Stroller saves the (hot) day in Ashiya

Traveling with our two small children (Grace, 4 and Anna, 1) in Japan this summer was a mixed success.  There are lots of sights and sounds, free food, transport and accommodations for kids under 6, and always friendly people to stop to say hello and “kawaii!”. Overall our Japan experience was fabulous but we do have some cautions for others as well.

Getting around in train stations is becoming easier than we found on past (pre-kids) trips, as the country does a better job of making accommodations for the disabled with ramps and elevators. Almost every station, even the smallest, has at least one elevator.  Taking the Mia Moda Cielo Evolution Stroller was essential – we used it to let kids rest, pile on the bags and stuff little things in the basket.  A few smaller stations however had only stairs and this is likely even more frequently the case in rural areas. Lugging a stroller and kids up and down long staircases is exhausting but those stations were infrequent enough that the stroller was definitely worth it.  Anna, our 1-year old, spent a lot of time in the Ergo, joining just about every Japanese kid her age we saw. Even Grace at 4 enjoyed a few rides on daddy’s back in the Ergo when her little feet were especially tired of pounding the pavement.

Traveling in Japan in the summer is HOT, and it’s a humid kind of hot.  Our primary reason to travel there in July was for a good friend’s wedding. If we had a choice as to time of year we would definitely avoid the summer and go in spring or fall. We were sticky sweaty most of the time, and needed showers twice a day.  There is no central air conditioning in any apartment or home, and some of the individual room a/c machines are not up to the job.  In addition, after the earthquake and nuclear plant shutdowns, all businesses are required to cut their energy consumption, so many stores and restaurants are weakly cooled, so you may find yourself sweating through your meal of udon or ramen.  The trains on the other hand will rescue you with a blast of icy air.  In the context of all the Japanese have had to face since the disasters hit, this sounds trite, but it might be part of your calculation in choosing when to visit with family.

The other aspect of Japanese culture that affects traveling with kids is space.  We remember Japan having small rooms and tight quarters, but cramped living takes on a new dimension when you have a 4 year old and a 13 month old with you.  Kids have amazing wells of energy and a need to let it out by jumping and bouncing and singing.  When there’s no yard nearby, the park looks like a nice place to contract tetanus, and any other outdoor space is pushing 100 degrees, it makes for difficult indoor behavior issues.  Some Japanese homes also have beautifully decorated tatami rooms with doors made of thin paper.  (Note to parents: a four year old’s foot goes quite easily through said door, as we unfortunately discovered).

Not to say that traveling in Japan is impossible with kids, and the positives outweigh the downsides.  We discovered delightful places for kids, like the Osaka aquarium with a massive tank full of sharks and hundreds of fish.

Osaka Aquarium: Grace watches a ray

Spa World

We also discovered Spa World, an indoor swimming – sliding – onsen – super-fun -waterpark.

We swam on the rooftop of Tokyo’s National Children’s Castle and let Grace run free in the huge indoor play structure, followed by participating in the drawing and music rooms.  We found out that while Kyoto is known for its temples and shrines, it also has a decent zoo with a small amusement park. Kyoto also boasts an interesting Handicraft Center where Grace was able to design and paint her own fan.

And lest you think that Japanese food means a bunch of sushi that kids won’t eat… our kids discovered the wonders of Japanese noodles and many variations on rice.

Grace and Anna enjoy bento

Grace at 175 miles per hour

And what kid wouldn’t be thrilled by zipping around at 175 miles an hour on the bullet train?

So, in addition to the wonderful experiences of reconnecting with old friends, we discovered many ways in which Japan is wonderful for kids, if you’re prepared for some unique speedbumps along the way.  We plan to share details from some of these experiences over the next few posts.

Are All-Inclusive Resorts a Sellout?

We like to think of ourselves, perhaps somewhat haughtily, as travelers rather than tourists. Travelers immerse themselves in the local culture, living, eating, speaking and getting around as much as possible as locals do. Tourism is isolating, making a trip as comfortable as possible at the expense of authentic interactions with local people and their ways of everyday life. So we say with our noses in the air.

We love all-inclusives when we need hassle-free travel

All-inclusive resorts seem to fit easily into my cynical definition of tourism. You can stay at one without ever speaking a word of the local language, or eating regional food, or bumping shoulders on a crowded bus with someone who actually lives in that locale. You and your children can be entertained all day long by activities staff without ever knowing what people in that country do for fun.  You can eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch and pizza for dinner.  You never have to make decisions about where to stay, how to get to a destination, or where to eat. The decision-making thrill (or burden, depending on your perspective) of travel is removed for you as you’re plunked down in a microcosm full of staff who cater to your every desire.

So what was this traveling family doing spending our last two family vacations at an all inclusive resort in the Riviera Maya, Mexico? We were having wonderfully relaxing, culturally-rich vacations, that’s what. Oh yeah, and revising our misconceptions of all-inclusives as well.

The original motivating factor for an all-inclusive vacation was our desire to travel soon after the birth of our second child, Anna. We knew roughing it was out with a 3-month old but we still wanted some sun and a bit of an escape so we booked ourselves and the grandparents into Marina El Cid in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, just south of Cancun. We thought it would be a one-time thing we could justify because hey, we had a small baby and hey, weren’t we brave to go ANYWHERE with a baby?

Upon arrival at Marina El Cid we found ourselves in a little piece of heaven. Powdery soft sand beach, warm turquoise blue ocean water, a gigantic swimming pool complex, spacious suites, attentive pool-side waiters, 3 delicious meals every day, it was all around amazing. Our first trip was September 2010 which is the start of the low-season so the resort was also fairly empty, meaning we had plenty of attention from staff for our every need and never ran into lines or crowds. Never. We all relaxed, slept, swam, dozed, ate, rested  and had a marvelous time. We enjoyed a meal in the sleepy town center of Puerto Morelos and visited a small local zoo, but other than that reveled in the quiet isolation of this beautiful resort. For that phase of life with a newborn and an energetic 3 1/2 year old it was exactly what our family needed.

Fast forward to March 2011, 6 months after our first trip, when we returned to Marina El Cid, this time

Enjoying homemade paletas (popsicles) in the local little town near the resort

with grandparents from the other side plus Steve’s brother and his family.  Yet again we found ourselves in paradise. With Anna now 9 months old we had more freedom to leave the resort so we enjoyed a fabulous combination of relaxing beach and pooltime with excursions out of the complex (more on recommendations in an upcoming post).

As for tourism vs. traveling, while much of our vacation was spent in “cultural isolation,” our particular resort served authentic regional Mexican food which we enjoyed at every meal.  The resort staff appreciated our attempts to converse with them in Spanish. Plus we left the resort multiple times, exploring the region as well as the local small town. Another plus for us was we chose a resort off the beaten tourism path so we did not encounter large touristy crowds, which can dilute any sort of authentic experience.

Playing on the playground in town with local kids

We won’t always stay at all-inclusive resorts. We thrive on eating local, talking local, staying local and love the thrill (and yes, the stress!) of travel logistics. But for our family we’ve discovered there are (at least) two specific times in life that make all-inclusives perfect. The first is when we want to travel with very little children. The predictability and comfort of an all-inclusive makes travel a possibility at a time when we otherwise would probably stay close to home. The other is traveling with extended family. Our extended family enjoys each other the most when there are minimum decisions to be made or schedules to keep.

To those of you who already knew how great all-inclusive resorts are, we apologize for our past snobbery.  We’ve been won over and we are already planning next year’s stress-free getaway!

Welcome Baby Anna and plans for Mexico

We welcomed Anna Clara Sethi into our family on June 22nd. She’s a beautiful baby girl and we’re loving getting to know her. Now at almost 3 months we’re getting lots of smiles, longer stretches of sleep (hallelujah!) and are about to embark on our first international adventure with 2 kids.

We’ve chosen a low-key vacation at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Morelos, on the Mexican Yucatan peninsula. It’s near Cancun but quieter and less touristy than Cancun, so we’ve heard. My parents are joining us, making the prospect of traveling with two little ones far less daunting.

In the meantime, our three-year old, Grace, is getting excited about our Mexican adventure. This is the first trip she’s actually asked questions about beforehand. Tonight as I laid in bed with her she wanted to know every detail about our travel: what time she’ll be woken up, what we’ll do when we get to the airport, where Daddy will park the car, how he will find us in the terminal, etc. etc. It dawned on me – she’s actually old enough to care!  This little girl has six stamps in her passport but she has never really known that she was in some of the most incredible places in the world, let alone asked questions about how travel logistics work. How exciting that she now anticipates travel, perhaps even more than I do any more!

After she was tucked in bed I got in a bit of a tizzy about making this trip “culturally meaningful” for Grace. She’s going to Mexico, a place she knows a little about from Mexican friends. She knows a few token Spanish words (gato and adios, in particular).  In my quest to make this trip more than a week playing in the sand for my little preschooler, I went on amazon.com and discovered this great booklist of bilingual Spanish-English books. Of course I reserved them ALL at our library (where oh where will they fit in our luggage?).

In my zeal I may find myself overloaded with library books. Still what a discovery to realize we are now a family of travelers, no longer a traveling couple with a child or two in tow. While Anna may just be along for the ride this year, Grace will be able to absorb new people, new words, new foods, new sights, new smells. Our job as parents is to find creative ways to enhance those discoveries.  Way #1: a trip to the library to pick up that pile of books I reserved.

Kids Go Global On Sabbatical

We’re still traveling – most recently to Eleuthera in The Bahamas; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Olympic National Park. However you may have noticed our blog has taken a bit of an extended vacation of its own. We will return to blogging about our travels soon, we hope, although possibly not until after our family grows by +1 sometime after June of this year. Thanks for your patience and happy traveling!

True Turkish Delight of Turgutreis

We’ve written about most of our spring trip to Turkey but have barely mentioned the fabulous week we spent at the beach on Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula. Perhaps that part of our brains has still been on vacation, fully relaxed in the heat of the Turkish sun.  Ah, if only….

British, German or Dutch tourists know full well what Americans are ignorant of – Turkey has fabulous beaches!  We didn’t run into a single other American tourist (fine with us!) the whole week we stayed in the town of Turgutreis. Locals were surprised to hear us speak English with American accents, something they don’t hear much of there. In fact, we didn’t run into very many other tourists at all as we were there in early May, a few weeks before European schools got out, meaning just before the high tourist season hit. We often had the beach, restaurants and shops to ourselves. Delightful!

We chose the town of Turgutries for its proximity to the Bodrum airport (about an hour’s drive) but still far enough from the party town of Bodrum to enjoy peace and quiet. Per our usual mode of accomodation, we rented a comfortable three story home, Swan Villa, owned by a lovely British couple. The villa shares a pool with another villa next door, owned by the same British couple and also for rent. No one else was staying in the second home while we were there but it would be a lovely spot for two families or an extended family to rent both homes for a shared vacation.  For our small family of 3, one villa was more than enough space with its 4-bedrooms, large living area, fully stocked kitchen and three lovely balconies.  While not beachside (nothing really is in Turgutreis except a few very small, expensive hotels), we were about a 12 minute walk to the beach and the main shopping/ eating area of town.  One quick plug for our friend Akin who owns the Corner Pub and runs a reliable transportation service, as well as manages the Swan Villa with great attention.

What to do in Turgutreis? Not much really, which was exactly what we were looking for. The beach is a thin strip of gravely sand lined with beach lounge chairs and umbrellas. I imagine it gets very crowded during high season and the chairs are premium real estate, but for us we had our pick of spots to relax. The lounge chairs are owned by the restaurants that line the beach but the beach itself is public. By law  (and the restaurant waiters will confirm) you are free to sit in their chairs with no obligation to buy anything, although we generally at least ordered drinks. Sadly for us it was a bit too chilly to swim in the crystal clear waters. A few weeks later it was probably just perfect. Still it was warm enough to read thick novels while Grace played happily in the sand.

There’s a small shopping area with the typical tourist trinkets. We came home with bars of luxurious handmade olive oil soap and several cotton tablecloths, all reasonably priced.  There are dozens of restaurants, all of which will invite you in anytime you walk by. The restaurants right on the beach are the more expensive but also have the best food. We enjoyed dishes like clay pot kebabs, grilled meats cooked in sauce inside a clay pot. The pot is smashed open at your table and the delectable bits poured out for you. Yum! Locally caught seafood abounds as well as beautiful fresh salads. Be sure to ask about pricing on seafood though, as we found it could range from $10 to well over $75.

The rest of the peninsula is worth exploring too. The dolmus mini-busses leave from the a small parking area a few blocks from the main beach and they go everywhere for just a $1 or 2 per person.  We spent a day in Bodrum town. It’s incredibly touristy and the town itself was not for us, but the Underwater Archeological Museum in the old castle is one of the best museums we’ve ever been to. The medieval castle itself is incredible but the museum it houses showcases the science of underwater archeology and the many ancient shipwrecks off the Turkish coast that have been dug up excavated. Most fascinating to us was the reconstruction of a shipwreck from 1500 BC. Archeologists found claypots, coins, and even parts of the ship still intact 3500 years later!  We also took a day trip from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos, a short 1 hour hop by ferry to the home of Hippocrates.  Be aware, though, most of the interesting historical sites are closed on Mondays.

Another evening trip we took from Turgutreis was to Gumusluk, a small fishing village a short 20 minute dolmus ride from Turgutreis. There we dined at Yakamoz restaurant on freshly caught monkfish cooked in a lovely sauce of garlic, olive oil, sundried tomatoes and delicious Turkish chilis. We savored every bite of that meal, our last before returning to Istanbul.

If your time in Turkey allows, we do recommend a side trip to Bodrum if you want some time to relax. We had played tourist full force in Istanbul for a week and wanted some time to decompress before returning home. We found the peace and tranquility we were looking for in Turgutreis.

Easy Safety Tip That Could Keep Your Child Safe

I lost Grace once in a Columbia Outlet store. She was lost all of 1 minute at most but still I panicked as I looked for her little legs under the rows and rows of crowded clothing racks.  I found her when she turned off the store’s lights. Some childless genius had installed the store’s lights right at toddler level and Grace had proudly switched them off. Bad for other shoppers, good for frantic mama.

That’s the only time she’s really, truly been lost but it happens to the best of us all the time. I know it will happen to us again, that’s for certain.  I came across a brilliant but easy tip today on the Tea Collection’s travel blog and I plan to start using it immediately. Ready? Here it is:

Take pictures of your kids on your cell phone. Every time you’re in a crowded place, at home or abroad, take pictures. That way if you lose your child you can immediately show people what she looks like that day – hairstyle, clothes, the candy smudges on her cheeks.  I had never thought of this but it’s a great idea that takes just a second and doubles as a fun memory of wherever you go together, even if it’s just Target.

What do you to keep track of your little ones in public places?

Sometimes You Just Gotta Let Loose

Check out this toddler dance party!  Ever full of energy, Grace and her little buddy Kenna got down while four exhausted parents packed up the cars after 5 days of family camp.

Can Kids (and Parents!) Sleep Well While Camping?

Well-rested little camper, Grace

I grew up camping for every family vacation. I’ve talked my husband into venturing out a few times each summer, including last week over the 4th of July. One of the biggest reasons I hear from others with little ones to not camp is the sleep issue. How do you get a baby or toddler (or even older kids for that matter!) to nap and get enough night time sleep with only a thin tent to block out noise and light?

We just returned from a five day campout with our church. Thanks to a few tricks Grace napped longer than at home (2 1/2 hours some days) and slept well at night too.  That made for a more restful trip for me and Steve and Grace had more energy to give to the rest of each day.

Our tricks are really very simple, similar to what we do in hotel rooms.

1. We keep the same bedtimes and naptimes as at home. It’s tempting to let her stay up later to play with all her friends but it comes back to bite us in the long run. She was in the tent headed to bed at 7pm. The downside of this is we had to stick close by once she was in bed. Since we were camping with friends that wasn’t a big deal. We enjoyed games, snacks, campfires and reading by flashlight after she was in bed.
2. We keep the same bedtime and naptime routine as at home. We read a few stories, sang songs, said our prayers and put her to bed. The first day she yelled for a while when we put her down for her nap. We tried to be as consistent as we are at home (hard in a public campsite). We went to her a few times told her gently but firmly to lay down and go to sleep. After about 45 minutes of fussing on and off she did, and every day after that we had no problems.
3. Bring the pack n play. For as long as we possibly can we’ll be using the pack n play for Grace, maybe even after she’s transitioned to a big girl bed.  That way she’s contained and not tempted to play around in the exciting new tent or in the very fun suitcases.  When she does fuss she eventually gets bored with it and falls asleep whereas if she were out of it I could imagine her unzipping her way out of the tent dozens of times.
4. Bring a white noise machine. It may seem silly while camping but IT WORKS. We were camping with lots of other families so besides the usual sounds of campsites (birds, cars, people walking by) we had the sounds of lots of noisy kids having a great time after she was in bed.  We use the Marsona white noise machine which we love because its internationally adaptable plus has an optional (sold separately) battery pack, which was perfect for camping. I loved seeing the looks on people’s faces as they’d walk by our tent while Grace napped. What is that noise? I’m sure they were thinking. Is someone vacuuming in there?
5. Use black sheets strategically. This solved the light issue for us and I wish we’d thought of this sooner in our parenting life.  We used binder clips to clip the sheet to seams in the tent and put them around the pack n play, sort of like a tent within a tent.  We draped a second sheet directly onto the pack n play after she was asleep at night. These two combined helped her sleep until 6:30am or even close to 7 a few days, much later than she would have had the sun blazed in when it rose at 5am.

We use these same tricks when we’re staying other places too, like hotels or with friends or relatives. Our sleep is pretty important to us and these tips keep us all happy travelers.

Do you have a trick you use when camping or traveling to help your child sleep better?  Share it with us. Any ideas how to get your child to sleep in until 8 or 9am, even when she doesn’t do that at home?

Beat the system and save some money

I love to find a good deal when traveling.  There’s something really satisfying about getting to somewhere for less than what the airline would like to charge, or staying at a hotel for a ridiculously low price.  Fortunately, priceline.com makes it possible to stay at a nice hotel for much less than you’d normally pay.  I used to avoid priceline because the whole bidding thing just didn’t make sense.  How are you supposed to know what to bid?  What do you do if they refuse your price?

Fortunately, the world of online travelers has made it much easier to know how much to bid, and what hotel you are probably going to get.  The two sites I’ve found to help make this possible are betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com.  Here you can find instructions on how to bid, lists of hotels in each city that are available on priceline or hotwire, and many posts from travelers who have won bids.  For example, we stayed at a 5 star hotel in Bangkok for $100 after reading the posts from other travelers, and we knew exactly which hotel we were going to get.

Some tips to keep in mind when using this method of booking:

1.  You can’t be guaranteed of a certain type of room.  You might get put in a room with 2 doubles, or an upper floor room with a king bed.

2.  Call ahead to make requests.  You can’t make requests during the booking on priceline, so after the reservation is accepted, call the hotel to ask for a non-smoking room or for a crib.

3.  Join the hotel’s frequent guest program, if available.  Usually these are free to join and they give you perks like free upgrades or room requests.  Recently, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago through priceline for $67, so I joined the Hyatt Gold Passport program which allowed us to check in 2 hours earlier than normal and put us in a high floor room.

On another travel-saving note, rental cars can be a big sink of money or save you a ton.  My favorite combination for saving about 50% on rental costs: join the National Car Emerald Club (sometimes available for free) so you can get any car in the Emerald Aisle no matter what you paid.  Then find a contract ID and coupon ID from fatwallet or flyertalk, book a midsize or lower online and save a bunch when you pick up your full size car.  We’ve even been given an SUV for a compact price a couple of times.  Now if they would only give us a break on the ridiculous charges for a car seat.

Do you have some tips for saving big on hotels or other travel?

Istanbul Apartment Renting: Not Quite the Pits

We always try to find apartments to rent when we travel, for the value, space, and convenience compared to a hotel. Istanbul has a unfortunate dearth of apartments for rent for tourists, so our choices were limited.  We found an agency called Manzara Holiday Aparments, and despite our early legwork we only found one reasonably priced apartment open for the week we were there.

Kitchen sans microwave or toaster

The St George apartment is downhill about 2 blocks from the Galata Tower, and is across the street from a hospital.  The building is very old with a lot of character including well worn and slick marble stairs and a faintly sewerish smell in the stairwell. The apartment is on the second floor (a treacherous proposition with luggage) and is simply furnished in a very small space. There are no bedside tables and only one wardrobe in one of the bedrooms. The curtains do not block out the streetlight just outside the window. There was no toaster or iron but the staff kindly brought these to us. The bathroom is nicely redecorated but the shower leaks and does not drain like anything resembling normal, there is no soap shelf in the shower, no countertop for bathroom items, and no hooks or towel racks.

To top it off, the apartment directly above us was being remodeled. No, that’s too kind. They were using jackhammers to rip out the drywall and concrete to the posts, for 10 hours a day. With a 2 year old child who needed naps, the construction workers were kind enough to stop for a mid day break, but would you rent this apartment at all in these circumstances?

Upstairs apartment gutting

The rental fee was reasonable relative to hotels, but other associated costs were quite high. The transport from the airport was twice the cost of a taxi. The staff kindly had arranged for a meal to be prepared for our arrival, but 3 little eggplants for 50 euros? The staff was generally helpful and attentive, but overall this experience was not ideal or a relaxing place of respite. With some more specific questions upfront, a different apartment and different plans for food and transportation, Manzara might be able to redeem itself in another experience. In retrospect, the advantages of having an apartment while traveling with a toddler far outweighs the risks of getting a dud like this.  There’s probably nothing we could have done to prevent the downsides, but we did our best to make the most of it and would still recommend renting rather than paying more and getting less in a hotel.