Three of my favorite things are food, travel, and quality time with my family. Last March when the whole country went into lockdown, it became a lot harder to enjoy two of those three things: we couldn’t go out to eat, we couldn’t travel anywhere, but we had more than enough family time.
One of the first things our girls did was make up games to play together. One day they put chairs in the hallway, packed their suitcases, made lunches, and pretended they were going on a trip together — “The Vacation Game.” My wife saw this and said, “Ya know, it would be fun for us to all do that one day — pretend that we all woke up in some other country.” We talked about decorating the house, playing regional music…and of course making lots of awesome food from that locale.
So one Sunday, our kids woke up and came downstairs for breakfast…in Paris. We had French music playing, French food for breakfast, and (imitation) French artwork on display. We read a children’s book set in France, watched “Ratatouille,” learned trivia about France — it was a whole day of “The Vacation Game.”
Our “Day in Paris” was such a hit, my wife and I immediately planned our next trip for the following Sunday. Over the next several months, we had established a wonderful family tradition of “Fake Travel Days”: every Saturday or Sunday we would wake up in another country. I would plan a menu and activities for the day based on the traditions and culture of that place. We got so used to it that my youngest daughter started asking every morning, “Are we in Pennsylvania today?”
We’ve “traveled” to dozens other locations since then, upping the authenticity along the way. If you’d like to know more about these Travel Days, check this out!
M. J. Lau 