) on this trip?
That’s why I’m so excited that Friendly Planet now offers families safe, affordable options to travel internationally this summer with our new family-friendly group tours. We handle the details, so you can concentrate on enjoying the spectacular beauty, culture, and history of some of the most jaw-dropping places on Earth with your kids (along with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, too!), making memories that will last a lifetime.
You might be thinking: Is international group travel right for my family? One of the best parts of these tours is that every detail has been thought of. We’ve selected kid-friendly hotels with amenities that they’ll love, scheduled touring that kids and parents will enjoy, and picked talented guides who specialize in making sightseeing interesting for the entire family. And, by traveling with other families in a group, you and your kids will have plenty of opportunities to make new friends and share this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
But there are many more reasons to travel internationally with your kids. Here are just five:
