We have traveled quite a bit in 2014. We had to really rack our brains to pick our top twelve family travel finds. It’s important to note that the following list is in no particular order.
- Barcelona, Spain for the accessible, whimsical art and food to the expansive, Spanish gold beaches.
- Selva Val Gardena, Italy for the four official languages echoing off the towering Dolomites.
- Lake Bled, Slovenia for the fairy tale castles and cakes surrounded by the best of what mother nature has to offer.
- Austria for being the only entire country to make the list – from Innsbruck to Vienna to Salzburg and every peak in between, Austria has it all.
- Valetta, Malta for its stunning harbor welcoming visitors in all its emerging glory as a newly inducted EU country.
- Sunshine Coast, Spain – Southern Spain has the most sun we have felt in all of Europe.
- Tuscany, Italy for feeling like home with the smoldering olive wood burning in the fall to the rose-colored light that glows all year, to the civilization that has taught us so much about art and architecture.
- Dordogne, France for being the untouched countryside we so longed for in Europe. It is a picture-perfect escape from the industry that has clouded so many fields.
- Paris, France for its elegance and the way it invites even the youngest travelers into its many secret doors. From the stairs up the Eiffel Tower to the Gargoyles at the top of Notre Dame, to the castle below the Louvre, we will forever be enchanted.
- The Gothenburg, Sweden archipelago for the islands we always dreamed existed, car-free, accessible, simple, and yet elegant and rugged.
- Berlin, Germany for being alive on every corner and waking us up to history in a way that seemed to include the world.
- London, England for its free museums and endless parks. It was truly a dream with kids to wander such a city looking for everything from the Rosetta Stone to the Queen to the Tower Bridge at night.
What we have learned from compiling this list is that the main reason the above places resonated was because of who we were when we were there. If we were hopeful, excited, rested, and ready, places opened before us with wonder. If we arrived tired, confused, lost, or cranky our experience changed dramatically.
So much of what a place reveals has to do with how we show up.
Today, you can be deliberate in how you show up. . .
