Take the Kids Along

Touring Europe with youngsters can be very much like running a herd of piglets through a china shop: catastrophe may lurk on every side, and there always seems to be an enormous bill waiting at the end. But it need not be that way, according to Leila Hadley, whose Fielding's Guide to Traveling with Children in Europe* has just begun to appear in bookstores. "Traveling with children," says Author Hadley, "can be as easy and inexpensive--and far more rewarding--than traveling without them." And, she adds, "It is certainly infinitely preferable to not traveling at all."

To help make the trip even more rewarding, Mrs. Hadley has updated and supplemented the original version of her guide, published in 1963. Among the new findings, for example, are department stores in Switzerland that offer nurseries where a mother can leave the children while she shops. A typical Hadley tidbit: "Your 5-10s might prefer the whoop-de-doo Jelmoli's [in Zurich]," which offers a snack, a run in a model train, a marionette show, a carrousel ride. She has also discovered that there are several new French hotels where children can be left on their own. These hotels are "dedicated to reliable loving care for a day, night, week or longer." One is the Botel near Paris, "which looks like a dollhouse chateau" and has playground equipment, a pony stable, a nurse and young governesses.

Still more valuable to parents, however, is the staple information on how to find baby food, baby sitters, juvenile friends and pen pals, or how to turn out pediatricians at unlikely hours of the night: "If your three-year-old munches Daddy's deodorant stick, the Anti-Poison Center of Brussels will find the antidote and give you advice before the doctor comes." There are practical warnings against Spain's paper diapers (they disintegrate) and Scotland's tasteless attempts at American food. There is even advice on the inevitable problem of finding a bathroom for a child caught short. "With the exception of the British Isles and The Netherlands," reports Author Hadley, "it's the field, the bush, the woods. No one seems to get very uptight."

The author's material is drawn largely from her own travel observations, which began in 1949 when she and her first child (a son, then aged four) set off for Europe. Since then, she and her son, plus three children born later, have visited 37 countries, 18 of them in Europe. Along the way she did encounter a few perils, however, which she reveals in the new guide. One was in Amsterdam, where "ladies of the night are illuminated in red neon in ground-floor showcases in many narrow streets. I don't quite know how you explain this to children." She suggests, hopefully, that the children may not notice, then adds, "If they do, I hope this will serve as a cautionary note to preserve your cool."

*Fielding Publications, in association with William Morrow & Co. Inc.; $7.95.

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