Traveling with Children– Safe and Sane At the Same Time!

I think it’s easier for parents to travel with their children than at any other time previously. For one, there are more amusements and entertainments geared toward children than ever before– not only places to visit, but amusements for children during those long arduous car rides. I remember traveling with my parents as a kid, all 6 of us kids stuffed in the back of a station wagon. The only thing for children to do on long road trips was to either read a book or fight with each other. I would have gladly read books, but doing so made me viciously car sick. So guess what we wound up doing? :-p

There are now a vast array of family vacation ideas and amazing little inventions for travelers, designed especially to keep the parents sane make the children happy while traveling: portable travel games, handheld computer games, cell phones, and even portable DVD players. I like to take a more social stance with my kids– we discuss the historical significance of where we are going (obviously my kids are older), bring doodle pads and markers for scribbling, and some of my kids can read in the car and not turn green! Here are a few time-tested travel tips that have worked for us:

1. Coloring books with WASHABLE markers or colored pencils. I would avoid crayons, because they melt in a hot car and we don’t want a nice little rainbow on the car windows, now do we?

2. Portable games: my kids loved Battleship and checkers. Most portable games are designed to withstand vehicles bouncing over railroad tracks and potholes, but I always warned the kids when bumpy roads were ahead.

3. Social books: Mad-Libs were a favorite! I loved doing these with the kids, and it also sneaked in a little education on nouns, verbs, etc. We also got comic books (Snoopy, Calvin & Hobbes) for short attention spans.

4. Play music or a book on tape. One of my young daughter’s favorite story was Bread and Jam for Frances. We played that tape over and over and OVER again. I heard it in my sleep, even!

5. Frequent stops to interesting places, not just to bathrooms. Sometimes we’d see a historical marker or a beautiful pond, and stop to stretch our legs and enjoy the little discovery. It really makes a difference.

I’d have to say that perhaps the damper in traveling with very young children are the car restraints. When I was young, we didn’t have these– we were free to roam around the back seats, playing leap frog and somersaults all over each other haha. When I look back and think of my poor parents…. oo! But car restraints are hated by children. I don’t know of any child who loves them. And the initial ones that came out in the 80s (when New York State passed its child restraint laws) were hard and uncomfortable! Certainly there have been advances in baby travel gear– I’m amazed at all the toys, baubles, and amusements for babies as well as the plush, cushy car seats, booster seats, and baby backpacks that available today. It can be a tad confusing. It helps to shop around and compare information and reviews. That’s the beauty of the Internet- you can do that online. A good website for this is BabySafeTravel.com. They are essentially a one-stop baby travel shop. They have articles on traveling with baby, a nice boutique, travel tips, baby blogs, and even a way to find a baby-friendly hotel/motel and make your reservations anywhere in the world. They have some excellent tips on traveling with very young children, and choosing a safe and comfortable baby travel seat.

Traveling with babies and children need not drive you insane! It’s easier than ever because we now have tons of accessories, ideas, and safety information at our fingertips!

Help for Traveling With Baby

How the times have changed! When my children were teeny-tiny, it was almost impossible to take them on long trips. Those baby/infant seats must have been so uncomfortable, because all the kids did was howl in them. When we adults traveled, we either left the little ones with a caregiver, or we didn’t travel.

Now, the whole world is open to young families who love to travel! I was looking around at a terrific website geared for kid-friendly travel and saw this:

Nice! It’s a “travelmate” carrier and it’s at BabySafeTravel.com. It’s a really great website! They asked me to check it out and let you young families know about the site– it’s a place filled with tips, tools, and articles about traveling safely with your baby and children– and having FUN while doing so! It’s just amazing to me, the amount of families now able to enjoy travel together. BabySafeTravel.com has a great page of tips for traveling with young kids of all ages, a boutique, a hotel guide for family-friendly places to stay (rated by parents!), and more. There’s also a fun page of baby travel gear to peruse. I liked looking at all the neat and new inventions that have been made for the traveling baby (like that baby transport).

If you have small children or know someone who does, check out the website– a good one to bookmark, too!

Saving Money While Traveling

I travel by car. I travel with kids. I travel in New York State. Combine the three and voila- I am one thrifty traveler! I’ve been thinking about what exactly makes me thrifty. Here are some quick tips that may help save you some money, and perhaps stretch your travel excursion a little further.

1. Go to the local grocery store for your meal.

We almost never go to restaurants while traveling. Price– especially at tourist attractions– are ridiculously expensive. Even more so when you have a carload of hungry, weary teenagers. I don’t like to pack meals, either. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are OK, but let’s not forget the reason we are traveling– to have fun. PB and J is not fun.

Grocery stores almost universally carry ready-made foods. Submarine sandwiches, pizza slices, and the like are great quickie meals. Shopping at the grocery store also provides the added benefit of mingling with the locals. You can really enjoy this part of traveling! I love to chat with local people. Sometimes they are full of helpful information, like the best parking places or knowledge about admission discounts. Or sometimes they are full of interesting stories about the local area. Plus, by shopping at the grocery store, you are pumping money into the mom and pop economy and not just the flashy tourist industry. In my opinion, its a terrific money saver and reaps benefits in other areas.

2. Bring your own beverages.

Listen to Mrs. Mecomber now: never buy beverages the closer you get to the tourist attraction. Drinks are the most expensive item on any menu, pound for pound. Plus, drinks are rarely nutritous and are loaded with sugar and/or caffeine. The last thing you need are young, full bladders and bloodstreams loaded with caffiene. This is a car trip, remember?

3. Join the AAA.

We are not members of the AAA, but are starting to look into it. My husband has come across some of their magazines, and he is impressed with their deep discounts and travel tips. He says it’s worth the $50 a year considering what you’d reap from all their benefits. As soon as we can, I think we’ll join.

4. Check the gas prices of the towns you plan to drive through.

I rarely buy gas in my own town before I leave. I just know it’s going to be cheaper elsewhere (the Utica area is the most expensive in Upstate NY, don’t ask me why). I never buy gas locally when I am traveling toward an Indian-owned area; their gas is so much cheaper.

The Internet has made shopping for gas so much easier. Check out GasBuddy.com or MSN Autos for gas prices. Keep in mind that gas prices do fluctuate daily.

5. Travel out of season.

In New York, the best time to travel is in autumn. Unfortunately, many of New York’s larger attractions close after October 31. However, not all of them do! This is a great time to scope out the smaller places. Also, sometimes the larger attractions are open for special occasions, such as a Christmas festival at an historic site, or hayrides for Thanksgiving. A good resource is New York Cities and Towns. They have a pretty good list of small town attractions.

Saving money for travel is not hard, it just takes a little extra legwork. But think of this; all the money you save will only extend your travels or enable you to travel again sooner!