Comments on: Lessons Learned From Our Massive Travel Failure

By: Ida

Ida — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 08:58:50 +0000

Hi,
I am a Norwegian woman who follow your blog, and I am often struck by how different life in the states is from life in Europe! In Europe, we are for some reason very interested in USA, we follow your presidential elections, news about your economy, watch american movies and television and observe your latest trends. So we kind of feel like we know you and implicitly that life in the US is not so different from life in Europe. I was so surprised when you indicated that it is somewhat uncommon to travel!
In Norway it is absolutely the norm to travel – and to travel with kids. Many of us do so many times a year. The difference is probably explained by the amount of km you guys actually have to travel to get someplace different! So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at all. We, of course, don’t have to travel very far to get to a place where things are truly different from home. We are consequently used to the idea that we have to do massive research on our travel location before we go, and that people obviously are not going to speak Norwegian there. It is not uncommon for Norwegians to speak multiple languages. I must say it is sometimes embarrassing to watch american or british tourists who think that if they just speak a little louder, the natives will finally understand their meaning. But of course, this is also true for german and french tourists, and with much less cause… Not to be rude!
And internet coverage??! Never to be taken for granted.
Thank you so much for an interesting article and for giving me something to reflect on.

By: JP

JP — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 07:49:08 +0000

For the lightweight duffel that you usually travel with internationally – on flights WITHIN EUROPE, were you able to carry it on? It says 22″ and I’m reading they have a 21″ max.

By: Natacha

Natacha — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 05:58:50 +0000

such a shame that you had a stressful trip. We love traveling with our baby! We just came back from 3 months in Asia with her. but yes, having enough connection time between flights is important! We had 4 hours in Moscow, arrived 2 hours late, 1 hour of queue to get our next flight boarding passes. We could have missed our flight back home…

By: Katie Wells

Katie Wells — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 22:53:59 +0000

In reply to Amber. We rented a condo at the beach instead :)

By: Amber

Amber — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 13:00:39 +0000

Oh my goodness! I was on the edge of my seat reading this. I’m so sorry that you and your family experienced this. It’s a sick feeling to lose money and be dooped. You and your husband are wonderful parents and did the right thing when the safety of your family was compromised. Thanks for sharing your lessons learned the hard way! After international travel with kids, we say every time that we won’t do this again—yet somehow we forget the challenges and remember the highlights and try again!
What did you end up doing for the rest of your one month vacation?

By: Janis

Janis — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 15:40:15 +0000

Wow! That sounds like it was exhausting! We lived in Europe for 4 years while my husband was working for the government and we traveled extensively with our 2, then 3, then 4 children (we now have 5, and she hasn’t traveled – yet!). Definitely a steep learning curve but well worth it. We got to be pros at packing and even managed two 2-week ‘backpacking’ trips near the end of our time there – one through Greece and the other a train trip (including overnight trains!) through Eastern Europe. Another resource for sightseeing I found useful is travelforkids.com.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:46:06 +0000

Wow, what a harrowing experience! We’re heading to the DR this summer, thanks for the tip to brush up on my Spanish. I keep putting it off, and now I think I’d better get on it!