We're minimalists when it comes to specialized travel gear, but the one thing we never leave home without is a small roll of duct tape (also called duck tape). Here are some terrific uses you've probably never considered.
Repair broken luggage or tape closed the area where a zipper has failed.
Once you've left the US (and TSA) tamper proof your luggage by wrapping duct tape around it. While someone can still get into your luggage if they really need to, they'll probably skip yours and rifle through someone else's bag.
Use colored duct tape, or a personal design to mark your suitcase for visibility
In a hotel, close gaping blackout drapes
Create an extra label for your suitcase by writing your name and address on some duct tape and sticking it inside.
Seal over the drain in a hotel room sink so that you can wash laundry
Entertain the kids: Use the tape to outline a hopscotch design or a race track for toy cars
In case of fire, seal off door & air vents to keep smoke out. Some say that duct tape is more effective than damp towels, and it certainly works better to cover an air vent on the ceiling.
First Aid: In a pinch, duct tape can be used to make band-aids (with some tissue or cotton), a finger splint (with two popsicle sticks), or to remove a splinter
You can buy mini-rolls of duct tape from a travel store, but it's easy and cheap to make your own. Wrap the tape around a popsicle stick, short pencil, crayon or expired credit card.
What are your favorite uses for Duct Tape on the road? Let us know in the comments!
Here's baby E, two months old, on his first flight. We traveled from Seattle to LA to visit Grandma and a slew of other relatives. E slept most of the way and (thanks to a bottle and pacifier) didn't cry for a second during take-off or landing. We found the whole experience exhausting, but promised ourselves that we'd get better at traveling with kids the more we practiced.
Lumi, a reader from Germany wrote to ask about how to spend two weeks in the Pacific Northwest with her 4 year old and 7 year old. This post covers what to do for the week she'll spend in Seattle while her husband attends a conference.
Dear Debbie,
I am Lumi, I'm coming from Romania and I leave for 10 years now in Erlangen, Germany.
As my husband is going to travel for a conference to Seattle (5/15 to 5/18), and I never was in the USA, we are considering to join him and extend the stay to a little holiday. While searching for information about Seattle on the net, I found your excellent website.
We could spend 2-3 Weeks in the area. Our two Kids are 7 and 4 years old (they don't speak, nor do they understand English).
Your website gave me courage, but I don't know where to start. How long shall we stay in Seattle? Shall we plan an "itinerary" to explore the region?
I will be very glad for every suggestion from you!
Lumi,
I'm glad you're taking the plunge! Here's some help with planning your trip. Since there is a lot to cover, I'm breaking it into multiple posts.
Where to Stay
First of all, in separate email, you asked for my opinion about, This Wallingford Apartment.
Wallingford is north of downtown, and is a fun family friendly neighborhood with lots of restaurants. Note that you will be staying in a separate apartment, not the whole house. The style of this home is a very typical historical style for Seattle. I have no direct experience with SeaToSky, but their rental terms look reasonable and they have some good reviews on
TripAdvisor. If I were looking for a vacation rental, I would feel comfortable renting with them. Their
Harbor Steps and
Belltown locations are closer to downtown, but they are big modern apartment buildings, which might not be what you are looking for.
Getting Around
Seattle's public transit system probably isn't as good as what you're used to in Germany. You should be able to get everywhere you need to on the bus, but you'll probably need to transfer downtown. Taxis are not readily available and need to be called in advance. Renting a car would give you the freedom to explore neighborhoods like Ballard and Freemont without spending a lot of time on the bus, and to go further afield to Mount Rainier or Snoqualmie Falls. If you do rent a car, be aware that
Washington's Car Seat Law requires both of your children to use a booster seat or other child restraint and sit in the back seat.
Itinerary
With two weeks in the northwest, you could spend a week in Seattle (while your husband attends his conference) and a week split between
Portland and a beach destination. I would recommend staying in no more than three different places as moving frequently can be stressful for little kids (and parents).
Visit Downtown Seattle including the Central Library, Seattle Art Museum, and Pikes Market.
Take the Monorail from Downtown to Seattle Center. You'll find enough to do there to cover one or two afternoons.
Ballard, one of Seattle's up-and coming neighborhoods, and home to the
Ballard Locks has lots for kids to do.
Take a day trip to Mount Rainier (Bring food with you as the offerings on the mountain aren't great)
Take a day trip out to the countryside with visits to Snoqualmie Falls, North Bend and Carnation. While these aren't "world class" sights, it's neat to get out into the countryside and see what historic small-town America is like and a visit to the waterfall is wonderful on a warm day. This is also a great area for hiking.
Fremont, also near your vacation rental, is a fun and very funky neighborhood. While you're there, tour the Theo Chocolate Factory
What's On In May?
You're fortunate to be visiting during the week of the
Seattle International Children's Festival (May 12-17). Once that's over, you can find out about other kid friendly events and activities at Parent Map
Check back for Part II of this post where we'll cover visiting
Portland with Kids. If you are interested in having me answer your family travel question, send me email at: debbie at deliciousbaby dot com.
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Oh, and Guy, I was too embarrassed to say it in Email, but I have been a fan of yours since reading Guerilla Marketing in college, so getting your mail was a little bit like getting Email from a rock star. Come to think of it, now would be a good time for me to go back and reread!
E, my toddler, has suddenly gotten much more verbal. The biggest change is that he tells a lot more stories, usually about what has happened within the past couple of days. Last night, though, we were talking about how much he likes blowing bubbles, and he started telling me, in detail, about an experience we had in Madrid back in October.
E woke up in tears from his nap on our first day in Madrid, devastated because (we think) waking up had disrupted a wonderful dream about blowing bubbles. All we know is that he was crying "I want my bubbles back." It took forever to soothe him, and he kept returning to the issue even once he had calmed down. He'd never really told us about his dreams before, so we were pretty surprised.
Later in the day, we went to explore the park and playground outside Madrid's Royal Palace. As we stood by the fountain, a young woman walked up and began blowing bubbles. E was delighted and ran to her yelling "bubbles, bubbles." She blew a few more bubbles for him, and then, seeing how overjoyed he was, handed him the container and walked away with her friends. E carried that bubble container with him everywhere for the remainder of the trip, and I had to get a little more crafty than usual, refilling it with a mixture of hotel shampoo, water, and restaurant sugar every couple of days.
The whole experience felt like one of those poetic travel experiences you see on cheesy TV shows (think Brady Bunch in Hawaii) but I've held onto it because it was so magical for my little boy. It was neat to hear that he has held onto his memory of those magical bubbles too.
Rick Steves blog has a nice article on
information vs advertising in travel recommendations and differentiating between them. The article gives you insight into why so many guidebooks list amusement parks for kids, but not other, more culturally interesting attractions that also draw kids. The same goes for lists of things you need to bring with you… ever notice how they're packed with expensive specialized gear? At DeliciousBaby we're minimalists. While we have a few specialized items we wouldn't do without, by and large we travel light and we use a lot of duct tape. Check out our Packing Lists and articles like Ten Great Travel Toys You Already Have at Home to see what we mean.
I have a guest article about things to do in
San Diego with kids on
RookieMoms today. Rookie Moms is a great blog with tons of activities for moms with new babies and small kids that are "more fun than wiping someone's tushie". I've gotten activities from the blog since E was little, so it was fun to share some of my own ideas.
Here's a link to the article
Spend A Week in San Diego. While you're there, check out some of their other "A Week In…" articles.
Rookie Moms Readers, here are some of the other useful links and resources on DeliciousBaby.
Gudrun, an engineer at kango.com wrote in to ask about dining out in
Paris
with kids:
You have a nice list of restaurants in Paris, including a couple non-chain, classic French restaurants. I would love to take my kids to a French bistro, but I worry a little about the menu. My kids can be pretty good eaters, but sometimes, when they are tired or traveling, it is just too much. I wonder if you have suggestions about items that might not be on the menu that kids might like. For example, when I go to a fish restaurant, I can usually get plain pasta or pasta with red sauce for the kids, if they are not in a fish mood. Is there a similar sort of item in French bistros?
Thank you again for the response, I appreciate your advice!
Gudrun,
I have one very Picky eater (E) and one child who hasn't quite figured out that she can refuse her food. I take a four pronged approach to eating when we travel.
Educate
Before you leave, pick a few new dishes you think your kids could like and have them help you make them at home. Cooking is a fun way to get in the spirit of the trip, demystifies unfamiliar foods, and gives the kids a chance to experiment while they're at their most comfortable. It also enables you to hit the ground running with respect to food!
Before we took our trip to Barcelona,
Madrid, and
Sevilla I made a big production out of
Paella, which went on to become a regular standby on the trip. For France, here are some ideas to choose from: onion soup, croque-monsieur (hot ham and cheese), Croque-madame (hot ham and cheese w/egg), and of course crepes. If your kids don't already know about the joys of gourmet cheese, this is also a good time to get them started as there is a cheese plate available almost everywhere.
Find some commonly available favorites
Pick some child friendly dishes to make your mainstays when you're dining out. Don't be afraid to ask for a combination you don't see on the menu (or to break the rules and get a couple of starters and sides if that's what the kids will eat). If you ask politely, most restaurants are happy to help. Some choices you're likely to see almost everywhere are:
Steak frites (steak tends to be served rarer in France, so ask for it well done)
Hamburgers often appear on bistro menus
Grilled chicken
Sausages & sauerkraut at Brasserie style restaurants
Cassoulet (calling this delicious dish "beans with meat" is the understatement of the century…). My kids always seem to like
bean dishes, so this is a good choice for us.
Quiche (this is also a good choice for early eaters)
Here are some kid friendly items that might show up as sides:
Haricots Verts (Green Beans). There is something special about French green beans.
Sautéed vegetables
Lentils often show up as a side, and make a nice protein source for picky eaters. The French serve extra delicious green lentils called Flageolet.
Rice
Potatoes
Have a Backup Plan
Hit a crepe stand on the way home or keep some leftovers or fresh fruit, cheese and yogurt in the refrigerator back at the hotel. I always travel with a jar of peanut butter wrapped in a Ziplock bag.
Try Takeaway
Takeaway in Paris has been elevated to an art form, with Charcuteries specializing in restaurant quality meals to heat up at home. This can be a great way for you to eat grown up meal while the kids graze on something they're more comfortable with. In
Rome and many other European cities, restaurants are often set up to deliver meals to business workers during the day and we had good luck with getting delicious takeaway food for the hotel once we made it clear what we wanted.
If you really want to get into the French food scene, I highly recommend the
Food Lover's Guide to Paris by Patricia Wells. The book has so many fantastic options in this book (from bakeries, to charcuteries to tea houses) that you might not mind passing on Robuchon this trip.
One final note, restaurant behavior for kids is stricter in Paris than here in the states, and kids don't dine out as often. Teaching your kids to greet everyone as they walk in will go a long way towards ensuring you good service. Be sure to bring along some quite toys (or maybe a journal to write or draw in) to keep them occupied and quiet during your meal, and when you can dine outdoors where they'll be able to watch the city pass by.
Do you have a question about traveling with kids? Send me email: debbie at deliciousbaby dot com
A hilight of our trip to
San Francisco was a family visit to the Exploratorium. In this picture, E watches the smoke (cold steam) rise in a smoke filled chamber. The chamber was big enough for the kids to run around in, creating their air movement patterns, and watch how their actions impacted the rising smoke.
Little D and I woke up early after our first night in San Francisco. I think we were both excited to explore the city. Starbucks always provides a low-key and easy to find breakfast when we are visiting a new city, so we sneaked out for some banana bread, cheerios, and milk before the boys woke up. Armed with breakfast, D was delighted to hang out in the stroller while I did some window shopping and we wandered the streets, watching the city wake up, checking out the cable cars, and dreaming about all the beautiful clothing in Union Square's shop windows. Even though D was mostly fascinated with the pigeons and cable cars, I consider this to be a precursor to the lunch and shopping trips I plan to have with her when she's older.
A tradition for P and I is to eat Dim Sum for breakfast whenever we're in San Francisco. It's fun with the kids too… they can sample (or turn their nose up at) lots of different things, it's speedy, and the carts are fun to watch.
Yank Sing has long been a favorite of ours, and we were excited to check out their new location near the
Ferry Building. We weren't disappointed, the food was better than ever. We loved the delicate dumplings (including their new soup dumplings), the excellent Peking Duck (served by the slice), and the tasty Chinese donuts. The kids feasted on steamed rice, noodles, and fresh fruit as well as bites of the dumplings. Best of all, the new location features seating in an indoor courtyard. There is a huge indoor fountain which drips recycled water from the ceiling into a pool in the ground floor. With other kids enjoying the fountain and courtyard (video below) as a break from the rainy weather outside, we didn't feel shy about letting our own kids wander around, enjoy the fountain, and enjoy the space. After lunch, we checked out the historic post office (attached to the center) with its cool WPA murals.
With a good meal under our belt, we decided to check out
Yerba Buena Gardens Yerba Buena is a 19 block section south of Market street that was redeveloped in the 1990's as an urban garden and playground in the heart of the city. Surrounded by museums and attractions like
SFMOMA and Moscone Center it is a welcome oasis for locals and tourists alike. As if the grass, cool sculpture, and fountains weren't enough, the Yerba Buena playground is one of the best urban playgrounds in the country. E loved the huge tube slides and D was thrilled with the sand area (complete with running water) and all the birds. There's also a reasonably priced carousel and a cool museum called
'Zeum dedicated to teaching kids about multimedia arts. E even got to try his hand at bowling!
The highlight of our day, though, was the
Exploratorium. I have vivid memories of childhood visits to this hands-on science museum, so it was great to see that the exhibits that had made the greatest impression on me were still around to share with my kids. Both kids were thrilled to be able to touch and explore everything, and even at 15 months and 2 1/2 found plenty to do. D's favorite was a huge pottery wheel spinning inside a sand box. We piled on sand and watched it spin, stuck our fingers in it (wow, it makes a line) and experimented. E was thrilled with a huge magnet covered with hundreds of washers and loved piling the washers on and discovering how thick he could pile on the washers, and which structures would hold or fail. As I write the final draft of this article, almost a month after our return home, E still reminds me almost daily that he did not want to leave the Exploratorium and needs to go back the next time we're in San Francisco. He seems to take some small comfort in the fact that I never wanted to leave as a kid either, and that his "granny and papa" used to tell me "you have to." Don't worry E, mom and dad had a great time too (in fact we had so much fun, we'd visit the Exploratorium even without the kids) and we'll plan a return trip sooner rather than later.
Near the Exploratorium is one of San Francisco's most highly rated pizza and pasta restaurants.
A 16 is a grown up place with traditional Italian wood fired pizza and house-made pasta. The wait-staff was extra accommodating with the kids (and even had high-chairs on hand), and it was great to enjoy a delicious meal while the kids feasted on cheese pizza, pasta, and fresh mozzarella.
After such an exciting and satisfying day, it took us a little while to wind the kids down for bed. Luckily they slept well (though E did wake up around midnight to yell "Excuse me, could you please get out of the way" at me when he felt that I was hogging too much of the bed! I wasn't sure whether to be offended at the yelling, or delighted to hear a please even in his sleep!
About Me I'm Debbie, mother of three delicious kids and I write about traveling with little kids. That's my daughter in the backpack and my son in Paris on Halloween.
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and
by Patricia Wells. The book has so many fantastic options in this book (from bakeries, to charcuteries to tea houses) that you might not mind passing on 
