This July, our family spent a few weeks on-board an expedition ship called the Ocean Endeavour, on an Adventure Canada trip that travelled from Iceland to the western shore of Greenland. In the company of 140 other travellers, we had meals and slept aboard the ship, and spent most days ashore for hiking or wild hot springs or checking out archeological sites, which we reached via rubber inflatable zodiac boats. It was literally epic.

On a trip like this, there weren’t many stores along the way, and limited wifi or mobile data. Travellers of all ages really had to depend on what we’d packed to get us through, and in very real moment of solo travel with kids I’d accidentally left Jasper’s suitcase at home! Despite that mishap, I realized with relief that a few items we had brought along for the trip just kept coming through for us. Whether your summer travel plans include an arctic expedition or even a road trip a little closer to home, consider packing along some of these simple surprises for your next family adventure.  

A slingshot

Good old-fashioned fun in the form of a simple wooden tool that doesn’t cause a fuss when you’re checking in at the airport? Yes please. Makes a kid into an active participant on any landscape, and offers something to do even when there’s “nothing to do.” Jasper received this one for his 5th birthday and it’s been in heavy use ever since. 

A rocks, gems & minerals guide

One of the greatest gifts of travel is seeing the world through new eyes, and after visiting Iceland and Greenland, that means a new affection for the ancient rocks that inhabit this planet. We were lucky to be travelling with real life geologists, who enthusiastically answered questions, pointed out interesting sights and got real excited about cool rocks all along the way, but at least once even the geologists needed to flip through the guidebook. 

A flower press

On our trip, there were very strict rules about “taking only pictures,” and in the fragile landscape of south Greenland, a few visits from a few hundred folks picking flowers could really do some damage. But we were all really excited about the botany we were seeing, smelling and touching at peak wildflower season — poppies, harebell, Greenland’s national flower niviarsiaq, and wild arctic thyme. If you’re traveling in a less fragile landscape, I think a flower press would be a small and simple project to work at along the way, without adding too much bulk to the backpack. 

Local stories

I read a kid-friendly version of Eric the Red’s saga (okay, so as kid-friendly as bloodthirsty Viking stories can get) to Jasper while we rested on some rocks at Eric the Red’s farm at Brattahlíð. We also visited a puffin sanctuary in the Westmann Isles, the setting for one of our kids’ most beloved picture books, A Puffin Called Fido. Drawing connections like this between literature and real life people, places and creatures, is a really wonderful way to engage with travel as a family. Even if you can’t find exact locations, broad landscapes that set the background for a beloved book can really add dimensionality both to the story and the new vistas. Thanks to our friend and fellow traveller Rachel Barreca for sharing her photo of Brattahlíð. 

A travel journal/sketchbook

Each of the kids had a fresh book to sketch, color, or journal in during our trip. One morning as we traveled through the majestic fjords of Prince Christiansund, Jasper spent a long time working on an illustration of a sailboat. As he was finishing, I looked up to see a real-life sailboat in the distance, after days without seeing any sign of other humans. It seemed impossible, tiny among the mountains and glaciers, like he’d conjured it right off the page. Sage was quite diligent about spending the last portion of our time ashore each day making art before getting back into a zodiac for the boat ride back to the ship. It was a great practice for me too, and I started bringing my journal along too, and came to really appreciate the creative limitations that our one shared pencil case brought. I bought each of the kids a small main-lesson book with onion skin to protect each page, which worked great for the art we were doing and light enough to carry in the daypack. 

Pin this post to your “family vacay” Pinterest board! 

Read more details about our “In the Wake of the Vikings” trip here.