Among the benefits of traveling with kids is getting more value for money. Remember those family tickets for various attractions? Turned out that in Budapest, it was cheaper to get one than buy individual adult tickets even though we weren’t traveling with kids.

Also, camping is a great experience which kids should be accustomed to. But make sure to search among the best campgrounds for families . Make sure the campground has basic facilities and it’s also close to pools or other attractions. Being close to hiking trails is definitely a plus.

While you should take it easy when you hike with kids, there are many hikes that anyone can do , regardless in which continent you travel. Just plan for more stops along the way, bring lots of water and healthy snacks. Make sure the kids (and you!) wear sunscreen and clothes suitable for the weather and terrain.

It can be challenging to plan the first vacation in nature with the kids, but you’ll get used to it in no time. Plus, kids adapt easily and you shouldn’t be surprised if they actually enjoy it and want to do it again.

Photo credit

When planning museum trips for kids, first think about what your kids like. If you have a child who actually is really interested in art or history, by all means, enjoy a visit to one of the best modern art museums or museum that showcases the local history. But if you’re child isn’t quite captivated by artistic expression or the French Revolution, don’t expect them to enjoy a few hours spent in the museum.

Instead take them to a museum that better fits their interests. As a child who loved horses, I’m sure I would have been enraptured with Lisbon’s Coach Museum, a collection of ornate carriages and coaches. Kids who love dinosaurs would flip for Chicago’s Field Museum, where a full T-Rex skeleton is on display.

And don’t forget some of the lesser-known and slightly odder museums around the world. There are several unusual food museums
that would fascinate children, as well as museums centered on space exploration (always a favorite with kids) and natural science. Any museum that offers hands-on exhibits and interactive experiences can be good for kids.

Many more adult-oriented museums also have special exhibits for kids that help make the information more accessible and entertaining. No matter which museum you choose, there are ways to make the experience a bit more interesting for kids of any ages.

First off, try to schedule your visit when there are less people there. Come early in the morning or later, before the museum closes, and limit the amount of time based on your kid’s attention span and interests. Some kids might be happy to scamper around a museum all day while others would get bored after an hour. If you want to see several sections of a large museum, consider breaking your visit up into two days. If the kids bet bored or hungry before the parents want to go home, consider having one parent take them to the food court while the other gets their art fix, and then switching off.

Visiting a museum with your kids doesn’t have to be a whiny “are we done yet?”-filled experience. If you pick museums that offer something for kids and plan your visit with your child’s personality in mind, a visit to a museum can be a rewarding and entertaining educational experience for the whole family.

Photo by Txgeek

Depending on the age of your children, you can help prepare them for the disruption to their routine and the unfamiliar sites and sounds they’re about to encounter. If you can, start small, with outings and overnights to nearby cities before embarking on a long trip to Europe. Choose resorts that offer family-friendly travel services , like kids clubs, nannies, or babysitting services. This way not only do the kids feel like they’re being catered to (and can play with kids their own ages in kids clubs) but mom and dad can have some time to do the things they want to do as well.

Once you’re ready to tackle a bigger adventure, you don’t have to spend thousands to see the world with kids. In fact, traveling with kids on a budget can force you to be more creative and put you closer to an authentic experience, ensuring that your kids get more from the trip than if you stayed in a luxury hotel. Hosteling with kids is surprisingly easy (and affordable) thanks to hostels that offer private rooms with 2, 3, 4 or more beds.

Before setting out on your trip with kids, it’s always wise to look into travel insurance, which can help with everything from weather-related cancellations to emergency evacuations should someone get sick or injured. Family insurance for a trip doesn’t cost much, and it can help protect both your investment and the people you love.

Photo by Hawaii

(Still, it’s a nice problem to have.  Some folks don’t have homes at all….learn how to help from the incredible Mark Horvath and InvisiblePeople.TV.)

Meantime, the fresh-cut tree from Elgin Christmas Tree Farm is sitting on the porch in a bucket.  I know, that’s pretty lame since we brought it home on Saturday.

My daughter is now home from college to help decorate it, too, which my son is very excited about!

We may go as a family to see the new Harry Potter movie together, since we’re all fans.  It is nice that my son is old enough now to see more mature movies so we can see something besides kiddie stuff.

Meantime, from my archives, here is a Flickr photo slideshow of our Christmas ornaments from around the world (US ornaments and international ornaments.)

Pardon me while I go find more of those little hangars that the vacuum cleaner will be sucking up until July….

Here are my thoughts about this surprising place:

1)  Even though the campaign to market Vegas as “family-friendly” was mostly a bust, it’s still not a horrible destination with kids, as long as you avoid the racier casino floor action.

I was constantly amazed by how many parents seemed to think it was OK to walk their children through smoky areas (with gyrating dancers around the blackjack tables) at 10:30 at night.

Where the hell do they think they ARE….Poughkeepsie?

2)  The climate is incredibly dry. Be obnoxious about making everyone drink extra water and pace themselves, or the whole clan will have raging dehydration headaches every day.  Bathe in lotion, while you’re at it.

3)  The city’s reputation as a cheap place to visit is only true up to a point. The struggling economy has resulted in some amazing hotel deals in Las Vegas, but they’ll get you elsewhere in the wallet.  Food at those famous gourmet Vegas restaurants will cost a pretty penny. ATM fees are some of the highest I’ve seen ($4.99 – are you kidding?) Cocktails are not cheap unless you game the system and work those Happy Hour deals. It cost me money to check in online and print my boarding pass for my outbound flight; whoa. There are free things for families to do, but as always, plan ahead.

4)  Public transportation is poor. Either prepare to walk a lot, or catch a lot of taxis. The monorail seems like it would be helpful, but it has a weird schedule of stops and doesn’t run the length of Strip. It’s OK sometimes, but not something I could depend on to run to the places I wanted to go (nor was it always easy to find the stops via the confusing signs in meandering casinos.)

Update 13 Dec 2010: a new Las Vegas express bus service just opened connecting the airport with more of the city. If you aren’t laden down with luggage, this could work.

5)  If you are a social media fan, this is your town. Most of the major hotel properties/resorts are very active on Facebook, Twitter and location-based services like Foursquare (often with check-in deals available to participants.)

6)  Across the board, at every resort and restaurant, the staff that I met were really nice and friendly. The tough economy has hurt them badly, plus the real estate crash in this part of Nevada is godawful. They want your business.  It’s not glitzy at all a few blocks away from the Strip; it’s tough. Tip generously when you can – I did to the casino bartender who generously pointed out which drinks would NOT cost me anything at a conference social event, before I dropped $14 on my favorite bourbon and Coke.

7)  I’d say, go hang out at the swimming pools – except in the midday sun, of course. There are a bunch of family-friendly pools in Las Vegas, and my travel blogging friend Mary Jo says her top pick is the pool complex at Mandalay Bay resort.

8 )  For a half-day trip, do try to make it out to the Hoover Dam. That is one impressive place.

Fellow traveler Gary Arndt had the best description of the town’s bizarre otherworldliness: he’d heard that “Vegas fakery is like a Beatles tribute band. You know they aren’t the Beatles, but you appreciate the attempt.”

This was a short trip and I was tied up with the BlogWorld conference, so didn’t get out much….what did I miss for kids?

So what’s with the “build a village” thing? How can the power of travel make a difference in the world?

From the rocking PwP travel bloggers themselves, about their 2010 beneficiary, LAFTI:

“….Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI) [is] a non-profit organization that is focused on changing the conditions of the Dalit caste or India’s ‘untouchables.’ ….Passports with Purpose’s goal is to raise $50,000 to build a village in India through the Friends of LAFTI Foundation.

With its home office in the village of Kuthur (Tamil Nadu), LAFTI’s mission is to liberate Dalit women and their families through projects such as land distribution and cultivation, housing construction, adult training and youth housing and education. LAFTI works with the government and financial institutions to purchase land for Dalit families. Each house costs approximately $2,000 to build.”

Wow, seems like a lot, right? US$50,000 to make this happen.

Well, as of this posting, they’re already at US$37,000+ and movin’ on up.

Here’s the deal: you bid on generously donated travel related items and if your bid wins, you get the item AND the satisfaction of donating to a worthy cause. If you don’t win the bid, well, you’ve STILL donated to a worthy cause.

Want some examples of prizes? Here’s the Passports with Purpose prize list and donation page, which includes goodies like:

***  A guided tour of your choice of Nuremberg, Bamberg or Munich from Wandering Family.

***  A Timbuk2 Travel Gear Bundle from Pit Stops for Kids.

***  Two adult and two child 3-day Go Cards from Mother of All Trips.

***  Two weekend nights stay at any Omni Hotel & Resort from The Q Family Adventures.

***  An Xbox 360 AND a Kinect from Chris Around the World.

….and the list goes on and on with tempting items like that.

Only US$10 per bid.

Do it! Do it!  :)

Cheap Flights

Oh and should I mention the time when I made a total fool of myself asking my best friend “you actually traveled with your boy when he was a baby?” Guilty!

So, dear friends, who need to buy gifts for those who are parents…first of all, do a little research about traveling with kids . It’s not a nightmare – but it surely can turn into one, and easily! – and it’s different than backpacking solo around Europe.

If you’ve got new parents in your group of friends, choose among these travel gifts for new parents . They will be happy that you’ve considered their new status and their love for travel. The stroller and car seat combo is an excellent gift, by the way. And slip a copy of the Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children in the gift bag as well.

Or, you can look up some family travel deals and get some vouchers for your friends. Sure, I bet the moms will love a week away from …everything, at one point or another (shhh, this is something I’ve learned from my friends but promised never to talk about it).

Photo credit

What goes with me every time?  I just wrote a guest post about that on Practical Travel Gear.

Here’s the first item:

1.  Tapestry bags for jewelry

I picked up two Gobelins Art tapestry bags in Belgium because, hey, that plus lace and chocolate is what you buy in Belgium!

One is small and zippered and takes a few necklaces, pins and spare watches (a Timex and Swatch that look fancier than they are) and the other is actually a snap-closure coin purse that I use for earrings.

It keeps those small, frisky gold studs from wandering off and having parties with the missing socks from my dryer.

Want to know more?

Click here for the rest of the 5 Things I Always Pack.

• Hotel rooms and other purchases from travel auction sites are generally nonrefundable.
• Be prepared for a walk or dealing with transportation if you get a hotel on the far edges of your desired region.  If you have kids, ensure that they can handle a walk on crowded city streets.
• For the best “bang for the buck,” bid on fairly high-level properties [3.5 - 4 stars.] It doesn’t make sense to get a room at a Days Inn or Motel 6 through Priceline.
• Be flexible. My husband requested a King room but found when he checked in that they were out of King rooms that were non-smoking. He was fine with a room with two Queens.

This time, we needed a hotel room on a Sunday night in north Dallas.

As I’ve said before in my post on how to find the best hotel deals, Sunday is a great time to score a cheap room because the weekend traffic is gone and many business travelers aren’t there yet, so rooms stand empty and hotels are ready to deal.

Sunday night in an area (north Dallas) with a TON of big chain hotels (lots of competition to fill rooms) is prime territory for a Priceline score when you aren’t particularly picky about exact hotel or precise location.

It worked: we bid $50 for a four-star hotel and got the Hyatt North Dallas, normally around $170/night and up.

My son is cavorting in the pool as I type this.  He does not really care that this is a business/conference hotel. A pool is a pool.

Thank you, Priceline.

Draw a map around your town with about a two-hour driving radius (flying with kids is usually too much hassle for this short a break, although you could consider something like short-haul MegaBus) and start rocking some travel plans!

Here are some Columbus Day weekend suggestions that I wrote up for Education.com and BootsnAll has 7 very worthwhile Midwest weekend getaways – I’ve found over the years that no one ever seems to remember that this holiday is coming until it’s too late to score a decent price on anything.

Do a little homework now, and you’ll look like an insightful genius in October.