Eastward Bound

Well, we were up at 5AM as promised.  I hadn't taken in to consideration the fact no one sleeps well the night before vacation.  The kids were restless with excitement and I, fresh off of packing, had a major case of monkey mind.  The good news is that I was completely packed, carry on's and all by 9:00 PM.  I made my goal of having everything packed 24 hrs. ahead of time.  We take off at 10:00 tonight.


As always, the best laid plans always need room for a couple of surprises.  The biggest surprise is that we are now taking a side trip to the Washington DC area after landing in Baltimore.  We are scouting out the area for a possible relocation opportunity that could present itself this Fall.  So, if you have any wonderful suggestions on how to entertain a family of 5 exhausted Tacomans in 100 degree weather for 5 hours or so before we can check into our hotel in Virginia, PLEASE send them my way.


John and I plan to wear the kids out with a long bike ride and a playground romp so that we can fit in a loooong afternoon nap.  We hope to wake as late as possible and pretend that it is morning all over again.  Most nights, having children that are sleeping by 8PM is a very good thing.  Tonight, I hope they can wear their night owl caps for a little while - at least until take off.

Here is to the adventures of family travel!  Back in 10 days.

Happy Travel for Adults, Part 2

In the past week, I have taken some time to start thinking about how I can prepare myself for the exhaustion and stress of travel.  Like many, my travel plans are closely linked with finances.  Accordingly, I often find myself starting my vacation either flying a red eye, or with some ridicuolously long layover in a hub several hours in the wrong direction of my final destination.  Sometimes, in a worst case scenario I am stuck with both of the above.  Unable to stomach the idea of flying from Seattle to Atlanta and then to Philadelphia, we went with the flight red eye this time around. 

We all know that sleeping on a plane is not really sleeping at all.  Therefore, it should be  looked at only as a bonus.   I cannot function on less then eight hours of sleep.  I am cranky, depressed and irritable.  Not a great way to start a vacation.   This leads me to my first step in happy travel preparations: 

Rest well PRIOR to travel. 

Normally, I begin packing and getting myself ready for an upcoming trip well before I need to.   Yet, I always have a million “last minute” things to do that leave me frazzled right up until take off.  Everything snowballs from there.  I don’t sleep well the night prior.  So,  I drink to much coffee and I don’t make time for a healthy meal.  Funny, those things are all directly related my travel discomforts:  Exhaustion, irritability, dehydration and physical discomfort.

My practical and boring solutions:

Get an extra hour of sleep each night the week prior to travel.

Limit caffeine

Drink lots of water

Make nutrition a priority

Have EVERYTHING packed 24 hours prior to travel.

 I will need even more sleep that the extra hour.  For that matter, so will my children.  My husband will do fine without the extra sleep, but he will have to get up and suffer with the rest of us.  Therefore, we are waking up early the morning of our flight.  We will probably wake up by 5 AM so that we will be able to take a long nap in the late afternoon.  When we finally settle in upon arrival, we will not have any plans other then to nap, visit, read, watch movies and lounge.  This is particularly hard for me.  I would much rather jump in to our vacation.  But, it can wait until one day.

Coming soon:  Part 3, finding comfort in flight.

Busy Bags for Travel

 Vintage Jack

Today I start planning for the most important part of any journey with children, busy bags.  If I haven't mentioned it, we are taking a red eye when we fly out to the East Coast in two weeks.  I hope that this will mean that my kids are so tired that they will be sleeping.  From past experience with this crew, I have learned to plan for the worst and celebrate anything better.  Don't let Jack's picture above fool you,  it was taken in our kitchen while eating a giant bowl of fruit.   

Busy bags and snack bags have a lot in common.  Specifically, many of the same rules apply:

• Nothing too messy 
• Activities should be independent
• Items should be compact
• Nothing breakable

and the addition of:

Nothing that is known to cause major arguments among the children.

With that in mind, I am off to create customized bags for all three.  For my 8 1/2 and 7 year old, packing their Nintendo DS could take care of the entertainment should it need it to.  Still, I don't want them to get burnt out.  I may need to save that card for later on in the trip or the return flight.  My older 2 are close enough in age that I will pack similar item for them.  Such as...

2 new paperback books (to be purchased from used book store)

personalized music playlist

headphones for in flight entertainment

deck of cards

pre-printed puzzles and pictures

small bag of markers (washable)

1 pencil, 1 pen

empty note pad

Mad Libs

home made "make your own" travel bingo set

For my 3 year old, I will pack up:

a collection of thin books and magazines such as National Geographic Kids

play dough

match box cars

Leapster

headphones

personalized music playlist

Bendaroos

1 compact Kindermusik activity game 

washable markers

empty coloring pages

stickers

I will also tuck in a few new books, and more matchbox cars into the luggage for the return flight home.  I have been researching sewing  reusable the travel bags.   If that doesn't work out, zip locks should work just fine.  Pictures to come next week.

What items have successfully occupied your children during travel?

Music is a Tool for Travel Success

                                  When the music changes, so does the dance                                                   
                                                                 -African Proverb

Today I started making playlists with the kids for our big trip.  They love doing this, and it is always fun to see what music they pick out.  I have always felt that you can tell so much about a person by the type of music they are drawn to.   Oddly enough, as I type I have a 3 yr. old running through the house singing James Browns "Make it Funky"and a seven year old belting the song "Paris(Ooh La La)" by Grace and the Potter and the Nocturnals.  What does that say about my boys?  Seriously, any guesses?


The past two months my older two have been obsessing over "The Voice".  I am not sure that this show was totally appropriate for a 7 and an 8 year old.  Just letting my kids look at Christina Aguilera felt questionable.  But, I told my self that they didn't catch any of the trashy comments or questionable lyrics.  Jack and Amelia were crazy about the show.  Even though the show has ended, every conversation that we have still somehow circles back to "The Voice".  That said, it will be of no surprise when I let them each choose 3 songs from itunes they chose:  Cee Lo, Vicci, Dia, Maroon 5 and Xenia (I told Jack that he had to "sleep on"his Beverly decision).  


Some old favorites mixed with some new and we have created a pretty compact piece of entertainment.  However, music is great for travel for more then just relieving boredom.  It helps to block out noise, lets you to retreat inward from the claustrophobia of the plane, and lifts your mood (or brings it down depending on your song choice).  Once the plane lands it is still a fantastic tool.  A softer playlist helps children to wind down, while moving to something upbeat will help them to release some built up energy or stress from travel.


It's true, unless you are going backwoods, you will surely have access to the radio or a computer.  Still, bringing a familiar set of songs from home can be very soothing.  Especially, should homesickness or travel anxiety set in.  If you aren't crazy like me don't have time to make multiple playlists for everyone in the family, Pandora is a good friend.  We listen to a lot of pandora in our house.  If you do to, you know that they recycle a lot of songs.  While that may be boring for adults, kids love the repetition.
If you haven't used it before, check it out:  www.pandora.com


Don't forget to pack some music for yourself.  You don't even have to put and Kindermusik, Raffi or Wiggles on it!

Swell Travel with Children: Is it an Oxymoron?

At the end of this month, my family of five will be traveling back to Philadelphia to reunite with dear family.  The kids are thrilled.  They will have grandparents to spoil them, cousins to frolic with,  normally "off limits" foods to indulging in, and an airplane ride. 
 It seems odd to me that they are so excited about the airplane ride.  As I remember it, when we traveled last September, the thrill of the plane lasted just about as long as take off.  After that, it was a 5 hour flight, a long layover, and another 2 hour flight of discontent.  To be fair to my children, they were not all unhappy at the same time.  They graciously took turns.  Sometimes, when everyone had been served a drink or pacified with electronics, we got a break too.  If you have ever traveled with small children, you know that I should insert air quotes around the word break.  So I will.  Sometimes, John and I got a "break".  I will over dramtically compare this "break" with the struggles of a master climber (or what I imagine them to be).  On an extreme climb,  they sometimes take a few hours of rest propped up on one of those crazy platform contraptions suspended off the side of a cliff.  You may have time to relax, but the fear of the unknown consequences of closing your eyes keeps you dead awake and strung out.
As a parent, I have learned to be perpetually over prepared.  This trip will be no exception.  So, for the next two weeks, I will share some of the tested (and untested) tricks that I plan to use this time around.  Not only for the flight, but also for a smooth transition into overstimulation and East Coast time.  I plan to spend some time on a new focus as well.  I will focus on easing my own travels and transitions.   I hope that you will read on and add in any of your own success tips.  I will certainly need them.

This week:

Tuesday:  Swell Music:  Music is a Tool for Travel Success. 
Wednesday: Swell Kitchen:  Healthy, Simple Travel Fuel.
Thursday:   Swell Ladies (and Gents!):  Happy and Healthy Travel.
Friday:  Swell Arts and Crafts:  Compact Busy Bags.