Nov 6, 2011

The Best Gelato in Rome!

Download our map of the best gelaterie...

Download our GELATO MAP with names and locations of the best gelato in Rome! Many of them taste-tested by Emma and Lisa Bergren on their recent trip to the Eternal City…

Download Here

Feb 25, 2011

My 10 Most Memorable Travel Moments

In no particular order after #1, which started it all...

By Lisa T. Bergren

#1 Staring at the Pantheon aglow, beside husband and best friends, all of us abroad for the first time in twenty years. Stunned, we all kept repeating, “Can you believe we’re seeing this?!” (Rome, Italy) Continue reading

Feb 22, 2011

Home vs. Hotel (Part I)

An Interview w/ Lara Dunston of Grantourismo

By Lisa T. Bergren

Note: This is Part One of my interview with Lara Dunston of Grantourismo. Part Two of our Grantourismo interview follows as a separate post.

I’ve been following travel writer Lara Dunston and her photographer hubby, Terence Carter, since I heard they were going on a tour ’round the world, in partnership with HomeAway Holiday-Rentals. I was fantasizing about doing the exact same thing with my family, and love villas and apartments, so I was instantly engaged. The stories they posted on Grantourismo made me feel like I was along for the ride, and I figured they’d found out even more about rental homes that would be valuable for families like us, whether we were looking for a week away or longer. What follows is our chat… Continue reading

Feb 22, 2011

Home vs. Hotel (Part II)

More family travel chit chat w/ Lara of Grantourismo

By Lisa T. Bergren

NOTE: This is a continuation of my interview with Lara Dunston of Grantourismo. Read Part One of our interview if you’d like to know more!

Lisa: Talk to me about scouting out local grocery stores and tricks you’ve learned about getting what you want when you don’t speak the language.

Lara: You’d assume that all property owners would have a folder of information in the apartment that lists the nearest supermarket or market, but not all do. Continue reading

Feb 13, 2011

How to Check Your Kid Into Ski School…

Without Losing Your Mind

By Lisa T. Bergren

2 WEEKS + BEFORE ARRIVAL

• Reserve in advance; call or online
• Full day the first day; consider subsequent partial days that you can cancel if you wish (check out cancellation policy); usually you can cancel, but you can’t get a kid into a full class. Continue reading

Jan 15, 2011

The Luxury of Time

The Ultimate Form of Travel

By Lisa T. Bergren

I’m one of Those Travelers who tries to get a feel for a new place on a taster menu—in a lot of succulent bites. But we’ve returned to a few spots that have captured us the most and not spent time lost in maps or itineraries, but rather feasted on genuinely abiding in that unique intersection of longitude and latitude. Such experiences leave us pleasantly full. Continue reading

Dec 29, 2010

Family Travel Inspiration

Favorite Stops of the Year

Looking for some good inspiration for your travels in 2011? Check out these posts from fellow family travel bloggers, in which they share their favorite stops of the year. Continue reading

Jul 22, 2010

Comfort of the Known

The Family Lake Home in Montana

By Lisa T. Bergren

Return to the place you loved or go someplace new? What is the value, the power of each? I’ve been contemplating this, of late. Because I’m drawn to both the Exploration of the New and the Comfort of the Known. Each has its charms; there are so many places in the world I want to see (check out our web site’s name) that it’s very hard for me to return to a location I’ve already been. Continue reading

Mar 31, 2010

Temper Tantrums on a Plane

Don't let it ruin a great family vacation!

By Lisa T. Bergren

On the way home from Cancun this week, I witnessed a parenting nightmare. A mother and father, traveling with a four-year-old in the middle seat and a two-year-old on their laps, encountered a total meltdown of said two-year-old in the last thirty minutes of our flight. The toddler was stressed and weary at 10pm, screaming, “I’m tired! I’m tired!” She refused to sit in a seat. She screamed so loud and for so long that her father put his hand over her mouth, making us all squirm in our seats, alternately glad for the reprieve and alarmed for the child. Continue reading

Mar 17, 2010

French People Are Nice & Paris is Safe

Don't Fear France

By Lisa T. Bergren

On the eve of leaving for Mexico, people are looking at me in dismay as if to say How Could You Take Children THERE?!?…They don’t seem to realize the extreme violence of Ciudad Juarez is fourteen hundred MILES away from my blissful, completely safe resort in Cancun. I don’t have a moment of hesitation.

When I told people I was taking my girls to Paris for Spring break last year, some reacted with envy…a lifting of the eyebrows, accompanied by a wistful, far-off, dreamy look. And yeah, it was that great. Definitely worth the trip. (Here are our reports on Paris with Teens and Versailles). But I was surprised by the number of people who asked me the following two questions: Are French people mean? Did you feel safe in Paris? Continue reading