Link of the Day: Flying with an Infant

Here's a good and clear explanation of what is allowed (and more importantly, what is not!) when flying with an infant. Part of having a good experience while flying is acquainting yourself and following the rules (whether they make sense or not, unfortunately).

Car seats and flying part 2

As a tip, if you are planning on taking your carseat on board the airplane and using it to restrain your child during the flight, it never hurts to print out the FAA's rules on doing so (found here) "just in case". We personally have never had a problem with using our carseat on the plane but I've heard from plenty of people who have had difficulties for one reason or another. If it's a rule-based issue, then having a print out of the document should help you navigate the issue (IF you're following the rules in the first place!). It also doesn't hurt to check your airline's website ahead of time and print their rules as well.

One thing to remember: you can only use a carseat on the plane for a seat that has been paid for. Now, some airlines will allow you to use the carseat in an empty seat on the airplane after boarding has been completed, but it's not always guaranteed and varies by airline by airline and by staff. Never assume if you haven't paid for the seat that you'll be able to use the carseat on the airplane.

LotD: How to organize your carry-on luggage

I have my own work in progress post on this topic but in the meantime, I stumbled across this neat link on getting organized while traveling with baby and special bonus -- a FREE printable travel check list here.

Quick tip

If you're going away for a significant period of time -- more than a few days -- and as a result, you've emptied your refrigerator, I highly recommend having a frozen meal or two in the freezer for your return, especially if you're coming back jetlagged or late at night. The last thing you really want to do is think about your next meal when you have tired, cranky kids and you're stumbling over suitcases. Not that that's happened to us...

Traveling with a car seat, part I

A question I hear a lot is whether it's worth traveling with a car seat to your final destination and the answer is "It depends." Obviously, if you're driving from your home to your final destination, then taking the car seat is an easy no-brainer, but what if you're flying overseas?

Nine times out of 10, it's probably a really good idea to take your own car seat with you but there are a couple of exceptions to that rule: a) if you're primarily taking public transportation (trains/subways and buses) and b) you're not likely to spend much time in an automobile (either rental or taxi). Now, it's always a good idea to use a car seat in a taxi, but that's also a judgement call. When we went to London during Easter 2013, we left the car seat at home, knowing we would only be in a taxi for the ride to and from the airport (the child sat in our laps for the flight). It was a risky decision but we figured it wasn't worth dragging a 25 pound contraption across the Atlantic for two 30 minute taxi rides. Your mileage may vary.

We did take our car seat to India -- a country where attitudes about seatbelts are lax (if seatbelts are even available in the car!). It was challenging to find a car with seatbelts in the back (forget about LATCH), but we did but lots of people traveling to India don't feel the need to take the carseat simply because the culture and the "infrastructure" (i.e. cars with seatbelts) don't support the use of them.

If you know you're going to be spending a lot of time in a personal vehicle, it's well worth taking your own carseat; the pain of dragging around a carseat well outweighs the safety gains made from taking them. I also recommend taking along the installation manual just in case you need a reminder or if the installation is different than what you're used to (ie LATCH versus seatbelt).

Carseat recall

Not exactly travel related, but important enough to share this information here: Graco car seat recall; if you own one of these car seats, please contact Graco at the 1-800 number listed in this recall notice.

LOTD: More Disney!

I apologize for the lack of updates lately; a lot of things going on here in Real Life (tm) including trip planning (hooray!) so I haven't been online to write as much lately. I did however come across this article on how to get your money's worth at Disney which has some neat advice for those of you planning a trip in the near future.

Tips for getting ready for 2014

Even though I'm not planning any big international trips in 2014, I have a checklist of items I like to look at at the start of each year, many of which will apply to both international and domestic trips. Here are some of the travel-related activities I like to start off the year with:

• Check passport for both available pages and expiration dates. If you're planning on traveling overseas, it's good to have at least two blank pages available in your passport. Additionally, some countries require you to have a certain amount available before your passport expires before you can enter.
  
• Start checking airfares. Kayak is one of my favorite airfare comparison search engines. If you are traveling internationally, I recommend Vayama which specializes in international flights; I used the latter to find an awesome airfare to India in 2009. You can also use Bing.com's price predictor to figure out whether you should buy now or wait for a better deal (this service was previously known as Farecast).
  
• If you are traveling internationally, determine whether you need a visa. Obtaining a visa can be tiresome and bureaucratic; I still have nightmares of the amount of time and paperwork required to obtain my husband's Indian visa in 2009.
  
• Check with your insurance to find out what your coverage is while traveling overseas. In general, it's a good idea to review your coverage every year and to understand what's available to you when you're away from home, especially when it comes to out-of-network charges.
  
• Borrow a guidebook/video from your local library or discount bookstore on any places you might like to visit. Guidebooks are constantly being revised and unless you know 100 percent you're visiting that place, it's probably not worth sinking a lot of money into the books. In the past, I've used my Kindle to look up information on the Internet or buy guidebooks when I'm actually "in country".
  
• Review your vaccinations and determine if you need any new vaccines (Yellow Fever, for instance, comes to mind for some parts of South America) or a booster (Pertussis is an example). You might also want to talk to your doctor about any necessary vaccinations or medical care/precautions for your self and/or your children. If you're visiting someplace where malaria is an issue, there are medications you can take beforehand and afterwards, for instance.
  
• If you are a member of Costco, you can check out their travel deals, including discounts on car rentals that are about $20 to $40 cheaper (in our experience) than nearly anywhere else we look and can sometimes feature additional benefits such as a free second driver and a discounted rate on a GPS. We routinely rent our cars using a Costco discount.
  
• If you are renting a car at your destination, talk to your insurance agent about what your car insurance covers. You might also review your credit card to see if you have some additional protection there. Many times rental companies offer additional insurance coverage for a charge that you don't need to take because you're already covered by your personal policy and/or your credit card.

LotD

Since I'm planning to stay stateside this year, I've already started plotting out our vacations. Today, I came across this article about 50 states, 50 spots. Well worth checking out as the choices seem to be mainly off the beaten path.

My plans for 2014

We're keeping our travels low key this year. No international jaunts planned for right now, but kind of like 2013, trips "pop up". Right now, most of our travel will be by airplane and car to see family and friends domestically. There's a thrill in visiting far off places, especially when I've never been there before, but this year, I'm resolved to stay close to home and take it a bit easy on the travel side.

How about you? Where do you plan to travel?

CDC health alerts

As you get ready to travel, it's always worth taking a look at the Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s website for the latest advisories on outbreaks, epidemics, vaccines that are needed, and other information. You can find information regarding traveler's health advisories here.

Happy New Year!

Where do you plan to travel in 2014? This year, to be honest, our travel schedule is fairly light, with only one trip planned for later this year. No international trips planned because as daunting as it was with one child, we're still trying to work through all the logistics now that we have two. I'll be sure to keep this blog updated with our adventures as we try to figure out how to get two of everything from point A to point B (road trips sound really good, actually!).

Happy New Year!