If you aren't taking your inner child on holiday, you're missing out

The Age

25-06-2025

Parents who travel with their children say how wonderful it is to view the world through their eyes. They say they love building memories for them of the exciting places and people they experience.
But we all have a child lurking inside of us, according to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. It may only be a metaphor for the childlike aspects of our personality and emotional state, but ignore it at your peril, or your inner child will scream for four hours straight on the long-haul flight and throw a tantrum if you don't take it to Disneyland.
We need to give these little brats – sorry, adorable youngsters – a good time because otherwise travelling can just be too grown-up for words. That means giving ourselves permission to spend half a day in an amusement park – the Tivoli in Copenhagen, or the Prater in Vienna – and to do silly things, like hire a pedal-boat on Lake Geneva, or stop for an ice-cream whenever you feel like it.
In Bordeaux, the Miroir d'Eau, or Water Mirror, is a thing of beauty – but it is also a thing of fun. An adult would stand there and aim for a symmetrical photograph in which the pool of shallow water reflects the shimmering magnificence of the Place de la Bourse and surrounding monuments. They would tell you the reservoir of water beneath it contains 800 cubic metres of water, that it operates ecologically as a closed circuit, and that it was designed by Michel Corajoud in 2006. A child would just run into it, laughing, delighted by the finale of thick clouds of fog.
Inner children don't know there are any rules to break, which gives them a great advantage over adults. My partner is keener on luxury spas than she is on visiting aquariums and zoos, so I head off to spend a couple of hours with manta ray sharks or wander through butterfly enclosures on my own. Except I'm not on my own, because mini-me is always with big-me, having a grand old time.
I still laugh out loud every time I think of the polar bear in New York's Central Park Zoo. As he did his daily laps in the pool, he'd press his giant white furry bottom against the viewing glass, right in front of my face, before pushing off to the other end. Biggest bum I have ever seen. Imagine if he'd farted! (Kids love farting.)
Feeding your inner child is even more amusing. It's incredible the rubbish they are prepared to eat, at any hour of the day. Chocolate is especially good – for breakfast. In Naples, it's worth seeking out the best pizzeria for a margherita (Pizzeria Da Attilio), to feel that little face light up; and in Singapore, follow the crowds to the best ice kachang stall (Annie's, at Tanjong Pagar hawker centre), for a frozen treat that's like a kid's birthday party on ice.