Travel

Teddy in Paris having a good time near Eiffel Tower - Wordless Wednesday 

 

Last week we were vacationing in France and one week lived in a hotel close to Eiffel Tower. After busy mornings and afternoons exploring the Museums we spent some evenings near the Tower. Here are some of our photos near the Eiffel Tower where Teddy had a good time even dancing and entertaining the public. The weather was nice the whole week.

 

Planning a cheap family vacation 

People who love to travel are often eager to pass on that love to their children. However, it is much different travelling alone, or even as a couple as compared to travelling as a family. The price tag associated with travelling with a group of people is often enough to make some people stay home. By making a few small concessions and following some words of advice it can be easy to plan not only fun but cheap family vacations.  

Choose your hotel wisely: Accommodations can carry the brunt of your holiday travel budget. However there are several ways to make your hotel budget stretch further. Firstly try to book a hotel room that can be suitable for a larger group. If your children are smaller, a room with two beds may be sufficient. As the children grow, you may consider booking a suite, which will provide everyone with ample room for privacy but will still be more affordable than two rooms.Many hotels offer additional perks for the people staying in them. If possible to look for a hotel with free shuttles, or offering free parking. Free continental breakfast is now offered through many hotels, and is a great way to save money feeding your family.

Cheaper meal ideas: As mentioned previously, free hotel breakfasts are a very economical choice to save some money while travelling. Why, pay for an extra meal if you do not have to?When exploring new areas, it is important to bring plenty of snacks and beverages with you, so that you are not spending money on foods that are not meals. A spend dollar here and a dollar there, for all the family members, can quickly add up to an expensive vacation.When on a budget, instead of going out for lunch to a restaurant try visiting a local grocery store which will not only offer you some healthy food options that are quite a bit cheaper than restaurants, but will also expose you to the local culture.

Investigate the family pass: There are plenty of places that offer a cheaper family plan to encourage the patrons with children to come and visit. Family passages can be found in many places with public transportation as well as entrances to attractions such as theme parks or even national museums and art galleries. If you are thinking of booking a visit somewhere, be sure to enquire if family pricing is available.

When in doubt go all inclusive: The all-inclusive vacations seem to perfect for a family vacation. They are extremely affordable and they do take all the worry out of planning a stay in a foreign land. Since your package includes the flight, shuttle to hotel, the hotel and all your meals and drinks, all the money you have to bring are just for any additional fun activities you may want to do such as shopping. Many resorts offer free and fun activities for children, which allows their parents to have a little bit of time to enjoy themselves.

First time on a plane

 

Teddy likes planes. Toronto is a very big city and any time you look into the sky, you almost for sure will see at least one and sometimes two or more planes at the same time. From the early age Teddy knew that these are planes and often looked up to spot them and showed us his genuine excitement when he saw them. We bought lots of clothes with planes on them. When he was younger and couldn’t speak, he pointed on the print of the plane on his clothes every time we saw a real plain in the sky.

This summer we went on vacation overseas and it was a time for Teddy finally to get inside a plane. We remember times when a bus drove you to a plane and you had to take steps to get into a plane. It is not convenient for adults, but would mean so much for a toddler that flying for the first time in his life. Unfortunately Teddy wasn’t able to enjoy the view of whole aircraft and experience an unobstructed entrance there. He saw aircrafts only through the windows of airport, a lot of them. In the plain he discovered a remote control and learned very fast how to switch the light on and off and how to activate a crew assistance signal. Good thing that it could be turned off from our remote as well and we deactivated a crew assistance signal several times until he bored with his remote.

We flew by KLM and they offered a kids activity package, which caught Teddy’s attention for another hour or so. It was fun to open and close aircraft illuminator window shutters – myriad of times. Playing with a table that emerges form the front seat appears a lot of fun too – not for person who seats on that seat. We got a few angry looks from a young gentleman that occupied seat in front of Teddy – we are sorry!

And of course it was an amazing experience for Teddy to see clouds, fly over them and see buildings and roads from the bird-eye.

He flew four times during our vacation, average 7 hours for a flight. One time he started crying and we wasn’t able to calm him for almost 30 minutes. Good thing that people there understood and supported us – thank you so much!

In general it was a very good experience for Teddy and he understands now what is going on within the plain when he sees it in the sky. When we ask him if he wants to fly in the plain again, he smiles and says “Yes” – who wouldn’t? The only disappointment is that summer vacation is over and appeared to be so short.