Travel

Thanks to Diego Garzon at AlltheRooms.com for this guest post.

Everyone in the clan looks forward to the family vacation. But if you’re the one who pays the bills, that anticipation might include a little frustration because of the high costs of family travel. Costs of transportation, accommodation, and activities, not to mention insurance and travel documents, can quickly mount up and make the vacation more stressful than daily life.

Luckily, there are some tricks to help alleviate the pressure and pave the way for a more relaxing trip. Follow these tips for traveling cheaply with kids and you might just save money! [Read more…] about 3 Tips for Traveling Cheaply with Kids

A week after we returned from Istanbul in June 2016 our son sent a text: “Sure glad you got home OK!” I opened my iPad and there it was: Ataturk Airport had been the object of a horrific attack. [Read more…] about Stop Traveling in These Times of Turmoil?

We flew into Honolulu from Kauai with a scant two hours to catch our flight home.  After pushing our over-laden suitcases through the check-in line, I handed our tickets to the agent behind the desk.  She pulled up our reservation on her computer and examined the screen. Then she looked up with a slightly furrowed brow.  “This flight is for tomorrow,” she said, handing the tickets back. That’s how my husband, two kids, and I found ourselves stranded for a night in Honolulu. [Read more…] about Our Travel Misadventure: A Happy Mistake

Coming home after nearly two months in Europe, we confront the clutter. Did we really take all that stuff?  Did we need any of it?  Do we need it now? Here’s my husband Jeff’s middle-of-the-night journal entry the day after we landed.

Tales of travelers homeward bound never dwell on the mundane, the details of re-entry, that odd rush of olfactory confusion when the front door swings open and the familiar smell of home mixes with the aroma exuding from the suit of armor, the travel costume, the hand-rinsed tatters fit for burning.  The texture of air-dried shirts, the pants, the jacket, the shoes, all of it to be dumped. Good-bye, Columbus, and welcome to the old world, my shower, my pillow, my bed. [Read more…] about Jet Lag Final: Facing the Clutter

We’re in Paris until mid-June this year.  Here’s an excerpt from my husband Jeff’s journal.
Saturday, May 7.  Paris is dry that the skin on my finger cracked and bled; surfaces are abrasive to the touch.  We’re guzzling the city’s wonderful tap water.  And it’s warm, mid-seventies yesterday into the night.  We wandered the Marais, drank beer at the café across from Muji’s, lamented the changes on Rue de Rosiers, 7 Lezards and Goldbergs long gone, the unfashionable throng waiting for a table at Chez Marianne.  [Read more…] about Paris When It Sizzles