Family Time in London
The Cadogan Hotel in London is offering an interesting Family Time package. Your rate includes luxury accommodations, 50 percent off your second room for children up to age 16 in the same room category, daily breakfast, entrance to the Chelsea Physic Garden, and use of the tennis courts in Cadogan Place Gardens. A two-night minimum stay is required. The boutique-style Cadogan showcases 54 spacious rooms and suites. It is located in an Edwardian townhouse in Knightsbridge and is part of Belmond Hotels and Resorts. There is also a restaurant, gym, and garden. There is even a Sleep Concierge to help you get the best night’s rest. On the top floor of the hotel, your extended family can book a seven-bedroom private residence with gorgeous city and garden views, a furnished balcony, a living room, a grand dining area, a kitchenette, 7 ½ bathrooms, and nearly 4,200 sq. ft. Note that the family-friendly Chelsea Physic Garden was established in 1673 and is actually London’s oldest botanical garden with 5,000 different medicinal, herbal, edible, and useful plants!
Iguazu Adventure
Iguazu Falls is an amazing experience for families visiting either Argentina or Brazil. Both sides make up the largest waterfall system in the world composed of 275 separate cascades! To explore the falls, our families enjoy staying at Belmond’s Hotel das Cataratas, a hacienda-style resort that sits right beside the falls and is the only hotel inside Iguassu National Park. This luxury hotel offers 187 rooms and suites, a heated pool, a children’s pool, spa, gym and tennis along with guided nature walks before the park opens. Other family-friendly adventures and natures experiences abound. The hotel’s Family Time package includes:
- Luxury accommodation
- 30% discount on a second room or suite
- Daily breakfast
- One garden picnic
- One guided morning walking tour of the falls before the park opens to other visitors
Christmas Around the World
We hope your family had a wonderful holiday! Christmas may be celebrated around the world, but not everyone celebrates the same way. Different countries and cultures incorporate many unique traditions that make the holiday special. Whether your family plans spent the holiday at home or abroad, it is always fun to learn about traditions celebrated by other cultures. Whenever Family lets us discover some unique Christmas traditions that we wanted to share:
Greece has a long-standing tradition known as karavaki, or Christmas Boat. Literally translated to mean “little ship,” this tradition embraces the practice of decorating sailing and fishing boats with lights for the holiday. While modern Greeks decorate their homes with lighted Christmas trees for the season, it was once commonplace to use a lighted ship model as the centerpiece of holiday decorations. In recent years, this practice made a comeback with lighted ships often seen in restaurants and shops during the season, especially on the islands where the tradition seems to have originated.
In Guatemala, a unique Christmas tradition occurs well before Christmas Day. Each year on the evening of December 7, residents in this South American country participate in something called La Quema del Diablo, or Burning of the Devil. As the sun sets, Guatemalans don devil disguises and gather around bonfires to light effigies of the devil, often made from pinatas. The celebration, which dates back to the 17th century, seeks to cleanse bad spirits and fortunes as the new year approaches.
Iceland celebrates Christmas with 13 Yule Lads, a family of mountain trolls who visit once a year to teach children to be good. On Christmas Eve, Icelandic children leave a pair of shoes on the windowsill to await a visit from the trolls. In the morning, they find out if they’ve been naughty or nice by the presents left for them, either sweet treats if they’ve been good or something foul, like rotten potatoes, if they’ve been bad.
JW in the Masai Mara
JW Marriott is planning to launch its first luxury safari lodge in Kenya in 2023. The JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge will feature 20 guest tents, including one presidential tent and two interconnecting family tents, all with private terraces overlooking the River Talek. Your family will experience breathtaking vistas, abundant wildlife, and endless plains along with game drives, cultural activities, and more. Facilities for an authentic and relaxing safari experience will include a restaurant, lounge bar, spa, gym, studio, garden, and an outdoor deck with fire pits. Conservation of the land and its inhabitants is the core of the camp’s values. As a result, a majority of people employed at the property will belong to the local Masai community. This will be the only luxury lodge within the Mara National Reserve. JW will launch numerous other properties around the world next year including in Madrid, Tampa, Goa, Dallas, Chennai, Munich, and Nairobi.
Free Trains in Spain
If you’re planning to travel in Spain soon, you’re in luck! A new program will allow you to receive free train tickets for journeys throughout Spain until at least the end of 2023. The new initiative recently launched on Spain’s commuter trains (within 30 miles of Madrid or Barcelona) and medium-distance train journeys (under 190 miles) operated by the country’s rail line Renfe. It does not apply to Renfe’s high-speed AVE trains that connect destinations like Madrid and Barcelona. But it is great for all the trains available for day trips (like Segovia and Toledo from Madrid) or traveling around Andalucia (for example from Seville to Cordoba or Cadiz). Note that the free train tickets only apply to multi-journey tickets and not single tickets. You can get a rail pass via the rail line’s app or at railway stations with a deposit of 10-20€. At the same time, metro fares in Barcelona have been reduced by up to 50%, also until the end of the year. A 10-trip, multi-use bus and metro ticket that covers most of the city will cost only €7.95!
Slovenia Awaits
Looking for a new European country to explore? Look no further than Slovenia known as one of the safest countries in the world with gorgeous mountains, lakes, wine regions, and seaside towns for plenty of cultural activities, culinary experiences, and outdoor adventures. Sixty percent of the country is actually covered by forest and 1/3 is protected land. The country showcases 10,000 caves and 260 waterfalls! Through the end of the year, your family can enjoy a Family Package at Kempinski Palace Portoroz Istria which overlooks the Adriatic Sea. Enjoy two connecting Superior rooms with a 50% discount on your second room along with breakfast, and free parking. This palatial property has an indoor and outdoor pool, gym, spa, beach club, and several dining options.
Multi-Gen Fun in Rome
The Sofitel Roma Villa Borghese is offering a new and active package designed specially for multiple generations or families traveling together. Activities such as horseback riding down the ancient Appian Way, a tour of the city’s top gelato spots, a family yoga lesson in the adjacent Borghese Gardens, and a gladiator school experience for the children are all included! An evening picnic and stargazing experience to see and learn about constellations and celestial bodies, many of which were given their names by Roman astronomers, is also a part of this unique travel experience. The package was created for a minimum of 12 people – six rooms in double occupancy. If 15 rooms are booked, families will receive a private takeover of one of the hotel’s floors! The Sofitel is a boutique-style, luxury hotel with 78 rooms and suites located close to the Via Veneto. It was renovated in 2019.
Curiosity Rooms by Marriott
Travel and curiosity are a perfect pair! Marriott Hotels and TED are taking advantage of the concept by launching a first-ever immersive guest room experience called Curiosity Rooms that is ideal for families. The first one became available on July 15 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis with two others opening at the Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park starting on August 15 and the London Marriott Hotel County Hall on September 15. Each hotel will offer this opportunity for only three months from the opening dates. Your family can enjoy an interactive room that works almost like a puzzle box, with riddles and puzzles to solve throughout the room that are specific to each destination. Each room also comes with a Curiosity Journal, a handy guide that helps you along with the experience. A certificate of completion and a free dessert at the hotel restaurant are available for those who complete all the tasks. Learning is fun at Marriott!
London Celebrates
Lauren and Mindy took their first overseas family trip to London during Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977…complete with a Royal Review of Reserve & Cadet Forces at Wembley Stadium! We will never forget our first international experience as we celebrated our mother‘s college graduation. Now your family can make memories with a visit to the UK in honor of the queen’s Platinum celebration…a historical 70 years on the throne. A new place to stay in London is the Mayfair Townhouse which opened last May. Their Family Affair package includes a second room for half off for two children ages 16 and under, daily breakfast, free dining for children 12 and under, a welcome gift for children, cancellation up until the day before arrival, and a complimentary in-room minibar filled with drinks and popular British snacks. The whimsical hotel across from Green Park has 172 rooms and suites, a gym, and a bar/restaurant. It’s set across 15 townhouses with a humorous décor described as “Oscar Wilde meets Alice in Wonderland”.
See More of Europe
For 2023, Adventures by Disney’s tour itineraries include its first experiences in Sicily and Northern Ireland. The two new Land Adventures will feature fun, immersive, and authentic experiences for the entire family. The seven-night Sicily Land Adventure stops at five of the seven Unesco World Heritage Sites on the island and visits Palermo, Monreale, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina, Caltagirone, Syracuse, Mount Etna, and Taormina. Highlights include a behind-the-scenes visit to Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy; a visit to the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento; a chartered boat ride to swim and snorkel in the Ionian Sea, exploring Taormina’s Isola Bella; a private show and backstage look at a puppet theater; and exploring Mount Etna via off-road vehicle. The nine-night British Isles Land Adventure will visit Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England. Highlights include visits to a distillery and to one of the oldest family-owned pubs in Dublin; touring Belfast and the Antrim Coast, including a visit to the Giant’s Causeway, in Northern Ireland; a chance to play the bagpipes in Glasgow and private access to the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh; and afternoon tea, a high-speed boat ride on the Thames and a private viewing of the Crown Jewels in London.
