Tips for Traveling with Kids - From a Practical Mom: Part 2

Okay, not every vacation revolves around a character, and my practical best friend and mother of 4 knows that. She also can’t afford for every trip they take to be a big blow-out, so they take day trips as well. Last week I gave you her tips for Disney and theme parks in general, but we’re switching gears with her tips this time. If you guys are outdoorsy and love nature, then national parks are where it’s at. Go hiking, see cool rock formations, check out caves and more. Kids love that stuff and it’s fairly cheap. We made a day out of it and had a great time when we vacationed together last week. Make sure you bring snacks and things for the kids to do in the car.

Buy a national parks yearly pass. You can get a yearly pass for just $80 and use it for entry at all national parks all year long. Sounds expensive, you say? Well, if you plan to visit at least 3-4 parks a year, it is already saving you money. In fact, most parks have a $25 entry fee (per car), but some are even more. The Grand Canyon cost $40 when we looked recently, so just two trips there would cost you the whole amount of a yearly pass.

Buy a national parks passport. For just $8.95 per book, you have an excellent way to collect souvenirs from each park you visit. Make sure you stop by the visitor’s center to pick yours up and then get it stamped at each location. This is a wonderful thing for kids to do, because it teaches them about travel and each book tells you facts about every national park you can visit. Stamps are free. They also have a sticker available at each park that you can buy, or you can do what Lydia does and buy a pack of stickers they sell in the gift center and let the kids pick out which one they want and use the leftovers for scrapbooking. The stickers come in packs of 9 (3 of each kind) and run about the same as the individual sticker they sell specifically for the passport.

Become a Junior Ranger. Another awesome activity for your kids to do is to get involved in the Junior Rangers. It’s free and each location has a book of activities for them to complete that teach them important lessons about the environment and the area the park is located in. We visited Bryce Canyon and the questions were all about plateaus and rock formations. The children watched a movie to get the answers, answered other questions found in the packet and then picked up litter to complete their ranger training. At the end they had a real park ranger have them repeat the Junior Ranger oath and then they received a free pin (some have patches). Not only did they learn some cool stuff, but they also got a free souvenir out of the experience and had a fantastic time.

Go hiking. Yup. You’re in this awesome wilderness with hiking trails and amazing views. Strap on some comfortable shoes, grab some water and snacks and get going. It’s a great way to get exercise and also let the kids get out all their energy. Cap off the day with a picnic or a stop at a fun restaurant on the way home and you’ve had a full and fun outing. We picked Chili’s, mostly because it’s family-friendly, the adults all wanted to eat there (neither of us have one near where we live) and it was a little too cold out for a picnic.

Invest in a baby backpack (or sling or carrier). If you have a baby in amongst your kids, don’t give up on ever going anywhere until they’re old enough to walk. Depending on how hard-core you are when hiking, get yourself the appropriate baby carrying equipment. Lydia has both a folding hiking backpack for the baby and a front carrier for their little one. Strap it on and go. Just make sure to bring a change of clothes (possibly for both of you), some spare diapers and you’ll be prepared for whatever happens on your walk. It’s great to start them early and it gets you all out of the house without having to figure out how to get the stroller down the hill.

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Do you have a national parks pass for your family?

Tips for Traveling with Kids - From a Practical Mom

Last week I went to St. George to see my best friend for 20+ years, Lydia, her husband (who I’ve known forever, too) and her kids. It was our compromise for a meeting place, since she lives far from a reasonably convenient airport and having to fly with 3 children and a baby is not cheap. They drove 3-4 hours and we flew into Vegas and drove 2 hours to meet them. Considering the rental company was out of compacts and we were upgraded (for free!) to a Crown Victoria, the ride was pretty cushy. We spent a lot of time driving around in their van, so we had plenty of time to talk about traveling and some great budget tips that didn’t include “leave your kids at home”.

Being a single-income family, they can find it hard to get away often, but they tend to find the time, energy and money to do it more than a lot of families I know and not because they are using credit cards they can’t afford to pay off or sleeping in their van on the side of the road. To let you in on the big picture, Lydia has 4 children, aged 3 months to 9, a (sometimes more than) full-time job, a dog, coaches the soccer team her girls play on, teaches Sunday school and always has a house full of her children’s friends. So, she doesn’t have even as much time as other parents and still makes time for all the family time she can.

She and I are big researchers and planners, so we get each other on this whole saving money and still having fun thing. Life isn’t all that fun when your day consists of working, helping with homework, having dinner, going to bed and then getting up and doing it all over again, so she plans as much time as she can away from home doing things the whole family will enjoy. She had some great tips that were new to me and I had some for her. Good trades! To give you idea why I think she’s an authority of family travel, she says they can do 4 days at Disney (including meals, park passes and hotel) for around $1300. They don’t fly, because they live somewhat close, so they do save on airfare. Now, I know couples that can’t figure out how to stick within that kind of budget. There are FIVE of them (we won’t count the baby yet, because they won’t have to pay for him for a few years), so I believe if they can do it, then those with fewer children can do it, too.

Buy Disney t-shirts. This is a smarty pants idea. Go to your local discount store, like Target, and pick up a cheap Disney tee for each of your kids, then get some fabric pens. Instead of buying $10 autograph books at the parks, you can have the characters sign the shirts. It’s a souvenir and also won’t be thrown in a corner and forgotten once they get home. Lydia says the best ones to get are the 50/50 poly-cotton blends, since they don’t shrink and tend to be more fade resistant.

Buy pins on ebay. Are your kids all into the pin-trading fad? Try to avoid spending gobs of money at the parks on new pins and get a bunch of pins in a lot on ebay. Get 30 for $30 or similar, so you are getting a bunch for way cheap, and dole them out among your little ones for them to trade to their heart’s content. (Make sure they SAY Disney on them, though, or they won’t be able to.) Some cast members will only trade with kids and they can also get rare and limited pins this way. You can also trade with other pin owners.

Bring your own snacks. I’ve told you this as someone who does it, but now you know I’m not the only one who relies on this as a way to save money. They basically make sandwiches the morning before they leave for lunches and only eat one meal in the park if possible. This way they save big each day by cutting out a big chunk of cost. I mean, dining for five can really add up! Another great snack tip is to buy the thing that comes in a souvenir bucket (usually popcorn) and then make your own popcorn to bring with you every other day you go back. That way you have a souvenir and also a cheap snack.

Stay off-property. Another thing I always recommend because think of what you can do with the difference in cost between staying at the Disney hotels (~$250/night) compared to a regular hotel (~$70/night). That can pay for food for several days. They like to stay at one of the parks across the street from Disney, so if they get tired or hungry, they can easily go back for something to eat or a nap.

Take naps! Like I just said, staying close makes it easier to go back to the room for a nap. If your kids have a regular nap routine, you can’t expect them to not be totally crabby my mid-day if they don’t get one. Naps are good for adults, too, and you actually end up doing more when you take time out to rest, because you’re refreshed and can make decisions and not hate the world because you’ve been up for 10 hours and it’s only 3pm. Also, those around you don’t want to be witness to your child’s total meltdown in line for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride either.

We'll continue with her non-theme park travel tips in our next post. Do you have any creative budget tips for visiting theme parks with your kids?

The Sweet Side of Travel 3.14.12

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It’s Girl Scout Week and with GS cookies being one of those things we sometimes look forward to all year long, it got me thinking, as it always does, about desserts when I travel. Of course you can prolong cookie season by freezing your boxes and savoring them throughout the year, like as a snack for travel, but how many of us either forget they are in there altogether or just say “Eff it!” and eat them all a week later? Well, short of buying more or working on our willpower, I think that we should fill in those sad, cookieless months with other sweets that can be found all year round.

And don’t get mad at me for playing off your cravings and encouraging you to eat things you are trying to avoid, because we all know that calories don’t count on vacation and all that walking you should be doing when you sightsee and explore a new destination should be working in your favor when you’ve given up and just go for the chocolate cake (or anything else that sounds good). Here are some of my most loved sweets to get you started:

One of my favorite desserts is tiramisu. I love it! I want to eat it everywhere, but there are so many ways to make it, it’s one of those sweet endings that you are never sure what you’re going to get. I’ve had it where it was so soaked with alcohol I could barely eat it and also where it was so bland and still a bit frozen that it was also hard to finish. I would love to make it to Italy to sample some traditionally made tiramisu. What better way to follow up a heavenly dessert than with a visit to St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice? The Byzantine church that sits in St. Mark’s Square is free to enter and is full of amazing mosaics. 40,000 square feet of mosaics to be approximate. That’s a lot of stuff to look at for free!

Sticky toffee pudding is another delicious concoction, which I have had the pleasure of trying several times in London. Pudding is a term for a dessert, so sticky toffee pudding is actually a cake, soaked in a caramelly toffee sauce. It’s not a sophisticated-looking dessert, but it’s something you should try at least once. Pair it with a cup of coffee and you won’t feel so much like your teeth will fall out (if you aren’t used to super sweet dishes). Follow up your dinner and dessert with a themed walk from London Walks. Choose from a variety of walks, like the London Ghost Walk, Hidden Pubs of Old London Walk, the Ancient City at Night Walk and more. Not only that, but London Walks are affordable and you never have to make a reservation. Find where your preferred walk starts, get there 15 minutes early and give the guide your money (Approx. $15 per person).

Try a bit more savory dessert with a flaky, sticky and crunchy piece of baklava. It is one of those meal-enders that satisfies many. I love honey and nuts, but I enjoy that it can be made with pretty much any nut you love. My favorite is a baklava made with pistachios, instead of the more common use of walnuts, but when I get to Greece, I’ll be eating as much as I can handle, because even though my Greek in-laws make a killer baklava, I’m pretty sure nothing can compare to having it in a Greek restaurant or pastry shop that have been using the same recipe for hundreds of years. Once you’ve stuffed your face full of sticky goodness in Athens, then go explore the Acropolis and Parthenon. For just around $15 per person, you can wander the ruins and learn about the history of the site.

A Tortuga rum cake is something in Nassau that everyone will suggest you try for dessert – or even a snack. Made from Tortuga rum (but can also be made with Bacardi, if made from scratch), these tasty cakes come in many flavors: plain with walnuts, pineapple, chocolate, coconut, banana, key lime, orange, coffee and cinnamon raisin. These cakes are light, moist and a bit boozy. They make a great ending to lunch or dinner as well as gifts to bring home to loved ones. You can walk off the calories by heading up the street to learn about the history of pirates in the Caribbean with the Pirates of Nassau museum. For just $12 per person, the museum covers everything you would need to know about how pirates came to the islands and how they interacted with the landlubbers and each other. Get educated on famous pirates, like Black Beard and their weapons and rules of the sea.

If these desserts are too tame for you, check out the World's Strangest Desserts according to Travel + Leisure, like the dessert breakfast from Dublin that you see above. Maybe you'll want to change your travel plans in order to try some of these out. 

What are your favorite desserts or where would you like to travel to try them?