Bellows - 100 Places That Can Change Your Childs Life: From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth

Published by the National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

Copyright 2012 Keith Bellows. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

100 places that can change your childs life : from your backyard to the ends of the earth / Keith Bellows, editor.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-4262-0876-8
1. Voyages and travelJuvenile literature. 2. ChildrenTravelJuvenile literature. I. Bellows, Keith.
G570.A17 2012
910.202dc23
2012014500

The information in this book has been carefully checked and to the best of our knowledge is accurate. However, details are subject to change, and the National Geographic Society cannot be responsible for such changes, or for errors or omissions. Assessments of sites, hotels, and restaurants are based on the authors subjective opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the publishers opinion. The publisher cannot be responsible for any consequences arising from the use of this book.

The National Geographic Society is one of the worlds largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge, the Societys mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy.

For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com

National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688 U.S.A.

For rights or permissions inquiries, please contact National Geographic Books
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Cover and interior design: Elisa Gibson

v3.1

I am the personand journalistI am today because of what I experienced by seeing the world at a very young age. My father was in the U.S. Air Force, and we lucked out by getting many overseas assignments. I was born in Taiwan and lived in Panama, Brazil, and Spain as well as in the States. Seeing the world so young opened my eyes to the huge diversity of history, culture, and language that makes our planet so fascinating. It was the best educationa global classroom. As a result, I am fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, essential languages in this day and age. Because travel was so important to me growing up, we take our boys with us every opportunity we get. They were both just months old and couldnt even sit up for their first passport photos. Recently we visited my family in Brazil, and for the first time my children really began to understand the many issues facing todays world. They saw the extremes of wealth and poverty, and experienced a new language (and learned to say a few words in Portuguese). They loved the adventures they experienced in another country. They keep asking where well go nextand when.

I know how much travel has changed my life. Now it is doing the same for my kids. For those looking to get started on a lifelong journey with their children, Keith Bellowss book 100 Places That Can Change Your Childs Life offers ideas and inspiration to help you and your kids explore all that the world has to offer.

Natalie Morales

The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.Augustine

I was conceived in the late 1940s at a lodge near the crest of Victoria Falls, one of the worlds greatest cataracts (see ). My parents were living in Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, where Id spend my first four years (a memory: the baby elephant we kept in our yard). In 1954, concerned about impending riots that would forever transform what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we left Leopoldville and flew to Canada to make a new home. You could say that those early years in a distant landand that adventurous flightconfirmed me as a born traveler. Inspired by the travel path my parents established for me, this book celebrates the pure power of travel.

Fittingly, Im writing this at 36,000 feet, returning from some of the places in this bookthe Taj Mahal, the Serengeti, Petra, Istanbul, London. Places that, like everywhere I go, thrill me because they remind me just how foreign and fascinating the world is beyond the precincts of my home in Washington, D.C. (which also is plenty compelling; its in the book, too).

I took my firstborn son, Adam, now 23, abroad when he was three months old. Since then he has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles from homeSan Francisco and Montreal, the Grand Canyon and Big Sur, Berlin and the Norwegian fjords, Perus Andes and the Greek Islands. My other kids are six and seven and theyre starting to go global, tooand to inspire me to see the world through their eyes.

I wrote this book for them. Because theyll inherit the world. And I want them to understand it. To know it. To experience it.

Like I did.

Im convinced that any parent willing to give the gift of travel offers the gift that keeps on giving. Children who learn to travel will travel to learn. And they will do it all their lives.

A 2006 National Geographic/Roper poll of young Americans drew a stark, sad picture of our childrens cultural literacy: Only 37 percent could find Iraq on the globe, 20 percent thought Sudan is in Asia (its the largest country in Africa), and half couldnt find New York on a map.

Its clear: The passport is the new diploma. National Geographics editor emeritus Gil Grosvenor nailed it: Two weeks in another country is worth a degree in geography. Learning happens between the poles not just between the ears. The world is the greatest classroom we have.

Our kids are our future. And helping them understand and navigate an increasingly globalized world is as important as making sure they know how to drive a car.

I grew up believing that education is all about the proverbial three Rs. We should now make it four Rs: reading, riting, rithmatic, and roaming.

The places in this book are a Whitmans Sampler of what the world has to offer. And the book itself is as much about parenting as it is about travel. I want you to consider how and why to travel with kidsnot just about where. Its not just the place you visit but how you experience it that matters. Ive tapped parents and experts who can bring a pint-size eye to an adult-size world. To help see places through a childs eyes.

Now, you might think, as some of my friends have suggested:

Well, these places are so far away.

Or: It will cost me too much to visit.

Understood.

You dont have to get on a plane to discover the foreign. If you cant afford to go to China, then visit your nearest Chinatown. Look to your own backyard for ethnic restaurants, intriguing celebrations, little shops that sell authentic goods from afar, street life that expresses the unique rhythms and traditions of another culture.