Together We Go is written by Anita Kaushal who lives with her family in London, England. I guessed that the author was from England by reading the book, even before I took a look at the dust jacket to verify the fact. How did I guess? Well, the frequent use of the word “holiday” was a clue, coupled with the fact that the author clearly thinks it’s an ordinary thing for families to travel the world and explore it together. That really is not a very American thought.
In America, our culture is to take frequent day trips to the nearest zoo, a weekend trip to the beach or maybe a week long vacation to visit the grandparents in Ohio. I really don’t meet very many people who pack up their families to go off on African Safaris or who explore the canals of Venice together. Nor do many families I know take two weeks to tour a castle in Scotland. Nice thoughts to be sure, but seldom do we hear of that happening. When an American family purposes to do such a thing – it’s a BIG DEAL. To author Kaushal though, it’s not a big deal at all. It’s a way of life.
Together We Go takes a look at various holidays that families can take together, why it’s important to explore the world, and how to make such travels a little easier. Put your budget aside and think about places you would like to visit. Ignore your children’s ages and perhaps even the level of homeland security and just dream a little. What IS possible? Actually this book made me think that world travel IS possible with a family. It made me to think about the benefits and values of exploring other cities and other cultures — even if those cultures ARE in America.
Kaushal gives tips for traveling to big cities (all over the world), water vacations, snow holidays, how to take a luxury vacation, and how to approach all of these ideas with kids in mind. Coupled with her tricks and tips are beautiful photographs of children exploring world markets, swimming on the beach, and eating big, soft pretzels. Really this book is very nicely done and is quite inspirational. I know that Americans are going to find the idea of taking family vacations all over the world a little hard to grasp. But it IS possible and I think more practical than some of us really realize.
This book made me feel both cozy and imaginative. I would love to explore some of these locations and put her advice to practical use. However, I have a two year old and one on the way. My husband and I would prefer to wait until our children can remember such trips before we take them. We both have a desire to explore the world but feel its a little impractical at the present moment. Thankfully, we both had the opportunity to travel back before we were married. He toured Europe a few times and I made it over to England and explored parts of Canada. We have a little travel experience under our belts but we look forward to adding stamps to our passports in time. I’ve tucked away a few ideas from this book and for that reason I find it practical — even for Americans! Maybe this book is just the thing we need to motivate us outside of our boxes so that we can enjoy more of God’s beautiful creation — which exists all over the world
Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.
Amy says
Now this sounds like a book I’d like!!! I LOVE to travel, and I hope we can do more of it as our girls get older!
edj says
I totally agree with the basic premise of this book. We started taking the kids to visit the grandparents in Hawaii when they were a few months old. When the twins had just turned 4 and Elliot was not quite 6, we moved them all to Africa. Two years later we went to France. They may not remember everything, but they remember some things, and I think travel is great! It can totally be done with young kids.
Deanna says
Traveling as a family is a great thing. The reason why Americans probably do not see traveling the world as possible is because of the expense…the flight expense alone is enough to give a great majority of families pause.
Feb. 2008, my father gifted myself, my youngest (she was 1 1/2 at the time) and my oldest (he was 17 at the time) a trip to Israel. We went with my Dad to visit my brother and his family. We spent a bit over 2 weeks. It was an incredible experience!! The sights we saw in Israel alone was amazing. It was a great experience for my son. My little daughter, well…she “remembers” only because we look a pictures, talk about it plus she she sees her uncle a few times a year (business travel to the states for him). She does talk about flying in a plane completely unprompted. **smile**
If a family could handle the expense, travel overseas is a grand experience. The travel with the 1 1/2 was incredibly doable. I just planned for her to have snacks (packed in her carry on bag) and a “travel to do bag”. She was very pliable.
My sister travels to South Africa about once a year with her family. Again, she plans for the trip thus making it very doable for her girls which are currently 4 and 2.
Currently, I dream of taking the family to the north east coast – Maine and there abouts. Another spot that we would like to go is Hawaii.
I can only imagine if we lived in Europe that we would be able to see wonderful sites more readily.
susan varney says
i wanna a chance baby [email protected]