#traveltips - Life is Better Traveling

I use a Travel Agent for the same reasons you do…

I have not always been a travel agent. Before I was a travel agent, I used a travel agent to book my vacations. I needed help, support, and understanding of the “W’s.” Where, What, and WOW. I always wanted to make the most of my time while I was on the vacation, but for me the problem was that I didn’t have the time to do all the research.

I always knew where I wanted to go whether it was a region, country, or city, but I didn’t know the logistics of the best routes to get there, where to stay, what to see, and what was one thing that was going to WOW me while I was there. Now, when I say WOW me I don’t mean that I needed my adrenaline at the highest level. I just wanted one thing while on the vacation that for me to look at it, taste it, or feel it and I would say WOW. Something that would leave such an impression on me that every time I would think about it I would experience that same feeling over and over again. Even with all the guide books that I purchased, there was always one suggestion from our travel agent that gave us the WOW.

Today, I will still use a travel agent to book a vacation for me if it is a place that I have never been to and want to make sure I get the full experience. How do I find a good travel agent? If I don’t personally know someone who I met at a professional development conference, then I go online. A survey done in 2016 found that of those asked how they found a good travel agent, 47% of the people said online and 31% said through word of mouth. So how did they find a good travel agent online? There are many websites where you can put in your zip code and find travel agents in your area and who specialize in the area where you want to take your vacation. You may still get a long list of agents to weed through, but the best way to determine who is the best to work with is by their reviews.

Travel Leaders has a really good site where you can find travel agents in your area and the agents will list their specialties including European vacations, Australia, etc. It will also show you if they have any reviews. The reviews are posted by actual clients of those agents who have used them to plan their vacations. Another good place to look for honest reviews from clients is on a travel agency’s Facebook page. These reviews are posted by actual clients as you can see their avatars next to their reviews.

When I am reading reviews, there are a few key things that I look for. Do the reviews talk about making the planning stage easy or effortless. Do the reviews say that the person will work with them again. Do the reviews explain what the travel agent did for them. Do the reviews include any WOW’s that occurred while they were on the vacation.

As I always say, if you find a good travel agent DON’T let them go!

P.S. I would love for you to check out my reviews from all of my amazing clients…CLICK HERE

When you book your vacation with a member of the Life is Better Traveling team, you are supporting local families and business. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 4 years, we have become an AMAZING travel agency due to your support!

All inclusive resort, what does it mean?

Mary Yohannan on

What does it REALLY mean to an “all-inclusive” resort?

You found an amazing deal on a travel website for an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, so you decide to go for it. You get to the resort and it is as beautiful as the pictures. After settling
into the room you decide to head down to the pool for a nice refreshing cocktail. You order your favorite drink over the rocks and the bartender asks you if you want to charge it to the room. With a confused look on your face, you say you have the all-inclusive package, but the bartender tells you that it doesn’t include top shelf liquor. With the drink in your hand, you agree to charge it to the room.

You start to wonder what you booked with this deal vacation you are on. Is it just the top shelf alcohol that is not included? What other items, activities, food, drinks, etc will you have to pay for? Often when someone books an all-inclusive resort, they truly believe that they are paying for everything upfront including premium alcohol, food, activities, transfers, and resort sharing to name a few. Unfortunately, the term all-inclusive can sometimes mean more exclusive. All of this is usually explained in the fine print when booking the vacation, but when you think you are getting an amazing deal who reads the fine print! I know I don’t.

The truth is, if you want an all-inclusive resort then you really do want to pay for everything upfront. You have set your budget, and you want the food, drinks, transfers, activities, and resort sharing to all be included in that cost. You don’t want to have to pull out your credit card for any extras. But how do you know that everything is TRULY included in the pricing? Besides reading the fine print, look for key words when a resort is advertising. Sometimes you will read alcohol is included but that doesn’t mean premium alcohol. When it comes to food, the advertisement may say that the resort is a la carte, but if you wanted to eat at one of the specialty dining restaurants at the resort it may not be included in the all-inclusive pricing. Many resorts boast about their onsite activities including water activities, but have you ever noticed that they do no specifically say “motorized” water activities or games such as bingo. Be cautious when the wording says “some” activities “may be included.” Many times when you book your vacation you forget that you will need transportation to and from the resort. Transfers can be very expensive once you get to the destination, so getting them included in the package pricing upfront will help save you money.

Trying to find the best all-inclusive resort for your next family vacation, one where you won’t have to pay more out of pocket when you get there, can become overwhelming and exhausting. The good news is I am going to give you 4 nuggets of advice to help you make it easier:

1. Give up on the deal. The saying “you get what you pay for” is always TRUE and when it comes to all-inclusive resorts it holds VERY TRUE!

2. Sit down and figure out a budget like you would for any other vacation. When you have a budget to work with you will find many more resorts that are going to fit your needs, without having to get out the credit card on vacation.

3. Look for key words on the resort’s website that would indicate what is NOT included in the all-inclusive pricing. These words include: some, limited, a la carte, minimal fee, varying, typically

4. Call a travel agent. Why make it harder on yourself than you have to. Pick the destination and then let a good travel agent do the research on which resorts will fit your needs.

Don’t forget to tell your travel agent at Life is Better Traveling to give you a quote for travel protection when planning your next vacation.

P.S. Call me this year to plan your AMAZING All-Inclusive vacation. I guarantee we will plan the perfect vacation for you!

Are the Disney Dining Plans Worth Your Money?

Mary Yohannan on

Disney easily comes up in conversations with random people I meet, but when they find out I am a travel consultant they always ask me if the Disney Dining Plan is worth the money. I have read so many different opinions on various Disney blogs, Facebook pages, and travel agent outlets about people’s views on this subject matter. It seems like people are split, some love it and some say it is a waste of money. Well, we recently went to Disney and I decided to add the Disney Dining Plan to our package so I could see if it is worth it.

Before I go into if is it worth or not, I must explain that there are several dining plans available through Disney. Because of the variety, I am wondering if those who feel that the Dining Plan is not worth the money may have been talked into the wrong Dining Plan for their family, see chart below for quick reference. Why so many options? It is easy to understand, there are many cultures and different types of families that go to Disney so they are really catering to everyone. One family may say that a particular plan has too many meals for their family while another may say this is the perfect amount for us. I will tell you, that no matter which plan you choose for your family, it will be perfect.

For my family we choose the Disney Dining Plan which includes 1 quick service, 1 table service, and, new for 2017, 2 snacks per person per night of stay and 1 resort refillable mug. The refillable mug can be used at your resort. You cannot use this mug in the parks to get refills, but I will tell you that we did take our mugs along with us to the parks and asked for ice water, which is free. We then transferred our ice water into the mugs. With each table service meal, we were able to choose one entrée from the menu, one dessert, and one non-alcoholic beverage. When you choose an entrée you are not limited to a select menu specifically for those on the dining plan. You receive the same menu that everyone receives and get to choose any of the entrées including steak or salmon. Dessert at Disney is fantastic! It is gourmet and no matter what you choose it will not disappoint.

However, having dessert every day could be a lot for some people, as it was for me. There is a little known fact that isn’t shared by the wait staff, but some restaurants now allow you to substitute your dessert for an appetizer. You have to ask your server when you sit down if this is one of the participating restaurants and which appetizers are included, but you may have an option of a salad instead of the that rich chocolate cake.

Quick service meals are just like the combo meals that you get at any of your local fast food places, and snacks include a variety of foods including popcorn, cookies, cupcakes, a banana, or the famous Mickey Mouse ice cream bar.

When you purchase a dining plan that has several table services with it, you must make your reservations in advance. You can start to make your dining reservations up to 180 days prior to your arrival date for the entire length of your day, but not to exceed 10 days of stay. What this really means is on the 179th day you can call to make your reservations. I would recommend calling to make your reservations. It is much faster and you will also be able to make any additional reservations such as Pirate’s League or any tours, all with one phone call. If you don’t make a reservation in advance, you could be told that the restaurant is full for the day or you may have a two-hour wait. A two-hour wait with hungry children is not fun for anyone!

So are you ready to find out if the dining plan is worth the money? For a family of four going to Disney for seven nights, who elect the Disney Dining plan, it is a little over $1000. (Now that is just for the Dining plan, not including park tickets or resort stay.) For four people on this seven day Disney vacation, it comes to between $33 to $40 per person per day. One character meal is around this same cost, so if you do one character meal you have paid for your entire day right there! Even if you are doing non character meals, your meal cost with entrée, dessert, and non-alcoholic beverage can easily reach the $40 to $50 range per person. When you look at the numbers you really see that you are paying for table service but getting a quick service meal and snack for free. I, personally, find that the dining plan is worth the money and saves me time when we are there. My meals are planned out, they are paid for, and everyone is happy because the food is so good.

Now, one thing you must know is that tip/gratuity is not included. The suggested tip is based on your total meal cost prior to deducting your plan. It is up to you, how much you want to tip unless you are a party of six or more than 18% is automatically added to your bill. When you receive your bill it will tell you how many of that service you have left. So if you had six table services to start and just finished eating, then your bill will show that you have five remaining. You can always get your entire amount of allotted meals from the concierge or guest services area at your hotel. It is important to note that meals do not roll over after your stay. If you don’t use them up you will lose them so I highly recommend planning out your meals for each day you are at Disney. Also, the meals are to be used at your discretion. If you want two table service meals on one day and two quick service meals another day, it is up to you how you use them, but again, use them up!

P.S. Call me this year to plan your AMAZING Disney vacation. I always recommend to start planning your Walt Disney World vacation 8 to 12 months in advance so we can start planning everything out for you.

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When to Buy Travel Protection…

Mary Yohannan on

You and your travel agent have been planning your vacation for several weeks. You have come to a decision and are excited to be putting down that initial deposit. You are done with travel planning for now, or are you? One last thing that your travel agent should be talking to you about at this time is purchasing travel protection for your vacation. You are probably not even thinking about travel protection, but I am here to tell you that you should be and this is the time to think HARD about it!

The pressure of purchasing it right after you just put down a large deposit can be too much think about, and I am here to tell you, that is OK. You don’t have to purchase the travel protection plan right away. Most travel insurance companies allow you to purchase travel protection up to a certain number of days prior to departure of your vacation. You will not receive time sensitive provisions, which we will discuss in a bit, but you will still receive good coverage. My recommendation is that you make sure you have made up your mind to purchase travel protection before final payment of your trip is due. At this point, you have had enough time to really think about the coverage you will receive and whether or not it is right for you and your family.

Most travel insurance companies offer a few BONUS waivers or time sensitive provisions if you purchase travel protection within in so many days of your initial deposit on your vacation. The most common two are:

Pre-Existing Medical Condition Waiver. What this typically means is that if you have had any medical conditions so many days prior to the effective date of your policy, then they would be waived and possibly considered a covered reason if you needed to cancel. Some travel insurance companies are 60 days prior to the effective date and others are as far out at 180 days.
Supplier default or insolvency of a supplier such as an airline, cruise line, tour operator, or other travel supplier.

You really are getting more coverage when you purchase your travel protection within the travel insurance companies requirements to get these time sensitive provisions.

Over 95% of my clients purchase some kind of travel protection to cover their vacation. The next time you get ready to book your vacation, I HIGHLY recommend that you add the amount of travel protection into your budget. It makes it a lot easier for you to make the decision to purchase it right away so you get the time sensitive provisions, and you don’t feel that it is an added expense. A good rule of thumb in figuring out this expense, is if you are under the age of 55 travel protection will cost you between 10 – 15% of your total vacation. If you are over the age of 55, travel protection will cost you between 10 – 20% of the total cost of your trip.

Don’t forget to tell your travel agent at Life is Better Traveling to give you a quote for travel protection when planning your next vacation.

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Let’s talk about what you get with Travel Protection, because you may be missing out!

Mary Yohannan on

You have been saving up your money for a few years to take your dream vacation. You are at the airport and the gate attendant announces the flight will be delayed due to mechanical issues. This delay causes you to miss your connecting flight to your final destination. Many hours later you get to your destination, and you slipped on a wet spot in the lobby landing flat on your back. You feel a pinch, and have trouble standing up straight and walking. At this point you wonder if the universe is telling you that you shouldn’t have taken this vacation, then you remember, YOU HAVE TRAVEL PROTECTION! You can use your travel protection to cover all of these weird occurrences.

Facts show that 17% of those who traveled had their travel impacted by medical problems, natural disasters like a hurricane, or mechanical/carrier caused issued which delayed their trip for more than 3 hours. When you have purchased travel insurance, also called travel protection, there are three main services that you are getting:

1. Medical Coverage

Most insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicad, do not cover a person outside the borders of the United States. Your credit card may have some medical coverage, but you may have had to purchase your trip with that card, and even then, the coverage amount is minimal. Hospitals outside of the United States will require a person to make full payment before they are allowed to leave the hospital, no matter how much the charges may be. This could lead to a financial hardship on the whole family. With Travel Insurance, you have several tiers of medical coverage and it can either act as your primary medical insurance or secondary medical insurance.

2. Travel Arrangements

There are many things that can happen including trip cancellation, trip delay, and trip interruption. Life happens and sometimes things happen right before a trip that forces you to cancel but the supplier might have 100% non-refundable cancellation policy. But your travel insurance doesn’t and you can recoup the cost of that trip not taken. Did you know that when you have trip interruptions you can be reimbursed for meals, lost luggage, and missed connections?

3. Concierge services

Most people don’t realize that travel insurance companies offer this service. Want to go golfing? Call the travel insurance company and they will set up a tee time for you. Did you forget to send flowers to your mother for her birthday before you left to go on vacation, call the travel insurance company and they will send flowers, balloons, or a cake. There are so many possibilities to use this service and it is all part of the plan you purchase.

Travel Protection is for everyone who is going to take a vacation or even a small trip. If your credit card offers travel protection, you really need to make sure you check what is covered, how much is covered, and if you need to have purchased your vacation with that card to get the coverage. Since becoming a travel consultant, I have been purchasing travel protection for myself and my family even when we take small trips here in the United States. Why do I do this? I know that it is there if I need to use it, I know how much I am covered for, and if I need any reservations somewhere I can call the concierge services to do it for me. Oh, and it also gives me peace of mind.

Stayed tuned for next week’s newsletter about knowing what you get when to purchase travel protection. Also, if you know someone who is about to take a vacation and haven’t purchased travel protection, please forward this email onto them and tell them to sign-up for my HIGH CONTENT newsletters about travel BELOW….

The Top 3 motivators for purchasing Travel Protection, which one do you say?

Mary Yohannan on

In my last newsletter I discussed the importance of making sure to give your friends, family, or neighbors a printed copy of your itinerary in case something were to go wrong on your vacation. It is great that they have this, but what do YOU have to protect yourself and your family when something goes wrong? Who are YOU supposed to call when you have to go to the local hospital or medical express station? Who do YOU call when you missed your connecting flight which also caused you to miss boarding your cruise?

Your travel agent should be there to help with you some of those concerns, but we don’t always know the nearest hospital or medical facility that will ensure your best well-being. When you have travel protection, the travel protection company is who you call!

Before 2001 only 10% of leisure travelers purchased travel protection. Since 2001, each year the amount of leisure travelers who have purchased travel protection has exponential grown. At Life is Better Traveling, 95% of our clients who book their vacation with us also purchase travel protection. Why do they book travel protection? There are three main reasons why someone purchases travel protection:

1) I want to cover my hard-earned money because the trip was expensive and/or I had to pre-pay a large amount.

2) My medical coverage does not exist outside of the United States and I want to make sure that I am covered.

3) I am nervous about unforeseen events occurring and I know that travel protection will give me the peace of mind I need.

I bring up three good points that most people will ask or say to themselves right before or right after they have purchased their vacation. I am sure even you have asked yourself one or more of these three things. With so many online travel agencies, airlines, and other suppliers making it so easy for you to purchase travel protection for your vacation purchase. They tell you all the reasons you should purchase it and it sounds so appealing to purchase it, but do you know what you are ACTUALLY getting when you press the shiny “Purchase Travel Protection” button?

Stayed tuned for next week’s newsletter about knowing what you get when you purchase travel protection. Also, if you know someone who is about to take a vacation and haven’t purchased travel protection, please forward this email onto them and tell them to sign-up for my HIGH CONTENT newsletters about travel at LifeisBetterTraveling.com.

Be prepared, 17% of American have this happen to them while on vacation

Mary Yohannan on

You don’t want to believe something can go wrong on your vacation, but are your friends, relatives, neighbors prepared if it does?

When your relative, close friend, or neighbor tells you they are going on vacation your instinct is to be excited for them. They usually give a few details about their upcoming amazing trip including dates, where they are going, and what they will be seeing. A few months down the road they call you to tell you they are leaving and you wish them safe travels. As you hang up the phone, you try to remember the details of the trip but come up short in remembering. You shrug your shoulders and say to yourself you will hear all about it when they get back.

The truth is, are you prepared if something does happen? Do you have any of the details including airline, hotel, cruise ship, travel insurance? Are you prepared if they called and told you they needed to you to call the travel insurance company?

In 2014 a survey was taken showing that one in six Americans or 17% of those who traveled had their travel impacted by medical problems, natural disasters like a hurricane, or mechanical or carrier caused issued which delayed their trip for more than 3 hours. Let me make the numbers sound larger, if we had a full Southwest flight of 143 people and 17% of them will have some type of travel issue, that means 24 people on this flight. How about a cruise ship with 3500 people? Almost 600 of those passengers will have some type of travel issue. That is a lot of people. The question is, is your relative one of them?

Even when your relative tells you the details they don’t really tell you the WHOLE DETAILED ITINERARY. If you don’t have the WHOLE DETAILED ITINERARY and you need to contact them, it can become a guessing game of where in the world are my relatives? Don’t let this happen to you. Ask your relative for the detailed itinerary and the information for the travel insurance company in case you would have to call on their behave. Life is Better Traveling always provides an extra copy of the detailed itinerary to give out to a relative, neighbor or close friend just by simply asking for it. We will not let your relative know what you paid for the trip, but they are given the details of which cruise ship, airline, hotels, and travel insurance.

So next time you or your relatives book a vacation, make sure to set aside some time to talk. Talk about the detailed itinerary and explain that you would like them to have this just in case, or why you would like to have it of theirs. No one ever likes to plan for “just in case”, but when you realize how high the number of people impacted is then it just makes sense. And remember that this extra itinerary is free of charge at Life is Better Traveling and we are always looking out for our travelers. Feel free to pass this email along to the people you think of while reading this!

P.S. I just had all my relatives in Europe the last two weeks and having their information on hand gave me peace of mind.

Fill out the form below to start planning your next worry-free vacation.

Why Your Next Vacation Should Be Customized?

Mary Yohannan on

Vacationing the way you too!

At Life is Better Traveling we always say “Connecting Friends and Family through Customized Vacations.” But what is a customized vacation? A customized vacation is a vacation that fits your needs, desires, and overall goal of the vacation. When you first start to plan a vacation, you get on the internet and start browsing different sites for the destination you want to go to. All too quickly you are confronted with multiple options and many suppliers who all sell vacation packages to that destination. It seems like an endless task to continue trying to do more research so you start asking friends. You hear about amazing stories of their travels and you want to go more than ever. Reality sets in that you again have to get back on the internet to do the research. The truth is you don’t.

There are many different reasons you want to travel to a particular destination: the food, the sites, the people, etc. What if you could do and see all the things that you wanted to do and see without having to choose a preset tour? Well, that is where our travel agency comes in. We put together customized vacation packages for what you want to do and see. You contact us with which destination or destinations you want to see and put together a tour package that is only for you. Do you want to fly to London on business class stay 2 nights then fly to Italy for 5 nights and then onto Portugal for 4 nights? Guess what, we can do that for you and even recommend sight-seeing tours, provide transfers, rail, accommodations, and travel insurance. You pick the destinations and we put it together.

Why not a preset tour? I have personally done the preset tours. I had to have my luggage set outside my hotel room by 4:30am to get on the bus by 6:00am. I had one hour to tour a city that had so much history I had to pick which single spot I wanted to see because I didn’t have time to see them all. Did I still enjoy myself? Yes, I did but I learned from that experience that I wanted a more relaxed vacation and I wanted to see the sites the way I wanted to see them. I would have loved to have had a private tour guide of the Roman Baths in Bath, England, absolutely. You better believe that next time I go, I will have a private tour guide!

A customized tour must be more expensive than a preset tour, right? I am finding that when you customize a tour it is actually less expensive then when you do a preset tour. I have to preface though, that a customized tour is not an apple to apples comparison to a preset tour. You are not paying for a motorcoach, driver, and tour guide for an entire vacation. You are picking accommodations that fit your needs, tours that you want to do, and restaurants that fit your palate. When we breakdown the pricing, it typically does come in a few hundred dollars less which helps you make the easy decision of buying travel insurance.

But what if I am a bit nervous about doing my own thing? That is ok. Even though we can plan your hotel, rail, flights, car rental, etc on your own terms, we have plenty of sightseeing tours that you can do with a group. Most of them will be half-day or full day tours, but you will be either with a small group of people to see the sights or a larger group of people, typically no more than 30 people. This way you can have the best of both worlds!

Do you have a form I need to fill out to put together a customized tour? No. You simply call me and we discuss where you want to go and what you want to see. One of my favorite things to do on the phone with you is to really get a good understanding of why you want to take this trip or vacation. Everyone has a reason for their trip whether it is a Whiskey tour of Scotland or island hopping on Hawaii. Whatever your reason is to take the trip, then that is what we want you to be able to do. The trip or vacation is really what you want to make out of it.

Now that you have a better understanding of what our travel agency can do for you in putting together a customized vacation, give us a call today and let us help you start connecting friends and family through customized vacations.

Request a Travel Planning session today for FREE!

Packing Efficiently for your Next Vacation

Mary Yohannan on

Efficient Packing,
How to maximize your suitcase space!

We are all guilty of over packing, even myself. I remember my first big trip to Europe I took two huge pieces of luggage and a carry-on just for myself. I had so many clothes that I didn’t even wear half of them.

Since then I have cut it down to traveling with a carry-on ONLY! Many of you know that we travel overseas but how do I do it with just a carry-on? I am going to give you our secrets for packing even more into your suitcase or carry-on.

Secret #1: Buy the biggest carry-on allowed by TSA. If you aren’t sure of the size check out their website. www.TSA.gov

Secret #2: Picking out your clothes for vacation is a process. Lay out the clothes you want to take on your bed so you can start to narrow down which ones you NEED to take. An extra outfit is good, 5 extra outfits is too much.

Secret #3: Include shoes and jackets in the clothes going into your suitcase. Shoes take up a lot of room in any suitcase. I try to wear the bulky shoes on the airplane and pack the light or smaller ones in the suitcase. I do the same thing for my jackets. Depending on the size of the jacket, it is not consider a carry-on so I will also wear or carry my larger jacket.

Secret #4: ROLL YOUR CLOTHES! You save so much room in your suitcase if you roll the clothes. Now jeans maybe hard to roll so place them flat on the bottom of the suitcase then place all the other rolled clothes on top. It is amazing how much more you can pack, but beware that the weight of the suitcase will go up. Check out the airline’s maximum weight allowance for a carry-on.

Secret #5: This may be a bit personal, but buy underwear that you can throw away. Go to Walmart or Target and buy the cheapest underwear that you can wear. Throw them away after you are done with them. This gives you more room for souvenirs on the way back and you don’t have to deal with dirty drawers.

Congratulations to Mary!

She recently earned the distinguished Certified Travel Associate (CTA) designation from the Travel Institute, the travel industry’s oldest education organization. She completed a comprehensive exam-based training program that demonstrates extensive industry knowledge and experience, and she must continue to fulfill stringent education credit requirements each year.

Have a Great Week!

Traveling to Charleston with Kids!

Mary Yohannan on

Charleston, South Carolina

If you haven’t been, why you must go!

Our family recently took a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. The last time my husband and I were in Charleston we didn’t have any children and we enjoyed the pleasures of Down Home Southern Cooking. We walked around the romantic waterfront and sat in front of the iconic Pineapple fountain while watching the sunset project beautiful hues of pink and purple onto the bay. We walked around the entire historic district taking in the sights of various mansions, quaint alleyways, and hearing ghost tales of years that have gone by. One thing about Charleston is that the historic district remains the same, not much had changed in the past 10 years since we were there last. Except, this time we had two little ones with us.

We didn’t have much time at the Pineapple fountain before one of the children had a meltdown and didn’t want to get a picture as a family, but we tried anyway. The meltdown probably came from a long day of excitement, playfulness, and good food as there is a lot of amazing things to do in Charleston with children. Every day the kids were exhausted, ate well, and couldn’t wait to get out of the hotel the next day to see where we were going next. One thing to make sure of when you travel to Charleston with the kids is to make sure they get a good, hearty breakfast. There are so many amazing breakfast places in the historic district and we found them by simply asking our concierge where to eat. There is an amazing place on Meeting Street called Toast that has homemade biscuits the size of my hand. They may be large but they are not heavy. We visited Toast on several occasions as they had some interesting breakfast items that we wanted to try, and the food was consistently good.

Anywhere we travel, if there is an aquarium or zoo, it is a must stop on our itinerary. It had been 10 years since I was last at the Charleston Aquarium so I didn’t recall exactly what was there. Our first stop was to the outdoor enclosure which was a nice surprise. It was a large pool containing several rays. If the rays come close to the surface of the pool you can actually touch them. Now if you have recently seen Finding Dory, there is a part in the movie where the animals in the “touch pool” don’t really liked to be “touched” and when the kids put their hands in the water they all start to find hiding places. I felt like this scene played out when we were at this pool as the rays clearly didn’t want us to touch them because they all stayed at the bottom! There were two windows on the bottom of the pool that you could look in and see the rays swimming around happily and that kept the kids occupied for some time.

Inside the aquarium they have several great exhibits including their large tank with a sea turtle that is my size in height. They put on various educational seminars about every half hour at various exhibits throughout the aquarium and these seminars really kept the interest of the kids. One seminar was about alligators and crocodiles, and at the end of the seminar our children actually had the opportunity to pet an alligator, which was a huge excitement for a 5-year-old. After talking with another employee about what fish and rays eat, she gave each of us a small cup with uncooked shrimp. The kids put the shrimp on the end of a rod and then they feed the rays. This was a interesting experience because the rays come up to the glass and use the glass as guidance to find the food. They are quite aggressive when it comes to food and the large rays would push the smaller rays to the side to get the food. Again, pure excitement for the kids! I would highly recommend a half-day to do the aquarium, and try to schedule it so you can see the seminars.

The Children’s Museum of Charleston is another must when visiting Charleston with the kids. It is all one floor and there are seven large rooms each with a different theme. I personally like the castle themed room, but the pirate ship was a huge hit with the kids. The seven rooms are: the arts and crafts room, the castle room, water play room, large building blocks room, pirate ship room, the baby play area, and grocery shopping room. Each room was designed to have the kids engaged in some type of activity and they were able to dress up in various characters in some of the rooms. It was fun to see the kids dressed up like pirates and running around a pirate ship yelling at each. I also enjoyed thegrocery store because the kids have a shopping list and then they must go around and pick up the items. Once they have retrieved all of the items they bring them to the kids sized check-out line and the parents can scan their items. The kids pay with fake money and they can bag their own items.

If you have little ones under the age of two, there is a whole area that is enclosed so the kids can’t get out. They have soft pillows, slides, climbing stairs, and big foam blocks for the little ones to play. The time flew by so fast when we were here that we didn’t get to go outside to ride the big fire truck or do any of the other outdoor activities. I would highly recommend the Children’s Museum for either a half-day or if the weather is nice and you can play outside, a good 6 hours.

Check out next week’s ezine when I talk about how to survive at a plantation with kids!

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Congratulations to Mary!

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Have a Great Week!