Travel Thursday: Travel Activities for Kids

I have a 6-year-old and a 19-year-old.  I'm not sure which one requires my attention more (do you hear that, Megan!), but I always make sure that I pack a variety of fun activities for plane rides, long dinners, and being stuck in a hotel room.  Here's a few of my favorite things:

• Foldable map. Kids love looking at maps, especially colorful ones.  Try to point out funny sounding town names and ask if you would fly there, take a bus or train, do they have bicycles, any question will do.  
• Deck of cards.  No matter the age, there's always a suitable card game.  You can play Go Fish or Old Maid for the younger ones and Poker, Blackjack, Rummy or Euchre for the older ones. Sometimes I even win (ok, not often, but sometimes).
• Silly putty.  Seriously, what kid or adult doesn't have fun with silly putty.  Do you remember pressing it against newspaper and then reading it?
• Crayons, markers (depending on the age), and foldable sheets of paper.  I like to carry these in a large baggy so the markers and crayons don't mess up the rest of my purse by accidentally leaking. I recently bought white candy boxes from a local craft store.  You can get 4 boxes for less than $2.  While on a plane, kids can decorate the boxes with crayons, markers, and cheap stickers.
• Pack something new they have to unwrap.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  Glitter markers will cost less than $5.  It could be Pokemon cards, a new comb or brush for Barbie.
• Bring a snack mix that they would normally never get at home.  Make a holiday inspired snack mix - for Easter, you could pack an assortment of pastel Starbursts, jelly beans, reese cups.  The idea is to make it special.
• Download a new movie or TV show, but don't tell them.  Make it a surprise so there's a reason to be excited AND be quiet!

Interesting Travel Articles Around the Web

Three interesting travel articles, if you're the traveling-sort of folk.

1. I follow The Frugal Traveler on Twitter and find him very informative.  This week, he posted an article on the New York Times Travel site called Deconstructing the World's Friendliest People.  Definitely worth a read.
2. Since starting this wonderful 50-state adventure, I have found it wise to belong to loyalty programs - hotel, car, air.  I've noticed many subtle and some significant changes to my United Airlines program since buying Continetal, but was surprised to read about more changes by hotels, airlines, car rentals and others in this latest CNBC article.
3. Lastly, I came across Skift, which fancies itself as a travel news site that will definitely find me as a repeat reader. Good graphics, well organized, smartly written, insider information.

Travel Thursday: Three Great Travel Apps

Tackling so many states in the past five years requires a great deal of travel. When we first started, it required regular visits on our home computer to Expedia to compare air fares or hotel rates, as well as going to MapQuest to print out directions. Thank goodness for the iPhone! With Greg traveling as much as he does for work, and me trying to make Silver status on United another year, travel apps have come in handy on each and every trip. Three favorite ones are:

1. Organizing --> TripIt. By emailing my hotel, air, car rental reservation, I can give up the manilla folder. They will organize all your reservations into one itinerary, as well as adding weather, maps and directions for your destination. Pretty cool.

2. Food --> Yelp!. I seriously love this app. No matter where we are, I pull this baby out and can immediately find exactly what we want. Today, I used it for ice cream. Sadly, Honey Hut was closed for the season! Since Greg and I are often looking for either a really good microbrew or a great little asian restaurant, Yelp! has come in handy.

3. Lodging --> HotelTonight. Although I have not used this app yet, I have downloaded it because it's highly recommended on all the travel sites I frequent. Last year, we were stranded in Newark overnight and I don't wish that on my worst enemy. I would have given the world for this app. It's in most major cities and shows steep discounts for same day travel plans. So if you get stranded at a hotel and need a room that night or right away, this is the app for you. Or, if you sometimes travel like we do, and just wing it, HotelTonight will provide us with a deep discount when we do decide to settle down for the night.

Happy travels!

Travel Thursday: It's the Little Things

I recently read a good article from one of the travel sites I follow - I wish I could remember where, but one of the tips intrigued me. It was recommended that, when traveling, you carry $5 gift cards to give to passengers for their inconveniences, such as when you ask someone to switch seats with you so you could sit with all your family or your travel mate.

While Greg and I were discussing this, we differed a bit on the views. For example, we always try our best to never inconvenience others because traveling is tight and cramped and, quite honestly, why add to the misery of it all. When we have asked someone to switch seats, it usually resulted in giving them the better (closer to the front of the plane) seat, and we never asked someone to give up their aisle or window seat for a middle seat. But I argued that if people were kinder, and maybe did reward others for doing somethink kind in return, then maybe it would help make the cattle call of traveling a little more bearable.

What do you think?

Travel Thursday: 3 Packing Essentials

One of the major elements of this blog is traveling. In order to tackle all 50 states, one must travel - either my car, plane, subway, train...you get the picture. All four of us, yes even Bridget, have really become efficient at packing a suitcase. So I thought it would be cool to share some of the lessons we've learned, either through the advice of others or by learning the lesson the hard way!

1. Pack a hat. Hats are great for bad hair days, keeping the sun off of you, or just adding flair to an otherwise boring outfit!

2. Pack healthy snacks for everyone. I usually have a Kind bar, a small baggie of almonds, or twizzlers for Bridget. Something good to nosh on, but not something that will add bloating or pounds.

3. Pack dryer sheets. They make your clothes smell fresh and help make your dirty clothes on the return trip smell less funky. Huge help on those long treks!

Three simple things to aid in making trips fun!