To make family travel more fun and worthwhile, try these things

I remember when Chengzi was about two years old, we took him hiking in the countryside for the first time. Chengzi was reluctant to go at first: \”What\’s the point of climbing a mountain? I\’ve climbed it many times.\” I was curious: \”Where have you climbed a mountain?\” \”It\’s the mountain in the park (a man-made small earth mountain) .\” I couldn\’t help but smile: \”I\’ll let you see the real mountains later.\” That was the first time Cheng Zi saw a real mountain. It started from this short trip. Like many parents, we started taking Cheng Zi out of the house. Go see the world. We are just an ordinary family of three with limited time and financial resources. We just want to take our children to see as much as possible within our capabilities. Over the past few years, we have accumulated some experience. The following little tips make our trip more fun and more rewarding. We don’t like to follow the crowd and take the conventional routes to scenic spots. We are often led by Orange Dad. We randomly choose a small road that branches off from the main road, find another way, and play as we go, and we often have surprises. harvest. I remember that in Hallstatt, a small town in Austria, we followed the bustling tourists for a while on the main road surrounded by mountains and lakes, found a side road, and went up the hillside with twists and turns. It’s a different story on the mountain. There are small wooden houses with different characteristics scattered among the dense shade of trees. They are all inhabited by local people and are very quiet. Because few people pass by, the paths in the mountains are covered with green grass and are vaguely visible. Walking along them is like walking into a fairy tale world. Along the way, we discovered a bug that looked like dog poop, encountered rustic wooden sculptures standing on the roadside, and piled firewood piled like works of art. We sat on high supports and gazed at the lake and mountains. Walking and playing like this, we felt comfortable and happy, as if the whole mountain and forest belonged to us. This kind of scenery is actually only a few dozen meters away from the busy main road. I have found new routes more often, and I have discovered that no matter how busy a tourist attraction is, as long as it is slightly diverged, there will be far fewer people, and you can see the original natural scenery, customs and customs of the place – this is true both at home and abroad. Because the vast majority of tourists will crowd into commercialized attractions, look at the scenery from the same angle, buy tourist souvenirs together, and queue up to take photos. For them, this is travel. Since you are taking your children out to explore the world, you might as well try to take a different path. A small adventure will make the trip more interesting. Traditional project – Orange World Jump Because I like photography, every time I go out to play, I will capture some interesting moments. Once, when we went to play in the mountains, Orange\’s father pretended to throw Orange down the mountain, threw him in the air and caught him again. The talented photographer (that\’s me) captured this scene keenly, leaving the moment when the oranges flew into the air and laughed loudly. Slowly, the game became a little tradition. Every time we go out to play, I have to take a photo of the father and son raising their heads high. On the top of an unknown hill, in the sunset on Phi Phi Island, on the shores of the vast Qinghai Lake, and on the ancient castles in Europe, the silhouette of oranges is left in the sky. In the past two years, Chengzi has grown up a bit, and Dad can\’t move it anymore, so Chengzi moves around on his own. Little boy from fairy taleJumping on and off the train, jumping around in front of the thousand-year-old temple, and climbing over the red walls of the Forbidden City. I thought that when these photos accumulated, they would become a small series: Orange World Jump. When he grows up, it will be very interesting to look through these photos again. From the two-year-old baby being thrown into the air and laughing happily, to himself jumping handsomely, we have traveled to so many places together. Woolen cloth. Are there any traditional items on your travels? You might as well put some thought into it and arrange a small fixed item for each trip – different scenery, different time and space, the same people, doing the same thing. Together with time, create memories that are unique to you and your family. Pretend to be a local and experience it in an all-round way. I have always felt that the meaning of travel is not only to see different scenery, but also to see different people and experience different lives. A few years ago, we went on a self-driving trip to Qinghai. Dad Chengzi was driving the car and was not in a hurry. When he saw beautiful scenery, interesting people and things, he would stop and play at any time. Passing by the highland barley fields, we helped harvest them. When you meet a shepherd, chat with him and seriously consider the possibility of buying a sheep to take home. When we met farmers digging potatoes, we parked the car on the side of the road, helped them collect potatoes, and had lunch together. When you hold the sickle in your hand, bend down and feel the breaking of the highland barley stalk under the sickle, you will realize what \”every grain of grain is hard work\”. When you squat on the soil that has been turned soft by machines and pick out purple-skinned potatoes one by one from the soil, the joy of discovery and the joy of harvest will make happiness very simple. This kind of all-round perception with eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind gives you a much thicker and richer feeling than tourist-style aesthetics. Isn’t traveling just to get experiences that are different from your daily life? \”Experience\” means to let yourself be in it, see, hear, taste, touch, and feel, keep all your senses open, receive information from the outside world, and give your brain sufficient and rich information. stimulation. This is how my horizons and mind are slowly opened. I like this kind of trip. Listen to explanations and stories. When Cheng Cheng was young, we mostly looked at mountains and rivers and got close to nature. In the past two years, as I have grown older, I have increased the proportion of humanities and explored various cultures in various monuments and museums. If conditions permit, when we visit cultural attractions, we must listen to explanations. We must either ask a tour guide to explain, or rent an explanation machine to listen and watch by ourselves. Facts have proved that the effect is very different whether you listen to the explanation or not. If there is no explanation, the visit can easily turn into a superficial glance. You won’t notice that the coat of arms of an archbishop in Salzburg is actually a white radish; you only know that the Yingxian wooden tower in front of you has experienced more than a thousand years of wind and rain, but you don’t know how exquisite its design is and how technologically advanced it is. Even today\’s developed countries cannot copy it; you can\’t understand why the fish in Bada Shanren\’s works rolled his eyes, or where the smiling and cute Bodhisattva in Yungang Grottoes is hidden… I found that if you look at these cultural landscapes, if there is no explanation, Chengzi You will soon get bored, and you will be urged to say let’s go, let’s go. Because in his eyes, this is just an ordinary cup, wooden pagodas everywhere are the same, and those ink paintings are even more boring….If there are explanations, Chengzi will be much more patient, and will also discuss with us while listening. From time to time, imaginative questions will pop up. Explanation is actually a story. With stories, those buildings and cultural relics come alive, and you can see the people with different personalities behind them. We also use this to connect with those people and things that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago. Again, seeing, hearing, feeling, these are all nourishments for the soul. They not only expand the original knowledge structure, but also subtly make a person\’s heritage deeper and broader. Having said so much, it always comes back to one question: Why take your children to travel when you are tired of traveling and spending time? I believe that taking children to travel, to see mountains and rivers, and to experience different scenery and people, is for an all-round experience of the body and soul, a kind of spiritual nourishment, and a way for the family to create beautiful times and memories together.