Need inspiration/ideas for long-awaited vacation

[Anonymous]

I would check out how the dollar compares to different currencies. There are lovely places to walk in England. There are lovely places to walk in Switzerland.
Get some travel books from your library and look at pictures.

England: Cornwall, Devon, the Cotswold, London (did without children 2006) Lots of fun things, very cool there, We went in August and never put our shorts on.
We stayed in places we found on Farmstay UK, I'm sure some of them take children. The server was down when I tried to get to website, search for Farmstay UK

Switzerland: Bernese Oberland (Bern, Interlaken, Grindelwald, Muerren). Go in late July or August, We went in eary July and found snow on many places because of the vast amount of snow they had that year. (different every year).

I went to England with my parents as a 14 year old and loved it. Stonehenge, Bath, London, cotswolds, Devon, Salisbury, Oxford.
Of those 2 places I would probably choose England over Switzerland because your children will be able to meet and talk to locals. And the walking in National Parks is easier than the mountains in Switzerland. But still fun things to do in cities and in the countryside.

We really enjoyed staying at farmstays in UK because we got to meet other people from England, the hosts and other families traveling. And if your children enjoy animals or farm equipment, that is fun too.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Just bought our tickets over the weekend. We will be flying into Munich and then Eurailing to the Dolomites, possibly also Venice. Our kids seem especially excited about all the train travel (including an overnight train trip in a couchette), plus all the chances to ride trams and funiculars, etc. We are also thinking about taking the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg--definitely cheesy sounding, but my kids love the movie and the idea of seeing the sights via open-top bus. FYI, the dollar is pretty healthy against the Euro vs where it was this time last year, and we also have been finding hotels very amenable to offering up rates better than what's on their websites. So, it seems like a decent time to go this summer.

[Anonymous]

I just returned from Namibia with my 4 year old and she loved it. The only thing she was not allowed to do was the walking safari (a little too dangerous). The rest of the time we were in the 4x4.

We loved Namibia!!! Flew direct Dulles to J'burg. Then J'burg to Walvis Bay and used Walvis Bay as our jumping off point. Beautiful Country lots to do and the dollar goes a long way.

FYI, last I heard SAA has special fares to J'burg from Dulles.