Gone with the Family

Test Lab: Using Plnnr to plan a trip

I read about this free on-line itinerary planning service called "Plnnr - Your Personal Tour Guide" (www.plnnr.com) on the Budget Travel website and decided to check it out.  Plnnr creates free automatic plans for travel within major cities by collecting up-to-date information from on line sources and using scoring algorithms to determine the best places for its users to visit.  Thus far, the website has 20 cities that it will provide itineraries for (16 European and 4 North American).

Royal Wedding Hoopla

Much of the world is working itself into a frenzy this week over the upcoming nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday, April 29th at Westminster Abbey.  London is expecting at least 2 million visitors for the day (four times as many as any given day) and up to 2 billion television viewers are expected to watch the couple exchange vows (1/4 of the world's population).  April 29th has been declared a bank holiday in the UK giving residents a short work week and plenty of opportunity to fill the streets and cheer on the happy couple.  If you weren't lucky enough to be one of the 1900 invited guests then you might want to consider the options available for celebrating the event.

World Malaria Day - April 25, 2011

Did you know that April 25, 2011 is the fourth annual World Malaria Day?  World Malaria Day is a time for examining the progress we have made towards malaria control and elimination and to renew efforts towards achieving the target of zero malarial deaths by 2015.  (www.worldmalariaday.org)  According to Plan Canada, a child dies from malaria every 45 seconds and there are simple ways to help. 

Alaska with Kids

 

I have just published a trip report for the cruise to Alaska that our family went on in June of 2007.  Our family of four, along with my husband's parents, embarked on a 7 day northbound cruise on the Diamond Princess followed by a 5 day cruise tour that went as far north as Fairbanks.  At the time of our cruise Katie was 10 and Emma was a couple of weeks shy of her 4th birthday.  

Our entire extended family had a wonderful vacation.  Sailing along the Alaskan wilderness coastline and viewing glaciers, icebergs, whales and other wildlife is simply breathtaking and traveling by rail into the interior of the state gives one a sense of just how vast and remote the Alaskan frontier still is.  The kids were thrilled to see all sorts of wildlife, however, the highlight for them was interacting with every single sled dog that they came across during our 12 days in Alaska.  Alaska is definitely a destination that I would recommend trying to see with your kids before they grow up.

   

Happy Birthday, Rome!!!

Today is Natale di Roma which commemorates the date of the legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC.  This year the city of Rome is celebrating its 2,764th birthday with a week of festivities, including festivals, concerts, gladiator displays in the Forum area and fireworks by the Tiber River.  Wish I was there!!

  

 

 

Hawaii with Kids

I have published a page on Hawaii where our family spent two wonderful weeks on our summer vacation in 2008.  Hawaii was a destination that I had been dreaming about since I was a teenager watching Magnum P.I. and the islands lived up to all my expectations.  We spent a week each on the islands of Maui and Oahu and had a wonderful time on both. 

Words in a French Life

I have just finished reading this charming book, Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France, which combines anecdotes about life in the south of France with French vocabulary lessons.  The author, Kristin Espinasse, was raised in Arizona and traveled to France on a language exchange program while majoring in French in university. 

Historic Places in Canada

Here's a great article from the Ottawa Citizen about Parks Canada's recent launch of the Canadian Register of Historic Places. www.historicplaces.ca.  The register is considered to be a definitive inventory of historic places whose heritage value has been recognized by a government authority.  There are currently about 17,000 designated places, however, the register is a work in progress and new listings are added every week.  As a requirement for signing the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1976, Canada needed to create a list of its historic places and this is the result.

New website shows thousands of historic places in Canada.

Visiting Hogwarts - aka Alnwick Castle

Here's a place that my kids would love to visit.  Alnwick Castle is located in the historic market town of Alnwick in the northeast of England about 450 km from London and is instantly recognizable as Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter movies.  Alnwick Castle was built as a medieval fortress and has been the home of the Percys, Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1309.  Today it is the second largest inhabited castle in England as it is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland and their family.

New York City with Kids

I have just published a page on New York City which our family has been to on three separate occasions in the last four years.  New York is an incredible city and one that families should not hesitate to visit as it is actually one of the most child-friendly cities in the world.  Kids love the energy of the city where it is exciting just to walk the streets and see familiar sights from movies and television.  There is so much to do in the city that families can stay busy day and night and no one could ever claim to be bored.