In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned some popular “family travel” websites. Top of this list was Family Travel Forum. In my review I mentioned that the company behind this website seems to be experimenting with publishing their content to non-membership based websites: TinyTravelers and KidTravels. Under the “Kid Travels” banner, FTF held a “First Teen Travel Essay Scholarship” competition – the results of which were published on November 9th.
The standard of writing in these essays is very high: FTF acknowledges that “more than 95% of the essays deserved an A, and the outpouring of personal expression was remarkable in its diversity”.
I haven’t read all of these essays, but I have read quite a few and as a parent who is determined to “have kids, keep traveling”, I was very excited by the sentiments and opinions expressed in the essays I have read. These kids (who are 13 – 18 years old) write about everything that I hope my children will learn and experience from traveling: how traveling to places near and far, with new friends or old, can help you learn more about yourself and the world in which we live.
Congratulations to all the kids who submitted essays. I’m looking forward to reading the 2008 submissions!!