Rethinking Tourist Trains

Rolling through the old city is a poorly branded, bright blue train attached to some kind of van. It's the ultimate tourist gimmic. Don't want to walk? Let us parade you around the city like a fool. It's the kind of thing Jo and I would joke about doing.

Travelling with kids has forced us to see this kind of thing from another perspective. I'm not saying that now we have kids we can't walk. But rather, when Nora sees the janky tourist train, she squeals.

When Jo and I would travel pre-kids, it was about the outcomes. Let's see X or eat Y or walk through Z. Now with kids, the smallest part of our journey could be the activity they enjoy the most. Transportation has definitely been that. Airplanes are like fancy hotels. Open top buses are like rollercoasters. And even the damn tourist train in the eyes of our toddler is something far more magical.

So if you need to find us, we'll be those tourists on the tractor pulled train awkwardly weaving by you.