Craig Priddle
Early 20th century humourist Robert Benchley said “There are two kinds of travel: first class and with children.” We were a family of four, two adults, twin 13 year old boys. We paid for everything ourselves, and spent four weeks travelling to and around North Eastern United States of America. Most of the time we were all sleeping in the same room. We all survived and our family is intact. This is what we did.
1. Plan Plan Plan
Restating the obvious I know, however planning lets you do the other things in the list of tips, like…
2. Dispel any fears
We knew where we were spending every night on our trip. We knew every transfer we were making and how long to allow for traffic. This allowed us to answer every question. The prospect of sleeping out in January in New York did not appeal. We could tell our twins we were travelling business class on Amtrak, so free soft drink and wifi (of course that’s a worry!) would be on offer. We travelled alongside the Hudson from New York to Albany, a beautiful journey.
3. Get them involved
Both the Smithsonian in Washington DC and the Intrepid in New York have an SR71 Blackbird and a Space Shuttle. Two space shuttles and two Blackbirds, our boys knew what was in store before we left, and were really looking forward to this part our journey. They were also keen to meet Bob, our Big Apple Greeter; because they had read the lovely emails he had sent to us before we left. Bob showed us around the High Line and Chelsea, and guided us on how to use the subway – a nice bloke.
Incorporate your kids’ interests into the trip. We spent time at the Sony Technology Lab on Madison Avenue in New York. They have a fairly nifty set of displays and activities you can do for free, all to do with technology. It’s the sort of place school groups go. Our kids loved it. They also loved that we spent an hour downstairs at the huge Sony store next-door playing video games. They missed their Playstation, and it was a fun activity they wanted to do in between the things we wanted to experience (my wife was shopping at this time, so she was happy too…very happy).
4. Be tough
Our airfares cost well over $2000 each, so if we have the opportunity to go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has suits of armour and things we knew the twins would like, then we felt that imminent death was one of only a few possible excuses for not going. Not only was there armour and lots of art on the highly recognised list, “Hey Dad, remember this is the self portrait of Vincent that we had on our bedroom wall”, but there was a cab ride before, and a walk in Central Park and lunch at the Loeb Boathouse after, and “Yes, you can have a hot dog”. It was a great day. We didn’t see everything I wanted, but that’s okay, the boys may have seen more than they had expected to.
5. Be soft
We gave them days off. Our day at the Museum of Modern Art was without the boys. They missed some great art, but we had peace and quiet, and didn’t have to worry about where they were or who they might be disturbing. The twins stayed at the hotel (after a very serious and full on lecture about security and evacuation procedures) and got to watch the NFL playoffs and play Pokemon. Everyone got their mental breath back. Parents just remember to breathe….ahhhhh. It was too cold to ski because of the big freeze. No pressure, we enjoyed swimming, playing ping pong, we watched some movies and relaxed.
6. Take a chance if you can afford to fail
Try some things which might fall in a dismal heap. While we were in New York, we took the boys to see Twelfth Night, currently in repertory with Stephen Fry as Malvolio. The boys are just 13 and it is Shakespeare, with an all male cast…..they loved it. The tickets were only $27 each, so we could afford to fail.
We took the boys to the Metropolitan Opera to see Madama Butterfly …it was getting very risky. They lasted two acts. Fair enough, two acts of opera and the opportunity to see inside the Metropolitan Opera building was well worth the $37 each we paid for our seats up in the Gods. It was a horrendous choice for a first opera, but the timing was right, and we all had an ice cream on the way home to make up for it.
7. Do what you know
We went to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Rangers play. For the boys, Madison Square Garden wasn’t where Led Zeppelin recorded the concerts for The Song Remains the Same, but we all loved the hockey. A great night and we only had one giant pretzel – McDonalds on the way home.
8. Try to eat simply sometimes
The burgers and fries are great in the USA, no doubt, but not every day. We had two different apartments with some sort of kitchen set up, so we could have cereal and toast for breakfast, cook some pasta, or even just get something to microwave from one of the little supermarkets situated all over the place. It saved us money, time and kilojoules and we could eat in peace and plan and discuss the things as we had done in our home away from home. Being in a restaurant changes those dynamics.
9. Whatever works for you?
So, there you go, that’s what worked for us. We were also very tidy because otherwise it would have driven us the parents’ nuts. We were flexible, we were tough, we were soft, we dragged them along, and we left them alone. Whatever it was, it seemed to work for us.
Now, if anyone would like to fund my wife and I for another trip, first class, I could write a comparison piece. …Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Links (websites used for bookings)
The Metropolitan Opera www.metoperafamily.org
Twelfth Night www.nyc.com/broadway_tickets
New York Rangers rangers.nhl.com
Amtrak www.amtrak.com
Also mentioned
The Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
Sony Technology Lab www.sonywondertechlab.com
Loeb Boathouse www.thecentralparkboathouse.com
High Line www.thehighline.org
Big Apple Greeters bigapplegreeter.org
The Museum of Modern Art www.moma.org
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum www.intrepidmuseum.org
The Smithsonian Institution www.si.edu
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