Europe for families

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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Every few months, VisitEurope.com, the European Tourism Commission’s website, publishes a roundup of country offerings for specific interests. The most recent one is about destinations that offer a wealth of family activities.

The ideas range from accommodations (in Switzerland, the whole family can stay on a working farm where kids can sleep in a hayloft and help the farmer milk the cows) to activities (in Barcelona, kids can do arts and crafts and watch performances at El Poble Espanol, an open-air-museum village that aims to capture the spirit of Spain in one place).

Traveling with kids in Europe is a balancing act for parents. One of my favorite stories about this is that when my boyfriend was young, his parents worked out a deal for traveling around Europe whereby they would visit museums one day and then playgrounds the next. It kept everyone happy and looking forward to the next stop.

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