Travel with Children, authored collectively by nine Lonely Planet writers, covers everything from choosing the right vacation for your family and packing tips to keeping kids healthy on the road and tons of destination ideas. There are also sections on traveling as a single parent, with teenagers and with children who have special needs. But the 280-page book isn’t for everyone.
Now in its 5th edition, the first version was written by Lonely Planet co-founder Maureen Wheeler, when her children were just 4 and 2. She writes a lovely, reflective foreword filled with anecdotes about traveling with her young kids. (It would be fun to read that first edition to see how traveling with youngsters has changed in the last quarter century — no sanity-saving, portable DVD players back then!)
Loaded with tips and advice (the “Staying Healthy and Keeping Safe” section is particularly thoughtful), Travels with Children does serve as a primer for new parents who aren’t sure how to handle adding an infant to their world travels. It might also be helpful to parents who are brand new to traveling — but this is where the book’s focus skews a bit. If you’re new to traveling, more than likely you don’t need family vacation ideas in far-flung parts of the world.
More than half of the book is dedicated to destination ideas all over the globe. We’re talking about where to go and what to do with children in countries like Sri Lanka, Fiji, Senegal, South Africa and Lebanon. I don’t know about you, but my family vacation plans do not include stops in Beirut or the Cook Islands. With my vacation budget, I need tips on amusement parks and beaches to visit in the United States. (My beloved home state of Colorado and its Rocky Mountains aren’t mentioned at all!) But, if you are planning on saving your pennies for some world travel with your children — or you are dropping out of “real life” for a round-the-world family trip, the 150+ pages of worldwide destination ideas might come in handy.
Recognize, however, that entire countries are covered in just a few pages, so you’re getting thumbnail descriptions of what do do and where to stay in, say, New Zealand. You’ll want to seek out more detailed information from country (or city) specific Lonely Planet (or other) guidebooks for more thorough advice. Also note that the book is written in British English, so you’ll read of “nappies,” “cots” and “holidays” instead of “diapers,” “cribs” and “vacations.”
While I appreciate the opportunity to do some armchair traveling with the books’ list of Top 10 Outdoor Adventures and Top 10 Camping Holidays (I’d love to take my kids to Belize and Vancouver Island), Travels with Children doesn’t speak to me personally because of its broad destination focus. But, for those with more time, money, and inclination to introduce their children to worldwide cultures, it’s worth the $13.59 to buy Travel with Children on Amazon.com (retails for $19.99).
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