The Playground Test (How We Decide What to Do When We Travel)

We don’t travel to “see everything.”

We travel to be somewhere.

And the fastest way to get to the heart of a place — the actual real-life beating heart — is the local playground.

Not the big, famous, custom-designed ones that show up on Pinterest travel boards.

The small ones.
The neighborhood ones.
The “if you weren’t walking slowly, you’d miss it” ones.

The ones with:

• Kids sharing chalk on the sidewalk

• A single swing squeaking in the corner

• The slightly faded slide

• The bench where moms sit with iced coffees and knowing eyes

That is where my daughter learns a new city.

Not by looking at it…
but by playing in it.

She climbs, she runs, she shouts hello, she observes, she joins in.
And I get to see how kids are kids everywhere — in every language, in every place, in every rhythm.

Sometimes I play with her.
Sometimes I sit and sip and breathe.
Sometimes I watch her become the boldest version of herself.

Travel isn’t about collecting photos.
It’s about collecting moments she grows.

And for us —
that happens between the slide and the sandbox.

The magic isn’t always at the landmark.
Sometimes it’s at the playground around the corner.