Fun and Educational Family Travel Tips

Jan292010

Quick travel guide to Bergen

Blessed with a spectacular setting, Bergen is located on the western coast of Norway nestled beneath seven hills and surrounded by picturesque fjords. Founded in the 11th-century and once home to Norway’s Royal family, Bergen is now the second-largest city in the country and home to over 250,000 inhabitants. The port town is divided into two main parts – Bryggen, the old city, and the modern city, which contains many of Bergen’s commercial and cultural attractions.

Torget Fish Market

Torget sells a range of delicious seafood, as well as fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers handicrafts and souvenirs at outstanding prices. It’s also a great place to observe local boats passing in and out of the harbour.

Bryggen

In the late Middle Ages the Bryggen (meaning waterfront) became a thriving centre of international trade. The characteristic old wooden buildings facing the waterfront in Bergen harbour represent a building tradition dating back almost 900 years. These old wooden structures were placed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1980.

Fantoft Stave Church

The old medieval wooden church at Fantoft, originally built in the Norwegian region of Sogn in 1150 and moved to Fantoft in 1883, burnt down in June 1992. Fantoft Stave Church located just outside the centre of Bergen has now been rebuilt just as it was before the fire.

Håkon’s Hall

Håkon’s Hall was built by King Håkon Håkonsson almost seven hundred and fifty years ago and served as a royal residence and banqueting hall. The grand hall was the largest and most imposing building in the royal residence at ‘the holm’ (the political centre of the 13th-century Norwegian kingdom). At that time Bergen was Norway’s largest and most important town, and Håkon’s Hall was built intentionally for major national events, such as the drawing up of Norway’s first complete set of laws. As a national cultural monument, Håkon’s Hall is still used both for royal dinners and other official occasions.

Floybanen Funicular

For the best views over the city, take a trip on the famous Floybanen Funicular from the city centre to the top of Mount Floyen, about 320 meters above sea level. From the top you can see the magnificent views over the surroundings islands. During the summer the restaurant on top of Mount Floyen is open daily and there are numerous paths to explore, offering easy walks through beautiful woodland terrain with lakes and mountains.

Mount Ulriken cable car

Observe the unique view of the fjords from the top of Mount Ulriken by taking the cable car up to the top. Make use of the free telescopes to look out over the spectacular scenery of city and fjords. During summer the outdoor restaurant serves grill food and there is the occasional free outdoor concert. Mount Ulriken is also a good starting point for hikes. A popular, but long and quite hard hike is to Mount Floien which takes approximately 4 hours to walk.

Rosenkrantz Tower

Rosenkrantz Tower dating back to medieval times is one of the most prominent buildings of the Bergenhus fortress. The tower was constructed in the 16th-century by the governor of Bergen Castle, Erik Rosenkrantz, and served as a combined residence and fortified tower to the city of Bergen. The view of the sea front from the tower is amazing!

If you really want to enjoy your break in Bergen, don’t forget to take out your cheap holiday insurance as soon as you book your trip. It is important that you remember to check that your cheap holiday insurance policy offers you the level of cover that you need for your break before you buy it.

Mar092008

New Travel Forum Launched

By admin | March 9, 2008 | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, advertisements, and, brochures, family, forum, forums, idea, idead, involves, learned, people today, perfect, planning, reading, share, simply, talking, the, travel, travelers , true, vacation, visit | Comments (0)

Planning the perfect family vacation often involves talking to other travelers. Simply reading through all of the available advertisements and brochures doesn’t always give you a true idea of what the destination is like. After all, those things are put together in an effort to draw you in and to get you to spend money. That’s why I like to visit forums and share idead with other people.

Today, I learned about a new travel forum, which you can see check out at http://www.lmvr123.com/forum/. It’s pretty new, so there isn’t a whole lot on there yet, but I am sure it is going to get busy rather quickly! I am going to head over there to see what types of conversations I can get going – Care to join me? See you at the forum!

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, advertisements, and, brochures, family, forum, forums, idea, idead, involves, learned, people today, perfect, planning, reading, share, simply, talking, the, travel, travelers , true, vacation, visit | Comments (0)

Feb272008

Having Fun in Yellowstone

By admin | February 27, 2008 | Posted in National Parks to Visit with Kids, a, and, breaking, family, long, my, plan, planning, road, sites, stopping, summer , the, trip, way , yellowstone | Comments (0)

As many of you know, I am planning a trip to Yellowstone for this summer. It is going to be a really long road trip for my family, but we plan on breaking it up and stopping at some other sites along the way. We are traveling from Indiana, so we decided to stop along the way at the Dakotas so we can see Mt. Rushmore and Badlands National Park. We are also going to be stopping at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and Devil’s Tower. From there, we will head to Yellowstone and we are planning a visit to the Grand Tetons and to Glacier National Park.

Well, life is interesting sometimes, as I was just contacted today by a man named Allan Wright. Allan told me about his company, which is named Zephyr Adventures and, interestingly enough, will be providing adventure-based family trips to Yellowstone and to Glacier this year. I can’t personally say much about the service, but Allan tells me that they have been in business for 11 years and I think it is worth checking out what they have to offer. If I see Allan while in the area, I will be sure to tell you all about him and his tours!

By admin | Posted in National Parks to Visit with Kids, a, and, breaking, family, long, my, plan, planning, road, sites, stopping, summer , the, trip, way , yellowstone | Comments (0)

Sep032007

Involve Your Kids When Planning a Family Vacation

By admin | September 3, 2007 | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, children, control, disney, entire, essential, event , family, freak, involve, involving, kids, plan, planning, plans, reduce, stress, the, vacation, vacation | Comments (4)

In my opinion, it is essential to involve your kids when planning a family vacation. Whether you are planning a Disney vacation, at trip to the Smoky Mountains, a visit to Wisconsin Dells, or anywhere else, involving your kids will help create a better experience for everyone.

I know, the control freak in you probably wants to plan the entire event. Well, that is how I am anyway. But, you will find that involving your children in your family vacation plans will actually help reduce your stress while also increasing their level of involvment with the trip.

When kids are involved in the family vacation planning, they feel as if they are an important member of the family and that their opinion counts. This in of itself should be good enough reason to involve them in the planning. But, one of the great benefits is that it will actually help reduce the whining during the family vacation. After all, if your kids played a role in the planning, it becomes a bit more diffcult for them to complain about the plans.

Of course, you can still narrow down the choices that you give to your kids. That way, you can make sure that any activity they select will fit within your budget and will be something that you can tolerate visiting.

I always involve the entire family in my planning process. Sometimes, I find that the things they want to do are different from what I thought they would be interested in. So, it always pays to ask and it will definitely lead to a far more pleasant family vacation experience.

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, children, control, disney, entire, essential, event , family, freak, involve, involving, kids, plan, planning, plans, reduce, stress, the, vacation, vacation | Comments (4)

Aug292007

Purchasing a Family Vacation Vehicle

By admin | August 29, 2007 | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, and, care, deal we, discuss, family, great, higher, kids, mini vans, my, prefer, primary, purchasing, purchasing slightly, quality, selecting, serve, the, vacation, vacations when, vehicle, vehicle , work, yukon, yukon | Comments (0)

In light of my recent vehicle catastrophes, I thought it might be relevant to discuss purchasing a vehicle for family travel.

The vehicle we had to replace isn’t actually the one we use for family travel. This car is actually my husband’s work vehicle. My primary vehicle is a Yukon and this is also the one we use when going on our family vacations.

When selecting the Yukon, my husband and I had travel at the forefront of our thoughts. Initially, we wanted to get a Yukon XL because it has more storage space in back. The only reason we wanted this feature, however, was because of vacations. After much discussion, my husband and I decided that this would actually be cumbersome for day-to-day driving and we would just get a cargo carrier if we needed more space.

When shopping for a family vehicle that would also serve as our family vacation vehicle, we had many things that we kept in mind. These include:

Comfort
Durability/ease of cleaning
Having a DVD system installed
Safety
Good for vacations and for day-to-day living
Able to meet all of our vacation needs, including towing

We actually had a mini-van before purchasing the Yukon. I am not really a fan of mini-vans because I don’t really care for the way they look. But, it worked out well when the twins were young. Now that they are five, we decided I could go back to having an SUV without much trouble. This is great because we like to ride ATVs and we have a trailer to tow them. So, we can now easily take them on vacation with us if we like. In the future, we might get a boat as well. Having towing capabilities will be handy for this too.

For me, having the DVD system was a must. In the minivan, I had purchased an add on system but didn’t much care for it. With the Yukon, the system is built in. I much prefer this system because it is higher quality and the kids get good sound from the car speakers.

Regardless of what you are in the market for, be sure to do your homework to make sure you get a great deal. We prefer purchasing slightly used vehicles because you don’t have to pay the new car sticker price but you can still get a car that is in great shape. Check out the Kelly Blue Book value beforehand to make sure you aren’t overpaying and look at many dealers to make sure you get exactly what you want.

By admin | Posted in General Family Travel Tips, a, and, care, deal we, discuss, family, great, higher, kids, mini vans, my, prefer, primary, purchasing, purchasing slightly, quality, selecting, serve, the, vacation, vacations when, vehicle, vehicle , work, yukon, yukon | Comments (0)

Aug212007

Check Out the Damage!

By admin | August 21, 2007 | Posted in Getting to Know Me, a, and, blogging, car, crushed, educational, family, fell, for your, garden, huge, large, limb, patience, pushed, ready, share unfortunately, start, terrible, the, time , tips, travel, tree, vacation, walkway, weather , words | Comments (0)

OK, everyone. I think I am ready to start blogging on a more regular basis once again. I apologize for the delay, as I was making posts every day. As I mentioned in my previous post, my house was hit hard by some terrible weather. A large tree limb fell on my husband’s car, as you can see here:

Here’s a close up of the back window – check out the speakers sticking out.

I know this doesn’t have a great deal to do with family travel or family vacation tips, but I thought it would be interesting to share!

Unfortunately, the car wasn’t the only thing affected. As you can see here, the same tree pushed into our house.

This next picture is kind of difficult to appreciate without knowing what this area is supposed to look like. Anyway, that little bit of white that you can see in the background is one of my garden sheds that was crushed by another huge tree limb that fell in my backyard. I have a garden walkway in this cove that leads to the shed. Obviously, you cannot see that at all now!

So, we have most of this cleaned up now and the insurance adjusters have been out. So, I should be able to start talking about educational family travel and family vacation tips next time. Thanks for your patience and the words of support!

By admin | Posted in Getting to Know Me, a, and, blogging, car, crushed, educational, family, fell, for your, garden, huge, large, limb, patience, pushed, ready, share unfortunately, start, terrible, the, time , tips, travel, tree, vacation, walkway, weather , words | Comments (0)

Aug182007

I am Still Here!

By admin | August 18, 2007 | Posted in Getting to Know Me, a, and, blog, completely, couple, days, days , here , mention, posts, quick, regular, running, sick, storm, tear, terrible, tree, wiped, write | Comments (0)

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to write a quick blog to let you know that I am still here. Unfortunately, we had a terrible storm tear through here a couple of days ago and it completely wiped out my power – not to mention putting a tree through my husband’s car and one of my sheds (and some other damage as well). On top of it all, I was quite sick for a couple of days. I should be back up and running with regular posts again soon!

By admin | Posted in Getting to Know Me, a, and, blog, completely, couple, days, days , here , mention, posts, quick, regular, running, sick, storm, tear, terrible, tree, wiped, write | Comments (0)

Aug132007

Making the Wisconsin Dells Magic Show Educational

By admin | August 13, 2007 | Posted in Educational Family Travel, a, concept, dells, discuss, discussing, educational, eye, fun, magic, number, offers, opportunities , slight, the, wisconsin | Comments (0)

The magic show at Wisconsin Dells also offers a number of educational opportunities. Discussing the “magic” of slight of eye is particularly fun as you discuss the concept of persistence of vision.

In short, persistence of vision is about the fact that our eyes maintain images for a brief moment even after they are no longer there. Remember those flip books you used to enjoy as a child? You know, the ones that contained nothing but pictures and appeared to be in action when you flipped through the pages quickly These books utilize the concept of persistence of vision.

Before you go to the magic show at Wisconsion Dells on your family vacation, discuss this concept with your child. Then, help your child make his or her own flip book. It can be a great deal of fun for the entire family!

By admin | Posted in Educational Family Travel, a, concept, dells, discuss, discussing, educational, eye, fun, magic, number, offers, opportunities , slight, the, wisconsin | Comments (0)

Aug122007

Making the Ducks at Wisconsin Dells Educational

By admin | August 12, 2007 | Posted in Educational Family Travel, a, and, bit, dells, discuss, ducks, family, interesting, learn, machines, ride, the, vacation, wisconsin | Comments (0)

Before you take your family vacation to Wisconsin Dells and ride the Ducks, learn a little bit more about these interesting machines and discuss it with your child. These military vehicles are more formally known as the DUKW and is a six wheel drive truck capable of riding on land and on water. This characteristic is known as being amphibious. You can introduce this word to your child and talk about animals that are amphibious as well, such as frogs and toads.

These vehicles were originally created by GM to use during World War II and were used to carry troops and goods over water and land. Today, they are mostly used to give tours in various places around the country, including at Wisconsin Dells. You can learn more about these vehicles by visiting Wikipedia.

Ask your child to create his or her own new vehicle that is unlike any you have every seen before – just like the inventors of the Ducks did so long ago!

You are also going to see several rock formations along the way during your tour. This opens up a wonderful opportunity to talk about rock formations and how they are created.

By admin | Posted in Educational Family Travel, a, and, bit, dells, discuss, ducks, family, interesting, learn, machines, ride, the, vacation, wisconsin | Comments (0)

Aug112007

Making Storybook Gardens at Wisconsin Dells Educational

By admin | August 11, 2007 | Posted in Educational Family Travel, talk, time | Comments (0)

Now, let’s talk about how you can make your time at Storybook Gardens in Wisconsin Dells more educational.

This site is definitely geared more toward the little ones, though older kids might also enjoy the experience of feeding the animals. A great way to prepare for a visit to Storybook Gardens in Wisconsin Dells is to read a number of popular children’s books before going (hopefully, you are doing this anyway!). Then, before you read the oversized storybook sitting next to the statues throughout the site, see if your child can guess which story they are from.

If your child is learning how to read, you can challenge your child to read the stories from the storybooks to the rest of the family. Then, you can ask your child to come up with an alternate ending to the story other than the one you already know from the original story.

Since you will be encountering all sorts of animals at the Storybook Gardens, you might also want to do a bit of research about some of the animals beforehand. See if your child can find out how long a giraffe’s tongue is – then experience it first hand when you feed the giraffes on your Wisconsin Dells family vacation!

By admin | Posted in Educational Family Travel, talk, time | Comments (0)