Taking the Kids: Best 2024 travel memories

It was definitely a “wow” moment. We were on day four of our two-week Abercrombie & Kent Arctic Cruise Adventure in the Svalbard Archipelago. Our zodiacs landed on a beach where scores of huge walruses (they weigh more than 4,400 pounds) were lazing on the beach and splashing in the water, getting their fill of mollusks.

The walruses were oblivious to our camera shutters clicking. We were mesmerized. It was one of those I-can’t-believe-I’m-here-seeing-this moments. There were many on that trip – sighting a polar bear and her cubs; tooling around in a zodiac looking at the icebergs in Greenland, each a distinctive shape; the black-legged Kittiwakes on a tiny island in a fjord and the hundreds of Arctic terns famous for their commute of more than 44,000 miles every year from the Arctic to Antarctica.

The trip was not only memorable for the sites in the remote area but also for seeing and understanding the impact of climate change firsthand, thanks to our expert trip leaders.

Of course, travel memories aren’t always about such far- flung adventures. Equally memorable was the first “big” hike my two older kids enjoyed to the top of one of Yosemite’s famous waterfalls, as well as the time in Glacier National Park when my son pushed his sister into an icy mountain lake and the time out that ensued.

For some families, the memories are compounded by return visits, like the family I met at Paradise Guest Ranch near the town of Buffalo in northern Wyoming. Caylee LeFan, the youngest of four siblings, was just four when her family first came here from Florida. Now she’s 34, here for the 14th time with her husband, three kids, her parents, siblings, their kids, and grandkids – 21 in all. “I’ve been all over the world and this is my favorite place,” LeFan said.

It's easy to see why – horseback riding through meadows studded with wildflowers; bedding down in cozy cabins, excellent meals guests don’t have to prepare or clean up, activities for the kiddos, a rodeo, hikes and much more. There are ranches all over the West, 29 just in Wyoming, and each offers something unique. “One night every single kid was playing outside … no electronics. It was great to see,” one Ohio grandfather observed happily.

There are ranches for winter sports, like Vista Verde in Colorado, and those in warmer climes, like White Stallion in Arizona. And these days, they offer a lot more than riding – fly fishing, tours of Yellowstone, spa services, cooking demonstrations, roping cattle… (Check the Dude Ranchers Association for options and deals.)

Food is increasingly a focus when families travel and we certainly found that to be the case when we crossed the Atlantic on Regent Seven Seas Grandeur this past spring. Most shore excursions are included and destination manager Claudia Manzanares noted that there is an increasing focus on culinary-oriented tours as many well-traveled passengers are seeking something beyond seeing great sites. Many passengers opted for the cooking classes on board, too.

Definitely, the culinary excursions were among the most memorable for us. In Malaga, Spain, we watched cooks at the small seafront cafes grill sardines the traditional way, loading them on skewers after dousing them in sea salt, then setting them next to a roaring wood fire. Old rowboats filled with sand are the barbecue grills. Another day in Madeira, Portugal, we went to a local winemaker’s home to taste his wine and local dishes, including local bread called Bolo do Cao and Milho fritos, a cornmeal based fried dish mixed with cabbage and cut in squares. At our last stop in Valencia, we opted to pay extra for Paella Tradition: Become a Local where we drive to a farm in the agricultural region of L’Horta to visit Rafa Codona’s (his company is called Mi Paella Al Huerto Corbera) garden and learn to make the traditional Spanish Paella in giant pans (and eat it for lunch!) If you are eating traditional Paella in Spain, you eat it for lunch, not dinner, scooping it right out of the big pan with a spoon. And the pan rests in the middle of the table, your portion in front of you. Paella with fish or sausage is only for the tourists, we learned. Ours has chicken and rabbit. “You learn a lot, even if you know how to cook,” observed Hank Payne, traveling with his wife from suburban Chicago. And as men in the U.S. typically man the grill, Spanish men prepare the paella for Sunday lunch.

Wherever we go, I’m a big fan of visiting local markets, signing on for food tours and cooking classes. (Check websites like ToursbyLocals and Context Travel. There is no better entrée into a culture, I think. Today there are also options to join a dinner at a local’s home, thanks to websites like Eatwith and Traveling Spoon.

In Barbados, we snorkeled and devoured a traditional Barbados lunch (chicken, snapper, macaroni pie, rice and peas and rum punch). The Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruise can accommodate anyone with disabilities, which included me, recovering from knee surgeries. There were plenty of chances at the O2 Beach Club & Spa for local experiences for those who could tear themselves away from the beach and the pool – learn to play dominoes, Bajan-style, make Bajan fishcakes or blow a conch shell. There are plenty of options for locally grown eats from the famous Oistins Fish Fry on Friday nights to Local & Co where the restaurant showcases ingredients sourced from local and regional farms, producers, and wild foragers. The menu states selections are“determined by what our farmers have available at the time and what our chefs have managed to gather and preserve in house,” noting that for every soup ordered, some is donated to a family in need. Nice!

I hope you had plenty of memorable travels in 2024 – and are planning for more in 2025.

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)