TAG | General Travel With Kids
Where is your favorite resort? Ask my kids this question and they will rave about the Britt Resort. With its private pool, pond, lush grounds, nearby park (complete with carousel), children’s program and gracious hosts – they make it sound beyond compare. My kids have stayed at five star resorts and hotels around the world and yet the Britt Resort is hands down their all-time favorite vacation destination.
Just where is this spectacular place? It is actually my Aunt & Uncle’s house nestled in the heart of Chesterfield, Missouri. Not necessarily the hot spot for tourist travel but my kids love it just the same. And what is not to love? A trip to the Britt Resort is all about the kids. We swim, visit the park, play games, do crafts, bake cookies and eat all their favorite foods. While it is a fun and relaxing for all, it isn’t the only destination we want to visit on vacation. It does, however, highlight the value of having a portion of each vacation day focused on the kids.
Unless you are headed to Disney (or have a Britt Resort of your own), it is unlikely you will find a completely kid-centric vacation destination. So how do you mix in some fun for the kids with the things you actually want to do? Take some good planning, flexibility and a sense of humor and you have the ingredients for a great family vacation.
Good Planning: Before the trip, decide on the non-negotiable must-see sites and plan on visiting these early in the trip but limit it to only one or two a day. Find a few kid things to do (like the zoo, aquarium or park) and mix these throughout the trip – including one within the first few days. Do something fun and unexpected everyday. Head to the hotel early for swimming, stop at a playground, visit a book store or grab an ice cream cone. These small things are often the best vacation memories that come home with your child.
Flexibility: Change the itinerary as necessary. Did you plan for 2 stops but you aren’t done with the first by mid afternoon? Roll the second activity to later in the trip. Or, if things are going well, add an additional activity for a day.
Sense of Humor: Simply stated – this is a must for any vacation with kids! Things can (and most certainly will) go wrong – the ability to laugh along the way will go far towards making it a fun vacation.
While a vacation shouldn’t be ALL about the kids, it is important to remember it is a family vacation and they should have fun too! What steps do you take to create a fun, family vacation?
family vacations · General Travel With Kids · traveling with kids
We just got back from a 15 hour (each way) road trip along I-70 from Denver to St Louis. Like most people, I am guilty of focusing exclusively on getting to my final destination and forgetting that the journey is not just something to be endured, but can – and should – be fun as well. The reality is that, fun or no fun, I am unwilling to extend my drive time by much more than the required pit stops and most road trip tips require loads of time re-routing to scenic spots or various destinations. Here are some suggestions for adding variety to the trip that “cost” 45 minutes or less.
Add a safari tour. Travel far on any major highway and you will see billboards advertising a wilderness or safari drive. Ranging in price from $5 – $15 per car, they offer the glimpse of wild or exotic animals. While the “wild and exotic” may be nothing more then some deer or buffalo (and maybe a zebra if you are lucky) the excitement of searching for the animals as you drive through the park certainly breaks up the monotony of a long car ride.
Stop at a wacky or unusual attraction (largest ball of twine anyone?). The popular site RoadsideAmerica has a comprehensive list of offbeat tourist attractions so you can easily find one along your route. They even offer an iPhone app updated with the latest in wacky sites.
Follow a billboard. Our family favorite is the “See Rock City” signs that dot the midwestern landscape. The attractions they advertise are generally inexpensive, near the highway and – who knows – they just may end up being the stuff of family lore for years to come.
Take advantage of rest stops along the way. Many states pride themselves in having clean, park-like settings as their rest areas. Bring along some cones, balls, jump ropes or even a pocket kite and spend 30 minutes having a snack and playing in a rest area.
Stop at the ubiquitous Cracker Barrel restaurants. With over 590 locations you are bound to find at least one along your route. Why Cracker Barrel? They have a well-rounded menu and a large country store filled with things for kids to explore (and plenty of toys out to play with). Even if you don’t buy anything, it is nice to have a place to walk around and stretch your legs a bit. Plus, they are used to travelers coming through and serve up a quick meal.
Some of the best (and worst) vacation memories are made in the car so add some spark to your next road trip and you just might find that getting there is more than half the fun!
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Packing Paper – Must Haves for International Travel
1 Comment · Posted by jennifer in Checklists/downloads, Flying with Kids, General Travel With Kids
As I begin the packing process for our summer European adventure, one of my first tasks is to create my paper essentials list. Instead of scribbling on a piece of paper that I was sure to lose, I decided to create a master list that I could reuse and share with you. Keep reading for the list. I have also included it in checklist form for easy downloading and printing here: International Packing List
- At least $100 in local currency. My husband used to swear this wasn’t necessary until we were stuck in Newark with no US dollars to use for an airport cart. A painful lesson to learn when traveling with lots of luggage and little kids!
- Passports. Be sure to check expiration dates well in advance. It pays to check the destination country regulations as some require the passport to be valid for one month or more after the trip dates.
- At least 1 copy of every passport packed separately from other travel documents. We include copies in a checked bag and then put them in the hotel safe when we arrive.
- Health insurance cards. Verify that your health insurance is valid in your destination country and be sure to carry the cards – just in case.
- Hard copy of important phone numbers (doctors, relatives, etc). Everyone has this information in cell phones these days but what if you lose your phone, forget the charger or it stops working?
- Shot records (required for some countries). Some countries require proof of immunization before entering the country.
- Notarized health authorization (if traveling with grandchildren). This doesn’t need to be complex – just a statement naming the adults traveling with your children and giving them authorization to approve health care in an emergency (just like most schools require).
- Notarized travel permission or custody papers if both parents are not traveling. It is common for passport control to request this information if a parent is traveling alone with a child.
- Hard copy of itinerary and lodging phone numbers. Better to be safe than sorry!
- Leave behind – copy of itinerary and contact numbers with neighbor or relative. See our free download here: Travel Plans
What additional items do you like to carry?
Experiencing new things is the highlight of most foreign vacations – unless you have kids. Kids thrive on routines and disruptions in bedtimes, naps or meals can lead to chaos. With my picky eaters, it is meal time that presents the biggest challenge when we are visiting a new country. I know the adage that they will eat when hungry but the hours of whining and tears that precede that moment are best endured at home, not while on vacation.
Kids in the US are spoiled by the ubiquitous kid’s menu with its staple list of chicken nuggets, grilled cheese and hamburgers. The kid’s menus abroad, if they exist, tend to feature favorites from the local cuisine. It is more common for kids to be served smaller portions off the standard menu. Tourist restaurants may offer you an “American kid’s menu” but that is, experience has shown, best avoided. The familiar staples – marginal at best in the US – are not edible elsewhere. Plus, part of the trip is about trying new things.
I sometimes feel like I am balancing on a tightrope between avoiding a food meltdown and pushing the kids to try new things. As we prepare for our trip to Prague, London and Dublin; I have picked up the balancing bar and started the walk. Every country has its stereotype food (think rice in China or pasta in Italy) and we exploit that to no end. We talk about what will be on the menu, find local restaurants featuring that cuisine and make some at home. The goal is to make a new menu not quite so foreign. Frankly, it helps the rest of us as well! We learn a little about the country’s standard dishes and, more importantly, what to avoid.
The next step is to start enforcing the family rule of trying two bites of every new food. Day to day cooking is not my favorite and I fall into the routine of serving food the kids will eat without much argument (not to mention that by dinner time, the last thing I want is an argument about the food!). In the weeks preceding a trip, I start mixing things up by adding a new or different side dish (a green vegetable, for example). By the time we go on the trip, the kids are used to something new on the plate and will sometimes even taste it.
When all else fails, we always have our jar of peanut butter and crackers in the suitcase.
happy travels!
Weather have you trapped inside? Try these fun things to keep kids entertained.
Color Experiments
Supplies: Food coloring, plastic bowls, water
Play with color – have the kids experiment and create the secondary and tertiary colors using drops of food coloring. Add some Cool Whip for even more color fun!
The Quiet Game
Supplies: Watch with a second hand
Ever hear yourself say, “Can you stop talking for one minute?” Make it into a game. Tell everyone to count, in their heads, to sixty and yell out their name when they think a minute has past. Meanwhile, a timekeeper monitors the clock and makes note of who yells their name closest to the actual minute. This works best if small prizes are awarded to the winner each round.
The Animal Alphabet Game
This game works for kids of ages but younger ones might need a little assistance with the letters. Begin the game with the letter A. The first person thinks of an animal – “ant” for example. The next player must think of an animal that begins with the last letter of the previous answer (“T”) in the example. No repeating animals or taking too long, of course. There are lots of variations but a favorite for traveling is to use names of places and use the road signs along the way to offer prompts.
Create a Taste Test
Supplies: 5-10 different foods or spices, blindfolds, paper, pencils
A popular baby shower game, this can be fun for the entire family! One person secretly prepares the foods/spices on plates. Everyone else dons blindfolds and quietly tries to guess the foods and writes down their guesses on the paper provided. The writing doesn’t need to be neat, as long as you can read it.
Make it Snow
Supplies: Flour, shifter, jelly roll pan or craft try, small animals or legos.
This is a huge hit with toddlers but can be messy so supervision is a must. Have the child create a city (or jungle) using small plastic animals or buildings. Fill the sifter with flour and let them make it snow on the town. Let them play in the “snow” and repeat as often as necessary.
Play with Tissues
Supplies: One box of tissues per child
My husband hates this game and I only use it as a last resort but it works like a charm every time. Give the kids a box of tissues and let them pull them out one by one. Yes it is wasteful but sometimes a mom has to do what a mom has to do.
That’s enough of my ideas for now. What are some of your favorite rainy day or travel games?
