Every time we fly with my kids I look for travel books that inspire them to learn more about the place we’re visiting. Like when we recently visited Italy, I looked for books for them to learn more about Rome and Florence so they would be more excited when they saw these places in real life. When they were little though, we used to buy more books about airplanes because the airplane and the airport used to be the most exciting part of their trip. Because of this, I’m so excited about a new airplane book that Lonely Planet recently sent me because it got my 10 year old boys excited about airplanes all over again.
How Airports Work by Lonely Planet
How Airports Work is a new airplane book with colorful illustrations and interactive lift-the-flap hidden facts, but it is not designed for toddlers. Geared for more the 6 and above age-range, there are amazing facts about airports and simple explantations about how airports actually function on a day to day basis.
I gave my guys the book to read before we took a trip to California. As we were landing at San Francisco Airport they explained to me that we were in a “slip” formation. I had no idea what they were talking about until they explained something they had read about in the How Airports Work book. I love when kids take what they read and apply it to daily life.
Ancient Wonders Then and Now from Lonely Planet
This happened with another book I was sent recently too. When we were in Rome, we saw a few cats around the Colosseum and we were quite intrigued with them and how friendly they seemed. After reading “Ancient Wonders Then and Now” one of my guys told me that he had learned some Colosseum facts about the cats of Rome. He learned they were over 200 feral cats living there and they are taken care of by ‘cat women’ volunteers. Now I’m even more intrigued about the Roman Cat Sanctuaries, and I want to see them on our next visit and I love how reading and talking about reading with my kids inspires more wanderlust.
Great Ports of the World by Victor Medina
Great Ports of the World also arrived in my house this week. We live in Seattle where we can see the cruise ships dock near our house. We can see the giant dinosaur-like cranes that lift cargo from ships and transfer them to trains and trucks to be delivered all around the United States. This book is interesting because it highlights other ports around the world and allows us to see similarities and differences in where people live. We’ve also been dreaming about visiting places like Egypt and Porto because of this book and we’ve been reminiscing about our trips to Venice, Amsterdam and London.
Audible-Girl, Wash Your Face
I love ‘reading’ while I’m running and while waiting on airplanes and recently I’ve seen “Girl, Wash your Face” all over my instagram feed. I finished it up in about a week of runs and it was such a motivating and uplifting read that is perfect if you need a book to inspire you to get out and live your own life and learn from Rachel Hollis, a blogger with motivating and sometimes hilarious stories. It’s not really a ‘travel book’ but it’s something I would listen to on the plane and for me it’s definitely a perfect running audible read. (Do you run at home? Or does travel inspire running for you too?) And do you have a book on Audible that you think would be good for running or traveling? (Please let me know in the comments!)
And I couldn’t not include Cubcoats on this travel-themed list. A whale and a cat arrived at my house last week and I need to get them to my niece and nephew ASAP because these are adorable stuffed animal friends that become hoodies. I think they would be so awesome for bringing on a trip when you don’t have room for ALL the toys in your luggage and my kids did so much better with a stuffed toy friend along for a trip when they were small. These Cubcoats multitask and serve as a friend and as something to keep your kids warm. My guys would have loved these when they were younger but we all kind of want one now too.
Do you have travel things you can’t live without? I’m always updating my travel finds in my online store and if there is something you are looking for, let me know and I’ll try my best to help you find it.
(PS. I received some of the products above for review and there are affiliate links in this post with my Amazon store as well. As always the opinions and thoughts in this blog are my own.)
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)