Preparing Your Children For Their First Trip Alone

By Meg Hodson

We have always been a traveling family. Whether it's road trips to the beach, flights to visit family in the Midwest, weddings in Las Vegas, or Disneyland, we've done a lot. My children are natural travelers and really enjoy it. 

My oldest child (my daughter, age 11) finished 5th grade this year. We had learned about an opportunity to go on an 11 day tour of Alaska with People To People Ambassador Programs. I myself had done a People To People trip in high school and I had fond memories of my trip to Europe. I was excited to look into this further for my daughter. 

We ultimately decided she was ready for a trip like this. It was set to be a well-supervised tour and there were numerous meetings locally with the students going from the area. She couldn't wait for summer. She even did her own fundraising to pay for part of the trip and for spending money.

I am a firm believer that travel is a great way to learn. She is not back from her trip yet, but I can't wait to see and hear about her adventures. Her leader has a private group page set up for the parents, so we can follow along on their adventures. That has been wonderful!

As we prepared for her trip, I thought I would put together a list of some of the not-so-common items to check off as you get ready for a young child tp travel alone.

• Pack An Extended First Aid Kit. Band-aids are a given, but I put together an extensive first aid kit so that my daughter would not have to worry about buying these things and so she was prepared, should she need something at odd hours, like the middle of the night. Her kit included: bandages, first aid ointment, eye drops, blister bandages, chewable ibuprofen (she knew to consult her leader first to confirm the dosage), chewable allergy medicine, arnica for sore muscles or light bruising, homeopathic night time sleeping aid, and ginger mints (for motion sickness).

• Souvenir List. My daughter had requests from her brothers and from us about souvenirs we might like. I made a "Note" in her iPod that included some of the things we liked so she wouldn't forget. I also made a list of family members and friends and their addresses so she could send post cards. I bought post card stamps for her to have on hand. You could easily include this on the first page of a travel journal, too.

• Credit Card Gift Card. Banks actually do have travelers checks still, but I just thought this would be a bit of a hassle for an 11 year old. Carrying a large amount of cash was not a good idea either. She was familiar with the process of a debit card, so I thought a credit card gift card would be perfect and teach her some budget responsibility, too. We pre-loaded it with a set amount and sent her with a little cash, too. As a gift, I also bought her a Starbucks gift card for some treats along the way.

• Stay Charged Baby! I sent my daughter with a back-up portable USB charger to use for her iPod. She also has rechargeable batteries for her small camera. 

• Snacks. With odd flights times and this trip promising LOTS of walking and sightseeing, I packed my daughter some snacks. I knew she could buy some along the way, too, but you never know when you will be rushed for time. I sent her with some granola bars, coconut chips, nuts, and dried fruit. Be sure to pack items that won't easily get crushed or melt.

• Confidence. I know, I know, you can't pack confidence. But I assured my daughter that I knew she would be smart and make the right decisions on her trip. She had her leader to turn to as well. I ultimately said to "go with your gut", I know you will make the right decisions.

What tips can you share about preparing kids for their first trip?

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Best Tips For Disneyland With Your Family

By Meg Hodson

My family had one of our most memorable vacations recently when we took a road trip to Disneyland. My daughter was performing and participating in a Disney Performing Arts workshop with her dance troop. We decided to make a family vacation out of it.

We embarked on our first Disney trip four years ago when our children were 7, 5, and 2. It was a great trip, but we were novices. My husband and I had been to Disneyland many times on our own, but not with young children. There were definitely many things we learned that we were going to cover on our most recent trip. 

I have compiled a list of my favorite tips, insights, and best bets to make your Disneyland trip with kids stress free and memorable.

1. Pack Snacks and Water Bottles. As you can imagine, all that walking and activity makes kids tired! Although the only snacking my kids usually do is an after school snack (they are 11, 9, and 6 now), at Disneyland it is a different story. I was careful to give them a snack every 2 hours and plenty of water. Some of my favorite snacks to pack include: granola bars, string cheese, fruit snacks, carrot sticks, nuts, chips, and apple slices, 

Technically Disneyland requests that you don't bring outside food or beverage into the park. But I didn't run into any problems, especially since my daughter has food allergies. It can sometimes be tough to seek out water fountains and refill stations in Disneyland, so if you stumble upon them, take advantage and refill while you can. Most restrooms have water fountains and occasionally you will find that restaurants have refill stations (I found a great one at the central restaurant in Tomorrowland, right behind the Jedi Academy training area). Don't forget that the soda fountains in restaurants will also have water taps, too. 

2. Follow @DisneylandToday on Twitter. There are a lot of +Disneyland  apps out there, but there are no official apps for Disneyland run by Disney. The apps you do find that assist with wait times and such tend to be unreliable. You can check the Disneyland website for major closures and renovations going in, but for the day to day pulse of Disneyland, it's essential to follow @DisneylandToday on Twitter. I directly tweeted them questions regarding rides that were temporarily closed and got very quick answers.  Trust me, this came in handy when we were on one end of the park but had fast passes for Space Mountain on the other side of the park. We didn't want to make the trek unless we knew for sure that the ride was open.

3. Rent A House. We are a family of 5, so our hotel options can sometimes be limited. We stayed in a nice hotel our first trip, but received a suggestion from a friend to look into renting a house. I was surprised to find that there were a lot of options, many just minutes from the park. We decided to get one with a pool and hot tub, which did add to the cost. While the cost of the house was more than a hotel room that would have accommodated us, I felt overall, the pros outweighed the cons and that we actually came out even.

First, we used the pool a lot more than we ever would have in a hotel. Most of our days on vacation were longs ones at the park. My husband and I relished the hot tub for our tired legs; in a hotel, we would not have been able to leave our sleeping children to go to the hot tub, but with the house, we could (along with pouring a glass of wine!). 

While we did splurge and take the kids to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast one morning, all other days we had breakfast at the house, saving our family a lot of money when we normally would have dined out for breakfast. P.S. Although spendy, Goofy's Kitchen was a hit and the food was amazing. The kids didn't need as many snacks that day, either, because of the amount of food they had that morning! 

We were also able to prep snacks and lunches easier by having a full kitchen in the house versus a mini-fridge in a hotel. 

4. Fast Passes. If you are not familiar, select rides at Disneyland have Fast Passes available. You can come back at a specific time and avoid a long wait. On select attractions, it's important to get your Fast Passes first thing in the morning or you may not get Fast Passes at all.  One of the most popular rides in California Adventure is Radiator Springs Racers in CarsLand. The normal wait time is 1 1/4 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Plan to enter the park when it opens and get your Fast Passes right away. For example, we got Fast Passes around 9am and had a return time of 3pm for the ride.  

Disneyland has a new performance and light show every night that is not to miss, Fantasmic. It is important to have reserved "seats" for this production and ideally, you want to be front and center to enjoy it fully. If you plan accordingly, make reservations at the River Belle Restaurant and enjoy a front row view and the pleasure of sitting down while you watch. If not, plan to get Fast Passes. Again, you need to get these as soon as you enter the park in the morning so that you get passes for the section that faces the front of the production. You can pick them up at a kiosk in Frontierland near Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

5. Find Some Shade. Overall, I think Disneyland has better shaded areas than California Adventure. But I think the shade at outdoor restaurants is better at California Adventure than at Disneyland! We enjoyed a great, surprisingly reasonably priced lunch in the shade at the Alfresco Tasting Terrace in California Adventure. In Disneyland, seek the best shade in New Orleans Square and Frontierland.

6. Souvenir Shopping. Obviously enough, Disneyland has plenty of stores to find the ultimate souvenir. My one piece of advice would be to look beyond the "big box" stores and shop at some of the shops that are unique to each part of the park. We found fun stuff for our boys at the big store in Adventureland directly across from the Jungle Cruise. The best shop for finding those coveted Disneyland trading pins is in Frontierland. If you have Star Wars fans in your house, skip Main Street and head straight to Tomorrowland to the behemoth store next to Star Tours. If you do need to visit one of the larger shops, my favorite is the World of Disney in Downtown Disney.

7. Best Spots For Pins. I became a pin collector on our most recent trip to Disneyland. My children began collecting them 4 years ago on our first trip. My husband also did at the end of our last trip. They enjoyed shopping for pins on this trip immensely, as well as trading pins with cast members (remember, if a Disneyland cast member is sporting a lanyard with pins, you can trade with them!). Our favorite places to buy pins with the best selection include: The Toy Shop store by It's A Small World, the pin shop I mentioned above in Frontierland, World of Disney in Downtown Disney, and the gift shop right when you enter California Adventure (where you get your ears when you enter the park). 

8. Dinner At Blue Bayou. We made reservations well in advance for this popular sit-down restaurant that overlooks the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in New Orleans Square. Between the glowy drinks, the impeccable service, and delicious food, I highly recommend working this into your trip to Disneyland. 

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Top Road Trip Tips For Families + Giveaway

By Meg Hodson

I received complimentary Febreze Car clips and compensation for this post. All sweet smelling comments remain 100% my own.

In 9 days, my family is hitting the open road. Interstate 5 to be exact. We are heading south to beautiful California. It's Spring Break and Disneyland is calling our name. We officially did our first BIG road trip as a family on Spring Break one year ago to Northern California. So, this trip will be a little longer with much anticipation. 

After many short road trips, 1 longer road trip, and an impending road trip, I have definitely assembled my best tips and advice for travelling with a family of five. Road trips are fun, but they definitely take good planning. 

In no particular order, here are some helpful tips when hitting the road:

1. Start Packing 4-5 Days In Advance. It might sound a little crazy, but I always do this. I am able to make sure all laundry is done and there isn't the rush and stress of last minute packing. You might have a few items to tuck in the day you leave, but that is so much easier than having to do the entire packing in just one day.

2. Pack A First Aid Kit. I always make sure that my purse is stocked with band-aids, but the car is the perfect spot for a bit more inclusive first aid kit. I include band-aids, antiseptic wipes, hand sanitizer, small bottle of pain reliever, and gauze.

3. Less Is More. I know everyone always says that, but it seems like over packing is an easy trap to fall into. Think about your trip and what you'll need and strategically pack just enough. If you are heading to a hotel, pack a small bottle of detergent so you can hand wash items if need be. We are renting a house on this trip and have the convenience of a washer if we need it.

4, Audio Books. Although I definitely want my children to be reading, during nap time for them, I like to put in a good book to pass the time. 

5. Keep Snacks and Drinks Handy. It seems obvious enough, but snacks and plenty of water are important to have on hand. 

6. Keep Smells At Bay. Trust me, with three kids, the car sees it's share of smells: soccer shoes, smelling dance clothes, snacks. On a long road trip, the smells can definitely escalate. It's easy to keep the car smelling fresh with Febreze Vent Car Clips. They are easy to install and keep your car smelling fresh. You can keep them front and center on your vents or on one of your side vents, like I prefer to do. Clip it and you're done with smells!

Want to see for yourself how great the Febreze Vent Car Clips are? Enter below for a chance to win a Wal-Mart $25 gift card so you can pick up some sweet smells for your car!

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Can Someone Get Me A Vegetable?! Eating On Vacation With Kids

By Meg Hodson

Our recent inaugural long road trip to California wrapped up last week.  It was truly a fun trip; the kids did great and we caught some amazing weather for early Spring in California.  

So, our car ride was roughly 11 hours both ways (we did overnight stops on each leg).  We were also staying in a fully furnished house for part of our trip.  So naturally, I packed some food essentials:  Clif bars, dried fruits, nuts, carrot sticks, and bananas for road trip snacks; cereal, pasta, coffee, and other non-perishables for the house.  I am one determined Mom when it comes to my kids eating healthy, even on vacation.  No, I would never deprive them of pizza or ice cream, but I still want them to maintain most of their normal habits.

Well, 22 pancakes later, numerous pieces of pizza, many ice cream trips, and way too much COW in my opinion, my kids sailed through their Spring Break seamlessly and without a care in the world.  I, on the other hand, am wondering how my carefully plotted plan of home-cooked meals, fruit with every breakfast, veggies, and milk with dinner disintegrated.

It's not that I didn't have good intentions.  It's not that I didn't pack the right foods.  Maybe a tiny, unconscious part of me liked being on hiatus from having to cook and do dishes.  I quickly decided this was okay and threw caution to the wind!  I did manage to sneak in some carrot sticks and applesauce here and there, but overall we just enjoyed ourselves and I didn't sweat too much about eating out so much.

Well, by the last day of our trip, it's safe to say we were burnt out on eating out.  Even my kids were tired of mac 'n cheese and french fries.  But I think it was meant to happen this way.  I patted myself on the back for the normal care I put into home-cooked meals.  My kids stated they couldn't wait to have broccoli and apple slices again.  

I'll save my disgruntlement with kids' menu choices at restaurants for another post.

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