Ever since my children came along, I have had an urge to travel far and wide with them. Which is funny because in all honesty, travel has never really been very high on my list of priorities.
I didn't venture out of the UK for the first time until I was 21, when I visited Venezuela for a family wedding and after that I visited only a handful of European countries.
But once my boys came along, I had a desire to explore with them. There's something truly magical about seeing the world through your children's eyes, and as a home educating family I feel the value and benefit of experiencing different cultures first hand even more so.
My eldest is only 5 and my youngest is 2, so although our cruise holidays have allowed us to visit some amazing destinations where we've learned about historical events, taken in the sights and experienced the cuisine in countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Norway there are a few places that I've felt the need to hold back on until they're old enough to truly appreciate them.
I've put together a little bucket list of places I'd love to visit with the boys over the next 5-10 years, here they are!
Florida
Obviously my main reason for wanting to visit here is to spend time at Walt Disney World, but I'm incredibly fussy as I won't be happy with a trip to WDW at just any time of year...it HAS to be during Halloween season so that the boys & I can enjoy a trip to the famous Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!
We watch videos of the party on YouTube all the time, and the boys love to watch the Halloween parade on there too - they'd love to see it for themselves in person!
We'd also like to extend our trip a little and possibly hire a villa for a week so that we could explore some non-Disney related places too, including Universal Studios and Legoland Florida!
Lapland
I feel like the boys are at ideal ages for Lapland right now, as they're young enough to really believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas but also old enough to grasp what is happening and understand the excitement of a trip like that.
Of course, a holiday to Lapland would take a lot of planning and so although it looks likely to be at least another year or two before we're able to visit ourselves.
One of the main things to decide on when it comes to planning a visit to Lapland is just where to go as, of course, Lapland holidays are run by various tour operators and in various places with opinion on which destination is "best" varying greatly from person to person making it very tricky to narrow down where is the best option for you.
Activities Abroad pride themselves on organising holidays only to the very best and most authentic locations in Finland, opting for the smaller and more personal destinations. They have also opted out of offering day trips, stating that the Lapland experience can not be fully enjoyed and appreciated in only a day - they seem to offer great value for money for their 4 and 5 night trips when compared to the prices I've often seen for day trips too! So I think they're certainly the ones we'll be using when the time comes to book our trip.
Greece
This is somewhere I've only added on to my list in the last few months, but after hearing about a friends recent holiday there with her 3 little boys I've been totally sold on the idea of a visit here.
I love the historical beauty of the buildings and winding streets, and I'm a big fan of Greek cuisine so I think a trip here would be something really special.
California
If you were to ask my 5 year old where his dream holiday destination is, he would no doubt tell you that it's Alcatraz! The abandoned prison island off the coast of San Francisco.
Quite a strange dream holiday destination for a little boy I suppose, but he's wanted to visit for ages now and I'd love to be able to take him there as it's somewhere I'd be quite intrigued to see myself.
I'd also love to visit some of the filming destinations of my favorite TV shows like The OC, and of course visit the ORIGINAL Disneyland in California too. It would be a dream come true!
New York
I realize that the vast majority of my travel wishlist is made up of American states, but what can I say?! I've always been obsessed with all things Americana and New York has been top of my list of Must See Destinations since I was a teenager myself.
I think it would be a great place to visit with the boys as really where in the world is more full of life and excitement than New York City?!
My plan is to save hard and organize a trip here for my 40th birthday in 3 years time...fingers crossed we can manage it!
What places are on your Family Travel Bucket List? I'd love to hear about them!
*With thanks to Activities Abroad for partnering with us on this post
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