How did we end up in the Mediterranean Sea with Mickey Mouse ziplining over the pool? We decided to take the kids on their first international trip. I don’t think we had any idea what we were starting.
The First Overseas Trip
Disney Cruise Line – Barcelona, Spain to Barcelona, Spain
It all started with our first international trip. We wanted to give our kids, who were 9 and 11 at the time, a taste of the world beyond North America. We had been to the Caribbean and on a few cruises before, but this was something different. This was an adventure that would change our perspective on travel forever.
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona was a great place to start to experience international travel. The city has a perfect balance of intensity and areas where you can completely relax. The kids were mesmerized by the street performers and artists along Las Ramblas and we all fell in love with the late-night tapas and paella.
Pompei, Italy
Pompei changed how we look at travel. The fact that the archeological dig in Pompei has been going on longer than we have been a country and it is still just a fraction unearthed is amazing. Walking through a city that has been preserved for nearly 2,000 years is mind-blowing. I was astounded by the sophistication and technology that existed there. They had running water, gutters to carry away sewage, and homes that I can only think of as modern. For the first time in my life, I realized that history wasn’t about memorizing dates, it was about understanding how real people lived and what they experienced.
The kids also discovered things. They were a little disturbed by the plaster casts of the victims that were made from their “ghosts“. When they find empty pockets in the ash they fill them with plaster and you get incredible casts of the victim’s last moments. There is literally nothing that remains of the victim, other than the empty space. We decided to avoid the brothels but they still sparked some interesting discussions with the kids.
From Napoli (Naples) we took the train down instead of the tour from the ship. As we rode down more and more people started to come into our car and cheerfully greet others in the car and before long it felt like we were part of a family gathering. Only near the end of the trip did we realize that these exuberant greetings were not for friends and family that they were traveling with, rather they were simply greeting other strangers on the train.
We continued our cruise to Rome, Italy, where we explored both the ancient and the modern aspects of the city. We visited the Colosseum, where gladiators fought for their lives in front of thousands of spectators. We ate pizza, pasta, and gelato, the delicious Italian treats that we couldn’t get enough of.
We also had a brief stop in London, England, on both ends of our trip. On our way there, we learned the importance of traveling light as we dragged our heavy bags from the terminal to the hotel. On our way back, we booked a hop-on hop-off bus tour to see as much of the city as possible in a few hours. We also discovered how fearless our kids were when traveling. At one point, Sydney, our 9-year-old daughter, simply walked off the bus on her own without looking back.
This trip was a turning point for us. It opened our eyes to the wonders of travel as an adventure. It made us realize that travel was not just about entertainment or escape. It was about discovering new cultures, learning from history, and experiencing things we never imagined. It made us want to see more of the world and what it had to offer.
The cruising continued
Princess Cruise – Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Agrentina
Our next big overseas trip was a cruise around South America to celebrate Kelly’s 40th birthday. Kelly’s parents surprised her by joining us for this cruise from Santiago, Chile. We sailed through the fjords of Chile, visited Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the continent, and met the penguins that summered in Las Malvinas (the Falkland Islands). We ended our trip in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we spent a day at a cattle ranch and rode with gauchos, the Argentine cowboys. We also explored the city, which had a very European feel to it. One of our favorite moments was walking home from dinner one night at about 1:00 AM and seeing parks full of children playing.
Royal Caribbean – Barcelona, Spain to Dubai
The following year brought us back to Barcelona for another cruise, this time to Dubai. We stopped in Alexandria, Egypt, and took a bus to Cairo to see the pyramids. Most of us went inside the second pyramid’s burial chamber, which required us to squat down and duckwalk hundreds of feet under a massive pile of stone. We also went to Aqaba, Jordan, and explored Wadi Rum by jeep and shared tea in a Bedouin tent. We then stopped near Luxor, Egypt where we visited the Valley of the Kings and the Karnak Temple complex. This temple was started nearly 4,000 years ago and was expanded for nearly 2,000 years. It was overwhelming to see such a monumental structure that spanned so many generations. We transited the Suez Canal and crouched in the hallways of the ship as we sailed through waters that were known for Somali pirates boarding ships and holding them for ransom. We ended our cruise in Dubai and stayed with our cousin, who lived there. We toured the souks (markets) and malls and rode ATVs in the desert. We also went to the 125th-floor observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, still the world’s tallest building. Thank you JJ and Niki for hosting us!
These trips introduced us to what traveling could be. Cruising internationally was a way to discover and explore new cultures while having modern facilities and familiar surroundings available to us. It took away the fear of being overwhelmed. It made us realize that we could do more than just get away. We could go somewhere where we might learn something new, see something amazing, or feel something different. We were ready to travel better
Coming up next – Traveling vs. Vacationing