Yeah I guess hopping around and spending a night or two in different communities is the way to go. I was with the ex-coworker that I’ve named “Princess” in the book. She had a gigantic suitcase and was super high-maintenance to move from place to place. Town-hopping on Atitlan would have been a nightmare.
She reminded me for days that I spent too much on our private boat on our Atitlan day trip. Always forgetting that we didn’t leave enough time for the shuttles, because she got going so late that morning. And once again I had to break the cardinal rule of overlanding and drive back in the dark.
She also wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was with the Old-West-looking brothel district along the highway back to Antigua - with boustiered prostitutes standing in saloon doors.
I was so happy when I put her in the Uber to catch her plane. I went into cow mode the last few days. Just ignore everything and pass the time. We had some epic yelling matches on the side of the road like something out of Romancing the Stone.
I’m hoping those are some of the funnier parts of the book. I love reading about vacations from hell, so hopefully I’m not the only one. She comes off pretty bad, but I make myself come off as petty and vindictive too.
Honestly, they’re up for anything we talk up and research together. We’re just not getting anything out of the typical beach / theme park / etc. stuff. They’re both into history and will hang in for that stuff, but also like being in nature. We all are sick of doing the typical tourist trap trips but suck at actually planning other things.
Depending on how much time you have, you might want to try a road trip of some sort where you never spend more than 3 nights in one place. It’s definitely a bit more laborious to plan but the quality time you’ll have with your kids as you go from place to place will be just as great as the time spent at any destination.
As a rough outline (for example), you go from Lisbon to Madrid to Barcelona. All are within a few hours of each other by car or train and there are certainly places between as one or two night side trips.
Edit: but coming to NYC is obviously the right move for anyone planning a vacation
yeah this, absolutely. I was going to say “canada” but if you want to go to europe, this would be my recommendation. barcelona has a reputation as an all night party town for drinking and you can certainly experience it that way but it’s a great daytime city as well, extremely walkable and there’s no end of cool shit to see and great food to eat. I would guess that an obvious american family with tweener kids is probably THE #1 prime target for pickpockets on la rambla but just take the basic precautions and it’s fine, A++++ would visit again
I haven’t been with my kids but I felt like copenhagen would be a good family experience as well.
Fly into Queretaro
2 nights in Queretaro (midsize prosperous Mexican city that feels like Spain in many places)
2 nights in San Miguel de Allende (Mexican historic town, very touristy but with awesome food and very easy to navigate with kids)
3 nights in Guanajuato (easily one of the most unique/atmospheric/historic cities in Latin America)
Fly home from Leon/Guanajuato
Safe, easy, reasonably priced, and within a reasonable comfort zone as parents but enough to get your kids outside of their comfort zone. Good weather 4 seasons so you can do it whenever, and they take Covid precautions 10x more seriously than the USA.
Costa Rica would be cool too, with a way different vibe that’s more nature focused and package-tourism. Guatemala I think is better for younger and middle aged foreigners than it is for kids.
I can’t remember the type of stuff we were learning at 9 or 11 in school, but I think it’d be cool if you could match up some aspects of a trip with something they’d recently learned about in history class. It might be kinda basic, but a trip to Rome and Athens for some kids who recently learned about ancient Roman or Greek history seems fun imo.
Adding to the Barcelona idea, one of my favorite trips to Europe involved renting a car in Barcelona and driving north to the Costa Brava. There are lots of beautiful little beaches (“calas”) all along the way to the border with France.
All along those towns you can find fantastic food, lots of nature walks, and beautiful beaches that you can discover by walking along the seaside route called Cami de Ronda.
Like taking the Barcelona example, all the attractions in the city are touristy. You will encounter some Americans. But the Sagrada Familia is still impressive. Parc Guell is gorgeous. Even La Boqueria which is the epicenter of tourist is awesome the first time you are there.
There is a place for an “off the beaten track” trip and to “live like a local” etc etc, but places become touristy for a reason. A lot of them are amazing places you really need to visit once
Well, the type of tourists that seek out beautiful places in Europe are very different from the ones you run into doing the typical lazy American vacations to beach resorts and Disneyland (hopefully).
Yeah, this. Like, Paris and Rome and Barcelona are rife with tourists, but it’s for a damn good reason. Might as well embrace it, as long as you eat at least a few blocks away from the major tourist sites.
Having lived in NYC for 20 years I find that when I travel most other place in the US it helps to just mentally articulatie it as an international trip. Once you frame yourself as being in a strange land it makes everything more tolerable and interesting.
Or, depending on where you’re going, into Burbank instead of LAX.
JetBlue flies into Burbank. I did recently learn that jets have to go scant on fuel when taking off from Burbank, so that they can take off faster and ascend at a more rapid rate to clear the mountains. That was a little disturbing to hear.
Its the main reason I avoid Burbank. I hate how close the runway is to the mountains. Im not scared of flying but the one thing I hate when I fly is how long it seems it takes for jets to leave the ground, always imagining they will run out of runway. Coupling that with possibly plowing into the mountains is a no go for me. Give me OC anyday