Mom's Guide To Travel

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

Free Summer Concerts – Fun For The Family

Like anyone else, I enjoy a good concert, but they can get pricey, especially if you want to see one every week. Free concerts offer the best of both worlds, enjoyable music and ease on the pocketbook. Many cities offer free concerts and festivals in the summer. If you happen to be in the Baltimore area during these months, you’ll have the pleasure of enjoying a variety of live musical performances, art, and good food.
Artscape
The big poppa of all the city’s free summer concerts is Artscape. If there’s one free concert you want to catch, this would be the one. A 30 year old tradition in Baltimore, this arts and music festival hosts 350,000 visitors and 173 exhibitors over the course of 3 days. Artscape 2011 will run from July 15th until the 17th across 3 stages, 175 tents, and 12 city blocks.
Harborplace Ampitheater
The Harborplace Amphitheater features street performers during the daytime and live bands during the evenings on the weekends from now through Labor Day. Here is this year’s roster.
Belvedere Square
The pagoda at Patterson Park will be home to folk, salsa, jazz, and afrofunk bands on Sundays this year from July 10th – July 24th.
As much as we’d like to control Mother Nature, such is not the measure of things. Therefore, be sure to check the weather forecast for chances of rain. Oftentimes, venues like Belvedere Square will schedule a rain date for concert-goers.
Cities like Baltimore and New York have made it a tradition to offer its dwellers and visitors a break from wallet-busting entertainment during the summertime. I have memories from both with and without kids. It’s a perfect time to enjoy the outdoors, catch up with friends, or just enjoy laid back family time with a blanket and a basket. Sometimes we make too much noise about life but seriously, the best things in life truly are free!
Image by geograph.org.uk

Vacation, Healthy-Eating, and Fitness: Can They Co-Exist?

Staying on plan with healthy eating and exercise never ceases to be a challenge when I travel. As relatively consistent as I am when I’m home, as soon as I hit the road or skies, a SHUT-OFF button magically appears. It’s like an auto-relax button that says vacation, exercise and healthy-eating don’t always belong in the same sentence.
Funny thing about departing from my everyday regimen is that when I get back from vacay, and I haven’t exercised or eaten properly, I’m everything but relaxed. I’m bloated, edgy, cranky, and just overall, grumpy, and not nice. However, I will say that even in my inconsistency, I’m not consistent about falling off the horse. I’m still trying to figure out why I fall on some trips andrace to the finish line on others. Is there a direct correlation between my attitude and my location – the more tropical, the greater my motivation and vice versa?
In April, I took a three-day cruise with my BFF. I worked out 2 of the 3 days we were on the ship but consumed way more alcohol and deserts than is my usual. I’ve come to a few conclusions:

Gym
Hotel Gym - Blah!
 1. I take vacations, especially girls-only ones, to relax and step away from the stresses of everyday demands. Exercise isn’t a stress for me, therefore, taking a vacation shouldn’t mean relaxing on my fitness regimen.

Biking
Mountain Biking - Exciting!
 2. Exercise is fun and is more than just jumping jacks, push ups, and 5 mile runs. Being away from home in a new and exciting location is a great opportunity to explore new ways to be active. Nature hikes, snorkeling, open-water swimming, zip-lining, rock wall climbing, canoeing are great activities that not only elevate the heart rate but also show off the land.

Ziplining...Fun!
 3. Food is food, no matter where I eat it. Bad food at home is the same bad food on the road. Departing drastically from a healthy eating regimen just because I see a few umbrella drinks, a sandy beach and tropical waters is irresponsible of me. It takes twice as many days to recover and get back on track and generally, not worth it.

Vacation, fitness and healthy eating aren’t mutually exclusive concepts. If the latter two can be achieved at home then they certainly can be applied on the road. Do you get off track when you take a vacation or do you remain consistent? Is it a challenge for you or easy as pie? Pun intended.

Travel during allergy season – Quercetin may be your savior

Do your allergies feel more out of control than normal this year? Is this your first year ever getting allergies? Well, you are not alone. A growing number of allergy sufferers are reporting the same observations.
 
Bahama Flower Mine sure did when they first started killing me softly back in early April. At times, I was sneezing so hard and rapidly that I’ve had to put my car in park and allow the spell to pass. Horrible! I thought it was way too early for those bad boys to give me the okie doke but apparently it wasn’t. All the rain and hot flashes that Mother Nature’s been experiencing has not only strengthened the pollen but also made it come on prematurely. However, now I’m better prepared.
 
I found out about an herb called Quercetin at a seminar and it has done wonders for my immune system. I knew that I’d be traveling in a few weeks and was going to need more than Claritin, Flonaise, etc. etc. but I didn’t want to take any new prescription allergy medicine. After the initial two weeks of taking quercetin twice a day, I haven’t had to use it again thus far. If you travel during the Spring or Fall, this would be a great supplement to travel as you don’t always know what to expect in your destination.
 
Have you ever tried Quercetin? How did it work for you? What else has been beneficial to your system? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience on beating the pollen.

Affording Family Travel – Road Trip or Fly?

As my husband and I start thinking about our weekend getaways, I began to get curious to the price of taking a road trip with current gas prices. I have to admit that I was slightly annoyed to spend $64 the other day filling my gas tank although I know many people around the country have to spend a lot more.

Here is a sample price comparison chart of the cost of flying for a family of 4 vs. driving using various departures and destinations across the country.

FLy vs. Drive

Destination Departure Miles Flight for 4 Driving (Fuel)
San Diego San Francisco 500 $149/pp $596 $191.25(3 tanks)
San Antonio Dallas 278 $138/pp $552 $128 (2 tanks)
Charleston Baltimore 580 $280/pp $1120 $256 (4 tanks)
Norfolk New York 357 $228/pp $912 $128
Nantucket Baltimore 475 $447/pp $1788 $191.25
Fresno, CA Salt Lake City 815 $376/pp $1504 $320 (5 tanks)

So looking at these figures, rest assured that although gas prices have jumped significantly in the last few months and have compromised your leisurely driving, a road trip for a family of 4 is still significantly cheaper than flying everyone. Each method of transportation has its positives and negatives. Depending on your schedule, patience, time commitment, and goal for your family vacation, one mode may prove more beneficial than the other.

Parameters:
* Fuel totals calculated using current national average price of $3.72/gal for unleaded gas.
* Flights are based using economy airfare prices for a weekend departure.
* Friday Departure, Saturday Return; early summer; non-holiday weekend.
* Gas/mileage rate of 20mpg with a 17 gallon tank

Note:
* Prices for flights will vary depending on your travel flexibility. It’s cheaper to travel Mon-Thu vs. Fri-Sat, so keep that in mind when comparing the figures.
* The closer you are to the destinations, the cheaper your fuel costs will be and the more reasonable it would be for you to drive. Thus, I have tried to include a collection of popular family destinations.

If you want to do your own math, check out sites like:

www.distancebetweencities.net
http://www.travelmath.com
www.cheaptickets.com

Travel Anxiety

Is it just me or do the nights before a big trip create a bit of anxiety that impede your sleep? Me of all people, talking about anxiety? Yes, me, consummate traveler, and professor of travel organization gets a tinge of anxiety before going on a trip. Thankfully enough, t’s not bad anxiety; it’s an immature type of kiddie anxiety. I’m not stressed about an upcoming trip, I’m actually overly excited about it. Maybe I should look for the opposite of anxiety, since that word’s root meaning is to vex or trouble and I, by no means feel troubled for an impending travel.

However, travel anxiety is real for many people. Either they’re afraid to fly or their afraid of tight spaces or they simply are troubled about traveling with their young child. Part of the issue is a simple need for more practice and addressing the fear head on. In the past where I’ve indeed felt anxious about traveling overseas with my oldest son when he was a baby, I redirected my thoughts and viewed our upcoming trip as more of an adventure than as an oncoming train wreck. I kept my mind focused on the end result instead of the small steps to get there. It’s the negative thoughts of a perceived future event that creates anxiety. When you can flip the switch on your mind that your upcoming travel will be fun, no matter what happens, you can allay those fears and get past all that anxiousness.

So, don’t think this:
Anxiety

Think this instead:
Happiness

What do you normally get anxious about?

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