Travel
Like The
"Rich and Famous. . ."
Discover How A Pauper
Travels Like A King!
Vacation In Comfort With Kids
by: David Leonhardt
It takes a special person to travel with kids – a
parent. Children
have their own needs. Their idea of a vacation is more "adventurous"
than a parent's. They need constant stimulation and they can get as
tired as they are tiring.
There are many top ten type lists of tips for
traveling with
children: how to ensure they eat well and drink enough, how to dress
them for weather variances, how to provide the stimulation they need,
how to make sure they don't drive off with the family car and leave you
stranded in the Mojave Desert, etc.
This list is how to travel in comfort – without
tying the children to the roof rack -- which hopefully will reduce your
stress.
Make sure you have plenty of room while traveling.
This is easier said than done. On a plane,
everybody is cramped.
On a train, everybody is cramped, although a little less so. On a
bicycle... don't even try it.
If you are driving, get a mini-van. Sure, you
might be more of
a "car" type, and you might have resisted buying a mini-van so far. But
pick up a rental van for the vacation just to give the kids a little
more room for fighting. (Make sure it has a roof rack, just in case.)
Reality check: Cram enough people into a tiny
space and watch
everybody get stressed and enraged. See my humorous but true article on
hippo rage: http://www.thehappyguy.com/hippo-rage.html .
Accommodations along the way can be tricky.
Usually it involves
a cramped motel for just long enough to sleep, then back in the cramped
car (or somewhat cramped mini-van). This is not anybody's idea of a
home away from home.
An accommodation alternative is to camp. When not
sleeping, you
have all the space in the world (unless you have to huddle under the
tarp while the storm passes through). I love camping, but not everyone
enjoys a good early morning wake-up wrestle with a grizzly as much as I
do, so a motel might be required.
Make sure you have plenty of room when you "get
there".
My childhood vacations, often involved wandering
around lost.
Assuming you are actually heading for a destination, make sure to have
lots of room when you get there. This part is easy. But it requires
thinking outside the box. Forget hotels, motels, and inns. Look for
private rental homes.
Probably the biggest destination for families is
Walt Disney
World in Florida. Good news – Orlando, Kissimmee and the surrounding
area is just teeming with private vacation homes for rent. In Florida
they call them vacation villas, and they offer all the space of home
(without having to fix a leaky sink or oil the door hinges or mow the
lawn.) Here are some examples of vacation home rentals in the Disney
area: http://www.lastminutevillas.net/Disney-vacation.html.
Sharon Baillie is a private villa owner in the
Kissimmee area
outside Orlando, just a few miles from Disney World. "Our guests enjoy
the spaciousness of our 6-bedroom home ( http://www.lastminutevillas.net/new5beda1pg1.html
). They love the private pool and the private yard in which they can
relax," she says. "Parents love the space for children to run around
outside, and we leave a box of toys in the garage. So while the parents
rest, the children play – and let their parents rest!"
Be prepared for "children being children" events.
Sometimes, stress hits you from behind when the
unexpected
happens. Like a cut or a scrape ... or a child getting sick. Sharon
Baillie told me that is why she tells all her villa rental guests where
the first aid kit can be found, and exactly where to go for medical
attention. This is particularly helpful for her many guests from abroad
who are unfamiliar with the US healthcare system.
She also makes sure her guests are informed about
local pollen
and viruses in Florida, so that parents can be prepared. Stress is so
much more enjoyable when you are prepared for it, don't you think?
Booking tickets to theme parks and making
reservations for just
about everything in advance, makes the trip less stressful. There is
little more difficult than managing young children while trying to get
into a theme park or show that requires prior booking.
And to prevent wandering around lost, pick up a
AAA Triptik in advance – not that it ever helped us.
Try having your children baby-sat. This might mean
bringing
along a nanny, such as a grand parent (It's a tough job, but somebody
has to do it.). The car might be more crowded, but if you've rented a
spacious home for the week, it could just be doable. The other option
is to hire a local baby-sitter once or twice. Vacation Home owners can
set this up for you, and some hotels might be willing to, too.
So there you have it. Three ways to reduce the
stress of
traveling with kids, so you can actually relax on vacation. After all,
isn't that what vacations are supposed to be about?
Todays Travel Tip
Call the airlines between midnight and 1 a.m. Monday through
Friday to get cheaper tickets. Most people never realize that at
midnight, airline agents revise and load new fares into their trusty
little computers (actually really big computers). The best shot at
rock bottom fares is just after they have done the updating! Check back tomorrow for
another tip.
P.S.
If you have ever wanted to travel like the "rich and famous," here is
your opportunity. The Pauper's Secret Confessions alone, are
worth 10 times the cost of this book. Never take another trip
without being prepared!
