Road Trip Tip: Shoe Pockets!

I came across this in one of those posts people share on Facebook -- you know, the "50 Hacks Every Mom Should Know" kind of thing. And this is definitely a hack every traveling mom should know. I love this idea! Buy a small shoe organizer and hang it on the back of your car's seat. Brilliant.

I've tried other car organizers for my kids -- from caddies between their seats to individual "fun bags" packed with their activities. But my biggest gripe is they can't reach them very well (such as when the "fun bag" falls on the floor and they are strapped into their booster so they can't retrieve it -- and it becomes the not-so-fun bag because now they are screaming....) or it's not ultimately that easy to get stuff in and out of them. But I envision this solving both of those problems. It doesn't fall on the floor out of reach (if installed correctly) and it seems easy enough to get stuff out and put stuff back. One drawback I can see is it clearly won't fit picture books or coloring books. Not everyone can read in the car, but so far (knock on wood), my kids don't get car sick and do read in the car. So that might be a problem. The other thing I would consider when purchasing the shoe organizer is make sure the pockets are not so wide that stuff just falls out of them. I would think they would need to be a little on the "compact" side to make this hack truly work.

But I think it just might work! I'm going to try this on our first road trip of the summer. We'll see how it goes.

Travel-School Anyone?

I have grand plans in a few years to take my kids and spend the summer in England. I lived there during college for a year and a half, and I now consider England the motherland. I can't wait to share it with my kids (my poor husband will have to stay behind to pay the bills). I'm only waiting for them to be a little older so they can remember the experience (and so it's not so much hard work for me....). So when I saw this interesting article come across my Facebook feed, I was fascinated. Should I bag the summer and make it a school year?! Would you do it?

The Rise of Traveling Families and World-Schooling
World-schooling, edventuring, life-learning, whatever you call it, more parents are doing it – if the proliferation of blogs and books by families on round-the-world trips is anything to go by.

12 Secrets for Booking Cheap Flights

TravelZoo offers up some great tips for finding cheap flights. Looking for your family's flight one ticket at a time? Who knew?!

TravelZoo: Secrets to Booking Cheap Flights: 12 Do’s and Don’ts
Did you know there’s a team of people at Travelzoo’s Fly.com dedicated to finding cheap flights and telling you, our members, about them? Yes, it’s pretty much a dream job. And yes, they use every single one of their vacation days. Collectively, our Fly.com team has flown over 2 million miles. We’ve rounded up their smartest tips to help save you time and money when booking airfare.

Formula for the best family vacation ever

I heard this little gem on Fox News not too long ago. I turned it on in the car (hurray for satellite radio -- a must-have for long car trips....), and I caught the middle of a discussion about family travel. I do not know who the host was interviewing, so I can't give her credit, but I do want to pass along her excellent advice for a great family vacation.

The guest said you just need three things for a fantastic family vacation:

1) WATER:  Kids love water!The beach, a lake, a pool, a river, even a splash pad. They are in heaven if there is water involved and they are allowed to be in it.

2) NATURE: Kids love nature! Animals, outdoors, shrubbery.... The zoo, botanical gardens, mountain hikes, nature walks. Kids, as natural curious explorers, will eat up anything to do with nature. (And yes, sometimes they will literally eat up nature, so do be careful.)

3) YOUR TIME: That's right. They just want you. Daily life divides our time every minute of the day. (While I quickly write this post I have had to tell the kids to "wait a minute" at least five times.) So when it's time for a family vacation, all your kids really want is you. I know some parents need to bring work with them to even make a vacation happen. But the more time -- undivided, kid-centric time -- you can give your kids, the better the vacation will be for the whole family.

Utah Travel Ideas -- SLC and Park City

Here is a link to some great -- and detailed -- travel ideas for families traveling in Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah. Thanks, Mother'sNiche blog, for the informative round up! http://mothersniche.com/travel-play-time/utah-travel-series/

For my local peeps: 20 Things to Do in Salt Lake City Before You Die

And most of these you can do with your kiddos!

Check it out: 20 Things to Do in Salt Lake Before You Die.

Here’s why you shouldn’t buy a US-to-Europe flight more than two months in advance

Fascinating article I came across on Facebook (thanks to my traveling friends!): 

From qz.com:

"The average fare for a flight from the US to Europe will vary by $256 from when a ticket is first offered to the day the plane takes off. A flight from the US to South America will fluctuate in a $262 range over the same period. This is according to Kayak, a travel website, which analyzed millions of searches made by US travelers over the past year.


"Kayak found that the cheapest fares from the US to Africa were just 33 days before departure, while the cheapest to Europe were 53 days before departure, and the cheapest to South America were 162 days out. The cheapest flights to Asia were booked 270 days—a full nine months—in advance...."

Continue reading, including nifty graphs of the phenomenon: 
http://qz.com/178531/heres-why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-us-to-europe-flight-more-than-two-months-in-advance/