• Holiday Tips

    Spring Break: Have you made plans?

    My kids’ spring break is just around the corner. We’re planning a road trip through Florida, starting in Miami and tracing the Gulf Coast to Fort Walton. We hope to get in lots of beach time and see a manatee in the wild. If you’re still looking for something to do, USA Today put together a roundup of 10 places, from Paradise Island in the Bahamas to Arizona’s Grand Canyon. My favorite pick in their list was San Ignacio, Belize where you can go horseback riding among Mayan ruins. Where are you going for spring break?

  • Holiday Tips

    Europe has its worst travel day ever–and our family was right there in the thick of it

    3 p.m. This story starts with a phone call to Virgin Atlantic Airlines. “Hello, is the 5:50 p.m. flight to London delayed or canceled?” “No, still on schedule.” “But I’ve heard that all flights out of SFO are delayed three hours due to weather and Heathrow is also experiencing major delays.” “On schedule. You better get to the airport.” 3:10 p.m. My husband calls Yellow Cab. 3:20 p.m. Call Yellow Cab again and learn they took down the wrong address. 3:30 p.m. Call Yellow Cab again as we’re nervous about arriving at the airport on time. 3:40 p.m. We call DeSoto Cab Co. No answer after listening to the phone…

  • Holiday Tips

    WSJ: Kids-free flights?

    The Wall Street Journal has brought up the tired debate over kids on airplanes yet again. An article in The Juggle blog asks whether there should be planes segregated into kiddie and kid-free zones. One well-publicized (and admittedly unscientific) survey last summer of some 2,000 passengers by Skyscanner, a fare-comparison site, found that nearly 60% of passengers supported creating special sections on flights for families, and some 20% hoped to see child-free flights. There’s an increasingly popular Facebook group called “Airlines Should Have Kid-Free Flights,” founded by a frequent flier from Boston who suffered through a flight from Los Angeles to the U.K. near a screaming kid, according to the…

  • Holiday Tips

    Should I be concerned about bringing my kids to London this winter?

    Over a year ago my father made a big announcement at a family dinner: “I’m taking you all to London for Christmas!” He shared that spending a Dickensesque holiday with his kids and grandchildren was a longtime dream and he ordered us all to start shopping for flights. Who can argue with that? We were all elated. And so my husband and I and our two kids are flying into Heathrow mid-December and then we’ll meet my brother and parents at a house that we’ve rented. I’ve been nothing but excited but when earlier this month the U.S Department issues a Travel Alert warning U.S. citizens of “the potential for…