A little effort makes family vacation fun and educational

By John George

Last summer, my wife and son took a family vacation to London. The trip was a 10th anniversary celebration for Jenny and me, and it mirrored our honeymoon.  Back in the '90s, we took a cruise to Britain aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2. What a super trip as newlyweds!

This time, we reversed the trip by booking flights to London, and sailing home on the Cunard’s new Queen Mary 2.  And of course, the bigger difference was that we brought our 9-year old son along!  As the old saying goes, “…and baby makes three.”

The trip was a significant undertaking for us, both in terms of time and funds. We wanted to do something to help our son to appreciate the trip and, we hoped, to gain a better understanding of the place, people and culture of Britain.

We considered enrolling him in a summer school class on some aspect of British history, or even looking for a teacher or tutor to give him some lessons. These ideas didn’t pan out for us. One of Zeke’s aunts had the idea of a research paper, and that’s what we settled on. His challenge was to choose an aspect of British history or culture, read up on it, and compose a short essay.

He took to the challenge well, and immediately decided he wanted to write about Churchill and the Battle of Britain. Interestingly, if he were doing the assignment now, I’m sure he would select something to do with pop music. So do the interests of pre-teens shift with time….

He checked out a number of books, videos and Web sites, and composed a two-page paper on the valiant efforts of the RAF in repelling the German air raids in 1940.  Surprisingly for us, there was little grumbling about this “school-like” assignment. Of course, the payoff was a really cool family vacation!

The payoff for Mom and Dad came on our second day in London, when we happened by the monument to the RAF along the Thames, near Westminister Bridge. Zeke immediately recognized it and pointed out to us with pridethe famous quote from Winston Churchill:  “Never in the field of human conflict…” Later, when we visited the Imperial War Museum, the depictions of the air war in Europe were all the more interesting for him as well.

Related Orbitz resources:

• Family vacation
• London vacations
  

John George is a full-time working dad to his 11-year-old son. After visiting every continent, save Antarctica, he was domesticated by his wife Jenny. Their family enjoys cruising, beach vacations and getaways to the Big Apple.

Tagged: Europe, Family time