Travelling with kids in tow is alarmingly different to travelling when you’re young and child-free. Want to pack light, crawl the bars on a city break and take a historical walking tour? Well, forget it. That’s not happening until the kids have left home.
But if you look at the opportunities rather than the constraints, travelling with kids can be better. Here are seven reasons why. Well-travelled adults become increasingly hard to impress.
Museums, waterfalls and scenic lookouts blur into one. When you’re with little people who haven’t succumbed to disease of “been there, done that”, the enthusiasm courses through the group. Watching children be enthralled by a mediocre aquarium, or having their minds blown by a beauty spot overlooking a valley is thoroughly re-energising.
You know that art museum everyone raves about that you feel you ought to try to enjoy? Congratulations. You no longer have to pretend, and you can reinvest that time in rollercoasters, mini-golf and hand-feeding kangaroos at wildlife parks. It’s like when you turn 30 and don’t have to pretend to like nightclubs any more, and it feels like throwing the shackles off.
Kids aren’t going to cope with four intense attractions a day, and it’ll make you realise that you shouldn’t try to either. Forget those absurd “48 hours in ..
.” itineraries – it’s time to rediscover the joys of just hanging out in a park or playing on a beach. It’s supposed to be a holiday, and kids help you stee.
