ShermansTravel Blog interviews Eileen about Bahamas
Sherman’s Travel Blog interviews Eileen about her recent visit to Fowl Cay in the Bahamas.
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Snow Vacations | Travel Diaries
A special place for adventurous families from the AMC in New Hampshire
Welcome to the Appalachian Mountain Club Highland Center, a short drive from Mount Washington, New England’s tallest peak. Some of the families we meet the weekend before Christmas have made a visit here an annual tradition, like the Canes, who have come nearly every year since their nine year-old was a baby.
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Backyard Vacations | Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Snow Vacations | Weekly Column
Looking back on our stellar family travels of 2012
As I thought back about this past year’s trips, I realized that each one enabled us to challenge ourselves in different ways, whether in the outdoors, navigating in an unfamiliar culture, or learning a new skill. That’s not counting the challenge of getting along with each other along the way — not always easy, especially these days as families who don’t spend a lot of time together gather for vacation.
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Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
All-inclusive means all the amenities for a family vacation at Fowl Cay
Did I mention this resort is owned by Sandals? Yet it couldn’t be more different than Sandals expect that your stay is all inclusive. That means your villa is stocked with every food and drink you want. We fix our own breakfast and hot freshly baked muffins and fruit are delivered every morning.
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For chocolate lovers, Chicago in October is the place
Did you ever think it was possible to eat too much chocolate? If you are a chocolate lover, The Chicago Fine Chocolate Festival might just be the challenge for you.
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Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
Bonefishing an exotic sport? Not in the Bahamas baby!
We creep up on them. Clifton casts in a line with a gob of hermit crab for bait. There’s a small tug, them a bigger one and then “Wham,” a bonefish takes the bait and runs. And I mean runs. The drag on the spincast reel screeches as the fish tries to get off the line. Clifton hands me the rod and says “hang on.” I’ve had a lot of fish on the line in my day and this one fights better than most, if not all.
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Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
An all-inclusive resort where they even provide a boat to explore the nearby islands
This tiny resort and these outer islands are the antithesis of giant resorts like Atlantis in Nassau. It is also expensive—over $1500 a night for a villa that sleeps four. But you could easily be spending that much at many tony Caribbean resorts for two rooms and not have the comfort or exclusivity as here, not to mention your own boat for the length of your stay.
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Beach Vacations | Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Families & Groups | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
In the Bahamas, a place where families can relax and watch pigs swim!
I love this place! Where else can you feed swimming pigs and snorkel amid schools of brightly colored fish. We can putter around our kitchen but don’t have to shop for groceries or clean up.. There are plenty of books and movies in the library as well as a pool table. Did I mention the outdoor shower with views of the water? Nice!
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In Hong Kong at Christmas — it’s all about the shopping
Think Black Friday at the busiest mall — times 1,000 — combined with Times Square on New Year’s Eve. That only begins to describe Hong Kong on Christmas Eve when thousands take to the streets — no cars are permitted in the hotel district — to shop and shop some more until 2 a.m. (the subways run all night).
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Reflecting on Newtown and Winnetka 25 years ago when my kids were young
All of us who covered that story were deeply impacted by it, just as those have been covering Sandy Hook. My kids were the same age as the children who were shot and went to a suburban school two towns away. That tragedy made us as young parents mindful not only of our mortality but that of our children. It made us resolve to make the most of the happy times together while we could.
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Memories abound of family vacations past on our Christmas tree
Until the kids finally insisted I stop buying ornaments wherever we went, I’d buy one for each of them wherever we went. The sillier the better. And even now years later, they make me smile and bring back memories—the real memories of traveling with kids.
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Disney’s Art of Animation Resort tells the story of the classic movies
Welcome to Disney’s new Art of Animation Resort with four different wings that celebrate favorite characters—Finding Nemo, Cars and Lion King. And there’s plenty of room to spread out with 1120 family suites (there are 864 rooms too).
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Testing out the new Test Track at Disney World’s Epcot
We’re at Walt Disney World’s Epcot where at the new Test Track Presented by Chevrolet we create our own design, then board a “simCar” to race through performance tests—how does it handle extreme weather conditions? How efficient is it? How responsive? How Powerful?
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Disney | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Weekly Column
To Walt Disney World’s new Fantasyland
You’ll find New Fantasyland just past the existing Fantasyland, beyond Cinderella’s castle. Did I mention that there are now three castles here for all those princess lovers? All of this as Orlando heads into the holiday season, one of the busiest of the year with special attractions at every park.
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Celebrations abound in Orlando for the holiday season
Welcome to the Candlelight Procession at Walt Disney World’s Epcot that is a popular tradition here drawing locals and visitors alike that is performed three times an evening during the holiday season.
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Family Travel Conference reviewed on Technorati
Our second Family Travel Conference in Dallas in November 2012 received great review by writer Kaleel Sakakeeny on Technorati.
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Eileen quoted by ABCNews.com on moms influencing the travel industry
Eileen is quoted by ABCNews.com on how moms are transforming the travel industry.
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Disney’s expansion of Fantasyland is fantastic
My kids have been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World innumerable times but I don’t think I have any photos of them on Dumbo either. Maybe it was too hot waiting in the sun? Actually I think it was because the first time, 3-year-old Matt was afraid of the Dumbo ride. And Peter Pan too.
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Disney | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Parks & Outdoors | Travel Diaries
Taking the kids to the new FantasyLand at Disney World
No worries if you can’t make it to the New Fantasyland for a while either. There’s more to come. Next year, Princess Fairytale Hall will open complete with chambers where you can meet Aurora, Cinderella, Tiana and Rapunzel.
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Food, Glorious Food — at the museums!
Did you know that most of the plants and animals we raise for food today barely resemble their wild ancestors? Did you know that more than a billion people work in agriculture today? Did you know that 40 million children are overweight? Did you know that 30 per cent of all food produced is never eaten? Did you know the average American family of four wastes 1,656 pounds of food a year?
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How to introduce your kids to skiing
If you’re taking the little ones on the snowy slopes for the first time it is important you introduce them to the wonder of skiing in a way that will have them pleading to return the year after. And, of course, make sure you protect your investment in the trip in case your plans go awry.
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Fort Worth TX: there’s a reason they call this place “Cowtown”
Need a saddle blanket? Not to keep warm, to eat. In cowboy parlance, a saddle blanket is a pancake; belly wash is coffee and Pecos strawberries are beans. Welcome to Fort Worth, Texas, which prides itself on being known as the City of Cowboys.
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Embracing imperfection as the kids come home for the holidays
But then we all gather around the table and, as is our tradition, we tell each other what we’re thankful for this year. “Thank you for being such wonderful kids and such terrific, responsible adults. We can’t imagine our lives without you!” Eileen says.
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This season, take the kids and the grandkids to see the holiday lights
It’s worth the effort, I promise, to take the kids and grandkids. For a few hours you can forget the baking, the shopping and the wrapping and just enjoy the holidays and each other.
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Learning to cope with weather disruptions when the family travels
Let’s play the what-if game. What if Mother Nature derails your holiday travel plans — as it did for so many people I know earlier this month during Hurricane Sandy and during the Christmas blizzard that crippled the East Coast two years ago?
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Travel dreams can come true on CyberMonday
It’s not just about getting a great price on a tablet, TV or the kids’ must-have toy or video game. These days, Black Friday or Cyber Monday can also be about snaring a bargain on a vacation.
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CyberMonday travel deals interview on Foxnews.com
Eileen interviewed on Foxnews.com about CyberMonday travel deals — good ones and bad ones.
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The Power of Family Travelers
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked out at the room filled with family travel writers and bloggers, some with their kids beside them, busily learning how to become better travel communicators.
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A life-changing trip to the slopes with a disabled daughter
Our first day on the mountain my daughter’s instructor got her set up with a bi-ski and we all headed out onto the lift. It was a short run and I’m not sure if I breathed the whole way down, anxiously wondering how she was doing. We got to the bottom of the run and I was greeted by a wide smile. Game o!.
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Making memories by embracing imperfection this Thanksgiving
Inevitably, we’ll reminisce about less-than-perfect Thanksgiving gatherings, like the time we arrived back home at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to discover our car battery was dead, or the time in Connecticut our dog devoured the homemade pate a cousin brought to Thanksgiving dinner before anyone had a bite.
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Taking the Kids Blogs
Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Lincoln Park in Chicago
The view of Lake Michigan from my windows changed my perspective of the great lake and forced me to concede in the everlasting debate I had held with my native Chicagoan friends – that the shores of Lake Michigan are worthy of the title “beach.”
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Eileen’s presentation to the 2nd Family Travel Conference
Download a PDF file of Eileen’s presentation to the 2nd Family Travel Conference in Dallas on November 9-11, 2012. The Family Travel Conference brings together media and industry leaders in family travel and gives them the practical training, latest tools, and best practices they need to navigate this leading travel segment.
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Becoming a junior conservationist at one of America’s premier museums
The Hall of North American Mammals, with its famous mammal dioramas, includes several that recreate scenes from national parks and monuments that Theodore Roosevelt helped preserve and protect.
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A safe harbor after the storm in the Poconos
Ten-year-old Charlie Baker writes: When Hurricane Sandy hit, we didn’t have any power in my New Jersey town. A lot of the families left and went to grandma’s house, but my grandma lives in Manhattan and we couldn’t get there because there was a lot of traffic and a giant crane was hanging nearby. So we had to figure out where else to go. My mom ended up surprising us with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge.
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Disney promising a lot of magic for 2013
The Disney resorts have just announced Limited Time Magic for all of 2013 –52 weeks of what they promise will be magical experiences that appear, then disappear as the next special surprise debuts.
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Touring on a bike offers new insights and fun
it’s worth checking out a bike tour wherever you are visiting with the kids. You can bike along the new beach promenade in Clearwater, Fla., or sample Portland’s famous local eats on a Bites by Bike tour that claims it is the best in the country for cyclists, offering an extensive network of trails.
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Eileen’s blog on Hurricane Sandy featured on Foxnews.com
Foxnews.com: Eileen’s blog on Hurricane Sandy messing up travel plans.
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The best laid plans, waylaid by Frankenstorm
UPDATE (Wednesday, Oct 31) — It’s Halloween, but the really scary thing is now bad the damage from SuperStorm Sandy is all over the Northeast. We still have power at our house so we are one of the few lucky ones. But we lost cable, which means almost all forms of communication for us these days. I’m updating this blog from our Town Hall where they have electricity and free public wi-fi. It’s impressive the way people are pulling together and helping each other out. Just this morning my husband helped a neighbor jump-start his car. His battery had run down after he and his son tried to recharge too many electronic devices. Meanwhile… if you trying to travel, or get home, during the storm’s aftermath, check out www.johnnyjet.com for some great tips!
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Parks & Outdoors | Snow Vacations | Weekly Column
Snowshoeing – the quieter side of a winter vacation, day or weekend
You don’t need a gourmet meal to enjoy snowshoeing. It’s fun to take a sandwich and hot cider with you in your backpack; it’s fun just to get out and enjoy the back-country landscape away from the hustle and bustle of a snow sports resort. I try to take a day off from skiing each trip just for the experience.
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A travel agent can make all the difference for a cruise
National Cruise Vacation week is Oct 21-27, the cruise industry’s largest sale with savings on more than 200 cruise ships—everything from significant on-ship credits to free airfare and two-for-one pricing.
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Multi-generational travel gaining popularity among familes
Thirty-seven percent of leisure travelers say they’ve traveled with grandkids just this past year. Twenty-two percent report they are even leaving their children behind and just inviting the grandkids along….
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Bittersweet — our last child’s last college Parents Weekend
Milestones occur with frequency in the raising of children. For Eileen and me, this past weekend was one of the sweetest — our last PARENTS WEEKEND for our last child in college.
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Beach Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Parks & Outdoors | Taking the Kids Blogs
Remembering a memorable sailing trip and lobsters on Anegada
“People tell us this is the way the Caribbean used to be,” says Lawrence Wheatley, who with his sister Lorraine and their mom runs the 16-room Anegada Reef Hotel and its bustling restaurant where diners feast on the 2+ pound lobsters and fresh fish nightly.
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Spy and crime museums — a hit with the high school boys
Certainly you could spend all of your time in Washington, DC without paying to enter a museum—there are plenty of free ones to choose from. But two on our list are private and, the boys said, were worth the cost of admission.
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Touring the museums in Washington with the ABC boys
One of the best things about Washington, DC is that so many museums are free. We aim to hit as many as we can.This time, instead of trying to see all that the Holocaust Museum or the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History has to offer, I tried to pinpoint certain exhibits I thought would most interest the boys from the Westport ABC House
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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column
So much to see and do on moms’ getaway to Scottsdale
No guilt allowed! We keep telling ourselves that all weekend. I’m in Scottsdale, AZ for a moms’ getaway weekend with an old friend I don’t see nearly enough. She lives on the West Coast; I live across the country.
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Three days in Washington DC with the high school boys
I was chaperoning six city high school boys who attend our suburban school under the auspices of A Better Chance, a national organization that identifies kids with academic potential in middle school and sends them to communities like ours (Westport, CT) to live and attend high school. Several of the boys had visited Washington, DC on middle school trip
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Colorado’s Keystone Resort ups the game for kid-friendly
Every snow-loving parent knows that trips to the slopes not only are expensive but a lot of work for moms and dads. All the schlepping of gear! That’s why I applaud any effort that makes snow sports more affordable and more fun for families.
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Get beyond the neighborhood for Halloween tricks and treats
If you’re thinking Halloween is weeks away, think again. These days, Halloween lasts the entire month of October! There are frightful — and not so frightful — theme park extravaganzas, boo at the zoos and much more…
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To the Atacama Desert Region of Chile
We are in northern Chile in the famous Atacama desert region in the Valle de la Luna—Moon Valley—famous for its resemblance to the moon surface and salt and rock formations that look like dinosaur heads, angels and more.
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To the Atacama Desert Region of Chile
We are in northern Chile in the famous Atacama desert region in the Valle de la Luna—Moon Valley—famous for its resemblance to the moon surface and salt and rock formations that look like dinosaur heads, angels and more.
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Go Undersea in San Francisco! 3 of the Best Oceanariums
The ocean is a fascinating place for children who love the colorful and interactive displays, live shows featuring dolphins and multimedia presentations. Visiting oceanariums can also be an opportunity for them to touch living animals in a safe environment, while learning about them, too.
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Time-traveling back in history at Conner Prairie IN
Here at Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, the terrific living history museum outside Indianapolis, a Smithsonian affiliate that focuses on 19th-century Indiana, the journey takes us 90 minutes, starting with our escape from an owner who plans to sell us “back South.”
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For The Penny-Pinching Traveling Parent
There are plenty of family-friendly and budget friendly ways to take your clan away, and still keep everybody well-fed, well-shod and not wandering the streets with packs of dogs.
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Riding a bike in the Sonoran Desert — at night!
Our Guide Kerry Echer is leading us on one of several unique adventures offered by the Golden Door Spa here. Earlier in the day, we’d noticed Echer teaching rock climbing on the giant boulders; there are also guided hikes and mountain biking.
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In Phoenix, an amazing museum of musical instruments
There are other museums of musical instruments, but none with such an expansive collection from around the world—harps, zithers flutes and trumpets from the Middle East, African drums, a 17th century spinet and 20th century electric guitars…an Appalachian dulcimer, a ukulele, bagpipes and cymbals.
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A day at the Camelback Spa in Scottsdale AZ
We amble inside out of the sun for lunch at Sprouts which serves healthy eats (complete with calorie counts) but indulgences too like chocolate fondue. We love the chicken curry lettuce wraps, tuna tartare and salads. We skip the chocolate fondue!
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Eileen earns kudos from SATW attendees for family travel presentation
Members were asked to rate PD sessions from 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest and were asked to make comments. Your sessions got tons of tens. One commenter said that your session was among the most useful PD ever at an SATW conference. Another commenter said he learned so many valuable tips from you. Several associates said that you gave a wonderful balance in aiming your talk at both associates and actives. That is not always easy to do.
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On a mom’s getaway in Scottsdale AZ
I figured what could be better for a mom’s getaway than a resort complete with 125 acres of desert landscape (love all the cacti!) at the base of Mummy Mountain and Overlooking Camelback Mountain.
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Space Shuttle Enterprise at USS Intrepid Museum
Walking into the Enterprise dome, you’re awed by the shuttle’s size. Dwarfed by her wide, black wings and smooth underbelly, Enterprise is a testament to the 1970’s engineering that carried Americans to outer space and back for over 150 missions.
