How To Travel With Children In A Foreign Country

One thing that I really admire about my parents is that they didn't end their dreams of traveling after I was born. They just took me with them! Traveling overseas with a child does take some planning, though, since kids in general can be kind of unpredictable. In this article, I share my tips for traveling with children to a foreign country.

The Right Time To Travel: Why Now? Why Not?

Whenever I'm preparing to go on a trip or talk about some place I've been, I encounter someone who regards me with envy. "Oh, I wish I could do that" or "Wow, you're so lucky." "Then do it," I tell them. "If you really want to, you'll find a way how." More often than not, that person will have some excuse ready for why now isn't a good time. He or she is waiting for retirement. He's busy at work. Doesn't have enough money. I had one co-worker at my last job who made a good salary, had been working at the office for years so she had plenty saved up, and didn't have children. Yet she never went anywhere. She was always interested in hearing about my travels and I frequently urged her to go on her own journey ... and it never happened. When I brought her back a little magnet from Santorini, she eyed it wistfully and said with a sigh, "This is the closest I'm ever going to get to Greece." There was really nothing holding her back, though, and I don't understand what she was/is waiting for. I really hope that she does plan that trip sometime soon. In our case, Jon and I are both busy with work, but have managed to find a balance between our jobs and travel. We like our jobs and like having roots in New York City so we only plan trips that are a few weeks long at most. But for now, at least, we figure that it's better than nothing. It's at least a taste of the world. A few years ago, we took an almost impromptu trip to Ireland. We were only there for a few days and my parents, who are retired, wondered why we were bothering if we couldn't spend more time. Why not? was my answer. We were getting to see Ireland which was better than not seeing it. What were we supposed to do, wait until our retirement? I'm 38 and Jon is 40 so we're both still fairly young. We don't want to wait that long. We want to see the world now! We also like our lives in New York, but hey, we want it all. So we've found a way to incorporate shorter trips into our schedule. Who knows what kind of shape we'll be in when we're older or even HOW long we'll live? I believe that with most things, you can find a way to make your dreams come true. For us, it's having jobs we like, being close to our families AND traveling. We do our best to make all of this happen for us. You can, too. There's no RIGHT way or time to travel. So if you want to do it now, there's no sense in putting it off. Find a way. Make it happen. You won't be sorry.

How To Pack Light For A Trip

After traveling so often, I've become something of an expert when it comes to packing. That said, we ONLY travel with carry on luggage and do not check bags. This saves time and money, and a lot of hassles at the airport. Here's an article that I wrote which details exactly HOW I can successfully travel with so little: How To Travel With Only A Carry On Bag Just for fun, here are more shots of Amsterdam:

Eating Worms In Mexico City, 2008

One of the things that I love the most about traveling is getting to try interesting cuisines. I first sampled hummus in Jerusalem's Arab quarter back in 1984 and that's now one of my favorite foods. I tried lotus root in China, rabbit and pigeon in France, and kangaroo in Australia. So when we went to Mexico City, I suggested that we try some pre-Hispanic cuisine. There are several restaurants that serve this style of food, but we chose to eat at Fonda Don Chon, which is a Mexico City institution. Their dishes include armadillo, ostrich, wild boar, but they're really known for their deep fried cactus worms. That's right: WORMS. I knew that my husband Jon would be game, but wasn't sure that our travel companions, Lani and Scott (a vegetarian) would be up for such a unique dining experience. They were in, though, and we stopped by for lunch during our last day in the city. I'm not sure what I expected Don Chon to look like exactly -- maybe a market stall? -- but to my surprise, it's a very nicely decorated cantina-style restaurant with tiled walls and a fountain. The hosts were extremely friendly and eagerly led us to a table in the corner. They then handed us menus that offered all sorts of goodies. Ostrich? Check. Armadillo? Yep, there it is. Mosquito eggs? Um, no thanks, but they're there if you desire. Cactus worms. Ahh, yes. We wanted to sample some of the other interesting sounding dishes, but they unfortunately didn't have armadillo or ostrich. I opted for wild boar meatballs with huitlacoche (corn fungus) sauce. Happily, they did have the worms.

Mmmm.... worms! I knew that we were getting worms, but didn't expect them to look so uh, wormy. I freaked a little. I have a fear of bugs and worms and squirmy critters, anyway, and here they were on our plate. Gulp. Scott dug in first, spearing a worm with his fork and dipping it into the guacamole. He chewed for a minute before declaring, "It tastes like meat. I don't like it." Still, he won the right to brag that he'd eaten worms. Jon went next, grabbing a few for himself. "They're so deep fried, they don't taste like anything. They're like chips," was his description. Still, he enjoyed them. Lani loved them. She piled a whole bunch onto a tortilla and slathered them with guacamole before gobbling down her "wormwich." "I think I've found a new favorite food," was her critique. I gulped down a shot of mezcal and tentatively picked up a worm. I put it in my mouth, barely licking it and ... I'm ashamed to admit this, spit it out. I just couldn't. I know that different types of foods are eaten around the world and I respect that some people find worms and insects tasty. I wanted to try. I was all psyched to do so. But it was a WORM. I just couldn't separate myself from my perceptions of worms as being the gross creatures that you see squiggling on the ground fter a hard rain. To my credit, I polished off the meatballs and corn fungus, and truly enjoyed both, so I'm not averse to trying new things. I just think that worms pushed my limits. For more of my adventures, check out my jewelry blog: Naomi's Designs.

Welcome To Naomi The Traveler!

The title for this blog is pretty simple -- my name is Naomi and I'm an avid traveler. I guess you can say that I come from a family full of wanderlust. My childhood wasn't like most kids'; since both of my parents were teachers, they had summers off and would take me all over the place. So by the time I was 15, I'd been to China, Japan, Israel, Egypt, Russia, Mexico, and all over Europe and the United States. The other kids thought I was a little weird ... but I always had interesting slide shows for projects. Now that my parents are retired, they travel more than ever. They've been pretty much everywhere you can think of: India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea... okay, they haven't yet been to Australia or New Zealand, or most of the Pacific, actually, but still, they've so far been to an impressive 90-something countries. Meantime, I've gotten my husband into traveling. In the 12 years we've been married, we've visited Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, England, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Canada, Greece, Hawaii, Puerto Rico -- and just returned from a trip to the Netherlands/Nigeria. So we're doing pretty well! My goal is to set foot on every continent before my parents. They're missing Australia and Antarctica. I'm still missing South America and Antarctica. So it's anybody's game at this point, though we could fly from the tip of Chile to Antarctica. You go via a military plane and stay there for about three hours, but hey -- it's Antarctica! There are ice caps! Penguins! What more can you want? I kid, but in all seriousness, I think it's important to see the world and learn about the people and places with whom your share your Earth. We're fortunate because we live in New York City, which is a very international place, but while I love eating Chinese food, there's nothing quite like actually going to the real country. So welcome aboard my blog as we take a trip around the world! I'll be sharing travel stories from when I was a child and an adult, as well as travel tips and recommendations. And if you have any stories or tips of your own, feel free to add to the comments. To whet your appetite, here are some photos from last year's trip to Greece:

Safe journeys, Naomi