Ghoulies, ghosties and your next vacation?

The spooky & ghoulies holiday is sneaking up on us. Yes, Halloween is Tuesday, and all our little masked miniature munchkins will take to the streets seeking candy dressed as Batman, Wonder Woman, unicorns, bunnies, zombies, pirates, aliens and other creatures that we can scarce imagine. While you’re prowling the neighborhoods with your kids for Tootsie Rolls and tiny Snickers, think about your next family vacation.

Wait… what?

If you’re lucky, you get only about 273 days of holiday time with your family when the kids are between 5 and 13 years old. That is not a lot of time.

Some people have the attitude that during a family vacation, parents need a timeout of their own get away from the kids, who need to be kept busy. They opt for a beach or cruise vacation where the kids and parents are more or less separate, coming together for meals and bedtime.

In that case, you can stop reading now.

Children don’t need to be entertained. They need to be inspired, involved, impassioned. And so do the parents. We created Precious Journeys® and Precious Journeys® College Edition because we believe that the family experience can be one where the entire family is immersed and enchanted by the experience. And, where kids might be introduced to new ideas that may affect their futures.

For example, during the Guatemala, Colombia & Argentina: Graffiti Art Experience in the College Edition collection, aspiring artists can explore the fascinating world of graffiti art on this unique journey through Guatemala, Colombia and Argentina, meeting some of today’s recognized artists in the medium. They learn how Colombia has embraced graffiti as the artistic expression of its people and discover the street art of Buenos Aires, a city that has becomes a flourishing center for restriction-free graffiti and other art that is attracting both local and international artists. They travel to villages in Guatemala with artistic traditions that reflect the indigenous Kaqchikel and Tz’utujil peoples.

The Precious Journeys® India: Saving Tigers offers younger children the opportunity to learn what it mean to be a park ranger. In Satpura National Park. The Junior Naturalist Program, is designed for children and interested adults, who want to learn the basic knowledge of jungle to derive greater enjoyment and understanding of any wilderness. Spread over three days, the course operates for about two hours a day with sessions held between safaris and in the evening for 30 – 40 minutes, covering topics including basics of ecology, learning how to identify different species, how to use field guides, make field notes and sketches, identify tracks, and basics of nature photography.  You learn how to identify different habitats, forest types and the animals that inhabit them. Learn to identify tracks and signs of animal presence as well as how to measure prints, identify droppings and other jungle craft.

The point is that you want those precious 273 days to mean something, to be a time when your entire family can play as well as learn, be productive as well as relaxed… together.

After the trick-or-treating, discover more about Big Five’s ideas of family travel, please explore Kids.