Who We Are
My wife and I and our two sons live in Budapest, Hungary – on the Buda side of the city, in a house on Gellert Hill, to be precise. We are American, but have been living abroad in places as disparate geographically and culturally as Japan and Mexico since 1996. Both of our boys, now aged six and two, were born here.
We travel a great deal, and have often mentioned how great it would be to have a website that was devoted not only to general tips about travelling with kids, but also offered details about particular destinations – what’s there for the kids to do, which restaurants are kid-friendly, does the local ski area have a fun park for children, is the beach suitable for toddlers, are there hotels or apartments with playrooms – all the little things that can make the difference between a harried holiday with your children and a great one.
We’ve also discussed how great it would be to be able to read about real-life experiences and find parenting advice that was less glossy and more gritty, that featured practical tips for parents like us, whose home sometimes looks less like Good Housekeeping and more like a fungal infection, and who feel that many of the mainstream parenting sites leave readers feeling like miscreant child-minders. Yes, it’s wonderful to know 16 Ways to Make Great Gifts out of Used Dental Floss, but it would be better to know two strategies for making your kid eat his goddamn peas.
Parenting and travel and where the two often meet. That’s the website we wanted. Well, this is that site.
A Bit of Background
My wife and I met in San Francisco while getting certified to teach English, had a whirlwind romance, and ended up (although I had intended to go back to Italy, where I had lived for two years) in Korea. A year in a small, conservative town in Podunk Korea was enough, and we headed back to spend the summer in my hometown in Maine, then off to Santa Barbara, CA, where she finished up a lapsed undergraduate degree.
That spring we married, and beat it south to Oaxaca, Mexico, a stunningly gorgeous colonial city where we taught for a year. Although we loved it there, a Mexican salary meant that we were continually dipping into our savings simply to pay our bills, so we scouted around for a more profitable locale.
Although slightly trepidatious after our less-than-stellar experience in Korea, we opted to go back to East Asia, this time to Japan. An excellent choice all around. The food, the convoluted culture that melded ingrained politeness and impassiveness with an underlying streak of sheer lunatic wackiness , the sea and mountains, the tranquil villages and silent forest shrines all wooed us so that by the end of two years there we were inexpressibly sad to leave.
But leave we did, to spend a year in Essex, England, where my wife picked up an MA in Human Rights. She soon got a temporary position to do a report for a Budapest-based organization on mental health institutions in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. I went along to take photographs for the project, which was to last four months. Nine years later, here we are still in Budapest, where my wife works for a donor organization promoting human rights in the region, and I found a job teaching secondary school English Literature at a private British school.
Six years ago, our first son was born here in Hungary. By the time he was eight months old he had been to half a dozen different countries, and we found ourselves frequently navigating the murky, sometimes stormy waters of traveling with children. Two trips a year back to the US, one to each coast, holidays around Europe, and toting the little bugger along on occasional business trips meant that we had to learn the ins and outs on the road. It was mostly trial and error. Lots of error. Mining the internet didn’t always turn up gems of useful information, so we learned along the way.
By the time our second son was born we had a fairly good idea of what we were doing, and discovered that with a little planning and armed with reliable information, traveling with two young boys could be not only bearable but delightful. Most of the time.
A couple of years ago, coinciding with the birth of our youngest son, I left my school to devote myself full time to writing and editing. And daddying. When I’m not writing during nap time I’m usually knee-deep in diapers or hanging with the moms at the local playground. Or planning, packing for, and executing family trips. It might be a day-hike at the Danube bend, an overnighter to a local farm, or an extended holiday in Costa Rica, but each one requires varying degrees of forethought and preparation. How are we going to work nap times? Picnic lunch or restaurant? What’s the closest decent restaurant and when does it open? Spontaneity is great. I’m all for it. But when you have kids, the spontaneous only works if you’re prepared for it. You kids want to take off your clothes and run around in your underwear on a sunny riverside Sunday? Go for it! But if you didn’t slather that sunscreen on your kids before you left, everybody is going to get burned.
Well, I sincerely hope you find this website helpful in your travels. Get out there with your kids. Share the wide world with them. And when you get back, drop us a line about your trip. We love to hear our readers’ insights and comments.
Hi Matt, Because you have a great blog that I love, I’ve nominated you guys for the Versatile Blogger Award! If you choose to accept the nomination, please follow the link to the nomination rules…
http://mittsandmeasures.com/2013/04/27/versatile-blogger-award/
Pingback: Versatile Blogger Award | Mitts and Measures·
Matt, I have nominated you for the sunshine award. Enjoy!
http://wonderlandbytatu.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/sunshine-award-thank-you-doro/
Hy! It’s nice to meet you! Just letting you know we dropped by! Have a look on our blog, maybe you like it! It’s a blog with complete articles on men’ style, fashion and lifestyle!
Fraquoh and Franchomme
Hi!
I am really enjoying your blog it certainly gives me a chuckle and am glad that word press reccommended it to me. Looking forward to reading more now that I am following! Enjoy your travels
Great idea..! I’m inspired..!
I have loved to travel. I taught English in Japan too for a time and then just lived there for a year. My life didn’t quite turn out to be a traveling life but I think I’ll be plunking down and reading your adventures. Thanks for sharing.
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Loved your blog. I’m Lisa’s (from New Zealand) Mum and just moved to New Zealand from the UK. I envy your children’s experiences and think they will have a wonderful basis to enjoy all that life can offer.
Hi Lisa’s mum! Thanks so much for you comments. Enjoy your new adventure in NZ, Pat! All the best.
Hi there, just found your blog and looking forward to reading more. I travelled back and forth to Australia as a child – with my parents, I should add – and am a great believer in showing your kids the world at an early age. However, now that I have two children of my own and getting out of the house to a toddler group takes me about two hours, I am baffled as to how we’d take them further afield. Hoping your blog will give me ideas!
I was also wondering: how many languages do your children speak?
Love your blog, so glad I found it, and admire your adventures with two little ‘uns. After leaving two comments only now have I visited this page and realised you’re also an expat. And your wife studied in Essex, where I’m from! How was it for you in England? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Hi Fiona,
Thanks for visiting, and I’m so glad you are enjoying the blog. I had a brief look at yours, and I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time with it. There is actually a slim chance that we might be moving to Barcelona, so my interest level is running high on all things Spain right now.
We really enjoyed our time in England. The University of Essex itself is a horrid collection of 1970′s utilitarian architecture set amid lovely rolling parkland, like smallpox scars on a beautiful face. The English are quirky and funny and absolutely obsessed with accents, something that was an endless source of amusement for us. Just the place names were charming in their peculiarity – only the English could call a town Fingringhoe with a straight face.
Reading over your own ‘about’ page I was struck by how much we seem to have in common.
I very much enjoyed your book reviews – Julia Donaldson is a particular favorite of ours, and ‘The Snail and the Whale’ tops my personal list. I’ve been writing children’s stories and trying to get them published, but have met with no success and hit a bit of a dead end. I’m going to have to search new avenues.
Anyway, thanks for your comments – they’re much appreciated.
Yes, the Uni of Essex is utterly hideous. I love the place names too, especially Litte x and Great x. I’m extremely ashamed to admit that I’ve never been to Barcelona – as you’re no doubt aware, it may not even be part of Spain soon as Catalonia is campaigning for independence. We’ll see!
Some more rhyming books we love are the Amazing Machines series by Tony Mitton and Nat Parker. Firm favourites for past four years with my son.
Thanks, Fiona – I’ll have to check them out.
Great to find your blog – I particularly like the last paragraph of your ‘about’
I can relate to that most definitely – spontaneity requires planning when you have kids! faye
Thanks, Faye. It’s always nice when readers say they can relate to our points of view and experiences. I look forward to spending some time on your site. Right now, in fact. Cheers!
Great site, really glad WordPress recommended it. Being newly arrived to Europe, I think your site will provide a plethora of great tips and ideas on where to travel with two young boys.
Thanks, familynomadic! I’ve enjoyed checking out your site as well. There are so many great destinations in Europe, and traveling with kids is fairly easy. How old are your boys?
My oldest is 3 and the youngest turns 1 in December. We just took our first trip up to Stockholm last weekend and are looking forward to many more destinations to come. If you have any clear favorites, I would love to hear them.
Hi. I’m going to follow you–my first such endeavor as a relative newbie (I posted my first time about nine months ago, but didn’t “get into it” until this past week). We are bringing up two kids in Taiwan, yet lived in Switzerland last year, so we can relate to much of your experience (on the surface) and questions about traveling with kids. My three-year-old has been to eleven countries herself. Anyway, I appreciate your insights and will read more! Cheers!
Thanks, Vagabond. I’m honored that you’ve decided to follow the blog. By the way, when I click on vagabondwithfamily, WordPress tells me that the site has been deleted. But you just posted this comment. Hmmm….
Yikes. Deleted? I just started! Yes; hmmmm…
An excellent website! Funny, thought provoking and often quite moving! Clearly written by a professional daddy. Taking kids to the cemetry: wonderful! Sam
Thanks for your comments, Sam. I’m glad your thoughts are provoked. Just don’t let them get so provoked that you feel the need to start windmilling in.
It’s great to discover you, and what a super idea for a blog. (What a super idea for a life, for that matter!)
We were able to share the wide world with our kids–we’ve been traveling with them since our first was born. We also lived in Europe for a while: two adults, three years, four kids.
I’ll be entering that contest of yours when I can find five minutes to download a photo. And, I’ll be following your blog, with fond memories.
Thanks for your comments, Robin Jean Marie! I took a quick peek at your blog and look forward to spending some more time with it. We love the Big Sur area, and I’m definitely going to have to give the cobbler a go. Can’t wait to see your photos!
Thanks for your sneak peek and your happy comments.
I just submitted a photo–you’ve seen it, but I think it captures the spirit of a family filled with wanderlust.
Thanks for offering this contest!
All the best,
Robin
Have you had a chance to read this from the NYTimes? http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/01/are-family-vacations-worth-it/?ref=opinion
Already done, Merryn. (Before, in fact, I extended the invitation. I might be silly but I’m not crazy.) Let me know what you’d be interested in writing about. Go to the ‘contact us’ page to get in touch. Cheers!
Great to discover your site, folks. We have recently returned from seven months of travel with our two sons (12 and 10) and had lots of fantastic times – and some nightmares. Excellent advice on taking good photos of your kids. Keep on enjoying!
Thanks, Merryn! I’d love to hear about your travels. (And see some photos!) Since we’d like this site to have good, solid information about specific destinations, would you care to be a guest blogger and share some of your insights?
I’d be honoured. If you’d like a sample of what I’ve done, have a look at http://aroundtheworldin80wickets.wordpress.com
Wonderful idea you two! Down-to-earth perspectives that appreciate the moments worth savoring, and being honest about those that aren’t – like the (sand)wich. Keep on keeping on!