Synopses & Reviews
This evocative book provides all you need to create life-changing vacations around the world with your kids. You won't find rote itineraries or windy, discursive text, lists of museums and landmarks, festivals and events. Instead, you'll get slice-of-life, ageappropriate experiences in special places that offer life experiences and peeks into different cultures.
The book showcases 100 places, each anchored by someone who knows the place intimately. You'll meet Lorenzo Fatzi, a Venetian gondolier, who will share his secrets of the canals; a Nantucket fisherman who gives you a very special nautical tour of the island; animal tracker Vram Seth, who talks about life in India's Ranthambore tiger reserve; and countless others who are cultural treasures, great storytellers, and keepers of a sense of place.
Each chapter answers these simple questions: What is the one experience you must have here that will help you understand it better? That will give you insights into its culture and people? That is unforgettable? And that will enrich the life of a child and at what age?
Each chapter also includes sidebars:
- Culture Pack: Books, recipes, music, and films to preview and supplement actual travel experiences.
- Key Intelligence: Carefully curated lists of kid-friendly things to do and see, where to eat and stay, and what parents should be sensitive to or prepared for.
About the Author
Kids who learn to travel will travel to learn.
National Geographic Traveler Editor Keith Bellows sends you and your children globetrotting for life-changing vacations that will expand their horizons and shape their perspectives. What you
won’t find inside: predictable itineraries and lists of landmarks and events. Instead, you’ll get evocative, slice-of-life experiences and age-appropriate ideas that illuminate place and culture.
Each chapter of 100 Places That Can Change Your Child’s Life plumbs the heart of a special place—from the Acropolis to Machu Picchu to the Grand Canyon—all from the perspective of insiders who see destinations through a child’s eyes. You’ll meet actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy, who tours the suqs of Marrakech with his seven-year-old son; photographer Annie Griffiths, who shares the miraculous migration to Mexico of the monarch butterflies; Tom Ritchie, who has guided countless children and parents to Antarctica for more than 30 years; the waterman who knows where to see the ponies of Assateague in the true wild; and countless others who are cultural treasures, great storytellers, and keepers of a sense of place.
Packed with ideas to supplement the travel experience—foods, music, films, and carefully curated lists of kid-friendly activities and places to eat and stay—this inspiring book is the perfect trip planner to excite children about culture and the unique magic the world has to offer.