Dad, Mom, Grandma, Four Children and Travel
The title of the material is a reference to the book by Norwegian writer Anna Katrina Westley “Dad, Mom, Grandma, Eight Children and a Truck”. In this fascinating story, a large family learns by itself and shows readers around the world how to travel together, learn and work fun.
The large family of Catherine and Alexei with children Varya, Zakhar, Glafira and Tikhon loves to travel. Mother Catherine agreed to share the secrets of many happy trips.
Having one child is not the same as having six or even four. Plus, Dad needs to be assembled.
Always and in everything, one wants to go right, the other wants to go left. And only the powerful authority of the Pope can handle this. In a large family, at least one person is unhappy. But we prefer to count those who are satisfied. It is best to negotiate with dissatisfied children.
In our family, the most important thing is that my mother is happy.
I’ll tell you a little secret, when there are many children, they entertain each other.
We often travel with connecting flights, sometimes waiting at the airport for a few hours.
One of the biggest challenges is how to keep the kids busy. If the children are not busy, they begin to groan and ask: well, when we get on the plane, when we arrive, well, when the bus ... and so on.
There is absolutely no problem with waiting and busying yourself for those children who are connected to phones. They just play toys on a tablet or smartphone. And maybe on the road that's the way out.
But we are very busy, and only the older child has a full mobile phone. She’s 13 years old and she can read everywhere. We usually return with a suitcase of new books. The daughter does not recognize e-books. A ten-year-old child is also slowly immersed in reading. There's no choice because he has a button phone. Reading without kicking, he just started on a trip.
Entertainment is only for the younger ones. Especially when the older ones are reading. The easiest thing is to take the road tablet and download cartoons on it. That's all I need. We usually take coloring books with games, colored pencils, markers.
I also learned that taking toys with me on a trip means bringing them back without taking them out of the suitcase and carrying a suitcase of new toys.
I take the kids one little toy, and we buy the rest on the road. The same applies to notebooks, coloring books, pens, pencils.
Many airlines prepare gifts for each child: small colored pencils, a magazine, a purse in which all this is packed. This is the best entertainment option on the road! If there is no such joy, then we love to paint paper cups that serve water.
Each of our children has an ordinary small audio column on which his favorite fairy tales, TV plays, audiobooks are recorded. We especially like children's radio productions and I think that's the best alternative to the phone.
Well, of course, our children's mobile games are indispensable: above the foot from the ground, a slap, a ring-ring, blindfolds, you go quietly - then you will be many, many others. We like various word games for guessing words, numbers, logical chains, writing, drawing oddballs.
Each trip is a sea of new experiences and discoveries. On an extreme journey, our children got acquainted with squid, cuttlefish, sea cucumber, hedgehog, moray eel. They just found them.
You have to be mentally prepared to have one child is not the same as having six or even four. Plus, Dad needs to be assembled. And everyone bring water. I take water on the plane for everyone. If you make a comment, we'll have a drink on the spot. But most children pass with water without problems.
I highly recommend making a travel book before and after your trip! Children like to collect herbarium and all the flowers - we then paste the leaves there. You can and should write down plans in a travel book, collect different "artifacts", print photos and make them! It will be a lifelong memory.
Doing lessons on vacation is first of all a powerful strong-willed effort of parents over themselves!
Teaching lessons on vacation is very difficult. If you do this, and not postpone it for later, then you need to do it in the system!
Better every day at the same time, for example, during the sleep of the younger guys or in the hottest time of the day or in the evening after all the adventures!
Notebooks, pencils, notebook pens for school we like to buy on trips. It's more fun to do homework. Every time we save space in suitcases, we take photos of textbooks, but we take the basic textbooks with us! Now in elementary school, comfortable workbooks are both a textbook and a notebook! It is very cool to learn multiplication tables and English words on the road!
Doing lessons on vacation is first of all a powerful strong-willed effort of parents over themselves!
Pros and cons of traveling in Russia and abroad. Your experience of both.
In Russia, unfortunately, traveled very little. We went to Crimea four times. Nature is fascinating! The service in general and the consumer attitude of local residents is very cooling. It seems to me that this is true for all southern regions of our country.
In Crimea, it is problematic to rent a car, and you need to book a lot in advance and you could always take it only in Simferopol and return there accordingly.
The advantage of Russia until recently - much more developed payment by cash! Now, of course, almost nowhere in other countries our cards can not pay.
I really want to travel around Russia in a minibus with the whole family, but we have not decided yet. Plans. Novosibirsk. Kazan. Samara. Nizhny Novgorod. I have been planning on going to the May holidays for a long time. volgograd In a minibus.
We do not love Europe, but Asia. Thailand. Unfortunately, it is becoming less and less accessible.
What does tourism lack for happiness?
First of all, a decent hotel reservation service.
I would be even more interested to go not to resort places, but to some forest: to lakes, mountains, rivers. I would love to travel to cities on the Volga.
Your family top travel experiences. What family likes to remember
We have the sweetest connection not even with children, but with the mother of my husband. With our grandmother, you could write a book “The Adventures of Russian Grandma in Thailand!”
Went in with her. tai10 years ago, in winter. On the first day after the sea, they returned to the room, and to quickly cool the room, the air conditioning was turned on at maximum. And they got together and went on a motorcycle to Patong. When they came back, my grandmother was sitting in a thick sweater, under three blankets, shaking. She thought it was even colder outside.
On the way to the Great Buddha Temple in Phuket, we had a stop where monkeys came out. The guide warned about the rules of communication with these mammals. Our grandmother broke all the rules, and as a result, the monkeys climbed into the bag - took a bag of fruit, cookies and snacks.
Even in foreign trips, we prefer not the All Inclusive format, but to rent accommodation with a kitchen and cook from local products or eat in authentic establishments. Since we're on this trip in Egypt They cooked themselves: lentils, chickpeas, popcorn from corn, then the cereals remained! It was a pity to throw them away, we packed everything and put it in a suitcase.
For the first time in our lives, we were asked to open a packed suitcase. I went to the customs officer, and he asked: what do you have there? I look at the screen and I see a big round hedgehog in my suitcase. I was confused. It only became clear when they unpacked. It was chickpeas and lentils in a bag.
We are big fans of long trips with transfers. I went to Thailand with four children. First we went by train to Novosibirsk – we wanted to take the children by train. We waited a long time for a plane in Novosibirsk, at the airport. Then we took a plane to Bangkok.
Then there was the transfer to another airport Don Muang by taxi - about an hour, there was also a domestic airline plane waiting. And a domestic flight to Surattani. Then the bus about an hour and an hour two ferry to Koh Samui. It was the most interchangeable road.
At this point, when the plane was announced at Don Muang Airport, our older children began to fall asleep. The younger ones had been sleeping in their arms for a long time. So we lined up to land, and my husband and I were running around the hall trying to catch our elders. They, like zombies, stagger half asleep in the hall, then sit down, then lie down, then go again. At one point, I was even afraid that we wouldn't be able to put all four together. The stroller was rescued, the babies were put in a stroller and one by one the elders were caught.
Future travel plans: Where do you want to go?
I dream of visiting Uzbekistan. I really want to go to Samarkand. Chaget, by the way!
Our friends about dream trips say this: Novosibirsk - a road with one overnight stay near omskYou can have tents on Lake Ik.
In Novosibirsk: zoo, water park (better than ours (in Yekaterinburg)), on the Ob to swim, the beach on the Ob Sea, in the center to walk, excursion to the Akademgorodok, the planetarium is not bad.
It's popular now. tobolskTeriberka on the White Sea is fashionable. And the coolest thing is elbrusChaget, dombai. I still want to live in Pyatigorsk and kislovodsk.
The most desirable route Tashkent-bukharaSamarkand-Yangiabad (Tian Shan Mountains).
Text: personalguide
Photo: from the personal archive of the heroes of the material
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