Who am I? I am Kira the travel nut; someone who should be inducted into Travelers Anonymous if there was such a thing. I am weirdly compulsive about traveling, and if I'm not away on a trip then I'm already thinking about the next one. Not that I don't love being home, I really do - but doesn't absence make the heart grow fonder? I love my city and my country and am proudly patriotic, and the more I travel the more I appreciate what a wonderful country and blessed life I have. I don't want to live anywhere else, and I am fortunate to experience so many interesting places that often put that theory to the test. (Try January in Calgary and you'll know what I mean.)
I think the travel bug really bit me when I took a school trip to Europe in grade 9. I experienced my first taste of real Italian gelato, the crazy color of blood oranges, funny Dutch cheese and fish and chips wrapped in newspaper. I also witnessed my vice-principal kiss his wife under the Eiffel Tower which was both embarrassing and exhilarating at the same time. Suddenly life was just like the movies! I saw things that I had never even considered before, and I realized how much more there was that I wanted to see.
My fate was further sealed when I met my husband and found a kindred traveling spirit. He has the great fortune of being half Dutch, so without even trying I inherited a huge European family! My own (very Canadian) family has now been sprinkled with Gouda and Heineken and we have given our own kids the gift of cousins on the other side of the world. We've been fortunate to raise two fabulous little travelers who get as much enjoyment and excitement out of our trips as we do; our hope being that they have the confidence and know-how to continue exploring the world even after they no longer want to hang out with mom and dad 24 hours a day.
But truthfully I am a closet wanna-be travel writer who likes to babble about the exploits of my family as we encounter weird and wonderful new things. While preparing for our past trips I have spent (give or take) a zillion hours searching the internet for resources focusing on family travel to Europe. After much digging I could not find very many useful sites and wondered if others struggled with the same problem. This website is an attempt to summarize what I've found as well and become a fun place to ask questions and get more information for people who want to travel with their kids and need some friendly advice or gentle prodding. But… beware! Travel is addicting, and once you get the bug it's hard to get rid of. In the grand scheme of things I figure that there are much worse things in life to be addicted to, so this is one problem I'm going to keep. Want to join me?
