Little Footsteps in the Big World

Whether it's weekend getaway, city break or longer vacation, sometimes we're not really sure which kind of place are good enough for a family trip. We keep questioning ourselves if the kids will enjoy the environment of the next destination we've picked for the upcoming vacation, if the hotel we booked is child friendly enough, if the local food will be appealing for them. Our baby girl is, luckily, not too picky. She enjoys almost everything so we don't really think about picking a destination to match her needs and interests. But if you don't know where you should go, these are my tips based on our family's experience: Playing in the water Little kids love bathing! Our toddler loves being in the water. We'd normally prefer salt water but she really doesn't care. She'd bathed in the ocean, in the sea, in the swimming pools, in a volcanic lake, in the public fountains, everywhere. And she enjoyed it every time. Go take your toddler somewhere he ...

Many major airports in the world, the home of the biggest airline companies, offer free stopover tours for their loyal passengers. In cooperation with the national government, they give their transit passenger a compliment while promoting their own tourism, which, is kind of smart. A lot of people don't know about this, I think mainly because the packages are advertised only on the official website of the airlines, so unless you buy your tickets from their official websites (many people still get their tickets from travel agencies) chance is you won't see the offer. Until recently I only knew that Turkish airlines, Qatar airways and Emirates offer the tour for transit passengers in Istanbul, Doha and Dubai. A few days ago I found out that Thai airways and Singapore airlines offer the tours for Bangkok and Singapore. We did Istanbul stopover tour twice, in December 2014 and  March 2016; both times with our daughter (seven-month old the first time around and 23-month now the se...

We fly often, and we always have. Not always long-haul, many of them are also short flights. But they're the same thing, aren't they? Packing, sorting liquids in small bottles, getting a cab ride to the airports, checking in and getting your luggage rejected because you didn't pack too well (it gets better over time), taking off the belts and the watch and the shoes for the scanner, getting laptop, tablet and phones from the bag -once I even had to turn on my laptop at a security check in Singapore's Changi airport! Then the waiting for gate opening, waiting for boarding, the delays, more waiting, the cancellation of the flight.. Then if you're lucky not to be cancelled, there is still the turbulence, the bad coffee in the plane (or no coffee at all), the bumpy landing, and finally the lost luggage (it gets rare now. I haven't lost my luggage since 2007, when flying from Madrid to Los Angeles -my suitcase ended up in Phoenix). Now, with all that mess, add an in...