#HaveKidsWillTravel Archives - LiBT Agents ONLY site

How to enjoy holiday light displays with the kids.

How to enjoy the holiday light displays with the kids

It is that time of year when the holiday light displays are in full swing, and traveling to get to them is part of the journey. When I say journey, I am talking about not only packing the kids up in the car to get to the display but keep them occupied while waiting in line. Whether it is a drive through light display or walk through display, the lines can be long. Little kids just don’t have the patience or the attention span to wait. So how do you keep the occupied and interested?

Read the rest of this article over on the Pittsburgh Moms Blog….CLICK HERE

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Kids Table Talk-Secret Places in Universal

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We talk about all the amazing rides at Universal Studios. Make sure to find out about one of our favorite “secret” places to go at Universal.

When you book your vacation with a member of the Life is Better Traveling Team, you are supporting local families and business. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 4 years, we have become an AMAZING travel agency due to your support!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0-4QtTKkk8&feature=youtu.be

Which type of road trip does your family take?

Liz Hough on

When my husband had the opportunity again to speak at a conference in Charleston, South Carolina we instantly decided to turn it into a family vacation. We had taken the family two years ago when he had the opportunity to speak and we had so much fun. Deciding to go again was an easy decision. The tough part was getting there. Flying to Charleston from Pittsburgh is easy as they now have direct, non-stop flights, but we decided to take an adventure. A road-trip adventure.

What comes with a road-trip? There are two ways to do a road trip. The first I like to call the “Just Go” road-trip which doesn’t involve much planning at all. If you don’t like to plan, then this may be the option for you. The “Just Go” road-trip involves leaving very early in the morning, way before the kids are even awake. You can leave at 1am or 4am, just anytime before the kids would wake up for the day. The night before you simply put the kids into their clothes they are going to wear the next day and let them sleep in them for the night. When it comes time to leave, you move them from their beds into the car and “Just Go!”

With the “Just Go” road-trip you can plan to stop along the way or you can drive straight through depending on how long it will take you to get to your destination. Driving straight through is the goal, but as with many kids, the constant asking “are we there yet” can be a big reason to add in a stop or two along the way. My recommendation for kids six years of age and under is to try to stop every four hours when they are awake. Four-hours is a good amount of time that allows you to cover a large distance. This amount of time also helps get the kids out of the car to expend some of that built up energy.

The other type of road trip I like to call the “Scenic” road trip. With the “Scenic” road trip you build in more places to stop and see various sites along the way. This type of road trip takes a lot more advanced planning. The planning that is involved includes mapping out places to visit along the way with shorter breaks in between, usually 2 to 3 hours in the car before a stop. Each stop is something fun for the kids to do like a zoo, museum, battlefield, caverns, a farm, an Amish market, or the world’s biggest ball of yarn.

The “Scenic” road trip also involves sleeping at various motels and hotels along the way until you get to your final destination. Depending on the areas you will be stopping, you want to make sure the accommodations receive good reviews from other families who have stayed there. You don’t necessarily have to stay in the same area as one of your stops. If you plan to be in that area late, then it is a good idea to stay there. If you decide that you want your road trip to be a “Scenic” road trip, you can easily map it out on Google Maps and find local hotels and sights. You can also contact a travel agent to help you come up with a plan.

You can also do a combination of “Just Go” and “Scenic” road trips. There really is no right or wrong when planning a road trip as long as you are planning it to fit your family’s needs. Just remember, Life is Better Traveling!

Stay tuned next month for more on my road trip adventure to Charleston and my family’s adventure.

5 LESSONS we learned about having sick kids on vacation

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Imagine, you have been planning a vacation for several months and the time has come to finally take it. You get there and the place is beautiful. Everything is planned down to the hour, and you feel excited that after months of preparation you are finally here. You get out your schedule and gather the family to tell them the game plan for the week. One of the kids comes up to you to tell you they aren’t feeling too well. Maybe you shrug it off saying something like it was all the excitement of getting here, or we have been traveling for a long time. You think, there is no time in the schedule for a sick kid, but then it happens. They get sick!

Now what? With months of planning you never took into consideration someone getting sick. Do you go to a hospital or an urgent care? Do you have someone come to your hotel or resort room? How will you get medicine? Is a nap enough to just hope they feel better when they wake up? Question after question starts to run through your mind. What do you do?

Pixabay

Personally having traveled to over 19 countries and counting, getting sick is always going to happen as there are germs everywhere. The airport, the bathrooms, the plane (OMG, don’t get me started on the number of germs on a plane), the bus, the lobby, and the hotel room to name just a few places. You and your kids can pick something up anywhere and quickly. I have learned a few really good lessons as to what to when you or the kids get sick while one vacation.

Lesson 1: Don’t panic. The first thing many parents do, including myself, is panic as to what they are going to do. Stay calm and find out what the symptoms are first. From the symptoms, try to figure out the amount of medical assistance that is going to be needed, i.e. hospital, urgent care, or just a trip to the pharmacy. Once you know this, find the nearest place.

Lesson 2: Know where the nearest hospital, urgent care, or pharmacy is located that will take your insurance plan. When you are vacationing in the United States many people believe that their health insurance covers any health-related issues. This isn’t always the truth, and people end up with large medical bills. Make sure to contact your health insurance company before traveling, and find out where the nearest hospital and urgent care are located that are covered under your insurance. Same holds true for when you travel internationally. If you do not have coverage outside of the United States, then I highly recommend purchasing travel protection.

know where local care is located if you get sick

Pixabay

Lesson 3: Understand that kids are resilient. They may be down for a day or two but they quickly recover. Give them the time they need to rest while making sure they have plenty of what they need to be comfortable and bounce back quickly.

Lesson 4: Be amenable to adjusting your schedule. When we had a sick kid in Walt Disney World, even with all the months of planning and reservations, we had to adjust the days where we just couldn’t make it to the parks. We found fun activities at the resort they could do and made sure there was plenty of time for naps. When we were in Charleston, South Carolina with a sick kid, we watched TV and played games on their tablet. We adjusted the schedule to make sure they were comfortable and got plenty of rest.

Lesson 5: Consider bringing some over-the-counter medications with you on all your vacations. It is so much easier to have the medications on hand, then having to find them. Some medications that you may want to consider taking include: cold medications, allergy medications, stomach medications, headache medications, aches and pains medications, and a traveling thermometer. When I got sick on one of our many Walt Disney World vacations I paid $4 for 2 tablets of a cold medication on property. Paying over $40 in cold medication for what would otherwise cost me $10 at the local pharmacy, was a waste of money. Yup, lesson learned.

NOTE: When traveling internationally, some medications may be illegal to bring into the country without proper identification. Try to make sure that you have all over-the-counter medications and prescribed medications in their original containers to avoid confiscation.

Yohannan Family in Animal Kingdom

Remember, don’t panic if your kids or you get sick on your next vacation. Take a page from the lessons that I have learned so you can enjoy your time with your family. It really is as simple as making adjustments for a few days while your resilient child springs back to their original, healthy self. After all, Life is Better Traveling!

Kids Cleveland… so many activities

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A few weeks before school started our family decided to take a day trips outside of Pittsburgh. We thought it would be a fun way to end the summer and I was excited to go somewhere new. We had heard amazing things about Cleveland, Ohio. After looking up a few places to take the kids, we packed the bags and the car, and were on the road early one Saturday morning.

As a family who frequently drives on the Pennsylvania turnpike and stops at their service plazas, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the Ohio turnpike service plazas. They were fairly new, clean, spacious, and had a Panera. I am always up for Panera Hazelnut coffee and a scone! In addition, there was plenty of space for the kids to run around to get their legs moving.

We decided that our first stop in Cleveland would be the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we wanted to take advantage of the weather. As we are members of the Pittsburgh Zoo, we always ask a zoo if they reciprocate their membership. Unfortunately, they said they recently stopped reciprocating with the Pittsburgh Zoo. Noteworthy, as a result of being a member of the Pittsburgh Zoo, some zoos do reciprocate giving you free or up to 50% off admission . The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has various activities you can pay extra to do. We really just wanted to see the zoo and not do all the other things, so we paid for the basic entrance fee. This gets you into the zoo and the rainforest dome.

We expected to be at the zoo for 2 to 3 hours, because it typically takes us that long to go through a zoo. We were there for 5 hours! The zoo is spread out over several acres of land, and some areas you will have a nice walk to get to them. Our family’s personal favorite section was the tree house with the snake slide. Be careful though, you do come down quite fast and wearing shorts can give you a nice brush burn. Also, there is a really cool surprise at the bottom of the slide!

One thing that was really a nice touch was the design of the facilities. A lot was taken into consideration to make you feel like you were in that part of the world. Each enclosure was conducive to the natural habitat of that respective animal. The rainforest is at the entrance of the zoo, so we decided to do this after the zoo. We really enjoyed the rainforest and the animals inside. However due to a long day in the sun, the hot environment was too much for our family. Most note worthy about this zoo, there is a lot of walking involved so if you have little ones I highly recommend bringing a stroller.

Our day trip was spent mostly at the zoo, as a result we didn’t get to do other activities. Our hopes of getting to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium which was built in a historic powerhouse on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River, did happen. Next day trip to Cleveland! Other activities that you can do with the kids in Cleveland include Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Children’s Museum of Cleveland, and The Christmas Story House and Museum.

We had an amazing day trip even though we left early in the morning to get there at a reasonable time. We could have done more museums, but we really did enjoy the zoo. I can’t wait to go back, and this time we may even stay for an entire weekend. Remember, Life is Better Traveling.

Tell us what your favorite Cleveland Kid’s Activities are, or where in Cleveland you like to take your family…

Must-have car items for kids on longer trips.

Liz Hough on

You may not be flying anywhere, but traveling by car is a must for family trips this summer. Our family travels all over the Tri-state area during the summertime, which means long car rides. So what are my must-have items every time we have a car ride? I am about to give away my favorite, must-have items:

1. Smart tablets. I am a huge proponent of bringing along the Smart tablet or DVD player for the car, if your car doesn’t have a built in system already. Since so many phones can act as hotspot, why not bring the Smart tablet and let the kids play some educational games or watch some movies.
2. Snacks. As soon as we leave the house, the first things I always hear is “what is for a snack?” Pack a cooler with their favorite snack and drinks. I even pack a few bottles of milk for the kids to help curb their appetites until we are able to stop for a meal.
3. Blanket and Pillow. It may be hot outside, but inside the car the air-conditioner is blowing full blast. My kids are always telling me they are cold, so I pack a small blanket for each one of them, and they bring a small pillow to lay their heads against in their car seats. Sometimes they even fall asleep and the silence in the car is so relaxing.
4. Dollar bin items. It is amazing what you can find at your favorite stores dollar bin. Some of my favorite items to grab for less than $3 are the coloring items. At one of the stores we go to, right in the front they have their $5 and under bins. They change the items seasonally but it also seems weekly. There have been various bags with the kids favorites characters and in each bag there are coloring pencils, pads of paper, stickers, and erasers. This item is great for the car, the restaurant, and the hotel room.
5. Games, Games, Games. There are so many games you can play such as “I Spy with my Little Eye…” or “License Plate” where you don’t need any additional materials to play. One of my favorite games to make is Car Bingo. You can make your own version using cardboard paper or buy one at the store, but there are various items you need to see such as a cow or a food truck. You either close the flap on the board, or but an “X” over the item, and the first person to get to their items crossed off either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins Car Bingo.

There are so many fun ways to make your car trip exciting, and these are just a few of my favorite must-have items to help the time pass on our car rides. I hope you can tell us some of your favorite must-have car items, and remember…Life is Better Traveling!

Flying with kids Pt III

Liz Hough on

How to Keep Your Sanity

You survived preparation and you kept them occupied at the gate. Now comes the most challenging time, keeping them occupied on the plane. In parts 1 and 2 of my series I talked about how I get the look of “you better keep those kids quiet on this flight or I am not going to be happy” and how to keep them occupied at the airport terminal. But each time we fly, we get complimented on how well behaved our children were on the flight.

I know it is not easy flying with kids, but I want to give you some tips that may help you get those same compliments on your next flight.

Don’t rush to board the plane. The sooner you get on the plane the sooner the kids start to ask when is the plane leaving. If it is a large flight and you have per-arranged seating, then take your time boarding.
Talk to the flight attendants as you step foot on the plane. There is always at least one flight attendant there to welcome you, ask them how their day is going or if this is their first or last flight of the day. My husband always makes good with the flight attendant so if we ever need anything, they are much quicker to respond to us.
Make sure you have everything you need in the bag you are going to put under the chair in front of you. You can easily get to the bag under the chair but not the one in the overhead bin.
Let the kids sit where they want to. Even if you have assigned seating and you are assigned the window but they want it, give it to them. If you have two or more kids that want the window seat, then tell them that each of them will have the seat for a certain amount of time.
Wipe down the tray tables, arm rests, and seat belts with antibacterial wipes. Once the kids start asking for their toys, you will feel better giving it to them to play with on a clean surface.

Tips for keeping the kids occupied:

Get out those window clings I talked about in Part 2 of this series. While waiting for everyone else to board the plane and/or during take-off they can decorate the window and the underside of the tray table.
Books are always a good thing to have on the flight. I personally find that small coloring books, sticker books, and/or wipe-down books are fun for the kids and keeps them occupied for some time.
Yes, I dare say it… SMART TABLET! Before you leave your house, load movies onto their or your smart tablet. Nowadays, when you purchase a DVD of a movie you sometimes get the Digital HD version too. Download them so the kids have a movie or two to watch. You can also download some of their favorite games to play, but just make sure that they won’t need WiFi to play them.
When the flight attendants bring drinks, this is usually a good time to give the kids their favorite snack. Even though they may have eaten a meal at the airport, giving them a snack helps keep their energy up and you won’t have that hunger meltdown during landing.
If your child is still using a binky or pacifiers make sure you bring plenty along. This helps to keep them calm, and it will also help with their ears for altitude changes. I find that my children fall asleep with having their binky and the gentle sway of the airplane. This makes me happy because now I have time to relax and take in a movie too.
Bring a small blanket and pillow. We have a small blow-up pillow that helps the kids get more comfortable in the seat. They like the sense of cozy with a blanket around them.
Get out their favorite toy. At some point during the flight they may get antsy and start to kick the seat in front of them. A good way to keep your child from kicking the seat in front of them is by putting their favorite toy in the pocket in front of them. They will think you are being silly by putting it there but if I tell my child that her toy needs to be secured in a seat, just as she is, and that the pocket is her toy’s seat, there are no questions. This eliminates kicking the seat and an angry person in that seat.

I hope some of these tips will help you and your family the next time you fly with your little ones, and as always…Life is Better Traveling with SAFE TRAVELS!

Save time when you do this…

Liz Hough on

How do you get ready for your vacation?

Check lists, organizational chart, or throw it all in one bag?

I am going on a trip this week and even though I plan, arrange, and make sure all my clients have everything they need, I am finding myself a bit out of sorts. I have been getting together our paperwork, making sure that we have all the arrangements finalized, the document holder is ready to go (yes, the exact same one I give to all my clients I use too), luggage ready, passports, etc. So why do I feel like I am missing something?

I have a travel checklist I give my clients each time they take their trip to ensure they don’t forget anything. This list includes everything they might or are going to need. Documentation, identification, toiletries, clothes, electronics and charging devices, sunscreen, skis, surfboard, etc. Some of the things on the list most people will never take in their travels. I wanted to create a list for all travelers going anywhere so I included everything from the basics to a bit of the exotic.

I am a checklist kind of person. Unlike my husband who will throw everything in his bag the night before, I pack several days in advance to make sure I give myself time to remember everything. So as I am going through my checklist I am finding it really easy to get my stuff together. I have it all laid out on the bed in our spare bedroom or as my toddler calls it, Yia-Yia’s room as my parents sleep here when they are over. Everything looks in order but I still feel like I am missing something.

Now when you travel in the United States if you forget something you just go to the local store and get it. When you travel internationally there is the confusion of which store sells what? There were some stores in Europe that I had no idea what they sold until I physically walked through the door! Depending on what you need or how bad you need it at the time, you may want to be walking in and out of stores. Now we aren’t going far, the Bahamas, and the cruise ship will have stuff too. I am sure we would be able to find whatever we forget in the Bahamas but it has been almost 25 years since I was last there, I may have trouble finding it. The good news is, I still can’t figure out what I am missing so I may not have to find it.

I was telling my husband that I feel like I am forgetting something. This is the thing you do when you are forgetting something, you ask the person who throws it all together at the last minute. He kindly reminded me that I feel this way about every trip. It seems to be more on my mind when traveling internationally. I guess I could go a few days without vitamins or deep conditioning my hair. After all people for thousands of years lived without these things, I can live without them for four nights.

So with this last thought, I guess it doesn’t matter how you pack for your trip. Even having a checklist doesn’t guarantee me to remember everything. If you forgot something, and hopefully it is something you can live without for a few days at a time, you will survive. So the next time pack for your trips and feel this way, know that you aren’t alone, your travel agent feels the same way when she packs.

P.S. CLICK HERE…I am giving away our check list for FREE just for reading this article. THANK YOU!

Kids and Plantations, oh my!

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When you travel to the south there is one destination that is always a must, a plantation. What is a plantation? It is a large estate with usually several hundreds of acres of land, multiple working buildings, beautiful gardens, some type of cash or food crop, and many working animals. Plantations are large enough that they can be an all-day sight-seeing tour, but when you have two little kids a full day looking at flowers and crops is not too exciting. Around Charleston there are several plantations to choose from and they each offer something unique and different to enjoy. One plantation was highly recommended to us by another mother who said she takes her children there and they really enjoy it. If another mother recommends it then it must be good right?

So we planned to spend half a day or up to 6 hours at the Middleton Place. It was about a 25-minute drive outside of Charleston on a 2 lane road that had multiple plantations. We decided on the full experience which included a 45-minute horse drawn carriage ride around the plantation, entrance onto the grounds, and guided tour of the house. There were also additional tours of various parts of the plantation during the day including a tour of the flower gardens. When you are touring a plantation, it is best to get there earlier in the day to try and beat the heat, however, with kids, you get there when you get there. We got there around noon and decided to take the guided garden tour. There were only a few of us on the tour and the lady we had was extremely knowledgeable about the history behind the plantation, but the kids were hot and ready for something different.

After the tour ended, it was time for our horse drawn carriage ride around the plantation. The kids thought this was so much fun because they love horses and with it being so bumpy, they felt like they were on an amusement park ride. As the estate was quite large, this was a great way to get around the grounds and see the different buildings and natural beauty of the property.

After our carriage ride it was time to take our tour of the house. The house was air-conditioned, which gave us nice break from the heat, but it was also dimly light due to the 200-year-old paintings and other valuables. The tour was very interesting for adults as the guide went through a good amount of history, but the kids were bored and unimpressed by the children’s room. I wouldn’t recommend the house tour for children as there are a lot of artifacts that required no touching, and this can be difficult for kids (especially ours!).

After the house tour, we headed over to the barn and blacksmith area. We were able to see the horses being fed, and the kids found out that there were three cats roaming the area so it became a game to find them. At a certain time every day, one of the employees brings Bessy, a cow, up to a special area where she is milked. She was an older cow and very tame, which is why they chose her to milk. The kids all gathered around to see what was happening and to our surprise, they let the kids milk her also. This was a lot of fun for the kids, probably the best part of their day.

We spent 4 and a half hours at the Middleton Plantation and I would say that it was worth taking them, but I would plan next time to get their when they first open to try and beat the heat. We were also careful around any water as there were alligators lounging around on the grassy areas near one of the ponds, and definitely take bug spray because there were a lot of bugs.

Next up…Charleston, S.C.

Liz Hough on

If you haven’t been, here’s why you must go!

Our family recently took a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. The last time my husband and I were in Charleston we didn’t have any children and we enjoyed the pleasures of Down Home Southern Cooking. We walked around the romantic waterfront and sat in front of the iconic Pineapple fountain while watching the sunset project beautiful hues of pink and purple onto the bay. We walked around the entire historic district taking in the sights of various mansions, quaint alleyways, and hearing ghost tales of years that have gone by. One thing about Charleston is that the historic district remains the same, not much had changed in the past 10 years since we were there last. Except, this time we had two little ones with us.

We didn’t have much time at the Pineapple fountain before one of the children had a meltdown and didn’t want to get a picture as a family, but we tried anyway. The meltdown probably came from a long day of excitement, playfulness, and good food as there is a lot of amazing things to do in Charleston with children. Every day the kids were exhausted, ate well, and couldn’t wait to get out of the hotel the next day to see where we were going next. One thing to make sure of when you travel to Charleston with the kids is to make sure they get a good, hearty breakfast. There are so many amazing breakfast places in the historic district and we found them by simply asking our concierge where to eat. There is an amazing place on Meeting Street called Toast that has homemade biscuits the size of my hand. They may be large but they are not heavy. We visited Toast on several occasions as they had some interesting breakfast items that we wanted to try, and the food was consistently good.

Anywhere we travel, if there is an aquarium or zoo, it is a must stop on our itinerary. It had been 10 years since I was last at the Charleston Aquarium so I didn’t recall exactly what was there. Our first stop was to the outdoor enclosure which was a nice surprise. It was a large pool containing several rays. If the rays come close to the surface of the pool you can actually touch them. Now if you have recently seen Finding Dory, there is a part in the movie where the animals in the “touch pool” don’t really liked to be “touched” and when the kids put their hands in the water they all start to find hiding places. I felt like this scene played out when we were at this pool as the rays clearly didn’t want us to touch them because they all stayed at the bottom! There were two windows on the bottom of the pool that you could look in and see the rays swimming around happily and that kept the kids occupied for some time.

Inside the aquarium they have several great exhibits including their large tank with a sea turtle that is my size in height. They put on various educational seminars about every half hour at various exhibits throughout the aquarium and these seminars really kept the interest of the kids. One seminar was about alligators and crocodiles, and at the end of the seminar our children actually had the opportunity to pet an alligator, which was a huge excitement for a 5-year-old. After talking with another employee about what fish and rays eat, she gave each of us a small cup with uncooked shrimp. The kids put the shrimp on the end of a rod and then they feed the rays. This was a interesting experience because the rays come up to the glass and use the glass as guidance to find the food. They are quite aggressive when it comes to food and the large rays would push the smaller rays to the side to get the food. Again, pure excitement for the kids! I would highly recommend a half-day to do the aquarium, and try to schedule it so you can see the seminars.

The Children’s Museum of Charleston is another must when visiting Charleston with the kids. It is all one floor and there are seven large rooms each with a different theme. I personally like the castle themed room, but the pirate ship was a huge hit with the kids. The seven rooms are: the arts and crafts room, the castle room, water play room, large building blocks room, pirate ship room, the baby play area, and grocery shopping room. Each room was designed to have the kids engaged in some type of activity and they were able to dress up in various characters in some of the rooms. It was fun to see the kids dressed up like pirates and running around a pirate ship yelling at each. I also enjoyed the grocery store because the kids have a shopping list and then they must go around and pick up the items. Once they have retrieved all of the items they bring them to the kids sized check-out line and the parents can scan their items. The kids pay with fake money and they can bag their own items.

If you have little ones under the age of two, there is a whole area that is enclosed so the kids can’t get out. They have soft pillows, slides, climbing stairs, and big foam blocks for the little ones to play. The time flew by so fast when we were here that we didn’t get to go outside to ride the big fire truck or do any of the other outdoor activities. I would highly recommend the Children’s Museum for either a half-day or if the weather is nice and you can play outside, a good 6 hours.

Check out next week’s ezine when I talk about how to survive at a plantation with kids!