An ever curious traveler with a passion for making memories with my family. I give families the tools to experience the joys of travelling, no matter your budget. Through quick, practical solutions. Join me if you'd like to make more memories confidently travelling with your kids, without straining your finances, going into debt, or feeling like you'd have to sell off a kidney to fund your next vacation.
Hello from Vietnam (+Itinerary tips)
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Hello from Hanoi Vietnam, It has been a long while since we last chatted. I've been traveling around Vietnam with my partner Derek and Miss S. (my 11 year old) for the past 2.5 months, and playing hooky from my blog & emails. Just getting back into it, so more on SE Asia to come. In the meantime, here's a couple of photos from Train Street in Hanoi. The anticipatory atmosphere feels like waiting for a parade. Only slightly more dangerous, and with no free candy (much to my youngest's disappointment ;). It actually is safer than it looks. Although I'd personally skip this if you have really young kids or toddlers. When the train is going to come through, one shopkeeper rings a bell as a heads up. Then they all make sure the tourists and their seats are facing the track in a safe way. It’s pretty fun to do at least once, and the trains come by about 7 times a day. ITINERARY TIPS - FOOD FOR THOUGHTI've been following a lot of facebook travel groups lately, especially for Vietnam. I see a lot of posts (in all family travel groups actually) asking advice about itineraries with kids. They'll often be similiar to something like this:
I get it. We all want to see as much as possible in our short vacation, because what happens if we never come back. Yet at the same time, a couple of questions go through my mind each time, which may also be helpful for you to consider when planning your trip. ✈️ Who is your itinerary for?How your family likes to travel, and how busy they like to be, really feeds into this question. I can tell you that for our family, less is more. And a super busy schedule is often to satisfy our adult need to see and do everything, not our 11 year old. We typically try and stay at minimum 3-4 nights in a place (but often aim for 7 if we have time), to give us a little extra time to see a few things, and have a little downtime if needed. Being on the go constantly is tiring, and if you have littles, a jam packed schedule is likely not even possible. ⭐️ I recommend choosing 1 to 2 must-dos each day, then leaving the rest of time free to explore. Just see what happens depending on energy levels, interests and the magic of travel. We like to discuss options with Miss S. and see what she's interested in, and incorporate her wishes, alongside our more "boring" desire to see temples and museums, and walking for miles. We get her involved in the planning. 🚃 Have you factored in the time it takes to get between each place?Depending on transportation options, if you're spending only 2 nights in a place, you are really only getting one full day in a town, and a bit of time on either side which is usually mostly taken up by checking in / getting ready to check out of your hotel and travel. Plus you're spending half your trip travelling in between cities. Some families don't mind this. We prefer to see fewer cities, and see more of the one's we choose to stay in longer. 🥱 How does your family deal with jet lag? Where are you travelling from? If there's a big time difference from home, there may be a bit of an adjustment period. We came from the west coast of Canada to Vietnam, which is a 15 hour time difference. It took us almost a week of waking up between 1 to 3am each night without being able to go back to sleep, before we finally got used to the time change. Factor in the 30°C+ weather we weren't used to either, and we were slow going that first 5 days. Consider making your first stop the longest to help everyone acclimatize to any time differences, and change in sleep / nap / daily schedules. Well, I think I'll stop there for today. Hope these questions gave you some food for thought for your next adventure. As always if you have any questions, or thoughts on itinerary tips, just hit reply. I love hearing from you. Journey On, Donna Traveling soon? Use these helpful links:
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Packed for Life | Family Travel
An ever curious traveler with a passion for making memories with my family. I give families the tools to experience the joys of travelling, no matter your budget. Through quick, practical solutions. Join me if you'd like to make more memories confidently travelling with your kids, without straining your finances, going into debt, or feeling like you'd have to sell off a kidney to fund your next vacation.
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