And even if they don’t remember all of it. Who cares? I’ll remember it as one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

We took him to Egypt when he was 2 years old. Everyone was lovely and helpful and of course, they loved kids. In order to supplement his diet, I brought organic stuff from Germany and also asked that everything be 100% boiled in hot water, and they were great. We took 12-hour long train rides and I always had games, songs, memory cards, CD’s etc with me and we used to play games about things that we saw on our journey. Oh, and I sang a lot. Loudly! I got a few funny looks but my baby was smiling, happy, and healthy so what did it matter LOL!

Nancy, it’s true that as the kids get older, things get a little more difficult. We were lucky in that our son went to international school so it was easier to take him out to travel, as many of the children had parents moving to Hong Kong, Switzerland, or back to the States, etc. (I’m British by the way). Although our son is not yet 13 he’s now in Grade 8, and since we moved to an elite German school they are much stricter and so we’re not allowed to do that anymore. We have to work it out as other parents do. Sigh!

I get creative and use ALL the school holidays and weekends. I book wherever we want to go at least 1 year ahead. Unfortunately, unless you’re going to Asia, this is not the time to wait until the last minute if you’re travelling in peak season, and YOU want to choose. In 2011, we went to America in the winter holiday not Christmas (He was still in his international school so I managed to negotiate 1 week on either side plus took all his school work with us).
In 2012, we went on a 3-week vacation to Tuscany. In July! I booked 1 year ahead. Got flights for €100 each. Book a car for €20 a day and our highest cost was our 250 year old hotel in Pisa. A family suite at €52.00 a night!
In 2013, we went to Scotland. I booked the train tickets and flights 6 months ahead and went in the Autumn break instead of summer as Britain is crazy in the summer.

In 2014, we went everywhere including Thailand, Indonesia, Qatar and Korea. In the summer holidays. Planning took 2 years and I used the Student Travel Agency (STA) to get us good flights. They did. €800 for a flight Berlin-Bangkok-Bali-Berlin. In August! I booked all the various hostels, boutique hotels, and rented houses online myself. The highest cost. A duplex house in a rice field in Bali at $100 per night. We were there for 2 weeks.

Our two sons are now 13 and 15 and we’ve taken them to Europe two times using Frequent Flier miles and staying in apartment rentals. It was definitely easier when schools didn’t make much of a fuss about pulling your kids out of school for a 10-12 days in the spring. (They were 5 and 7 the first trip and 11 and 13 the second trip.) Also, it was definitely less expensive (and crowded) to take the family to Europe off-season: our FF miles went further and rentals were less expensive.

But now our 15 year old is a sophomore in high school with tough estrictions on attendance. We’re forced to travel during high-season (summer or winter holiday) rates. It’s also difficult to justify an overseas trip when you only have 1 week available during spring break or when you have to choose between spending the holidays with family or spending the holidays on a trip. I’ve even posed this question: do you want Christmas gifts or do you want to go to Europe? Not surprisingly, they want both…plus the family understandably wants to see family at the holidays. Also, older kids eat more, require more sleeping space, and there are less child discounts available, so travel overall becomes more expensive.

But we’re not giving up! We’re still amassing FF miles and reducing our budget to squirrel away money. Our kids love to travel and the experiences and memories make all the sacrifice worth it. Still, I’d love to hear from other travelers with older children on how they manage to keep traveling as a family right through high school.