Category Archives: Travel with kids

Amazing Story: Dear “Daddy” in Seat 16C

Travel News, Travel with kids

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While wasting a few minutes on Facebook last night I came across an amazing story posted by a bunch of different people.

Kim and I have been very lucky so far (I hope that I don’t jinx myself) with how Lucas behaves during flights. The real test comes later in the week when he flies for the first time in his own seat.

We’ve all (most likely) witnessed kiddie meltdowns, screaming & crying for hours, had a child kick the back of our seat non-stop or do other things to get on our nerves during flights. Personally, when little kids on flights do these things, they don’t tend to bother me. I just hope that the parent makes a solid attempt to better the situation.

Continue reading Amazing Story: Dear “Daddy” in Seat 16C →

Wash Post Travel: Don’t Pet the TSA Dogs, Collect the Cards

Travel News, Travel with kids, , ,

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As a kid I was really into collecting baseball (and other sports) cards for a few years. I’m not really sure if sports card collecting is popular these days but I recently came across a new kind of collectible card related to travel.

The Washington Post says Don’t Pet the TSA Dogs, Collect the Cards.

Did you know that the TSA produces collectible cards featuring members of their K-9 dog team? The cards are free at participating airports, including Reagan National, Denver, Austin, Chicago O’Hare and Fort Lauderdale.

Continue reading Wash Post Travel: Don’t Pet the TSA Dogs, Collect the Cards →

Happy 2nd B-Day Lucas! 91,144 Miles Flown, What A Journey So Far!

Lucas, Travel with kids,

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Today is a very special day for the Michael W Travels family.

Our little man Lucas Miles turns 2 years old today and I want to wish him an extra special Happy Birthday! (Check out my post about Lucas’ 1st birthday here.)

Lucas is an amazingly friendly and happy little boy. He brings a smile to the face of most that meet him. He’s brought an unmeasurable amount of happiness to Kim and I over the last 2 years!

While we all love to brag about our kids, this is a blog about travel so today I want to reflect on Lucas’ 2 years of travel (and as a lap baby). Since he is now 2, Lucas has taken his last flight without needing his own ticket/ seat.

Continue reading Happy 2nd B-Day Lucas! 91,144 Miles Flown, What A Journey So Far! →

Recap Of Our Visit To Berlin

Travel with kids, Trip Reports,

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Our trip to Germany started off with a visit to Berlin. We had 3 days there, and probably could have used another day or two to get an even better feel for the city.

Being that it was after the peak summer travel season I expected the city to be relatively quiet but there seemed to be tourists everywhere. Since Berlin is such a big city, with its sites spread out, this wasn’t an issue at all.

Getting around was very easy. We took the trains all over the city and also did a ton of walking.  The trains are pretty simple to figure out (especially when we had wifi to use googlemaps) but buying a train ticket could be a real pain. Machines, which were cash only would not accept our brand new Euros a couple of times. Luckily we were able to buy train tickets at second hotel we stayed in- Radisson Blu Berlin, right from the concierge desk.

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Visited various Berlin Wall segments/ sites
  • Brandenburg Gate
  • Took in some views from the top of the Reichstag
  • Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
  • Pergamon Museum
  • Jewish Museum Berlin
  • DDR Museum  Continue reading Recap Of Our Visit To Berlin →

Jetblue Family Pooling Carnival- JFK Airport 10/11/13

Travel News, Travel with kids, , ,

TrueBlue Family Pooling - 46Last Thursday (October 10), Jetblue announced a way for families to earn award flights faster by combining their points with Family Pooling. Jetblue is the only airline in the U.S. to offer such an option but expects others to follow.

With Family Pooling an account is made up of up to 2 adults (age 21 and older) and up to 5 children (under the age of 21). Members in the pool can be family or friends which makes the program extremely flexible. Each member must contribute at least 10% of the points that they earn to the Family Pool once they join.

Continue reading Jetblue Family Pooling Carnival- JFK Airport 10/11/13 →

US News & World Report- 7 Tips For Traveling While Pregnant

Travel with kids,

I came across an article a couple of weeks back with some useful information about traveling while pregnant. There are a bunch of things that a pregnant women can do to be well-prepared during a trip.

Some might even say that it’s best not to fly when pregnant but that seems to be more so up to the individual. My opinion is that it’s probably better not to fly and over-exert yourself unless it’s totally necessary.

Here are the 7 tips: Continue reading US News & World Report- 7 Tips For Traveling While Pregnant →

Progress In Planning: We’re Heading To Germany For Oktoberfest

Travel with kids, Trip Planning

GermanyMapI rarely re-visit countries that I’ve already been to but there is one place that I’ve been wanting to head back to for quite some time.

I went to Germany with one of my brother’s years back after finding a great fare. We paid $267 round trip to fly from Newark to Cologne. I was off of work and Kim wasn’t (she didn’t even want to go to Germany) so I went with my brother for a week. We visited Munich and Cologne and had a great time. We ate at a different beer hall every night and I hoped to return some day to get to experience Oktoberfest.

While looking over my work schedule last year the dates of Oktoberfest worked for me but Kim wasn’t off so I’d have to wait for another time. Also, I couldn’t leave her at home for a week with Lucas being only 9 months old.

I decided to look into the possibility of heading to Oktoberfest this year and things seemed to fall perfectly into place.

Continue reading Progress In Planning: We’re Heading To Germany For Oktoberfest →

Amex Small Business Saturday- Nov 30

Deals, Travel with kids

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One of my favorite days of the year to get money for nothing has been announced.

American Express’ Small Business Saturday will take place on November 30.

What is Small Business Saturday? (from Amex)

  • A day dedicated to supporting small businesses across the country
  • Created by American Express in 2010 , it’s celebrated every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving

On Small Business Saturday American Express is generous enough to offer credit card holders a $25 statement credit for shopping at small businesses around the country. To qualify for the offer your credit cards must be registered. If you have multiple Amex cards, you can get a $25 credit for each card.

(While there is no official announcement as to what perk Small Business Saturday will have this year, the $25 statemement credit has been offered for the past few years so I’d expect it to stay the same.)

Some people like to shop at a variety of merchants or even just buy $25 restaurant gift certificates to make things easy. Over the past couple of years, Kim and I combined our credits to purchase bigger-ticket items for practically free!

Continue reading Amex Small Business Saturday- Nov 30 →

Holiday Inn: Kids Stay and Eat Free

Travel with kids

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Kim and I are always happy to hear news about airlines and hotels that are getting more family friendly. Luckily we’ve never had any issues on flights or in a hotel while traveling with Lucas.

While on Twitter I came across a tweet from Holiday Inn:

“Kids eat and stay free at @HolidayInn! One more way we help keep costs in check on the #family trip! #deal #travel ”

Continue reading Holiday Inn: Kids Stay and Eat Free →

Balkans Trip: Lucas Finally Gets An Airline Duck

Travel with kids

IMG_4571Over the past couple of years I’ve read a bit about the Lufthansa rubber ducks available in their First Class Lounge in Frankfurt.  I don’t have any of these ducks and have never even seen one in person. From the photos that I’ve seen online they look like a fun, airline-related collectible.

I was hoping to get one of these ducks for Lucas but haven’t had any luck so far.

For our trip to the Balkans we flew to Serbia through Frankfurt on Lufthansa in business class. During our short layover this gave us access to the business class lounge. Continue reading Balkans Trip: Lucas Finally Gets An Airline Duck →