Vacation Never Ends: Travel Chat

Camping with a Baby or Toddler - Advice from Moms

 The questions came up in the mother's group I belong to about what works when you are camping with toddlers and babies.  Here are some of the suggestions from other camping moms. 

• Bring a pack & play - this will fit in most large tents
• Bring lots of extra warm clothing for the little one, even bring extra fleeces.
• Have the little one sleep between you to keep them warm.  
• Bring along a warm stocking cap for the little one because they might be snuggly warm under the blankets, their heads are susceptible to the cold air.
• Wear the kids out in the sun and water and they will sleep great, even in a tent. 
• A pail and shovel will keep them entertained for hours, even when they are 3 & 5
• Bug-repellent clothes & hats are much easier than applying repellent
• Bring a good first aid kit with all you need for your little one 
• Bring some toys you don't mind losing or getting dirty
• Do not expect your little one to stay clean!!!

Happy Group Camping

Travel Tips on Flying with Kids from Other Moms

I'm belong to a network of mothers in my neighborhood.  We share ideas, ask questions, and give support.  Just recently another mother sent a message summarizing travel tips she had received from other mothers on flying with kids. 

Here are the ideas/tips that she posted:

• Pack lots of snacks for both plane and day to day travel
• Let toddler run through the airport before boarding plane to burn
  toddler fuel!
• Pack crayons and paper for coloring
• Portable DVD player for the plane ride
• Scotch Tape - YUP! Bring Scotch tape - sticky and interesting for
  plan ride
• Bring light and portable stroller
• Check car seat at gate along with stoller
• Bring little new toys (cheap) but ones that will go a long way
• Pack lite
• Utilize the city's resources for Mom's and Dad's (google search
  depending on city)

BRING YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!!!!!! 

Everyone is together! Hire a Photographer on your Group Trip

There is always the photo moment on the family trip. You know where you take advantage of having your family all in one place at the same time.  You have to get through all the combinations, Joe's family, Jill's Family, Grandparents with grandkids, cousins, etc.  Don't forget that you have to take one photo of each pose with everyone's camera.

And of course you have to the do the timed camera, tripod, group shot so you can get everyone together.  I have been talking to a number of photographers lately and I think it would be ideal to hire a professional photographer on your group trip to take advantage of having everyone together. 

We are doing a family reunion in June and it would be great to have someone take some photos for us.  In Travel Group Planner, I suggested this activity for our trip in the Things to Do section and started a conversation around it.   

We have all the great-grandkids with their great-grandmother.

Travel Night Light - Try it out next trip

My little one wakes up a disorientated when we travel.  We leave bathroom or closet lights on to help her figure out where she is.  After talking about it today I think we are going to start bringing along a travel night light.

I don't think the butterfiles will travel well but they are pretty.  I getting the flat one for my trips. 

 

A Dairy of Trips Told Through Toe Pictures

For my wedding I got a really great pedicure.  My toes looked so good my maid of honor told me to take a picture of my toes in the sand.  I had to oblige, but I didn't take just one picture.  I took pictures of my toes in the pool, at the pool bar, on my deck, on the plane, on the beach lounge, in the spa, etc. 

I went a little overboard with toe pictures on that trip but i started a fun tradition.  I now try to take pictures of my toes on all my trips.  It is a fun way to document my trips, hey it's better than collecting salt and pepper shakers.  Find a fun way to document your trips.

My toes on my honeymoon. 

Happy Trip Pictures!

Hotels and Young Kids - Travel Tips

I just spent a week in a hotel in Crested Butte with my two kids.  My daughter is almost 3 and my son just started crawling up a storm.  Spending a week with them in a small hotel room was a little trying at times. 

Here are my tips for staying in hotels with young kids.

1. Pool - My daughter is a fish so we always make sure the hotel has a pool and that the pool is open.  The pool was too cold to swim in for the first two days of our stay.  We needed a little bit of pool heat since it was October in the mountains.
2. Find the Playgrounds - Since the pool was not a good option we found the playgrounds close by and wore the 3 year old out.  Crested Butte has great playgrounds.  Nothing quite like swinging with nothing but blue ski and mountains. 
3. Never Before Seen Movies - We watched two new movies in the hotel at night.  It was fun to cuddle up  and watch a new movie.
4. Adjoining  rooms - We didn't  do this on this trip but on other trips having  two  adjoining rooms gives the kids more running room. 
5. Use the Chain - We set the chain/deadbolt on the door when we are in the room so we don't have to worry about the little one opening the door and taking off.

Beware of the Sand!@!!

So my husband is scared of the sharks in the warm gulf water on the west coast of Florida.  He is used to the cold Pacific where sharks are not as common. 

He loves to dig big holes in the sand.  So according to this he has more to worry about from his sand castles than sharks, who knew.  I guess we will have to way more careful when playing in the sand.

The Dangers of sand holes

Important Travel Tip

In June I posted a a couple of travel tips for traveling with young kids.  Apparently, I missed the most important one according to my husband.  Each time he reads my blog he reminds me I left out the 'key' tip for traveling with kids.

OK, so here it is.  Buy a couple of cheap new toys for the plane ride.  When your son or daughter starts to get antsy on the plane pull one of the new toys out for them to play with.  We do this with our daughter and it works great.  For one trip I bought some party favor necklaces, a ball that lights up, a small doodle pad, little cars, and a new book.  In all, it cost me about $6 for all the toys, money well spent.  She was entertained for all 5 hours on the plane both ways.

Sorry, I missed this one before.  I hope this post will make my husband  happy, :-)

Flying with Kids: Make a Plan

We just flew down to Florida with our two kids ages 2 years old and 2 months old.  The flight is over three hours long.  We bought three seats and had the youngest as a lap baby.  It always seems daunting flying with the kids and all the stuff that comes with them. 

The flight is not the tough part, the tough part is getting to the plane with kids and stuff.  We had 6 bags to carry on, a stroller and car seat to gate check, and a car seat for the two year old on the plane.  It had to be amusing to watch us loaded down like pack horses yelling after a two year old who gets into everything. 

We arrived safely, with all our stuff, and still in good humor.  The first two we have always been able to the do, it's the good humor part we had a hard time with.  The way we keep our sanity is by making a plan at home before we go to the airport.  Here are some of the things I recommend discussing if flying with your kids makes you cringe:

1. Go through the stuff you are bringing on the plane and make sure each item is necessary and has a purpose, if not check it.
2. Decide how you are going to carry all your stuff.  You can use a cart at the airport.  You can carry babies in carriers and slings and stuff bags in strollers (this is what we do).
3. Where are you going to park?  If you have to ride a shuttle they sometimes don't drop you off on the same level as the ticket counters and you have to get all your stuff and kids to a different floor.  Are you going to get a ride to the airport?
4. If your airline has curbside check-in  I recommend using that, get rid of the extra stuff right away.
5. Try not  to  get any food or drink until you have deposited your stuff at the gate.  Dealing with kids, stuff, and a hot coffee is more than I can handle but you may be super parent so go for it.
6. Getting through security is always a pain.  Remember you can't bring in juice, milk, applesauce, etc. so plan your kids snacks accordingly.  We bring string cheese maybe some gold fish.  I have a kids cup in the bag, but I make sure it is empty before we go through security.  Babies have to come out of carriers and strollers.  Strollers need to be folded up and passed through the x-ray machine.  Shoes need to come off.  Computers come out of bags and go through on their own.  Depending on what stuff you bring with you, decide who is going to do what, who is going to take the kids,  where will you  regroup. 
7. Talk about who is going to sit where.  We were told our daughter's car seat needs to go in the window seat. 
8. Figure out what bags are going to go under the seat and what will go over head.  Do you need to get anything out of the bags before you put them away? 
9. Count the bags you are carrying on and when moving from location to location make sure you have the right number of bags.
10. The last thing to do is the most important, smile and kiss your family a lot! This helps me keep it all in perspective after all I'm going on vacation with my wonderful family.

Happy Flying!

Travel Tip: Flying with kids and car seats

I remember the first time we flew with my daughter.  She was 4 months old and we were going to be on a plane for over 4 hours.  We weren't sure what to bring or how she was going to handle flying.  We didn't even really think about the car seat and what to do with it until a couple of days before we left.   Here are some of the things I have learned about car seats and traveling. 

• Lap Baby:  If your child is under 2 you generally don't have to buy a seat for them, hence the term lap baby.  If you choose not to buy a seat for your infant, you can still bring your car seat along just in case there is a seat open next to you.  The day you check in ask the gate agent if there is an open seat for the baby.  Gate agents can put a hold on the middle seat next to you when the seat is available.  If the counter agent isn't able to help you, don't be afraid to ask the agent at the gate as well. 
• Gate Checking:  Gate checking is where you bring the seat with you right up until you get on the plane.  You leave the seat just outside the door to the plane. When you get off the plane at your destination the seat will be just outside the plane waiting for you.  You can gate check your car seat vs. checking it at the counter.  Gate checking the car seat helps reduce the chance of the seat being damaged.    You can gate check your stroller too. 
• Reserving your Seats:  If you are going to have a lap baby and there are two adults traveling with the baby then reserve the aisle and window when purchasing your tickets.  I also choose a row towards the back of the plane.  This will help increase the chance of having the middle seat available.  No one wants a middle seat in the back of the plane.   
• Purchased Seat for Kid/Baby:  If you have purchased a seat for your child bring your car seat with you.  Your car seat has to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and show a red label stating: "This restraint device is approved for motor vehicle and aircraft use." The approved seat should be no wider than 16 inches to fit in most coach seats.
• Renting a car seat:  Of course, if you don't want to lug around a car seat in the airport along with the 20 million other things you need for your kids you can rent a car seat at your destination.  Most car rental companies have car seats available for rental.  Avis describes their car seat policy thoroughly on their web site.  Budget has a set of FAQs around their car seat policy.  You have to dig around a bit but you can find locations where Hertz has car seats available to rent. 

Note:  Be sure to check with your airline and/or car rental company about their car seat policies.