Last summer I mentioned I took my two kids cross-country to Disneyland.  After Disney, we rented a car and drove to SeaWorld.  We flew back out of San Diego.  So at the San Diego airport, I had to return a rental car, get two children (my daughter was an infant at the time) and luggage to the terminal, and get checked in with a double stroller and car seat.  I had no idea how I would physically do it.

Well, sometimes when you look like you can handle it all and look composed people do not help.  It’s true.  It’s not all that great to look put together.  That’s my theory because I definitely got more help this time with my pleading eyes than past trips.  In fact, people were actually happy to help.

Here are some things that helped me:

- Ask for help!  Really.  Ever have a demanding friend get more assistance in a department store than you get by being nice?  That’s because she is asking for help.  People really want to feel useful and they are there to help you.

- Plan to tip.  Have some extra cash with you and have it in your mind to tip.  Even if they don’t expect it, it is a nice gesture for someone who goes the extra mile for you and makes you feel less like you’ve taken advantage of someone.

- Take your time.  At each encounter – turning in your car, checking in, don’t rush yourself.  Make sure you have all the information you need and that your next mission is well laid out (get to the gate).

- Laugh.  Say something like, “I don’t know how I am going to juggle all of this”.  They may come up with a suggestion you haven’t thought of.  The check-in agent for example, gave us a ticket to enter through a different line in security which saved some stress.

- Take note.  If there is someone who truly gave you excellent service, ask for their name.  Then write it down or ask for a comment card.  Often there are programs within companies that give kickbacks for employees doing a great job and customers remarking on it.  I make it a point to do this as often as possible.

These help, believe me!  I received the best service at the San Diego Airport that day.  The rental car man drove us up to the terminal on his own accord, which made it a thousand times easier.  Each person along the way went that extra step and it really made a difference.  It went from being one of the most difficult possible flights to the easiest just because of the people we encountered.

Is riding First Class with your children a treat?  Or a sentence?

For us, it’s not financially an option most of the time.  But one time my husband used his miles to book me and the two kids a trip out to Disneyland to meet up with my parents.  First class was all that was available and so he had to use double his miles for a “luxury” I was dreading.

Here’s my findings:

- Check-in was much easier.  The First Class line was immediate and Delta even went the extra step to get me a bag for my stroller to check.  Originally they were going to make me go up one level to get a bag and then come back down but they must have seen my pleading eyes.

- The flight attendants in First Class were actually helpful!  Imagine that – they actually helped us to get settled and were great with the kids.  I have not had good luck with flight attendants overall in the past so this was a very nice surprise.

- The other passengers were helpful.  And very chatty.  I found this very nice.

- The children were better behaved.  They had more space, nicer in-flight TV screens to watch, and seemed calmer.

- They got to see the pilot and the cockpit.  Since we were up front, my son was allowed to go up with the pilot to check out the cockpit.  That’s a rarity these days I would think.

Overall, it was pleasant.  I was worried we would get used to this.  But it wasn’t THAT much nicer.  I mean, flying isn’t exactly fun but it is a means to get where you are going.  As my sister Amber says, “it’s a day of hell and then you’re there.  You just suck it up and do it.”  And whether you are in First or Coach, you will still get there at the same time.  If I ever get the chance to do it again, I will, but I won’t be paying double to do so.

I’m not usually a fan of bribery, but during a long flight with my children, all rules go out the window.  I’m even thinking of letting my 2 year old have back her pacifier just to make the cross-country flight easier later this month!

My son has always been tricky to entertain during long flights.  He’s so much better now that he’s 6 but there were many restless plane rides during the past 5 years.  One time my sister recommended me giving him incentives to be good.  And it worked!  Here’s the plan I followed:

-  I explained to him that every hour I would give him a quarter if he was good.  At the end of the trip, he would have $2 if he was good for each hour.  I explained what “being good” meant – no jumping around or pulling on the seat in front of him or making super loud sounds.

- I gave him a little coin holder to hold his money.

- To get it started, just 1/2 hour into it, I gave him his first quarter.  He could feel it and hold it and it was real.  He was 4 and money was taking on a new meaning and control.

- Each hour we would talk about his behavior.  Only one or two times did he not get his quarter.  For the most part he was very good and I was just happy the plan worked!

Totally worth it, I don’t care what it says about my parenting – haha.  In fact, I may have convinced myself to do it again for our next trip.

Have you ever bribed your child in a desperate attempt to get them to behave or am I alone on this one?

Just this week, I had a good friend ask for some advice on a trip she is taking with her 6 year old son.  They are flying all the way to Hong Kong (from the east coast) and it will be overnight.  So I gave her some tips off the top of my head and thought they might be useful to share here as well.  Apply this to any flight or trip – hope it comes in handy.  Here’s what I had to say:

- Go to the dollar store and put a new toy in a bag for each hour.  Then bring them out one by one.  (I used to recommend wrapping them individually to add more fun, but not now with the increased security concerns).

- If your child loves crafts, invest in some nice ones – from an art store that will be special for him.

- Electronics of course – new movies he hasn’t seen, DS games (the DS saves us!).

- Research your actual plane on seatguru.com. SeatGuru will tell you what amenities are on board and where is best to sit.  International flights sometimes have built in video games on the seat console and on-demand movies.  SeatGuru can also tell you if there are charger outlets available from your seat.

- Download some new music on your iPhone and even movies for him to watch.  You can use your phone in-flight. Just put it in airplane mode so it doesn’t have cell service.  It’s smaller than a portable DVD player, and novel so more likely to hold his attention.  Surprisingly it doesn’t lose the charge too quickly.

- Travel games are fun too, like magnetic games.  Legos are even good, although small parts.  But putting those together can take up an hour which can be a nice time to connect and work on achieving the finished toy together.

- Of course you will sleep on the plane so take toothbrush and treat it like a regular night of books and bedtime.  Hopefully you will both rest some!

Best of luck to you!  I hope it goes smoothly and is actually enjoyable and will feel adventuresome.  What a great experience to share with your “little” boy.

What is geocaching?  It’s a fun sport of sorts that was introduced to us a few years back by a coworker of mine, Jeff.

The goal is to choose one “cache” and go find it.  Like a hidden treasure hunt.  Caches are hidden all over the world and it is a fun activity to do while on vacation and great for all ages of children as well as adults.  My favorite part is that it takes you to destinations out of the way but worth seeing.  Interesting overlooks, luscious trails, and beautiful lakes.  We once searched and found a cache in Yelapa, Mexico, a small village you can only get to via boat, south of Puerto Vallarta.  The cache was hidden near some pretty waterfalls that we hiked to.  It’s fun to have a goal in mind and a secret among your group while searching for your treasure.

Here’s how it works:  You go to the Geocaching website and find a cache to search for.  You can print out a few to find for the day.  Once you get the coordinates (longitude/latitude) from the site, you plug them into your hand held GPS and follow exactly where it takes you.  The caches are rated on the site – for difficulty in solving to find the coordinates (some are like puzzles just to get the location!) and secondly they are rated for terrain.  Once you are at the location, you look around to find where the cache is hidden.  It’s never buried, usually hidden in a bush, under a rock, or in a tree.  Some of them are very creative and some are very tough.

You have to make sure no “muggles” see you – so as not to destroy the cache and spoil the fun for others.  When you find it, usually the size of a shoebox or smaller, you open it and sign the log inside and then leave one small trinket item (bouncy ball, key chain, button) and take another.

When you get home you can log back onto the Geocaching website and log that you found it!  It tracks the number of finds you have and suggests others nearby.  There are a few other games people have added to the sport such as travel bugs that you may find yourself seeking out too.

It’s kind of tough to grasp the concept but truly there are caches hidden all over each city and around the world.  You’d be surprised to find one in your nearest public park!  They are everywhere really.

The best part about it is that it’s free!  Completely free family fun and something you can do on your next vacation!

Flying with children can be challenging.  Here are a few things to consider when booking your flight:

Airline

- Baggage fees.  Airlines charge different “nickle and dime” fees.  The most irritating is the baggage fee.  Unfortunately, no matter the size, the same fee apples.  So kids bags are priced the same as yours.  If you’re traveling as a family of 4 on American Airlines for example, and have one bag each, you can expect to pay $200 more round trip just for your bags. ($25/bag x 4 people x 2 flights).  Be sure to research baggage fees before you book.  It can make a difference in your total cost of your flight.

Flight Schedule

- Times.  Do your children sleep in flight? Maybe a red-eye WILL work for you. My children just tend to torture those that are trying to sleep on flights.  So extreme early morning and red-eye flights do not work in our favor.

- Holidays.  Look ahead on school calendars – maybe they are off for a teacher’s day or President’s Day and then they only miss 3 days of school instead of 4.

- Length of stay.  About 10 days is enough for me.  Any longer and it’s harder to live out of a suitcase without the conveniences of your own things.  This will differ for each family and is only my personal observation.

- Connections.  Which airports are most child friendly?  You can research most online to find out which concourses and airlines in those concourses have play zones or other child-friendly attractions.  My favorite is the science-inspired play area in SFO.  Very fun with a fog machine kids can stand in and one of those electric gigantic balls that look so outer space.

If you’re worried about cold weather and traveling during the winter, you may choose to fly through a more southern airport as opposed to Chicago or Minneapolis for example.  Just another thing to consider.

Car seat

- Decide if you will take the car seat or have one waiting at your destination.

- If taking your own car seat, how will you get it there – check it all the way through, gate check, or use on flight.  There are many contraptions to transport it, some of which I’ve wrote about – Tote-a-Tot.

Price

- Goes without saying that you will be searching for the best fare possible.  Don’t forget to take into account extra fees such as baggage fees mentioned above.

It’s quite a thought process, just booking the flight!  Of course once you get that out of the way, you can start planning more fun activities during your trip.

What do you consider when choosing a flight?  Anything I haven’t mentioned here?

Eye-Fi is my latest fun travel and photography tool.  I had it on my wish list for Christmas and when Santa brought it to me I was very excited.  This transforms the way you share photos, especially when you travel.

The biggest feature this card has is the ability to wirelessly transfer your photos from your camera to the internet, when you are near public Wi-Fi or a home network.  It transmits the photos and uploads them straight to your computer (if you’re home) or you can even set it to upload to a web site such as Facebook automatically.  So if you are traveling, those at home – friends, family – can follow along your journey and see what you are seeing.  It’s so simple and really convenient.

There is also a geo-tagging tool that tags your photos as to the location where it was uploaded.  So if you’re in Germany, it will tag the photo Germany and then France, well France.  Or different parts within a country.  So when you review your photos, you are more likely to remember when they were taken – which of the seven castles was that?!

If you’d like more information, follow me through to Amazon.  There are a few options – 8 GB and video cards as well.  This is the one I would recommend since it has the geo-tagging feature.  I have really been impressed by this product and believe it is undiscovered yet.  Have you tried this?  If not, check it out and report back to let me know what you think.  I use it at home now, and keep it in my camera instead of the regular SD card so it is always transmitting as I take pictures.  Then I can upload them to my blogs when I next log on to my computer.

We’re snowed in!  My husband actually flew out on a business trip and left a day early to leave before the storm hit.  He flew from east to west, coast to coast. over the storm.  He said he saw all the clouds until the middle of the US and then snowy earth, and then The Rockies.  It feels like everyone was hit.  Are you snowed in as well?

Weather like this either brings thoughts of warm weather places or makes you want to go skiing.  Me?  I am thinking ahead towards summer and where we can go to make the most of our vacation time.

Since we always go to see family in the summer, we want to coordinate this trip with a little time without the kids.  Vegas maybe or even Central Oregon.  We’ll be planning that in the next month or two.

Have you thought about your summer plans?  Now is a good time to research flight prices or make hotel reservations since most people will be at most be thinking about spring break.  Where will you be going this summer?

Stay warm and enjoy the snow if you have it!

This is a question I’ve considered many times. Should you purchase a plane ticket for your child? If your child is under 2, you are not required to purchase a ticket for your little one. But is it worth the savings?

Here are some things to consider:

- How old is your child? If you have a really young baby, they may sleep in your arms and it may not be necessary for you to purchase a ticket for them.  I wouldn’t even consider not buying a ticket for my near 2 yo.  She would be all over me AND the person next to me, wanting to walk the aisles.

- How long is the flight? I held my 3mo boy in my lap the short flight to Vegas. Although it a somewhat short flight, it did not seem short by the time it was over. My arms ached and I was wishing I had the extra room that another seat would have provided. Anything over the 2 hours I spent on that flight, I would recommend anyone buy the extra seat.

- Are there more siblings or another parent traveling with you? If you have more children with you, they are smaller and do not take up as much room. So, for example you could feel like the space may be sufficient for 3 children with 2 seats. When two of them are playing close together, the other will have more room to him/herself.  If you are traveling alone with children, you most definitely will want the extra space another seat provides.

I can tell you this. Flight attendants and ticket agents automatically assume you haven’t purchased a ticket for your child under 2. I have many times been questioned for ordering my even 3yo a snack box (when they came with the price of your fare). I guess they assume it’s the norm not to purchase one. I’ve had gate agents stop me with the car seat, thinking I hadn’t bought another fare and telling me I couldn’t use it because there was it was a full flight.

So you may have to remind people that indeed you do have another ticket for your little one, should you decide to go that route. I would say most of the time it is worth it to have the extra space and safety if you can swing it.

Another option is to book a flight that is not very full (a rarity these days) and then hope there is an extra seat when you check in. If so, you can ask to sit near that open seat and if not, you can check your car seat.

What have you done in the past that has worked?  Not worked?  Airplane travel is difficult most of the time anyhow, so I would prefer to make it as painless as possible (or at least plan for it).

Little Lovely has a couple great posts about family travel.

This one about a new travel guide for cities caught my attention.  Small manageable sheets, like a deck of cards, they seem easy to take with you while you explore the city.  City Walks with Kids have guides for New York City, San Francisco, London, Paris, and Washington DC.

Have you ever used these and care to share your experience with them?  I may seek one out for our next trip to NYC (just thinking ahead).   Amazon has it for only $5.83, which seems like a steal.