Europe: The Ultimate Family Guide

March 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Within Europe, you can find holidays of every variety; from relaxing beach vacations to high-energy activity breaks. Whether you prefer warm sunshine and lazy mornings, or deep snow and thrilling adventures, there is a European holiday out there for you. Take a look at this handy guide to the best family holidays in Europe and get planning for 2013 today.

beach tripMonaco

One of the most alluring and vibrant cities in Europe, Monaco is a place that definitely has something for everyone. There are a number of exotic gardens to stroll through, encapsulating the beauty and colour of the country, as well as museums featuring amazing works of art and culture that are sure to suit everyone’s tastes. And if you just want to relax and chill out, there are beautiful sandy beaches to spend the day on – perfect for a family day out.

Elba Island, Italy

A wonderfully well-kept secret, Elba Island is not one of the most visited places in Italy but it is certainly worth a trip. A large part of the island is dedicated [Read more…]

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

Top 5 Tips for Flying With Toddlers

February 25, 2013 by 7 Comments

Do you remember the days before you were a parent and you got on a plane that had a toddler on it? As cute as the child may have been, the louder or more active they became, the more you found yourself counting down the minutes until you would be able to get off of the flight. Now you are the parent and you notice the eyes that are semi-glaring at you as soon as you enter onto the plane with your own little one in tow.

Flying with toddlersIf you would like some tips on how to fly with your toddler so that the flight can be as pleasant as possible for everyone involved, we’ve enclosed five of our top tips below:

Schedule the flight during their nap time. If you have a child who sticks to a pretty strict day schedule, you might want to consider taking a flight during their naptime. Sure, they may be a bit irritable on the way to the airport, but that’s better than having them scream the entire time while you’re on the plane. If their body is used to resting at a certain time, if they are comfortably seated, there’s a pretty good chance that they will still fall asleep (yes even on a plane).

Take advantage of the pre-boarding option. One [Read more…]

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Kia Soul- Review

February 24, 2013 by 9 Comments

Kia are making some great vehicles. The Kia Soul fits right in line with their stellar line up of quality vehicles on a budget. The Soul is a crossover car with enough space for 5 people to fit comfortably as well as a hatchback for storage. The Soul has good pickup and will let you zip around at a comfortable pace without using a lot of gas.

kiaThe Kia Soul gets an EPA estimated 25/30 mgp city/highway. This means it does quite well at sipping gas. There is an available ECO driving option that we kept on most of the time, which also helped out a lot without giving up too much in acceleration. Over the course of a week of driving around Orlando, FL, we only filled up before dropping the car off, which is phenomenal considering we were out and about pretty much all day and sometimes well into the night.

In regard to the sound system and [Read more…]

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

5 Fun and Exciting Family Activities for Your Next Beach Vacation

February 24, 2013 by 1 Comment

Are you looking to create some great memories on your next family vacation? If so, why not go to the beach where the water is warm, the salt air is refreshing and you can spend hours on end just walking along the beach?

beachOf course, if you are planning to take some children along with you, they are definitely going to want to do more than swim; they are going to want to find some other ways to be entertained. And so, we have provided you with a list of five fun and exciting family activities that everyone can join in on to make the time just that much more fun.

Go fishing. Whether you’re a fishing pro or you’ve never gone fishing before, most beaches will allow you to go fishing so think about taking a couple of poles along with you or renting a boat if they have some available. Even if you decide to “catch and release” them, it can be a lot of fun to see what kinds of fish you can find.

Hunt for shells. Beaches provide beautiful scenery and one of the things that come with that are all of the pretty shells that you can find in the sand. If you or one of your children either likes to collect items or enjoys making arts and crafts, take out a couple of hours to walk along the shore to go shell hunting. You may find a couple that will be perfect for a bookshelf or dresser or that you can even turn into pieces of jewelry.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: evergreen, travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Art of Getting Lost

February 23, 2013 by 5 Comments

Recently, I was on a trip in Upstate NY with my son. We were forced to take a detour, and wouldn’t you know it- there were no signs to tell you how to get back on the main road. My GPS was also failing me, and wanted me to turn about and take the closed off road. It was raining, and I was starting to run late for a tour- this was getting aggravating.

My five year old was pretty happy in the backseat, telling me about the things he was seeing out the window. I have to admit that I was not really listening, but was trying to figure out where I was and how to get where I wanted to be. I pulled over, and yanked out my giant map, and pondered. As I put it back down in anger, I noticed something- There was a beautiful church ahead of me. I had been looking for a country church to photograph, and there it was, out in the middle of nowhere. And? It stopped raining. I took it as a sign that I should just go with it. And that is what we did.

country church
As we ambled onward, we found a roadside pumpkin patch that had the gourds in all shapes and [Read more…]

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , ,

Safe Vacationing: Top 5 Items Most Commonly Stolen from Homes

February 23, 2013 by 1 Comment

Vacation is when you’re supposed to relax, but that’s not easy if you’re worried about your home being broken into while you’re gone. One thing that can help is knowing what items would make your home a likely target of burglary and making sure to protect those items. Here are the top five things you’ll want to keep safe while you’re away.

1. Cash

 

Everything burglars steal will be sold for cash. If they can their hands right on the cash, they’d take that over anything else. It’s also easy to transport and usually easy to find in a home. If you have large amounts of cash in your home, one good recommendation is to keep it in a safe that’s bolted to the floor. Otherwise, keep your money in the bank to keep it safe.

2. Jewelry

 

The old movie pictures of burglars going through your jewelry box is absolutely true. Jewelry is easy to transport and profitable to sell, so it’s one of the first places they’ll look. Fortunately, jewelry is also smaller [Read more…]

Filed Under: home, travel Tagged With: , ,

In the Car Games and Tunes for Family Trips

February 23, 2013 by 3 Comments

Long family car journeys, and even some of the relatively short ones for that
matter, are often made much more problematic by the kids getting bored in the back.
We all seem to moan about it and complain that they’re “doing our heads in” and that
“we’ll turn this car around in a minute”, but we’ve been in their booster seat in the
past – trips in the car can be very, VERY dull at times.

car ridesEndless motorway miles are dull enough for the driver, it’s no surprise that the
passengers are bored and even your partner might start to go into “child-mode” and
start asking if we’re nearly there.

A lot of the problems stem from the type of car you have. A lot of the older or
more uncomfortable models can make your body go numb on the journey, which
makes you fidget and want to start stretching out. Fortunately, the majority of the
latest family cars are much more child and family friendly, with plenty of space and
comfortable seats, (take a look at some of the latest models in the range at www.twwhiteandsons.co.uk
for examples of some of the latest new and used cars).

To liven the journey up a bit for all parties, you could do a few things. Just
keeping each other entertained for a while is a great way of keeping the tensions
away and also ensuring that you stay alert – which is key for the driver who may
find [Read more…]

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , ,