Family Travel Hints, Part C

As you drive along the highways, do prepared to stop frequently. In fact, the younger the children with you, the more frequently you will have to stop. Always stop when someone: needs to use a rest room, is getting motion sickness (Walk around a bit, and focus on distant objects to help you recover.), gets very frightened or senses personal danger (even if it's as simple as crossing a stream), asks you to slow down, or expresses interest in taking a moment to enjoy an aspect of beauty (You may have missed it yourself otherwise.).

Each day, find something to laugh about. Of course, don't laugh at a family member or friend, although that is acceptable if that person is laughing at himself. Don't laugh at things that are crude or rude.

Include in your luggage a small bag or suitcase that is devoted to all things fun. Include in it such things as joke books, a lengthy storybook, a ball, a Frisbee, marbles, jacks, a yo-yo, colouring books and crayons, and a few magazines. You can even keep the contents a secret, and open it only once in a while during your vacation to come up with a fun surprise.

A vacation is a wonderful time to reinforce family memories and historical experiences. Stories about, or from, grandparents give a great insight into the past. In fact, so would stories about yourself, about your child's earlier years, or even previous events as a family.

Play some music that each family member likes for an equal amount of time, say 20 minutes. If the family wants to hear more of that kind, of course, by all means play more. You can always sing along!

Verbal travel game options include "I Spy", "A to Z" (look for words beginning with the next letter, or have a running theme such as animals), and "License Plates" (see how many different states you can find).

Puppets, handmade or professional, even such things as simple as socks or airplane sickness bags, are tremendous distractions, especially for younger children.

Of course, there are many other ideas on what to do on vacations, but before you even figure out what to do, you first have to figure out where to go! Head on over to www.kingarthur.myttn.com and let's see to where you first get to take that vacation!