Family Travel planning: Starting to Belize we are going

I’m sorry if you cringe at this horrible title pun but it makes me smile and I’ll probably still be giggling about it long after I press the publish button so I totally can’t help myself.  We are planning a trip to Belize in the spring and it’s past the point where we can still cancel our flight so I guess we’re actually going and I get to really start to put our itinerary together.  We are a family of two adults and two energetic 6-year-old boys and we love animals, chocolate and outdoor adventures, so that is what our focus will be.

I have my heart set on staying at the Belize Zoo thanks to my lovely friend Mary from World is a Book’s post about her family’s travel to Belize when she stopped there on a cruise.

And I recently started reading TravelBabbo and I am enamored by the pictures that he takes and he has such amazing adventures with his kids.  (ANTARCTICA!!!!)  His photos of the Turtle Inn and the night sky in Placencia just made me want to pack my bags and get on the fastest plane there.

I also love the ideas on Momfari from her trip to Belize with kids last year and her recap on her visit to Tikal with kids is just inspiring.  This blog has beautiful writing and gorgeous pictures so I love vicariously escaping here too.

And I’m so glad Lillie from Around the World “L” sent me her Belize honeymoon itinerary because it totally gives me a sense of what we might see as we travel around the country.  I was a little apprehensive about booking internal flights that connect with our flights home, but she talks about how they made their connections easily too.

I found some posts about a Banana Farm called Bunches of Fun Banana Farm and I can’t wait to show my guys how bananas come from farms in Central America and end up in banana bread in Seattle.  I know we’ll have to go cave tubing, but it terrifies me so I’m waiting on reading this post from Mary about how she cave tubed with her kids too.

I bet that Travel for Kids TV has a video of their trip so I need to make sure I find and watch this with my kids because they do better on trips to unfamiliar places when they have an idea of what it’s like where we’re going.  I haven’t really found my kids any books yet, but I’ll definitely be ordering them this week and letting you know what I find.

I am also ordering schools supplies to try and help out with Pack for a Purpose which is a neat way for travelers to help out the communities they visit.  My guys are really into soccer so when we saw that Pack for a Purpose in Belize needed some athletic supplies, I thought this would be a good way to get my kids to think about other kids in the world and how we can help each other out.

I have begun to order mosquito-proof clothing because I am a scientific wonder when it comes to how quickly bugs find and bite me.

And this is all I have so far.  I used Expedia to book a bunch of cancellable hotels that look fun as I tweak the trip details so at least we have guaranteed accommodation and I don’t have to stress if other places I find intriguing book up.

So if you been to Belize with or without kids and have some ideas to share, I’d love to hear; especially about places to eat and if you’ve rented a car.  And when we finally travel and get back I’ll definitely let you know how this trip went.

(You better Belize I will)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)