Mom's Guide To Travel

Trip Planning, Expert Tips, and Fun Ideas For Family Travel.

Best Medicine to Bring When Traveling

Last week my BFF gave me a re-cap of her Holiday family cruise vacation. As fun as the first few days were, it quickly turned into a traveling family’s nightmare when her 4 y.o. son got sick at sea.

Harboring a 103 degree fever, she immediately realized that she’d forgotten the children’s Tylenol and wanted to slap herself for doing so. After finding the ship’s infirmary and speaking with the on board nurse, she knew that leaving the Tylenol was probably her biggest mistake. The nurse informed her that as soon as the doctor became available, he’d see her son and that the change would be $150! One hundred and fifty dollars – just in case you thought that was a typo. When she asked the nurse for a pack of Tylenol, little did she know she was about to embark on an at-sea treasure hunt.

The Sick Traveler's Gold

She was given the run around for well-over an hour between the infirmary and the ship’s front desk until finally she raised her voice and got the attention she needed. That’s a nicer way of saying she “went Brooklyn on them.” Miraculously a packet of children’s Tylenol appeared at a whopping price of $9.00! “Huh? $9.00? For two pills?” That’s what I said when she told me. Of course she griped at the price in retrospect – in the heat of the moment, her only concern was getting my godson medicated.

So what gives? Why is Tylenol or any other medicine so expensive at sea or overseas for that matter (if you can find it)? Dare I say it’s not important – just don’t leave home without it? Yup, I think it’s fair enough to cut to the chase and bypass the why’s with this simple recommendation.

When you’re traveling outside the United States, purchasing medicines like ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin can be expensive. They’re definitely line items on my packing lists. Other things like laxatives aren’t the easiest medicines to find in some foreign countries either. The physical stress of travel and a change in diet can cause bowel irregularities. If you’re prudent, you’ll also slip a few laxative pills, or better yet a cleansing tea, in your carry-on luggage. I learned the hard way when I was an exchange student in Florence, Italy. Not only were laxatives a challenge to find, when I did find some, I couldn’t translate the ingredients and side effects very well. BMs weren’t on my professor’s lesson plan for that year. Go figure.

So, here’s the deal. The following is a list of medicines you should strongly consider buying in trial sizes, and leaving in your luggage. This way you won’t forget them on your next trip:

  • Tylenol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen
  • Anaprox/Aleve
  • Cold Medicine
  • Laxatives
  • Eye-Drops
  • Allergy Medicine
  • Bug Spray & Calamine Lotion
  • Motion Sickness Medicine

What are some medicines that you carry regularly? Is this something you ever think about when you travel? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Happy Travels.

Making The Case for Travel Packing Lists – The Science Behind Lists

For a while now I’ve been mentioning the importance of lists. I’ve even created a product to help parents out when they travel as a family, which is a packing list. This time of year, lists are even more relevant in our lives – there’s just so much going on, it’s hard to keep track of everything. After having a Twitter volley with two other moms about how lists are life-savers, I thought I’d write a post about it, focusing on exactly why they are so relevant.

Checking those lists twice

It’s the act of writing things down that is more significant than the actual list itself. Lists just look better and are a form of visual organization. I often walk around my house with notes to myself written on my hand if my mind is extra active that day or I write it on a sticky note. From mid-December until mid-January, you will see an over-abundance of lists and notes around the house keeping me on target for Christmas presents, class parties, my oldest son’s friends’ birthday parties, my 3 y.o.’s, my 7 y.o.’s, and my hub’s birthdays (January 3rd, 6th, and 12th, respectively), travel plans, New Year’s goals, chores, bills, and everything else in between. I try not to dwell on how anything gets done. Day by day, I just do it.

Holiday Stress

So what is it about lists or writing things down that makes them so significant and allow us to be more productive when we use them? After doing a little bit of research, I found out that writing things down is more scientific than I thought. According to research, writing things down stimulates cells at the base of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). This system acts as a filter for what the brain needs for processing. When the RAS is triggered (by the writing), it sends a signal to the cerebral cortex to focus on what you’ve deemed as most important at the moment. Hence, and there forth, what you wrote down is what gets done. Hmm! Good stuff. Did you know that?

Point of this post: To keep stress at bay, get things done, and be on your merry way – Write it down and make a list!

Kids as Family Vacation Planners: Planet Explorers Guidebook Review

Once your children reach elementary age, it’s a good time to involve them in the trip planning process. It makes them more cooperative, attentive and vested when it comes time to travel. One of the ways you can do this is by allowing your child(ren) to choose activities and points of interest (POIs) for the family to enjoy together. Tools that they can use for research and planning include both the internet and guide books. However, a word of caution: too much information may be more detrimental than helpful. The internet is massive and average guide books can be intimidating.

Luckily, there’s a company in cyber space called Planet Explorers – they’ve taken the time to create informative guide books with the young traveler in mind. Luv them! I recently had a chance to review a couple of their guidebooks, Planet Explorers NYC and Planet Explorers Walt Disney World and there were several things about them that I loved.

  • Just about every page in the 60+ page guide books has at least one to two pictures on it, bolded facts, tons of bullet points and other visual elements to make the reading fun and fast.
  • History/Timeline of New York City; Walt Disney World.
  • Suggestions on places to eat near the recommended POIs.
  • At least 3 Fun Facts about a POI.
  • The author ties pop culture into some of the mentioned sites (e.g. “the American Museum of Natural History, where Ben Stiller had some crazy adventures in the movie Night at the Museum, is super famous and incredibly huge.”)
  • A shout-out to the Boroughs (in the NYC guide book), including things to do there, which, a lot of writers miss and prior to the gentrification of places like Brooklyn, probably would’ve never bothered to mention.
  • Travel tips for NYC exploration; locating characters in Magic Kingdom/Epcot.
  • Movies about or filmed in NYC
  • Famous New Yorkers
  • Disney attractions Legend
  • Subway/Monorail maps
  • WDW hotel/resort listings
  • Active Links within the guides

As an adult traveler, I really enjoyed reading these guide books. Keeping my own children in mind, I felt that the guidebooks were an easy read and captured language that kids could readily identify with (“What’s cool about it?”). These guide books contain lots of history and fun facts to get the younger reader interested, excited, and involved with travel. They’re quite comprehensive and they make excellent tools for parents looking to get their kids more involved in the family travel planning process.

 

Disclaimer: Planet Explorers provided me with the NYC and WDW guidebooks for the purpose of review. This is not a paid post; all opinions expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Best Day, Time, & Way to get Cheapest Flights?

The prices of air travel continues to rise with increasing fuel costs, charges for “premium” seats, baggage fees and other erroneous charges by airlines. Passengers are searching for ways to save money any way they can, including purchasing tickets well in advance but also pinpointing the day of the week when prices are at the lowest.  So, what’s the best day, time and way to get the cheapest flights? According to CBS travel editor Peter Greenberg (a great source of information by the way) it is:

  • At 12:01 am Tuesday night/Wednesday morning in the time zone of the place where the airline you are booking on is based.
  • Via telephone – Contrary to popular belief, call the airline’s reservation line and speak to an agent. The excess inventory (the un-purchased tickets) shows back up in the airlines’ reservation systems FIRST. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that the airlines would have information on their own inventory before any other third-party.

So that’s the nitty-gritty of when, where, and how to get the cheapest airfares. You can stop reading here if you take everything for face value. However, if you’re anything like me and can’t help but do your own extra bit of research, double-check your newly acquired information. How?

Here’s your homework:

Test Peter’s recommendation out. This week. If you have an upcoming trip (hopefully more than 2 weeks out), set your phone’s alarm clock for 11:58 pm Tuesday night. By the time, you get the cold out of your eye, dial the airline’s number and get an agent on the phone, it should be 12:01 am Wednesday morning. If you’re a little early, just stall them until your clock says 12:01 am and then get pricing for your preferred flight. At the same time, check for the same flight from your computer and compare notes. See what you get. Come back and let me know what you find. I’ll be doing the same.

 

Thanksgiving Road Travel: 9 Gas Saving Tips for the Traveling Family

If you’re not flying to see family or friends for Thanksgiving, chances are you’re doing your fair share of driving. With gas prices averaging about 58 cents more this year than they did last year, every penny of gas you can save surely counts.

Image courtesy of T. Browne Smith

Here are 9 ways to save on gas prices and consumption:

1. Use supermarket reward points to take some change off of your per gallon price. Every time I shop at my local supermarket and use my rewards card, I earn points that can be used towards the price of my gas at their pump. So, for every $100 (easy!) I spend on groceries, I save 10 cents per gallon and the price I pay for gas ends up being lower than what I pay at the pump of my wholesale membership club.

2. Car maintenance is key to fuel efficiency. Oil changes and properly inflated tires are the more obvious maintenance tasks but are you checking your car’s hoses, air filters, wires, antifreeze, coolant, and other fluids, to make sure that they’re in tip-top shape?

3. Keep the car light. The heavier the vehicle, the more load on the tires. And the more load on the tires, the more fuel the car uses. Get rid of the excess items in and on the car such as racks, clothing donations, and whatever else hides in the recess of our vehicles.

4. Close the windows while driving on the highway. Driving with open windows and sun roofs at high speeds add drag to the car and decrease fuel efficiency. Although the air conditioner increases fuel consumption, it’s still a better option on the highway than open windows.

5. Plan your travel time. Stop and go traffic is the anti-god to fuel efficiency so be strategic about the time of day you choose to get on the road.

6. Slow down and follow the printed speed signs. According to the EPA, gas mileage improves 10-15% by driving at 55 mph vs. 65 mph.

Image courtesy of peachygreen

7. Keep it moving. Don’t let your vehicle idle for more than 30 seconds unless you’re in traffic or allowing a cold engine to warm up. And even in that case, the car shouldn’t idle for more than 1 to 2 minutes during winter conditions.

8. Tighten up. Make sure your gas cap is tightened. You can usually ensure this by turning it 2 clicks. Loose gas caps cause gas to evaporate.

9. Disconnect and turn off power-consuming accessories before you turn off your car. Anything that you plug into the cigarette lighter for power can force the alternator to work harder to provide said needed power. This increased work on the alternatior adds extra work (load) to the engine, which, in turn increases fuel usage.

Regardless of the increased prices for gasoline, road travel tends to be the more viable option for many families traveling for Thanksgiving. Do you count yourself as one of them? Hopefully these tips will help you keep more money in your pocket so you can put more turkey in your stomach.

 

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