Must-Have Travel Accessory for Kids

I’ve spent the last eight years racking up more than 160,000 frequent flyer miles with my daughter during our annual jaunts from Wisconsin to Hawaii.  If all goes according to plan, we can get from our home to my parents’ house in roughly 18 hours. Of course, things rarely go according to plan. Honestly, I’ve lost track of how many hours I’ve spent in various airplanes and airports with a young child who would rather be anywhere other than in an airplane or airport. What I do recall are all of the mistakes I’ve made during those seemingly endless flights. … Continue reading

More Ways To Have Fun At the Airport

For harried parents traveling with a children or overscheduled business travelers looking to get home as soon as possible, airports are far from fun. Still, if you are using air travel to get from point A to point B, then you have little choice than to spend some time at an airport. So why not make the experience relatively fun? If you find yourself in any of the following airports in the near future, consider yourself lucky. Travel experts recently ranked them as some of the “Most Entertaining Airports” in the nation: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: If you are looking to pass … Continue reading

Driving the Family Germ-mobile

“If you’re a soccer mom, you’re essentially driving a germ-mobile.” Or so claims a microbiologist from the University of Arizona who conducted a study on bacteria levels in people’s vehicles. The conclusion: Most of us are driving around in motorized toilets. Scratch that. Actually, what this germ expert concluded was that in most cases the toilets in our homes are cleaner than the interior of our vehicles. Food for thought the next time you consider loading up the kids for a ride to grandma’s house. Before you start bleaching your dashboard take a look at the details of the study: … Continue reading

Travel Tidbits: Skinny Fliers and Kid-Friendly Hotels

SKINNY FLIERS Air carrier Frontier is tooting its horn again. This time they are bragging about their skinny passengers. (Earlier this year the airline was touting its decision to add more seats to its planes and providing in-flight e-mail access.) Now the carrier says it is flying light and saving money in the process. According to airline officials, the company recently conducted a survey that it says indicates its customers weigh less than the average U.S. flier. Frontier executives said its passengers and their carry-on bags “weigh 17 pounds less than the national average,” helping it save “$3.5 million a … Continue reading

Travel Trends—“Parents-Only Vacations” Part 2

In a previous blog I detailed the latest travel trend: vacations for grown ups. I wondered how many of you parents go on vacation without your children. We don’t; but that’s just because we are typically visiting out-of-state relatives, so leaving our child behind doesn’t really make sense. I wanted to know how popular these adult-only trips really are so I did some research and found some startling statistics. According to a survey conducted by AAA travel, adults-only trips now make up nearly 70% of the leisure travel market, which was once dominated by family trips. Hotels say the trend … Continue reading

On The Road Again… And Again… And Again

The older kids need to be at school by 7:45 a.m. and the younger one has playgroup at 9:30 a.m. In addition, the dry cleaning needs to be picked up, the grocery shopping needs to be done, and the van needs gas. When that’s done, Jr. has an afternoon doctor’s appointment and the other kids have to be dropped off at soccer practice. Does this sound like a typical day in your life? If it does you aren’t alone. In a previous blog I expressed shock over the results of a recent SC Johnson survey, which revealed that a whopping … Continue reading