Hey Reader,

Thanks to everyone who voted in last week’s poll about your dream vacation.

and the winner is..............

​

European Vacation......

Hopefully with a lot less hijinks than the Chevy Chase version.

Beach getaways came in second, with cruises and camping / national park trips tied for third.

I get it. In the 90's I took took two trips to Europe that I'll never forget.

The first was with my aunts to England and Scotland as a graduation gift. We stayed in the cutest B&Bs and I quickly learned that I will never say no to a full English breakfast.

Then I did a 4 day side trip to Paris. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled about 17 year old me traveling solo after my aunt's went home, so I pre-booked a tour. A mother and daughter basically adopted me for the trip.

Still one of the kindest travel moments I’ve ever had.

The second was a backpacking trip at 19 with my ex.

We had already broken up but decided to go anyway because the trip was booked. You can imagine how well that worked out.

We lasted less than a month before going our separate ways. I met lots of fun people traveling for two+ more months solo around Portugal, Greece, Italy, Turkey and a spontaneous side trip to Israel and India.

My parents were not impressed.

I’d love to take my youngest, Miss S, to Europe one day. She's super into Greek and Roman mythology and wants to go.

Adding that to the ever growing bucket list.

🌻 Community Updates

I’ve been working on updating and creating a few new posts behind the scenes lately:

• ​27+ Simple Ways To Build a Family Travel Fund you can start this week.
• ​Family Travel Emergency Plan Checklist (download the FREE Emergency Plan Toolkit)
• ​Top 15 Best Things To Do in Hoi An, Vietnam for Families - we spent 5 weeks here, and can't wait to go back.

💡 Tip of the Week:

One thing I learned the hard way in Europe that informed all my future trips......

Don’t try to see everything in one trip.

Pick 1–2 destinations max per week and actually enjoy them.

Constantly moving about and checking off bucket list attractions and destinations is exhausting.

And you don't actually get the chance to get a feel for the neighbourhoods, or rythms of life that exist there.

The best parts of my trips usually weren’t the “must-see” spots.

They were often the random cafés, shared dinners, interactions with locals and other travellers, and wandering around with no plan.

✈️ In the News | Around the Web

• Heading to Paris? These 15 off-the-beaten path things to do in Paris will add something a little unique to your itinerary.

• What the looming jet fuel shortage in Europe and Asia means for travellers there and around the world.

• ​See one of the most beautiful train trips in North America with the Only Luxury Sleeper Train in the U.S. And they just added new summer trips to check out.

• Here's how Google's newly launched tool to track hotel prices works.

Ok, that's all for today. As always, if you have any questions hit reply and send me an email. I personally reply to every one.

Traveling soon? Here are some resources to use:

• Find the cheapest flights with Going​
• Book your hotel stays with Booking.com​
• Book your day tours with Viator​
• Book your day tours in Asia with Klook​
• Make your travel budget in minutes with our Free Travel Budget Calculator​​
• Make your travel & life goals happen this year with Cash Crunch: How to make and save more money when times are tough (Free 1+ hour pre-recorded training + free resources)
• Check out all our free and paid resources on our Everything Page​

**These are all resources we use ourselves on our family travels.