Yesterday I was sitting on the couch leafing through a guidebook to Spain when E got curious and wanted to see what was inside. I ended up bringing out a book with lots of pictures and talking to him a little about the trip. We looked at a bunch of pictures of buildings by Gaudi and talked about how we’re going to look at a lot of funny buildings. We also talked a bunch about how we’re going to be trying a lot of new foods.
With a picky toddler, one of my big concerns on any trip is not creating unneeded stress for him (and me) at mealtimes when we’re travelling. I started out by describing churros and chocolate. Of course, E thought that sounded delightful. Then I told him that we’re going to get to try Paella. “Do you like Paella?” I asked. “No” he responded. Do you know what Paella is? “No.” It’s rice with peas, red peppers and green peppers (I’ll work on the shrimp and sausage later) do you like all those things? "Yes." Do you think you will try to eat Paella? "Yes"
Our little talk must have sunk in a little. At dinner tonight, E balked at what I prepared for him, asking to have Paella instead. I’ll try making some later this week & we’ll see how it goes...
Here are some other foods I’m thinking might go over well with my picky toddler:
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Calamari Frito (fried squid). I think I’ll call them “dipping o’s or flying saucers)
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Patatas Bravas (I’ll call them square French fries)
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Pan Tomat (bread rubbed with tomato and garlic & toasted)
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Empanadas (pastry with a savory filling)
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Manchego Cheese with Quince (he doesn’t normally like cheese, but perhaps the jam will convince him)
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Tortilla (more like a quiche than a Mexican tortilla)
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Croquettes
I’m sure there will be a few surprises, but I’ll have a jar of peanut butter in my suitcase just in case.
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Posted on September 17, 2007 |
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I always find it helpful to read blogs and reviews written by other parents before I travel somewhere. Often this is where I get my best and most up-to-date tips. Here are some good blog entries and articles about travelling to Spain with Babies, Toddlers, and Kids.
Madrid with Kid
Barcelona with Baby
Real Deal: A mother and her son enjoy the real Madrid
Expat Mama
The train in Spain:Brown and 5 year old daughter visit Barcelona
Gaudí and the Beach, With Tapas for Dinner in Barcelona
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Posted on September 15, 2007 |
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The first step in planning our trip to Spain was to get plane tickets. Our schedule is pretty flexible as we don't mind taking my son out of preschool, but we wanted to wait for the good summer weather to end here before we left town.
I called our frequent flyer program, and was able to get coach class tickets for everyone in October. We fly into Barcelona and out of Madrid. We have long layovers in both directions at Heathrow, and this is the first time that we won't be elligible to use the business class lounge. Luckily Heathrow is a nice big airport with lots of room to run and lots of food options, so we might actually have fun exploring.
This morning, I checked out the
Heathrow Airport Website to see what facilities there are for children. (It's nice to check in advance since things aren't always clearly signed and easy to find.).
Here's what I found out:
There are a number of play areas at Heathrow Airport. They are unsupervised, soft play areas for children aged 2 to 6, including the one after security in Terminal 1, near Gates 35-56.
The KLM Holideck lounge in Terminal 4 also has many facilities to keep children occupied. To use the lounge it costs £17.95 per passenger, and children can enjoy toys, games, an arcade, magazines and complimentary refreshments.
There are a number of shops in each terminal that have computer and arcade games available to keep children occupied whilst waiting for a flight. BAA information desks offer free a colouring book and crayons to children, and many shops offer a variety of magazines, comics and puzzle books to keep children entertained.
I'm assuming that we'll be in Terminal 4, but perhaps we can shuttle over to Terminal 1 for a little while to play. We’d probably have to be desperate to use the KLM lounge though... with the dollar at a new all time low against the Euro (and not faring well against the British Pound either), the lounge work out to just under $40 per person! Wow!
Possibly my favorite destination inside Heathrow Airport is Pret-A-Manger. It seems silly, but being able to get a freshly made sandwich, some fresh fruit for the kids, and a smoothie inside the airport (instead of warmed over pizza or a limp salad) makes me delighted.
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Posted on September 14, 2007 |
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We leave for a family vacation in Spain in under three weeks! We booked the tickets months ago, so I cannot believe that it's almost time to go. We'll be visiting Barcelona, Madrid, and Sevilla! Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting about what we plan to do once we're there.
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Posted on September 13, 2007 |
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With long lines at TSA and record numbers of flight delays, we all spend quite a bit more time in airports than we used to. Here are some things that airports can do to make that time easier:
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Provide an indoor playground (and good signage to find it)
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Require that restaurants provide at least some healthy food options (fresh fruit is great)
- Provide high-chairs (preferably with wheels) in food courts
- Provide a family restroom and/or changing tables in the men’s room
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Posted on September 10, 2007 |
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Air flights are perhaps the portion of every trip that parents fear most. We’re already exhausted before we get on board, we’re worried about our children being unhappy, bored and badly behaved, and we’re hoping to make things easy on our neighboring passengers.
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Always call for preboarding, even on flights that aren't full, you can always board everyone else shortly after the preboard
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Remind parents during boarding to give the kids juice or a pacifier to help their ears pop during ascent and descent
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Let travelers tell you that they’re travelling with kids before they get to the gate to minimize shuffling once on board (FAA regulations govern where children can sit and where car seats can be installed). There’s no point pre-boarding us if we have to wait to trade seats with someone before we install our carseat
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Offer us a drink for the child during boarding (milk, water or juice with a straw to help with the ascent)
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Stock milk as a drink, not just for coffee. I’ve been refused more than a few ounces on some airlines because the milk has to be reserved for coffee. With the new restrictions on travelling with liquids it is increasingly difficult for parents to bring their own on board with them.
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Stock a few diapers
- Seat parents with lap infants in aisle seat as they’ll likely have to get in and out repeatedly.
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When possible, give families with infants and toddlers the bulkhead so that there’s no seat to kick and a little room for playing
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For long haul flights, provide baby food and simple foods to feed toddlers or babies (eg. Bananas, crackers or dinner rolls) including those travelling on their parent’s laps
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For international flights, when we're required to pay 10% of the adult fare for a lap infant, make the process electronic, or take no more than one phone call. On British Airlines this typically takes 3 phone calls, but we've had it take as many as 10!
Perks:
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Bassinets (ala british airlines)
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Offer an engaging toy (not a stuffed animal). Crayons, stickers, and hand puppets are all good choices
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Cares travel harness or a seatbelt to attach infant to parent’s belt (similar to those required on British)
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Posted on September 8, 2007 |
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We’ve all seen the ads for high end resorts and hotels offering special packages for kids that included customized kids rooms, a stuffed animal as a gift, or special activities for kids. While those things are all lovely, there are some simple things that every hotel could do to make family travel easier without a lot of added expense.
- Allow Late checkout and early checkin
We often need a few minutes, and a private space to take things out of checked baggage after a flight (but before exploring our destination) or put things into checked baggage after a day on the town. We've often done this in hotel lobbies, and the results are never pretty. We'd love a little bit of private space to rearrange so that the other guests don't need to see our private items!
- Keep the rooms uncluttered
Every knick knack on a low surface is something that I will have to move in order to keep my kids safe.
- Free Wi-Fi
We’re stuck in the room a long while the kids sleep, free wi-fi goes a long way towards making that time pleasant and productive
- Tame power cords
- Provide clear information on the website about which size rooms will accommodate a crib
- Low cost suites
Small suites, sometimes offering nothing more than a partition separating the bedroom area from a sitting area are wonderful when the kids are sleeping and mom and dad are awake. We love hotels that provide these rooms for a small upgrade fee.
- Child friendly room service options (and speedy room service)
- Mini-bar
A mini-bar with a little space to store milk or snacks. We once stayed in Westin where we had to pay $50 per night extra for a room with a mini-bar! While the hotel insisted that room service would store our items for us and deliver them as needed, we weren't excited about the likely wait times (good thing, when we ordered room service later in the trip, we found that it took over an hour... try that with a baby crying for his bottle) In contrast, we stayed in another hotel where electronic monitors sensed any item taken from the bar and charged it to our bill. That hotel was kind enough to deliver us a dorm sized refrigerator for free.
- Cups and Plates
In addition to the glasses that most rooms make available to guests, a few plastic (washable) cups are helpful.
Plates, silverware, bowls and napkins in the room for snack and/or breakfast
- Handicapped Accessiblity
Stollers need working handicapped entrances from the parking garage and outside. We also need hallways free of room service trays, housekeeping trollies, etc so that strollers (or for that matter wheelchairs) can enter and exit easily.
- No candy before bedtime
Please don’t assume that I want to feed my child candy, especially right before bed – If you are going to offer kids a snack at checkin, I'd prefer a healthy snack, like fresh fruit or even crackers
- Local information for travelling with kids
We love hotels that provide a map that includes nearby parks and playgrounds.
If there is a concierge, they should have information about family friendly restaurants and activities for kids.
Here are some special touches for hotels that want to make travel with toddlers, babies and kids extra easy:
- Kid umbrellas
- Kid bathrobes
- An engaging, easy to pack toy with lots of play value (that stuffed animal just adds to the mound of stuff I need to cart home & gets tossed on the pile once it is there). For example, crayons and paper, a hand puppet, or a small duplo/lego set.
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Posted on September 6, 2007 |
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Babble has a great article about What TSA can do to make flying with children easier. It does a great job of capturing the unnecessary turmoil that the current rules put parents and children through.
I have traveled with my son almost every month since his birth, and each trip holds some new nadir of absurdity. When Milo was four months old, he wore shoes for the first time. They weren't really even shoes, they were Robeez, which I'd put on his feet to prevent him from ripping his socks off and shoving them into his mouth. When we got to security I was informed that I needed to remove the shoes and put them through the x-ray machine. It was as if the people at security were conspiring to make it as unlikely as possible that the baby might sleep through the trip (which surely was in the best interest of not only me but everyone else in the entire airport) by not only requiring that I take apart the stroller and remove my own shoes while balancing a baby on my hip and simultaneously displaying my boarding pass and driver's license, but also asking that I take shoes off of someone who wasn't even able to walk yet.
Add to this the fact that they cannot make up their minds about whether baby can go through security in a sling or not (meaning that I always seem to have the wrong plan for getting through security) and insist on X-Raying my toddler's security blanket (I've tried tying it around him like a cape and insisting that it's clothing, but no dice) and it all adds up to a lot of unneded anxiety for everyone.
The travel industry has been focused recently on capturing more family travel dollars. Of course most of that seems to be focused on advertising, and little on overcoming some of the roadblocks (real or perceived) that families face. This week, I'll be blogging about what different companies in the travel industry (airlines, hotels, airports, restaurants could do to make travel with babies, toddlers, and kids easier.
Related: Babble: Babies On A Plane
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Posted on September 5, 2007 |
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This article got me thinking about the places I most want to take my kids. Sure, I want to show them all the places I've enjoyed, and respond to their interests as they grow, but I also believe that travel has an ability to help shape their worldview in a productive way.
I've never formalized a list of places before, so this was a good opportunity for me to think about what I want them to get out of travel, and what I want to get out of travelling with them.
When I look at the list, there are some common themes, I want them to see some of the great natural beauties the world has to offer, I want them to understand how many different ways there are of living and thinking about the world, and I want them to see some of our great human accomplishments.
Here is my list, in no particular order:
- Yosemite and Bryce Canyon
Out of all the places I've been, these are two of the most beautiful and amazing. They're also places that it's easy to enjoy over and over, getting something new out of each trip as they get over. I feel certain that these, and our other National Parks will be in heavy rotation as my children grow up. I hope that through this, my children will learn to respect and care for the environment.
- African Safari
I feel incredibly lucky to have gone on my first safari when I was in my early thirties. Before that trip, I'd never taken more than a passing interest in animals that weren't my own pets. The trip was enlightening for me, and addictive. I never would have believed that I would have wanted to spend an entire day watching the elephants at a single watering hole. I would have scoffed at the idea that I'd have trouble going to sleep at night because I wanted to watch and see who might wander by my tent. Watching the animals helped me see them as more than just beasts, to understand them more as living creatures.
- Egyptian Pyramids
When I visited Egypt for the first time, I was struck, of course, by the majestic pyramids and the amazing ancient accomplishment of building them. I thrived on learning a little about the system of hieroglyphics, and trying to understand this ancient culture. I was blown away by the beauty of the well preserved tomb paintings and temples. I was also challenged by my first visit to a developing country. I had never before seen people who had to bathe in a river filled with disease if they wanted to bathe at all. I'd never known a place where child labor was commonplace, and even the idea that children were not universally educated came as a surprise to me. Furthermore, I was shocked to find out that, though Egypt is a democracy, the press is controlled. All these things challenged my ideas of how the world worked, and how a society should operate. I was fascinated to talk with my tour guide and others and understand how their world view was shaped by growing up with all these things. Ancient Egypt shows us how we can accomplish "impossible" things if we set our minds to it and keep trying. Modern Egypt teaches us not to get too cocky, that our opportunities, and experiences in life are in many ways the lucky result of being born in the right place to the right people.
- Angkor Wat
As with Egypt, these majestic 12th century temples are a great reminder of what people working together can accomplish. Cambodia also serves as a reminder of how far we humans can fall. Some temples are scarred with bullet holes from the Khmer Rouge era and the surrounding areas are not safe for walking because of land mines. The traditional dances depicted in Angkor's bas-reliefs were almost lost during the Khmer Rouge regime as the government attempted to eradicate the trappings of modern life and culture and return to an agrarian society. Finally, Cambodia is a place to truely understand what survival means. On our visit, we found a rich culture, gradually rebuilding itself, and a people who were both kind and open to sharing their culture and learning more about ours.
- Washington DC and Boston
My California Public School education impressed upon me early that history was boring and dry, and filled with facts to be memorized. It took me years to unlearn this "truth." My hope is that by taking my children to the seats of our own national history they'll start out with more vivid understanding of history as something real and interesting.
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Posted on September 2, 2007 |
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Here is a website for finding
Science Centers around the world.
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Posted on September 1, 2007 |
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