Category: Featured

You’ve probably seen the signs for shorter lines and wait times through security and customs. While you can’t go through the first/business class lines without purchasing a ticket in one of those classes, you can pay a much smaller fee (or sometimes no fee at all!) to be expedited through security and customs regardless of what kind of ticket is in your hand. Some of the services have additional benefits that go beyond just getting through the line quickly.

This post is a follow up to my last blog post, where I provided tips and tricks for getting through airport security quickly and efficiently. I recommend reading that post before this one so you can see what sort of fun things you might get to avoid by purchasing a service that will expedite your way through security and customs.

It should be noted that these services generally only apply to US citizens flying within the US or returning home through US Customs. In addition, ALL members of your travel party will need to purchase the following services for you to be able to take advantage of them together on trips – otherwise you’ll have to wait for them on the other side! I’m going to provide a review of the following services in the coming paragraphs and let you know whether I think they’re worth the investment or not.

1. TSA Precheck
2. Global Entry
3. CLEAR
4. NEXUS & SENTRI
5. Mobile Passport

TSA Precheck

Cost: $85 for a 5 year membership.

How it works: First, you apply online here. Then, you will need to travel to a TSA Precheck office for an approximately 10 minute in-person interview (locations can be found here) and submit a variety of information and documents for a deep dive background check.

What you get: A dedicated security line with less intrusive screening procedures. TSA Claims that 93% of Precheck customers make it through security in under 5 minutes. As a comparison, the average wait time is 21 minutes in Atlanta, 25 minutes at Chicago O’Hare, at 40 minutes in Los Angeles (pro tip – you can always check TSA wait times in realtime using their app). The reason the wait time is shorter is twofold. First, only those who have purchased TSA Precheck are allowed to go through the  Precheck lines (although occasionally TSA will send others through the Precheck lines), so there are fewer people trying to utilize limited screening resources. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the restrictions on clothing and baggage are much more relaxed for TSA Precheck passengers. Here is a short list of the things you won’t need to worry about if you purchase TSA Precheck:

• You don’t need to remove your shoes
• You can leave your laptop in your bag
• You can leave your liquids in your bag
• You can wear your belt and light jacket through the checkpoint

Recommendation: BUY – but only if you are not a frequent international traveler. I’ll explain why later. As a TSA Precheck customer myself, I can certainly say that it reduces my stress level a significant amount if I’m running late for a flight. Although sometimes the regular checkpoints don’t have much of a line anyways, knowing that I’ll ALWAYS get through security quickly and efficiently gives me significant piece of mind, especially when traveling as a family. In my opinion, simply not having to remove my shoes going through security is enough to warrant the $85 for a 5 year membership.

Global Entry

Cost: $100 for a 5 year membership

How it works: First, you apply online here. Then, just like TSA Precheck, you’ll have to travel to a Global Entry office for an approximately 10 minute in-person interview (locations can be found here) and submit a variety of information and documents for a deep dive background check.

What you get: Global Entry is a program that expedites travelers’ arrival into the United States across 53 of ports of entry into the United States (see a list of them here). For the average traveler, the process for entering the United States usually involves stopping at a kiosk, filling out all of your information, getting your picture taken, printing out all that information you just entered, and then waiting in line to give that print out to a customs and border patrol agent. If that sounds like a time consuming process, thats because it is – especially if you arrive at a large airport with multiple international flights landing at the same time. Usually the longest part of that process is waiting in line to give your information to the agent and get your passport stamped. That is where Global Entry speeds things up – if you are a Global Entry member, all you need to do is go through a kiosk (which is separate from the kiosks everyone else is using and generally has no line), enter your information and that is it. One of the other cool features is that you are automatically registered for TSA Precheck when you are screened for Global Entry, so you get those two services for only $15 more than if you only got TSA Precheck.

Recommendation: BUY – Especially if you are a frequent international traveler. Added bonus that you get TSA Precheck if you frequently travel domestically as well!

CLEAR

Cost: $15/month ($900 for a 5 year period)

How it works: You’ll need to fill out an online form here and then visit a CLEAR pod in one of the 35 participating locations to complete your registration.

What you get: CLEAR is a program run by a private company (All of the other programs reviewed here are coordinated by the US Department of Homeland Security) that uses biometrics including your eyes or fingerprint to expedite your way through security. The major benefit of this service is that it is very fast. That is partly because far fewer people have CLEAR than TSA Precheck and partly because CLEAR employs ambassadors at participating airports that physically escort you through security like a VIP. There are 35 airports and stadiums that use CLEAR, a full list can be found here.

Recommendation: Don’t buy…unless money is no object for you. The benefit does not outweigh the cost in this instance.

NEXUS/SENTRI

Cost: NEXUS – $50, SENTRI – $122.50, both for a 5 year membership

How it works: First apply online here, then you’ll have to go in person to a location either on the US/Canada (For NEXUS) or US/Mexico border (For SENTRI).

What you get: NEXUS and SENTRI are programs specifically aimed at travelers crossing land borders between the US and Canada or Mexico. NEXUS is all about Canada, while SENTRI is all about Mexico. These two programs allow you to travel through special expedited pedestrian/vehicle entry between the US/Canada or US/Mexico. Added bonus, when you enroll in either of these programs you also have access to TSA Precheck lines AND you may also be able to access Global Entry lines when entering the US as well.

Recommendation:  BUY NEXUS, DON’T BUY SENTRI. At $50, NEXUS is a no brainer as you get the benefits of quick land access to and from Canada AND the benefits of TSA Precheck and Global Entry – the only catch is you have to apply in person at the US/Canada border. SENTRI is less appealing due to the $122.50 price tag, but if you travel between US and Mexico Frequently it still might be worth it for you.

Mobile Passport

Cost: Free!

How it works: Mobile passport is a mobile app available for Apple and Android devices, and is free to download here or through the App Store or Google Play.

What you get: With the mobile passport app, you basically do the ‘kiosk’ portion of US Customs and Border patrol on your phone at 3 cruise ports and 26 airports in the US (list available here) – you enter your travel and passport information, take photos of yourself and your travel party, and your phone holds that information for you to provide to the agent upon arrival. This means you get to skip the kiosk and head straight for a special ‘Mobile Passport Only’ line for people smart enough to download and use the app. I’ve used this multiple times and can verify that it got me through much quicker than those who went through the traditional route.

Recommendation: If you’re traveling on a budget, this is the option for you. It won’t get you through airport security any quicker, but if you’re traveling internationally this app is a no-brainer.

Bonus Travel Hack

Some travel credit cards will pay for these services as part of your annual membership cost. Check out this site for a list of them, and while you’re at it, check out my guide to using travel cards to get miles and take free trips!

We’ve all been there before. The person in front of us in the security line is either a very inexperienced traveler, hasn’t traveled since you could meet people arriving at their gate, or just has no clue about the bevy of rules and regulations that govern our airport experiences. Some issues you may run into if you’re behind a security slowpoke:

• They wore tall lace up boots to the airport that take 5 minutes per foot to untie.
• They’ve got three laptops and a tablet that they’ve left in their personal item and their carry on is full of bottles of various flammable liquids and their antique knife collection.
• They’ve recently transported large quantities of fertilizer in all of their bags.
• They have spare change strategically deposited in various hidden pockets among their clothing.

If any of those points don’t seem ridiculous to you, you may be the dreaded security slowpoke. Please don’t feel bad if you are – becoming more informed is what this website is all about. Whether you’re the security slowpoke or a seasoned pro, I’m going to cover two important areas in this post that should have value for everyone:

1. What are the most important rules and regulations to know about?
2. What else can I do to make my check in and security experience as painless as possible?

First things first, the most basic items of knowledge are the dos and don’ts of airport security. These days, there are a few simple rules everyone should follow (note: these rules are most applicable to travel in the U.S. – but similar regulations exist in a lot of other countries around the world:

• You need to have your boarding pass and ID/Passport out to make it past an initial checkpoint to get to security screening where your person and bags will be screened for dangerous/prohibited items.
• Liquids need to follow the 3-1-1 rule – meaning you can carry one quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag, and the liquid volume of those is limited to 3.4oz (100ml) per container. You have to remove this item from your carry on for screening when you go through security.
• You need to take your shoes off when you go through security – it is best to wear comfy shoes that you can get off and on quickly.
• You’ll also need to remove your belt, watch, jewelry and EVERYTHING out of your pockets. This is especially important as sometimes you’ll be asked to go through a metal detector (which your belt buckle/watch/jewelry/spare change would set off) or a full body scanner (which will pick up anything in any pockets, even sometimes the balls of lint that are left over from the dryer).
• You need to remove laptops and tablets from your bags and place them in their own bin to be screened.
• If you’re wearing a jacket, you’ll have to take it off to be screened as well.
• You should review the prohibited items list to check and see if you’re packing any items that will set off alarms and be confiscated. Generally speaking, if it can be used to stab or shoot someone or if it could explode in any way, you should leave it at home (or at the very minimum, declare it to your airline and TSA to determine what you need to do in order to fly safely with it).

Its one thing to keep up on the latest rules and regulations that you’ll need to follow at the airport (actually, most of us probably don’t do this very often), and its another to have an efficient system to make sure you get through check in and security as painlessly as possible. I recommend the following tips to help you get through security quickly and easily:

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes that can be removed easily.
• While I’m waiting for the initial checkpoint to check my boarding pass and ID, I usually remove all of my metal items, belt, and all items from my pockets and put them in an easy access zipper pouch in the front of my personal item or carry on – that way I can be sure nothing will fall out or get lost when my items go through the x-ray machine for screening.
• If you’re a couple traveling with kids, make a security plan of action – my wife and I like to have one person manage the kids while one person manages all of the bags and other items. A plan makes everything go much more smoothly during what can be a stressful time for families.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions – TSA people are generally very friendly and willing to answer any questions you may have. Different screening checkpoints will sometimes have individualized rules and regulations so it never hurts to ask.
• Be friendly to security agents – remember that they are simply doing their jobs and are doing their best to keep everyone safe – even if what you’re experiencing may be more security theater than real security.
• When you pick up your stuff after it has gone through the x-ray machine, don’t be afraid to grab everything and carry it to the area just past security – they usually have a ‘recombombulation area’ (one of my favorite travel related names of all time) where you can reorganize everything and make sure you didn’t lose anything.

Now that you’re well on your way to becoming a seasoned security pro, you might be wondering about all those special lines you see going through security or coming through customs on your return home. Stay tuned for my next blog post, where I’ll review TSA Precheck, Global Entry, CLEAR, and Mobile Passport to tell you which ones are worth it and which ones are not!

By: Robert Govers, author of Imaginative Communities: Admired cities, regions and countries

Imaginative communities are neighborhoods, cities, regions and countries that reinforce or build local character and civic pride, while at the same time captivating outsiders (external publics). Imaginative communities have a strong sense of purpose that allows them to come up with mesmerizing, innovative, creative, compelling initiatives that capture peoples’ imagination while at the same time showcasing provenance. Examples are:

• Estonia adapting its constitution to include internet access as a human right and allowing e-residency, to emphasize the country’s tech-savvy nature compared to other countries in the Baltic region.
• Bhutan, a country where wellbeing has long been prioritized over material gain, inventing and institutionalizing the idea of gross national happiness.
• Dubai’s man-made islands in the shape of palm trees, which traditionally represent the source of life in the region around the Arabian Gulf.
• Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival as a celebration of the city’s musical roots.
• Finland creating its own set of emoticons to express emotional aspects of Finnishness on social media and on mobile devices anywhere in the world, reflecting the tech-savvy and quirky, fun-loving nature of the Finns.
• The Van Gogh-inspired “starry night” cycle path in Eindhoven, the city of lights in the Netherlands. The path is paved with fluorescent stones that light up at night to resemble the painting by Van Gogh, who lived in the area.

There are several imaginative community perspectives to tourism:

1. Tourists are more likely to visit imaginative communities. Projects, investments, policies or events that are intriguing, original and exciting will capture the world’s attention. Initiatives that are clearly identifiably “from somewhere” – i.e. exemplary of community character, positioning or identity – are more likely to build name awareness and reputation. As imaginative communities conquer mind space in tourism markets, they are more likely to attracts visitors. The palm island projects in Dubai, that could only be done there, captured the world’s imagination and positioned the region firmly on the tourist atlas. Whatever you may think of the projects from a sustainability perspective, they undeniably impacted out mental maps.

2. The sense of purpose that drives imaginative communities can also inform a perspective to tourism policy making. A good example of this is Bhutan, where the drive for gross national happiness has had a tangible impact on tourism policy. While most countries subsidise tourism in order to attract visitors from abroad, Bhutan knew that the success of their happiness concept would drive tourism growth. Hence, they actually decided to impose a rule that tourists must book their trip through a licensed Bhutanese tour operator and that a US$200 per day (low season) and US$250 per day (high season) minimum package applies. Included in this price is a US$65 per day Sustainable Development Fee that goes towards free education, free health care and poverty alleviation. In other words, tourists are taxed significantly as a result of the government’s strict ‘high-value, low-impact tourism’ policy that protects the country’s culture, traditions and natural environment while benefitting local development (i.e. reinforcing gross national happiness).

3. Imaginative community initiatives can be tourist attractions in their own right, besides building civic pride and profile. Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival or the Van Gogh-inspired “starry night” cycle path in Eindhoven are favourite tourist destinations as visitors love to experience these appealing events and creations for themselves.

4. Tourists will share their mesmerising experiences with others through social media and word-of-mouth, thereby reinforcing international name awareness and reputation. Tech savvy travellers who visited Finland love to use the Finnish emoticons like the quirky icons of a head-banger, a sauna and the unbreak­able classic Nokia 3310 mobile phone, icons that the world is familiar with. The dedicated emoji keyboard app and images have been downloaded around 300,000 times.

5. When left unattended imaginative communities can also be crushed under their own success. Because they are well-known and admired, imaginative communities are on many peoples’ bucket list. It can therefore be appealing for policy makers to see tourism as an economic driver and to pick the low hanging fruit. Cities like Amsterdam or Barcelona have suffered from over-tourism as the drive for growth in numbers and a lack of government intervention has had a detrimental effect on the management of quality. It will be of interest to observe how these communities are going to maintain their civic pride and reputation in the long term.

It is clear that imaginative communities have to take into account the potential as well as the consequences of tourism. In some cases, for travellers, the advice might be: go there before it is too late; although I would hope that policy makers, with the use of technology, are smartening up.

More about Imaginative Communities on: www.imaginativecommunities.com

Imagine a future where people don’t travel to experience tourism. Thats where I see this going. Hear me out. I’m not talking about augmented reality. I’m not talking about virtual reality in its current form, either.  We already have both of those. We’ve had them for years. I’m talking full on ‘The Matrix’ style immersion into a place so real that your brain can’t tell you aren’t really there.

You might be sitting there thinking, “Don’t be ridiculous, The Matrix is just as unrealistic today as it was when it came out in 1999 (Yeah, it came out almost 20 years ago, isn’t that nuts?). But I’ve got news for you – it isn’t.  In 2010, we already had a headset that could read brainwaves and use them to control mechanical objects. Since then, things have gotten even more interesting. First there was Oculus Rift, then there were mass market virtual reality headsets made by HTC, Samsung, and others, and now experts are predicting we’re only about 30 years away or so from fully immersive virtual reality, which is the fancy science phrase for being in the matrix. Of course, there are quite a few pretty smart people out there that believe that, based on probabilities, we most likely already live in a simulation. If that is true and then we create immersive virtual reality within the simulation that we already live in…are we approaching ‘Inception’ levels of reality issues? That is a question for another day. The question I want to answer here is, what if fully immersive virtual reality really does become possible in the next 30 years?

Traveling without traveling could become the norm. Let’s think about the implications of that for you as a traveler. Let’s think about what that means for the economy, the environment, and society as a whole.

The Economy

Lets start with the economy. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, there were 1.3 billion international tourism arrivals in 2017, accounting for $1.6 trillion in exports, 1 out of every 10 jobs in the world, and 10% of the world’s GDP. If you’ve studied tourism, this probably doesn’t surprise you; if you haven’t, it might be a bit of a shock. The economic impact of tourism is HUGE – and some of those numbers do not include domestic tourism, which is much more common than international tourism. It is estimated that between 69% and 85% of all trips are domestic, but they are much harder to measure than international arrivals, so our data isn’t quite as accurate. It is difficult to imagine the economic ramifications of a tourism industry that shifts, even partly, to traveling without actually going anywhere. Of course, not all travel is for tourism purposes, but if even a small percentage of people who would have otherwise taken a trip did not, there would likely be an enormous loss of jobs and the benefits those jobs have across the economy. In an era where a great deal of service jobs in the tourism industry are already being lost to automation (Have you ever ordered your meal from a touchscreen device? Checked into your hotel and gotten your room keep on your phone and bypassed the front desk? Those two advances are already costing jobs), additional loss of a valuable source of employment could be catastrophic for some areas, especially those which are heavily depended on tourism like many sand, sea, and sun destinations.

The Environment

While the economic implications of a fully immersive virtual tourism experience may seem dire, the environmental impacts tend to skew toward the positive. If we’re being honest about the tourism industry, it isn’t great for the environment. The act of traveling, whether its in the car, on a train, on a boat, or by plane, consumes energy and creates other, less obvious strains on natural resources. When we travel, we also tend to be a little less frugal with our use of natural resources as well (who doesn’t like a little extra time in the shower under that waterfall shower-head we don’t have at home?). The point is, just like the vast majority of other industries, tourism is consumptive. So if a bunch of people all of the sudden are not traveling to travel anymore, thats a good thing. Right? Probably so, but there are also other hidden impacts to think about. One of the positive impacts that tourism has on the environment is that it gives us a reason to protect natural resources that people want to see in their travels. If we don’t actually need to go to a place to see it, that may eliminate the need to protect it. National Parks? Not really useful if you can plug in and be inside the Grand Canyon or scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef.

Society and the travel experience

Societal impacts are where things get a little bit more tricky. There are all sorts of well-documented societal impacts of tourism on the negative side there are impacts from cultural appropriation to traffic and crowding and on the negative side to cultural preservation and increased quality of life on the positive side (check out this page for a review). One of the big reasons people travel is to experience culture, and culture is complicated. It includes architecture, language, food, religion, festivals, and so much more. So the question is, if travel becomes virtual, who decides what the virtual experience entails? How do you program how a scratch cooked meal from a recipe handed down generations tastes? And what about social interactions? One of the great things about travel is the unexpected interactions with someone at a grocery store or on the sidewalk or on a tour. Do those interactions go away in a fully immersive virtual trip? Or will we have ‘hosts’ plugging in to the virtual experience as well? What about interactions with people you’re traveling with? Can you and your friends plug into the same ‘trip’ and have your travel experience together like you normally would?

The bottom line

If the future is indeed going to be fully immersive virtual reality travel experiences, there is sure to be upheaval in the tourism industry. There are all sorts of questions to be answered about who decides what goes into a virtual travel experience and what that means for places where tourism plays an important economic, environmental, and sociocultural role. Technology will likely continue to move forward at a blistering pace, and we need to think about how to address these implications before they become a reality.

I once spent a few months in a small town in northern Jamaica doing research on the impacts of the new cruise port that had just been built there. I rented a room in a house that was owned by a non-profit focused on restoring local buildings in a historically accurate way – so my digs were pretty nice compared to much of the rest of the town. There were a few important things I learned during my time there that opened my eyes to what life can be like for people living in a tourism destination in a developing country (if you want to read about all the impacts of tourism experienced by people living in this town, you can check out the (academic) article I wrote about them here). Here are just a few things that I experienced during my time there:

1. When I turned the faucet on every morning, depending on how many cruise ships were in port that day, water may or may not come out of the faucet.
2. We had a couple of computers in our house for various work projects that were going on – and it was standard practice for the doors to not only be locked at night, but to also be barred from the inside.
3. You really don’t want to have a hole in your mosquito net. Even though our house had screens in all the windows, in warm and/or humid destinations, mosquitos are everywhere.

These are three pretty minor things I had to think about on a daily basis, and for some travelers these things are the norm. In terms of the world as a whole, Jamaica is actually a pretty ‘developed’ tourism destination. Although in any continent, region, country, city, etc. you can find places that are much more or much less developed than the rest. Those travelers who are Trendsetters and maybe some of you who are Explorers in terms of  your traveler personality probably wouldn’t mind those things.  For those of you who are Adapters, Daytrippers, and Relaxers, thinking about a vacation to Jamaica probably does not elicit imagery of non-functioning water faucets, barred doors, and mosquito nets.

Authenticity is a concept that is talked about constantly in the travel world. Some travelers will expend a huge amount of time and money to get an authentic travel experience, while others don’t know or care what authenticity is or what it means for their trip. This post discusses what authenticity in travel really is, why it is (or isn’t) important to the travel experience, and whether it is something you really want, or just something you think you want.

What is authenticity in tourism?

I teach about authenticity in a lot of my classes, and there are a lot of researchers out there who have pondered this question a lot longer than I have. What is authenticity? The dictionary will tell you that authenticity means real or genuine; not copied or false. That is a pretty close match to what authentic means in the tourism world. However, I think the real question we should be asking is what an “authentic experience” means to travelers. I think most travelers fall into one of three categories with their answer to that question:

1. I want to authentically experience what people living in x destination see and do in their every day lives, including food, culture, language, etc.
2. I want to experience an authentic representation of the food, language, culture, etc. of x destination, created within the tourist bubble.
3. I want to experience what I think the food, culture, language, etc. of a destination are like.

This is probably a question that many travelers have not pondered too deeply before taking their trips. If they did, I figure that the majority of people would self identify as belonging to category #1. In reality, I think people ACTUALLY probably fall into either category #2 or category #3. This brings us to the concept on frontstage and backstage in the tourism destination.

Fronstage vs Backstage

Frontstage and backstage in tourism are essentially the same thing as frontstage and backstage in a theatre or the concept of ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house’ in essentially any service related job. Let’s use the example of a theatre. The ‘actors’ in the frontstage put on a show. They are expected to act, sound, and look a certain way – the people sitting in the seats paid good money to see the play, and it is the actors’ responsibility to give them a show. Many tourism destinations have, intentionally or not, developed frontstage and backstage areas that serve similar purposes as those in a theater. The frontstage is typically the area either formally or informally designated for tourism activities, which is often done through specific zoning ordinances. Throughout the world, a huge number of destinations have widely recognized ‘tourism zones’ – think Waikiki in Hawaii, The Las Vegas strip, or the thin strip of land that holds all of Cancun’s hotels, restaurants, and attractions. These tourism zones are where the tourist experience is produced – and in most of those places, that experience is carefully curated to provide the experience that tourists expect.

The big difference

The experience you have in a tourist zone is most often the 2nd or 3rd description of an ‘authentic experience’ that I provided above. However, venture out of Waikiki, The Strip, and the Hotel Zone in Cancun, and you’re liable to have a wildly different experience. Not to say that it isn’t a good experience, simply different. Some travelers can’t stand the curated experience that is found in the tourism zone; others seek out those experiences specifically because they’re designed to be a good time. To me, the most important element of the equation is awareness. Awareness that much of what we see in many tourism destinations is not really how people in those locations live their everyday lives. Often times tourism destinations cherry pick elements of culture that look appealing to tourists and greatly exaggerate them in creating their tourism product. This can lead to negative outcomes for the people who live there, including things like commoditization of culture and loss of cultural meaning – both of which occur when elements of culture are consumed by others. On the plus side, sometimes tourism can preserve cultural practices that otherwise would have disappeared if it weren’t a tourist attraction.

The bottom line

When you’re planning your trip, think about your traveler personality and what that means for your travel experience. Just because you don’t want to experience the real lives of people who live in a tourism destination doesn’t mean you can’t have meaningful interactions with your hosts. Ask questions, be open minded, and you just might find bits and pieces of authenticity when you least expect it.

Alright, maybe I should have said ‘Traveling with kids doesn’t have to be painful.’ Every year, families have to make tough decisions about what to do with their limited vacation days. From a 30 minute drive to a nearby park for a hike to a trans-Pacific flight, parents decide whether or not to travel with their children for a variety of reasons. For many, it can be a hard decision. A lot of parents dread traveling with kids or avoid it altogether, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

My wife and I recently traveled to Germany and Switzerland with our 14 month old son, Jack. We’ve taken Jack on more than 10 flights since he was 8 weeks old, ranging from 30 minutes to 12 hours. We’ve driven him across the country and back (well not quite all the way, but  Arizona to New Jersey is pretty close!). During these travels we’ve learned a ton about traveling with kids, but certainly can’t say we’ve experienced it all. So I put out a call on Facebook and Twitter to family and friends asking: “what is the biggest piece of advice you’d give to other parents traveling with their kids?” I’ll give a breakdown of the responses later in this article, but first I want to address a common theme: A lot of parents said something to the effect of, “Its a trip with kids, its a vacation without them.” Without getting deep into a discussion about the definitions of trip and vacation (academics love that shit), I’ll start by saying that this sentiment is shared by a LOT of parent travelers, but not by me. I’m not saying people shouldn’t travel without their kids – of course, ‘escape’ is one of the main reasons people travel, and many parents justifiably need an escape from parental responsibilities every now and then to maintain their sanity. My own take is that you can have your kids with you and still ‘escape.’  It really boils down to your traveler personality, which plays an important role in your expectations for your travels. Let me explain.

Expectations

If you’re expecting to have the same experience when traveling with children that you did when you were traveling without them, you will probably disappointed. This is something that a lot of parents brought up in their responses as well. Travelers with differing travel personalities are divergent in their expectations for what a vacation is. For those travelers who view vacation as sitting on the beach or by the pool having everything taken care of for you and blissfully unaware of whatever responsibilities you may have left at home (The Trip Doctor Traveler Personality Quiz calls these travelers ‘Relaxers‘ or ‘Daytrippers‘), then traveling with kids is probably less appealing to you. That’s because traveling with kids can be very uncomfortable. Kids (young kids especially) can get thrown out of whack if you change time zones, have no sense of what is culturally appropriate, and generally don’t do very well when confined to small spaces like a car, train, or airplane for long periods of time. Throw in different foods than they are used to and a schedule that likely deviates from their norm, and you have a recipe for cranky kids. The thing is, some people don’t mind it as much as others…and some even thrive on the chaos (The Trip Doctor Traveler Personality Quiz calls these travelers ‘Explorers‘ or ‘Trendsetters‘). This is not to say that 100% of Relaxers or Daytrippers wouldn’t enjoy traveling with children or 100% of Explorers or Trendesetters would – these are simply tendencies that these personalities usually have (If you’re an Adapter, you could really go either way!). Knowing your traveler personality and adjusting accordingly is one of the best things you can do to manage expectation of travel with children.

Regardless of your traveler personality, there are some great travel experiences that you can look for to make travel enjoyable for both parents and kids. A private tour of a fancy wine cellar? Probably not the best choice. An 8 course prix fixe dinner that will probably take 4 hours? No kid is going to enjoy that. Here are some better suggestions:

1. Go hiking. Can be done in nature or cities. If you don’t have a backpack for your little ones, you can get one fairly inexpensively and it will change your world. Added benefit that being outside all day tires kids out so they nap/sleep well.
2. Go to a zoo or aquarium. Zoos and aquariums have the double benefit of being interesting for kids and also featuring learning components to teach them about ecology and biology.
3. Go to a museum that has a good interactive element. Children’s museums are great, but a lot of other museums are stepping up their game with augmented reality and learning games for kids, too!
4. Go camping! Camping doesn’t even have to be in a tent…there are great options for every budget with RV Rentals, fully furnished or rustic cabins, or even hut to hut hikes in the mountains.
5. Theme parks. Disney World isn’t for everyone, but theme parks are designed with kids in mind and usually do a great job of keeping them engaged all day.
6. Check out the local library. Aside from having some super cool culture/ architecture/design for adults to check out, libraries usually have a great areas for kids to play and learn.

A compromise, perhaps?

To me, the happy medium solution to the traveling with or without children question for all types of travelers is to travel with children, but schedule some days or evenings without them by hiring a local babysitter. It can be difficult to find a babysitting outside of your normal area (its hard enough finding a good babysitter in your home town!), but there are some resources out there available to help you:

1. Ask your social network – chances are you know someone who knows someone who has raised a kid in the place you’re going.
2. Ask your hotel concierge or AirBnB host. They will often have pre-established relationships with trusted sitters in your destination.
3. Utilize a website like care.com that is designed specifically for this purpose.

Chances are, you’ll be able to find a suitable sitter using one or more of those resources, and can schedule some time away from the kiddos to have your escape.

Some specific tips from seasoned parent travelers:

When I put out the call to my social network asking for “the biggest piece of advice you’d give to other parents traveling with their kids?” I got a ton of great answers. I found all of the answers valuable in their own way, so I’m going to include them all here, with those that had multiple similar responses first:

“Be FLEXIBLE. Expect the unexpected.”

“We discovered the power of a dollar store calculator. He’d push buttons on it for long stretches of time. We had them everywhere. Highlights magazine has a book for kids under 2 called Hello that worked well for us too.”

“Extra time for everything, snacks, and bring familiar creature comforts. We took the boys everywhere we could and now they are super easy and fun travelers.”

“Nurse or feed milk or something on takeoff and landing. Get a sling or kid backpack and leave the stroller at home.”

“Bring a tape dispenser. It’s hours of fun on a long flight (or at least minutes).”

“Hold off on naps so they’re really tired when you get on the plane or in the car so they sleep!”

“We found getting our kiddo his own seat and using a low profile car seat (Diono makes a travel one) on the plane was so much easier than keeping him on the lap. He couldn’t squirm when he was strapped in! And it was comfortable as well as familiar.”

“Don’t plan connecting flights if you can help it.”

“Oh, and i know kids can be “lap children” until the age of 2, but really thats BS. After they can walk it turns into a mini wwf wrestling match in your lap. Just buy an extra seat and save your sanity.”

The bottom line

Traveling with kids doesn’t have to be a nightmare. With some planning, preparation, adjustment of expectations, and luck, traveling with your kids can be just as enjoyable as traveling without them. They might not remember the trip, but the memories you make together will last a lifetime, and there are always pictures…like the one up above of my family and I.