Happy Birthday Once Upon a Trunki!

It's Once Upon a Trunki's first anniversary! I hope at least a few of you out there have gotten some help from this blog. I enjoy writing it immensely and I really hope that it has encouraged others to do the unthinkable and travel with their kids. I want to thank Rob, Jon, Dave, and all the other great folks at Trunki for helping me set this up and for all their support. In honor of the occasion, I've created my first video for the blog! Enjoy!

Shipping bags? Really?

I keep seeing article after article suggest that people pay to ship their bags rather than pay to check them. Now, I agree that paying to check bags stinks but really...shipping? I've got several problems with this but mainly it's the cost. Using my trip to Tunisia as an example, to ship a 30lb bag (the average weight for an international trip for us) it would cost $667.84 ONE WAY and it would take 6 days to get there. Being a bit more realistic I tried seeing how much it would cost to ship it to Seattle for my brother's wedding. The cheapest option is $126.83. The big bad airline United charges $15 for your first bag and $25 for your second for a whopping $40 if you check 2 bags. Hmmmm which one will I pay.

Cost aside, who wants to have to send off half their clothes up to a week ahead of time to a destination? And if it gets there early will the hotel accept it? What happens if it gets stuck in international quarantine? There are just way too many ifs and, frankly, way too many decimal points for me to justify doing this. Maybe this will be a good reason for everyone to learn to do my favorite thing...pack less!

A Tale of Two Humps

So our trip to Tunisia is starting to take some shape. I dont know why but I always think of North African countries as this weird entity in and of themselves. Everytime I stop and think about the fact that they are in Africa I say "Wow, Im going to AFRICA!" So it looks like we'll spend some time in Tunis, then take a train to Gabes to dork out on Star Wars stuff, then head up to Sousse and back to Tunis.

Maya is very excited about the prospect of riding a camel. She seems to be not at all phased by my warnings that they are, in fact, gross animals. She just wants to ride one. We watch a lot of Discovery channel so she's constantly seeing camels on TV and is completely enamored by them. We'll see how she feels about the reality lol.

Hopefully, Tunisia with Maya will be better than China. China was just too much for her I think. Too much of everything. Today she told us that she didn't like it because we talked about it too much. I've been pretty mum about Tunisia (mostly because I want to avoid the horrified looks of others who can't believe we'd go there) so hopefully she won't be tired of it when we go there. I think it's good for kids to experience things that are far outside of the realm of their known world but, as everyone knows, sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad.

Feeling the Pinch

The economy is a big issue here in the states right now and for good reason. The dollar just isnt what it was a few years ago and people everywhere, even us, are having to tighten the ol spending belt. For many, traveling is the first thing to go off the list, but at the same time vacations are often the very thing families need to relax and forget about their troubles at home even if it's just for a few days. There are lots of things you can do, from having staycations to changing hotels, to have a great vacation while still keeping costs low.

Stay at hotels that offer free breakfast: Hotels are doing a lot to woo people to stay with them. One thing I see a lot of hotels doing now is offering a free hot breakfast buffet. This is great because it cuts down on your food costs, you usually get a quality meal, and you can load up at breakfast for free allowing you to have smaller meals throughout the day and cut down on other meal costs

Stay at "residence" hotels: Places like Marriott's Residence Inn and Extended Stay Hotels offer apartment style rooms for great rates. Most locations also have pools, exercise areas and are centrally located making it easy to get around. Staying at places like this gives you the option of cooking your own food rather than eating out. Also, these locations tend to be more family friendly making it more comfortable for the whole family.

Use miles to fly and hotel points to stay: One of our secrets of travel is that we have two credit cards that we use to earn hotel and airline miles. Now I'm not encouraging anyone to just go out and get a credit card but, handled correctly, they can be a great asset. We use our mileage cards for the majority of our purchases and then pay them off at the end of the month. This way we can rack up the miles and points but not rack up debt. You often get one mile per dollar but many times you get two or three miles per dollar so it can add up quick. Josh and I are often able to use miles to pay for one, even two, tickets for a trip and also get our hotel using miles. These are huge costs for any vacation so it's great to "pay" for them using miles we've earned doing everyday things.

Plan your trips well in advance: Many people don't do this but we've found that it's the best way to spread out your costs. As an example, we pretty much know what trips we're going to take next year and are already starting to budget for them now. This gives us lots of time to save up for spending money while we're there and spread out the times when we buy tickets and pay for our hotel. It can be tough to fork over a huge chunk of money at once and can often be the reason why families just dont go anywhere but if you can plan for it, it takes a lot of the pain away.

Have a staycation: "Staycations" are gaining popularity here. A staycation is when you go on "vacation" but dont go out of the local area. People all over are pitching tents in their backyards or taking advantage of their local museums and parks. For those who really have to rein in their costs these are a great way to get away. Kids are often happy with anything that's different from their daily routine so even having a campout in the backyard can be fun for them. If you live close to metropolitan areas, like I do, take advantage of low cost or free museums, parks and county planned activities that take place at parks. Check the paper for festivals and local events. You'll be surprised at how much goes on right in your hometown and for free!

Unpacked Goes to the Potty

Alright, Im going to deal with a "smelly" issue but one that strikes fear into the hearts of even the most hardened traveler: weird bathrooms. This is all brought on because I kind of chuckled the other day when a friend of mine posted a picture of a "gross" toilet in Hong Kong and it looked just like the one in my house. The toilet bowl half filled with water weirded her out. Conversely, when she showed me a picture of her toilet at home I told her how we hated those toilets. She couldn't believe it. To each their own we decided.

It's always a bit of a harrowing experience when you are on a trip and come across facilities that are, well, less than stellar. If you're traveling with little ones it's even worse because they don't always understand that this is IT. (Actually, it may potentially be worse with teenagers because they are more prone to be grossed out but seeing as Maya s only 4 I have ten more years to desensitize her. ) Maya and I had some "fun" times in China dealing with their public bathrooms as 90% of the bathrooms there have squatting toilets not to mention they usually left a lot to be desired in the cleanliness department. If you think changing a diaper on an airplane is hard, try getting a wriggly preschooler to squat over a toilet and not hit anything!

Sometimes the bathroom may have normal fixtures but be dark as a cave. Ive gone in ones where you practically needed a flashlight to find your way around. I wont even talk about the most evil of all evils, the port a john. That would just be too much for you tender readers. Then there are the ones that have no working sinks or where you have to pay just for the pleasure of having toilet paper. Those are awesome

I know this isnt the most pretty of topics to write about but hey, Im here to help. I'm suffering for YOU! OK, maybe not but I'm sounding the warning call at least. Be prepared for ANYTHING when you're on travel, especially weird bathrooms.