My husband and I both did postgraduate research at university. It's left us with an incurable desire to research everything. If we watch a movie based on a real event, we read up on it afterwards to find out more about the event. When we plan a holiday, we delve into the history of the place. We don't overplan the trip itself because it's fun to discover the sights when you get there, but we like to have a grasp of the culture and even the language. We went to Zanzibar on our honeymoon and spent the months leading up to our wedding learning some Swahili so we could interact with the hotel staff and perhaps meet a few local people -- which we did. Our best memories of the trip come from these interactions.
We plan on continuing this approach to travelling with our chidren in tow. Of course we can't make them learn the local dialect but then children don't seem to let a little language barrier get in the way of a good playdate on the swings. And we won't force feed them culture -- there are more subtle ways of enjoying a foreign travel experience with kids. Check out this great blog posting written by Debbie Dubrow on the blog www.Travel-Rants.com: Adding fun and culture to your next holiday.
