Dave travelled a lot during the 1980's and we had many frequent flyer miles, so we planned a trip to Europe with the girls. Leah was just 5 years old and my mother told me not to take her, "She won't remember the trip." I responded with, "If we don't take care she WILL remember the time we left her behind for 3 weeks." Our compromise was me sewing rings in all of Leah's clothes so i could hook her up with our guinea pig leash in crowds. I didn't use the leash and we DID lose her in Stratford on Avon at a Shakespeare museum, but I don't think we ever told Grandma.
Before we went to England, Netherlands and Germany in 1985, I made each girl a travel diary. Apparently, I took photos of Leah's before I gave it to her.
We left on May 31 and yes, the older girls missed a little school. Using frequent flier miles, we had certain dates we could fly. The school gave us their blessing saying they would get more from the trip than in the last days of elementary school.
Travelling with young children to Europe involves a lot of balance---things they are interested in with things on our own bucket list. We prepared the girls by reading a lot of English books including Paddington Bear and watching a lot of English movies like Mary Poppins and Bednobs and Broomsticks. Physically, they had to carry their own suitcases since we would also be travelling by train and boat. So, I had the girls "work out" with back packs filled with books out walking daily for weeks before the trip.
Fortunately, we had a non-stop from St. Louis, at that time. Our first stop was London staying at the Beaver Hotel.
June 1, we acclimated ourselves by taking a double decker bus ride around London---a tradition we have continued on all of our London visits since then.
June 2 was the changing on the Guard, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.
June 3 was the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and another toy museum
June 4 we visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, a toy museum and the British Museum.
And then, it was time for our road trip. Renting a car we then toured the rest of England, staying on farms and in B and B's.
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