The Travel Mamas’ Guide by Colleen Lanin – Book Review

Category: Books and Music

travelmamasIn her new book, writer Colleen Lanin gives readers some great advice for traveling with children. The title, The Travel Mamas’ Guide: How to Vacation with Babies and Children…AND STAY SANE, says it all. This is a wonderful way for parents to find little techniques to make their family vacations less hectic and more enjoyable.

 

We’ve all been there – on an airplane with a screaming child or in a restaurant while trying to enjoy a nice meal and a child is running around interrupting everyone’s nice dinner. Even though many times children just have to cry or fuss, this book has some great recommendations for minimizing them.

 

Here are only a few little hints for traveling with children that readers might find useful:

 

  • Invest in a portable DVD player so kids can stay occupied with their favorite shows.

 

  • Have food on hand for breakfast so fussy risers will not ruin the day. Many kids don’t want to wait to eat after waking up.

 

  • Make dinner reservations so you don’t have to wait for a table.

 

These are simple things to do and, as Lanin says, are only a few ways to simplify traveling with children. She writes about traveling by car and by plane, eating, shopping, and exploring, and making your travel experience with your children the best it can be.

 

Lanin not only relies on her own personal experiences and tips for traveling with kids, she also includes anecdotes and suggestions from other travel mamas. Hey, when you’re in a situation traveling with infants or toddlers, you often run out of ideas to help them when they’re away from home and their normal activities. This book is a good guidebook for this. Some of the tips might not be right for you or your family, but I know you will find some things in here that you can use on your next excursion with your youngsters.

 

One idea I found especially intriguing was the souvenir suggestion. After all, as Lanin explains, you don’t want to get stuck having to pay for heavy baggage filled with trinkets your kids just had to have. She has many great suggestions, including letting your child find one postcard per day to keep as a remembrance, or taking advantage of the penny-flattening machines that create keepsakes as thin as a, well, flattened penny. One of her fellow travel mamas collected thimbles. Little hints like this might spark another idea for you and your traveling family.

 

Whether you have one child or more, are traveling with another adult or as a single parent, there are plenty of ideas, tips, and tricks in this book to help along the way.

 

Whether you’re going on a fancy trip, camping, or just to visit friends, there is some great advice here. And, she also discusses traveling while pregnant, how to pack (when you have a baby make sure you spread his/her things out in separate bags in case one bag is lost, all your baby’s things won’t be gone), and what times of the year are best for traveling with youngsters. There are so many ideas and suggestions in this book, every reader is sure to find some things that will help them along the way.

 

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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