General Tips for Traveling with Kids

Countdown
If you have kids who are excited about going somewhere special (like a Disney Cruise) and they have calenders or planners, have them to start the day before you leave and write "1 more day!" and do that untill you get up to the recent date on the calender. Some kids did this with their planners and loved decorating their "Countdown".

Appropriate Documentation
When travelling with children, especially if one parent only may accompany the child(ren) out of the country - make sure that you have a signed and notarized letter from both parents stating that permission is given to the accompanying parent (or temporary guardian) to take the child out of the country. Make sure also that the accompanying parent or guardian also has the necessary medical release forms for said child(ren). This is especially important when travelling to Mexico. Travel agents or the airline should have these forms available.

Bed Type Reservation in Advanced
Many accommodations are set up for adult singles and couples. Travelling as a group of 3 or more may require you to reserve an extra room or a special family suite. You should always reserve such accommodation well in advance, so that the proprietor can make appropriate arrangements, such as preparing single king size bed or double bed, or installing an extra bed. There may be additional charges for extra people as well.

Airplane Noise Adaptation
Please be concerned about the noise of the plane. Some children was terrified of loud noises such as the vacuum cleaner, hairdryer, mixer, etc. You can made frequent stops by your local airport (1-2 X weekly) to adapt your child with the noise of the airplanes. At first he/she was scared, but soon he/she warmed up to the idea. Hope he/she will not exhibit any uneasiness on the entire trip.

Extremely Low Cost Hotel
Consider a home exchange vacation to both save money when visiting expensive cities and to have a comfortable base to return to after a day of sightseeing. Families with children have a much more relaxing vacation on an exchange than when cooped up in a hotel room. If you swap with another family with children of similar ages to your own, your children will have a whole new range of toys, books - and even local playmates! Would your house be trashed? The other family had the same concern. You got to know your exchange partners well through letters and mail. Accommodation cost was zero and you could take your pet dog - a luxury that isn't always possible when staying at a hotel. Travelling with your toddler was made easier by him having his own room and lots of space to play compared to a hotel room. You could saved hundreds dollars in accommodation costs by swapping homes and instead of leaving your home vacant for 2 weeks. Just use common sense in choosing an exchange partner. And fot your information, there are 80,000 people exchange homes for vacations and weekend getaways each year.

Organizing with Zip-lock Bags
Pack an entire day's worth of clothing, a change of clothes, sufficient disposable diapers, and food in a zip-lock bag. Make one zip-lock bag for each day of travel. Each day, one outfit goes on baby, the rest of the supplies go in the diaper bag and you are ready to go.

If you have more than 1 children, you use one zip-lock for each child with his/her name on it. If they are older, they can just reach in the suitcase and pull out a bag. This eliminates the digging and hunting and cries when they can't find everything. Also, you can carry snacks in little zip-lock bags instead of whole cookie boxes or chip cans. You can split a box of cookies into four or five zip-lock bags, which you can give to your kids when they are hungry. Crumbs stay in the bags and you can throw them away without worrying about soggy leftovers or open boxes or packets.

Proteins Win the Race
When they get up in the a.m. before the trip, make their first food/drink of the day, a small bit of milk, (like 1/3 - 1/2 cup) The protein will 'win the race' as the chemical which reaches the brain first. This stimulates a natural 'up' and sharpness as opposed to a day of sluggishness. It will last through mid day 'fueling time' when children typically are tired. Most important part is to prevent your child from eating or drinking anything else (especially sugars or starches), for at least 10 minutes after their milk/protien. The chemicals that are produced by starches, for example, get to the brain prior to the protein, and the milk will not do anyone much good!

Tastier Snacks and Lollipops
Don't count on your toddler being willing to eat airline meals and snacks! You can pack them in a small insulated bag. Little chewy fruit snacks work great during takeoff and landing for keeping his ears comfortable, and the different shapes keep him interested. Also, lollipops are good for earaches during flying.

Avoid Sugary Snacks
Try to pack lots of snacks and drinks that have less sugar in them. For example fruits and veggies, raisins, and crackers. After all - who needs a kid to get a sugar rush while confined in a carseat?

Snack-Time Tips
Juice boxes, easy-to-eat snacks, wipes, napkins and trash bags are important. Car trips are the perfect opportunity to use those Tupperware containers that are really too small to be useful at home. Be sure to prepackage each snack for each child - that way you're not trying to pass food back and forth.

Right Choices for Kids
Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, is probably most suitable for children over the ages of 8. Disney World is probably a better choice for young kids.

Ski Program
If you're taking young children to a ski program, make sure your child has all the equipment necessary. No goggles (or gloves, snowpants, boots, etc) can mean that your child sits inside while others frolic in the snow. When possible, sign your child up the day before they will be in the program - the morning lines can be quite long. If you plan on watching, keep out of sight. Your presence makes teaching them how to ski nearly impossible.

Wet Tissue for Stains
Use wet tissues not only for wiping hands, face, etc., but also for getting out stains on clothing.

Name Cards for Kids
You can ask your child to make of their own name cards made on the computer with their name, address, and phone number or email. And if your child meet the same age kids they would like to make friend, they already have their information to give out.

Stop for a Playful Rest
There's nothing like a good long stretch to help relieve car seat cramps. If your children are in booster or car seats, they will definitely need to move around every so often. Look for local squares, parks, rest stops, pile of rocks and other locations that offer not only the chance to stand up, or to play, but also run, scream, torture siblings, etc. Rule of thumb: a 20-minute break for every 2 hours on the road -especially with little ones.

Disposable Items Work Best
It might helps by purchasing disposable items that can be easily and quickly discarded throughout your trip. Items such as disposable bibs, anti-bacterial wipes, even plastic eating utensils if desired. This way nothing of value is lost and everything can just be tossed when finished with it.

Get the Kids to Buy Their Own Snacks and Treats
At the beginning of the trip give them a dollar or 2 for each day. They are then responsible to buy all those little treats they want (like mineral water or a snack). They can keep any money they don't spend. Some kids don't beg to buy everything they see, they prefer to keep the cash! You spend less and don't have to deal with whining children!

Hand Sanitizer
Buy hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works or Linens 'n Things - it works without water and is perfect for cleaning grimy, sticky hands when you can't find a restroom.

Hot and Sweaty?
Fill a zip-lock bag with ice cubes and a old washcloth. Being able to wipe hot sweaty faces and hands with something cold can be a life saver for children as well as adults.

Trip Memory Postcard / Photos
To help our kids remember their trip in their own words we buy postcards of the places we go and on the back of each one they write down whatever they want to remember. At the end of the trip we punch a hole in the corner of the postcards and put them on a ring so they have their own special momentos of the vacation. Or, buy an inexpensive camera (with flash) for children old enough to use it. The trip is then photographed from the child's prospective. After the trip is over, he/she can create a memory book with his/her photos.

Keep it Small
Do yourself a favor and try to travel with items that can fold up. It just makes everything easier for you, no matter what way you travel or where you go. When you travel by air with kids, everything has to be screened. This means that it must go through the x-ray machines or be visually inspected.

Keeping the Kids Comfortable
Just before heading on a drive you would fill your kid's sippy cup with ice cubes, and put in about 1/2 inch of water. This kept him getting sips of water for the whole trip, and prevented any major spills from happening. Also, in a carseat, a child's little 'sit-bones' tend to get sore very quickly. A gel-pad that you can get at a bicycle shop will make the journey much more pleasant for everyone.

Leave the Noisy Toys at Home
When selecting toys for your baby or toddler on a long road trip, remember to leave the 'noisy' or 'musical' toys at home. Although they are entertaining, they can be very distracting to the driver (especially anything that sounds even remotely like a police siren) and no matter how much your baby loves 'the cow says moooo', you're going to find yourself ready to throw that toy out the window after a few hundred miles!

Medical Concerns
When traveling with children with medical concerns, make sure they have their own identification, whether it be a medical necklace or an identification card. Make sure it has your telephone number, the name and number of their physician, and their medical concerns.

Outlet and Knob Covers
When travelling with small children, take along a package of outlet covers. Most hotel rooms neglect to provide these little shock savers, and there are often outlets placed tantalizingly at child height. For rooms equipped with stoves/ ovens, remember to bring knob covers, or simply remove the knobs while not in use.

Planning a Vacation for Kids

• When planning a vacation, remember the objective of the vacation. For instance is the vacation meant for relaxation, for learning, for unique experiences, or for fun ?
  
• Do not pack the day with many activities, which will exhaust the kids.
  
• As children tend to have shorter attention spans, do not plan activities which are exceptionally long; e.g. visiting the museum for one whole day.
  
• Ensure that the places you are visiting welcome kids, as some attractions and activities have age limitations.
  
• Always investigate the policies for children; e.g. extra charges, height requirements, any child discounts etc.
  
• If you are visiting attractions such as museums, consider whether or not your child will be able to understand the materials presented.
  
• Don't forget to check out locations of child-friendly restaurants and have a happy meal with your kids.
  
• If you are travelling in a budget, do consider family-friendly hostels. They provide great service as well.
  
• Always be flexible during your journey, as children are likely to have different demands at different places.
  

Rice Cooker to the Rescue
Carry a rice cooker with you - which can be used for sterilizing bottles, boiling water, heating baby food, etc. Just plug it into the bathroom outlet and keep the cooker on the counter.

Save Your Car Interior
On a long car trip, place an old blanket/bath towel along the length of the back seat, under any carseats, etc., if you have younger kids. This will save your car interior from the splilled juice, dropped snacks, etc. It also makes it easier for you to do the clean up job!

Ease Your Child
When traveling by car, try to remove the children's shoes, or change the location of their car seat.

Time Sharing
If your children are grown up and have a trip to a theme park, it's common that you all had different ideas of what activities or rides were the most fun for each individual. You can divide the day (or days) into sections, and each person had an assigned time where they could choose the activities they most wanted. If there are 4 of you, so for a quarter of the day, each person got to do their favorite things. It saved a lot of arguments, and no one complained when doing something they might not choose for themselves because they knew that they would have their own opportunity to enjoy their favorites eventually.

Avoid Travel Sickness
For kids who tend to get travel/car sickness, and even for those who just feel like they may be sick at any time, try that one of their mid-trip drinks be ginger ale (or something with ginger ale as a main base). Ginger works super for those ill feelings. A handful of peppermints (those little round red and white ones) should be tucked away in the glove box. If the tummy ill is indigestion etc., peppermint soothes those pretty nicely for a lot less than on-the-road medications.

How Not to Lose Your Child!

In case of separation, every second counts! Here are some tips that will help defray some of that worries :

• When travelling through airports or other crowded places, you can put bells to the toes of your son's shoes. Or, hang a small plastic whistle on a string around his neck to be used ONLY if he gets separated from you.
  
• Before starting on the trip, visit a local hospital and ask if they will make one of those plastic bracelets for each of your children. Usually, they will. Then you can put whatever information you'd like on a slip of paper and insert it into the bracelet. If you're traveling to/through foreign countries, you may want to put the information in several languages. Or, if that's not possible, write down the name, address and telephone number of the place you are staying at on a piece of paper, and 'I'm lost, please call my parents' or something of the sort, and make sure your child carries it in his/her pocket/wallet. Tell the child that whenever he or she gets lost, he/she should hand the piece of paper to a woman (make sure your child hands it to a woman, much safer than a man usually!) so someone can help them. If your child is traveling alone, this is a must! And you should write all the numbers that would be helpful for the child on a note, or in a little date book for when she/he arrives at the final destination.
  
• Please carry a recent, full-length photo taken of him in his standard travel outfit - a quick way for people to recognize him in a busy place! Or, if possible, on the day of the trip, use a Polaroid camera and take photos of each child. Put them in your purse, wallet or bag. If you become separated from your child, you will have a photo of what your child looks exactly that day. Girls' hairstyles can change, clothing can look different, etc. - so even a recent photograph may not look like what your child looks like on the day of travel. But a Polaroid taken that day will help in locating a misdirected child.
  
• When taking cross country road trips, take small photos of children (school shots, etc.) On the back write their name and age, along with any other information you desire (such as emergency medical, who to notify). Put these in a ziplock baggy and tape to the dash or somewhere noticeable in the vehicle. If an accident were to happen most kids haven't any identifcation like adults do.
  
• To help identify your family quickly in the crowded places, dress everyone in matching colors.
  
• When you have to change airplane with 2-year-old kid, you can put a safety bracelet on your kid connecting her/him to you. That way you can put your backpack on your back, she/he's connected to your wrist, and your hands are free to carry her/his carseat. By the way, you shold tell your kid, it's a bracelet - and you point out that your are wearing one, too, and when both of you reach the next gate, she/he can take it off.
  

Air Travel with Kids

Airport Security
Discuss the security clearance process with your children so they will not be frightened or surprised. Do not travel with the toys that can be mistaken for weapons. If you have a photo ID of their children, bring them. Put all your identification numbers, credit card, and all tickets in a bag before leaving home for the airport. Never hand a child to a fellow passenger or passenger, while going through airport security. Walk through your children with you. If possible, try to choose an airline that is child friendly! Some airlines, including discount of transport, care for the families.

Airplane food
When traveling with children on a plane, try to pack some food they like to carry in a bag on. They tend to be a little picky about what they are serving on the plane. Pack finger foods, like fruits, pretzels and cereal for their children to enjoy during the flight. These elements could help them adapt to changes in cabin pressure. For younger children, try using bottles, sippy cups, 'or pacifiers to help relieve the pressure of the inner ear. For older children, chewing gum can serve the same purpose.

Air Bag-O-Tricks
When packing your 'bag-o-tricks' for an airplane trip with children, think "versatile", such as:

• A pad of unlined, white stationery - use for drawing, paper airplanes, fans, and other origami projects
• Crayola WATERCOLOR pencils - These don't melt like crayons and, when dipped in a cup of water, can be used as face paint (dries quickly, doesn't smear, easily removed with water or baby wipe). A mother once pulled them out during an airport delay and ended up with a line of kids waiting to get their faces painted (not to mention several grateful parents!).
• A set of 20(+/-) plastic 'links' - unlimited uses. Some are: hook onto child's belt loop in a crowd, stretch between 2 people and have a limbo contest while waiting to board the plane; hang baby's toys so they don't drop on dirty floors; use as fasteners on luggage for name tags or jacket holders; and ...
• One or 2 favorite 'beanies' - great storytelling opportunities plus a wonderful ice-breaker for new friends!

Avoid peak times for air travel
When traveling with children by air, if possible in the book does not peak hours (late at night and noon Monday through Wednesday). This gives you a chance at a free seat for your child to stretch and sleep. Arrive at the airport early. Sprints in an endless terminal are difficult enough, but nearly impossible when packing a baby on her back and holding a young child by the hand. When traveling by car and that along the "trafficking" NEVER give out too fast to know! Try every hour. You might even have a timer.

DVDs Keep Kids quiet on the plane
Bring a portable DVD player and headphones on the plane with you. This could be very useful in airports when he had to wait for hours to catch his next flight. They are lightweight and keep the children occupied during the flight. Remember to pack all their cables. You can also connect to television in the hotel room.

Health Check
If you are going to fly, younger children have their ears checked before leaving. Nobody wants to travel with a child who has an ear infection. Make sure you are in a condition fit. If they have the flu or sinusitis, please ask your plan to give their children decongestan, to be drunk half an hour before the flight.

Keep them busy
When you have to travel on flights longer active child, you should take your child busy! Use the piece of chalk - a piece of cloth with a slate-like material in the face. He keeps the child occupied for hours with colored chalk pictures, drawings and guessing games. Folds and fits into its own travel bag, taking very little space.

Goody Carry-on
To keep kids entertained and well behaved during long airplane trips, buy a small carry-on (children size), with wheels. Go to an "everything is a dollar store, and fill the bag with" surprises ". Have children carry / roll the bag around the airport etc, and during the flight, give them a surprise every 30 minutes or less. You will be surprised how entertaining it can stay, and maybe give him a chance to "catch a nap."

Keeping hydrated and clean in the plane
When travelling with children, be sure to pack a change of clothes for yourself. When your children have spilled sticky drinks all over you on the plane, you can change your cloth easily! Also it helps to premake airsickness bags at home, as the ones the airlines provide are not always there. Another tip - put some cold drinks such as Capri Sun or juice boxes in your carry-on. If your child is thirsty and it will be a while for the drink steward to come down the isle, you will be glad you have them.