AreWeThereYet?AreWeThereYet?

The Family Travel Handbook

Thumbing through my May 2008 issue of the great Budget Travel magazine, I was very pleased to find a special pullout section offering tips on traveling with children, called "The Family Travel Handbook."  (also available online here)  The handbook contains approximately fifty tips relating to several family travel categories, like planning, flying, driving, hotels, food, and activities.  Well many of them won't exactly surprise you (like the advice to change diapers before boarding your plane), you're bound to find a few good tips you haven't thought of before.  A few of my favorites were:

• Organize items by parent.  Have one parent carry the essentials(diapers, wipes, etc.) and the other carry the fun stuff, like books, toys, games, and snacks.  This system saves you from digging through one jam-packed, bottomless, bag to find exactly what you need.
• Whenever you can, try to get a hotel room with a patio or balcony so you don't feel like a prisoner at nap or bedtime.  On our recent trip to Phoenix, I was happy to let TJ nap as long as he wanted, because I was sitting outside on our patio, reading a book and soaking in the 70-degree February sunshine.
• When on the road, chat up local parents at a grocery store or playground and ask them where in the area they like to take their kids for fun or what local restaurants their kids enjoy. 

So, check out (and print out) the Family Travel Handbook.  Hopefully it'll help your family travels go even more smoothly.

Renting a House Instead of a Hotel Room

Hotels can be a crapshoot when traveling with kids.  Is the room big enough?  Is it too noisy?  Have the drinking glasses been "cleaned" with the same rag used to mop the dirty floor?  Okay, I can't help you with that last one, but the first two questions can be solved by renting a house instead of hotel room.  If you have a large family or want to share lodging costs with your extended family or friends, a house rental is a great option.  Of course, it's not like you can pop on Orbitz and rent a house-- they're a little harder to find.  Unless you know where to look.

Two great sites to start with are:

• www.vrbo.com:  This site claims an inventory of over 95,000 vacation rentals, both in the U.S. and worldwide.  It helps to know exactly where you want to go, as you have to navigate through different towns to get to the inventory.  The site does provide handy, clickable maps to further narrow your search area once you pick a particular state or region.  For example, if you wanted to hobnob in the Hamptons this summer, you can click on New York, then click on the map for Long Island, then pick a particular area from a list (this part may be difficult if you don't know the differences between the particular areas, as there are no maps at this level).  If you chose the Amagansett area, you'd have nine homes to pick from.  Then, click on a link for any particular home and you'll get a detailed rundown on the house, it's price and features, a calendar of available dates, and usually some photos.  You can then click on an e-mail link to inquire about renting.  It's great for browsing.  I guess the one feature I'd like to see is some type of renter feedback to make sure what you see is what you get.  That said, the site does offer the "HomeAway Rent with Confidence Guarantee," which guarantees up to $5,000 of a traveler's payment in the event "the listiing is determined not to be legitimate in accordance with our policy." 
• www.pickpackgo.com: This site is newer and has less inventory (66,000), but offers a more targeted search in that you can search by location, desired ameneties, and number of rooms to narrow down your choices, rather than just browse on a map.  While that's better for people who know their exact dates and location, it's not as good for those who only have a rough idea of where and when they want to go.  Pickpackgo also offers user reviews to help you choose properties. 

 

Mother's Day: Use Seatcheck.org to Find Car Seat Inspection Events

So you did your homework, checked NHTSA's Ease of Use Ratings before purchasing an infant or child car seat, purchased the seat, and referred to the manual during installation.  Think you're done?  Nope -- there's one last important step to ensuring your child's safety in the car.  Find a child passenger safety seat inspection location, and take your car (with car seat installed) and child (unless you mangled the installation so badly you can't safely put your child in it-- I'm looking at you, Travelin' Dad) to get it checked out.  For an easy way to find the location of a safety check near you, go to www.seatcheck.org.  Either enter your state abbreviation or zip code, and it will give you tons of locations near you for inspections, including police departments, hospitals, and fire departments. 

We've had TJ's seats (first the infant pumpkin seat, and then the convertible seat) checked for proper installation and fit for TJ at an Allstate Insurance location near us (for free!).  Their volunteers are to be commended, and so are the parents who take the time to do this crucial check to ensure their children's safety.

Delaycast Predicts Your Pain Probability

I, like pretty much everyone else, have always hated flight delays.  Since TJ came into the mix, however, I've progressed from hating flight delays to fearing even the thought of them.  Because, while travel delays are no fun regardless of who you're traveling with, you take suffering to a whole new level when you have to entertain a young child in the airport or, even worse, while stuck on the tarmac.  For these reasons, a while back I wrote about some strategies for avoiding airline delays.  I even managed to put some of those strategies to good use in my own travels. 

Now, I've recently discovered a new weapon to add to the on-time arsenal:  Delaycast.com.  Before  booking your tickets next time, log on to Delaycast and enter your departure and arrival airports, your departure date, and the hour of your departure time.  Delaycast will then predict the chance of flights meeting those criteria departing on time, as well as how many minutes on average you can expect to be delayed, and the odds of your flight being outright canceled. 

How do they do it?  According to their website, Delaycast's "estimates are based on predictive modeling technologies that model historical patterns in flight delays and project them into the future."  Delaycast concedes that "all predictions and profiles are produced by the models, and as such, are never 100% accurate.  Nevertheless, the insight provided beyond the airlines' schedules will help most travelers avoid troubles."  Music to my travel-planning ears.

Mother's Day: NHTSA Unveils Its Ease-of-Use Ratings For Child Car Seats

I was thinking about last week's post regarding how to use a car seat on an airplane.  Since statistically, children are much more likely to be injured in a car accident than in a plane, my next two posts are going to be devoted to car seat safety as it relates to . . . cars.  A novel concept, I know.

Before buying a new car seat for your infant, toddler, or child, check out the website for The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which just unveiled its 2008 Car Seat Ease-of-Use Ratings.  The five-star rating program evaluates how easy car features are to use.  All car seats rated by NHTSA meet Federal Safety Standards.  But as we all know, while those seats may be deemed safe in a crash-test scenario, they can differ in how easy they are to use - which of course can ultimately affect your child's safety.  A 2003 study conducted for NHTSA observed one or more forms of misuse in 72.6 percent of the seats inspected.    Some of the documented misuses included improper installation and secureness of the car seat in the vehicle, and secureness/fit of the harness straps or belts.  Faced with this staggering statistic, it's a good idea to buy a car seat that ranks high in NHTSA's ease-of-use ratings.  The five-star rating system helps consumers evaluate the following categories:  instructions, labels, vehicle installation features, and securing the child, and then provides an overall ease of use rating.  Just click on the type of car seat you are thinking of buying (for example, infant rear facing seat), and check out the listed car seats and the ratings they received in each category.  For further information on why a seat received a particular rating, just click on the car seat's name to see NHTSA's detailed analysis.

Five Great Sources for Road Trip Games

Having already discussed the benefits of using an online road trip planner, it's time to upgrade your car trip from tolerable to fun (or at least more tolerable).  How?  With those three magic words:  Road Trip Games. 

I planned to present a list of some of the best road trip games but, when doing my research, I discovered there are several sites that cover road trip games much better than I ever could.  After weeding through the dozens of sites that offer the same old lineup of I Spy, The License Plate Game, and Punch Buggy, I created a list of five websites with some unique road trip game offerings:

1. Mom'sMinivan.com:  This is the mother of all road trip game sites.  Pages of different games, including several (like car bingo, scavenger hunt, etc.) for which you can print out pre-made game sheets.  It's also one of the few sites that does a good job covering appropriate entertainment for different age levels, including babies and toddlers.  My favorite game here?  "Counting Cows", in which you divide the two sides of the car into teams.  If you pass cows on your side of the car, you count as many as you can and your cumulative total is your "score."  But, if you pass a cemetery on your side at any point and the other team shouts out "Your cows are buried" you go back to zero.  Most cows when the trip is over wins. 
2. RoadTripPlanning.com:  Okay, most of the 18 games listed on this site aren't exactly new, but you could probably drive peacefully from New York to California if you played every one of them.  My favorite game here:  "Buzz", a counting game in which you try to reach 100 without making a mistake. Sounds simple, but for the fact that, every time you get to a number that's divisible by seven (7, 14, 21) or has a seven in it (17), you must say "buzz" instead of the number.  If you master sevens, you can always use a different number as the "buzz" number.  Should you remember this one from your college days, you'll note it's slightly easier when not played as a drinking game. 
3. Kidshealth.org's Road Trip Boredom Busters:  This site's boredom busters offer some ideas to really exercise your kids' creative muscles, like journal jotting and team storytelling.  My favorite game here: what they call "word play", where your kids write down words they spot on road signs, bumper stickers, storefronts, etc., and then create a song, story or poem from these words.  I can easily see this one passing the time until at least the next rest stop. 
4. About.com's Family Vacation Section:  Next to Mom's Minivan, About.com had the most comprehensive coverage of road trip games.  It too has a good list of games to print out (including some different ones from Mom's Minivan) and also does a good job providing age appropriate entertainment ideas from babies to grade schoolers.  My favorite game here:  an easier, faster version of the "license plate game" in which you simply need to find a license plate that starts with each letter of the alphabet.  In other words, a car with the plate QVT120 and a car with the plate SRD218 will knock Q and S off your list, even if they are both from Pennsylvania.  This is especially helpful to play when driving through a state like Texas, where you can go hundreds of miles seeing only Texas plates. 
5. Are We There Yet Auto Travel Game:   This last entry isn't for a road trip game site in general, but for one particular game.  Since several people have mistakenly stumbled upon this site looking for the road trip game "Are We There Yet," I figured the least I could do was post a link to the game.  I can't say I've played it, but if the name is any indicator, I'm sure it's fantastic.

Hope this list helps the miles pass by quickly and enjoyably.

Don't Leave Home Without (Signing) It

One last post related to traveling without your children.  Travelin' Mom and I are both pretty obsessive trip preparers; we usually do tons of advance research, make packing lists, and try to plan for any possible contingency.  That said, we both had a head-slap moment when, while discussing with Gram the plans for dropping off TJ for the weekend, she asked whether we had thought about signing a power of attorney form so she could make any emergency health care decisions for TJ in the event we couldn't be reached.  We both looked at each other like, "No, but that does sound like something a smart person would do, so maybe we should." 

The form may go by a different name depending on which state you live in, but it's usually called something like a Nondurable Power of Attorney for Physical and Health Care of Minor Child.  What that mouthful really means is that you're providing your minor child's temporary caregiver with the authority to make decisions related to your child's health care, should an emergency arise while you are unreachable.  The actual document will spell out the specific authority you are providing, as well as place a time limit on that authority (hence "nondurable", or sometimes called "limited").

Some pediatrician's offices carry the form.  You can also download one for about ten bucks from websites that provide legal forms, like this one.  Thankfully, the cell phone age makes it harder and harder to be unreachable.  But this power of attorney form definitely seems a perfect example of better safe than sorry. 

Comparing Five Free Road Trip Planners

On a recent car trip from Chicago to St. Louis with TJ, I discovered that car travel with children is measured in dog years;  your trip feels seven times as long as it actually is.  Which is why our five-hour jaunt felt more like a day and a half.  Which is also why I'm game for any tool that will make future road trips go more smoothly.  With that in mind, I tested out five free road trip planners.  I used a hypothetical trip from Chicago, over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house in New York.  Here's my road trip planner review, with each service receiving a rating of one to five Elmo DVDs (), because that's what brings us peace in the car:

1. Freetrip.com:  Freetrip.com got off to a bad start, as it appears to provide only city-to-city directions, rather than address-to-address.  While I'm sure you know how to get to all major highways from your house, you might not know how to get to your destination's exact address.  Also, while Freetrip.com provided a few nice bells and whistles, like providing links to hotels in a pre-selected price range at each point in your trip, if you wanted more detailed information like restaurants, gas stations, or parks, you had to join the "inside track club" at $19.95 per year.  Although the paid product might be fantastic (admittedly, I didn't shell out the 20 bucks to find out), in my opinion road trip planners and velvet-roped VIP sections don't mix.  Especially a road trip planner called "free trip."  Rating:    **ADDENDUM** (3/12/08):  I revisited the Freetrip site on 3/12/08 and it appears there have been some significant (in a good way) changes from the time I originally test drove it.  Users of the free program now have the ability to search for not only hotels along their journey, but also gas stations and national parks.  You wouldn't think a national parks finder would be that handy, but 16 different national parks popped up on my Chicago-to-New York route, along with a nice link to the official website for each.  What's more, if you click on the red car icon next to any particular attraction, Freetrip will automatically recalculate your route to include your new fun-time detour.  As for the gas stations, Freetrip's website indicates that it's "planning to launch a discount fuel card for use at thousands of Truck Stops across the USA," which would be a great development in this age of $3 gas.  So, it looks like Freetrip.com merits a serious Elmo upgrade.  Revised rating:  
2. AAA Trip Tik Travel Planner:  Anyone remember the pre-internet dark ages, when the best road trip tool you could get was the hard-copy AAA Trip Tik, where you flipped  pages over like a spiral notepad until arriving at your destination?  Well, now there's a slightly less bulky Internet version.  AAA Trip Tik gives you free point-to-point driving directions.  Then you can zoom in on the map at any point of your trip to click on details for lodging, restaurants, gas stations, attractions, construction information, and more.  Once you locate a potential restaurant or hotel, you can then click to receive detailed info on the food it serves, or hotel amenities.  Granted, they're not critical reviews but rather ads by the establishments; but it beats the days of pulling off the road and saying, "I don't think anyone's ever died in that place, let's give it a shot."  For example, if we decided to stop in Clearfield, Pennsylvania to break up the trip, we learned we could stay at a Holiday Inn Express, dine at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub (which AAA tells you is home of the "gut-busting" 6-pound burger), and visit the Grace Clearfield Community Museum.  Now there's a rest stop.  The only con I found with Trip Tik: you can easily lose your place zooming in and out of the map to focus on select destinations, which is the only way to discover the various gas, food, lodging, and culture along the way.  A minor complaint, really.  Rating:
3. Mapquest:  Often a gold standard for point-to-point directions, Mapquest unfortunately offers little else for road trip planners.  You can plug in multiple stops, or do a separate search to chart out the lowest gas prices along your route, but Mapquest doesn't offer anything in its trip planner regarding lodging, food or attractions.  If you just need directions, Mapquest works fine.  If you're looking to stop and smell the local attractions along the way, look elsewhere.  Rating:
4. Rand McNally TripMaker:  Rand McNally offers great point-by-point directions and some nice added features, with two caveats.  One feature missing from TripMaker is the ability to search for restaurants along your route.  Anyone who's been on a road trip knows that food stops, especially those with local flavor, are a key road trip component.  So, TripMaker gets a one-Elmo demerit from my stomach.  Second, although TripMaker offers searches for categories like "fun and games", "arts and culture", and "local highlights" as well as hotels (through a kayak.com link), it offers this information only for your starting point, final destination, and any stops you pre-program along the way. Not a big deal, as most road trippers probably have an idea of where they plan to stop.  But, since it's not as flexible as AAA's TripTik, we'll charge them another Elmo.  Lastly, the first question TripMaker asks you is whether you're traveling with kids.  I think this is great, except I can't figure out what difference answering "yes" means for the results given.  Maybe they're just making conversation.  Rating: 
5. ETravelougue.com Road Trip Itinerary Planner:  ETravelouge's road trip planner seems great in theory, somewhat less great in practice.  For example, you can choose to receive information on more than 25 categories along your route, from roadside attractions to restaurants to hotels to sports acitivities.  There was even a "family/tourist fun" category.  You can also choose how far off your route you're willing to go for these attractions; another great idea.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like ETravelouge has collected much information yet, however.  My search for "family fun" stops within ten miles of our Chicago to New York route yielded one result:  The Historic Speedwell in Morristown New Jersey.  And the link for that was broken.  Likewise, my searches didn't turn up a single roadside attraction or restaurant within ten miles of my route, which leads me to think that the data just hasn't been input yet.  If that's not the case, I may open up a museum/diner about halfway between New York and Chicago and really clean up.  On the plus side, ETravelougue certainly has its hotel data in place.  More than 10 pages of hotel choices popped up along my route.  Unfortunately, the only information provided for each specific hotel is a name and address, but it's something.  So, ETravelogue looks like it's got the mechanics in place to be a very helpful, but now just needs to collect the information it's capable of providing.  Rating: 

So, to sum up my little road trip planner review exercise:

= AAA Trip Tik Travel Planner

= Freetrip.com; Rand McNally TripMaker; ETravelougue.com Road Trip Itinerary Planner

= Mapquest

MilePort / Miletracker Review

I intended this entry to be a comparison of Frequentflier.com's MilePort Mileage Manager versus USA Today's Miletracker, two of the most popular loyalty program account trackers.  But, then a funny thing happened.  I compared them.  You know what?  They seem nearly identical.  I'm not the only one who has noticed this.  The resemblance shouldn't be surprising, as both use the same underlying software, Deskport.  The only difference I can really tell is that there have been some reports of the Miletracker version being "buggier."  Is that a technical term? 

Anyway, since the two programs are so similar, I'll save time and do an in-depth review of the pros and cons of MilePort which, not surprisingly, seem to apply equally to Miletracker:

Pros:

• It's free (Some services, like Milemanager, charge);
• Rather than being web-based, the software downloads onto your computer, which provides more security for your accounts and passwords;
• It tracks tons of loyalty programs (121 at last count);
• It's easy to set up your accounts and intuitive to use.  If you don't count the amount of time I spent searching for various account numbers and passwords, it took me about 10 minutes to set up all of my accounts (if you do count that time spent, my total increases to about four days);
• You can set up multiple accounts, so that you can track all of your family members' programs in one place;
• You can instantly update accounts for all users with one click of the "Retrieve All Accounts" button;
• Better yet, that updated information for all accounts arrives within seconds; and
• My favorite:  By clicking the "Auto Navigate" tab for any loyalty program account, Mileport will open up a window connecting you to that loyalty program's website and even logs you into your account.  Translation:  Never having to search for your account number and password again!

Cons:

• It requires downloading the software.  Although the download only takes a couple of minutes, it's just one step and one extra thing on your computer (yes, I counted this as both pro and con);
• Because it's not web-based, you can only access your information from the computer on which you downloaded the software.  In other words, if you downloaded Mileport on your home computer, you can't access your account information at work or while traveling (of course, if you travel with a laptop containing the downloaded software, problem solved);
• While you can get an in-depth snapshot of your frequent flier accounts in one click, Mileport does not yet do the same for hotel programs (at least the ones I use), instead saying "Activity is not currently tracked for this program."  It basically just provides how many points you've earned.

The verdict?  Overall, a really useful product.  As for improvement suggestions, I wish it would also send me e-mails saying "Hey, idiot, your points will expire in two months if you don't do something about it." But it makes checking my accounts so fast and easy, I probably don't need the prompt. 

Three Ways to Track Your Family's Frequent-Flier Miles and Hotel Points

It’s hard enough to keep track of your own frequent flier miles, hotel points, and various other loyalty program goodies.  If you’re the family travel planner, you may also be charged with keeping track of your spouse’s and kids’ reward accounts.  I’d call it a thankless task, but learning that your toddler just paid for his own seat with his frequent flier miles is a pretty good thanks.  And, in this age of airlines shortening the mileage expiration time period, it’s more important than ever to keep on top of your family’s accounts. 

That’s why I came up with the brilliant idea to create a website where, once you input all of your loyalty program information, you need just one log-in and password to access all of your family’s various accounts.  In fact, my idea is so brilliant, it's already been executed. Several times.

Here are three options to explore for keeping track of your families frequent flier miles and hotel points:

1. MilePort Mileage Manager.  MilePort is a free product from frequentflier.com.  Once you download the software, you can track account data from 121 different online loyalty programs. 
2. Miletracker.  Miletracker is a free downloadable application brought to you by USA Today.  It claims to track "more than 120" frequent flier and loyalty programs.  So, maybe Mileport literally does it one better. 
3. MileageManager.  Mileagemanager differs from the other products mentioned in two main ways.  First, it's not free-- you pay $14.95 for an annual membership.  Second, rather than downloading a program for use on your personal computer, MileManager is web-based and does not require a download.  While the other sites tout the safety of your account data only being downloaded to your personal computer, MileManager sells itself as simpler (no downloads required) and more portable (because it's web-based, travelers can access their information from any comptuer). 

This isn't an exhaustive list of loyalty program trackers, but these are three of the main options.  I haven't spent enough time with each program to do a detailed compare/contrast, so that will be coming soon in a future post.  I'll have that up just as soon as I finish work on my next great invention-- it's an oven that cooks things like ten times as fast as a regular oven, using something called "microwaves."  I haven't figured out what to name it yet, but stay tuned. . .

Great (Travel) Expectations

There are several good ways to prepare your child for his first airplane flight, or even subsequent flights.  There's the good ol' fashioned "talk to him about the trip" method.  There are also many books telling kids what to expect when they fly, such as Richard Scarry's A Day at the Airport, Airport, Going on a Plane (First Experiences), and the aptly named We're Going on an Airplane!  All good stuff, as your travels will go more smoothly the more your child understands where you're going, what's going to happen, and what's expected of him. 

But, there's one gift TJ received for Christmas that has quickly become our favorite travel prep prop:  The Little People Lil' Movers Airplane.  Almost immediately, TJ started chartering pretend flights to destinations he'd been before.  Then we'd discuss what the passengers would do when they got to a specific destination, who they might see there, even what food they might eat ("Pizza" for New York, "Chuy's" for Texas.  I'd say he's got the basic idea.).  So, then we extended the game to include upcoming trips. 

He now knows he's going on a plane to "Ara-zo-na-na" in a few weeks, where, according to TJ, he'll see "cacti", "dip chips" in salsa, and hopefully, "swim- pool."  He hasn't mentioned Daddy racing to the bottom of a fishbowl-sized margarita, but that's really not essential trip prep info. 

So, if you're looking for a fun toy that will also help prepare your child for an upcoming trip, give the plane a try.  Although I will warn you, it's not all fun and games with the Lil' Movers Plane.  Due to freshly cleaned floors, yesterday's pretend trip ended in an ugly incident where the plane skidded off the runway and collided with a full LeapFrog Phonics Bus, flipping it over.  Fortunately, the plane passengers and all three frogs on the bus survived.  But, I don't think poor Lilly will ever play the guitar again. 

Mother's Day: Ship Your Baby Gear Ahead

Previously, I mentioned that when packing a carry-on, due to size and weight limitations, you should only pack a few diapers and wipes.  Of course, when you reach your destination, your first stop then has to be to a handy Walgreens, CVS, or similar store to stock up on diapers, etc.  There is a really cool alternative, though.  Several websites allow you to ship baby supplies ahead to your destination so they are waiting for you upon arrival.  Here are two good ones:

• Babiestravellite.com:  This website boasts worldwide delivery of all sorts of baby paraphernalia.  They will confirm the delivery instructions with your hotel, track your order, then call your destination to verify receipt and make sure the supplies are ready upon your arrival.  You can buy diapers, formula, food, bath accessories, sunscreen and many, many more products.  Try their baby bundles-- for example, a Pamper baby bundle contains a day's worth of diapers, changing pads, wipes, butt paste, and disposal bags, all in a resealable bag for $11.50.  (They also have mealtime, bath time, and fun in the sun bundles.)  Additionally, the site offers travel accessories such as travel beds, luggage, and a potty-on-the-go.
• Diapers.com: This website offers less products, but has the mainstays like diapers, formula, wipes, baby detergent, and shampoo.  Most orders reach their destination in 1-4 days and shipping is free on orders more than $50.

So, save the space in your luggage and skip the scavenger hunt for Pampers in a foreign city by ordering ahead.

Mother's Day: Bored While Waiting to Go Onboard

We have sort of a bad habit of cutting it close in the airport.  During our trip to Maine last summer, we arrived to O'Hare so late, that we missed the 45-minute deadline to check our bags.  But since that episode, we've tried to reform, and we now make a genuine effort to get to the airport a little earlier.  Of course, this is a double-edged sword, because now we have more time to "entertain" TJ in the airport.  Luckily, there are a number of things for kids to see and do in most airports.  Here are a few favorites:

• Moving Walkway.  TJ LOVES riding these back and forth for endless hours, yelling "Hi, Daddy!" every time we pass TD.  It is scary how fast he can run with the help of this automated walkway.  I like it because it tires him out and gives us a 1 in 10 chance he'll actually sleep on the plane.
• Gift Shops.  Every airport has a token toy store, and multiple gift shops.  TJ likes looking at everything from stuffed animals to magazines to magnets.  Some airports have great specialty stores for kids.  For example, Mindworks is in Philadelphia International Airport and the National Geographic store is in LaGuardia.
• Pay Telephones.  In the age of wireless cellphones, no wonder TJ is so amazed to see real old-fashioned phones with big buttons and fun cords to play with.
• People-Watching.  People are surprisingly friendly in airports.  TJ gets a number of high fives (especially from men) when he runs up to them babbling about something or other, and he especially likes to watch passengers deboarding planes.
• Soft Pretzels.  Auntie Ann's or any other variety is a big hit.  They keep TJ munching and happy.  If you can't find a pretzel outlet, try any other kid-friendly snack.
• Find An Outlet.  If you are truly stuck in the airport for a long time (once TD and I were stranded in Las Vegas McCarran Airport for 11 hours - thankfully we had left TJ at home that trip!) - look for an outlet to plug in your DVD player.  Often you can spot one that is used to plug in vacuums at the base of a column or pillar.

Additionally, before you go on your next flight, check out Cheapflights.com's Kids Airport Diversion Guide (warning- you have to sign up for their free weekly newsletter to receive this)-- a great guide to kid-friendly museums, play areas, and other entertainment, listed by airport.  I can't believe I just discovered that O'Hare has a Kids On The Fly interactive exhibit sponsored by the Chicago Children's Museum.  I've never seen it before, but thanks to Cheapflights, I'll be heading to Terminal 2 next time we're in the airport with TJ!

Mother's Day: Treating Gas Problems

Anyone not driving a hybrid has felt the sting of skyrocketing gas prices lately.  According to AAA, the current national unleaded average is $3.09 per gallon.  Compare that price to a year ago - only $2.23 per gallon.  Not only does the price of gas affect our daily lives (now it costs TJ and me more to run our weekly errands), but it also affects trip-planning.  With Thanksgiving here, driving to Grandma's never looked so pricey.  Here are two websites to help you find the cheapest gas on your route. 

• AAA Gas Price Finder allows you to enter an address and intersection, and a search area of 3, 5, or 10 miles.  It then provides you with the addresses of the cheapest gas around, along with the respective prices.  According to their website, AAA Gas Finder uses information from credit card transactions, derived from more than 85,000 outlets around the country to find the most affordable gas stations.
• GasBuddy.com lets you search by zip code or city in the United States and Canada to help you find cheap gas prices in your city. 

One especially cool feature that both of these websites have- if you don't happen to know where the Chevron Station at 3849 Browns Mill Road is off the top of your head, there is a map feature that shows you the exact location.

Because fuel prices can vary by 20-30 cents per gallon or more within a small area, it really is worth it for motorists to shop around before they get in the car to find the best deal on gas.  And hey, you can use the money you've saved on gas for other things to help your ride to Grandma's go more smoothly, like a new Elmo's World DVD.      

Know the Score: Walk Score

As the comedian Steven Wright used to say, "Everywhere's walking distance if you have the time."  Unfortunately, most of us find our time in limited supply.  So, it helps to know exactly how far a walk one location is from another. 

That's why I was excited to read a recent entry from National Geographic Traveler's great "intelligent travel" blog about a site called Walk Score.  As the entry mentions, Walk Score was primarily designed to help real estate buyers determine how "walkable" a prospective home's location was in terms of what was within walking distance.  But, the site has obvious travel applications, too.  Deciding between two hotels?  I'm sure both hotels' websites will tell you how "conveniently located" they are.  Why not let walkscore.com break the tie by providing objective measurements (another plus-- like Steven Wright, people's subjective definition of "walking distance" can vary greatly) down to hundredths of a mile?

As a test, I input our hotel address for an upcoming trip and was quickly greeted with a walking distance list of, among other things, nearby grocery stores, drug stores, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, movie theaters, and, ready for this families traveling with young kids?, . . . PARKS!  If you click on any of the destinations provided down the left-hand side of the results page, a little bubble pops up in its corresponding location on the center-page map, providing the destination's exact address and a link to any yelp reviews of the destinations. 

Rather than rely on my convoluted explanation, check the site out for yourself.  Using it is a walk in the (hopefully nearby) park.

Farecast.com: A Cool Site Gets Cooler

Travelin' Mom and I became more sensitive to airline ticket prices once we had to purchase a ticket for Travelin' Junior, which basically increased our flying costs by by 50%.  So, we were happy to discover farecast.com.  Farecast.com has been winning accolades for well over a year now, from Time Magazine's 50 Coolest Websites list to the Web 2.0 award for best travel site.  Basically, farecast gives you an informed prediction (based on statistics they've collected) as to whether the fare for a particular flight will go up or down in the next seven days.  Most of us play the fare prediction game every time we book travel, and it sure is nice to have a little help now.  Put another way, if you had a website that told you which way the stock market was going next, you'd be logging on, wouldn't you?  Well, farecast may not handle stocks, but it might save you a little extra dough to cover your investment losses.

More specifically, along with an impressive array of data (check the site out yourself to see all the bells and whistles), farecast will give you a bottom-line tip as to whether to wait on a fair or purchase it now.  In case you think they're flipping a coin to decide, farecast also gives you a rating (1 to 100%) as to how confident the site is in its prediction.  You'll also see how the current low fare compares to the historical low fare for the past 90 days.  All good stuff. 

And now, as if farecast already wasn't going to win some type of travel Nobel prize (what? that doesn't exist?), the site added another great feature.  This feature, still in "beta" testing format, will allow you to better evaluate hotel rates.  Just put in your desired city and the dates of your stay and Farecast will create a list of available hotels, color coded to tell you if you're getting a "deal" rate, "average" rate, or "not a deal." (the polite way of saying "gouged.")  You can also narrow your search by number of stars, hotel amenities, hotel brand, location, etc.  This hotel search tool is especially handy because, while you may have an idea what airfare rates usually cost from your home airport to various destination, you probably haven't spent much time following the ebbs and flows of hotel prices in various cities.  If you have, it's time to seriously think about finding a hobby.   

All that being said, farecast isn't perfect.  Farecast doesn't cover every airport or hotel city (it currently handles 75 home airports for flights and 30 destination cities for hotels.)  Also, it seems the airfare and hotel tools only predict out about 90 days, when many of us shop earlier than that to earn the best fares/rates.  And, although I haven't seen any type of disclaimer on the website, I've got to imagine that, like in the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.  But, it's a helluva lot more information than we'd be armed with otherwise. 

A Fodors/Frommers-Type Guide for Families

When my brother first visited Chicago after TJ was born, he brought a very thoughtful gift we had not seen before:  The lila guide for San Francisco (where my brother lives).  It was his way of saying, "Come visit, and bring the kid."  And, we'll be taking him up on his offer shortly.  We were just kind of hoping Elmo would come out with a 4-hour Lord-of-the-Rings-type epic in the interim to guarantee an uneventful flight. 

Nonetheless, the lila guide was a great gift because it showed all the kid-friendly things we could do in San Francisco.  While the lila guide ("Lila" is evidently the guide creator's daughter's name) started in San Francisco, there are now lila guides for 20 different cities in print, from Atlanta to Washington D.C. (They should do a Zephyr, Texas or Zion, Missouri guide just so they can get that whole "A-Z" gimmick working).  Although a good chunk of each city guide pertains more to locals (sections on things like maternity stores, baby gear stores, mom's groups, etc.), each guide also covers essential info for traveling families:  kid-friendly restaurants, parks, playspaces, and outings. 

Although the books are handy to travel with and make a great gift, you can also get tons of relevant information from the lilaguide website for free.  The site provides user-generated info for 26 specific locations (sorry, still no "Z" cities).  So, if adding one more book to your packing list will break either your back or your budget, you can just check out the city you're visiting's lilaguide site before you travel.  As an added bonus (warning: infomercial mode), if you contribute 10 reviews to the lilaguide website, you get a free hardcopy lila guide.  It's a blogger's dream:  getting paid to push your opinion on others. 

You're Grounded

I recently read with horror a USA Today article about a US Airways flight from NY to Phoenix that sat on the tarmac for seven hours at JFK before finally departing.  That's miserable for any passenger.  Now imagine having your young child sitting next to you.  Having just finished another relatively successful travel experience with Travelin' Junior, Travelin' Mom and I got home and excitedly booked our next trip.  Had we just stepped off that US Airways flight instead, I don't think we'd be nearly as quick to pull the travel trigger.  Kids or no kids, you obviously always expect some problems on a trip.  But, nobody bargains for a a seven-hour runway sit-in. 

Problem is, you can't predict whether a flight you scheduled three months earlier will be affected by weather, or a maintenance issue, or the general mass chaos that is O'Hare air traffic (okay, that last one you can sort of see coming).  Delay situations are all too common these days.  Bureau of Transportation Statistics data show that you had only a 72% chance of arriving at your destination on time through August of this year.  The BTS also noted over 150 flights that were grounded on the tarmac for three or more hours in August.  Even though those flights make up way less than even 1/100th of a percent of total flights for the month, it still seems scary.  I wouldn't be too jazzed if somebody told me I stood a .0002% chance of suffering severe emotional trauma today.  Just check out the list:  an American flight from Chicago to New York sat on the ground for 5 hours, 25 minutes, a United flight from Washington DC to San Francisco was grounded for 4 hours, 36 minutes, etc.  These are pretty common, everyday flights we all take. 

Long story short, you travel enough, you're going to get a clunker commute now and then.  Realizing you occasionally have to pay your flight-delay dues might even help you cope with the wait while it's happening.  But, that's a very tough concept to get across to children, who I've noticed tend to live in the now.  When that "now" involves sitting in one place for five hours for no apparent reason, there's gonna be trouble.

So, what to do when you're stuck with your children on a grounded plane for several hours?  Beats me.  Although, I can say from limited experience that clicking your heels three times and wishing for home only works in movies.  The only advice I'd give is to pack for that plane trip as if it were twice as long (i.e., twice the diapers, formula, food, toys, books you think you'll need), because there's a decent chance it just may be.  Aside from that, I'd look to the "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" department and take steps to lower the chances of getting stuck on a delayed plane in the first place:

• Book a direct flight.  Twice the flights means twice the chance for delay, not to mention twice the hassle of boarding and deplaning.  If you're considering more than one connection, you're either traveling from two unbelievably small cities or a masochist. 
• Take an early morning flight.  While many business travelers swear by booking the first flight of the day, that's not very practical if it means rousing a toddler at 5:00 a.m.  You might also run the risk of delays if flights are out of position from late-night delays the previous day.  So, just try to get one of the earlier flights of the day, before the cumulative plane logjam piles up the delays.  At the very least, try to avoid evening flights, when delays have piled up and more storms tend to occur. 
• Fly on off-peak days.  Before Travelin' Junior came along, Travelin' Mom and I joined the masses in the Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving/Sunday-after-Thanksgiving fly-a-thon.  Now, we fly out early Thanksgiving morning and return Monday afternoon, which (at least so far) has minimized flight delays and made for much easier airport experiences.  The same holds true for avoiding typical business travel days like Sunday, Monday, and Friday.
• Fly bigger, newer planes when possible.  They may be more capable of flying through weather and thus less prone to delays/grounding. 
• All things being equal, fly from/to the less crowded airport.  While it may not be worth going out of your way, if you're neutral about where you fly out of Chicago, you'll stand a better chance of avoiding delays at Midway Airport than O'Hare.  Same holds true for places like Long Beach airport rather than LAX, or Long Island rather than LaGuardia or JFK. 

Since none of these tips are exactly earth-shattering to those of us who have flown the friendly skies before, I'll give you one other very helpful tip you may not know about:  Check out the website avoiddelays.com.   It'll help you do just what the name says.  The site contains advice from air traffic controllers about avoiding flight delays.  That's like getting advice from day care providers about avoiding meltdowns.  Among other things, avoiddelays.com provides lists of the most delayed flights, wost departure and arrival airports, worst times to fly into or out of those airports, and average delays for specific airlines and airports.  Spending five minutes checking out these statistics before booking your flight could save you several hours of delay-induced pain later on.  Unless you've figured out how to make that heel-clicking thing work. . . .