One of Teddy’s preschool classmates who heard about our upcoming trip to England loaned us an adorable book called Katie in London by James Mayhew. In it, one of the lions in Trafalgar Square (oh how I love those lions!) comes to life and takes Katie and her little brother Jack all around the city. They see all the sights you’d expect – Saint Paul’s, the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace – and also take a ride on the London Eye.

So we read the book together a bunch of times and talked about the pictures and what Katie and Jack saw. It was generally agreed that the Tower Bridge would be a lot of fun to see and that like Katie and Jack and the lion we wanted to enjoy an ice cream in St. James’s Park. Then we asked Tommy and Teddy to choose what they’d most like to do while we’re in London. The verdict was unanimous: The Eye was by far the coolest thing and not to be missed.

Now, the Eye is not the type of thing I normally would go for. It’s a manufactured attraction with no particular history (although I was shocked to realize that of course it’s celebrating its tenth anniversary – remember when it was called the Millennium Wheel?). Also, it’s not cheap, although you can save money by booking tickets online and purchasing them for the entire family. It’s likely to have a long line, especially during the height of tourist season, which is when we’ll be there. And finally there’s the fact that the London skyline isn’t exactly one of the world’s greatest, hardly worth the trouble for a view of it. But I completely understand the appeal to the kids – what child in his or her right mind wouldn’t want to ride on the world’s tallest Ferris, er, observational wheel?

Also, since the boys are going to get their fill of churches, museums, and historic sites on this trip, I’d like to let them pick one attraction that’s all about pure frivolity. I’m thinking I’ll plan our visit to the Eye toward the end of our London trip. We went to the Eiffel Tower on our last day in Paris when the boys had a real sense of ownership of the city and it was really fun for them to pick out landmarks we had visited. Today I’m dreaming of their excitement and wonder as we rise high above Big Ben.

On another note, I’m also of dreaming that my planning for our England trip is done. Because frankly, I haven’t really started it yet and it’s weighing on my mind since we leave in 36 days. And typing that sentence just made me realize that’s in 5 weeks. Yikes! Time to get serious. Guess you’ll be seeing some travel planning posts coming up.

What are your Monday Dreams? Today is a holiday in the United States and if you’re anywhere near your computer I commend you and hope that you’ll share using the form below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

Before our recent trip to Los Angeles I was contacted by Smart Destinations and offered a chance to test drive their Go Cards, which offer free admission to 40 different attractions and museums. I was intrigued by the idea of making one purchase and then having free admission to a number of museums and attractions.

What these cards offer is a certain amount of flexibility. I know that they would make me likely to check a museum or attraction out, even if it’s just for an hour, because I wouldn’t be worried about “wasting” the admission fee. In situations where there are three or four things you’d like to see that charge admission, are close to each other, and don’t take a lot of time to experience, the cards can save you money. They can also work if you’ve got one day where you visit one very expensive day-long activity and then spend the next visiting a couple of attractions, although the savings may not be huge. For example, in Los Angeles, you could purchase 2-Day Go Cards for a family of four for $340. If you spent one day at LEGOLand and then the next day visiting the Los Angeles Zoo and the Autry National Center of The American West (which are across the street from each other in Griffith Park) and then made the relatively easy drive down to the Hollywood Museum, by my calculation you’d save about $30. Obviously, the more you manage to pack into each day, the more you save. But in a city like Los Angeles, which is really spread out, this can be difficult to do.

You might also lose money if you find that your children are too tired or overwhelmed to take in more than one thing. We used our Go Cards to get into the Aquarium of the Pacific. I had thought that we’d also see the Queen Mary and maybe take a Long Beach Harbor Cruise – the cards offered admission to both. But the boys were so tired that we ended up having lunch, walking around the Long Beach waterfront, and calling it a day. If we had purchased the cards, we would have spent $220 just to go to the aquarium. And the tally for the three things I wanted to do was only $183, so the card would only have made sense if we’d also used it to perhaps do something that evening like visit the Santa Monica Pier where we could have ridden the rides at Pacific Park for free. On a different day we might have been able to do all of these things, but even if the kids weren’t exhausted it still would have been a lot to pack in.

For this reason I think that single-day cards don’t make sense for families with very young children (whose admission to museums and attractions may be free anyway) or on trips where jet lag is likely to be a big factor.

You’ll also want to make sure that the attractions you want to see are included with the Go Card; the Smart Destinations website makes this clear; the cards themselves also come with a booklet listing the included attractions. Obviously they are only a value if they get you into the things you want to do anyway. And if you’re not the type of person to do advance planning, they may not be the best investment for you, as my experience shows I think the best way to use them efficiently is to know at least roughly what you will do each day.

With all that said, I will definitely take a look at these cards when I’m planning future trips because now that the boys are getting older we do tend to fit more things into a day than in the past. However, I will be careful to compare prices and make a plan of what I realistically think we can see and do before I make a purchase. Smart Destinations sells cards in 14 locations in the United States and Canada; in some cities (New York and Boston included) they offer what they call an Explorer Pass. Unlike the Go Cards, which are good for admission to dozens of attractions but are limited to a certain time period, Explorer Passes let you purchase admission for anywhere from 3 to 10 specific attractions or museums and gives you 30 full days to see them – you can even customize which ones. If you’ve got three things you know you want to do (for example, in Boston we’d definitely do the Fenway Park Tour, the Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium), the Explorer Passs could offer both savings and flexibility in terms of when you did what.

Looking for more travel planning tips? Check out this opportunity to download some free travel books – and help donate money to spread clean drinking while you do it. I’d also like to remind you that this week I’m offering a chance for one lucky reader to win a family vacation package in San Antonio, Texas. It’s super easy to enter, I promise. See this post for details.

Smart Destinations provided each member of my family with one 1-Day Go Los Angeles Card, with a combined value of $220.

One of the things I’ve learned about traveling with kids is that it’s very important to do a thorough cost-benefit analysis when making decisions about things like whether to pay extra for the hotel suite where you are separated from your children for the blissful five hours that they sleep by an actual door or whether to drop twenty dollars on a taxi that will get you to your destination faster than the city bus that you would surely take if you weren’t hauling around a stroller, a sticky backpack, and a whiny child. When Teddy and I were invited on the Jet Adventure trip to the Bahamas I had to make just such a decision, choosing whether or not I wanted to spring for a hotel room near the airport the night before we left. Since they wanted us at JFK Airport by 7 a.m., and since it’s a two-and-a-half hour drive from our house, I decided it was worth the money to stay over.

Yes, technically, we could have gotten up at 4, driven to a long-term parking lot, and been there in plenty of time. But I guarantee you that by the time our plane touched down in the Bahamas my eye would have been twitching and Teddy would have been a humid wreck. So instead, we left early on Friday afternoon so as to avoid rush hour traffic, and made our leisurely way to the end of the earth through three of New York’s five boroughs.

If you’re flying out of JFK Airport and have an early morning flight, I highly recommend that you stay at the Fairfield Inn on Rockaway Boulevard. Why? The rooms are immaculate and the beds comfortable – in fact, dare I say luxurious? A few more bonus points: there is free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel and the restaurant serves food that is reasonably edible. More importantly, it has a full bar. (Which you will need to avail yourself of after driving to the end of the earth on the horror that is the Van Wyck Expressway. But I digress.) And I was able to find a room for less than $125.

I was seriously impressed by this hotel, which has a friendly and welcoming staff and is quiet as a tomb. This latter is particularly surprising given that it is only five minutes from the airport. Teddy and I slept well and after availing ourselves of the free 24-hour shuttle, which dropped us right at the terminal, were rested and more than ready to swim with the dolphins at the Atlantis Resort when we arrived later in the day. Much more so than if I had gotten us up at 4 a.m. and driven all the way from Delaware. Yes I would have saved a little money had I done so, but I know from experience that I would have sacrificed that first afternoon and evening of fun. Not. Worth. It.

And while I’m at it, let me also recommend AirPark as the place to put your car if you will be leaving it at JFK while you travel. For one thing, it’s two blocks from the Fairfield Inn – Teddy and I dropped our luggage off, then went and parked the car, returning on foot. I wouldn’t say the walk was the most pleasant I’ve ever been on (and I wouldn’t want to do it in the dark) but there was sidewalk the entire way and it wasn’t unsafe.

Better yet, when we came back to New York, tired and cold after our days of fun in the sun, the staff at AirPark went out of their way to make our return a pleasant one. Although they were busy, they picked us up within ten minutes of my call. When the shuttle pulled into the parking lot, my car was out front, engine running so that it was nice and warm. We were two hours past the time I had dropped the car off, but the nice man working at the counter took that time off without being asked, charging me only for four days instead of five.

And I have to say, small details and a little expense make all the difference around the margins when you’re traveling with kids. I had put Teddy in his pajamas at the airport and bought him a snack that he ate while we waited for our luggage. It made things so easy to put him in his carseat in a warm car and speed him back to Delaware – he was asleep before we even hit Staten Island. And so our trip ended on a happy and positive note, even if I did have to drive on the Van Wyck for the second time in a week.

Please note that although I both my flight and the trip to the Bahamas were paid for by JetBlue, LEGO, and the Atlantis Resort, I covered the costs of both my hotel in New York and parking my car while we were away and was in no way compensated for this review.

Today I’m reviving my long-abandoned habit of sharing some of my planning for upcoming trips. If you’re like me you know that often half the fun of travel lies in the preparation, which is of course platonic in that it is completely devoid of whining, super-early mornings, illness, and the unexpected that accompanies any trip with children.

We’ll have three full days in L.A., one of them the day we arrive (our flight gets in at 9:30 in the morning). Since we’re mostly going to visit with family who live in Rancho Palos Verdes, I’ve already planned some expeditions out that way including a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific and (possibly) a whale-watching boat ride. But the third day of our trip is open and I’m trying to decide what to do. You may recall that Matt, Tommy, and I spent three months in Los Angeles six years ago and during that time we had many far-flung favorite haunts including Travel Town and the Los Angeles Zoo, both in Griffiths Park; Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier; and the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino.

With one day, and so much to choose from, it’s difficult to narrow down our plans. But per usual I think I’m going to let the children’s interests be the driving force behind our itinerary. Right now I’m leaning toward a trip downtown to the Miracle Mile area on Wilshire Boulevard. This is a great area with lots to see – my thinking is that we can drive there, park, and then let the children’s moods and interests dictate what we do.

I’m pretty sure that Teddy will want to see dinosaurs being excavated at the La Brea Tar Pits and see the fossils on display at the Page Museum.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is also nearby and that should be fun for all of us. Not only are there lots of cool antique cars to see there, they currently have an exhibit called “The Sounds of Speed” exploring the relationship between cars and music – I can’t wait to see some of the album covers on display (should also be fun to explain to the boys what an “album” and a “record” are).

And if we’re feeling in an artistic mood, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is right there as well. Among the exhibits that I think the boys would like is “American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915″ – sounds perfect for Tommy, who is a real history buff. They also have a new children’s gallery where we can learn about brush painting and Korean art.

For lunch or a snack, we’ll head a few blocks away to the Farmers Market, a great place to just wander around and gawk, to say nothing of eating, much like the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

In addition to our itinerary, there are some logistics for me to consider on this trip. Matt will already be in California for business, so the boys and I will be flying solo to meet him. I’ve done day-long drives with the two of them but I’ve never flown with them both alone before. Since our flight is at 6:30 in the morning and since I’d like to have a full day of swimming and whale watching when we arrive, I’m thinking of getting a hotel room at the Philadelphia Airport the night before we leave. I think it will be worth the expense to get the trip off to a smooth start.

The boys and I will be picking up a rental car at LAX, and I’m thankful that I did spend a lot of time driving all over Los Angeles when we stayed there – it makes me marginally less intimidated about doing so. I’m trying to decide whether to check the boys’ booster seats at the desk or bring them to the gate.

And finally there’s the matter of Easter. Rather than haul along the boys’ baskets I think I’m going to get them each a chocolate bunny and write a note from the Easter Bunny explaining that their other goodies were delivered to our house and will be waiting for them when we return. We are planning to go to church on Easter Sunday at All Saints Pasadena, which is where we attended when we lived there. Then it will be off to Phoenix to see Grandma and Grandpa. Should be a busy and fun couple of days.

So what about you lovely people – any suggestions for Los Angeles? Got any of your own plans going on right now? Please share!

Photo of palm trees courtesy of tiarescott via Flickr.

Photo of La Brea Tar Pits courtesy of notaboutwill via Flickr.

Photo of Farmers Market courtesy of _e.t. via Flickr.

The other day I was sorting through some old papers of my mother’s and I found this picture taken for my very first passport when I was not quite nine years old. I don’t remember having it taken and was surprised to see that I’m not wearing my glasses – perhaps the thinking was that my face needed to be visible? I love how expectant I look in this picture, ready for what lay ahead. I no longer have the passport itself, which bore only two stamps – Italy and the United States. It was to be over ten years before I took a foreign trip again, as a junior in college. But this little girl looks to me like she’s ready for anything.

It’s possible that this photo is a reject and that the one in my actual passport was different. If you’ve ever taken a very young child to have their passport photos taken, you know it can be a tricky business. Their heads are small and it can be hard to get positioned properly so that the powers that be will accept them. And of course even the most beautiful child can be turned into a washed-out thug by the lighting and the screen they are sitting in front of. (See this post if you don’t believe me.)

I like to pull out all our passports occasionally and look at the stamps in them, fingering the visa that let me get into India, remembering that early morning in Heathrow when a kind agent saw baby Tommy and let us move to the front of a monstrous line and where the young man who imprinted our three little blue books said a cheerful “alright then!” releasing us to the embrace of a black cab and London rush hour traffic. After our trip to England this summer I’ll have to get mine renewed, and even though I’ve got no immediate plans to travel overseas I’m going to do so right away.

Even when I have no foreign travel planned, I will always have valid passports for everyone in my family. Because to me a valid passport is the heart of all travel dreams, representing possibility, adventure, and the unknown. On a gray, cold March morning I love knowing that if I wanted to I could pick up the boys from school, drive forty minutes to the airport, and fly us to Aix or Capri or Buenos Aires or Bali. I know we won’t be eating sushi under the cherry blossoms in Kyoto this spring, but I love knowing that we could should the opportunity present itself.

What are your Monday dreams? Please feel free to share a link to your own inspiration below, making sure you link directly to your post, not your site’s homepage and that you link back to this post. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

If you’ve never visited Trekaroo, I recommend you get yourself to this fun and friendly website that’s all about family travel. You can browse reviews of things to do with kids written by other parents, get tips on traveling with kids, and even book your trip. Sign up for your own “passport” page and bookmark items from the site or write reviews yourself (check out my passport here). Another fun feature is the ability to make and share lists of activities.

Like any website worth its salt these days, they also have a blog, and here you’ll find the KidsMobile, which “stops” every week in a different city offering lists and tips from parent bloggers who’ve been there, done that, and likely written about it. This week the city is Philadelphia, and I was lucky enough to join with some other great writers to share my insider suggestions. So without further ado, here’s the full KidsMobile post. If you’re looking for great things to do in Philly with your family, look no further than these lists!

Trekaroo families have voted and this is where the cards fell for 2009:

Top Activities for Kids in Philadelphia – voted by parents

Best Kid-friendly Hotels in Philadelphia – voted by parents

Some of our star Philadelphia families are some fun-loving mom bloggers and they’ve assembled their list of recommendations that no visiting or local families should miss.

Mara brings you her list of Off the Beaten Path Kid Activities in Philadelphia. This mom got bit by the travel bug early in life and has not stopped traveling even after having two boys, now 4 and 7. In fact, when their eldest was just one, they visited 6 states, 3 countries and 2 continents. Read about their family’s adventures and admire her wonderful photos on Mother of all Trips

Lynn, a Philly mom of a tween and a teen, knows exactly where to head to keep them engaged and excited. Here’s her family’s list of favorite Teen-friendly Activities in Philadelphia. Lynn is the mom behind For Love Or Funny where she keeps a light-hearted view of life as a parent. Amidst her humor are some gems of wisdom.

Heading to Philly with young kids? Melissa is your go to mom with her list of Top 10 Things to Do in Philly with Young Kids. Melissa is the voice behind Girlymama where she brings us the inside scoop about products that young moms would be interested in. From shoes to food to places to visit, Girlymama will tell you what she thinks and give you opportunities to win some trendy fashion and gear.

Linda has a wonderful guide for visiting Historic Philadelphia by foot with Kids. This is a mom extraordinaire who has traveled through big and small towns all the country with her 4 kids. If you need advice about how to have a lifestyle of travel with a large family, she’s your go-to gal. Follow her adventures on her fantastic blog: Travels With Children

Amie O’Shaughnessy of Ciao Bambino brings us some Phildelphia: 5 Kids-friendly Activities. Ciao Bambino is a one of Trekaroo’s favorite partners because we share a common passion – inspiring families to travel. Ciao Bambino provides vetted reviews of the best accommodations when traveling with children of all ages around the world.

Other Philadelphia Resources:

• 135 Activities for Kids Around Philadelphia
• Kid-friendly Hotels in Philadelphia
• Best Attractions for Kids Who Love Trains in Pennsylvania

Next stop, the city where the First Family resides – Washington DC.

The Trekaroo KidsMobile is a blog carnival with a twist. It’s designed to provide a unique opportunity for mom and dad bloggers to be featured on Trekaroo while

1) expressing their unique point of view

2) getting a web of link exchanges.

Join us for one of our next stopovers.

Today I’m thrilled to publish a guest post by Amie O’Shaughnessy, the editor of Ciao Bambino, a family travel blog and worldwide guide to the best, family-friendly properties (if you haven’t checked out her site, you should – it’s both helpful and gorgeous). Here she offers suggestions for finding places to stay with children in Europe.

Amie lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and 6-year-old son. You can also find her on Twitter: @CiaoBambino.

Researching where to stay with kids in Europe is a daunting task. I understand this issue first-hand—my frustration around finding reliable family-friendly accommodations in Europe is what inspired me to launch Ciao Bambino when my son was a baby.

Initially, Ciao Bambino offered trip planning consulting services to families traveling to Italy and France with young children. The key value we provided to our clients was the fact that we personally scouted all of what we recommended. This process was valuable because not only did we explore and learn about the wide variety of accommodation categories available, but we also experienced what works for different families … knowing that what works well for some may not work well for others and so on.

Where you will be spending time determines the variety of options that will be available and what you can expect in terms of family-friendly amenities.

Cities

In many European cities finding a hotel that is kid-friendly is particularly challenging because the hotel rooms in historical city centers are smaller. As a consequence, our standard “two double beds” in a single room is difficult to find. This means that even if you want to stay the same room with your kids—you may not be able to find one that easily accommodations four or more people without getting a suite or connecting rooms. Unfortunately, for budget-conscious travelers (pretty much everyone right now), the fact that you need a suite or two rooms drives up pricing.

The trick is to find a property with room configurations that works at a viable price point for your budget.

Apartments can be a good option, but there are some distinct downsides:

1) Many apartments have longer stay requirements (4 or more days).

2) It’s harder to verify quality with a standalone apartment vs. a hotel-type property where you can easily research user reviews. When we planned trips for families, the only consistent nightmares were with apartment rentals.

3) Most stand-alone apartments do not have a concierge service and/or someone that can help you get around, make reservations etc. In a foreign city where you don’t speak the language, this can be very useful.

Equally important for families (particularly those with young children) is location. Walking is tightly integrated in day-to-day life in Europe and it’s fun to walk to restaurants and sights, not to mention taxis are expensive and public transportation is crowded.

In larger cities, it is impossible to be walking distance from every appealing tourist attraction, but you can opt for something that is near at least a few of them and appealing restaurants/shops.

Kid-focused amenities like arrival gifts in cities are nice, but at the end of the day these treats are not what make a property the best option for a given stay (noting that the presence of arrival gifts is a good indicator that kids are genuinely welcome).

The reality is that in a city, you won’t be spending much time in your room. A pool can be a nice perk for sightseeing breaks, although typical properties that have pools in cities are the high-end options and they will be much more expensive.

If you have young children and want to skip bringing a pack-and-play with you, it’s essential that you confirm your hotel can provide one at the time of reservation. This is particularly important for rentals. I get weekly emails from families that have booked an apartment and realize after the fact that the owner cannot provide a crib.

There is an increasing number of apart-hotel type properties in European cities where you have apartment amenities (kitchen and living space) combined with hotel services (housekeeping and a concierge). These properties are ideal for families!

Countryside

Particularly from March-October, the countryside is fabulous venue for families with room for kids to roam. Open space and amenities like swimming pools make it easy to combine sports and playtime with sightseeing—the optimal combination to keep kids happy and engaged. Given that most European families have 5-6 weeks of holiday per year, it’s easy to find “self-catering” accommodations in the countryside.

The planning challenge here is differentiating between all the options to ensure you find the desired quality level in a location that makes it easy to do day trips.

For me, finding a countryside home-base with appealing outdoor spaces for relaxing is essential. I’m pickier than most people about this—I like some kind of flat grass, pristine views, and comfortable seating. Also, there is a wide spectrum of amenities at countryside resorts. Some are more independent in spirit with only a swimming pool as the common space, and others have full facilities with kids clubs, fitness rooms, spas, restaurants etc.

The key is to figure out an overall plan for how you want to spend your days to determine if more extensive amenities are important. Ciao Bambino’s property guide lets users search on kids clubs and pools, in addition to our age-appropriate rating—it’s easy to create a short list of options.

There are so many fantastic places to experience with kids in Europe. It’s no secret that I have an Italy bias—I love the culture, food, and scenery for families. In addition, the extensive tourist infrastructure in places like Tuscany make travel comfortable and easy with kids.

I’ve helped hundreds of families with children of all ages visit Italy and I have to say that there was not one client that returned and wouldn’t do it all over again in a heartbeat. Sure there are travel war stories but the pleasure far outweighs any pain!

Today is my 39th birthday. More significantly for my readers perhaps is the fact that tomorrow, June 16th will mark the one-year anniversary of this blog. I started The Mother of All Trips for several reasons: to take the sting out of the many rejections of my book manuscript by publishing something, even if I had to do it myself; to share the story of our family trips last summer to Paris and Vermont; to offer some advice to other parents; and to bring some discipline to my writing life (I’ve always been someone who did better with a deadline).

Although at times I’ve been overwhelmed by my own ambition – I certainly have had enough ideas to post every day, if not the stamina or time to do so routinely – creating this blog has been a labor of love of which I have enjoyed pretty much every second.

But when I look at the reasons I started blogging they seem a little selfish. That’s because I was unaware at the time what a wonderful and varied community I was joining by becoming a family-travel blogger. I thank these friends and fellow travelers for all of the good examples, support, and wise advice they have offered me. Interacting with them here, on their blogs, on Twitter and Facebook, I have come to realize that they are a rare group of individuals. Fearless and fun, creative and curious, they care about the world in all of its splendor and chaos and seek to share it with their children and their readers. I can only hope that their passion and insight have worn off on me.  And as I’ve read their blogs and written my own posts over this past year, I have come to realize that the real reason I blog about travel, in fact the real reason I travel with my children, is because I want us all to be aware of the variety and the beauty and the potential that this planet holds and of our connectedness to every other place and person.

So now that I’ve marked these milestones, what lies ahead? It seems logical that as I enter my 40th year on this earth, I am dreaming of trips not yet taken. These include:

A junket to the Pacific Northwest. I’d like to take at least a month and start in San Francisco (which it seems inconceivable to me that I haven’t visited) working our way through northern California to Portland, Seattle, and maybe even eventually Vancouver. Along the way we’d pay visits to many blogger friends – there must be something in the water out there, because there are so many who live in that neck of the woods.

A voyage to Australia (ideally via Hawaii) where I’m proud to say I now have several dear friends thanks to the beauty of the Internet. I would like to meet these people in person and see everything from the beaches to the wine country.

A return to Paris, which I think must have been my home in a previous life, it feels so comfortable and natural for me to spend time there. One of my great joys is that my children share that sentiment.

A number of places I’ve dreamed of before and a few new ones: Japan, South Africa, Bali, the Alps (Swiss and Italian), Spain, Provence, India, Norway, the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, Thailand…the list goes on and on.

And finally, the journey into becoming a full-time writer. This week marks a new beginning for me, as I left my part-time job as an editor (and as wonderful a group of coworkers as anyone could hope to have) and will now be dedicating myself to freelance writing. I would be lying if I didn’t say that this was a little scary. Although I have a degree in creative writing, I’ve always had a hard time replying with the words “I’m a writer” when someone asks me what I do. Now, for better or worse, I won’t have any excuse to offer a different response. I’m especially looking forward to telling people this is what I do when I attend the BlogHer Conference in Chicago in July – and I can’t wait to meet many of my online friends there as well.

And of course, I’ll keep blogging about it all, hopefully a bit more often than I have been able to in the past. I invite you all to travel with me. And if you choose, feel free to share your own Monday dreams below.

Oh, and two more things – the photos are a couple I like from France. For no reason other than that it’s my birthday and France makes me happy. And about that travel blogging community – you might want to visit some of their blogs using the list on the right-hand side of my blog. It will be time well-spent, I promise.

I’ve never talked much on this blog about money or budgets, but with the economy being in the state it’s in, and with everyone talking and writing about staying home this summer, I’m feeling the need to do so. Not because it’s trendy but because I realize that anything I can do to show families the value of travel – and how to do it less expensively – will help keep more of them traveling, which is of course one of the goals of this blog.

Which also means it’s true confession time: Part of why I don’t talk about budgets is that I don’t usually have one.

Now mind you, this isn’t because I’m fabulously rich. I certainly SHOULD have a budget. And before we leave home I’m usually more frugal – I can find a discount plane fare or a good hotel rate. It’s just that once we’re actually on the road I don’t do so well. My brain tends to do this funny thing when I travel, what I like to call going into vacation mode. You know how they say that if no one sees you eat that big dish of ice cream right before bed the calories don’t count? Well I’m kind of like that about travel budgeting: I’m on vacation, so any money I spend is from a Monopoly game. It’s vacation money! Not real money!

This does not mean we stay in luxury hotels or throw money away on 4-star meals that the kids don’t eat. But I’m not one to pass up a chance to spend big bucks on local honey at a farmer’s market or a cool t-shirt at the science museum, to say nothing of a wonderful lunch for all four of us at some great bakery. And then there’s the daily helping of artisanal ice cream and a nice bottle of wine for Matt and I to enjoy once we’ve piled the kids into bed….And before you know it, any semblance of a budget is out the window.

But I am resolved that our road trip at the beginning of this summer will be different. I’m actually going to keep track of what we spend. I might even think about setting a daily budget and trying to stick to it. We’re also going to save money by staying with family and friends and I’m going to see what I can do to keep all expenses at a minimum. I will of course share any insights or tips I come up with here.

And most importantly of all: Matt and I have decided that our entire road trip, which as you can see below will be fairly extensive and will cover several thousand miles, will be conducted at speeds of under 60 miles per hour. That’s right – we’re going to save money (and the environment in our own modest way) by slowing down. Maybe I’ll even get real math-y and try to figure out just how many gallons of gas (and how much money) we’ll save overall by doing this.

I’ll have more details next week about just where we’ll be going on this trip (which will be taking place at the end of June) and what sights I hope for us to see, but our path will roughly be this:

1. Drive across PA, OH, IN, and IL to reach southern WI
2. A nice long visit with family in Wisconsin
3. Drive from Wisconsin to Kansas City to see friends
4. Kansas City to Saint Louis (hopefully to see more friends)
5. Travel home from Saint Louis – somehow. I haven’t decided if we want to take the more northerly or southerly route. It will depend on what we decide we want to see.

All of this seen going at a maximum of 60 mph and blogged about exhaustively of course! If any of you have suggestions for things we shouldn’t miss that lie roughly in the geographic region we’ll be covering, I’d love to hear them.

Photo used courtesy of visual.dichotomy.

I’m a big fan of the Wanderlust and Lipstick website and I recently have been lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Wanderlust and Lipstick:  Traveling With Kids by Leslie Forsberg and Michelle Duffy (who blogs as WanderMom). This guidebook is a companion to the other books published as part of the Wanderlust and Lipstick series (which includes The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo and For Women Traveling to India). It is a great family-travel primer, brimming with stories and good advice.

I really can’t praise Traveling With Kids enough. Here are just a few of the things I especially like:

• The fact that the book covers everything from weekend books to round-the-world travel, treating both with equal weight and respect
• The stories from dozens of traveling moms offering insight and suggestions.
• The numerous and specific suggestions about what to pack – and the fact that the book gently encourages parents of babies and toddlers to rethink bringing all that gear.
• Helpful Hot Tips, which scattered throughout the text. Some of them are things I’ve already done, but certainly not all. A favorite: “Write down the time and duration of naps your child takes as well as any nighttime wakefulness. You will then have a record of cumulative sleep and can be more confident that your child is adjusting to the new time zone.” I wish I’d thought of that the first time we took Tommy to Europe!
• The chapter about flying with children, one of the most practical, detailed, and realistic selections I’ve read about this topic
• The long list of websites at the end. I thought I knew the online travel world, but I’ve already gone in and bookmarked a bunch of new resources that I know are going to come in very handy.

Most of all, I like the tone of the book – understanding, wise, generous, and inspirational. Reading it is like talking to a friend who knows you well, has been everywhere, and has all kinds of practical, realistic, and nonjudgmental advice to offer. Like the fact that it’s OK and possibly necessary to occasionally purchase fast food even in exotic locales (which made me feel a whole lot better about the fact that I gave Tommy McDonald’s French fries in the train station in Florence, Italy). The premise of the book, outlined beautifully in the first chapter, is that traveling with our children in any capacity is an important way to shape them as global citizens  and to encourage their curiosity and wonder. Every suggestion the book contains is made with this in mind and it is therefore full of thoughtful suggestions for making family travel more meaningful. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book about traveling with kids that talked about how to help children integrate their experience into their lives once the trip is over, but this book has an entire chapter dedicated to returning home.

This book should be considered an essential purchase for anyone who is considering traveling with their children and has never done so. It would also make a fantastic shower gift for a traveling mom-to-be (one of the sections deals with traveling while pregnant and there are loads practical tips about traveling with babies and toddlers). And it’s a great refresher course for those of us who have traveled with new information for even the most experienced travelers. I lost track of how often I found myself exclaiming “now why haven’t I tried that?” while I read it.

You can purchase the book at Amazon, but I also have an extra copy to give away! To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment below saying why you want the book and what you might use it for. And I’ll give anyone who mentions the drawing on Twitter an extra entry for each tweet. The contest closes at midnight EST on Tuesday, May 12^th.