A few days ago I woke up with feet so itchy I just couldn’t stand still. A Romanian road trip, a voyage of discovery, was on my mind and I knew just the place. The amusement park in a salt mine that I’d seen pictures of online, an amazing James-Bondesque underground cavern turned tourist attraction, … Read more
There are many cool things to do and cool places to visit in Romania. It’s a shame that so many people don’t know about them! Romania is a beautiful and interesting holiday or vacation destination with some warm, friendly people, plenty of tourist attractions, good food, adventure and cultural activities making for cool days out … Read more
Brasov, or Braşov is a beautiful ancient city in central Romania. It is at the heart of the most famous region of Romania, Transylvania. It’s one of our favourite cities in Romania and we think you should visit, or even use Brasov as your base for exploring Romania. Find out why! Use our index to … Read more
I miss it so much, our village in the far north of Romania. We spent 3 wonderful Christmases there surrounded by winter and Christmas festivities and traditions. We were tourists or expats, barely able to speak the language and with no grasp at all of Romanian Christmas traditions, but we were there to take photos … Read more
Before approaching the sheep station we had to take precautions, the Romanian sheepdogs (AKA Romanian Shepherds) would be loose so we had to call the shepherd (human) to meet us and make sure the dogs didn’t see us as a threat to their family or flock. These dogs can take down bears and wolves, and … Read more
We’ve had a fantastic time skiing here in Romania, the kids took a few private 1 on 1 lessons while Chef and I were free to head up the mountain. Being child-free is a pretty new experience for us, as full time child-wranglers and educators, it kinda rocked! After a short time the kids were … Read more
Romania has plenty of bears. Half of the European brown bear population lives on the forested hills of this beautiful country. When we talk about saving bears, we’re not talking so much about the wild Romanian bears, as the ones who have had a terrible existence, held captive by private owners and in small Eastern … Read more
Homeschooling, doesn’t officially exist in Romania. As far as I know it’s not actually illegal, it just doesn’t exist, all children must go to school. My research is hampered by the language barrier, so please correct me if I’m wrong, I’d love to hear about families homeschooling in Romania and I know that some do … Read more
In the far north of Romania, nestled in a valley below a long-extinct volcano, lies the little village of Breb, in Maramures County. We first came to Romania, Maramures and Breb in May 2015 and fell in love. Today, we are still unable to fully call it home due to visas and officialdom, but to … Read more
Irishman, Bram Stoker, published his classic Gothic horror novel “Dracula” back in 1897. The cursed count, based in Castle Dracula, Transylvania, was on a mission to reach British shores in search of fresh blood. Van Helsing and a group of upstanding citizens who knew all about vampires, garlic and stakes, did battle with the Count, … Read more
Living in Breb, Maramures County Romania, we visited the monthly animal and horse market at Sighetu Marmatiei more than once. It was quite a thing to see but not without drawbacks. This isn’t a post for vegans. Animals and livestock are vital for human survival in this part of the world and market day can … Read more
Sighisoara is a stunning, and surprisingly tiny, medieval citadel in Transylvania, central Romania. Its story-book looks alone will blow you away with picture postcards buildings, both grand and humble. Add history and cultural appeal to the visual and you’ve got a must-visit global destination. Unsurprisingly, Sighisoara is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the best preserved … Read more
Winter has done its worst and the mercury is starting to hit positive numbers during the short days here in the remote mountains of Romania. This area is beautiful, harsh, inspiring and difficult and it’s where we choose to be. Why, when we could live anywhere in the world, do we choose to spend winter … Read more
Romania was the country that captured our hearts. It came as a total magical surprise, inspiring us to spend 3 years trying to buy a house in Romania and basing ourselves, on and off, in a beautiful, remote peasant village of Breb, Maramures County. It was 100 years in the past. It’s been an incredible … Read more
Yes, you can drive from the UK to Romania by car. It’s very easy to just drive onto a ferry from the UK and cross to France, or you can take the tunnel. Every year we drove from London to Romania and back. It’s a long drive, around 1,500 Km if you take the shortest … Read more
Our lifestyle isn’t conventional. We travel and have done for over 2 years now, we do unusual things like falling in love with Romanian village life and buying houses in rural Romania, some people think we’re crazy, but that’s cool. Sometimes I think we’re crazy too. Yesterday I reshared an old post, a reader had … Read more
What do you imagine Romania is like? I’ll stake cash that you wouldn’t imagine the rural paradise we’ve found ourselves in. Fate has brought us to a village in rural Romania, Breb, in Maramures. It’s quite possibly the most beautiful, unspoiled place I’ve ever been. Maramures is the county in the north of Transylvania tight on … Read more
Romania isn’t a common travel destination and it’s one that we ended up visiting by happy chance before living there for 3 years. This Central European country gets a strong grip on your heart. Travel to Bucharest wasn’t top of our hit list and we had no real idea what to expect of the city … Read more
Bhutan and the Bhutanese have a thing about the phallus. They are penis obsessed and you’ll see large, lurid, male members artistically depicted on houses throughout Bhutan. One village, in particular, Sopsoka, near Punakha town and adjacent to Chimi Lhakhang, is famous for its penis art along with the fertility temple. This temple is also … Read more
Kila Nunnery (Kela Dechen Yangtshi) is sometimes called “The Little Tiger’s Nest” of Bhutan because it clings to the cliffside in the same way as the Tiger’s Nest near Paro. Kila Nunnery The nunnery has been a Bhuddist meditation site since the 9th century and is possibly the oldest nunnery in Bhutan. Kila Nunnery can be … Read more
Alyson Long is the owner of World Travel Family, one of the largest travel blogs in the world, with first-hand experience of travel in almost 60 countries. Alyson is a full-time professional blogger and travel writer, a published author, and the owner of several websites. World Travel Family has been helping people travel more, better, … Read more
A family gap year is a wonderful opportunity for parents and kids to bond, experience the world together, learn so much, and have fun. In this post, we help you with planning a family gap year, where to go, destinations, costs, ideas, itinerary, saving for travel, budgets, and our experiences of being on a family … Read more
Summer destinations in Europe for your family vacation, hidden gems or more unusual places to visit in Europe aside from the most popular European destinations. A few ideas for your next summer vacation in Europe! Bustling cities, awe-inspiring medieval villages that have stood the test of time, towns that look straight out of storybooks, and … Read more
This post is hard to write because our family lifestyle has very little consistency, nothing is fixed and the sands are always shifting. But people ask and people assume, so I’ll do my best to tell you about family life on the road, as it is. We’ve been travelling for 3.5 years now with two … Read more
If you’re yearning for the Christmas holiday season to feel a little different this year, there’s no better way to celebrate Christmas than by jetting off to a special Christmas vacation destination. In this post we bring you some of the best Christmas vacations for families, in the US, Europe, UK and Asia. Some of … Read more
Family adventure travel is any form of travel in which the people travelling (a family) feels that they are having an adventure. This may involve travel to remote or exotic locations and can involve a physically challenging or exciting activity. The definition of adventure travel means that adventure tourism can be overseas, domestic or international, … Read more
World schooling can cost as little, or as much, as you want it to cost. As a very rough ballpark figure, $100 per day is achievable for a family of 4. Costs depend on where in the world you happen to be world schooling that day, or month, how and what you choose to eat … Read more
iGCSE exams are the international equivalent of the British GCSE exams. The I stands for international, GCSE for General Certificate of Secondary Education. British kids sit them in year 11 of high school, around 15-16 years old. This is the final year of compulsory education in British schools. Kids from any country who are worldschooled, … Read more
Thai omelettes are really tasty and in Thailand, a country with so many amazing dishes, I find myself eating and ordering Thai omelette rice surprisingly often. I’ve ordered it from street food stalls in Bangkok, tourist restaurants on Thai islands and it even appears on menus in the shopping mall food court in Chiang Mai. … Read more
Europe is full of Christmas markets these days, most large and small cities have their own Christmas markets, and many larger cities in Europe, such as London, will have several Christmas markets and fayres. This makes London, Paris, and multiple other European cities, major European Christmas destinations. Locals visit and Europeans visit neighbouring countries and … Read more
If you have never been to Europe before but you are planning a trip to this exciting continent, then this list is for you! The best places to visit in Europe covers the most popular sites and attractions as well as some lesser-known favourite destinations too. Most you will have heard of, but others may … Read more
This page features some of the best food in the world. Food says so much about a country’s history, climate, and culture. It’s a key component in our travel. We’ve created detailed food guides for most of the countries we’ve visited, making us able to share this comprehensive guide to food around the world. All … Read more
Ema datshi is the national dish of Bhutan, it is chilli cheese, which pleased my wife enormously as it is vegetarian. This is absolutely her favourite dish from Bhutanese cuisine, next to momos, and once home we set about cooking it in our kitchen. The ema datshi in Bhutan varied a lot, some was thick … Read more
I’m asked all the time so here are my best tips on how to make money travel blogging. Blogging funded our life, 2 adults, 2 kids now almost grown, full-time travel. Travel blogging and running this travel blog allowed us to see the world. We’re 100% legitimate and the money comes from the blog, not … Read more
My kids are big now. Bigger than me. Young people with minds and opinions of their own. I think it’s time to ask them, honestly, what they hated about travel and travelling for 6 full years as a digital nomad family. There must be something, surely? All those long hours on planes, vomit-inducing bus rides, … Read more
We chose to homeschool almost a decade ago. Today I have teens. One child would be sitting his GCSEs this year and is technically old enough to leave school. Covid seems to have cancelled his exams, but no worry, he can sit them next year, or not at all. The younger child would be in … Read more
British food has an undeserved reputation for being bad. I’ve heard this from many nationalities over the years. British food is not bad, it’s great, so in this blog post I’m going to try to explain what British food is, and give an overview of traditional and popular British food dishes. Not one of them … Read more
This post is about learning to be parents on the road. How we handled parenting children while travelling, without routine, without consistency, schedule, or any of the things the parenting rule books will preach. We believe in throwing rule books out of the window. Parenting and Travel is an extract, edited, from our e-Book, The … Read more
Let’s talk about how to worldschool (AKA world school). Worldschooling has taken up at least seven years of my kids’ childhoods. Either side of worldschooling they were homeschooled, ie. at home, and then, at the end of their high school years, went into formal online schooling to study for exams. This came about because of … Read more
This is the post that has to be written, how we, the owners of World Travel Family travel blog, get to travel full-time or even permanently, as a family. We’re not unique, there are plenty of other globe-trotting, full-time travelling families on the world circuit, but to the vast majority of people what we do … Read more
Quizzes, be they online, Zoom, virtual, or real-life are all the rage lately for a family game night involving adults, plus some trivia questions for kids. We recently had loads of fun with a family quiz night with our lovely friends in a different hemisphere. We now have to write quiz questions for them, so … Read more
How to travel for free? There are many ways to organise free travel and companies that will help you travel for free. Travel doesn’t have to be expensive and it is possible to travel for free, or partially free. This post is on how to travel the world for free, in various ways! We all know … Read more