I was recently tagged to answer this question by the globe-trotting SoulTravelers3, in a blog post about her family’s travel secrets.

The whole meme was started by Tribase in this post - I’m supposed to tag three more bloggers but sorry, don’t quite have the bandwidth these days to figure out who hasn’t already participated.   Still, I’m happy to play here….

You know how tough it is to pick just three? Sigh.

And of course I feel compelled to cover the planet….here goes my best shot:

In the United States

My choice is Memphis, Tennessee.

Go here for coupons/discounts from the city’s CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) because remember, a CVB’s whole job is to ensure a happy visit.

Memphis is big enough to have a variety of things to do, but not so sprawly as to wear everyone out.  Amenities and lodging are reasonably priced, and so is good food.  Summer is hot and muggy, but there’s always the Memphis in May festival.

We’re big music fans in my family, and the Birthplace of the Blues offers many ways for even young children to learn more about this country’s musical history and offerings.   For starters, the popular Beale Street historic district is actually pretty open to kids (I call it a civilized Bourbon Street) and when we visited, the guys at the door at several venues let the whole family in to listen to live music as long as it was fairly early in the evening.  There’s also the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Sun Studio (where Elvis and many others were launched) and the Center for Southern Folklore.

Before we arrived I showed my preteen an Elvis documentary (to try to explain the hype) then took her through his home at Graceland.  Believe it or not, she’s now an Elvis fan and the envy of her friends because she’s been to Graceland. Boring and weird Mom wins again!

Take the kids to see the formerly segregated Lorraine Motel (an important US civil rights landmark) where Dr. King was killed – it’s now part of the acclaimed National Civil Rights Museum.

Other kid-friendly places include Mississippi River attractions like the Mud Island River Park (including the Mississippi River Museum and a scaled down version of the river that begs for barefoot splashing) plus the Memphis Zoo, a children’s museum and in season, Redbirds minor league baseball at the downtown AutoZone Park.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn at Peabody Place, which was perfectly located downtown and was also attached to a small mall that occupied certain wiggly toddlers when needed.

In Europe

In a previous blog post here (titled Wonderfully off the tourist beaten path: Wadden Sea / Waddenzee Islands with kids)  I’ve written about the tongue-twisting but lovely Dutch islands of Texel and Terschelling.

They are only a short drive and ferry ride away from Amsterdam, but they’re very laid back, very Dutch and very nice for a beachy getaway.  Settle in, get some bikes for everyone (of course – it’s the Netherlands) and relax.

Here is the related Dutch tourism Web site about the islands - check it out.

If you can figure out how to pronounce the island of Schiermonnikoog, more power to you.

In Asia

I love the buzzy energy of Tokyo, and it’s a perfect destination with preteens and teens, but a bit too mind-blowing for little ones.  The crowds that older children find exciting are simply overwhelming when you’re two feet tall.

That’s why I like Yokohama, the seaside city south of Tokyo.

Make no mistake; it is Japan, so it is crowded, but somehow the location near the sea makes it feel more open.  There’s a big mall/hotel highrise called Landmark Tower (with a Pokemon Store – yay!) and it’s surrounded by an amusement park and wide pedestrian seawall.

This Frugal Traveler article in the New York Times about exploring Tokyo through its ramen shops mentions the terrific Ramen Museum in Yokohama, where you can get lots of different kinds of ramen to eat and walk through a sort of living history museum.  Super for families!

Here’s one of my very early posts on this blog: Kids in Tokyo – Escape to Yokohama.

There are my three family travel secret places; please share yours down in the comments!

“I came across your bio randomly as I was trying to plan a trip to the Netherlands at the end of August. I have three kids–16,12, and 8.

What kind of suggestions can you offer me for my travel plans? Any must-see places, any off the beaten path surprises–the kids have gotten rather fond of my penchant for doing that kind of stuff. Thanks for whatever help you can offer.”

Once I responded, I thought that I might as well put the same information here that I gave to him:

I haven’t been to the Netherlands in a few years, but we lived in the southern part of the country, down near Maastricht, which is easy to get to by train or car.  Ryanair flies into Eindhoven, too. This Zuid-Limburg “Dutch Alps” area is very pretty (its caves are cool – Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” was hidden in local caves during World War II) and the pace is slower, so it’s great for families.

Look for the VVV (Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer, the Dutch tourism agency) signs in each town or city – they usually have English-speaking tourism experts and printed guides in English. You’ll pay a few euros for printed information; they aren’t as big on freebie handouts as American tourism offices.  Some would say that’s just the thrifty ways of the Dutch.

Ride bikes whenever you can, even if it’s just hotel-provided clunkers around town – it adds a whole new dimension to your travels to get around as the Dutch do.  I often tell people about seeing a young couple on bikes in Amsterdam, holding hands and talking on cell phones at the same time….yes, no one was touching any handlebars!  Not recommended for your children to try, of course.

Our favorite guidebook was Here’s Holland by Sheila Gazaleh-Weevers . Its level of detail makes it well worth trying to find a copy.

Amsterdam – love it – there’s the BootsnAll Amsterdam Logue, plus an older post of mine, Travel with kids to Amsterdam.

Waddenzee Islands are great for families – we visited Texel and Terschelling for some serene beach time, wide open spaces and seafaring heritage.

The maritime city of Rotterdam has fab architecture that’s good eye candy for kids. Go to the Kubuswoning or Cube Houses and take the more-interesting-than-you’d-think cruise tour of the giant harbor and port facilities.  Consider going in September for the very family-friendly Wereldhavendagen or World Port Days maritime festival; my kids had a blast seeing all the waterborne demonstrations and fireworks.

For local perspective, say hello to Guido at his blog Happy Hotelier: he runs the Haagsche Suites hotel in Den Haag or the Hague – don’t miss the Corrie Ten Boom house, for her inspirational story of Holocaust bravery. There’s also Daily Photo from the Netherlands blog and the expat-written, usually irreverent Curious Orange.

You can even hang out on the Hyves.nl Dutch-based social network.

Lots of good news, blogs and sites all on one page at the Netherlands Alltop Page.

I’d return to the Netherlands in a second!

Today (April 30) is Queen’s Day.

This photo was taken of a local village parade that passed in front of our house in Schinveld, the Netherlands, to celebrate Queen’s Day (or Koninginnedag.)

It’s sort of the Dutch version of the US 4th of July, and celebrates the birthday of the Queen.

It also provides an excellent excuse to wear orange clothes, wave orange balloons and haul out the orange body paint.

The adult partying is another matter, but children certainly enjoy the holiday as well.

The funky slanted yellow things behind my daughter and I are the Kubuswoningen or Cube Houses in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

You can tour the interior of one of them to see how clever design and architecture creates interesting places to live.

I like to show my children interesting buildings; I don’t have a background in design or architecture but I really like to see imaginative structures, and my kids like the eye candy, too.

Rotterdam is full of “look! cool!” futuristic sights, many of them clustered on the Maas River that runs through the middle of the city.

We visited during the annual maritime festival World Port Days in September, so there were continuous daytime demonstrations on the water for us to watch plus music-themed fireworks at night.

One of our favorite activities was looking around inside the cheery yellow Kubuswoningen (Cube Houses) that you see in the photo above; their unique cantilevered design was just plain fun for the kids to look at and walk through. The “Show House” Cube House is open 11:00-5:00 daily — for a nominal charge, visitors can see the imaginative built-ins, great views and thoughtful layout inside a typical house.

To orient ourselves, we took a 75-minute narrated harbor cruise with the Spido tourboat company.

The tour showed us all the waterfront sights, including the famous Erasmus Bridge and glimpses into the seaport industrial area (complete with an entire huge tank full of orange juice awaiting shipping. The kids were in awe of that much OJ.)

For lodging, it’s hard to beat the waterfront location and reasonable prices at the Tulip Inn Rotterdam. Ask for a riverside room to look right out onto the spiky Erasmus Bridge.

Consider picking up a tourist Rotterdam Welcome Card for discounts on many popular attractions.

We didn’t get around to these but want to try them on our next visit:

• A cruise around Rotterdam while munching on traditional Dutch pancakes; set sail on De Pannenkoekenboot (the Pancake Boat.)
• Go to the top of Euromast for awesome views of the city.
• From modern architecture to rows of historic Dutch windmills along a canal — take a boat trip to see Kinderdijk.
• For older kids who are jazz fans, check out the North Sea Jazz Festival every summer.

Related Family Travel posts:

• Travel with kids to Amsterdam
• Wonderfully off the tourist beaten path: Wadden Sea/Waddenzee islands with kids

We had a chance to visit two of the laid-back Frisian islands in the North Sea/Wadden Sea (mostly in the Friesland province) Texel and Terschelling.

Friesland is one of the many provinces that make up the Netherlands; the oft-used term Holland really only applies to two of these provinces. If you are looking for a fun Dutch place to visit (complete with wide, sandy beaches, miles of flat bike paths and farmland full of fluffy sheep) this is your spot.

The better-known Scheveningen area near Den Haag (The Hague) is more boardwalk-y, and that’s fine if you’re pressed for time and just want to hit some beach quickly.

As always, the local VVV (“Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer,” the Dutch tourist bureau) on either island can help you with hotel and activity arrangements.

Texel Island (pronounced Tessel) is part of Noord-Holland and is the easiest island to reach from Amsterdam.

We found lots of things to do (I was there with my preteen daughter plus two of her friends) including bike rides on the pretty “fietspads” or bike paths, kite-flying on the breezy beaches, seeing the EcoMare nature center and the Maritime & Beachcombers Museum, go-karting and a fun ride on a shrimp boat to see seals and watch the local fishermen in action.

In honor of the island’s wool industry we bought some nice warm lambswool slippers and gentle sheep’s milk soap.

I visited Terschelling (pronounced Terskelling, and here’s another info site) with my three year-old son.

The island is reached by ferry from the coastal town of Harlingen. It’s smaller and quieter than Texel, but we had absolutely no agenda other than digging in the sand and riding bikes….well, I rode and he sat in the bike kiddie seat behind me, waving at people.

The Dutch, as you might imagine, provide you with rock-solid two-wheeled transport complete with full fenders, bell, light, basket, chain guard and sturdy child seats that bolt onto the back of the bike frame.

I wasn’t able to try the unique experience of wadlopen or mud-walking on my trips, but it’s on the agenda for the future.

As you can see from my links, there is plenty of information in English about the Netherlands. The Dutch seem to have a facility for speaking multiple languages; I attribute that to their seafaring and merchant heritage (think of the Dutch East India Company.)

A Dutch friend also laughingly commented that “we have to learn English and other languages because no one else speaks Dutch!”

This makes travel with kids in the Netherlands pretty idiot-proof and less of a stressor for parents than other places where communication is more difficult. Have a great time!