hey all,
what a fountain of info i have found on here!!! we are just now in the planing stages of our future rtw or vagabonding lifestyle.( i'm going to be posting lots of question on other threads) just wanted to add a nifty item that i gave my husband for xmas, though i believe it is still backordered on amazon. The Kindle. It is amazing!! now understand that this is a man that didn't even like reading paperbacks, he was a hardback diehard....always said he didn't feel like he was holding a book. But this thing has transformed the way he is able to travel with books. You can instantly download books from amazon...it uses cell technology and not wifi. it holds up to 160 books and all your books are held on amazons server just in case you lose it break it. it doesn't use back light so there is no wear on the eyes with that....it just means you have to have light at night just like you would need with a regular book. we are already planning on buying both of our kids (11 and 14)one before our trip and loading on books (which buy the way are a fraction of the price) Certainly changes the way you can pack light

I'll have to look into that bbtz thanks for the rec...

It makes me wonder if we should market some kind of simple wooden book cover, hard cover, very basic then when you open it up you have a computer screen with an ebook. This would let you feel like you are opening a book and reading it and holding it...hmmmmm there must be someone thinking up such a thing....

I have to get use to reading books on the screen. My problem is I always have kid crawling up my leg...or some cat in my lap...

hey mamoo,
it does have a hard cover case that you open and it protects the screen...but it is sooooo lightweight. the good thing about it is it always keeps your place-you never lose your spot. so even if you had to throw it down quick, it keeps your place. he loves it and it has changed the way he travels with books.

Hi, my children are little (5,3 and 1) and we love the publisher Barefoot Books. They publish traditional stories from around the world and also books about journeys. Our favourite is one called "My Granny went to Market to Buy a Flying Carpet", it has a funny text and gorgeous illustrations.

Welcome Wallop!

We have some of these books with us, but I was not aware of their URL:

http://www.barefoot-books.com/site/pages/choice.php

I just added it to my soultravelers3 delicious group ( just starting it as a place to put all the great links that I keep finding).

They are great! We should not buy anymore, but perhaps we will this year when we go to UK & Ireland.

bbtz...
Nice to hear that you are enjoying the kindle!! I am watching that one ( and the sony) to see when the prices will come down and bugs get worked out.

Keep us posted on how it works out on your RTW!

If you are going to London WT, you should visit Stanfords which is, I think, the worlds largest map and travel bookshop. It's got three floors of just travel books, games etc, including a children's section. Also, if you need any recommendations for good things to do with children in London, I can help!

hey wallop,
my kids would love that!! they could spend hours in the barnes and noble here! we are starting our open ended rtw in the UK, so i will take any info you have. my kids are 11 and 14 and love museums, historical sites and anything different!
peace,
b

Hi bbtz
Gosh where do I start? A few quick suggestions...
Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London both have actors doing historical reenactments, which can be fun. If you are here in winter, you can also ice skate at both palaces.
Polka and Unicorn are two children's theatres, which also do shows for teenagers.
Duck tours is a tank/boat hybrid that drives round the sights then launches into the river Thames for a ride along the river - a bit touristy but fun
Most of the galleries and museums are fantastic (and free!) and have kids programmes. Our favourites include Tate Modern (great exhibits in huge turbine hall), V&A, Science Museum, Natural History, National Portrait Gallery (great for British History - all those portraits of Kings and Queens), Imperial War Museum (good on holocaust if you are heading to Holland, FRance, Germany later) etc etc
Borough Market on Friday and Saturday
London Eye
Royal Mews - this is the Queens stable at Buckingham Palace and you can visit most days to see the Queens personal horses
Dennis Severs House in Spitalfields market - this is a Georgian House that has been kept as it would have been 250 years ago - try and get on one of the twilight tours when it is lit just by candlelight

Sorry to go on and on. These are all things that my kids enjoy or I enjoyed as a child. If you want any more tips, you could PM me, or we could start a new London thread...

I'm very jealous of you leaving so soon. We're planning to go in about 3 years on our RTW trip if we can sort it out.

Best wishes Victoria

thanks so much victoria!!
excellent suggestions! my daughter and i were looking at the eye last night online and she can't wait!!! it's killing them they can't tell friends yet!
do most of the museums have the kids audio? my kids still love that here in nyc even though they have done it over and over. i, frankly, enjoy the kids one as well....as it seems to have a really organic, fresh approach to all that you are seeing (especially for the first time)
love all the info! and considering we will get plenty of time in the UK (less time restrictions than schengen) we should have plenty of opportunity. fabulous!!!!
peace,
b

Hi bbtz
I think they mostly have kids audio, but not sure as my kids are still at the art trolley stage. Some of them are really good at getting kids to join in - my friend took her son to do sculpture at Tate Modern the other day. They had a gallery tour with an artist then went to a room full of modelling materials and were let loose. The museums and galleries do have lots of story telling and treasure hunts etc - I don't know if your kids are too old for that. When you go to Hampton Court Palace, you can be shown round by an actor pretending to be a friend of Henry VIII or see them cooking in the kitchens. I used to visit NYC a lot as a child - it's a fabulous city. There is just as much to do in London - we do something different every weekend and always enjoy ourselves.
Better go, the little one is waking up...

Adding a couple more books that we picked up in Florence at the museums. If one is just going for for a short visit, it might be worth special ordering them before going:

"Florence a young travellers' guide" ( ISPN 88-09-02018-90) and "Florence playing with art" ( ISPN 88-85957-12-9).

I am not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but we also love "Art Fraud Dectective"which is a really fun way for kids to learn more about art.

I was re-reading this thread (love it!) and had a couple more thoughts.

My three year old is not reading, but LOVES National Geographic, which leads to some interesting discussions.

I also have a book called Travel with Kids, published by Footprint Guides, which is primarily a guide for adults to help choose destinations, it covers most of the world and has loads of pics. It also has a page for kids on each area including recipes, books, movies etc about or from the country and kid friendly facts. We're still in the very early stages of planning, so my six year old likes to browse through it and choose where she wants to go.

WT, it might be worth trying to join the library when you come to the UK. You need a proof of address, but if you are staying a while it might be possible. Our local library is great. Also, charity shops sell books pretty cheaply here.

Thanks Wallop! I will look into the library idea as we really do miss libraries. We are going to spend some time in English speaking countries this year, so that should make it easier in the book department.

We loooove online libraries and have really gotten in to ebooks and audio books, so i am going to do my best to not buy any more, but i know I will end up buying some. I am really thrilled that we have the books that we have even though it is a big pain to pack em up and sort em and such for our travel time vs our wintering time. My daughter gets so much out of them and misses her endless supply when on the road.

The ebooks and elibraries will really help this year.May not even need a real library, but would be fun too!

I've rediscovered some great books that we bought in Malaysia a few years ago. They are cartoon books, written by a famous newspaper cartoonist called Lat - a national institution in Malaysia. These books are called Kampung Boy, more Kampung boy etc and are the story of his childhood in simple line drawings with a few words. They bring to life the experience of growing up firstly in a small jungle village and later in Ipoh, a medium sized town and describe all the things that Lat and his friends got up to and are full of humour.

Since we dug them out of a cupboard our kids have been poring over them.

We really had a blast with Harry Potter all through the UK. My daughter actually read the first one at 4 1/2, but I wanted her to wait until she was a little older before getting into the others that seem a little darker.The UK was a the perfect time to get lost in Harry Potter!!

There is a Harry Potter walk in London, but the best part was going to Hogwarts and learning to fly in the very place that Harry did and where they play quiddich.

Even on our tight budget we had to succumb to buying a Gryffindor robe and HP style broom ( that was cheap!) and my thrilled 7 year old "flew" all around Hogwarts ( Alnwick castle where a tremendous amounts of the scenes were shot).

It is not really a book about England, but I have to admit it was quite cute seeing our 7year old read her "Order of the Phoenix" on a double decker bus or even better while going down the Cam on a punt at Cambridge!


Reading and seeing Shakespeare was also a big hit in London including at Shakespeare's house in Stratford and seeing King Lear at the Globe.

There were more ( like Elizabeth) but these two giants were the favs for our 7 year old this year in England. So much fun to run into so many English books this summer as we have been away from English speaking countries for two years now.

Of course, we had to do just a bit of Jackie Wilson too...which is a very English pre teen passion.