bucketlist – Turknoy Travels 100!

How family travel memories helped us in 2020 Pandemic

December 28, 2020 by turknoys, posted in Travel Goals

Our family has a clear conviction that family travel is one of the best gifts we can give to each other. From planning the travel itinerary to long after arriving home, this has proven to be true. Indeed, during the pandemic, our family travel history has proven to be quite beneficial to strengthen the family bonds, personal relationships and every family members’ resilience and strength in dealing with adversity such as the quarantine and loss of loved one.

Family travels enables us to form a much stronger relationship with each other. We all benefit from exploring familiar culture and not-so-familiar ones. Family travels give a better appreciation of the big picture, the fine, intricate and sometimes overwhelming details and, of course, love of life in its entirety – glory and gory!

Our traveling family has a huge gigantic desire to travel. #happyfeet

Who would have thought that these family travel memories would have us equipped in dealing with the pandemic? Here’s how it went for us:

Memories are forever. A lot of ice breakers. A lot of “DO YOU GUYS REMEMEBER WHEN…. Inserts a funny anecdote.” A lot of inside family jokes. A lot of “blackmail” materials against each other. Priceless. We could get stuck at home for a year (hey, this happened!) and we won’t run out of stories.
Global education in any form. We have been using Zoom, Teams and other online means way before the pandemic. Nothing new to see here. Reading books for days and days – oh yes please! Learning is everywhere. Besides, with all the “souvenir” books we have been accumulating from our 40+ countries of travel, we have plenty to read for the next months or so.
Strong family bonds. Been there, done that. We already annoyed each other to death during our family travels. What’s almost a year of quarantine stuck in a small space together? Cabin fever for a year? That’s nothing. We have already endured days and hours in flight delays and travels in all transportation mode.
Appreciate the little things. It’s in the detail. Devil is in the details. Art is in the details. Full focus on every day blessings is good for the soul. Appreciating each other and showing them. “Please,” “thank you” and “How can I help?” are few of the phrases we are used to saying to each other again and again during family travels – short or long travel itinerary. These words mean a lot in confined space – saved a few lives and hormonal outbursts!
Life is enriching. Every day. No Matter What. Yes – say that several times over. Looking at life as an enriching experience is natural for travellers. The perspective of looking at the huge wide sky and realizing that the a lot of other places have the exact same sky with variety of perspectives, is a fantastic blessing, not a limitation nor a curse. And this happens, we look at the window from our home during the quarantine period, and there’s appreciation; there’s a deep knowledge that life is always enriching.

When the world is wide open again for family travel, we will continue realizing our family goals. Until then, we will keep utilizing the benefits of our previous travels. There’s a lot t hang on to.

BIG YES to “Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.” YET, memories can be a strong powerful tool NOW to dream some more for the future.

We are barefoot and in our pajamas at home… we’re happy together and we’re thriving. On to family time and realizing dreams! No to “SOMEDAY” wishes. We seize the days, now and the future 🥂👊🏽🥳🍾❤️

Chicago Children’s Museum

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Chicago, Family Satisfaction, Travel Goals, United States of America, Why Travel With Kids?

Did You Know:

Chicago Children’s Museum‘s mission is to improve children’s lives by creating a community where play and learning connect.

We arrived in Chicago when it was rainy! We underestimated the windy and chilly weather about the city so we decided to enjoy the city from the indoors. We planned for a quick stopover at the Chicago Children’s Museum for about 1-2 hours only yet we ended up staying until closing time!

Kids rule in play and learning in Chicago Children’s Museum. We have all raves and praises about this awesome kids place.

The staff were friendly, the place is ergonomically designed for kids to play and for parents to enjoy their kids play; or better yet, to enjoy playing with their kids.

Now, let’s talk about Mission. Obviously, our family is advocate of setting family goals linked to one own’s Mission Statement. With the mission statement, “to improve children’s lives by creating a community where play and learning connect”

We have articulated our family goals Turknoy Travels 100 is A Family Lifestyle based on our family’s mission to raise global citizens by family travel and worldschooling.

Children’s Museum and other family recreation facilities State their Mission quite clearly and concisely. We believe every family should, too.

Do you have your own unique family mission? Do tell us.

Chicago, Illinois For Family Travel With Young Kids

October 17, 2017October 23, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Chicago, Family Satisfaction, family travel, Travel Goals, United States of America, Why Travel With Kids?

“Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

We were welcomed by a 100% probability of rain on our first hour in the city! Actually, strong rain welcomed our train from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania we were scared to get out the Station Union.

Rain. Chilly and windy rain. Okay, that surprised us. A lot. Well, it’s Chicago is not called “The Windy City” for fun or pun. Windy the city really is.

Nothing can stop our family from enjoying the beauty and architecture of Chicago. Not even 100% certainty of bad weather.

Our first stop, to get equipped. We don’t like to shopping (window shopping specially nor shopping for fun — any kind if shopping for that matter. On the side note, this is actually obvious in all our family photos, we are always wearing the same clothes over and over and over and over….), but for necessity, we do what we need to. Off we went to get our traveling feet warm while we explore. Although we make sure we know the weather for days and weeks of the place we will explore, we were caught off guard by the winds of Chicago!

Chicago, Illinois For Family Travel With Young Kids — Bloomingdales Darlings Getting Equipped to Explore, by Galoshes, not by Tutus 🤗

Armed with a lot of umbrellas and water proof shoes, we went to visit Cloud Gate Park and checked out “The Bean.” Oh boy, was it still crowded, amidst the rain.

We had a blast taking photos in this architectural wonder. Oh yeah, it seems that the phrase “architectural wonder” goes together with Chicago! The skyscrapers are extraodinaire when it comes to architecture design. Or it our visual description – fabulous and looks functional.

In addition to the Chicago skyscrapers, we visited the Chicago Cultural Center and checked out their extraordinaire biennial exhibition on Architecture! Arxhitects, designers and students everywhere socializing with our three traveling kids talking about design, construction and mine crafts. Minecrafts mainly from our Turknoys, of course. That counts.

Then comes the bronze cow in The Windy City.

The next day, we didn’t want to be overwhelmed with all the “must-sees” in Chicago, so we decided to visit the Chicago Children’s Museum. We didn’t realize we will be there for hours and hours of adult and kids fun!

There are also lots of things to see and enjoy at the Navy Pier!

Top of our list, Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza! A pizza which takes more than an hour wait to bake. Our verdic -calorific!

If you think that’s loaded, try the glazed and infused donuts, another Chicago born and raised idea of culinary speciality!

We went to Grant Park and enjoyed a nice sunny and cloudy (and windy!) stroll along the Buckingham Fountain, one of the largest in the world and one that resembles Versailles Fountain. That sounds familiar, yes, the one in France.

We spent our last day in the Water Tower Place – Dr. Seuss and Lego. Two things that these kids would want not to leave any place.

We’ve seen a little of the city but the kids did a whole lot of Chicago loving their way!
Someday, we’ll return and for sure we’ll enjoy this city more, especially the must-sees.

Have you been to Chicago? What did you love most? Do tell.

Guggenheim Museum For Kids

October 11, 2017October 11, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Family Satisfaction, family travel, New York, Travel Goals, United States of America

“To get such beauty from something that has been produced from the artists’ own imagination appealed to me enormously. ” – Solomon R. Guggenheim

Guggenheim Museum is modern art museum located at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It’s a stone throw away from Metrolpolitan Museum of Art on the other side of the street. We were very impressed with the paintings we found in the museum. The museum was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim, hence the name. He is a philanthropist and quite obviously, art lover.
The kids enjoyed the paintings we saw inside the museum and these are their favorite.

Woman With A Yellow Hair, Pablo Picasso, 1931. We read a lot about Pablo Picasso and one of our favorite is “The Girl With A Pony Tale.” Okay, the note about the painting is a little trolling because the little girl was only seventeen when she met Picasso and became the object of a lot of Picasso’s art works. Despite that fact, this painting our little fierce traveller’s favorite in the Guggenheim Museum.

The Palazzo Ducale, Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore. Claude Monet. Who loves Venice and Impressionism Paintings? Well, obviously our future scientist in the family. The one who loves Venice since he visited when he was three ( and of course, he remembers.)

Woman Ironing. Pablo Picasso.1904. Since our eldest traveler is the master of shades, she knows good art when she it. She’s happy being in the Guggenheim Museum.

Top of the cherry in this Museum is its architecture and design which the kids never got tired of looking… and climbing up and down.

TAKE TWO COUNTRY 6: Austria’s Really Perfect Landscape and Those Innovative, Healthy, Creative, Fine-Looking People!

October 5, 2017October 4, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Austria, Travel Adventures, Travel Goals, Why Travel With Kids?

“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Austrian Proverb

The easiest thing to do in Austria, based on our family opinion, is to appreciate beauty. The landscape all throughout the country is phenomenal. We meant it when we say, “jaw-dropping, inhale exhale majestic.”

During our first visit in the country back in 2013, we visited Vienna and Innsbruck and we were floored with amazement in every country landscape we saw during our train rides passing through towns from Vienna to Innsbruck. We can ride the train back and forth and we’ll never get tired of the nature, view and even houses with their happy cows grazing in the majestic field.

Never did a month pass that we didn’t talk about visiting again Austria. We wanted to go back to Innsbruck and leisurely enjoy the mountain peaks. However, this second time around, we enjoyed worldschooling our little travelers in Salzburg and discovered the UNESCO World Heritage Town, Hallstatt.

Salzburg

Salzburg is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthplace, the city where legends are born. Kids noted that their mom was being “weird’ in the room where legend was born at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. Like any “typical” traveler, Mozart didn’t quite like Salzburg as much as he loved Vienna. That fact alone comforts our traveller’s hearts. The understanding of Mozart’s childhood, dreams and environment he grew up basically validates our family trails we seek for our three Mozarts.

We gave Salzburg landscape a chance to impress us like Innsbruck, but this traveling family somehow chases the fog, instead of the sun.

Hallstatt
Oh Hallstatt! A small village by Lake Hallstatt in the moutainous region of Salzkammergut. We went to explore Hallstatt from Salzburg on a day trip taking two trains one way. It was well worth a day visit and probably more! We really didn’t want to leave. Would you leave a view like this?

Hallstatt, Austria — Another #nofilterneeded #familyphoto ! When we’re together enjoying majestic landscapes, that’s family bliss to treasure forever! .

We also enjoyed the Salt Mine which took more than 3-4 hours and we didn’t even notice! Definitely a recommended activity for kids in Europe – tourist mode or definitely event long term travel. How fantastic it would be to stay more than a month in this place, we can only imagine.

One of our favorite country to explore is definitely Austria. We have explored 30 countries to date across three continents. That makes us well travelled family, right? We say, yes! We set goals to live the life we imagined.

Type of Family Travelers We Know and Want to Be!

October 4, 2017October 4, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Family Satisfaction, family travel, Travel Goals, Why Travel With Kids?

“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot

Since our family started our family adventures based on our family travel goals, we meet a lot of family travelers online and offline. Perhaps family travel will be the leading form of travel in the near future. Maybe (big maybe) that’s how Millennial will raise their families. Honestly, we see a lot of wins when kids travel early on with their family. It is our contention that family travel will pave the way to world peace.

That Big Family Traveler

More than big in number but more on big in ideas and big in luxury! Family travelers can aim for that one-time BIG adventure and they go all out. Disneyworld, Disneyland, Legoland, Atlantis – yes please! Mainly where commercial travel marketing go crazy at. Yes, after all, It’s A Small World After All!

Types of Family Travellers — That Disneyland Dream for Princesses

That Hairy Family Traveler

Shun all the risks, these family traveler will visit exotic places in a heartbeat! But of course, exotic is a relative place, it could be Asia for North Americans or Africa for Asians, either ways it is a dangerous, out of comfort zone place for this type of family traveler.

That Audacious Family Traveler

Daring, bold and brave, adjectives we don’t normally use at the end of a fairytale like “happily ever after…” That’s boring because family fairy tale doesn’t have to have an ending. Long term family travelers life their life without borders, that audacious! It must be really fantastic to wake up to days and days of something new and different which turns to weeks and weeks which turns to years to years.. up to , who knows, decades even.

That Goal (keeper/oriented) Family Traveler

Of course, that cautious family traveler who are vigilant to source out travel deals, who master the itinerary to ensure productive travel days with family because of limited time, limited resources or any other limitations. They are the family who does not make excuses, yet makes end meet in their own creative ways.

Our family is that family who is a little bit of everything, who lives by the acronym BHAG, that Big Hairy Audacious Goal of traveling 100 countries in every continent, who appreciate every family travelers we meet.

Any type, any form, any reason, any rationale of family travel. We strongly believe, all families are unique, so their travels should be.

Create your own family trail.

COUNTRY 30: Czech Republic, Land of Stories

October 3, 2017October 4, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Czech Republic, Education, Family Satisfaction, Travel Adventures, Travel Goals, Why Travel With Kids?

Kdo hledá, najde.
“He who looks, finds.”- Czech Proverb

First, a disclaimer – we never explored all parts of the country, like what we attempt for other countries we explored , at the very least, two cities of the country. Our thirtieth (30th, baby!) was mainly spent enjoying the Renaissance, baroque and gothic architecture of its capital city, Prague. No matter, boy, did we get ourselves full of stories, facts, science and history in, arguably, the city with the most tourists.
We explored the city of Prague, mainly by foot. Yes, our 10 itchy, wanderlust-y feet, plus the three-wheel stroller, which turned 5 years in the family.
New Town or Old Town, all bridges crossing the River Vlatava, ornate castles , holy churches, monasteries and our family’s favorites, library and brewery!

Czech Republic, Land of Stories , oh boy do we have lots of stories

The heart of Central Europe definitely left a mark in our hearts to come back. We want to know more about the Bohemian and other parts of the country.

Hey-O! Completed 30% of our goals. You can be like our family, too! Whatever your families’ priorities are, just go for it!

COUNTRY 28: Hungary, More Than Expected

October 1, 2017October 1, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Hungary, Travel Goals, Why Travel With Kids?

“One cannot fight the wind. ” – Hungarian Proverb
We got very inspired to write about our family travels when we were in Budapest, Hungary. We arrived at a conclusion that kids travel in Europe with Beauty and The Beast for two very obvious reasons , the continent’s natural beauty and it’s beastly barbaric history. Both great topics for worldschooling.

For Country 28 of our 100 Countries travel goal, we explored Buda and Pest in great detail. We have walked both sides of Danube River admiring the landscapes and history of the country. We are very much aware that the country offers a lot of many diverse destinations, but this particular trip, we decided to simplify our country visit and get to know one of the most beautiful capital city in the world, Budapest.

Getting to know the Danube River , the second longest river in Europe, serves a gateway for discussion of other countries the river runs through… and yes, more bucketlist and travel goals for the our worldschooling family – Black Forest, Romania, Belgrade. Oh the places we want to go when we visited places we’ve already been. Do you experience that as travellers? The more we know, the more we want!

The diversity of the metropolitan city is very evident. We were exploring St. Stephen’s Basilica one morning and the next morning, we were learning something new about Jewish faith inside the Great Synagogue, second largest synagogue in the world.

Budapest, More Than Expected — Ice cream after exploring Basilica for the day. Very well deserved for well behaved explorers 😀

The Great Synagogue not only features learning about the Jewish faith but an introduction to the holocaust memorial for Jews. A little heavy discussion for the kids. Maybe next year , there will be more serious discussions about this topic.

For this moment, in this country, is perfect. Not fighting the kids playful attitude in all sacred places we visited, not fighting the wind of change, trusting God’s will, going with the flow of the river.. Danube it may be. 😂

There are lessons in every country we visit. We are not traveling with kids because of photos, but of moments we try to capture with our phone cameras.

Just most of the time, we capture it so well, the memory of that certain place and certain time with kids melts our hearts. All the time.

Budapest, Hungary is one for our books. The rest of the country… kids will decide . If Atlas is a myth, Hungary definitely is not.

COUNTRY 25: Latvia, Best Enjoyed Slowly…(Or Quick and Dreamy!)

September 29, 2017September 29, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Family Satisfaction, Latvia, Travel Adventures, Why Travel With Kids?

Promised berries will not fill the basket.- Latvian Proverb

There are no promises for family satisfaction. Only commitment and lots of goal setting. In this case, plans how to get berries to fill our basket! It’s either we want baskets full of berries or not. No half hearted berry lover, right!

There is however, best way to enjoy life… Slowly or quick and dirty… hoops, family blog… uhhmm quick and dreamy!

With this in mind, Latvia! A very musical, creative, artistic, spectacularly cold country.
First.. enjoy slowly. Get to know the country.

Latvia is a not-so-big country by the the Baltic Sea . Come on, check it out. It’s really a country! Oh the occupation regimes seems endless… In early times, it was occupied by Balts, and was later ruled by Vikings, Germans, Poland, Sweden, and Russia. It only became an independent country in 1918. (Corrected by our favorite Rebel Travel Family from Latvia, so this should be accurate. – Advanced Happy 100 Years of Independence, Latvia! Exciting year ahead.) That’s barely like a person who discovered traveling to new places and enjoying new found freedom after series of boarding schools after schools after school after 8-to-5 corporate slavery.

Latvia, Best Enjoyed Slowly...(Or Quick and Dreamy!) — A slow taste of Latvia and you’ll definitely crave for more (oh please stop me with the innuendos!)

We stayed in Riga, the capital city, for ten days. Our eldest traveller stayed with a host family for a Youth Choir trip while we stayed in the heart of the Old Town of Riga. She had a lot of fun with her host family she didn’t want to leave. They are all so musically inclined, something missing from her real family. We were sure that if they offered her to stay for a longer time even after the scheduled choir concerts, she would have said stayed. Sending all gratitude and love to this fantastic Latvian family

Many MANY thanks to these awesome people who hosted me in their amazing country Latvia, rrrrrriga!!🇱🇻😍 I honestly wish we could’ve stayed longer…😢 #tour #memories #travelgoals #travelgoal #travelingtenager #amazing #traveladdict #hashtag #goodbye #thankyou #thanks

A post shared by Kylie C.D (@kyvelo) on Apr 25, 2017 at 12:32am PDT

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We didn’t see nor appreciate how green the city was. We visited March, beginning of spring. Hence, our desire to go back during summer season. Another wish list in our growing travel to do list with family.
We did however stayed indoors a lot a experienced a taste of Riga, literally and figuratively.

Latvia, Best Enjoyed Slowly — The Riga Music School…where we left our eldest musically inclined traveler with fellow musicians and off she goes on her own for a week or so…

The more we stay in Latvia, the more we were hooked. Off we got on the trains and enjoyed this super affordable public transportation.

Out of Riga, maybe our quick and dreamy version of Latvia. We head on to Jumarla for three days to freeze our beautiful .. faces.. by the Baltic Sea. Such a shame we didn’t get to swim and see the beach crowded with hot bodies. There still saw lot of tourists walking by the beach.

Jumarla Beach — It won’t be our #turknoy #familyadventure if we don’t include a visit to the beach soaked in rain in freezing temperature. 😘🤣 Hello Baltic Sea!

Kereme, Latvia — There was really no one in the streets of #Kemeri when we visited. And we took a picture of their attraction – The water tank! It was a fun walk with the family in the cold in a very quiet village. Priceless! ❤️

We took more trains and visited more quiet towns, we have enjoyed the serenity and silence of empty streets. The kids definitely has their share of echoing screams. We felt like we were in the opening credits of a country movie, eerie silence, solitude. We’ll, it was fun, cold experience.

Oh the food, wine, cheese and coffee! Let’s not elaborate on that in this blog or we might go booking a ticket to Latvia for a hot wine and salmon. We ate a lot of meat, too. It might be not politically correct to post photos of them, you know…. pork.

Riga — Culinary Journey for all types of senses – burp!

No matter how you travel Latvia or any country in particular , slow or quick, night or day, fast food or fine dining, herbivore or carnivore, medium rare or well done, train or bus, music or story, travel it your own unique busy way! Just be alive. Let’s be busy being alive.

Have you been to Latvia with kids?

COUNTRY 24: Epic Estonia? Exactly!

September 28, 2017September 27, 2017 by turknoys, posted in Estonia, Travel Adventures, Why Travel With Kids?

“He who does not jump into water will not learn to swim.” – Estonian Proverb

Tallinn, Estonia

Our family stayed right in the middle of Tallinn’s Old Town. Needless to say, we were deeply fascinated. We can almost hear and feel the stories of Tallinn’s Old Town, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe and, it seems like another super awesome tick in our UNESCO World Heritage Sites family bucketlist.

Epic Estonia? Exactly! — Tallinn Old Town is captivating like our little lady traveller

Of course,we will not walkthrough our family travel blog readers with options on how to explore Old Town of this fantastic city. When it comes to travel and to life, one family’s logic is another family’s crazy.

We would, however, highlight what makes our family travel memorable. After all, this blog, at the very least, is a testament that we can travel to places we’ve never imagined if we set our goals together as family.

When we travel, we are inclined to be biased to cities or countries who have the culture of reading. Reading is a symptom of desire to learn and innovate. That’s really important to develop anyone or any place.

So, guess what we think of Tallinn, Estonia. We stayed one full day at the Estonian Children Literature Centre, with lots of reading and creative activities for our kids, for free! Yes, not every kid can travel like our kids do (that’s why our kids are very grateful day in, day out… gratitude is our top family value, right next to faith.) But, every kid should have access to this kind of learning environment. How we wish every city, province, state or territory would provide this to every kid, free read, free to play, free to imagine! The world would be a way better place.

I guess, what we are saying, check out what this Literature Centre is about.

Tartu, Estonia

After having stimulating medieval lessons in Tallinn, we had quite an impression of Estonia. Much more when we visited Tartu, the second largest city of the country and known as the intellectual centre of the country!

We breezed through walking around Old Town, University of Tartu, Toomemagi Park among others. It’s not another town in Europe for us. We enjoyed staring at famous people’s statues and reading the history behind them.

Again for us, our family travel adventure highlight is the modern Science Centre AHHAA, full hands-on exhibits and the 4D cinema.

Epic Estonia has been viewed by the some travel blogs to be the worst tourism slogan because of how the small the country is. But hey, we’ve been to Estonia and it’s not the country’s size which decides how epic the country could be. He possibilities, the intellectual and creative opportunities, exactly epic!