Six good reasons to take a family vacation.

Written by Jolana Klobouk


When I was young, family vacations with my parents consisted of driving for a week from place to place in a hot stifling car. My parents hadrepparttar knack of pickingrepparttar 133845 hottest week ofrepparttar 133846 summer to do so. In spite of that, we still had fun, managed to find interesting sites to explore and those arerepparttar 133847 memories that I still have.

I discoveredrepparttar 133848 joy of travel to far reaching destinations on my own byrepparttar 133849 time I turned 18. Jumping on a plane and heading off to Brazil, Europe or cruisingrepparttar 133850 Caribbean, has turned into a life long passion my whole family now enjoys with me.

Family vacations have evolved overrepparttar 133851 years. There have never been more choices, more variety and more options available for family vacations as there is today. Especially since 9/11,repparttar 133852 focus on family and community and played a strong role in our society. The travel industry has noticed and has geared up for families. From all-inclusive vacation packages and cruises, which are equipped with kids clubs and special activities: to resorts that supply a nanny for your stay, it’s never been a better time for families to travel.

Still not sure? Here are just a few ofrepparttar 133853 benefits of taking a family vacation:

1. The family that plays together, stays together.....

It is a time to get away from it all. Away from work,repparttar 133854 phone calls,repparttar 133855 kid’s activities,repparttar 133856 daily to do list. This is a great opportunity to spend time as a family and get to know each other. Go for a hike, build a sandcastle, explore a museum. There is more time to talk and spend time together withoutrepparttar 133857 daily distractions.

2. Teach your children well....

Travel is an excellent learning tool for kids. They can haverepparttar 133858 opportunity to learn about things first hand they may have learned in school, read about or saw on TV. Any destination can offer this learning experience whether it is a few hours drive away from you home or in Europe. Family vacations will teach children about different cultures, food, history, geography, climate, environment and so much more. The best part is that it’s way more fun for them then learning it through homework!

3. New experiences they will never forget.....

Family vacations provide a whole new venue for experiences that your kids never would have had otherwise. We took a family cruise last winter, and it was my 9-year-old son’s first cruise. We told him all aboutrepparttar 133859 ship and showed him pictures but I don’t think he could quite grasp what it was really going to be like. We landed in Fort Lauderdale and as we were driving torepparttar 133860 port, we could see our ship inrepparttar 133861 distance. He was excited but still very nonchalant. Once we got torepparttar 133862 port and pulled up alongsiderepparttar 133863 ship, he looked up and up and up atrepparttar 133864 enormous ship, his mouth dropped open and he gasped in amazement. That reaction was worthrepparttar 133865 price ofrepparttar 133866 whole trip and is something I know our family will always remember.

SAINT JORDI´S DAY

Written by Barcelona On Line - Ana Rodriguez


The Saint Jordi festivity, which takes placerepparttar 23rd of April, is one ofrepparttar 133844 most beautiful holidays in Catalonia, above all in Barcelona. During this day,repparttar 133845 downtown streets are full of colours thanks torepparttar 133846 small book and rose stands that are put up inrepparttar 133847 centre. Many curious tourists and neighbours walk throughrepparttar 133848 city. The men must give a red rose as a present to their ladies andrepparttar 133849 ladies must give a book to their man. This day is alsorepparttar 133850 Day ofrepparttar 133851 Books, which is a remembering of Cervantes death.

The rose tradition is not new. Inrepparttar 133852 Middle Agerepparttar 133853 aristocratic class organized lord competitions, whererepparttar 133854 men gave a flower torepparttar 133855 women. The red colour symbolizesrepparttar 133856 passion andrepparttar 133857 ear that is put together withrepparttar 133858 rose stands for fertility.

The legend

The Saint Jordi was a lord and a martyr born in Capadocia (Turkish nowadays). He isrepparttar 133859 hero of an exceptional gentleman story which took place in Libya. As a contradiction to thisrepparttar 133860 Catalonian tradition believes that it happened in Tarragona, in a small town called Montblanc. In Montblanc there was a dragon that fearedrepparttar 133861 people ofrepparttar 133862 town. Its stinky breath managed to killrepparttar 133863 people who come close to it.

The neighbourhood wanted to sacrifice one person every day in order to avoidrepparttar 133864 monster to attack everybody. Naturallyrepparttar 133865 problem was that there was nobody who wanted to be eaten byrepparttar 133866 dragon. Therefore, each day they picked one person fromrepparttar 133867 population ofrepparttar 133868 town. The system was very effective until one dayrepparttar 133869 person who had to be delivered torepparttar 133870 monster wasrepparttar 133871 beautiful princess. Many people offered themselves, butrepparttar 133872 king was uncompromising in despite of his sadness: His daughter had to be sacrificed likerepparttar 133873 rest of his citizens.

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