It’s so nice when my toddler, husband and I can agree on something when we’re traveling or even when we’re not traveling. We all agreed that by far the best part of Geneva’s Botanic Garden is the Carrousel des Fables, which translates to the Carousel of Fairy Tales. This beautiful carousel has unexpected animals that […]

Geneva is an elegant city and the pinnacle of elegance is the Four Seasons Hotel Des Bergues Geneva, which opened in 1834 as the city’s first hotel to welcome visiting statesmen. Now elegant is typically not the kind of adjective that you would align with family-friendly… and yet, the Four Seasons Geneva was family-friendly beyond my wildest dreams, the kind of vivd, travel-fueled dreams that an early-rising toddler usually disrupts.

In July, I took two overseas flights (New York to Geneva and back) with a two-and-a-half-year-old and I would almost describe them as pleasant. We were lucky in having smooth, on-time flights and also that my son is a pretty good (and experienced) flyer. So here are some tips that may help you get lucky with some good flights with your two-year-old.

I recently came back from a 10-day trip to Europe in which I went to medieval towns, Mediterranean beaches, Alpine lake resorts and major cities — all with a two-and-a-half-year-old in tow. “How did you do that?” many people have asked me in complete wonderment. I could tell these inquisitive folks just about anything but I […]

The kiddie pool at Terre Blanche, a five-star luxury resort in Provence, has to be the best kiddie pool in the world. No, I haven’t been to them all but I don’t see how there could be better one in existence. First, you’ve got the incomparable Provencal setting. But beyond that, look at how beautifully this French pool has been constructed with its trio of fountains and mosaic-tiled bottom.

My whole South of France and Geneva itinerary came about because I had a persistent daydream of my husband, toddler and me playing on a beach in the French Riviera. There were plenty of fabulous Cote D’Azur towns to choose from but once I realized that a sandy (as opposed to rocky) beach was a must, my choices narrowed considerably. So now all we had to do was find a vacation rental in Antibes … in less than two weeks from our departure date!

We had fallen totally in love with Annecy, France, but we were beholden to a strict itinerary (designed by moi). So after lunch on our second day there, we reluctantly departed from this gorgeous Alpine Venetia and set off south to Avignon. This had been a last-minute addition to the itinerary when we decided that we wanted to break up the six-hour drive from Annecy to Antibes, where we would spend three nights.

I just came back from my 10-day trip to the South of France and Geneva, which I took with my husband and our very active two-and-half-year-old son. And you know what? It just may have been our best family trip yet! I have so much to blog about…
It’s no secret that I was worried that this trip would be more difficult than it would be enjoyable. Two-and-a-half-year-olds are challenging and traveling can be challenging so would the whole thing just be too, well, challenging?

Glimmingehus looks rather imposing; a big stone box just sitting on the vast fields of Skane, Sweden.Whether this well-preserved Medieval structure should be called a castle or a fortress is up for debate: it was was meant as a fortress rather than a residence, although it’s not believed that there was ever a battle there. Another source of debate is whether we should be calling the castle/fortress Swedish or Danish because this region was part of Denmark when it was built from 1499-1506. But what’s not up for debate is that how family-friendly this attraction is. In a small outer building across from the castle/fortess is a playroom full of blocks!

If you want proof that I wasn’t expecting much from our impromptu day trip to Kent, Connecticut, here you go: I didn’t bring my camera. Yep, all of these photos are taken by my iPhone 4 because I didn’t think that that our Memorial Day trip to Kent was going to be anything to blog about. Northwest Connecticut, the foothills of the Berkshires, is a beautiful area, but I’ve been there so many times throughout the years that I wasn’t expecting to see anything truly different. But the impressive waterfall at Kent Falls State Park blew me away — I was glad to be wrong!