Ebook: Frommer's Thailand with your Family (Frommers With Your Family Series)

Traveling with kids is not like traveling with normal human beings. Most guidebooks don't get this. Oh, they'll all include some "family friendly" ideas or attractions, but they seem to be written by people whose only exposure to kids has been from watching old episodes of the Brady Bunch: "Children will be charmed by the Louvre's extensive exhibition of paintings from the 16th century Flemish masters". Uh, right. Back here on planet earth, what MY little maniacs are interested in seeing is beaches, animals and ice cream - not necessarily in that order.

Which is why I liked "Thailand with your family". The author has children of his own, with whom he has actually traveled in Thailand, and is realistic about what you can and cannot do when vacationing as a family. In Bangkok, for example, he focuses on which wats are not only interesting for adults but are particularly kid-friendly (such as not being super-crowded, or also having cool stuff you can climb on). In Chiang Mai, he includes in his description of the city where to find the best public playground. In the resort areas, he highlights hotels with "kid clubs" and sometimes even resident elephants. For me, when I'm planning a trip with the whole crew, I appreciate these kinds of details.

There are a few minor issues with the book. It's pretty clearly a first edition, as I noticed a few typos and inconsistent spellings of place names. And it must have been written for the British market, because all prices are given in British pounds, and travel agencies or tour operators that are mentioned are all in the U.K. But as I said, these are minor quibbles.

All in all, I'm impressed with this book. I'd never come across them before, but it looks like Frommers has a whole series of "with your family" books. If this one is any indication, I'll be seeking out others for future trips.