We have nothing to lose, and a world to see!

I have been traveling all my life. Raised in Munich, Germany, I was fortunate enough that my parents took me on vacations all over Europe since I was about two years old (my first trip by plane was to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast). During my childhood and later during school, we traveled pretty much through most countries in Western Europe.

The first larger travel on my own that I remember are the Interrail trips through Europe: one train ticket, one month with several friends through Europe – from Portugal’s Algarve coast to Narvik in Norway, and from Brittany in France to surrounding the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece – all by train. That got me a taste of the big wide world and I repeated the Interrail trip through Europe in the next two summer vacations: so many countries to explore, people to meet, adventures to go, and food to eat…

I finally left Europe behind me when I was 20, and bought my first ticket to Bangkok (the cheapest was to fly with Kuwait Airways via Kuwait). The three months to come were probably the ones that changed me most in my life (well, except when we children were born). I traveled through all of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, all the way to Bali, Indonesia – either by train or bus. A life-changing experience that I will never forget and that has shaped me until today.

After getting the hang on it, I began my travel life – flew to South-East Asia the following year again to travel through Vietnam (from the very south of the Mekong Delta to the very north in Sa Pa).

After several trips to Asia, I finally discovered South America and traveled for four months through the continent. I was proud to tell everyone that I’ve been to almost every country in South America (at least for a short bit of time) except the Guianas.

In my later career as a management consultant, I had the chance to work on projects across the world (Mexico, Morocco, North Macedonia, USA, Japan, Austria, etc.) – making sure to use every bit of free time to travel around the region, which got me to such amazing places like Albania (from North Macedonia), Cuba (from Mexico), and many others. By now, I had covered a large part of the world.

As for many of you – there comes a time when things suddenly change: when you have kids 🙂 For sure – the happiest moment in my life – just that my travels significantly slowed down – at least in the beginning. I did go on some trips with my new family – but things were just more difficult (at least that’s what I thought initially).

However, kids don’t need to slow down your traveling! On the contrary, they give your travels a new meaning, a new purpose! You’re not just traveling for yourself (or with your partner), you are showing the world to your children and experience it with them through their eyes. There is nothing more beautiful and exciting as that. If you prepare well, travel with children is not more difficult than traveling alone, but it’s a lot more fun.

With Best Family Escapes I want to give you the insights on places that I have visited. These are not unbiased reviews. They are biased! By me. They are by no means exhaustive, I am just recommending hotels, places, activities, etc. that I believe are not to be missed when traveling. However, things change, I might be wrong or make a mistake. So please do your own research before going on a trip, and please – please, send me any changes, comments, mistakes, suggestions by email: [email protected] I appreciate it!

Bon Voyage!
Martin