Found Not Lost

It’s no secret, I love to travel. I especially love to travel to places that I have never been to before and discover places that I have never even heard of before. Interestingly enough, one of the more amusing vacations I’ve had was visiting my relatives in London. London wasn’t new to me and I’ve probably read about most of the sights and attractions in London so you wouldn’t think it would qualify for my desire for undiscovered places. But the thing about travelling to someplace where you know people is that everyone wants to show you their favorite spots in their city. One aunt, for instance took us to the Madame Tussauds wax museum and an uncle, in his attempt to show us the William and Mary museum, instead ended up giving us a through tour of the London Underground, the subway system. Let me just say that when you’re walking with a six feet tall city dweller, you better run or jog with him or you just may end up getting separated on the subways. Yep, that’s what happened. He and my sister got on the train before I could jump on, resulting in me getting left behind. Note that this was before the days of cell phones so we couldn’t call each other. I calmly took the next train fully expecting them to be waiting for me on the next stop. But what did they do? They went above ground and took a taxi back to the station that I was on. What the heck kind of reasoning is that? So as you can imagine, we kept going around the train stations all day looking for each other. Funny when you think back on it, but not when you’re in the middle of it.

If you’d rather have a less adventurous tour, maybe you ought to sign on with an agent like Trusted Tours and Attractions which offers sightseeing tours in 23 cities across the U.S. If you’re planning on visiting big cities like New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, Trusted Tours can provide you with detailed lists of attractions and things to including insider tips that can save you a lot of grief and heartache not to mention time and money. Their New York tours information, for instance, can even clue you in when the best times are to visit popular attractions like the statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building or any of the famed museums in town.

So when planning your next vacation, make sure you visit the Trusted Tours website for online travel guides and sign up for the eNewsletter to always be in touch with what’s new.

One of the places my daughters visited during their summer vacation is the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. While the main objective of a summer vacation in California is usually fun, fun, fun, their aunts try to inject a few education trips in between. This year, they finally made it to the Museum of Tolerance.Jade, my daughter, has been wanting to see this museum ever since we watched the movie about the Freedom Writers. The movie’s synopsis refers to this incident which prompts a trip to the museum:

Then a pivotal moment changed their lives forever. When a racial caricature of one of the African-American students circulated the classroom, Erin Gruwell angrily intercepted the drawing and compared it to the Nazi caricatures of Jews during the Holocaust. To her amazement, the students responded with puzzled looks. Erin Gruwell was appalled to discover that many of her students had never heard of the Holocaust. When she asked how many in her class had been shot at, however, almost all of them raised their hands, and began lifting their shirts to show their scars. This initiated a battle-scar show-and-tell that left Erin Gruwell shocked and inspired to take advantage of the powerful energy she had sparked.

Here are a few facts about the museum:

Read the rest of this entry »

What kid doesn’t like summer vacations? Some of my fondest memories growing up were the vacations during the summer months. One memorable trip for instance was our first ever trip to Europe and my sister and I city hopped and museum hopped all over the place. Before we got to London, we had never even heard of Madame Tussauds Museum. An aunt, whom we were staying with, took us there and were we amazed! Now just about every major city has a Madame Tussaud exhibit.

Just last year, when we were looking for things to do in Las Vegas we found out there was one there! So you know we just had to take the girls over there, even the little ones. They had a blast! Of course, their favorites had to be the fairy tale characters. Go figure!

Wherever your planned destination is, don’t forget to do your research first before you get there. While there is something to be said about the wonders of the less traveled road, traveling with kids and ornery adults requires some planning ahead. For your next trip, make sure you include Trusted Tours and Attractions in your resource list. They have valuable online travel guides for almost every major city in the country which gives you a list of interesting places to see and things to do.

Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win a $150 iTunes gift card Offer ends July 31st, 2008. That’s today, so get over there NOW!

While my daughters have been flying since they were toddlers, this is the first year that they traveled by themselves. Since they are minors traveling by themselves, there were a few things that were different:

1. There is a $100 additional fee that must be paid at check in. This is the fee for the added attention accorded to minors, such as escort to their seat and transport to their connecting flight. A family traveling together (such as my 3 daughters) only pays $100 for the group, not each. Thank goodness for that! I didn’t have extra $300. They also only take cash or credit card. No checks.
2. Each child is given a paper bracelet, much like the ones they get at amusement parks, to identify them as minors traveling alone. My ten year old daughter exclaimed, “we’re being barcoded!”
3. The airline gives parents a security pass so they can escort their children to the gate. They must stay at the gate. They must stay at the gate area until the plane pushes off.
4. Upon arrival at their destination, the responsible party picking them up must meet them at the gate for the ‘hand-off’.

I have yet to interview the girls to see what they thought of the experience.

Summer vacations, when I was a kid, were always memorable even if we didn’t go anywhere for vacation. Nowadays, children, I think are more jaded. They have to have a bigger and better vacation this year to top the one from last year. I hope my girls aren’t that way though. We try to raise them to appreciate what they have no matter where they are. Sure, there are many vacations we’d like to take, but we can’t always afford to have one every year.

Last year, we had our big family vacation in Las Vegas. You wouldn’t think there are many family friendly things to do in Las Vegas, but there really are! That was one of the best vacations we’ve ever had, and yes even with the heat and all. The kids, from 3 to 66 had a great time. During the day, there was plenty to keep the kids busy from the great pool to the various attractions like tours to Hoover Dam, games at the Adventuredome, local museums including Madame Tussauds, which, I have to tell you is very interesting indeed. In the evening, it’s the grown up’s turn to be entertained from fine dining options, first rate shows and of course the casinos.

Of course, if Las Vegas is just not your cup of tea, Trusted Tours and Attractions can help you find just the right destination. “They offer discounted tickets to the best sightseeing tours in 23 cities across America.” For instance, with the soaring gas prices this year, we are looking to staying close to home so we’ve been looking at things to do in Atlanta and neighboring cities. Visit Trusted Tours and check their online travel guides.

Sign up for the Trusted Travels Enewsletter and enter to win a handheld GPS. The offer ends June 30th, 2008, so get on over there!