A Free Trip to Europe

Where in Europe would you love to go?

Where would you go if you won a free, all-expenses-paid trip to anywhere in Europe? Yes, anywhere. Ten days — flights, trains, hotels and meals all paid for. You even get a little spending money. Wouldn't you be beyond excited at this opportunity to travel without spending a dime out of your own pocket?

The contest rules were:

• Enter by suggesting a destination
• Present a  proposal of five sites to visit or things to do while on the trip.
• Destinations will be ranked by all the contestants plus the people funding and organizing the trip.
• Winner will be the top ranking destination.
• Contestants must be under 18 years old. 

Best of all, contestants are guaranteed a spot on the winning trip even if theirs is not picked.

My kids came across this amazing opportunity last summer. But before you get all excited and start figuring out how you can enter your own children in this contest, I should mention that it's only open to my family.

Yup, we let our kids choose where to go on our summer vacation. The alternate title for this post is

Help Us All. The Kids are in Charge!

We ended up at the Pokemon Center when we let our kids help with the trip planning for Tokyo.

Did I lose my mind?

With getting ready to move back to Texas from Malaysia, both hubby and I were swamped. So much of our brains were preoccupied with changing continents that we adults didn't have much time to daydream about where to stop in Europe along the way. Hubby and I have traveled to Europe before. While we were eager to revisit it, there wasn't anything in particular we were dying to see.  That's why we decided to let the kids choose. Since our comfort zone is much wider than theirs, the chances of the kids coming up with anything that we were completely unwilling to do was slim.

Norway is on my wish list. For now, I will have to be satisfied with my visit to EPCOT's Norway pavillion.

2nd Runner Up Proposal: London

My girl really wanted to return to Paris, but we added in a rule that it had to be some place new to the kids. Although, Paris is indeed rather fabulous, so I can see why she is drawn to the City of Lights. Her next suggestion was London. It's been on our short list the last few years, but we still haven't made it there. What did she suggest doing?

• Olympic Stadium - We've visited the one in Beijing, and she wants to see this one, too.
• London Eye - How does it compare to the Singapore Flyer?
• Big Ben
• London Bridge - Is it really falling down?
• McDonald's - Part of her lifetime goal to eat at a McDonald's in every country where they are located.

When we finally get around to visiting London — and I'm sure we will — I wonder if this list will change as she gets older.

How would the London Eye compare to the Singapore Flyer?

1st Runner Up Proposal: Greece

My teen boy suggested Greece because he was knee deep in reading The Iliad at school and wanted to see what modern Greece is like. How does it compare to Homer's description? His places included the usual Ancient Greek sites like the Acropolis plus a few islands for good measure.

Not exactly Greece
(Changi Airport, Singapore)

The Winner: Italy

Drum roll, please... my younger son was the big winner with his suggestion of Italy. Obviously an astute observer of his mom's trip planning techniques, he looked at travel blogs to figure out what to do there. In addition to touring a hand-blown glass factory, his proposed activities and destinations were:

Ride a gondala in Venice

Gondolas on Venice's Grand Canal

Visit the Colosseum

Can you tell which is the real Colosseum? This one...

or this one?

Walk around the ruins of Pompeii

The Forum, Pompeii
Imagine that Mount Vesuvius in the background used to be cone shaped. That's how much of the top blew off.

Eat gelato

I made sure that we did each and every one of these items on his list, especially the last one... multiple times.

So many choices! Thank goodness most gelaterias let you have two scoops for a small cone/cup.

Why Italy?

My boy has never mentioned a desire to go to Italy before, so I was wondering why exactly did he pick it. He had two main reasons. 

1. He hates wearing pants and figured that Italy in the summer was the perfect place to wear shorts. I bet he was disappointed at the dress code at the Vatican.
2. We always encourage the kids to try the local food wherever we travel. Pizza, pasta and gelato? Perfect!

Enjoying pizza at Pizzeria da Franco, Sorrento

Mr. Snuffles and the Hunt for Gelato

We made many memories during our travels through Italy. As a memento, my boys made a video of their time there. My teen points out that it has more of a plot than those crazy, avant-garde movie shorts we viewed a couple summers ago at France's National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Where would you go in Europe if you won an all-expenses-paid trip? What would you do there?

If you are a parent, how much do your kids participate in travel planning?

This post is part of the following link-ups. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

• Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox
• Friday Postcards on Walking On Travels
• Weekend Wanderlust on A Brit and a Southerner, Justin plus Lauren, Carmen's Travel Trips, Outbound Adventurer, and A Southern Gypsy
• Weekend Travel Inspiration on Reflections Enroute
• Sunday Traveler on Pack Me To..., Chasing the Donkey, A Southern Gypsy, The Fairytale Traveler, and Ice Cream & Permafrost.