Anne Frank House – Amsterdam
When we took our first family trip outside of the country in 2001, the preparations were so very different than the trip we are planning for this Fall. Fourteen years ago the kids were 10, 8 and 7 years old, and you’d have thought we were trying to smuggle them out of the country with everything the school required to pull them out of class for a week. All three needed their first passports, and we weren’t sure our youngest really understood what we meant by the fact that we were leaving the country. What if the kids got airsick, picked up a bug, or simply hated being in a foreign country? What if we couldn’t find food that they liked? Would they need a break during the day with all the walking we planned? And the big question everyone asked – why Amsterdam?
The last question was the easiest – KLM had a cheap fare to Holland that made it possible to afford to take the entire family. Also, Amsterdam was a city I knew well from previous personal and business trips, so I wouldn’t need to worry about maps and navigation. I mean let’s face it, a dad takes his family on a great trip to establish himself as a hero, and it can be a bit scary to the tots if he shrugs his shoulders at some point and admits he is hopelessly lost. My wife is used to this admission from me, but it seemed something to avoid when carting around the whole family.
I got very lucky on one point. The elementary school the kids were attending was focusing on the art of Van Gogh that year (unbeknownst to me when I booked the trip), and it gave them a purpose to cling to when they realized that we would see the Van Gogh museum. Beyond that, I felt canals and windmills would be exciting and different for kids of all ages. As long as I skirted the red light district during our wanderings and avoided stumbling into a gay bar for a family lunch, I figured little could go wrong.
The trip went off smashingly, and Amsterdam was the first of several more trips overseas with the kids. Whenever we saved enough money to buy a new car, my wife and I would often decide to coax another year or two out of the beater and book flights. Each trip was different in terms of planning to keep the kids interested, but each journey got easier as the kids got older and appreciated the adventures more readily. One trip incorporated the new Harry Potter movie, another incorporated Christmas on the Mediterranean. Incorporating the familiar with the foreign seemed to help the kids adjust to a new culture quickly and have more fun.
Now the “kids” are 24, 23 and 21, and this time my wife and I gave them the budget and told them to pick the place and plan the agenda. They not only loved the idea, but it looks like the trip will come in under budget. They have set up their own frequent flier profiles with the airline, and we’ll be flying into L.A from all over the country to meet for the long haul to Tokyo. After years of doing all the planning, dad is just going along for the ride. I’m told we’ll be seeing the Imperial Palace, Mount Fuji and Disney Tokyo. We’ll be dining on lots of raw fish and exploring the legendarily busy Tokyo subway system. This time I get to be just another baby duck following the leaders, and I’m looking forward to it.
Notre Dame – Paris
Limmat River – Zurich
Mozart’s Birthplace – Salzburg
Trevi Fountain – Rome
On the Beach – Valencia, Spain
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