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Creating a visual guidebook of things to do with children in tow all over the world.

 
 
Visiting The Alhambra With Kids Part 1: If you’re planning a trip to southern Spain, you’ve gotta see The Alhambra! The Muslim kings began building this giant palace atop a hill in 1200. Though you probably think of Spain as a primarily Catholic country, Andalucia (or Southern Spain) was actually inhabited by Muslims during The Middle Ages. In 1492, a centuries-long battle ended in Muslim defeat and they were forced south into North Africa/Morocco area. The Catholics tore down all the mosques and plopped cathedrals down on the ruins. For whatever reason, perhaps the beautiful architecture, or the fact that it was easily defensible, they left the Alhambra intact. ⭐️🌙⭐️ Ok now for the complicated ticketing process. There are a ton of ticket options and demand far exceeds the limit of 8,000 visitors/day. Ideally, you would buy a general admission ticket that covers Nasrid Palace. You’ll need to grab this ticket exactly 3 months in advance. Try before and they won’t be available. Try after and they will be sold out. Because we only planned this trip two months ago (we wanted to be sure I wasn’t carrying twins first!) we were only able to get tickets to the Generalife Gardens and the Alcazaba (the ruins you see behind Alex). Look for Part 2 tomorrow because my instructions exceed IG’s word limit! #getglobetrottingspain #getglobetrottinggranada #getglobetrottingcastles
Traveling with kids is rewarding, but it’s also hard work! We got to explore The Alhambra today and were rewarded with beautiful views after climbing all these stairs. Alex won’t let me help lift the stroller up the stairs partly because he’s a gentleman and partly because he doesn’t want me to go into labor. The Alhambra with kids was complicated to say the least, but that’s a post for another day. We have two more days in charming Granada. What should be at the top of our list? #getglobetrottinggranada #getglobetrottingspain
Said goodbye to a cold and windy Barcelona today! Tomorrow we will clean up our Barcelona home exchange, hop on a train to Madrid, explore Madrid for a few hours, and then on to find our exchange in Granada. Hoping Lorenzo and I can manage missing our naps to see some of Madrid. This is the first trip we’ve done ALL exchanges without having to fill in any Airbnbs or hotels. It took a bit more planning and we had to be flexible on dates and destinations, but hey, free is free! #getglobetrottinghomeexchange #getglobetrottingspain #getglobetrottingbarcelona
We took a break from tourist battling to walk around an area that’s populated mainly by Barcelona residents. While wandering around, we found this awesome free park called Montanya Magica. It was basically just 4 steep metal slides set into the side of a hill. We had a ton of fun with locals racing down the slides. Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we were sharing items back and forth to make the ride faster! I also loved seeing all the parents slide down with their kids. To find this park, search in the southwest corner of Diagonal Mar Park. We have one day left in this amazing city! What should we do with it? #getglobetrottingbarcelona #getglobetrottingspain
How he smiles for pictures with me versus how he smiles when he’s attempting to photobomb strangers... 🦎⛲️🌳 Park Guell was beautiful and super kid friendly! Antoni Gaudi designed this mosaic-filled park intending to house Barcelona’s elite, but none of the rich people wanted to live outside the city center. Though it failed as a housing development, it enjoys wild success as a park. So wild, that you will need a timed ticket to ensure entry and you will be fighting all the other tourists snapping pictures to actually get close enough to the mosaics to examine them. It’s best to come right when the park opens at 8:30. If you buy a timed ticket and print it off, there’s a free shuttle that leaves from Alfonso X Station. Save yourself a 2 mile sweaty uphill walk and take the bus. #getglobetrottingbarcelona #getglobetrottingspain
Our way of avoiding toddler meltdowns while exploring a new city? We alternate adult/kid activities and feed everyone continuously. Our Barcelona plan for today: The Picasso Museum, playground in Parc de la Ciutadella, tapas, The Chocolate Sculpture Museum, chasing bubbles in front of the Arc de Triomf. Everything was within a 5 min walk of each other through beautiful streets with fantastic Spanish architecture. #getglobetrottingbarcelona #getglobetrottingspain
It’s been an exhausting few days, but we had some magical moments today. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the sheer number of parks all around Barcelona including one right next to The Sagrada Familia. Between a pregnant mama and a jet lagged toddler our small travel group has a lot of needs, but Alex is holding us all together. Excited for a whole week of exploring this city! #getglobetrottingbarcelona #getglobetrottingspain
I will be the first person to tell you that exchanging our home is a ton of work! However, we are in a stage of our life where many don’t get to travel (young kids, new home owners, starting out our careers etc) so we don’t mind a bit of work in order to have a ton of fun. Alex (“helped” by Lorenzo) has been making little improvements to the house all month. Tomorrow we finish the final preparations for our two week exchange in Spain! Our flights were under $400 RT nonstop on Norwegian Air, I’ve created an itinerary of mostly free kid/adult friendly activities, and we are planning on hitting up the local grocery stores to save on food costs. This is what #budgettravel looks like for us. I’ll be taking lots of notes so I can write up a Spain With Kids Trip Plan when I get back! #getglobetrottinghomeexchange
Thanks for all your positive responses on our pregnancy announcement! I have a huge backlog of pictures and suggestions for fun things to do with kids from the last few months. For some reason if I felt nauseated when I was doing the activity I would also feel nauseated looking at the pictures from the activity. 🤢🤰🏼🤢 Not everything is as rosy as it seems online. For example, in this shot you see Lorenzo scootering The Strand at sunset. What you don’t see is me barely trailing behind him and occasionally stopping to dry heave in the bushes. Eventually I had to call Alex to come bail me out. I’m feeling really glad that my first trimester is behind me and grateful for all the help I got during the past few months. Did you get sick during pregnancy? How the heck did you manage your other kids??#getglobetrottingLA #getglobetrottingsouthbayla
Baby #2 coming September 2019!
His face every time he spied a cable car coming to pick us up. We spent a whole day last week riding the cable cars in San Francisco. It’s a super fun thing to do with kids, as long as you are smart about it! Here are my tips. 🚃⛩🌁 Download the Muni Mobile app and buy a day pass for $12. You’ll need to click it to activate it. One ride is $7, so if you’re getting on or off more than once, it makes sense to buy the pass. 🚃⛩🌁 My favorite places to start your cable car adventure: 5 Embarcadero (transfer to the Powell Cable Car at California and Powell) or 2350 Taylor Street (one mile from the Ghirardelli stop). Least favorite: Union Square and Ghirardelli Square because the lines are too long. Also, you can get on anywhere along the cable car line, not just at the turnarounds. If there’s a wait, walk up the cable car line a bit and hop on! 🚃⛩🌁 Hold onto kids going around corners and up hills. The cable cars are fast and they swing around corners quickly. Fold up strollers and put them in the back of the car. 🚃⛩🌁 The Powell and Mason lines run on the same track for a while and then split. The Powell cars go by Lombard street and end at Ghirardelli Square while the Mason line takes a less scenic route to Pier 39. Make sure you’re catching the right car when you get on! 🚃⛩🌁 The cable cars run 365 days a year from 6 am to midnight. We used to go on Christmas Day. There were never any lines, we got to see all the holiday decorations, and eat dim sum in Chinatown for Christmas dinner. #getglobetrottingsanfrancisco
California is just getting out of a 10 year drought. The wildflowers are pretty magnificent, but I can’t get over the electric green color of the hills. The last time I saw the hills so bright I was in high school! We spent Saturday morning in the hills and hiked exactly .87 miles with a very whiny toddler, but it was a magical morning nonetheless. We found this hike at Macedo Ranch at the end of Green Valley Road in Danville. #getglobetrottingsfbayarea
The Oakland California Temple is a very special place for our family because it’s where Alex and I got married. While the grounds are always open to everyone, the interior of this sacred building is only open to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the first time in 55 years, they are holding an open house so everyone see the interior of the temple and feel the peace that the temple brings. The open houses will run daily during the month of May. The tours are open to all ages and they are free. You can reserve your time to tour at OaklandTemple.org or let me know if you want to go and I can help you get tickets! #getglobetrottingsanfrancisco
Portsmouth Square Park in San Francisco is a family favorite! It’s right in the middle of Chinatown and has some amazing views of the city. I love the Asian-inspired roofs on the play set. This park happens to be a gathering place for the older residents in the area. I always enjoy watching them hang out together, play checkers, and do tai chi. We spent the morning browsing for little trinkets in Chinatown, played at this park, and then got killer Dim Sum. Portsmouth Square Parking Garage is nearby and has decent rates or take the cable car to Powell and Clay and walk downhill. #getglobetrottingsanfrancisco
This stroller was my first baby purchase when I was pregnant with Lorenzo. It sat in the corner of our 400 sq foot studio apartment in San Francisco for months. I daydreamed about exploring different areas of San Francisco with a baby in this stroller. We unexpectedly moved to LA when I was 38 weeks pregnant for Alex’s job. Moving was the right decision for our family, but I did feel a bit sad that I never got to have a tiny baby in the city. Alex is in San Francisco for a conference this week so Lorenzo and I are finally strolling up and down the hills of SF just like I envisioned! #getglobetrottingsanfrancisco
Our plan today was to go see the California Super Bloom. But then @perlaw texted me that today is free day at the Palos Verdes Botanical Garden so we changed our plans. I think we were both happier that we didn’t drive two hours or attempt to fight the crowds. Also I was feeling a bit down after trying to organize a few mom meetups that fell through, so having a friend reach out and invite us somewhere was just perfect today. #getglobetrottingla
How to visit The Colosseum With Kids: Buy a combo ticket for the Colosseum/Forum online ahead of time. The ticket is valid over two days. It’s best to visit right when both sites first open to beat the crowds and the heat! Get to the Colosseum at 8:30 and find the pre-booked reservation ticket area. I found an awesome scavenger hunt for kids I’ll link to in the full Trip Plan. 🏛🇮🇹🍕 After you’re done touring, STOP. Don’t try to fit The Forum in too, save it for when everyone is fresh tomorrow. Instead take a gelato break, buy food to make a picnic, then head for Parco Del Colle Oppio. To get there, cross the street from the north entrance to the Colosseum. Follow the path up the hill. You’ll pass lots of pretty fountains for your kids to splash in. Make sure to turn around and check out the killer views of the Colosseum behind you! Eventually you’ll come to a little playground. Your kids can burn off steam while you soak in Colosseum views. 🏛🇮🇹🍕 This is an excerpt from my Rome With Kids Trip Plan, coming at ya soon! #getglobetrottingrome
We did something new at Disney this weekend. We participated in the Food and Wine Festival! I’ve walked past this festival for 2 years thinking “we don’t drink alcohol, so it’s probably not worth it,” but turns out it’s really more of a food festival than a wine festival. Here’s how it works: you buy 8 meal cards for $50 (about $6/meal which is cheap for Disney!) and then you use your punch cards at the gourmet food booths around CA Adventure. We got so much food and we only used half our punch cards, so we are going to have to come back and sample again. This is why Disneyland is the best! There’s always something new to learn about and try. Alex also got to ride the Incredicoaster for the first time and he gave it two thumbs up. #getglobetrottingdisney
Just finished recording a podcast on @homeexchangecom with @thistraveltribe ! I was nervous but when I got talking about how we were able visit Switzerland by exchanging our home, all my nerves melted away like this boy melted chocolate fondue all over his face. I’ll post here when it’s on Spotify! #getglobetrottingswitzerland
Was running into Emma Watson behind Top Shop in London one of the best days of my teenage life? Yes, yes it was. Today is also a pretty good day because I finished the London With Kids Trip Plan and it’s up on my website. I made the tube stops, opening hours, and prices easier to locate. I also added all the cool activities I couldn’t fit into the itinerary to the Google Map. You’ll find all the HP sites there too marked by a ⚡️. Next up, Rome With Kids. Anyone headed to Rome soon and want to test it out for me? #getglobetrottinglondon