great takes on family travel in the U.S.

I am a stickler for lists, so when I was asked by Darren of Travel Rants to choose three blogs from this week’s carnival submissions, it seemed easy. Then I read all the blogs! They are all good, and it was great to be transported elsewhere for a moment in my busy schedule, but tricky to choose my favorites. After reading them all, I decided that lists it was and chose these three from the submissions:

Barbara over at Hole In The Donut compiled a great list for the solo traveler. I actually found it to be outstanding for anyone traveling, offering advice on everything from notifying your credit card and bank about your upcoming travels to using your webmail accounts to keep copies of important documents. My favorite tip? While visiting in a country where you don’t speak the language, pick up several business cards from your hotel with the name and address. Just hand it to a local taxi driver when you are ready to return to your hotel and there will be no problem with the language barrier!

Over at Cruise Bug Chatter, I was offered tips for a successful trip to Mexico, whether by land or by sea. Some were the usual reminders, cautioning you to avoid tap water, dressing appropriately when visiting churches, and learning a few words of the local language to ease your trip. Also discussed was the best way to bargain so that everyone feels good. Of course, my last trip to Mexico (on a cruise ship no less!) involved a visit to the local WalMart, which I found to be pretty similar to the one at home. I know, that is like eating at McDonald’s in Paris, but sometimes you get homesick!

Finally, Fox Nomad brought to my attention that Delta Airlines is unveiling a training system for their passengers, claiming that airlines have not properly prepared passengers for what is to be expected aboard a plane. Fox Nomad pulled together a list of basics, including using your manners (Please and Thank you go a long way), limiting the amount of chatter with your seat mate (unless you are related or really getting on well) and avoiding overindulging in the little bottles of love the flight attendants bring around. Drunk in the air is quite different than drunk on the ground. All good advice for anyone who flies!

And even though it did not fit into my theme of lists, I also want to give a shout out to Family Travel at Away.com for the piece on Nordic Skating. I enjoyed this since I had just finished reading The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden, to my kids. After reading the book, which describes a long distance ice skate adventure from Belgium to Holland during WWII, I was interested in finding out more about doing that here in North America. Family Travel outlined a couple programs in New England and eastern Canada, and I look forward to making the trek with my family one day.

Thank you to Darren for organizing this carnival, and if you would like to participate, you can submit any travel related posts which you’ve written in the last 7 days to travelblog.carnival(at)gmail.com.