Tip: Travel Cards and Passes

Most major cities in the world (especially in Europe), are prone to have travel cards and passes for tourists.  These cards can combine access to local transportation (such as subways, buses and trains), and free admission to museums and other sites.

While these passes can certainly be handy, be aware of the prices.  Sometimes you may not be planning on visiting all the sites on offer, and there goes the cost savings.

So here are my tips. 

1. Check to see if your destination has a tourist or travel card.  You can often do this by typing the name of the location plus "pass", "card", or "tourist card" into your search engine.
2. Check what locations the pass covers, and what transportation access it offers.  Most of the passes have a list on-line of included attractions.
3. Look at the prices.  These passes tend to come in a variety of time lengths and prices.  Check the number of days it will cover (and whether those days are consecutive, or the pass is good for an entire year) and when the pass becomes valid (some become active on the date of purchase, others on the first day of use).
4. Find a good travel site, or use Google, and look up the sites you'd like to see at your destination.  This is where I love to use spreadsheets! 
5. Make a list of the sites you plan to visit and list the price to visit each site.  Total up the price of all the sites.  
6. It may be helpful to add a check mark by each site that is also included in the tourist pass.
7. Look up local transportation options (the tourist card sites can be helpful here as they may list the name of the transportation provider, which may either have a direct link, or allow you to use your search engine to find).  You should be able to determine what it would cost you to get around.
8. Compare your total costs for individual admission and transportation with the total cost for the requisite tourist card.  Make sure you are only comparing sites that are common to both your list and the tourist card.  Include transportation cost in the comparison, if, and only if, the tourist card includes transportation.
9. Determine what is the cheaper option that makes best use of your time. 
10. Remember, to keep in mind the amount of time you'll have to visit your destination.  The tourist card may turn out to be cheaper, but if you can't visit all your locations in the allotted time, your going to go "out of pocket" for additional time.

The big lesson: don't just assume because a location is offering a travel card that it is cheaper and more efficient than paying at each location.  Remember these cards cover a wide number of attractions, and generally more than you may have the time or inclination to visit.

In case you are interested, I've included a list of travel cards we've come across in our adventures.

Berlin
Stockholm
Copenhagen
Campania (Naples area of Italy)
Oslo
Paris
Normandy, France
Rome
Dublin, Ireland
Venice
Munich
Luzern, Switerzland
Salzburg, Austria
London
Edinburgh
Prague

Tip: Diaper Bag

If you are travelling with kids, chances are one of them needs the all important diaper bag.  Like most parents, you probably have the big bag with all the pockets and zippers, that holds everything but the kitchen sink (and let's face it, if you could find a bag that would take the kitchen sink, you'd probably buy that one too).

So, when you are out and about, do you want to be carrying that big giant bag?  Considering what you probably also need to be carrying (snacks, wallet, travel documents, sunglasses, etc), you might want to make all your things as compact as possible.  So what to do about the diaper bag?

Well, here is my tip.  I like to carry all my things in a daypack style backpack (it has three pockets: main, middle (medium sized), and small front pocket).  I have a small satchel that I received at the birth of my third child, with all sorts of little samples.  That has become my portable diaper bag.  It fits in the main pocket, but doesn't take up too much room.  You can probably find a similar item by using a large cosmetics bag, an insulated style lunch bag, or toiletries bag for your luggage.

My bag is large enough to hold several diapers/pull-ups (I carry about 3-5), a travel sized wipe container (which has 16 wipes), a travel sized wet wipes (with about 16 wipes), a travel sized diaper ointment (love those free samples), a travel sized hand sanitizer, and travel sized hand lotion.

I know that sometimes 3-5 diapers might not be enough for the days travels, especially if you have more than one wee one that is using them.  I keep the larger multi-pocket diaper bag under a seat in my car.  It carries a lot more diapers, changes of clothes etc.

If you know that you are going to be out a while, and are worried that those 3-5 diapers might not be enough, or you have two in need, here is another suggestion:  Consider carrying ziploc bags (I use gallon sized), labeled for each child with extra diapers, and possible wipes...even a change of clothes if you need it, in your back pack.  This makes your things more "modular" so your not digging through 500 different things to find the wipes!

You know what your child needs during a day, and when you travel you always want that extra 10%....just in case!  If you plan ahead you can reduce both your carrying weight and your stress.

Tip: First Aid

It never fails that on any family trip that someone will get hurt.  From scraped knees, to bug bites, to sunburn, with kids you see it all.  When you are travelling, you also don't want to be carrying an ambulance full of medical supplies.

I like to limit my "kit" to what fits in a backpack, but keep in mind that includes my diaper bag, food, water, and other necessities.

Since we always need a band-aid or an aspirin, I've started carrying my own little medical bag.  I use an small cosmetics bag (which you can usually find at any discount or department store), which fits in one of the outer pockets of my backpack. 

Here are what I consider my essential supplies:

1. Hand Sanitizer: Trust me, when you have seen what kids will touch, you'll want some too, especially as bathrooms aren't so easy to find.  I recommend a small travel sized bottle, but carry a bigger bottle for refills (but leave that one in the car).

2.  Band-aids: So many times, I end up with one kid or another who has managed to trip and scrape a knee.  I carry a variety of sizes in a small sandwich sized ziploc bag. 

3.  Ointment: With cuts and scrapes in some not so sanitary places, it is a good idea to have some type of antibiotic ointment on hand.  I use a small spray  on version of Neosporin (you can find it at most drug or discount stores).

4.  Wet wipes: A mother's lifesaver.  I generally have about 6-8 of the single packs of these in my kit.  Helpful for messy meals or dirty knees.

5.  Sunscreen: I purchased a large container of kid rated (about 50 SPF) sunscreen that handily came with it's own travel sized container.  I put the travel sized one in my carry kit, and leave the big one in the car (or hotel).

6.  Baby/Grown-Up Tyelnol:  I always have a vial of baby rated liquid "tylenol" and a bottle of the grown up stuff, so any aches and pains can be readily attended to on the go.

7. Tissue:  Snotty noses always seem to abound on our travels, so I always make sure a full stocked travel pack of tissues is in my kit.

8.  Plastic shopping bag:  Hey, you may not always be able to find a garbage bin when you need.  Having one of these handy ensures those snotty tissues and messy wet wipes won't be in your pocket til you find one.

You can certainly add more items to your kit, or if you are like me, you'll have some other goodies stashed in your diaper bag!  It never hurts to be prepared :)

Tip: Motivational Jelly Beans

Okay, any treat will work here, I just happen to love Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, and they are perfectly kid sized.

You will notice when travelling with young children that at some point they will just be "done". Whether you get the "I'm bored" or "I'm tired" or "I don't want to walk anymore", you'll know they've reached their peak. Sometimes, this will NOT conincide with when you are done.

One way we keep our kids going, is with motivational Jelly Beans. I usually carry a baggie of them in my day pack. When I start getting the complaints, I'll use the Jelly Beans to tempt them on. I generally only give them one at a time, and only after the kids have completed a request ("Be quiet for five more minutes and you can have a jelly bean" or "Just walk to that stop light down there, and you can have a jelly bean"). I know bribery is "bad", but it has worked out for us. A lot of times it takes just a few beans,and they forget that they are bored/tired, etc.

Find something that your children like or want, and use it as a gentle motivator during your explorations. I would recommend combining your "motivational jelly beans" with praise...."You are doing such a good job" or "You've walked a long way today and I'm proud of you", it seems to make the treat even sweeter!

Tip: Snacks

When we are traveling, we are inevitably out and about during snack times. Since are children are still pretty young, snacks are still important. Not wanting to spend a fortune on buying something while we are out (at least all the time), especially since Europe is so expensive, we came up with snack packs.

Each of our older children (ages 3 and 5) has their own hip pocket (very retro I know). They get a small water bottle (about 8 ounces with a sport cap), a packet of Kool-Aid to go, and several snack options. You can use anything portable, like fruit snacks, fruit leather, individual packages of crackers or cookies, or you can make your own little packets using snack sized ziploc bags.

This idea has worked out well. The kids have snacks, which they can access at their leisure, and we don't have to carry them!