Trip Ideas By Activity
There are so many ways to vacation with your children.
City explorations, museum sleepovers, condo-style rentals, road trips, mountain and lake cabins, beaches, cruises, and all-inclusive vacations stretch budgets. Resorts run the gamut from moderate to pricey. Staying midweek or during shoulder season saves money.
Dream trips—African safaris, Galapagos treks, polar bear watches—deliver the thrill of wildlife encounters but at a hefty price. Farmstays, state and national parks, and hikes through Costa Rican rain forests let you enjoy animal encounters at a fraction of the cost.
Time travel fascinates kids. At living history parks, march with the militia and meet pioneers. In Europe, tour centuries-old castles, climb atop medieval walls, and stroll streets laced with 18th-century buildings. Go back millions of years to the dinosaur era. Satisfy your kids’ curiosity by going on a dinosaur dig, walking in dinosaur footprints, and ogling fossils of these fierce critters in museums.
Build sandcastles at the beach, canoe and fish at a lake, get tossed, twirled, and dropped on rollercoasters at an amusement, ski downhill, or snowshoe through snowy woods.
Stay overnight, for a few days, or a week. Plan carefully, allow for spontaneity, know that things will go awry, and maintain your sense of humor. Have fun.
How to Avoid Extra Hotel Fees
Travel Tips and Trips||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Cruises & Resorts, Family Travel Tips, More LodgingHow much does your hotel room really cost? That depends on how many extra fees are tacked on. In 2012 consumers spent more than $2 billion dollars on hotel fees, many of them unknown to guests until checkout.
In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning to 22 hotel chains that room rates that exclude mandatory extra fees and surcharges may be deceptive. However, the FTC’s July 2015 response to Travelers United, an advocacy group, is disappointing. While acknowledging that added fees not bundled into the room rate may be annoying, the FTC did not label the practice deceptive. Too bad.
Here are tips to avoid or minimize lodging fees so you won’t get hotel sticker shock upon receiving your bill.
Resort Fees
These range from $20-$100 or more per day. Instead of a flat fee some properties charge 15%-18% of the room rate. Often this fee is for services that used to be free with your room, including access to the pool, spa, and gym. Some resort fees include tips for housekeepers and bellmen. Make sure you know what’s covered so you don’t pay twice.
ResortFeeChecker.com is a handy tool. For popular destinations, you can research whether your hotel charges a fee and what it covers. The Eden Roc Miami Beach, for example, charges $21 per room, per night for beach loungers, fitness classes, Internet, local phone calls, and in-room bottled water.
Wi-Fi and Internet Fees
Join a loyalty program to receive free or faster Wi-Fi. Check to see if your resort fee includes free Wi-Fi.
In February 2015, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts worldwide started offering free Wi-Fi in guest rooms and public spaces. That’s good, except that for even faster connections you pay a fee unless you have Diamond or Platinum status with Hyatt Passport, the hotel’s frequent stay program.
Starwood also began offering free Wi-Fi to its Starwood Preferred Guest members. Marriott Rewards members, since January 2015, receive free Wi-Fi in its upmarket and mid-range brands—JW Marriott, Renaissance,and Marriott Hotels. Premium bandwidth costs $5-$7 and is free to Gold and Premium Elite members.
Telephone Fees
Only use the in-room phone to call the front desk or room service. Some resort fees cover local calls. If not, use your cell phone. In-room telephone calls can come with a $1 or more surcharge per call.
Mini-Fridge Fees
Before you touch the soda cans, water bottles, and beer inside, make sure they aren’t connected to sensors. Many huge hotels such as the ones in Vegas use sensors in honor bars to automatically track charges. As soon as you pick up an item—even if you put the can back in its place—the sensor registers a purchase.
If the fridge is sensor-free, then remove the hotel’s items and replace them with bottled water, juices and whatever else you like that you have purchased at a local convenience store. Buying your own items costs less than using the ones in the hotel refrigerator and also saves you the $3-$6 restocking fee that some hotels tack on to replace an item.
Other Fees
In-room safe fees: Some hotels charge a fee $2-$4 a day whether or not you use the safe. We think this is ridiculous.
Extra person fees: Most room rates are for two adults. When traveling with kids, find out whether your hotel allows two children under 17 to stay free in existing bedding. Some hotels charge $15-$30 per child for teens 13-17.
Cribs and cots fee: Some properties provide a crib or cot for free, other hotels charge $25-$75 per night.
Early check-in and late departures: If you show up at the hotel at 10:30 a.m. instead of after 3 p.m., you may incur $20-$50 for an early check-in. If you depart after the typical 11 a.m. to noon check-out, you may be hit with another $20-$50. When arriving at a resort early, especially with kids, pack a small bag with swimsuits and cover-ups and ask to use the facilities. Most hotels won’t charge for this, but some might so be sure to ask.
Also, check online and call the hotel to ask about the possibility of arriving in early or departing late. The front desk might be flexible and accommodate you without a charge.
Parking fees: Valet parking ranges from $30-$60 per day. Be sure you know whether this fee enables you to take your car in and out all day, or whether you are charged $60 each time a valet brings you your car in a 24-hour period. That happened to us in New York City. When we found out it would be $180 to use the car three times in one day, we left the car parked at the hotel and took cabs. And we never returned to that hotel again.
Also, see if you can self-park for less at the hotel or somewhere else in the neighborhood.
Taxes: Remember that room rates come with a mandatory sales tax, typically 5% to 9% and sometimes the jurisdiction adds on occupancy charges of 2%-5%.
Check your bill: Allow enough time to review the charges. If concerned, go to the front desk and discuss the items. Maybe, just maybe, you won’t be charged fees for safes and other silly items.
Tips for Road Trips with Your Dog
Travel Tips and Trips||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Family Travel Tips, Pet Travel, Road Trips, Trip IdeasMore than 41.9 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home this Independence Day, according to the American Automobile Association. Many of them will take along their favorite friends: their dogs.
To ensure that your road trip with your 4-pawed companion remains fun and safe, follow these tips.
In the Car
• Get your pup comfortable with long car rides by taking him for 1-2 hour drives several times before your trip.
• Make sure your dog doesn’t eat for several hours before a ride in order to minimize carsickness.
• Stop every 2-3 hours for walks and water but always keep your dog on a leash.
• Pack a bowl, bottles of water and favorite toys.
• Never leave your pets alone in the car. They get nervous and temperatures rise quickly to dangerous levels in warm weather even when the windows are cracked.
• Dogs should sit in the backseat, not the front, to avoid injury from air bags in case of a crash.
• Use a dog carrier or crate for small dogs. For larger dogs, use a pet safety harness.
On the Street
• Acclimate your dog ahead of time to buses, blaring horns, and noisy hordes by walking him on well-trafficked streets.
• Make sure that your cell phone number—not your home phone—is on your dog’s collar just in case he gets scared and runs away or gets loose.
• Always take pet bags for scooping the poop.
• Be patient. Dogs accustomed to tree-lined, grassy streets may require longer-than-normal walks along city sidewalks. Ask your hotel’s concierge to point you in the direction of the nearest park.
Handy Dog Gear
Good gear makes any city or country outing easier.
First-Aid Kit: “Be prepared,” the Boy Scout motto, applies to pet owners too. In case your curious pup pokes his muzzle into something sharp, clean the cut with sterile wipes, cover it with a gauze pad and tape. Tweezers come in handy to remove splinters and ticks and an extra lead is always a necessity, just in case yours is lost, torn, or chewed up.
Kurgo’s first-aid kit, sold by Orvis, contains those essentials as well as scissors, hand wipes, plastic gloves, an instant ice pack, tongue depressors and a Mylar blanket that keeps your dog warm, and if necessary, doubles as a stretcher strong enough to carry a small-to-medium size pooch. The kit fits into a car’s glove compartment. Since anti-bacterial ointments and splints are not included, consider adding these. $35 Orvis.com.
Car Seat Protector: Seat covers keep muddy paws, loose dog hair and who-knows-what-else off your car’s upholstery, lessening the need for wipe downs before your non-canine friends ride in the backseat. The problem with most such protectors is that an active dog or a big one can dislodge the seat cover, scratching the upholstery and leaving it dotted in dog drool and dirt.
Ruffwear’s Dirtbag Seat Cover has a non-slip fabric backing and “stuffer cleats” to anchor the seat protector, keeping it in place. $79.95 Ruffwear.com.
Insect repellent vest: Don’t let bugs ruin your hike in the woods or cut short a game of backyard ball with your four-pawed catcher. Dogs also dislike things that sting, bite and burn. L.L. Bean’s No Fly Zone Dog Vest uses permethrin to repel mosquitoes, ticks, ants, and flies. The reflective strip adds visibility and the double Velcro closure keeps the vest on the dog instead of repeatedly falling off.
Available for dogs with a girth (largest chest size) of 32 inches to 42 inches, or a weight of 30 to 120 pounds, the vest seems to run a bit small, at least for our Labrador. A vest 2 inches bigger than my dog’s chest fit best. $49. llbean.com.
Liberty Wristband: Holding a leash in one hand, can make sipping coffee, dialing a cell phone, carrying a bag, or taking a photo a juggling act. But not with the Liberty Wristband. Invented by 2 Navy veterans, Bill Feldman and Drew Leeson, the item secures around your wrist with Velcro, enabling you to stroll hands-free with your dog.
The band has ample padding for comfort and a stainless steel shackle that holds the leash firmly in place plus a quick release pin that severs the connection, just in case your dog starts running and you don’t want to. A new product, the Liberty Wristband is part of an Indiegogo campaign. Part 1 raised $6,000 of the $20,000 goal; Part 2 starts right away. You can purchase the Liberty Wristband for $40. Indiegogo.com.
Borrow the Bling: Casa Velas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Travel Tips and Trips||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: All-inclusive Vacations, All-inclusives, Central & South America Destinations, College Age & Adult, Cruises & Resorts, Trip IdeasMany hotels lend you a curling iron, a bathrobe, a cell phone charger, even a fan and a dehumidifier. Helpful, but boring.
At Casa Velas, an AAA Four Diamond, boutique property in Puerto Vallarta, you can borrow bling.
And that’s good because, after all, there’s limited room in carry-on luggage for such necessities as the 4-inch Louboutins let alone the designer goodies to match.
Casa Velas comes to the rescue with its complimentary Handbag Bar and rental rocks—as in diamonds. So if you crave that perfect little clutch by Pineda Covalín, often called the Hermès of Mexico, or a shoulder bag with style by Carolina Herrera, Tory Burch or Michael Kors, just pick up the purse from the hotel’s gift shop. No fee required.
To complete your look, whether for club hopping, fine dining or impressing the snooty relatives at your destination wedding (Casa Velas is a fine venue), add sparkling gems from Diamonds International, the hotel’s jewelry partner.
Want a knock-out ring for your special night? Consider the nearly 4-carat canary yellow, radiant cut diamond surrounded by 1.25 carats of diamonds. The eye-popping piece rents for $2,000. Too splashy? The rings for hire start at 0.5 carats and go up to a dazzling 8 carats. For another night, slip on the emerald and diamond ring with its matching bracelet.
Consider starting the evening with a tequila tasting at Casa Velas. As you sample blanco, reposado, and anejo, the bartender relates the history of this Mexican liquor. Drink enough tequila and your significant other might even buy you the bling.
Casa Velas is an 80-room, adults-only (age 16+), all-inclusive boutique hotel set on the Marina Vallarta golf course in a quiet neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta. With archways, pillars, red tile floors, and lush gardens, the hotel suggests a Mexican hacienda. Most of the rooms come with plunge pools and some accommodations feature ceramic masks and artwork by noted Mexican artist Sergio Bustamante. A complimentary shuttle takes guests to the nearby beach.