The stated purpose of Travel with Kids: London is to prove that people can take trips with children, even to large cities such as London, and enjoy themselves. It goes a long way toward achieving that aim. While it is dressed up with a lot of additional material, this is essentially an informational video diary of a trip, with anecdotes and tips thrown in. The program follows the actual trip of this family through London. Also included are short snatches of the history of the area, with a stately Brit narrating. These break up the travelogue aspect, and add quite a bit of interest.

The young family visits, and allows the viewer to accompany them to, Buckingham Palace (during the changing of the guard), the British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and more. Informational trivia and prices are shown regularly in small pop ups to the side of the screen. Carrie and Jeremy also go out of their way to point out ways to make visiting these sites amenable to those with children, including when to bring strollers, when and where to take breaks, and what sites might be simply too expensive to be worth it. The couple makes recommendations on hotels, cabs, buses and other amenities as well.

While the program provides a lot of useful information, much of it pertinent even to the childless planning a trip to London, it still manages to be entertaining along the way. Carrie and Jeremy are charming, and the two boys, Nathan and Seamus are cute and appealing without being annoying, an effect doubtless achieved with incisive editing. Nevertheless, the family is quite engaging and manages to make what might be a mind numbing recitation of tips and locations into a somewhat silly, fun yet informative show.

Travel with Kids: London is, as is obvious, a tightly targeted DVD release. If one is not planning to visit London, and with children, there is probably no need to pick up this disc. However, for anyone who does so plan, whether or not they are planning on bringing kids, ought to go and pick this one up. The wealth of information, prices and firsthand experience will make that trip to the United Kingdom much easier.

The DVD

Video:
The video is presented in widescreen, and is surprisingly bright and clear for hand held DV. The image is never murky or obscured. Clearly, this is video shot mainly by a young family on a holiday, so it is far from smooth or ultra-professional. However, the video is of high enough quality that it never annoys or detracts from the experience.

Sound:
The sound is 2 channel Dolby digital. It is nothing special, but does the job. For the most part, the dialogue is clearly audible, though there are times, to be expected in this kind of production, in which speech is a bit muffled. On these occasions, and a few times when the two young boys are being particularly mush mouthed, subtitles are provided. Other than this, no subtitles are available.

Extras:
There are a significant amount of extras included on the disc, though most of them are merely text. These include sections on planning your trip, activities for kids and teens, recommendations for which airports and hotels to use and more. There are also sections on packing and travel products. There are also lists of books, movies, music and websites that potential travelers can view to familiarize themselves with their London and its culture. There is also a section entitled London at Home which includes traditional British recipes, crafts projects and a short dictionary of British English colloquialisms. A short blooper reel is also included. While some parts of the extra material are more superfluous than others, there is a wealth of resources for those planning a trip to the British Isles.

Final Thoughts:
Though Travel with Kids: London is a tightly targeted video, it is certainly no torture to sit through, and provides significant amounts of information and helpful advice for those planning a trip to London with their children. If one is considering such a trip, they would be well advised to purchase a copy of this helpful video first.