There is still so much to digest from my visit to the ITB on Sunday — and I’m not talking about all the candy I scored walking around “Poland” for a couple hours . . . Lots of ideas, new destinations, imaginations for the upcoming travel season. Over the next couple weeks, I’ll share some of my impressions as I sort through the brochures and swag in my 20 kilos of gathered materials!
First up and fresh in my memory: a fun idea for making travel more accessible for children. Yesterday’s carnival pointed to Travel for Kids, an online resource with recommendations for kid-friendly activities and age-appropriate literature for a variety of destinations around the world. Today, find out more about a group travel agency for stuffed animals, Teddy Tour Berlin, after the jump.
The idea of photographing a favorite inanimate object in front of famous sites won’t be new to you if you’ve seen the film Amelie, but the folks at Teddy Tour Berlin give a twist: rather than a surrogate for one unable or unwilling to travel oneself (as the gnome adventuring in Amelie), they market their service as a much-needed getaway for cried-upon, ravaged and abused, hugged-to-death stuffed animals. The teddies spend one week together, taking in the major sights of Berlin on bicycle, enjoying a picnic lunch in the Tiergarten, and relaxing in the skillful hands of a trained masseuse. They return home refreshed and ready for duty, with many happy memories and an album full of photos of their visit to Berlin which your family will most certainly treasure.
The service isn’t exactly cheap, but Travel on a Shoestring readers can save 10 euros on all tours excluding Paparazzi by mentioning the code TTB10G when ordering.
Other similar but less expensive ideas for sparking an interest in travel include:
+ taking your own pictures of your favorite stuffed animals while on vacation with the family and putting together an album with those photos alone
+ doing your own teddy bear tour around town with your child’s friends and their toys
+ trading toys with a cousin or friend in another city and doing a teddy bear tour exchange
+ reading the book Flat Stanley together and mailing your own Flat Stanley to friends, family or even other schools in different states or countries
+ soliciting postcards from friends and family traveling to different states or countries and hanging them on a special travel wall
+ framing maps or using globes for decoration in your child’s room
Other ideas for bringing travel home to youngsters? Share them in the comments.
This is the first post in the series ITB Impressions.
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Thanks for posting in this week’s Life Lessons of a Military Wife Carnival #8!
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