Tag Archives: family travel

Family Cruise Advice, from Wendy and Cruise Critic

Wendy chatted with Cruise Critic readers today, sharing her best advice and insights on family cruises. Here are a few highlights from the conversation, including how to make your trip less stressful, the best regions for cruising, and additional tips from Cruise Critic editor in chief Carolyn Spencer Brown.

Read the whole conversation at CruiseCritic.com.

Cruising with a family can be stressful. What are some of your tips on how to cope?

Wendy Perrin: Get a balcony (for extra breathing room) and a cabin location convenient to the kids’ club, the sports deck, or wherever the kids will be spending most of their time. (By “convenient,” I mean within two or three decks, so you can take the stairs rather than having to wait for the elevator.) Feed the kids at the buffet rather than making them sit through a long meal in the dining room. I’ve actually got cruise hacks for acing your family cruise.

In your opinion, are there better regions to cruise to than others?

Wendy Perrin: Yes: groups of islands (archipelagos) because a cruise is an economical, efficient, and logistically easy way to get between them and see a lot of islands you wouldn’t otherwise get to see.

Carolyn Spencer Brown: Also, beware that some ports of call, particularly in Europe and Asia, are deceptively far from where ships actually dock. Bangkok is one, Rome is another. This means a lot of time on a bus just to get there…very exhausting and not much time to really have an experience. Alaska is a particularly good place to cruise because a lot of its key places to see are only accessible via ship. Same goes for the Galapagos!

What European river would you recommend for someone taking their first river cruise? What about for someone who is more adventurous?

Wendy Perrin: Well, for my own family’s first river cruise, I chose the Danube, which gives you four countries in one trip and a mix of important cultural capitals and picturesque landscape. If you’re looking for adventure, I’m not sure a river cruise is the answer. Then again, you can make any river cruise adventurous just by doing your own unusual thing in each port.

Carolyn Spencer Brown: The Rhine is another excellent choice for a first-time cruise because the ports vary—you’ve got cities that are fabulous for cathedrals and others that are more recreationally oriented. But the Danube has the prettier scenery :)

What are some of the pitfalls people can make when they book a river cruise?

Carolyn Spencer Brown: The biggest mistake we see passengers making on river cruises is they over-sightsee! Partly that’s because many of the river tours are complimentary and so people want to take ’em all, get their money’s worth.

Wendy Perrin: They can pay a lot for a balcony they never use. Or they can assume their whole itinerary is on the river. In fact, here are 7 river-cruise mistakes you think you’re too smart to make.

What do you think of Disney’s announcement about river cruising. I think my kids are too young for Europe and river but not sure.

Wendy Perrin: I think it’s terrific that somebody is finally focusing on river cruises for families. I’m excited to watch the Disney partnership with AmaWaterways unfold! I’m not sure how old your kids are, but here’s what my 12-year-old thought of our European river cruise—and the advice he has for parents.

Check out the rest of the conversation at CruiseCritic.com, and when you’re ready to book your own cruise, be sure to check Wendy’s WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts for the best cruise specialists. The right travel agent has sailed many times on the cruise line you’re considering, knows all its ships’ pros and cons, knows the head of the cruise line, and can get you excellent rates and benefits you couldn’t get on your own.

Yes, It’s Possible: A Villa Vacation That Keeps Every Member of the Family Happy

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You already know the benefits of choosing a rental villa over a hotel for your family vacation: More space, more privacy, more local flavor, and—if your group is large enough to fill every room in the house—significant savings. What you might not know though, is just how much the property itself—its layout, location, amenities—will affect the group dynamic. So will decisions ranging from which activities you pre-plan to which type of car you rent to whether the fridge is already stocked when you arrive on a Sunday and the grocery stores are closed. As someone who has rented homes for multiple generations of my own family in locales from Tuscany to Jamaica, I am here to tell you that renting through an expert who will level with you about the pros and cons of the neighborhoods and homes at your destination is a priceless advantage.

Mara Solomon, my Trusted Travel Expert for large Italian villas (read her Insider’s Guide to Italian Villa Vacations) does even more than that. Part magician, part psychologist, she can predict potential conflicts within your group…and make them disappear via smart planning. Mara, who specializes in properties that have four or more bedrooms, has compiled 11 tips for a successful villa vacation, and they’re a must-read as you start to plan your summer villa trip:

1. Manage everyone’s expectations. Travel might be the ultimate test of relationships (besides politics according to my mother). We all do it differently and spend time and money according to our own priorities. Manage everyone’s expectations for time together and time apart, for planned activities versus kicking back, very early on. Use Skype or a similar tool to bring the relevant decision-makers together, hash out the basic structure of the holiday and get everyone on the same playing field. A well-structured villa vacation ensures an elder is not over-taxed, a sporting parent gets the exercise they seek, and the kids are well engaged.

2. Divvy up the work and establish authority. Group travel—whether an extended family or group of long-standing friends (with or without children)—does take planning and it is essential for each group to decide who is making the decisions. Then make sure everyone gets behind them and sticks to the agreed upon plan. It’s also important to decide how the planning work is being shared. One person, maybe two if they work well together, is best for spearheading the choice of villa, but there are other tasks. The wine enthusiast can be put in charge of provisioning wine for the house and selecting wineries to visit, for instance.

3. Determine what really matters to your group. If your first conversations are less focused and people are less than candid, that is ok. Listen closely and you will have the keys to success. One person may need nothing so much as a fabulous bathroom. Be sure you have a plan for mornings out walking or taking coffee up to your own balcony or terrace if you need alone time. Maybe your nuclear family runs at a different speed and needs an excursion without the entourage of in-laws and cousins. Americans are used to enjoying their freedom. Be sure to rent enough cars so someone can make a quick get-away if tension mounts.

4. Make the most of the intelligence and insight of the people who have seen the house and know the area. Villa travel is, by definition, different from any other form of travel. The point is to have space as well as time and experiences together. The house matters greatly, even if you are a get-up-and-go group. Sooner or later your paths will return you home. Get this figured out in the early stages. How? Talk to the person or people who have been there and know the house. The accumulated wisdom of their experience can mean you avoid any nasty surprises. We greatly appreciate a chance to share our knowledge and our talents with our clients. This is what we are paid to do and besides the villas themselves, it is what our clients most appreciate.

5. Build into the structure of your holiday as much service as you can afford. You may think you don’t want a full-time cook but we can say from 20 years travel experience cooking services in the house are the amenity our guests appreciate the most and derive the most value. Inevitably people cancel restaurant meals and stay home because the food is so good. And enjoying it all in the privacy of your own Villa in black tie or pajamas (as you prefer) is a priceless gift to share with people you love. Meal organizing, shopping, preparation and clean up is an every-day responsibility for most of us. It becomes a true vacation when you can be at home without the everyday responsibilities.

6. Plan organized group-wide events or activities. Creating joy-filled moments elevates a get-together to the status of life-long shared memory. An excursion of interest to everyone, a special meal with a well-chosen menu or some fun and easy activity local to your destination generates enthusiasm and excitement. But don’t overdo the planning. In Italy, as with so many destinations, the most transcendent moments are often unplanned, so you want to leave room for those as well.

7. Consider seriously the layout and amenities of the property you are selecting. Quality time for relaxing and playing together in various combinations is essential for successful villa travel. The point is to come together in different times and different ways. Where will you gather for apperitivi before dinner? Are there enough chairs? A friendly bocce competition makes great fun all week long and you can end with a tournament complete with prizes.

8. Staying in one place longer makes for a richer, more rewarding experience. One week is most always not quite enough. Ten days is much better but two weeks is really recommended. I know, you may be thinking people will be bored, but I encourage you to give it consideration. A two-week stay means you sink in and get to know the place, find yourself unwinding in ways you may have forgotten. Your group of teenage boys will be transforming a mound of potatoes into that night’s gnocchi. Maybe you find yourself deep in a long conversation that is years overdue. You will have more flexibility in group configuration and size, as not everyone has to be together the whole time. And a well-located villa will have more to do than you think. We hear this quite often when our guests return: “I wish I pushed for that second week in the villa…”

9. It is Your Vacation too. We do not believe in ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’. A visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa could be a highlight or the worst day of the holiday. It depends. It depends both on things you control and those you don’t. Make sure you work with people who are listening closely to what matters to you and are facilitating that experience for you. If you are working with someone who really understands your group, the necessary insights, contacts and arrangements can be deployed in a way that meets your needs. And, that travel consultant will have you prepared for the variables beyond your control that are an essential part of the villa experience. Yes, the Blue Grotto is special, but we think having your own boat and exploring the other relatively deserted grottos around Capri is much more rewarding. And if you want to skip Capri altogether, that is fine too.

10. Success is in the details. Location, location, location counts when planning villa travel. With villa travel you might not know what questions to ask, so we suggest you work with people who know the house, setting and local area well enough to tell you what you need to consider. The Amalfi Coast is not well suited to those who cannot manage steps. Do you need running room for rambunctious children with soccer balls? Do you have shoppers or fitness buffs or serious scholars? What about food allergies? Can the staff find gluten-free pasta and almond milk easily if needed?

11. Plan on enjoying yourselves and having fun together. We invite our guests to plan on enjoying themselves and doing things differently. Use your phone or tablet for photos, not for email with the office. Eat gelato at least once every day. Have fun getting lost –you will be rewarded with at least a great story to share over apperitivi back at the house. You are sure to encounter an awe-inspiring moment, great memento or new friend for life. Remember what it is to have a day to fill as you like, without an agenda. This is what we strive for at Homebase Abroad–a well-structured trip whose cadence best matches the needs and preferences of your family and friends. We promise you will be rewarded with an exceptional experience. Maybe even the best vacation of your life.

Thanks, Mara, for letting me share your tips with WendyPerrin.com travelers!

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Cruise Hacks: 14 Tips for Acing Your Family Cruise

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Many of us prefer small ships, but sometimes a large one is your best option. Maybe it’s what your children need (only large ships have water slides and mini-golf), or it’s what your group can afford, or it’s the itinerary that best suits your schedule. Last month my family ended up on the biggest ship we’ve ever sailed on, Norwegian Cruise Line’s 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway, because it’s one of the few ships that sails from New York to somewhere warm in the dead of winter. While a large ship can be a smart vacation option for busy kids and their exhausted parents, it can also feel crowded and chaotic, especially when chilly weather keeps everyone indoors for half the cruise. Since it was my husband’s and my tenth cruise with our kids, now 11 and 12 years old, I thought I’d share our hard-earned tips for maximizing the advantages, and minimizing the drawbacks, of a giant ship.

1. Choose a cabin suited to your children’s ages.
The larger the ship, the more confusing the cabin choices. A family of four can feel very cramped in one stateroom, but it can be hard to find connecting cabins or an alternative configuration that works. One thing to be wary of is cabins with upper berths. When we’ve had such rooms, we’ve been so concerned that the boys would roll out of their beds in the middle of the night that Tim slept in the first upper berth, the second went empty, and the kids slept with me below. When the boys were younger than eight, we were comfortable in a “mini-suite” where they could share a double sofa bed. Since then we’ve needed two connecting cabins. My strong recommendation is to book your cruise through a highly knowledgeable cruise specialist such as Tom Baker of Cruise Center: Tom knows the pros and cons of all the cabins on all the ships and has the clout with the cruise lines to get you the one you want.

En route out of NY Harbor. In 19-degree weather. Can anyone guess what ship we’re on?

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 15, 2015 at 12:34pm PST

2. Insist on a balcony. A balcony gives you breathing room, fresh air, great views, lots of sunlight, and private outdoor space. When the boys were small, we opted against one because they could have climbed over the railing. By the time they were four and six, we felt we could risk it, and today it’s non-negotiable. (A balcony isn’t nearly as necessary on a small ship…but that’s a different article.)

See that mist above the Atlantic? That’s because the air temperature (23 degrees) is lower than the sea temperature (48 degrees). We’re off North Carolina, headed south. #NorwegianBreakaway #nofilter A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 16, 2015 at 5:03am PST

3. Pinpoint the most convenient cabin location.
A great location for families is on an upper deck near the aft: It’s a quick walk to the places you need to get to most often—the pool deck, the sports deck, the kids’ club, the buffet—and you can avoid elevator waits and crowds.

Charlie working the #NorwegianBreakaway’s ropes course, 16 decks above the water, with a 360-degree view of the Atlantic Ocean (and the rest of the ship).

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 20, 2015 at 10:36am PST

4. Bring Post-It Notes, a European plug adapter, and highlighters. Post-It Notes are handy for your cabin door: When your kids are old enough to check themselves in and out of the kids’ club (which means they’re old enough to wander the ship on their own), they can leave you messages as to their whereabouts. If your family needs to charge an array of electronic devices daily (and whose family doesn’t?), bring a European plug adapter because your cabin might have only one or two U.S. outlets; don’t let European outlets go to waste. As for highlighters, the daily shipboard program delivered to each cabin door lists so many activities and events that each child will want a highlighter to mark his or her favorites.

You can do all these things aboard #NorwegianBreakaway. Or you can sit on your balcony and read novels like I do. #whenImnotcheckingemail A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 16, 2015 at 4:32pm PST

5. Throw your kids’ swimsuits in your carry-on.
On embarkation day, it can take some time for your luggage to be delivered to your cabin. If you’re embarking in warm weather and you’ve got the kids’ swimsuits with you, they can jump in the pool and use the waterslides right away. One parent can watch the kids while the other walks around the ship doing recon and making spa and dinner reservations.

6. Switch your child’s cell phone (and yours) to airplane mode.
If your child will be using his smartphone as a camera, switch it to airplane mode immediately after leaving your U.S. port for international waters, so that international text messages can’t be sent or received. Otherwise you could get socked with charges. Keep your own phone on airplane mode so you don’t fall prey to roaming charges. (Keep it on airplane mode when accessing the ship’s Wi-Fi too. The great news is that cruise-ship Wi-Fi has improved a lot recently in terms of speed, reliability, and cost.)

7. When everybody else on the ship is zigging, zag.
My family avoids crowds by doing the opposite of what everybody else is doing. Between 6 and 7 pm, for instance, when everybody else is getting ready for dinner or already dining, that’s when we take advantage of the empty sports courts, Ping Pong tables, or hot tub.

8. Find your own serene shipboard hideaway.
In addition to a balcony, you’ll want space to stretch out in tranquility somewhere on deck. There’s almost always an empty area with lounge chairs somewhere. Sometimes it’s the Promenade Deck; sometimes it’s an area up top that people just haven’t discovered.

On every busy giant #cruise ship there’s always one hidden quiet deck area you can retreat to. On #NorwegianBreakaway in winter, it’s Deck 8.

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 21, 2015 at 12:38pm PST

When the weather is too cold to be outdoors, you may crave an indoor pool or hot tub. Often the spa has a heated indoor pool you can access for a fee. On the Breakaway, access to the spa’s Thermal Suite for $199 for the entire seven-day cruise turned out to be a good value.

The spa’s hydrotherapy pool. #NorwegianBreakaway A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 17, 2015 at 6:53am PST

9. Study the children’s weekly program schedule before making dinner reservations.
If your kids are like mine, certain scheduled evening activities will appeal to them and others won’t. Pirate Night is a must, Hollywood Night is not. If you’re making dinner reservations for the family, choose nights when the kids won’t complain about being with you rather than with their friends.

10. Ace the buffet.
It’s usually the most casual way to grab a bite on the ship (except for room service), and it can be jam-packed. Four tips: (1) Avoid the buffet on embarkation day, when it’s at its most chaotic. (2) When you do eat at the buffet, make a beeline for the Asian and Indian food. The kitchen staff is frequently Asian and Indian, so what you get is their home cooking, and it’s delicious. (3) Often one side of the buffet is open and the other is closed; if you can’t find empty seats, go to the closed side. (4) Feed your kids at the buffet, then go elsewhere for a proper adult meal. Like this:

This is the first raw bar I’ve seen on a cruise ship. How about you? #NorwegianBreakaway

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 20, 2015 at 6:07pm PST

#yummy A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 20, 2015 at 6:19pm PST

11. Have your child wear a watch.
There are few, if any, clocks on the ship. If you’ve instructed children to meet you in a certain place at a certain time, the only way they’ll know is if they’re wearing watches.

12. Ensure room keys don’t get lost.
Bring a lanyard, or punch a hole into your child’s key card, so it can be worn around the neck.

13. Don’t activate your kid’s room key for purchases.
On ships you use your room key card for purchases, and kids lose room keys. They accidentally leave them in the games arcade—where other kids may find them and swipe them in the machines—or by the pool, where adults may find them and use them to buy a round of drinks. I’m not kidding; this happens with surprising frequency. When you check in for your cruise, the check-in agent will ask whether your kid’s key should be enabled for shipboard purchases. Just say no, unless you’re certain your child won’t lose the key. And if you’re certain your child won’t lose the key, please share your secret with me!

14. Read my 12-year-old’s advice that parents should know before booking a family cruise.

If anyone else has tips for sailing on megaships, I’d love to hear them. Chime in below!

Disclosure: This was my family’s fourth cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. We’ve always paid our own way in the past; this time the cruise line provided us with complimentary accommodations. In keeping with my standard practice, there was no request for or expectation of coverage on Norwegian’s part, nor was anything promised on mine.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Have a Kid-Friendly River Cruise: Advice From a 12-Year-Old

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Note from Wendy: River cruises are not known for being kid-friendly. Ships are small, with no space to run; there are no children’s facilities or eateries; and there are rarely other kids onboard. But my 10- and 12-year-old sons loved their Danube cruise on Viking River Cruises’ Viking Alsvin. We sailed over the Thanksgiving school break, which worked well because the kids didn’t miss too much school and most Christmas Markets were open. The trip was fun, educational, and logistically a breeze, so I asked my older son, Charlie, to share his advice for parents who might be wondering whether they should take their kids on a river cruise.

Hi. I’m Charlie. I’m 12 years old, and I’ve been on ten ocean cruises, but this was my first river cruise. To me and my brother Doug’s dismay, we were the only kids on the ship. But we made the most of it. In the end, we had a great trip because we found fun things to do on the ship and because we were in port walking around most of the time anyway. Here is my advice for parents:

1. Get a ship that’s almost always in port.
We spent every day—and almost every night—walking around a new port. The ship served mainly as just our overnight hotel, so we never felt like we were stuck on it.

We walked all day. This is Passau, Germany.

And we walked all night. This is Budapest’s castle.

Mom made sure we returned to the ship exhausted.

2. Get an interesting observation deck.
We had shuffleboard on the observation deck, so we made a series out of it. Every day was a game, and whoever won the most games would win, so we were motivated to play every day. And while we played we could see views of the ports we were in.

That’s Budapest’s Chain Bridge.

Those are locks between Budapest and Bratislava.

3. Check out the locks.
Try to be up on the observation deck when going through locks because it’s interesting to see how they work.

4. Find playgrounds in port.
European countries tend to have more exotic things in their playgrounds, and your kids likely will be wowed.

A playground in Passau

The playground had a ropes course.

5. Don’t go around with the group from the ship.
They go too slowly for kids and are not interested in the same things you are. It was easy to get around on our own on foot or by subway.

On the ships’ tours they don’t dip candles.

And they don’t ride ferris wheels. That’s Vienna’s Riesenrad.

And they don’t go swimming at the Gellert Baths. This is the outdoor pool.

The ship’s concierge arranged kid-friendly experiences for us too. For instance, in Austria at Melk Abbey we got to see the Minerals Room.

Melk Abbey’s Minerals Collection

There were lots of precious rocks.

Doug and I took a photo of almost every rock.

The only time we went with a group from the ship was when we took a bus to Salzburg because Salzburg isn’t on the Danube.

6. While you’re walking around all day, try new foods.
There are many foods that you can find in Europe that you can’t find in the United States. There are also many European foods that you can find in the United States but they taste much better in Europe.

A donut at the Schönbrunn Palace Christmas Market in Vienna

A ½-meter würst at Passau’s Christmas Market

7. Back on the ship, eat upstairs on the Aquavit Terrace.
The food came quickly. It made for a yummy family dinner without having to sit in the dining room for two hours. The menu had six entrees, and I promise your kid would like at least one of them. We also loved Milan, our waiter who was so nice to us.

Eat here for a kid-friendly meal.

Our friend Milan on Austrian night

8. Look for kid-friendly movies and TV shows in your cabin.
In our cabin they played The Sound of Music, which was great because we went to Salzburg where they filmed the movie and we recognized the gardens where the Von Trapp children played.

The gardens in Salzburg

9. Find board games in the ship’s library.
Our ship’s library had Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, chess, checkers, and backgammon. There were also two computers there, so I could catch up on schoolwork when my laptop wasn’t working.

We played board games here.

I had to do homework during the cruise.

10. Talk to the older passengers.
They liked talking to me and Doug, and they were easy to talk to. One even asked to play shuffleboard with us.

So my advice to parents is: If you plan on spending a lot of time in port, and if your kids are at least nine to ten years old, and you think they are mature enough, then you can consider bringing them on your next river cruise.

My dad has advice too:
The Easiest Way to See Europe: A River Cruise

And here’s my mom’s advice:
How to Make a Low-Season European River Cruise Awesome
Europe’s Christmas Markets: How to Plan the Perfect Trip

I also have advice for parents thinking of taking their kids on ocean cruises: Things to Know Before Booking a Family Cruise: Tips From a 12-Year-Old.

Stunning Photos: An Ice-Filled New York Harbor in Winter

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One of the biggest reasons to travel by ship is the views as you come into port. Yesterday, as my family sailed into an ice-filled New York Harbor—the final stop of a winter cruise to the Bahamas—I was reminded that certain amazing sights in this world can be seen only by ship. Even though I’m a jaded New Yorker who grew up in midtown Manhattan, the scene was otherworldly. It was well worth waking up at dawn, and shivering on my balcony, to capture it. Enjoy!

Pulling into New York Harbor at 7:00 am on a Sunday in February. #NorwegianBreakaway #NYC #skyline

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:08am PST

#tugboat breaking up the #ice for us in New York Harbor. #NYC #NorwegianBreakaway A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:18am PST

It’s rare sights like this that are the reason to sail out of (and into) New York. #tugboat #NYC #ice #NorwegianBreakaway @norwegiancruiseline

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:22am PST

42nd St. as viewed from the Hudson River on a Sunday morning in February. No zoom, no filter. Pulling into #NYC aboard #NorwegianBreakaway. A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:28am PST

4,000-passenger ship pulling into an icy Pier 88, NY Harbor, 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday in February. Home safe.

A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:40am PST

Home safe. Biggest ship we’ve ever sailed on–which has its pros and cons. “The best thing about the cruise,” the boys say, “was the friends we made.” Isn’t that always true about travel? It’s the people you meet that make a trip. A photo posted by Wendy Perrin (@wendyperrin) on Feb 22, 2015 at 7:09am PST

What’s your favorite port in the world to sail into?

How to Make a Low-Season European River Cruise Awesome

European river cruises have grown so popular that often the only time you can get a cabin is low season. But is a low-season cruise worth doing? I’ve taken six European river cruises now—at different times of the year—so I thought I’d lay out for you the pros and cons of low season; how to choose the right ship, cabin, and week; and how to transform a low-season cruise from average to extraordinary. The photos are from my extraordinary Danube cruise from Budapest to Passau aboard Viking River Cruises’ Viking Alsvin in November 2014. The seven-day itinerary hit four countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany.

The Pros and Cons of Low Season

Three Pros:

1. You pay less.
A cruise can cost $1,000 per person less in March, April, November, or December than in July or August. Airfare is lower too. Also, when the weather is cold, there’s no pressure to splurge on a balcony, since you won’t spend much time sitting on it. (I recommend a cabin with a “French balcony.” See below.)

These are the colors of low season. That’s Schönbühel Castle, in Austria’s Wachau Valley, near Melk.

2. River towns are less crowded.
In high season, river towns can be packed with cruisegoers. In low season, they’re delightfully empty.

In low season you needn’t fight crowds at famous sites—such as inside Melk Abbey’s famed library of 16,000 ancient books.

3. Holiday markets
Festive Christmas markets, which tend to run circa November 22 – December 24, make every port more charming and fun. I’ve now gone Christmas-market-hopping in Central Europe via rental car, train, and boat, and the latter is by far the easiest. (For the reasons why, plus photos and tips, see Europe’s Christmas Markets: How to Plan the Perfect Trip.)

Bratislava, Slovakia, is charming both with a Christmas market and without one—but it’s better with one.

Three Cons:

1. It’s nippy up on that observation deck.
My favorite place on a river ship is the top deck, where I can watch history glide by and try to sneak into the wheelhouse to chat up the captain. But it’s chilly and windy up there in March and December, with temps in the 30s and 40s. Then again, that’s nothing that the right outerwear won’t solve. Of course, you can always descend one deck to the indoor glass-walled observation lounge and enjoy the neverending free supply of hot chocolate and cappuccinos.

Passengers were bundled up as we passed the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest.

2. Your river photos will be grayer.
Compare the photos in this post—all shot on a Danube cruise in November—with those from my July 2014 cruise on the same stretch of river.

Dürnstein, Austria, November 2014: Misty but delightfully uncrowded.

3. Darkness falls early.
Fewer hours of daylight mean fewer hours for sightseeing. In November and December, it’s dark by 4:30 p.m. That’s no problem on a Christmas markets cruise, though; it’s a plus, in fact, since nighttime is when the markets light up and are at their most festive.

Here’s an example of the fun things you can do at night at a Christmas market. That’s my 10-year-old in Bratislava.

How to Choose the Right Ship, Cabin, and Week

Time it right.
I’m convinced I chose a great week of the year for my Viking cruise on the Danube: Thanksgiving. The Christmas Markets had just opened, the weather wasn’t too cold yet, the kids didn’t have to miss too many days of school, and the cruise fare was the lowest of the year. Fares for late-November 2015 start at about $1,760 per person for Viking, $1,900 for AmaWaterways, $2,500 for Uniworld, and $2,600 for Tauck. If you’re not going for Christmas markets, look for value in late April or early October.

Vienna’s holiday market at Michaelerplatz two days before Thanksgiving 2014.

Ask yourself what shipboard décor, ambience, and indoor creature comforts you’ll want.
Given the cold weather, you’ll be spending almost all your time on the ship indoors. Do you want to live in a plush palace? That’s the ambience you’ll find on Uniworld’s splendidly furnished ships. The S.S. Antoinette, for instance, is the Versailles of river ships and has an indoor cinema and an indoor pool. When it’s freezing outside, splurging on such cold-weather niceties may make sense. If your goal is to spend as much time as possible off the ship exploring, however, you may prefer to spend your money on experiences in port, rather than on shipboard bells and whistles you may never utilize. On my six European river cruises, I have never once watched a movie in my cabin, let alone in a cinema; I’ve been too busy watching the river.

This was my veranda stateroom on the Viking Alsvin—a little tight, but comfy, warm, and efficient.

Decide how important it is to you to have a second shipboard restaurant for gourmet dinners.
Uniworld and AmaWaterways ships have two restaurants: the main dining room, and an alternative small restaurant featuring special creations of the chef. If sitting down to a two-hour, four- or five-course dinner each night is your idea of Nirvana, those ships are for you. If you’re like me, though, you’re snacking on so many delicious local specialties onshore throughout the day (especially if you’re at Christmas markets) that when you get back to the ship, there’s barely room in your belly for one course, let alone five. What I and my family loved about our Viking longship was that we could skip the two-hour dinner in the main dining room and instead grab a quick, easy meal upstairs on the indoor/outdoor terrace—an express-dinner option that exists on few other river ships.

Here’s the dining room on the Viking Alsvin.

Think about whether you’ll want a heated indoor pool, a hot tub, a sauna, or spa treatments.
After traipsing around in the cold all day, such things can be nice. Some ships have them, some don’t. The Viking Alsvin has none of them. Which was fine with me because I’d rather spend my money, and my precious time in Europe, getting my pool-and-spa fix off the ship. So my family went to the legendary Gellert Baths in Budapest—which had all the local atmosphere we could have wanted.

The Gellert Baths in Budapest have a ton of local atmosphere.

The Gellert Baths’ pools beat a tiny river cruise ship’s any day.

Consider a cabin with a “French balcony.”

On ocean ships I’ve got to have a balcony—I spend a ton of my time out there—but on river ships I find I don’t use one. That’s because only one side of the river is visible from your balcony, whereas if you’re up on the observation deck or in the indoor lounge, you can see both sides at once. My personal preference, no matter what time of year, is a “French balcony.” A French balcony is basically either a floor-to-ceiling glass door or an enormous picture window that you can open—for fresh air and photos—without paying for outdoor sitting space that you’re not going to use. (You can enjoy your open-air view while sitting indoors.)

How to Transform a Low-Season European River Cruise From Average to Extraordinary

Dress up your cruise with special insider experiences in port.
On our Viking cruise, we made some unusual advance requests of our shipboard concierge. As a result, we ended up with unique local experiences that we will never forget.

 The first was in Bratislava, where my goal was for the kids to visit a Slovak school. The ship arranged for a guide—a mom with a child at a local school—to pick us up at the ship and give us a tour.

Here’s our lovely guide showing us her son’s school in Bratislava.

Kids are the same in all countries.

My children played soccer in the schoolyard with new friends.

The best surprise was yet to come.

Our guide walked us back to Bratislava’s Old Town and to its 13th-century Franciscan Church, where an organist would be giving a concert.

Doug got handed the key to the church.

Bratislava’s Franciscan Church features a Baroque organ.

We got to sit upstairs with the organist while she played the concert, and then she let the kids try. They got to play the organ and hear their notes resound through Bratislava’s oldest church.

The kids got such a thrill out of playing the famous pipe organ (as did their parents).

My other unusual request to the Viking concierge was for our stop in Melk, Austria. I had been to Melk Abbey twice before and wanted to do something new this time. The ship arranged for a guide to take us inside the Abbey’s Minerals Collection—a “library” of semi-precious stones housed in the former private library of the abbot. It’s not on the regular Abbey tour; it’s usually closed to the public, and you need a special key and guide to gain access. It’s an exquisite collection of at least 1,000 stones from around the world. Melk Abbey collected great rocks for the same reason it collected great books for its world-renowned library: Its goal was to capture the finest wisdom from around the world—both literary and scientific. Here’s a list of the minerals on display.

Melk Abbey’s Minerals Collection

Cool minerals

More cool minerals

The boys were fascinated. They took dozens of photos.

The good news is that Viking says it can replicate these special-access experiences for other interested travelers. In fact, Viking plans to roll out a pre-trip concierge service in 2015, so that booked passengers can make unusual requests like this well in advance of their cruise.

Book through the right Trusted Travel Expert.
The Trusted Travel Experts on my WOW List create similar WOW experiences in cruise ports worldwide. As an example, on my AmaWaterways cruise on the Danube last July, Gwen Kozlowski, my Trusted Travel Expert for Central Europe, had me making Habsburg-era strudel from scratch with a renowned chef in Budapest; touring the normally-off-limits Bergl Rooms at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna; and getting inside historic private wineries in Austria’s Wachau Valley with a local wine aficionado.

If you’re seeking the right travel agent to match you to the right cruise ship and cabin, reach out to Tom Baker, my Trusted Travel Expert for European River Cruises, but contact him via this trip-request form so he knows you’re a WendyPerrin.com traveler.

Not sure which which Trusted Travel Expert to contact—or which cruise line to choose? Click to Ask Wendy and shoot me your question.

Returning to our floating home after our day in Melk, Austria.

Stay tuned for my 12-year-old son Charlie’s article about how to transform a normally non-kid-friendly type of travel—a river cruise—into a super-kid-friendly experience. Meanwhile, you may find these other articles helpful:

The Easiest Way to See Europe: A River Cruise
Which European River is Most Interesting for a River Cruise?
Europe’s Christmas Markets: How to Plan the Perfect Trip

Full disclosure: Viking River Cruises gave my family two complimentary cabins. In keeping with my standard practice, there was no request for or expectation of coverage on Viking’s part, nor was anything promised on mine. The other river cruise lines I’ve sailed on—so you know what I’m comparing Viking with—are AmaWaterways, A-Rosa, Grand Circle, and Uniworld.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Great Paris Hotels for an Airport Layover at Charles de Gaulle

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Question:

Hi Wendy,

You have great suggestions for the best hotels for a London (Heathrow) stopover. Can you help with Paris (Charles de Gaulle)? We’ll be en route from Africa to California, landing at CDG in the mid-afternoon and departing at 10:30 a.m. the next day. We’ll be tired and would prefer to stay near the airport rather than going into Paris. (We’ve been lucky enough to have seen Paris many times.) But none of the obvious CDG hotel choices look that appealing.

Thanks,
Jane

Answer:

Jane, I presume by “obvious CDG hotel choices” you mean the Sheraton Charles de Gaulle (Terminal 2), the Hilton Charles de Gaulle (Terminal 3), and the citizenM across the road from the Hilton? I’ve stayed at the Sheraton—because it’s conveniently located at the entrance to the train station where you can zip into the city center—and you’re right: There’s no real reason to stay there unless you want to pop into Paris for an afternoon and evening.

Here are four alternatives, suggested by one of my Trusted Travel Experts for France, Jack Dancy of Trufflepig, who until recently lived in Paris and is now based in Burgundy.

1. The Auberge du Jeu de Paume is an estate in Chantilly that is a 24-minute ride from the airport. It’s a Relais & Chateaux property with a two-Michelin-star restaurant and a brand new spa. “The rooms look onto the gardens of the Château de Chantilly, which is truly splendid and which, in fact, houses one of the largest French Masters collections outside the Louvre,” says Jack. “The town of Chantilly itself is very lovely. Chantilly housed the Royal Stables, and there is still a superbly picturesque race course in the town. You can visit the Royal Stables and the ‘Living Horse Museum’ quite apart from visiting the château and gardens. And nearby is the equally pretty town of Senlis, well worth heading to for lunch and a stroll.”

2. The Château d’Ermenonville, close to the town of Senlis, is also a 24-minute ride from the airport. (Take a taxi or have the hotel send a car to the airport to pick you up.) Located in a forest, it works “for a grandiose quiet night in a château complete with moat,” says Jack.

Should you feel like a little exercise between long flights, Jack can send a guide, with bikes for you, for an afternoon of biking in the Senlis area, through rolling countryside and the royal hunting forests. That way you’re sightseeing and exercising simultaneously–a nice way to spend a stopover.

3. Should you want to pop into Paris after all, stay just inside the Périphérique (the city ring road), in the 18th arrondissement (Montmartre) or the 20th, since these locations are only a 20-minute taxi ride from CDG. “I like the Hotel Particulier Montmartre,” says Jack. “You reduce your travel time to CDG compared to a downtown hotel by anything up to 40 minutes at high-traffic times (i.e., when you’re leaving for your morning flight back to North America). For a one-night stay, it can be fun to be up in Montmartre in particular because people often don’t want to dedicate a whole Paris stay to that neighborhood, but for a final night are happy to be a little out of town, especially with the added benefit of an easy departure.”

4. If you opt for the 20th arrondissement, “to experience a less touristy part of town,” Jack recommends staying at Mama Shelter. “From both the Hotel Particulier Montmartre and Mama Shelter, you can get directly onto the Périphérique, avoiding all city traffic.”

For imaginative travel solutions in Paris or anywhere in France, connect with Jack Dancy via this trip-request form (so he knows you’re a WendyPerrin.com traveler).

Enjoy your stopover!

European Cities that are Surprisingly Kid-Friendly

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You’d be amazed how many of our frequent-traveling families prefer European capitals of culture to the beach. So we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite European cities for vacations that are exceptionally kid-friendly yet also sophisticated enough for culture-vulture parents:

Berlin

The fantastic public transportation network is what puts Berlin over the top as a family-friendly destination. “Every place of note in the city is well served by public transportation,” says Gwen Kozlowski, who is one of the Eastern Europe travel specialists on Wendy’s WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts and who frequently takes her young son on European scouting trips. “Getting around as a family is easy and a good value. The Berlin Welcome card provides from 48 hours to 6 days of unlimited transportation on the metro, S-Bahn (elevated train), and city buses, and each card covers one adult and three kids 6 to 14 years old; children under 6 are free.” For families Gwen recommends the Adina Hackescher Markt hotel, where a two-bedroom suite costs less than a standard room in many of the city’s five-stars. Expose your kids to history at the Checkpoint Charlie House—but only later in the day, she advises, after all the tour buses have left.

For the best possible family-friendly trip to Berlin and to be marked as a VIP, contact Gwen through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Gwen’s trips here.

Paris

Paris is filled with parks and playgrounds. That’s Wendy’s son Doug in the Jardin du Luxembourg when he was eight.

When you’re traveling with kids, you want engaging activities, easy transportation, and great spaces for downtime, and the City of Light ticks all of these boxes. Paris also has an increasing number of pedestrian zones and neighborhoods closed to traffic on certain days, and strollers, scooters, and various bike set-ups can easily be rented to get around. Many Paris museums have kid-friendly spaces and self-guided tours; make sure to download the children’s activity book before tackling the Eiffel Tower. If you’re seeking special private experiences, nobody is more plugged in than Jennifer Virgilio, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for France, who can arrange hands-on activities such as an éclair-making class or an out-of-the-box tour that focuses on the city’s street art. Renting an apartment in the right arrondissement can be a smart move for families too. Finally, when all you need is to burn off some energy, head to one of the many neighborhood parks and playgrounds, all well maintained and fenced in for safety.

Read Jennifer’s Insider’s Guide to Paris with Perks and, for the best possible family-friendly trip to Paris and to be marked as a VIP, contact Jennifer through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Jennifer’s trips here.

Dijon

Burgundy might be best known for its wine, but there’s plenty else to keep the underage set happy in the region’s capital. Dijon, you see, was the capital of the Valois Dukes—who were once more powerful than the king—so the old center is full of well-preserved medieval architecture. At the farmer’s market, France Trusted Travel Expert Michael Eloy arranges for kids to help an organic farmer run his stall. He also sends families to the Parc de la Colombière, where young and old can tackle a treetop ropes course, and to the Place de la Libération, where parents sit and enjoy a respite at a café while the kids play in the fountains.

Read Michael’s Insider’s Guide to Burgundy, and for the best possible family-friendly trip to Burgundy and to be marked as a VIP, contact Michael through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Michael’s trips here.

Florence

Florence, Italy. Photo: Shutterstock

“At first glance, Florence is intimidating for families because many of the famous attractions are museums and monuments that seem grandiose and overwhelming, even to adults,” says Maria Landers, Trusted Travel Expert for Italy. “But with a little research and planning, Florence—and by extension, Italy’s Renaissance history—can be made vibrant and interesting for younger visitors. Several of the city’s museums, including the Palazzo Vecchio and the Museo Galileo, offer guided itineraries for children, and the Bardini and Boboli gardens are perfect outdoor spots for romping and picnicking. Don’t forget to reward yourselves with healthy doses of gelato as you go!”

Read Maria’s Insider’s Guide to Florence, and for the best possible family-friendly trip to Florence and to be marked as a VIP, contact Maria through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Maria’s trips here.

Istanbul

Galata Tower and the street in the Old Town of Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Shutterstock

Many of the city’s sites naturally appeal to youngsters: “The Rahmi M Koç Industrial Museum’s interactive displays are great for kids, who also love going underground to the Byzantine Cistern and spying fish in the water,” says Earl Starkey, Trusted Travel Expert for Turkey. Earl uses art as a kid-friendly window into Turkish culture, arranging private classes on pottery and ebru (the Ottoman technique of paper marbling), as well as cooking. Even the pickiest palates will be satisfied with pide—best described as Turkish pizza—and Istanbul’s ubiquitous fresh-squeezed juices. To escape the city’s hustle and bustle, take a ferry to the car-free island of Buyukada, where you can rent bikes or hire a horse-drawn carriage.

Read Earl’s Insider’s Guide to Istanbul, and contact him through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

London

Many museums in London are free, including the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Photo: Michael Heffernan/London and Partners

Free museums make London a great choice for families. The Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum, the National Gallery, and the Museum of London are only the start. “Anywhere else, visiting even half of these would ring up costs of at least $100 per person,” notes Jonathan Epstein, Trusted Travel Expert for the British Isles. He adds that traveling to London removes the language barrier that can trip up some kids—especially on their first adventure abroad. Epstein’s young son is a devotee of the pirate-ship climbing structure at the Diana, Princess of Wales’ Memorial Playground. And then, of course, there’s Harry Potter: Families can visit sites featured in the books, or even tour the studios where the movies were filmed. Don’t miss this London advice from Wendy’s 14-year-old son: Dos and Don’ts For Your Trip to London.

Contact Jonathan through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

Barcelona

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia looks to some like a child’s masterpiece in sand. Photo: Pixabay

The Mediterranean climate makes it almost always pleasant to be outdoors (who wants to be cooped up inside with kids?), and there’s a fantastic beach area where can spend your afternoons after mornings spent exploring the city. Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia looks to some like a child’s masterpiece in sand—maybe that’s why kids are so drawn to his buildings and to the other Catalan Modernist structures sprinkled throughout the city. You could spend an entire day exploring how nature and architecture are woven together at Parc Guell. And did you know that chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spanish? There’s a chocolate factory in Barcelona that will have your kids begging for a second trip.

Contact Spain expert Pablo Calvo through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

What European cities would you add to this list?

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Transform a Disney Trip from Average to Extraordinary

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Just thinking about a vacation at Disney World conjures all kinds of images: Mickey Mouse, princesses, rides, parades, smiles, magic…big crowds, long lines, overtired parents, overstimulated children. Of course, you can have all of the good with none of the bad, but it requires some planning—and a lot of know-how. After a recent trip to Orlando, we’ve got you covered with our own tricks, as well as advice from our Trusted Travel Expert for Disney vacations, Michelle Allen, who can help ensure an all-smiles, no-stress trip with all the best activities and experiences (and oh yeah, she costs nothing to you; Disney pays her fees). Here are five foolproof ways to transform a Disney World trip from average to extraordinary.

After a day at the park, the sleek and sophisticated design of the Four Seasons is a welcome respite from its over-the-top surroundings.

1. Stay at the new Four Seasons

Disney World has a lot of really great hotels at a wide variety of price points, but the newest addition to the lineup really stands apart. The Four Seasons Orlando just had its grand opening this fall, and provides all the luxury and service you’d expect from a Four Seasons property—attentive staff, beautiful rooms, a full-service spa, customized beds—plus all of the official Disney services, thanks to its location inside park boundaries (e.g., free buses to parks and attractions, an on-site desk for tickets and reservations, discounts for Disney-property guests). “It’s still on campus, so you’re not giving up the location that you would have had to in the past to stay somewhere different—it’s really right there within,” Michelle says. “And while Disney does deluxe, this is really luxury.”

The hotel’s best perk might just be the visual and mental break it provides from its over-the-top surroundings. After a day of crowds and craziness (or instead of one), the hotel’s nearly-mouse-free design, sleek adults-only pool, cocktail-carrying pool staff, and full-service spa are a welcome respite. Not that families are forgotten here—this is Disney World after all, and the hotel is a very kid-friendly home base with a complimentary kids club, two water slides, a lazy river, a zero-entry family pool, a rock-climbing wall, sand volleyball courts, and a splash zone water playground. There’s even a character breakfast.*

The mosaics in Epcot’s Morocco showcase were crafted by master artisans. And since only Allah can achieve perfection, they left a crack or a flaw in every work. Photo by Billie Cohen.

2. Splurge on a VIP Tour

We’re not saying this isn’t expensive, we’re just saying it’s a pretty failsafe way to make your time in Disney World more extraordinary. Hire a VIP guide and you’ll be picked up at your hotel and ushered into the parks of your choice through special back-lot entrances. Once inside, your guide will map out the most efficient way to hit every ride, parade, and snack spot on your wish list, FastPassing you to the front of lines and character meet-and-greets, scoring VIP seating at parades and fireworks, and dropping all kinds of Disney secrets and trivia along the way. Wondering who’s on those portraits in the Haunted House? Why there’s an intentional flaw in EPCOT’s Moroccan fountain? I was repeatedly impressed by how much my guide knew, and her narrative made my day more than just a series of rides. Apart from the fun of all that Disney geekdom, it’s the personalized attention that really makes a VIP Tour attractive: The stress of crowds, lines, far-far-away bathrooms, parking—they are all removed from the equation. At a price, of course: rates range from $1,890 to $3,000 for a six-hour-minimum tour, depending on the season and whether you’re staying at a Disney resort, and that fee does not include park admission. On the bright side, that fee is the same whether you’re one person or ten, so if you’re traveling as a family or two, the cost can be shared…or mitigated another way, as Michelle has seen from her own experience: “There are some people who may stay at a moderate resort and put that money toward a guide instead,” she says.

Pick up a MagicBand and you can leave pretty much everything in your hotel room—even your room key. Photo courtesy Walt Disney World.

3. Embrace technology

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can reserve three FastPass rides before you step foot outside the hotel (or even before you leave home). “It used to be that you had to get to the park before opening,” Michelle recalls. “The rope would drop, you’d get a FastPass, hop on a ride, then run to the other end of the park to get another FastPass. But now you can reserve guaranteed board at Space Mountain between 10:30 and 11, so guess who gets to have a leisurely breakfast? You do.” Guests staying at a Disney resort can also use MagicBand bracelets, which are registered online and then used for various functions, including park admissions, FastPass reservations, Disney PhotoPass accounts, paying for food and merchandise, and even unlocking your hotel room door.

Tying it all together is the My Disney Experience app. From your phone, you’ll be able to check ride wait times, change up your FastPasses, make dining reservations, and find character greeting locations. Plus it has GPS, so you’ll be able to see where you are in relation to that Dole Whip you’ve been craving.

Silhouettes and abstract images of the renowned mouse are hidden throughout the parks and resorts of Disney World. This one is embedded in a giraffe carving at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Can you see it? Photo courtesy Walt Disney World.

4. Go surfing… or backstage

Some of the parks feature special activities that really do make you feel special. Typhoon Lagoon offers surf lessons before the park opens to the masses. At Hollywood Studios, you can dine with a Disney Imagineer. And at Magic Kingdom, the Keys to the Kingdom tour lifts the curtain on the whole Disney show, bringing you to backstage areas, leading you through the secret underground tunnels used by staff to get around without being seen, and pointing out a ton of hidden Mickeys disguised all over the park.

5. Use our Trusted Travel Expert
Yes, yes, we’re tooting our own horn here, but we have no qualms about it. Booking a trip with Michelle Allen won’t cost you a thing, but booking without her most certainly will. You’ll end up paying in time, stress, and yeah, probably dollars because she can not only make sure you get access to great activities, she can also find you deals (and let you know when something simply isn’t worth the price). There’s just so much to navigate, reserve, and organize when it comes to planning a Disney vacation. Why do it alone? Read more about Michelle’s background and her tips for Disney World.<

*Disclosure: Four Seasons Orlando provided me with a three-night stay free of charge, and Disney provided me with a VIP Tour so that I could test it for our readers. In keeping with WendyPerrin.com standard practice, there was no request for or expectation of coverage on Four Seasons’ or Disney’s part, nor was anything promised on ours. You can read the signed agreement between WendyPerrin.com and the organizers of my trip here.

8 Secrets to a Stress-Free Flight With Toddlers

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There’s nothing like flying with a toddler to make a solo trip in coach feel downright luxurious. Nevertheless, bringing the kids onboard doesn’t have to be torture. Here are my road-…er, air-tested tips for surviving a flight with young kids. (At the end of my most recent trip with my three-year-old, two nearby passengers paid the ultimate compliment, declaring me the best-prepared mom onboard.)

Don’t fly during nap times.

Whenever possible, choose flights that don’t coincide with your toddler’s periods of sleep. You might think that flying during a nap will give you a little time off. That might work with an infant, but toddlers are different: They have a much harder time falling asleep on a plane, and it typically involves lots of tears. When I fly cross-country with my son, I book a 6:00 a.m. departure: It’s much easier to wake him up a few hours early than to try to get him down for a nap on the plane.

Avoid bulkhead seats.

Before Zeke turned two (when we had to start buying him his own seat), my husband and I would book aisle and window seats toward the back of the plane, where we had the best chance of getting a row to ourselves. This gives your kid more room to spread out playthings, and it relieves you of the stress of shielding a stranger from your child’s noise and energy. Whatever you do, avoid bulkheads: The armrests don’t move, so you can’t easily share space with your kid, and you won’t always have access to your bags, which must be stowed in the overhead compartments.

Arrive early.

Give yourself a cushion for security—in my experience, bags full of small objects have a knack for requiring secondary screening—and allow plenty of time to walk through the airport to your gate. I turn this part of the journey into a game, telling my son what number to look for and having him guide me at his own pace. Letting Zeke burn off some energy also makes him more agreeable about staying in his seat onboard (translation: fewer trips up and down the aisle).

Don’t eat just before takeoff or landing.

Those first and last moments of a flight are often the toughest, when the change in cabin pressure hurts your kid’s ears. Eating and drinking can help, and your child is more likely to chew and swallow if he or she hasn’t just had a meal. I like to bring lollipops for these moments; it’s a special treat with some lasting power. (Don’t starve the kid, though: Mid-flight snacks are essential in preventing the low-blood-sugar grumps.)

Have new toys on hand.

In the weeks before a trip, scour the library book sales and Target $1 bins for inexpensive options; extra credit for play things that encourage open-ended, imaginary play. Some of my favorites: play dough, pipe cleaners, magnetic playsets, and reusable sticker pads. On one flight, a pack of small monster trucks entertained Zeke for a good 30 minutes. Just make sure that you liberate toys from their plastic clamshell packaging at home, while you still have access to scissors! Too busy to shop? Order a Busy Kit.

Wrap everything.

Not just the new toys, but old reliable ones, snacks, even a cube of Post-It notes for small drawings. Opening each package helps small tots with their fine motor skills and makes each new event last a little longer; use old newspapers to cut down on waste. This works better with the younger set, though: My three-year-old now tears through the wrapping quickly.

Know your kid.

Whatever appeals to him or her at home will be a good bet in the air. For Zeke, that’s playing trucks and drawing. We never fly without a generous helping of small vehicles, Crayola washable crayons (the best I’ve found), and scrap paper.

When all else fails, treat your kid to some screen time.

I like to leave this as an option of last resort—we’ve gone through entire flights without pulling out the iPad. Many parents swear by them, but if you limit screen time at home, your kid (like mine) might not have the attention span to sit through more than a few minutes of it on a plane. Don’t forget to load some new apps and videos onto your device before the flight, while you still have a fast Internet connection.

What strategies work for you and your kids?

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

10 Tips for a Perfect Family Vacation in Paris

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Every summer we take advantage of school holidays and head to new places with our three young kids—26 countries in the past eight years. But we also find ourselves returning again and again to favorite destinations. Paris is one of them. Since November is a perfect time to start planning travel for next summer, it’s also the perfect time to share a few valuable lessons we’ve learned over the course of several trips to the City of Light. These ten tips make our vacations fun for the kids (and adults) and largely stress-free.

In an apartment we feel like locals. Photo by Eric Stoen.

1. Try a rental instead of a hotel.
We love renting apartments instead of staying in hotels. In an apartment we feel like locals: We have a kitchen—with all the dining flexibility that it brings—and we have far more space than we would in a hotel. Plus, since there are five of us, we would require two hotel rooms, and that becomes expensive. When we spent time in Paris this summer (as part of our six-week trip through Europe), we rented a house through Airbnb, complete with a courtyard, and it was the perfect place to return to after a day of exploring.

Additional tip: We always stay in the 7th arrondissement. It has the markets of Rue Cler as well as the Eiffel Tower, both of which are landmarks that make it really easy to find our way back home from anywhere in the city.

The Musée de la Chasse is fun and quirky for kids. Photo by Eric Stoen.

2. Search out smaller museums.
The major museums like the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre are absolutely worth visiting (see my next tip), but there’s much more to explore in Paris than just the big-ticket attractions, and you’re missing out if you don’t take the time to suss out the unusual and unique small spots in any city. They are often less crowded, just as interesting (if not more so), and easier to see with kids with naturally shorter attention spans. Two of our favorite small museums are the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and the Musée Marmottan Monet. The Musée de la Chasse is fun and quirky for kids: There are a lot of interactive animal-related displays in a setting that reminds me of a Wes Anderson film. The Monet Museum lets kids get up close to amazing Impressionist art (without the crowds) and to see Monet’s progression as an artist—something you don’t necessarily see at large museums that focus on major works.

Additional tip: Save the museums for a rainy day. Even when the weather is bad, the smaller museums are rarely crowded.

One of the highlights of our summer trip was a private tour of the Louvre with Paris Muse. Photo by Eric Stoen.

3. If you’re going to a major museum, book a kid-friendly private tour.
One of the highlights of our summer trip was a private tour of the Louvre with Paris Muse. Not only did we avoid most of the lines and crowds, but the kids had a great time completing word puzzles and being led on a treasure hunt that included a wide spectrum of Babylonian, Greek, French Medieval, and Italian Renaissance art and antiquities.

Additional tip: There are numerous groups that lead kid-centric private tours, including Paris Muse and Context Travel. Search on TripAdvisor for “Paris Activities” to see tour reviews, or check Wendy’s WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts to find someone who can arrange special activities wherever you’re traveling.

4. Think picnics.
Every summer that we return to Paris, we find ourselves having more and more picnics, both for lunch and dinner. We’re able to sit and enjoy wine while the kids run around and play—and the breads, meats, cheeses and tarts bought from local markets can’t be beat.

Additional tip: Bring a thin linen blanket from home (which, in addition to being perfect for picnics, can be used as a towel or a sarong) and buy disposable plates, cups and utensils at the local supermarché.

5. Walk. A lot.
The Métro is great for reaching farther-afield areas of the city and for giving legs a rest, but the biggest mistake that first-time visitors to Paris make is that they take the Métro from major site to major site and miss out on the neighborhoods and the transitions between arrondissements. There are great parks, churches, cafés, and shops outside of the major tourist areas, and some of our best days have been the ones when we did the most walking.

Additional tip: We like picking a destination in the morning or the night before, taking the Métro there, exploring that area, and then slowly walking back to our apartment in the afternoon, buying things for dinner along the way.

Whether you’re into pizza, baguettes or pastries, you can find a cooking class for it in Paris. Photo by Eric Stoen.

6. Learn to cook.
We’ve always loved macarons. So this summer we learned how to make them with Cook’n With Class in Montmartre. Our kids were involved in every step, from preparing the dough and fillings to final assembly—and, best of all, they got to take home everything that they made. Whether you’re into pizza, baguettes or pastries, you can find a cooking class for it in Paris. And it doesn’t even take up a whole day—a short course is a perfect morning or afternoon activity.

Additional tip: If you find a class that looks great for your family but is geared to adults, ask the school if they can offer you a kid-friendly version.

7. Become regulars.
On Rue de Grenelle near Champs de Mars there is a little Italian restaurant. We’ve eaten there six times over the past two summers, and every time is better. When they see us they seat us right away. They anticipate the kids’ drinks. They give us extra appetizers, sweets, and after-dinner liquors at no cost. We always get the same waiter and expand on our conversations each time, as much as possible in French. It makes for a much better experience than simply being one-time visitors. The same holds at boulangeries, where the lovely lady behind the counter would anticipate our pain au chocolat order every morning, or at the local fresh fruit market, where they gave us frequent discounts for not-really-noticeable produce blemishes—but only after we had gone there several times.

Additional tip: Always try to speak French. Even if it’s just one or two sentences that you quickly looked up on Google Translate, it gets you a better level of service than walking in and assuming that the staff speaks English.

One of the best carousels for spearing brass rings is at Luxembourg Gardens. Photo by Eric Stoen.

8. Stop at every carousel.
There are a lot of carousels in Paris. Every one is different, and our kids love all of them, so we never say no when we’re passing one. The brass rings are always a highlight because you don’t see them in the U.S. very often anymore. There’s rarely a wait, and it’s a nice chance to relax after a lot of walking.

Additional tip: The best carousels for spearing brass rings are at Luxembourg Gardens (by the playground) and at Champs de Mars park, near the Eiffel Tower.

My kids love the Jardin d’Acclimatation. Photo by Eric Stoen.

9. Skip the big amusement parks.
Forget Disneyland Paris. Head to the Jardin d’Acclimatation instead. It’s a much more authentically Parisian experience, easier to get to, and a lot less expensive, with a small entry fee and then pay-per-ride attractions. Go early, before the park gets crowded.

Additional tip: Bring swimsuits and towels. Our kids love the water area.

My daughter and I have a tradition of walking around the Eiffel Tower area at least one night during our trip. Photo by Eric Stoen.

10. Stay up late.
A few years ago when we landed in Paris, my wife and two of the kids were jet-lagged and went to sleep early, but my oldest daughter and I felt wide awake. So we quietly left the apartment and walked all around the Eiffel Tower, the Champs du Mars, and the Trocadero area for two hours, including several trips around the Trocadero carousel. It was great one-on-one bonding, and we got to see more Parisian nightlife than we usually do. Since then, it’s become a tradition for the two of us: We always head over on our first night, and then once or twice a week after that.

Additional tip: I especially enjoy walking at night after it’s rained. The reflections are magical.

Meet our writer

Eric Stoen, the founder of Travel Babbo, travels around the world constantly with his three kids. Wendy met him when he won Condé Nast Traveler’s Dream Trip Contest a few years ago and was so impressed with his travel savvy that she invited him to contribute to WendyPerrin.com.

An Affordable Christmas Vacation Idea

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Question:

Hi Wendy,

We are hoping to go away over the Christmas holiday. We’re willing to spend some money, but don’t want to spend $15K just for a week in Hawaii with lots of crowds, if you know what I mean. We were originally thinking of Mexico—or, someplace warm and sunny that’s a little less expensive then Hawaii but where we could still have some adventure. We are really open to any non-ski destination, as long as it’s affordable and fun. We live in San Francisco and have two young boys, 9 and 6. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Nancy

Answer:

Nancy, if I were you I’d go back to thinking about Mexico. There’s still availability and good value to be found during the Christmas/New Year’s period in certain pockets of the country. I spoke to a few trusted Mexico travel specialists, and here are some of your options:

* Colonial Mexico. “Haciendas and resorts in the Colonial interior—like Merida, Oaxaca, Cuernavaca—offer a festive atmosphere, great food, cultural and archaeological sites, and great weather, and there is still availability,” says Ada King of Connoisseur’s Travel.

* San José del Cabo. “This year Cabo has more availability during Christmas week than over New Year’s, says Julie Byrd, one of my WOW List Trusted Travel Experts for the Caribbean. Nonetheless, there are many smaller villas available both weeks, as well as rooms available at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos over Christmas.”

* Oaxaca, Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta. “Both the city of Oaxaca and the coast nearby—Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, and the coast in between—have space left and are a good value,” says Zach Rabinor, one of my Trusted Travel Experts for Mexico. “Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo and Puerto Vallarta also have availability and are exceptional value for coveted coastal destinations, including hotels and villas.” Zach adds that the following resorts in Mexico still have availability, “subject to dynamically changing conditions”: Fairmont Mayakoba, Las Alamandas, Viceroy Riviera Maya, Capella Ixtapa, Qinta Real Huatulco, Rosewood San Miguel Allende, and Viceroy Zihuatenejo.

Nancy, I could suggest a few other destinations that would be affordable, relatively warm over the winter holidays, and fun for both kids and adults simultaneously—San Diego and Charleston, South Carolina, both come to mind—but Mexico will be the sunniest. Zach Rabinor, who lives in Puerto Vallarta and has two kids of his own, is one of my Trusted Travel Experts on The WOW List, and I’d strongly suggest you contact him to learn current availability and the best pricing for your time frame, as well as to get his recommendations custom-tailored to your family’s needs. As a wendyperrin.com traveler, you’ll get VIP status with Zach, as well as my trip-monitoring service, as long as you contact him via this trip-request form.

Have a happy holiday, Nancy!

How to Pack for a Family Vacation

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Note from Wendy: One of the biggest, saddest obstacles to international travel with kids is the perception that you’ll need to haul around a ton of luggage. It’s a misperception, as Eric Stoen, the founder of Travel Babbo, shows us. Eric is a frequent international traveler whom I met when he won Condé Nast Traveler’s Dream Trip Photography Contest, and he uses many of the same strategies I use when packing for my own family.

This past summer we took a Disney Cruise from Venice to Barcelona and then, with suggestions from the kids (and a little research on TripAdvisor), kept adding on European destinations post-cruise. What started as two weeks in Europe turned into six weeks. Those six weeks included everything from a formal night on the cruise to operas in Salzburg to hiking and swimming, with temperatures ranging from the 90s in Turkey to the 50s in Austria at night. We were still able to pack everything for two adults and three kids (ages 4, 6, and 8) into just two suitcases and two carry-ons. Here are our packing suggestions—based on this trip and many others—and they work just as well for a one-week trip as for a longer vacation:

1. Use packing cubes. In our case, each adult gets two and each kid gets one. These allowed us each to pack enough clothes for four to five days each (which was sufficient, given that we would have laundry access at several points during the trip or could do laundry in hotel sinks and bathtubs when necessary). The cubes have the added benefit of neatly organizing our clothes, which comes in handy when we are in non-connecting hotel rooms and need to place each person’s things in the correct room.

We packed everything we needed for two adults and three kids (ages 4, 6, and 8) into just two suitcases and two carry-ons. Photograph by Eric Stoen.

2. Pack empty duffels, and be prepared to ship things home. We packed two empty duffels in our suitcases and filled both (with souvenirs and new school clothes for the kids) over the course of the first four weeks. In Austria we bought boxes at the post office, loaded them up, and mailed them home. It was inexpensive, and all of a sudden we had empty duffels again for shopping at our remaining destinations. We always have to bring back several bags of Batticuori cookies from Italy, after all!

3. Limit your colors. It’s often said but bears repeating: Take clothes that mix and match.

4. Forget formality. Hauling around a sport coat for six weeks that you’ll use on only one or two nights doesn’t make sense. My son and I were fine in slacks and button-down shirts for both the “formal” cruise dinners and the operas. The girls found it easy to make a few skirts and dresses fit any occasion.

5. Eliminate shoes that aren’t practical. Does anyone really need more than three pair of shoes on a trip? Each of us brought one pair of comfortable walking shoes, one pair of flip-flops or sandals, and one pair of slightly nicer shoes for dressing up. No heels: If it can’t be worn on cobblestone streets, it wasn’t allowed in the suitcases.

6. Bring kid medicines. We bring an assortment of medical items that may not be easy to locate in foreign cities. Our emergency kit consists of Pepto-Bismol and Tums for kids, Band-Aids, Neosporin, hydrocortisone, and children’s ibuprofen—the chewable pills, not the liquid. Every trip we (unfortunately) need to use most of those items at least once.

7. Don’t forget sun hats and sunscreen. If we forget sun hats, we have to buy them at one of our first stops. It’s not fun being somewhere like Ephesus for hours with no shade.

8. Take a linen blanket. We find ourselves at the beach frequently and often have impromptu picnics in parks. A large, thin linen towel or blanket works for both: It’s a towel for wet kids, or a picnic blanket. It can also double as a skirt/sarong for the occasional church that doesn’t accept visitors in shorts, and it can be used to pack breakable items on the way home.

9. Don’t spurn electronics. Books are great at home, but on the road we rely on lightweight iPods and iPad Minis. They’re lifesavers on airplanes, as well as at long European dinners when it takes 45 minutes to get the check.

Once our extra duffels were filled, we bought boxes at the post office, loaded them up, and mailed that stuff home. Photograph by Eric Stoen.

10. Remember packing and repair supplies. We bring a small kit with scissors, packing tape, blue gaffer’s tape, and a Sharpie. We use these for everything: shipping boxes, labeling cups, wrapping fragile souvenirs, taping up shampoo tops before flights, and on-the-fly repairs.

What’s your best family packing tip?

Meet our writer

5 Reasons to Sleep in a Museum: A 10-Year-Old’s Opinion

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Hi. I’m Doug, and I’m 10 years old. My brother Charlie and I got to spend the night at the American Museum of Natural History. My mom asked me whether the sleepover made the museum truly memorable. It did because the museum is a lot different at night than it is during the day. Here are five reasons why I remember my night at the museum so well:

Cool dinosaur skeletons

1. You get to go around the museum with a flashlight.

Reptile exhibit

2. There’s nobody blocking your view.

Scavenger hunt

3. You get to have a scavenger hunt where you answer questions in a book.

Tiger exhibit

4. You can see a lot more of the museum because it’s not crowded at night.

Hall of Ocean Life, at the American Museum of Natural History

5. You get to sleep under a giant blue whale.

Those are the reasons why my night at the museum was truly memorable.

How to Use TripAdvisor to Find Great Things to Do

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Nine years ago, when I used TripAdvisor for the first time—for a two-week drive around New Zealand’s South Island— I used it just to find places to stay. As the site has evolved, my use of it has evolved too. I’ve now posted 120 reviews and, during a recent six-week trip to Europe with my wife and young kids, I tapped the site virtually every day. This is how I’ve learned to use TripAdvisor to plan excellent vacations.

How to Find a Hotel

Once I know where I’m going, I do a quick search for, say, Salzburg hotels, and then enter my rough dates to see room prices. When I find a hotel that looks good, has decent rates, and seems to have availability for my dates, I click into the reviews and sort by “Families” at the top. I have three kids, so I want a hotel that lets at least three of us stay in one room and that, ideally, has connecting rooms. This can usually be quickly ascertained by scanning the reviews.

If I don’t find an attractive hotel by eyeballing the results, I’ll go back to the main listing of all hotels and sort at the top by “Family-Friendly” (you’ll find this among the “I Like” buttons or under the “Style” menu) and usually by location as well, if I know the area of town I’m looking for (e.g., City Center). I don’t usually sort the results like that when doing my primary search because there’s always the chance there’s a great hotel that, for whatever reason, isn’t in those Family-Friendly rankings. But in a city with hundreds of hotels and multiple areas to stay, this strategy can quickly highlight the best property for us.

How to Find an Activity

We took a Disney Cruise through the Mediterranean this past summer. For each port stop, I went to TripAdvisor and searched for the city to find its main information page (like this one for Venice), and then chose Attractions. Once there, you’ll see an Activities tab toward the top of the page. I quickly read the reviews of the one or two top-ranked companies or individuals, looking particularly for mentions of young kids. I then clicked through to the tour company websites (links are usually available on the site), and emailed them with our dates, group size and ages of the kids, and asked for proposals. As a result, we had great private tours in Venice, Athens, Ephesus (Turkey) and Malta, all at lower prices (on a per-person basis) and with far more flexibility than if we had booked shore excursions through the cruise line. In Athens we were practically alone at the Acropolis in the late afternoon—all of the large cruise excursion buses had come and gone by that point. The Activities listed on TripAdvisor usually include private day tours but also foodie tours, cooking classes, boat trips, free walking tours and Segway tours—options for families that they may not otherwise be aware of.

In Paris I searched through the TripAdvisor Activities listings for the top tour operators, and again looked for reviews that mentioned young kids. I ended up booking walks through the Louvre, the Marais, Notre Dame and Montmartre with Paris Muse and Context Travel as a result. We all loved those walks. They added both fun and educational dimensions to the days, and in the case of the Louvre, gave us a very kid-friendly way to see the world’s most popular museum during peak tourist season—without having to deal with lines or crowds.

How to Find a Restaurant

In Venice our hotel emailed me a list of its top 15 restaurant recommendations. I brought each one up on TripAdvisor, mapped it in relation to the hotel (by using the maps on the right side of the screen and choosing to view hotels and restaurants), and read through reviews. If people described a restaurant as being formal or having really slow service, I nixed it. I put together a short list of three restaurants that sounded perfect for us, and the hotel made reservations at each.

The view from our room at the Penzion Mayer in Bled, Slovenia. Photograph by Eric Stoen

How to Change Things Up Mid-Trip

This past summer my family spontaneously ended up in Bled, Slovenia, because of TripAdvisor. We had planned a week in Salzburg, but with constant rain we weren’t able to enjoy the city much. So I grabbed a map of Europe and looked for a destination no more than 250km (a couple of hours in a car) from Salzburg. I found Bled and a few other cities and went through the above steps, looking for a destination [city/city rep] that had an available, family-friendly hotel at a good price, and that offered activities that sounded interesting for families. I emailed the top three listed hotels for Bled and only one had availability, so I booked it. In the reviews, several people had mentioned enjoying good meals at the hotel restaurant. Normally I would have evaluated other places to eat, but in this case I liked the idea of a (very short) walk to dinner. The meal, and the entire impromptu trip to Bled, were surprise highlights of our summer.

How to Get Answers to Travel Questions

It’s relatively hidden, but at the top of the main TripAdvisor site, under More, is the Travel Forum. I use this all the time. Whether I want information on day trips from Paris or the dates of the 2014 Yi Ping Festival in Thailand, I can find it there. I don’t think I’ve ever searched for anything that hasn’t been previously asked and answered. Google search results often point to the Travel Forum anyway, but I usually head there directly to see more (and better) results. Of course, now I can also Ask Wendy.

Meet our writer

Join Me for #TripChat, TripAdvisor’s First-Ever Twitter Chat

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As host of TripAdvisor’s first-ever Twitter party, I cordially invite you to join us this Wednesday, October 1, from noon to 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We’ll be chatting about how to make museum visits truly memorable.

TripAdvisor recently announced its list of the top 25 museums in the world, as well as the top 25 in the U.S. and in dozens more countries and regions around the globe. What makes for a great museum experience (besides a fantastic collection)? What’s your favorite museum ever? Which one is on your bucket list? And, when it comes to the world’s most important—and biggest—museums, what are your hard-earned tips for navigating them? As I wrote in 5 Ways to Save Time and Money at Top Museums, I personally like to suss out hidden side entrances and go at night.

I know you have many tips of your own to share, and I can’t wait to hear them! So please join us on Wednesday at noon. Just follow @TripAdvisor, @wendyperrin, and #TripChat.

Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Tag Archives: family travel

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European Cities that are Surprisingly Kid-Friendly

How to Transform a Disney Trip from Average to Extraordinary

8 Secrets to a Stress-Free Flight With Toddlers

10 Tips for a Perfect Family Vacation in Paris

An Affordable Christmas Vacation Idea

How to Pack for a Family Vacation

5 Reasons to Sleep in a Museum: A 10-Year-Old’s Opinion

How to Use TripAdvisor to Find Great Things to Do

Join Me for #TripChat, TripAdvisor’s First-Ever Twitter Chat

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