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It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t fe It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t feel like it in Miami, it really never does but that just gives us a reason to explore other states. West Virginia is one of them, fun fact I actually lived here between undergrad and grad school! Here are Things to do in West Virginia (SAVE + SHARE): 

1. Enjoy New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, or visit any of the states 35 state parks as West Virginia has 1.5 million acres of parks and public land. We personally walked the Shavers Lake Trail and canoed on the lake. 

2. Enjoy some serious adventures! We’re always trying something new and West Virginia offers a lot of options from whitewater rafting, to 1,000+ miles of off-road ATV trails, to rock climbing, caving and mountain biking . 

3. Take a train ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad which stops at the Whittaker Camp where those who worked in the lumber and coal industry lived during the work season. 

4. Explore Cranberry Glades Botanical Area where you might just get to see some black bears! 

5. Walk the Falls of Hills Creak trail to get up close to some gorgeous waterfalls! 

This week I’ll be sharing various cities and states you can experience a beautiful Fall getaway. What are some of your favorite places to enjoy autumn?

Tap the link in my bio for my West Virginia blog post and a blog post of the best places to experience Fall in the US!
Still not over our day exploring the waters of For Still not over our day exploring the waters of Fort Pierce. We danced, snorkeled, fished and went tubing. Definitely want more days like this and still pinch myself that this is what a day of work looks like for me sometimes. Thank you @seadoo for the opportunity.
If you know my husband you know water activities a If you know my husband you know water activities are his favorite! Fishing, jet skiing, just being on a boat on the ocean relaxing, name it, he’s there. So we couldn’t be more excited than to not only get the chance to test out the new @seadoo Switch but be the stars of a whole commercial for it. We had entirely too much fun filming this. Of course now he wants to buy one!

Do you like getting out on the water? Favorite activity?
Our 3 Day London Itinerary (SAVE + SHARE): 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 1: Walked across the Tower Bridge (you can take a tour of London of Tower as well), walked along the River Thames and took a make a fascination hat class with @create_your_own_hat! 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 2: Harry Potter walking tour, checked out Borough Market and went on a night ghost bus tour. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 3: Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen, Buckingham Palace for Changing of the Guards, and explore Westminster for the infamous red telephone booths, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

If you have more time on previous visits to London we have taken a day trip to check out Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle, rode the London Eye, took a ferry ride down the Thames River, checked out Warner Brother Studios, and did a graffiti/street art tour.

Is London on your list? If you’ve been what did you do that you think is a must for visitors?

Things to do in London, London with kids, family travel
Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are no Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are not babies anymore. Where has the time gone? Excuse me while I go cry in the corner 😭😭😭😭. 

Too in my feelings to provide an informational post, I’ll be back tomorrow.
Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? List Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? Listen replace husband with whoever you need to but why these ppl keep acting like we can take our money when we’re gone?!? Y’all feel me or nah? 😅😬😩
Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is us Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is usually on everyone’s things to do in London list but since the girls and I don’t eat beef or pork the menus for most places didn’t make sense for us as they are filled with ham sandwiches and other things we don’t eat. I ended up finding Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen instead which offers a tea menu with breakfast items, while not traditional it worked best for us! It cost £35 pp.

For a traditional Afternoon or High Tea Try:

🫖Palm Court at The Ritz
🫖The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum & Mason
🫖Theatre Royal Drury Lane
🫖The Grill Room Hotel Cafe Royal (has vegetarian an vegan options)
🫖Coronation Afternoon Tea at Cellarium, Westminster Abbey
🫖The Rosebery Coronation Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
🫖The Goring Hotel

Afternoon Teas Geared Towards Families:

☕️Peter Pan Afternoon Tea at Aqua at The Shard
☕️Jurassic Afternoon Tea at the Ampersand Hotel
☕️Jungle Book Afternoon Tea at Brown’s Hotel
☕️Secret Garden Afternoon Tea at Taj 51
☕️The Buzzy Bees Afternoon Tea at St. Ermin’s Hotel
☕️Grover’s Children’s Tea at Grosvenor House Hotel
☕️The Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
☕️Sherlock Holmes Inspired Afternoon Tea at the Mind Palace
☕️Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tea at One Aldwych
☕️Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea at The Sanderson
☕️Wizard of Oz Afternoon Tea at The Soho Hotel

Have you done a proper Afternoon or High Tea in London before? Was the one you did on this list, if so what did you think of it? If you have additional recommendations please do leave a comment!

The Traveling Child

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5 Reasons to Move Your Travel-Loving Family Abroad

November 14, 2018      Destinations, Lifestyle, Travel Tips

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.

Guest Post Written By: Chantal Blake

Earlier this year, my family and I spent a week in Kenya for an amazing three-destination tour of the country. We witnessed the majestic strut of endangered giraffes, the playful antics of orphaned elephants, and the peaceful slumber of a pride of lions in Nairobi. In Mombasa, we reunited with old friends and felt the hustle of city life–East African style. At the UNESCO
Heritage town of Lamu, we walked the narrow pathways of one of the world’s oldest Swahili settlements and witnessed firsthand the festive fusion of African, Indian, and Arab cultures. For some, this kind of trip sounds like a once in a lifetime adventure that requires months of planning and saving but for us, hopping to Kenya was only $250 per ticket and 5 hours away. Why? Because we already made the decision to live abroad and have found that the rest of the world is much more accessible once you’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Safety

My husband and I have lived abroad for nearly ten years now. Aside from excitement and adventure, we consistently experience greater levels of security and acceptance outside of the Western world. Though many Americans may find this reality shocking, recent events consistently remind us that black and brown bodies unjustly experience discrimination, profiling, and violence on a regular basis in the United States. Some may call it ‘escapism’ to run from our homeland, but we call it global citizenship for our brown children who consider themselves members of the larger human race, as opposed to a minority in America.

Finances

Many can’t imagine leaving their beloved hometown or country but fail to realize the financial savings to be realized abroad. Employers know all too well that recruiting from an international market means offering incentives that make the trek worthwhile. What kind of incentives? Furnished housing, annual flight tickets, education and transportation allowances, health insurance, etc. Even when a given job salary didn’t seem impressive for our one-income family, we realized that the added benefits amounted to us saving way more than we were ever able to save as a two-income household living in the United States.

Quality of Life

You probably have heard of the ‘slower pace of life’ that people experience in other countries. But when it translates to less stress, more time off from work, and more family time, you can understand why people in some countries look and live much happier than your family and friends back home.

Yes, it’s true that money can’t buy happiness, but common sense and evidence prove that life is more pleasantly experienced when people feel financially and physically secure in their environs. The cut-throat competition of capitalism can prioritize the bottom line over health, family, and sanity. However, life abroad can show a path for achieving success with enough wellness and vitality to enjoy it. With lengthy holiday breaks, two-month summer vacations, and shorter work schedules, we have bonded and grown together as a family. Just the thought of trying to see all of our scattered family members in only two weeks of paid annual leave makes my heart start to race.

Exploration

With so many new countries suddenly within reach, a long holiday or week-long break can affordably allow us to experience an entirely new region and culture. Language immersion takes on a whole new meaning when the sights and sounds of a foreign tongue become familiar and eventually, your own. By establishing a base for ourselves abroad, places that seemed so remote and far are now right on our doorstep. From where we live in Oman, we’ve been able to visit East Africa, Southeast Asia, and other parts of Arabia within just a few hours of flight time. Also, in many countries, we feel much safer taking long road trips and exploring off-the-beaten- path destinations than we ever would in some parts of rural America.

Reasons to Move Abroad

Connection

Growing up in New York City, my elementary school was like the United Nations. I was constantly surrounded by various cultures and ethnicities, but they were out of context. All of us as first generation Americans had to evolve and adapt our cultural heritage in a new urban context. So all of us–my Jamaican-American self included–were like a remix of our national identity. We were all struggling to blend in, fit in, and, at times, compete in the melting pot.

Now that I’ve actually met people in their own country or as recent travelers and expats from their homeland, not only do I see more nuance in the cultures I grew up with but also the common threads of humanity painted and woven in so many different shades and textures. I’m grateful that my children can hear people articulate their language, identity, and culture for themselves, as opposed to relying on textbooks, documentaries, or third parties to do the translating for them. And best of all, the more connections we create in our travels, the more friendships we develop all over the globe.

To be crystal clear, I am in no way making the argument that any place is better than home. Every nation and region’s situation is as distinct as its topography. But based on my experiences, I can unequivocally conclude that life abroad has proven itself to be the best place for my family to thrive and flourish at this point in time. Am I turning in my blue passport? No way! But, I have no commitment to staying any place where I feel unwelcomed, even if it happens to be the first place I ever called ‘home’.

About the Author

Chantal Blake is a travel writer and plant-based consultant from New York City. She currently lives with her unschooling, vegan family in Muscat, Oman. Her published work can be found at Wayfaring Green Soul.

The Traveling Child is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

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Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

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