Sleeps5.com

RSS Feed Homepage

Day 6 . . . College Tourcation: George Washington, Georgetown, Washington
2009-09-14 16:52:00
Day 6 - 10 of this family vacation was spent zipping around Washington DC with the exception of an outing to Gettysburg. In previous blog's "What to know before you go: Washington DC", I have written about sightseeing so here I will just note our college tour experiences. There are a number of great universities in DC: Catholic University, American University, George town and George Washington just to name a few. Our hotel the Washington Suites in Georgetown (for a description of the hotel check out Sleeps5.com) was located next to the George Washington campus. This is a true urban campus with university buildings right next to office and government buildings; the Lincoln Memorial is just a few block away. The greek system is a row of connected brick buildings resembling normal student housing with signs above the doors indicating their affiliation. The Foggy Bottom Metro stop is located right in the middle of it all allowing quick access around the city. There is definitely...
More About: College

Nintendo DS and DS Lite Adapters - Eight Gadgets for Travel
2009-09-07 06:55:00
Since writing about our family's Nintendo DS adapter experience in a May blog entry, I have found 8 more gadgets to solve similar electronics problems. Some are for a DS and some for a DS Lite . I don't know enough about the circuitry differences between the two devices to explain - if you do, please help by leaving a comment below. I'm not much of a gadget-gal, as my kids will attest (my son has to help me use the speed dial on my cell phone), but these are simple enough even for me - mainly they just plug in:1. Emergency AA Battery Charge Extender for the Nintendo DS Lite / DSLite Made by Gomadic Brand w/ TipExchange Technology, you use batteries to charge a DS without needing any outlet. Lifetime warranty. On Amazon.com, shipping to many countries is available._______________________________ _______________________________2. Essential Kit for the Nintendo DS / NDS - includes Car and Wall Charger with Rapid Charge TechnologyYet another from the gadget wizards of Gomadic Brand w/ ...
More About: Travel , Gadgets

College Tourcation Day 5: University of Mary Washington
2009-09-05 07:13:00
Our family of five plus Papa left Charlottesville late in the evening and drove on to Fredericksburg, Virginia home of Civil War battlefields and the University of Mary Washington . The University has special signifigance for us because my mother graduated from this institution when it was the women's division of UVA. My parents met here and were married in a small chapel nearby. Day 5: We checked out of our hotel which lies on the outskirts of town between strip malls, grocery stores, and undeveloped fields and headed to the University of Mary Washington. It is a smaller school than those we had visited previously. The campus is really beautiful -- colonial red brick buildings set inside a residential neighborhood. We also noticed there is still an imbalance in girls even with its coed status. This visit we were fortunate to arrive at the admissions office just when a tour group was assembling. The only negative on our tour was the dorms; the one they chose to walk us through sme...
More About: College

How to Take Great Family Travel Photos
2009-08-31 11:00:00
I received a Canon digital camera for my birthday just prior to our family trip to Germany and Denmark. My husband's research of which camera to buy for me was dictated by one crucial factor: I was not interested in manipulating photographic choices for each shot -- I just wanted to point and shoot.But a few weeks later, while on our vacation and using the camera daily, I became curious about the multitude of menu options on my camera and perused its manual, wanting to ensure that I was optimizing pictures of my kids. I fiddled with some settings, and began to experiment. When a few of my photos revealed odd colors and off-kilter stripes in the review mode, I assumed I had pressed some button I should not have and spent valuable vacation time reading the manual's trouble-shooting pages. Nothing worked. Thankfully, most shots were looking just fine.At home later, an internet search provided an answer: faulty memory card. Inserted a new one: problem was solved. The memory card that ...
More About: Family , Travel , Photos , Great

Day 3 & 4 College Tourcation: University of Virginia, Monticello, Jame
2009-08-30 16:38:00
Day 3: We packed up our family of 5 plus Papa, checked out of the Rodeway Inn and headed off in our rent-a-van to Yorktown. Despite all our constant troubles of becoming lost in Williamsburg, getting to Yorktown is quite straight forward once you find the Colonial Parkway. This is a brick road with no dividing line, few signs, and as we discovered at night not lit up, but simply enough Yorktown lies on the East end, Colonial Williamsburg in the middle and Jamestown on the West end. Yorktown was the location of the final battle in the American Revolutionary War. A National Parks Dept. ranger, who was quite knowledgeable and an untiring speaker led us through final scenes and various landmarks commemorating the battle. It is a quaint quiet colonial style town. Cannon shot damage remains in the side of some of the buildings. The town is positioned on a bluff overlooking the bay. After our tour, we wandered down to the waterfront where the beach was packed with sunbathers, and a f...
More About: College , University , Virginia

College Tourcation Day 2: College of William & Mary
2009-08-24 05:09:00
Day two of the the college "tourcation" found us in William sburg, Virginia or circling Williamsburg as it may be. How we ultimately found our little hotel I can hardly say, but it helps to have GPS on your phone. The gas attendants are also very helpful and understanding about the circling problem, but I digress. . .Day two, we awoke in Williamsburg having slept at the modest Rodeway Inn establishment. (see review on www.sleeps5.com) We nibbled on a breakfast of dry donuts, weak coffee by Seattle standards and an unusual granola snack. While not particularly satisfying, it was enough to get us out the door and on our way to Colonial Williamsburg--the recreated and restored seat of British government for the Colony of Virginia. It happened to be re-enactment week of the American Revolutionary War. The Red Coats were in fact marching in and making up camp when we arrived. Wearing those wool jackets showed true dedication (or something else) in that heat. After exploring Colonial Willi...
More About: College , Mary

College Tourcation (sic): Teens & Papa in Tow
2009-08-17 17:34:00
This summer marked the first college tour/vacation (or as I am calling it now "tourcation") for Family Jacobsen plus grandpa. My husband and I were blessed to have three children within 15 months: twins and a singleton. Seventeen years later we now have two high school juniors and one sophomore. Therefore, as any hopeful couple who ever wished to be empty nesters, we are taking our West Coast family on an East Coast car trip from one college campus to the next. Thus, wishing to instill our college yearnings and hopes into our sweet but clueless teenagers. And because we are inveterate tourists -- gluttons for historical sights, we managed to pack in some American History along the way. Who knows maybe they will use their experience for a college admissions paper or scientific experiment e.g. What earplug brand works the best to drown out Papa 's snoring? We started our grand tour in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home of Duke University, University of North Carolina...
More About: Teens , College

Family Travel Dining in Germany - A Word to Know
2009-08-16 06:37:00
Please and thank you are the most important foreign language words to learn when traveling; crucial for civil discourse. But there's one word we did not expect to need to know: Rechnung.In Germany last summer, most service employees at restaurants and cafes helped us with their excellent command of English. But still we practiced utilizing words from a travel-guide phrase chapter, with no prior training except for my DH who took a couple years of German in high school more than 20 years ago.For ordering food, we used our fingers to help indicate how many of something we wanted. We attempted to pronounce the number and the food items in German and completed our request by saying 'please?' In German, a typical request was: "Zwei (two fingers held up) bier, bitte?" (Sounds like: Tsvy beer, bitt-uh?) And then we continued our order with more food and beverage items, often furthering the communication efforts by pointing to the item on the menu. After a couple days, the kids tried ord...
More About: Family , Travel , Word , Dining

City Tour - Top Pick for Family Travel
2009-08-10 22:03:00
A bus tour was not included on our London agenda years ago because they are expensive, at least for our tight budget. But we splurged last summer, taking a live-guide bus tour of Munich, and a few days later, a recorded-audio bus tour of Berlin. Now that we've experienced those tours in Germany, we will definitely include one on any future travel agenda. A tour provides a great overview of a city's history, and identifies landmarks, which helps to establish a sense of direction. Kids can follow along with a map, and our kids took turns snapping pictures with hubby's old digital camera. The combination of a moving vehicle and a guide's voice kept our 3 boys interested. Our youngest were not quite 10 (twin boys) when we visited Germany, and a 2-hour tour was perfect. The live tour was best because the guide was fun to watch. Perhaps we were lucky that she positioned herself on the double-decker's upper deck where we sat -- it would not have been as entertaining had we been on a d...
More About: Family , Travel , Tour , City , Pick

Paris with Kids - Things to Do
2009-07-31 22:09:00
The following links to websites and blogs showcase what you can do and see in Paris with kids. Many of the suggestions are FREE! For fantastic photos, humorous writing, or just valuable information to know before you go, check them out!10 Best Free (Or Almost Free) Paris Summer Events, on Fodor's by Rachel Klein.This article isn't specifically geared toward families (the list includes a location to see outdoor movies, with R-rated Brokeback Mountain as an example) but there are festivals and markets to consider, and even a baby might enjoy outdoor music.Top Free Things to Do in Paris, on About.com by Courtney Traub.Parks, cathedrals, and museums are included here, plus where to experience great views and fascinating neighborhoods.Paris: Free water at historic fountains (just bring a bottle), on EuroCheapo by Theadora Brack.The author concisely describes the history of Paris water fountains, some of which include artistic sculptural details, and highlights the locations of a few, i...
More About: Kids

Travel Games with Toddlers and Kids - Keep Them Entertained
2009-07-24 09:08:00
I placed the saltine between my toddler's toes. Then I maneuvered his foot toward his mouth so he could take a bite of the cracker, proving that parents get very creative when trying to entertain a little one on a long trip. He thought the cracker-in-the-toes routine was hilarious. He also thought it was funny to gesture for one activity after another, periodically throwing items to the floor: apparently it was hilarious to watch me fetch them.But you gotta feel sorry for any guy with a tiny developing brain that isn't entertained with deep internal thoughts; a brain that requires human interaction from parents who don't always comply because sometimes they'd rather be staring out the window lost in their own deep internal thoughts. I did my best to keep my frustration in check, squelching the inclination to retort, "fine. You dropped it, and I'm not picking it up!" As the kids got older, we devised other means to keep them satisfied. For airplane or car trips here are our favo...
More About: Kids , Travel , Games

Washington DC: Things to Know Before You Go
2009-07-18 01:45:00
I love Washington DC. We have just returned from the bustling capital city. There was no end of entertainment for our family of five plus grandpa. Museums, gardens, monuments, cool buildings, and charming neighborhoods, DC has it all and most of it is free. Logistically there are a few things that need to be planned ahead. The White House - Make your request to visit the home of the Obamas six months in advance through one of your Representatives or your Senators. If you are a foreign visitor contact your embassy. The White House is receiving 1000 requests a day for tours! You will need to be able to provide Social Security Numbers and full names for each member of your party. The Capitol - Again you can request a visit via your Representative or Senator. Or go to the Capitol website at www.visitthecapitol.gov where you can easily make a reservation and print it off at home. You can also just show up and take your chances that you won't have to wait long for the next open tour. T...
More About: Things

Family of 5 in London for 46 Pounds Per Person Per Day
2009-07-15 04:52:00
Readers have inquired: How much to budget for a trip to Europe with kids? One big factor is the age of your family members. If you have toddlers, the total will be much less because they won't need a regular meal, and you'll probably not be able to visit as many tourist spots because little ones will need a nap, or time for a break in a park for free. And when you do pay admission for museums, toddlers will likely be free.Tourists around the world have written about their expenses. Here are visitors' responses and articles from five Web sites which outline estimates starting at 50 euros per person per day, but they are referring to a couple of adults traveling together:Travel Budgets on How to Travel the WorldHow Much to Budget per Day on Lonely PlanetUK Budget Travel Tips on Europe a la CartePer Day Costs on Rick StevesHow much money to save up on Euro TripResources on Sleeps5.com:England Hotels on Sleeps5.comFamily of 5 in Munich for 53 Euros Per Person Per Day10 Tips for Budge...
More About: London

Paris Dining with Kids - Skip the Fast Food
2009-07-08 16:00:00
We all know that Paris is for romantics. My own honeymoon trip included 4 nights there. But there are many, many resources that describe, guide, and recommend travel to Paris for families.The harder part of family vacation planning for me is the dining. And it would be especially daunting in Paris, where I'd be fearful of glaring looks from waitstaff and diners alike were I to enter with 3 kids. It would take a while for guests to see that my boys actually have very good table manners, can sit still, and will try new foods (though sometimes it is necessary to seat a parent between two of them!). But still, I would be more comfortable knowing where they might be welcomed.From Fodor's Europe travel forum, here are readers' responses about Paris restaurants suitable for kids: Family friendly restaurants/cafes in Paris.I love the introduction of Child-friendly Paris: a gourmet guide, by Natasha Edwards on Simonseeks.com. It is so encouraging! She says, "Children get in early on the F...
More About: Kids , Food , Fast Food , Fast

School Group Travel Insurance Warning
2009-07-07 19:07:00
I recently wrote about travel insurance for families (See previous post: Family Travel Insurance - Be a Smart Buyer), and today came across this article in the Seattle Times online that came from Detroit Free Press by Ellen Creager. The article is titled Don't buy insurance from your tour operator. It warns that doing so could mean you have no protection if the tour operator goes out of business. What I never thought about before, is that this applies to school tour groups, too. So even when your teenager brings home all the paperwork from school for that great trip to a city far away with the language or band or history class, and you're spending hours reading the details, filling out forms, and writing the travel deposit checks, and selecting the tour group's insurance option looks so easy - STOP! Don't do it. Immediately find travel insurance elsewhere - you must purchase the insurance within 7-14 days. See the article for more details and instructions.
More About: School , Travel Insurance , Warning

Family Travel Insurance - Be a Smart Buyer
2009-06-30 05:18:00
I am a 'what-if' kind of person. I've used this phrase to describe myself for years, even before I had kids. When I was single, I always made sure I had enough life insurance so that my parents or sister wouldn't have to pay off the balance of my Toyota Tercel auto loan should I pass away.My 'what-if' tendencies are even more pronounced now that I have kids. (The photo is of two of my kids watching planes at the airport in Boston, 2004.) Now, I worry about many more things; like about those drivers on the other side of the yellow line. You know the ones: they are motoring in the opposite direction, and at any moment could veer into my lane and cause all kinds of mayhem. Yep, I worry about them and am not embarrassed to tell you that whenever possible, I make a point of driving in the lane furthest away from that yellow line.I have the uncanny (maybe troubling?) ability to foresee danger in detail. For example, most moms will admonish their kids not to run with scissors. I, how...
More About: Family , Travel , Insurance , Smart , Travel Insurance

Family of 5 Shares Hotel Bathroom (WC)
2009-06-24 09:15:00
That while on vacations we all manage to get ready for each travel day with one hotel bathroom is a wonder to me. (Don't worry, I'm not going to describe anything too personal!) The bathroom routine is made more difficult because three members of my family have a (probably unusually) high degree of modesty. I'll admit that one of those 3 is me. I have never flossed my teeth or blown my nose in front of anyone; never. As for the other two who each have an excessive sense of decorum, from a very early age, the twins insisted on complete privacy for even just changing clothes or brushing teeth. We could have saved money or claimed more storage space in the upstairs bathroom at our house by foregoing the installation of double sinks: there is never a time when both sinks are being utilized simultaneously. One of the boys waits for the empty bathroom, then closes and locks the door, each and every time.With 3 of us determined to have private bathroom time, our family has developed a p...
More About: Family , Bathroom , Hotel , Shares

Best Deal NYC Hotel for a Family of Five for the Fourth
2009-06-20 18:07:00
Here is a quick deal I found on Expedia at least for the dates we were interested in (around the Fourth of July). The Hilton Garden Inn in Tribeca which is near China Town and Soho has rooms that sleep 5 for $184/night. The hotel is new and fresh. Some reviews comment that it is in a noisy location, but this is a hard deal to beat in NYC especially for a family of five. Hilton considers 17 and under a child.Resources:New York City hotels on Sleeps5.comThings to Do in New York CityHolly JacobsenSleeps5.com
More About: Family , Hotel , Deal

Barcelona - Family Travel Dining Tips
2009-06-11 05:13:00
We are dreaming of traveling to Europe again - maybe in 2011 we'll get across the Atlantic Ocean once more. (We are saving those airline miles!) The kids have let me know that Spain is on their wish list. Our family of 5 loves big cities, so Barcelona will certainly be a top priority.Here are a couple of starting resources for planning our trip:First, one from eurocheapo called Barcelona Restaurant Tips : How to keep your eats cheap by Bill Sinclair. This article describes how to decipher common menu puzzlers such as - Is the water and bread included in the price? And is sitting at that lovely patio table a special privilege that costs extra? It also imparts information about typical restaurant practices regarding smoking, busy hours, and tipping.Another eurocheapo article is Barcelona food: Five cheap eats under €6, by Regina W. Bryan. Most of the 5 places identified offer foods that any kid would like to eat: Asian rice or noodles, sandwiches, and pizza. One though, is also a bo...
More About: Family , Travel , Dining

Grocery Shopping in Tuscany
2009-06-08 17:12:00
Grocery stores in Italy carry beautiful produce and other products. It is truly a treat to shop there, much like shopping in a high end gourmet grocer in the United States. While we were staying in the more rural region surrounding Florence, we encountered a few different types of stores. In each little hill top town no matter how small, there will be at least one tiny grocery store (negozio de alimentari). It will carry basic items including high quality meat and cheeses that the store clerk will slice for you, vegetables and bread. We found these stores to be pricier but more friendly than the bigger stores. The grocery store most similar to a North American Super Market would be the PAM. These work just like the ones in the U.S. except for the fruit and vegetable section. After you have chosen and bagged your fruits and vegetables proceed to a little weighing kiosk in that section. Weigh your bag of fruit then push the corresponding button on the screen that correlates with your ...
More About: Shopping , Tuscany , Grocery

Before Your Family Travels - Teach Geography with a Game!
2009-06-03 19:03:00
My working knowledge of geography is limited -- in school I'd memorize enough to get an 'A' on the test, then let it go. Having 3 boys who seem to soak up country, city, mountain, and water body names like sponges, though, has increased my interest in the subject. And now, searching for hotel family rooms in foreign locales for Sleeps5.com has doubled my newfound geography enthusiasm.A while back, wanting to buy a game that fit my kids' fascination with factoids on lands and peoples, I bought a used Take Off board game. It has airplane pieces you move from one destination to another, hopefully faster than your opponents, by rolling the dice and answering questions from info cards. Though it's a winner of parent awards, it didn't really 'take off' as a favorite pastime at our house. Perhaps it is more suitable for younger kids. 2-6 players, not available through Amazon.co.uk.Kept looking -- Still attracted to the idea of the 5 of us regularly playing a board game, howe...
More About: Family , Travels , Game , Geography

Family Travel with the Introvert Mom
2009-05-24 06:00:00
I recently read an essay called Confessions of an Introverted Travel er by Sophia Dembling on WorldHum.com. The author defends being a traveler who also happens to eschew lots of social interaction. It really resonated with me. I love to be alone. I do not naturally strike up conversations with nearby human beings. I need down time each day.And yet I'm a mom, and young humans need lots of interaction. When my kids were talkative toddlers, at the end of the day I'd say "I can't talk anymore." When the kids napped, my sleep-deprived brain craved the pages of a good book more than it craved a nap of my own. It took me years to figure out that I could satisfy my desire to help at the kids' school by re-shelving books in the library instead of being in the classroom full of loud, messy students doing art. Chaperoning a field trip takes all I've got and I return home spent. My ideal job outside of being 'mom' is researching, or accounting, or arranging information on a computer.Imag...
More About: Family

Rome on my mind . .
2009-05-13 05:23:00
My daughter just returned from Rome with her Latin class -- lucky girl. Looking through her beautiful photos has me reminiscing. Check out this article with photos for a little virtual traveling EuroCheapo. Also for some great cost saving and consumer advice, EuroCheapo has an informative article regarding dining for the uninitiated or budget traveler to Rome. Rome provided many wonderful eating experiences but our first day, jet-lagged and starving, we unwittingly sat down at an uninhabited restaurant only to eat some very tired, soggy bread with tomato sauce spread on it that cost us three times the amount noted on the cafeteria reader board (because we sat down). Uninhabited and sit down are the key watch words here - be wary of an empty restaurant and don't sit down at a cafe unless you know what the charge will be.This was our only eating snag in Rome and really not that big of a deal compared to the incredible back drop surrounding us.Resources:Hotels in Italy on Sleeps5.comT...
More About: Mind , On My Mind

Family of 5 in Munich for 53 Euros Per Person Per Day
2009-05-12 22:17:00
Declared as "the most expensive city in Germany" on wikitravel.org, with hotels that "are the most expensive in Germany" according to professionaltravelguide.com, Munich is not cheap to visit. Affordable Europe leader Rick Steves says you can comfortably eat and sleep there for $100 per person per day, and lonelyplanet.com travelers report spending 43 to 77 Euros per person per day. Based on these figures noted by budget travel experts, I am proud that our time in Munich cost $72 (53 Euros) per person per day (using today's currency rates). After 3 days, the average daily total for our family, with 2 boys age 10 (twins), and one boy age 13, plus DH and me, was 264 Euros, including our hotel in the Allstadt (old city center), food, and entertainment (NOT including the airfare to get there).Resources:Things to Do in GermanyHotels in Germany on Sleeps5.comIt's been over 10 months since our return home, and just this week I finally calculated that amount. Planning the trip to Europe, ...
More About: Family , Person

Hot Boston Deal: Family of 5
2009-05-07 19:59:00
Hotels.com and Expedia are offering a great deal for the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston . The executive suite with a pullout sofa and rollaway is being offered at $239.00. This is a four star hotel located right on the Freedom Trail. Check it out!
More About: Family , Deal