Trekaroo: Cambodia with Kids? Oh Yes!

May 2012

While looking for family-friendly accommodation in Siem Reap, we found Journeys Within Boutique Hotel, one of the few properties that explicitly described themselves as having family-friendly accommodations.

We were delighted to discover that not only did they have a family-friendly hotel, owners Andrea and Brandon Ross live in Siem Reap with their young kids and run a tour company. Journeys Within plans custom tours for families looking to discover Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Right from the get go, Andrea was a wealth of suggestions for kid-friendly things to do around Siem Reap. It’s no wonder that she knew exactly what we would find interesting. Being Americans themselves they totally understood what would be intriguing and what would be challenging for a family coming from the west. At the same time having lived in Cambodia for the past 8 years with their young kids, they really had the inside scoop on what’s kid-friendly. After just a few email exchanges, we had a wonderful itinerary planned, packed with lots adventures beyond the temples. I would probably not have considered many of the adventures for lack of information about whether they were kid-friendly or not.

I couldn’t have possibly anticipated how much it would reduce my stress as the default trip planner in our family to have Journeys Within take care of all the logistics. I think it was worth every extra penny we paid even before we stepped foot on the plane. We started each day being greeted by our smiling driver and English speaking guide, Santu, ready to show us their wonderful country. Andrea had handpicked our guide because other families had reported back that he was great with kids and indeed he was. Our usually shy boys quickly warmed up to him and loved listening to the stories he told. Since we were the only ones in our tour group (yes, it is a fully customized tour), it never mattered whether we were late to start the day. Instead of spending 45 minutes each morning figuring out the logistics of moving our family of 5 around for the day and arguing about the itinerary, we were able to focus on getting our kids ready for the day’s adventures and immersing ourselves in the experiences of the day. I never realized how distracted I often am during our trips because, I’m multitasking between attending to the needs of children and thinking about where we’re heading to next.

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