If we do end up in Los Angeles, I just might try finding a place to stay using Enrout, a new lodging search engine that emphasizes both value and living like a local. The site offers hotels, bed and breakfasts, and short-term apartments or houses all around the world, with a good inventory in many cities. I’ve got my eye on an adorable two-bedroom bungalow in Long Beach that goes for $125 a night during the week in the winter time.

What’s that you say? I have to put up the Christmas tree? But this house is walking distance from the beach!

Even if you’re more focused on the home front than I am, I definitely advise you check out Enrout before December 16, because they are running a $500 holiday giveaway. There are lots of different ways to enter, so even if you aren’t going anywhere imminently, I suggest you give yourself the holiday gift of checking out this contest. And maybe while you’re there you’ll discover that April in Paris sounds pretty good right about now – and that $500 might just get you a few nights at cute little Left Bank hotel….

And before I leave you for the weekend, I want to make sure you’ve checked out my Passports With Purpose prize – this year we’re raising money for libraries in Zambia. Because what’s better than books?

Matt and I have been back and forth on this trip for some time. Originally, we thought we might go to Norway, the land of his ancestors and a place that intrigues us both. But after looking at how astronomically expensive it is to visit we decided to wait a couple of years until Teddy is old enough to really do some more serious hiking. We’d like our vacation there to be a very outdoorsy one both to save money and because the scenery there is worthy of it.

Next we set our sights on Italy, which we haven’t visited since Tommy was a baby. But since we also wanted to fit in a trip to Paris, it started to feel like we didn’t have the time to do everything there we wanted. We really need about three weeks in Rome and Tuscany to give us adequate time for the kind of slow travel that we like, and if we’re also going to make our annual three-week pilgrimage to Vermont, we don’t have a full month to spend in Europe.

And so after much deliberation, we finally made our choice for the summer of 2012. At the end of June/beginning of July we will spend a little over two weeks exploring Switzerland and France. We’ll start in Lausanne and then go to Bordeaux (new locations for all for members of the family). We’re fortunate to have friends we can stay with kids in both places, which will save us some money and be fun for the boys. Finally we will head to Paris, where we hope to rent “our” apartment near the beloved Place Monge for a week.

Now, we travel quite a bit; before we leave to go on this adventure we have trips to Vermont, California, Colorado, New York City, and Arizona planned over the course of the winter and spring. But even though we may be a bit more committed to travel than the average family, like everyone else, we have to make choices based on time and cost. So just how did we come to our final decision? I mocked up different itineraries, including dates and locations, and used the Internet to figure out travel and lodging costs. Once we had a rough estimate for each itinerary we were able to make an informed decision about just how much time and money we wanted to spend.

I definitely recommend using this approach before you make big family travel decisions. It may take a bit of time, but ultimately it is worth it. In fact, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome! I can’t wait to share our adventures with you once again.

And while we’re talking about trips to France, I wanted to share another project I worked on while I was laid up – an article about five kid-friendly attractions in Paris at Why Go Paris (a resource I know I’ll be using a lot over the coming months). Writing this and revisiting the stories of our 2008 trip there got me even more excited for next summer.

How do you plan your family travel? Have you started to work on your 2012 plans?

Photo of Norway courtesy of AdneD via Flickr.

Give yourself plenty of time

We arrived in Williamsburg in the middle of Friday afternoon and left at the same time on Monday. Since we spent Sunday at Water Country USA, this meant we had about two day’s worth of time to spend. A weekend trip like this is definitely worthwhile, but we could also easily have spent several more days in the historic area.

To get the most out of your visit, it’s important to use your time in Colonial Williamsburg well. I recommend spending some time each evening thinking about what you will do the next day – this is especially important since different sites are closed on different days and some have only partial hours. You can do your planning on the excellent Colonial Williamsburg website or using the This Week fold-out map (available at the Visitor Center and at the Colonial Williamsburg hotels). Both also list each day’s special activities and tours. This will ensure that you don’t miss anything you really want to see.

Of course, you’ll also want to leave yourself some time just to wander around and explore. We spent our first few hours in town doing just that, and it was a great way to get a sense of how big the area was and what things might interest us later. Thirty-minute orientation tours also run regularly between 9 and 1 every day, including a special tour aimed at families at 10:30 and 11:30. I’d recommend going on whatever tour works best in your schedule – we didn’t find the family tour to be particularly tailored to children, although it did provide a decent overview.

And while it’s OK to be ambitious about what you’ll get done, I suggest you also be realistic. In general, we found that each of the individual sites we visited was likely to take more time to explore than we had expected – it’s almost like every site is its own individual museum. Some of them include a guided tour, and these tended to take at least a half an hour. And since you’ll continually stumble across performances or interpreters who really engage the kids, getting from point A to point B is likely to take you longer than you might thing as well.

Engage with the interpreters

You can’t miss the museum workers at Colonial Williamsburg – all of them are in costume, and many actually assume a character as well. I’ve never visited a museum where the staff was better informed or more inclined to interact with the people visiting. Take advantage of this by asking lots of questions – or by stepping back and letting the kids do the asking. In many of the shops children can handle the tools or even try their hand at a trade.

Everyone in the family will find themselves gathering new information. Among the facts we learned? In the 18^th century, 52 percent of Williamsburg’s population was slaves. Women regularly entered into trade – in fact there were no restrictions to keep them from doing so. Plantation owners often didn’t build a house to live in first, but focused on the money-making outbuildings like the barn; in fact, some families might have a permanent home on their own property for several generations.

One thing I found interesting was that the interpreters regularly ask visitors to silence their cell phones and pagers when you enter the sites. I’m not sure if it’s their good influence, but I saw and heard very few people on phones during our visit, which definitely contributes to the feeling of stepping back in time.

Prepare to do some walking

The historic area of Williamsburg is about ¾ of a mile from end to end, and is eminently walkable. We also usually walked from the Visitor Center into town, which took us about 8 minutes. There is a shuttle that will take you to stops from all the Colonial Williamsburg hotels around town and the colonial area. This was definitely handy, especially when we were finished with a late dinner and ready to go back to our hotel and go to bed. The shuttle is free for hotel guests and admission ticket holders.

Once you’re in the colonial area, you will be walking from one site to the next, and if you want to have lunch in Merchant Square or visit the College of William and Mary campus, you’ll likely be walking over there as well. Since you also will be walking inside the houses and other sites, this can add up to a lot of time on your feet; I’d say we easily covered several miles each day. The paths in the colonial area are a mix of pavement and gravel and we saw lots of people with strollers.

Williamsburg can be very hot and muggy. Happily, there are many places where you can sit down in the shade and also buy drinks (purchase a $10 plastic mug and you can get free refills at all of the restaurants and beverage stands). If it’s going to be a warm day, you’ll want to plan on some rest stops.

Mix it up a little

The nature of this living museum makes it easy for you to vary your pace and activities throughout the day. You can move from a house or building tour to a live demonstration of a trade, often complete with an interactive component for the kids, to a stroll through a colonial garden or a visit to a chicken coop. Other diversions that kids might enjoy are a visit to the Kid’s Corner where they can play colonial games, carriage and wagon rides (book these early in the day if the weather is nice, as they tend to sell out), and costume rentals.

But I’d also recommend maintaining your children’s interest in the historical side of things by including a few 21^st-century amusements as well. This is easy enough to do – you might walk into the Merchants Square area where there is both a candy and a toy store. The Visitor Center has a large bookstore with a generous children’s section. We were staying in the Woodlands Hotel, which has both an outdoor pool and a small mini-golf course. And of course the nearby water park as well as Busch Gardens offer a chance for modern fun.

And after a day of walking around the historic area, I highly recommend a pedicure at the Spa of Colonial Williamsburg. Because who says that adults can’t mix it up a little too?

Driving from the Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington DC area

Since it was Labor Day weekend, we decided to avoid Interstate 95 as much as possible, especially in the very congested area between Baltimore and Richmond. It wasn’t hard to do this – we just got on Route 301 south of Baltimore. Although parts of this road are a bit pokey and have traffic lights, I recommend it as a great alternative to sitting in gridlock.

Once you’re in Williamsburg, you probably won’t need your car very much, but with all of the routing around the historical area (they have it set up so that you really don’t see or hear cars when you are visiting the colonial part of town) it’s handy to have a GPS when you do need to drive around. In fact, Matt developed a big crush on the built-in GPS in our loaner Acura MDX, claiming that she is “much more polite and gives better directions” than the Garmin that we usually use. It was very funny to listen to him talk to her using his deepest voice to give commands. You can also turn the temperature up or down or change the song you’re listening to by pushing a button and talking to the dashboard. We had a lot of fun playing with that feature, let me tell you!

I did discover this weekend that having a really comfortable car to drive down in definitely minimized unhappiness on the part of my children and made a long drive for a shorter visit very doable. An hour into the five-hour drive Teddy asked the dreaded “Are we almost there?” question. When we told him no, he said “Good!” and settled back happily to watch a movie with his brother.

Thanks to Acura, who paid all our expenses and loaned us the luxurious MDX, this weekend road trip was a perfect mix of education and relaxation for the kids.

Do you have your own tips for visiting Williamsburg? I’d love to read them in the comments!

Thanks to all who entered and to Smart Destinations for sponsoring the giveaway.

Since my site was down most of the day on Friday, I have extended this giveaway to Monday, August 8 at 5 p.m. EST.

When I plan a family trip to a city, especially a shorter trip like our recent four-day visit to Boston, I usually do a fair bit of advance planning. My approach is usually to start by making a list of potential things I think we’ll enjoy seeing and doing. I come up with this list in different ways. If I’ve visited the city before myself and know it well, some of the ideas come from my own experience. I also take a walk through all of my favorite family travel blogs to see if I find any good recommendations there. I might throw out a few questions via Facebook or Twitter, to see if anyone I hang out with there has a suggestion. And of course, I turn to Google for help too.

The list is without fail too long, but I like to start out big and whittle it down. I’m not a fan of cramming too much in on a vacation – my motto is to treat every place I visit as if I’ll be back – and usually plan no more than one or two definite things to see and do for each day of our visit, relying on the opinions of my children, advice of friends, and my own instincts to make (sometimes regretful) cuts until I have a manageable number of agenda items for each day.

From there I usually sketch out a plan of what we’ll do on each day of our trip and in what order, looking at how we’ll get from Point A to Point B and where we might eat along the way. This plan is flexible of course. For example, on our recent visit to Boston, I had planned to start the trip by walking the Freedom Trail. When I checked the weather report the day before we left and realized that Friday, the first full day of our vacation, was going to be 100 degrees, I quickly made some changes to our plan and decided that Friday would be better spent entirely indoors. So instead of tromping around it the heat, we spent a blissful and cool six hours in the Museum of Science instead, saving the Freedom Trail for Sunday when the weather broke.

One thing was a little bit different about my planning for this Boston trip, because I actually bought some of our admission tickets before we left, not something I’m generally prone to do because I don’t like to be committed in advance. I did this because last spring Smart Destinations gave one adult Go Select pass, which I chose to use for our trip to Boston. Go Select allows customers to choose from a list of attractions in a given city (the list in each city is a little limited, so you may not find everything you are looking for, although in Boston I did). You must choose at least two places to visit, and then a discount is applied after you make your choices. The passes are good for 30 days from their first use, so they are great for longer vacations, or even if you living in one of the cities that Smart Destinations serves and are interested in entertaining your family during the summer months.

As an example of how much you might save, I purchased one adult and two child Go Select passes for Boston. I bought tickets for five attractions: a Fenway Park tour, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, the Paul Revere House, and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. In doing so, I saved a $31 or 20 percent of my overall total if I purchased admission at each location. Smart Destinations emailed me the passes, which I printed off on my home computer (a nice feature here is that I had the option to also print information about each place I would be visiting including the address and hours it is open).

Of course, I’m always happy to save a little money, but for me the real value in the Go Select passes was the fact that when we arrived at the attractions and museums, they allowed us to skip the lines during the busy summer season. When I bought the passes, I was dubious that we would be able to walk up to the information desk at each location, hand them our passes, and be admitted, but that’s exactly what happened. Smart Destinations claims to have worked hard to train the vendors they work with, and in Boston it really showed. We easily saved 20 to 30 minutes of waiting at both the science museum and the aquarium, and as those of you who travel with young children know, that time is invaluable. Starting our museum visit off with a long wait can be the difference between an interested and engaged child and one who needs cajoling into good humor.

I will definitely look at buying these passes again when I visit one of the cities that Smart Destinations serves (there are thirteen ranging from Maui to Miami) because they saved me money and time. If for some reason I had to cancel my trip, I could return the passes for a full refund for a year after I bought them. The only disadvantage would have come if we had decided not to visit one of the attractions on the list; for this reason I wouldn’t include any attraction or museum in my purchase that I was on the fence about. And I’d be sure not to cram so much into the pass that I had no room in the schedule for spontaneity.

Go Select is not the only option when purchasing passes from Smart Destinations. You can also choose a Go Card, which offers blanket admission to more attractions (in Boston there are 70) for a set number of days and a steeper discount. Yet another product is the Family FunPass, which bundles the attractions that Smart Destinations has deemed the top four for a given city. In Boston, that includes the Museum of Science, the Fenway Park tour, a high-speed whale watch, and the Franklin Park Zoo. These cards are good for 60 days from their first use.

And here’s the good news: Smart Destinations has offered me four FunPasses to give away!

The winner picks the city, so if you’re planning to visit or live in Boston, New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, you could get free admission to four attractions or museums for yourself and three friends or family members. There’s also a Southern California pass that will get you into Legoland, Universal Studios Hollywod, the San Diego Zoo, and Knott’s Berry Farm.

For your chance to win a Family FunPass, simply leave a comment here sharing your favorite trip-planning tip. This contest is open until 5 p.m. EST on Friday, August 5 Monday, August 8.

As I mentioned in this post, Smart Destinations game me one free Go Select pass, but they did not ask me to purchase the additional three and I did not receive any extra discount on them. All of the opinions I express here are my own and you can always count on me to let you know if I’ve gotten something for free.

So what I did was create a section where I could not only list the sites I really like and use, but tell you exactly what I like about them. I’ve called that section Resources and have divided it into categories like Staying and eating and Destinations. I’m starting small, but will be to adding many more sites in the upcoming weeks. I hope that the next time you’re planning a trip for your family, you’ll stop by and take a look around.

Another feature in this section is a category called “Family Travel Sites I Love.” If you look down in the bottom-right corner of this page you’ll see that I’ve got a special area where I will be featuring family travel blogs and websites that hold a special place in my heart. These are sites I use not only for trip planning but also inspiration and pleasure.

The first site I’ve chosen is Pit Stops for Kids, the brainchild of Amy Whitley. Amy lives in the PacificNorthwest and seems fearless to me in the way she hits the road (and the hiking trail) with her three children. Her site offers lots of practical information about where to stop when you’re taking trips with kids, and I love that. But I also love the fact that she has dreams of visiting every National Park with her kids and also knows how to enjoy herself  with her family at resorts and amusement parks. We also share a love of downhill skiing, and I know that when we finally make it out West I will be reading her skiing posts for tips and ideas.

So tell me – what do you think about the new Resources section? Anything you’d like to see featured there? Feel free to tell me in the comments below or on my new Facebook page (and while you’re there, be sure to hit the “like” button so you can stay in the know about resources as I add them).

Are you a spring break slacker? Sometimes it can be easy to let the spring holiday sneak up on us without plans. And while there’s nothing wrong with spending spring break at home, it can also be a great opportunity to sneak a trip in and recharge your family’s batteries before the barrage of end-of-school-year activities and parties hits. When you’re choosing where to go for spring break, there are a few comparisons you can make that might help you make a decision

Near versus Far. The first thing to decide is how far afield you’d like to go. While I’m always a fan of hopping on a plane (and in fact recently made no secret of the fact that I’m dreaming of a spring break in Provence) I also believe that it’s perfectly OK to stick close to home. I wrote last spring about the benefits of quick and close family getaways, which can be more affordable and less of a headache (especially if your kids hate long rides) but no less rewarding than going farther and longer.

Staying closer to home also offers the benefit of giving you more flexibility, something I need this spring since our holiday will take place after the Little League season has started. Right now I’ve got my eye on two possible destinations, either the Eastern Shore of Maryland or perhaps a quick getaway to Washington D.C. Depending on how many games and practices are scheduled, we may do both!

Warm versus Cold. I might just as well call this one Sun versus Ski. If you’re a downhill skiing family, spring break can be a time to find some end-of-season deals on packages. If possible, you might want wait to plan a ski trip at this time of year though – personally, I like to make sure there’s going to be good snow. (Just be sure to have a backup plan.)

If warm weather is more your speed, you of course have many options from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean. Orlando is a popular spring break destination for many families, but if you’re considering Florida, might I offer Fort Myers as an alternative? You’ll find gorgeous beaches on the Gulf of Mexico and loads of opportunities for wildlife exploration.

And don’t forget the possibility of visiting locations that offer seasonal spring weather. The Midatlantic and southern United States are fragrant and blossoming at this time of year. If we could get away this year, I’d be considering a visit to Asheville, North Carolina which offers great food, gorgeous hiking, and the Biltmore.

City versus Country. Urban destinations often get left out of the spring break equation, but many cities are lovely in the spring with parks and public gardens all abloom. Last spring we spent three days in Los Angeles and had a great time visiting aquariums and museums. With museums and attractions aplenty, New York City would make a great spring break destination and although it can still be chilly in Chicago in the spring, you might get lucky (capriciousness being the defining quality of Midwest spring weather). And to paraphrase a famous song, you’ve never known the charm of spring until you’ve seen April in Paris – or London, Barcelona, Rome….

If your family is like mine, than another factor in your decision making might be using spring break as an opportunity to visit far flung relatives. Last spring we visited two sets of grandparents (one of them great). The advantage of this kind of vacation? You can slip away unnoticed for a few days for some child-free R&R.

For lots more spring break tips and ideas, please be sure to visit the Where Are You Going for Spring Break carnival at Best Family Travel Advice, where the panel of travel experts is sharing links to their posts. For even more ideas and inspiration, see Top Ten Spring Break Destinations for Families.

And if you’ve got some great spring break plans, I’d love to hear about them! Please feel free to share in comments.

I wish I’d had this information handy when I started Teddy in ski school last year (we didn’t have great success – he spent more time in the daycare than skiing). I’m looking forward to seeing how he enjoys his experience at Smuggs where he and Tommy will both be participating in age-appropriate daylong programs. And happily, he will be better dressed and prepared than he was last year thanks to these expert tips!

If you’ve never gotten gear for your kids before, what do you need to know? What should you buy and what should you lease?

You’ll probably want to invest in some ski clothing, including ski mittens (not gloves) that have an outer shell made of slippery, water-repellent fabric. Kids’ hands get really cold and they play in the snow, which means that fleece mittens or knitted mittens get wet and heavy. If you can, get mittens with a zipper pouch for hand warmers.

As far as clothes are concerned, bibs are better than ski pants – they help keep kids from getting any snow close to the skin. We recommend sweatpants and turtlenecks underneath with a fleece or sweatshirt over top. As a general rule it’s best is to layer clothing and make sure it wicks moisture away from the skin.

Any time it’s snowing or cold we recommend goggles, which help protect the eyes and keeps kids warmer. You might want to purchase these because children usually can keep them for more the one season. Helmet covers aren’t a necessity, but they offer a way for your child to customize his or her helmet and also can make it easy for you to recognize him or her from a distance on the mountain.

With regard to the actual ski equipment it’s always better to rent or lease when you have children since they tend to change sizes every year. If you can, lease equipment where you live before you go on vacation; this gives children an opportunity to play around with it before you leave. If you will be renting at the ski area, pick up the equipment the night before you ski. Your child’s first experience with the gear shouldn’t be when you arrive at the mountain.

You’ll want to rent skis, boots, and bindings. Most areas include helmets as part of rental package as well. You probably don’t need to lease poles, which can give kids too many things to think about as they are learning. They tend to get distracted by the poles when they really need to focus on their feet and legs. We generally don’t introduce poles until children are mostly skiing parallel.

What’s the best way to introduce skiing to your child?

Talk about skiing and how much fun it is. Read books and watch TV shows or movies with skiing in them. Explain that your child will need lessons to learn to ski well and talk about your own experiences with skiing and how you learned to ski.

One thing you should do is make sure your child isn’t suiting up in equipment for the first time right before starting the first ski lesson. Get the equipment ahead of time and let children walk around in the boots to get used to the feeling. You might encourage your child to do a few simple exercises like running and stopping, marching in place, or standing with feet together then feet apart. Have your child practice these exercises without ski boots and then with the boots on to get used to the difference.

What are some ways to get kids (both younger and older) physically ready to ski?

The best thing you can do to help prepare kids to ski is encourage them to be active: Go outside and run around with them. Playing soccer or tag are a fun ways to practice changing directions and shifting weight. Ice skating and inline skating are also both great ways to help children get their legs in shape and also to teach them some of the skills that they’ll need to ski like moving from one foot to another or pushing off. But any kind of outdoor activity helps to get them fit and also used to being outdoors.

Stretching is also always helpful. Yoga promotes flexibility and strength and can be fun for kids of all ages. Playing simple stretching games with toddlers is also a great idea. Before you go out to the mountain, try a rousing game of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Not only does this warm them up by having them are bend and reach, it also helps make sure they know what different parts of their body are called (which is a great skill to have mastered before a ski lesson).

And this may seem obvious, but try to make sure that your child has a good night of rest and a healthy and filling breakfast before you drop them off for a day on the slopes.

What if you’ve got a child who doesn’t like cold? Or one who is timid?

Be as positive as possible and don’t push them. It’s hard to win over kids and skiing needs to be a fun experience.

If you’ve got a little one, try to find a ski area that has programs especially for young children. At Smuggs three to five year olds start the day inside where it’s warm and there are toys. During the day, they have multiple opportunities to go inside and warm up.

It’s important to know your child. If he or she is really shy or doesn’t like new experiences without you there you might want to try a private “mom-or-dad-and-me” lesson. Sometimes having a parent is there helpful to children who are timid or uncertain. To do this, you’ll need to be at least an intermediate skier, but this can give you tips for teaching your child and sometimes this helps children get over their fear or anxiety.

Generally we tell parents not to have any expectations and to follow the lead of their children. The whole day can feel strange for them and we try to acknowledge that. Sometimes we let them just linger indoors and gradually will take them outside. Some of them are drawn to the snow, others not so much. In a child’s first day he or she may spend just ten minutes outside.

And if the first day is horrendous it’s worth it to step back and try again later. Sometimes children need a year before they come back and try it again. We’ve seen kids come as three year olds and it didn’t work out, only to return the following year and pick it right up.

Thanks for the great tips Shelly and Harley! Want more tips? Visit the Smugglers’ Notch website to see Shelly and Harley in the Children Snow Tips video series.

Photos of Harley and Shelly courtesy of Smugglers’ Notch

So without further ado, here are my family travel goals for the next 12 months:

1. Visit every state park in Delaware. Delaware is the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t have a national park, but it compensates for this fact with 17 state parks of many varieties from urban refuges to Civil War forts to some of the best beaches in Delaware. We’ve spent lots of time in White Clay Creek State Park, which is in the town where we live. I’d like to branch out and explore the many other wildlife sanctuaries and historic sites my small state has to offer.
   
2. Take more weekend trips. When we visited Lancaster last spring I wrote about how even a 24-hour trip can be a fun and energizing way to spend time together as a family. I’m lucky to live an easy drive not only from New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia, but also from the ski areas in the Poconos and historic sites like Valley Forge and Annapolis. I’d definitely like to plan a few short getaways to some of these great destinations.
   
3. See more of the Eastern Shore. Assateague. Chincoteague. Accomac. Onancock. The names of the towns are romantic and intriguing, as is the idea of seeing the famous wild ponies that live in the region. Although I’ve been a Delaware resident for 13 years, I’ve never really explored the history or ecology of the Chesapeake Bay; I’d like that to change in 2011.
   
4. Ride the train into Philadelphia. My children love trains. We are a commuter train ride away from downtown Philadelphia. Do I have any excuse for the fact that we haven’t yet taken the train for a day of city fun? Please. Don’t answer that.
   
5. Try some more adventurous eating. As the children have gotten older and more vocal about their likes and dislikes, I feel like I’ve fallen into the rut of seeking out places that will easily please them with nuggets of chicken and other fried foods. I’d like to start pushing a little harder to for us all be more adventurous when we’re on the road. I’d also like to plan some culinary day trips – sampling dim sum in Philly’s Chinatown, exploring the South Street Italian Market there as well, and perhaps conducting an informal survey of crab cakes in Maryland and Virginia. All in the name of research of course.
   

I have a few blogging resolutions as well, which are separate from my family travel goals but of course are related. They include better organization of my content, a fresh look for my site, and a Mother of All Trips Facebook page. I also want to continue to improve my photography skills and to offer more tips from experts on everything from preparing children to downhill ski to how to take a child to an art museum. Oh, and I’d also like to return to more live blogging of my trips – that way I won’t find myself in January of 2012 writing about 2011′s summer vacation (ahem).

Most of all, I plan to continue this series and hopefully to continue to meet more new bloggers and online friends who drop by and share their own travel dreams at the beginning of each week. I love nothing more than reading the posts linked here by my fellow travelers – it’s like a weekly dose of inspiration.

What’s your Monday Dream for this first week of 2011? Please feel free to share below. If you’re new here, please see About Monday Dreaming.

So we’re all in the thick of it now, preparing for the holidays. Whatever and however you and your family celebrate, you are likely headed for some vacation from school and work next week, an ideal time for some fun family outings. Better still, with all of the holiday doings, there are likely to be loads of fun options in your community. The only problem of course is that everyone else has the same idea, which can lead to that holiday trifecta of crowds, chaos, and crabbiness.

But before you say Bah Humbug and decide to spend the week between Christmas and New Years holed up at home watching The Sound of Music on TV, let’s take a look at what you can create memorable and fun times for your family. Here are some tips for making the most of your holiday outings with children:

• I’m all for spontaneity – just not during the holiday season. If you can, buy tickets in advance. Nothing can deflate an outing more quickly than arriving at the promised location only to find that you have to stand in line for an hour. And are you planning a meal in a nearby restaurant? Make reservations.
• Call ahead and find out what the busiest times are likely to be so you can avoid them. In my experience arriving as early as possible is the way to miss the crowds (ten minutes before opening is optimal).



• Dress for the occasion. Those Christmas outfits might be cute and will look great in photos but you’re unlikely to get any good pictures of your child if he or she is uncomfortable. Is it cold? Layers are a key to success in any outing where you might be going from outside to inside and back again. And it never hurts to pack an extra hat and pair of gloves.
• Don’t try to do too much. Sure you could visit the toy museum, the decorative candy cane exhibit, and the local light display in the same afternoon, but if all are crowded you’re likely to end up losing your holiday cheer.

  

• Beware of redundancy. Even if your child loves trains, Christmas trees, and Santa, there are probably only so many decorations and model layouts that he or she will look at happily. In particular, think carefully about museums that wouldn’t interest your child ordinarily – the simple addition of some Christmas trees may or may not change young minds.
• Don’t forget the joys of simplicity. A walk to look at some decorated windows and Christmas trees followed by a special treat (do you remember how good hot chocolate tastes when it is topped with whipped cream?) can be just as much fun as an outing to a museum followed by a restaurant meal – and has the added benefit of being easy to schedule and inexpensive. Add even more fun to your walk by making it a scavenger hunt for Santas, angels, elves, and the like.

And the single most important tip for making holiday magic with your kids? Relax and enjoy yourself. Smile when your children smile. And do this in spite of delays, stormy weather, crowds, and whatever else the holiday gods may throw your way. You won’t regret it, I promise.

This post is part of an new not-quite-weekly series at The Mother of All Trips focused on the

Whenever we travel, we move with one piece of unseen baggage – our older daughter is allergic to eggs and almonds. We’re fortunate that her allergies are not severe; we don’t need to travel with an epipen. Her reaction isn’t anaphylactic anymore; she tends to get a bad stomachache when she eats either allergen and the reaction can be halted with over-the-counter antihistamines. It is by no means a crippling situation, but it requires a bit of forethought and a lot of label reading to make sure we cater to our family needs.

Our planning failed us, though, on the first leg of our recent trip to the U.S. We flew from Melbourne to Los Angeles on V Australia (the Australian division of Virgin Blue), a flight where both dinner and breakfast were served. The flight took off after 8 p.m., and we had fed our two daughters before we left the house. However, as any traveling parent knows, a meal can be a welcome distraction and time-consumer, and thus rarely to be refused. When the service came around and we were offered the choice of chicken or beef, we mentioned to the flight staff our daughter’s condition and that’s where we hit a snag. They asked if we’d requested an egg-free main course. We hadn’t.  We were politely informed that the meals were catered by an external provider and that they couldn’t guarantee they weren’t prepared with traces of egg. As such, the staff weren’t prepared to give us the entrée at all – even after we assured them that we were confident that our daughter wouldn’t suffer an allergic reaction.

Let me say that I’m not complaining at all about our treatment. On the contrary, the staff were polite and cordial and, I presume, motivated by  concern to make sure that our daughter didn’t suffer anaphylactic shock as well as to protect the overall status of the flight. They gave our daughter the tray minus an entrée – salad, roll, a hunk of cheese and chocolate. She ate everything except the salad and was quite happy. I didn’t care about the nutritional considerations because, please –a long haul flight? It exists outside of the parenting version of Robert’s Rules – all normal points of are suspended.

When breakfast was served, she had the continental breakfast option of cereal, milk, fruit and yogurt and again, was quite pleased. I found it curious, however, that even though we were willing to take the risk and responsibility on ourselves, the staff still refused to serve us. I can understand why: We would be taking the risk, but the staff would be required to assist on the remote chance that an adverse reaction would happen. I presume they have risk mitigation training, and this could be high on the list.

I consulted V Australia’s website while writing this post and found a specific section on allergies and anaphylaxis:

If you have a severe allergy, you may request that Cabin Crew wipe down your aircraft seat and tray tables prior to boarding. Cabin Crew can also notify Guests in your immediate vicinity of your allergy if you wish them to do so. While we will do what we can to assist, we cannot guarantee that our aircraft are free of nut products or other allergens onboard.

If you have a life threatening allergy, you should carry appropriate medication on your flight and be able to administer it if required. Your medication should be accompanied by a doctor’s certificate if possible to eliminate any difficulties in passing through security.

Under no circumstances will V Australia accept any responsibility for adverse reactions you may suffer while flying.

In a search for allergies on the site, I was directed to their section delineating special meal requests, which provides a great commentary on our multicultural world – you can request anything from a “Moslem meal” (No pork or alcohol is used in the preparation of this meal. Food items must be sourced from approved Halal suppliers.) to a vegan meal. Salt free, diabetic-approved, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, low cholesterol…the options abound.

The point of all this can really be boiled down to that most banal of truisms when it  comes to family travel: plan ahead. If you have allergies in your family, contact customer service and find out what your options are. On our return flight, my husband called the airlines and requested a meal with no egg and no almonds. When we got on in LA: Bingo! No problems – an egg-free entrée at dinner and at breakfast, one happy child, two happy parents. What more could you ask for?