A vacation for kids and adults has to be a fun adventure for everybody. A vacation means you're taking a break from your every day activities like work, school and the obligations of every day life. That's what makes a vacation fun and something to look forward to. It's can be a real balancing act trying to keep everyone in the family happy but with some thought and planning, it can be done. Here are five steps to planning a perfect vacation for kids and adults.
Sally Black
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Baby Friendly cruises are a great option for young families. Cruising with your baby or toddler offers families lots of convenient choices of destinations and fun activities. Many family friendly cruise lines offer nurseries and baby club programs with age appropriate activities for infants and toddlers under the age of 3 years old. Some cruise ships will even offer infant care and baby sitting while parents enjoy excursions and sightseeing when docked in port. This option allows parents to have some freedom and fun as well as peace of mind. Cruise ships will allow children to stay in the nursery while parents are sightseeing where as most resorts with baby programs will not allow parents to leave the resort property to golf, scuba or go sightseeing.
When planning for your baby friendly cruise, please be aware that there are cruise line policies and rules in place regarding the age they will allow infants to sail. Once you know your infant is old enough to sail with you on a family cruise, parents need to know what activities, baby clubs and babysitting is offered on their ship. Some cruise lines are better for families with babies and there are even specific ships that offer even more infant activities and baby care....
September and October are the months for baby friendly vacations. If you are a young family that doesn't have to worry yet about school calendars then this is the time when you can score some really great deals. When everyone else's kids are heading back to school, all of the family friendly resorts and cruise lines find themselves empty. This is the time to find great deals in addition to extra perks like room upgrades and resort spending credits. Parents can save up to 65% off regular prices on hotels and cruise lines. Do give yourself a little time grabbing one of these last minute deals. Airfare prices take a big jump two weeks prior to departure so if you can schedule something about one month out in early fall chances are you'll be doing the happy dance.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sets the standards for airline safety in the United States. The FAA does recommend that all children fly seated in an approved child safety seat but it does not MANDATE the use of child safety seats on airplanes. The word mandate is an important one here. Because the FAA does not mandate the use of a safety seat, airlines will allow children UNDER the age of 2 to fly for either a small fee or 10% of the cost of an adult ticket, seated in the lap of their parent. Airlines and travel agents use the lingo of LAPCHILD to describe a baby or toddler flying seated in their parent's lap. Everyone likes the idea of a "free ride" but there are some important points parents need to consider when deciding whether or not to buy an airline seat for their baby.
Toddler friendly vacations have lots of moving parts, just like toddlers themselves. These kids are always on the move. We define "toddlers" here as children to be between the ages of 2 and 4 years of age. By travel industry definition, they are old enough to require the purchase of their own airline seat but too young for most kids clubs that start at age 4. Parents taking their toddlers on vacation are generally looking for....
All Inclusive Kids Resorts are a busy parent's best friend when it comes to planning a family vacation. These resorts provide a kid friendly atmosphere along with fun activities for every member of the family.
Smart Parents Know Back to school means means Spring Break....seriously.
The inspiration for this article comes from a recent airport encounter. My family was stuck in line behind a very disgruntled couple with several large suitcases in tow. Actually these suitcases were more like steamer trunks. The poor man groaned very time their bags needed slide along as the line progressed. When they reached the check in counter, the woman was "shocked and appaulled" at the amount of money it was going to cost them to check their over-sized, over weight, collection of suitcases. The husband then mistakenly asked her if she really needed the contents of one of the largest and heaviest bags. She replied, "Of course Dear, I NEED all 35 pairs of the shoes I packed".
For the safety and security of children everywhere, single parents traveling overseas with minor children have additional responsibilities when it comes to travel documentation. This rule applies to divorced parents, widowed parents, co-parents, grandparents and even married parents who will be traveling separately. Similar questions of legality can arise if passport names don't all match. This can happen in the situation where
a mother uses a different name from her husband and children. Another red flag might be if you are bringing another child along on vacation, say a child's friend or a relative that does not have the same last name. Once again legal documentation would need to be presented at border control.
