Nancy

I wouldn't even question whether to take the kids. We took my daughter to Italy when she was 6. She has also been to many US destinations and Montreal. <BR> <BR>I believe that she has a different outlook because of her travels. I will never forget sitting with her in the movies watching Hunchback of Notre Dame after we got back from Italy. She turned to me in the theater and said, "Mommy, doesn't Notre Dame look a bit like the Duomo in Florence?" It was worth it right there! <BR> <BR>Of course this year she is 10 and has had a unit in school on heritage. What a neat thing to have gone to the home of her great grandparents - don't you think? <BR> <BR>Nancy

janieb

Gosh....I want to have some kids so I can take them!!! These memories are great!! Unfortunately, my parents were never able to take me, but we did take some local US vacations--Jersey Shore <BR>They were memorable too, its all a matter of perspective. I guess sometimes you don't know what you are missing. Europe is great, and educational, (as is the US), but Europe does seem to have that sort of panache and 'differentness' about it to make it exciting for children. Enjoy whatever you do!

Meg

Take them! My dad was in the military (retired before I was born), so he had been everywhere and really had no desire to return to Europe or Asia. However, when I was 11, my parents won a trip to Italy. They took me and started a lifelong love affair with travel. They would never let me go on student trips overseas in high school or college, but once I was on my own, I started travelling. I have been to Europe several times, Asia twice, the Caribbean several times and Central America twice. I just love it - and it all started on that trip to Italy.

kalena

Hi Katrina: <BR>Whenever you go with your family is a good time, and at your childrens' age especially. They will enjoy it tremendously. I don't think it would ever diminish their future enjoyment of the experience. <BR> <BR>We've taken our boys to Europe twice, at ages 3 months and 2 (THAT was memorable, and Parisians were amazingly supportive and helpful) and three years ago, when we home exchanged in Annecy and our boys were actually conscious of the experience. We are planning on a short trip to France again next summer, and perhaps doing some cycling in Italy or Portugal. Our now 12 and 14 year olds are looking forward to the trip and we are actively planning our all too brief itinerary. <BR> <BR>Thanks so much for the question, and thanks, fodorites for the wonderful answers. I'm so pleased to see there's other children of academics out there who had similar childhoods to mine. (Hi SharonM!) While living in South America as a child, we'd travel to Europe almost every summer to visit my dad's family in Finland. I took several trips to Europe on my own when I got older: my parents also sent me to study French at the Alliance Francaise as a 16-year old (what a great summer that was, wasn't it Rex?), and to a six month study trip to Italy as a nineteen year-old. <BR> <BR>I'm very grateful to my parents for that early life-experience, and for having given me such long wings. <BR> <BR>When we traveled then, it was frugal. When we travel now, it's the same. We have become avid home exchangers. I highly recommend homelink.org as a way to make friendships and travel meaningfully (and cheaply) as a family. I have also become very adept at finding great internet fares, which is an absolute necessity for us considering the long distance we have to travel. Now, doubly blessed by living in a tropical paradise, I still need a dose of Europe every few years or so. It's a priority. <BR> <BR>Do it, your children will love you for it. Aloha, <BR>k

Nano

What a great thread. My parents took me to Europe for the first time at 28! Before then, I really didn't have a burning desire to go, but after...well, I can't stay away. This June we will bring our three kids to France and Belgium and the planning for our trip has been a real family bonding experience. My 5 year old practices her table manners "for France" every night and all of the kids have memorized the French language tape that I play every time we get in the car. The kids all have images of crepes, baguettes and fromage dancing in their heads and they can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower. So, even though I never made it to Europe when I was young, the child in me gets to experience it through my kids' eyes now, and that feels wonderful.

steph

OK, here's a weird one - but funny, I guess. <BR> <BR>When I was 7, nearly 8 years old, my parents announced to everybody that they were getting a divorce (this was 1978). They spent nearly a year which is manadatory under Australian law, legally separated (the law allows for cohabitation under the same roof if you can prove that you are in all practical terms, separated, which my parents did). My parents then announced that they, although still fully intending to go through with the divorce, would take themselves, and their 3 kids, aged 8, 6 and 4, to Europe to travel around in a motorhome for a year. <BR> <BR>Well, we did it! It only lasted 9 months, I think we all got tired of it! My parents sold up the house and we lived off the interest, then we bought our new "home" in London and set out on our last family holiday. My parents were concerned about my schooling in particular, but they were very diligent with our formal lessons, taken on the tiny dining room table. Of course, none of this could compare with the education that we all received in the museums and art galleries, on top of Mount Vesuvius and the Eiffel Tower, eating foods from all the different places we went to, we had to - we didn't have the option of dining in expensive restaurants - with the exception of my ninth birthday, where we breakfasted at the revolving restaurant on top of Mount Shilthorn, Switzerland where I now live with my husband and toddler daughter. We just spent the weekend together in Paris. She's only very young, but we both want her to know from an early age that the world is a very big and (mostly) wonderful place. My advice is to take your kids to as many places as you can, as soon as you can - no matter what you can afford, no matter how you do it. <BR> <BR>BTW - don't do it to save a marriage - it didn't work for my parents, although the courts back in Australia found it a little hard to swallow that a couple could spend a year together in a motorhome and still consider themselves separated...not sure why - would say that something like that would be a sure recipe for the demise of the happiest of marraiges!

Lisa

Katrina, <BR>I definitely vote for taking your kids to Europe now! Each country still has its individual charm and history and that might change in a few years. I was very fortunate because my father used to lecture in Europe and he would always take the whole family with him. I started going to Europe when I was 8 (my first trip was an 8 month sabbatical in Sweden & England) and they took us every year after that. By the time I was a sophomore in highschool I was addicted to travel...especially European travel and eventually majored in European History. My husband is now a European addict too...we always return with a new outlook and come back feeling totally enriched. They'll definitely get a lot out of it!! <BR>Lisa

harzer

My parents took their first trip to Europe in 1953 to attend the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and then did a four-month motoring tour of Britain and the Continent. But I was left at home with my grandparents so that my schooling would not be interrupted! <BR> <BR>However, the inevitable slide-shows that followed their return home, together with the fact that I was studying French and German at school, certainly inspired me to travel overseas as soon as I could. <BR> <BR>I have been to Europe or South-East Asia every three or four years since 1959, and have seen to it that my own kids have had the opportunity to live and travel in Europe, because it gives an invaluable counterpoint to one's own culture.

steve

My parents first took me and my two sisters when we were 22, 20, and 17 (My 15 yr old brother stayed at home). I did the bulk of the planning (primarily using FODOR'S guide to Europe. It was a great trip - so much so that I have a tough time taking my wife anywhere that I didn't go! <BR> <BR>We stayed in very nice hotels and I enjoyed it very much. <BR> <BR>Three years later, my brother and I spent 6 weeks bicycling across the continent, camping and staying in youth hostels. That was great also. <BR> <BR>Last year I took my 9 & 11 year old boys to Scotland and England - stayed in a self catering cottage and B&B's. They had a great time. <BR> <BR>It doesn't seem to matter much if you are a family that can stand being together for a long period. Frankly, we get along much better when traveling than during our normal life.

Marzy

Katrina, <BR>I too was a military brat. We did two tours of England for a total of 7 years while I was in elementary school. We traveled the continent and by the time I was sixteen I had been to 16 countries. I have so many wonderful memories of our travels which have been forever etched in my mind. For a myriad of reasons I was never able to get back to Europe. Thirty-five years later we are taking our children who will be 7 and 10 to England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in June next year. If for what ever reason they are unable to do it for another 35 years, at least they had the opportunity while young. I am beside myself with anticipation!

Rod Hoots

We took our four kids all over Europe when I was stationed there and they loved it. We've all been back many times, together and separately. Your two are just the right age so now is the time!

Rudy

I took an organized tour on my first trip to Europe. I was in my early twenties, and, glancing around at my travel mates, I realized that most of them were elderly women. I resolved to find a common denominator among us, so I struck up conversations with most of them. What I remember most about those conversations, (and it has stayed with my all my life) is that these women were all widows. Showing me photographs of their deceased husbands, they would sigh and say something along the lines of "We always intended to travel together after the children were grown and we were retired but..." It was obvious that they never fulfilled their intentions. <BR> <BR>To this day, when I think that my travels are costing too much and am therefore thinking of putting off a trip, I remind myself that tomorrow is today. <BR> <BR>Take your children on that trip, and do it now. You'll never regret it, and they will always remember it.

katrina

I am very much enjoying all your responses. I can't wait to go!!!!! <BR>If my children come back with at least one memory of the type that some of you have had, it is all certainly worth it. <BR>Note to Rudy--I just read your response-it made me weepy. <BR>Off to make my travel plans..............

judy

Rudy: That would be an ephiphany for me also! It is the core of my "travel philosophy". Carpe diem, Katrina

Diane

My son has traveled to Europe with us two times - at age 14 and age 16. The first trip was a little bit of a challenge - learning to accept things are just different when you are in a different country. <BR> <BR>On the second trip we took a friend of his along also. My son was amazingly accomodating - usually a picky eater here, now willing to try different things. The friend went through the culture shock. <BR> <BR>The neat part of it is now the two want to go to Europe on their own after they graduate from high school. If they hadn't gone with us I don't know if they would be willing or comfortable doing this. <BR> <BR>So, from my perspective, the early travel has set the travel bug in them and they are really looking forward more. <BR> <BR>On the trip with the two, we made sure we stayed in small towns with areas they would feel comfortable venturing on their own which they had no hesitation to. In Paris and London we kept them closer, but they feel navigation of the metro on their own will be no problem. <BR> <BR>Take them and plant the Europe travel bug. <BR>

herself

I'am with Judy, and we didn't even get to Niagra Falls. A beach about one hour from our home was our big travel vacation. <BR>BUT, we had books and a piano. We also had my dad playing and singing "The Whiffenppoof (sp?) Song. "Those far away places" were dreams to dream about and may account for my addiction to travel. My kids all have well worn passports, I have always believed that traveling was part of their education, but I bet they never cried at seeing the Eiffel Tower, or sat for hours in Westminster Abbey trying to remember all that had been read about the place. My hair is white, I have gone through several passports but with every trip I revert to the little kid reading the National Georgraphic and listening to my dad play and sing about far away places with strange sounding names. Maybe you can't just go somewhere and see it. You have to know about it and experience it. <BR>Have fun

trevor

Katrina: <BR> <BR>Carpe diem! By all means, take your kids now if you have enough money to do it, then let them explore it later on their own, when they backpack with friends in college. <BR>You deserve to see their reactions to new places first hand, and their experiences with you will ony whet their appetites for that time when they return on their own as young adults. <BR>I hade it both ways---first with family then again in college, and I must say that they were two completely different experiences. But I'm glad I had some experience with the places before I went on my own---it made them less intimidating to explore. (I re-took a photo of myself at the Eiffel Tower when I went back alone and sent it to my mom---she had the original photo of me taken there 15 years before). <BR> <BR>Have fun.

carolyn

did you know what you started when you asked this?! <BR> <BR>Anyway, I would say START THEM YOUNG. My dad got sabbaticals, back when there was more money in academic life, twice--so my brother and I got to travel quite young--first and second grade, and then again in fifth and sixth. <BR> <BR>FORMATIVE EXPERIENCES. My brother chose chunks of his career path based in part on ways to get back to travel and "GO PLACES." I, too, have traveled ever since. Our lives were changed. <BR> <BR>What it gives kids is the sense--the awareness that it's OUT THERE. And the initial familiarity gives them a sense that it--travel--can be done. A good, young friend once she was taken the first time KNEW she could do London's tube, Gatwick, etc. on her own--so just instilling the familiarity is step one. <BR> <BR>I cannot imagine NOT wanting to plant this seed with a young person. WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY. To think that they might WANT to know history because they have seen parts of it--say, the Magna Carta in Salisbury Cathedral's Chapter House, or read John Keats because they have seen his house at Hamstead Heath, or understand why bombing out a whole town (in Alsace--by "us" the supposed "allies") is tragic beyond words--does my teacher's heart much good. <BR> <BR>TAKE THEM!!!!!

Paige

What a cool thread! We traveled around the states when I was a kid but never off the continent. My grandmother traveled like mad when I was growing up. Every 6 months, she was off to Africa or Tahiti or somewhere and came home with hours of cool stories. I'm quite sure I got the travel bug from her. My first trip to Europe was at age 21. A friend and I backpacked around for 6 weeks and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I dragged my mom on her first trip to Europe a few years later and now she's hooked. I can't stop traveling now so if I have kids, they're going, too! <BR>I think it's sooo cool when parents take their kids on trips around the world. Those kids will be exposed to so many new things and will probably be lifetime travelers as a result. By the way, they can still do the poor backpacker routine when they get older. There's nothing like the first trip on your own!

Mom

I took my daughter to Italy at age 6 and Spain at age 7. This year at age 8 she will be going with me to France. The first two trips were tours with Trafalgar. This year we are going on our own. <BR>I would suggest that you go on a tour with your kids the first time. All of the hassles of planning for hotels and tours are handled for you. Also, the tour guides for Trafalgar were great about making special arrangements for my daughter (especially at meals). They speak the language and have been on the tour several times so they can direct you to places that would interest you during your free-time. Also, you get to sleep on the bus without any worries, and you can safely leaving your stuff on the bus when hopping on and off. <BR>My best suggesstion is to bring snacks from home. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich tastes fantastic after 5 or more days of foreign food. Also, don't forget the Sony walkman's for the kids music.