Travel Family Spotlight: Smiths Holiday Road

One of my favorite things about social media is meeting other families that love to travel and adventure. I like to dig in and find out what works for them and what draws their family to want to be "on the go" so we started a little series here on the blog where we spotlight other travel families. We hope you will enjoy the second installment of the "Travel Family Spotlight" series.

Bron Leeks is a travel mom to three children who travel all over the world (like us) so we felt a kindred spirit with her immediately when we found her on Instagram at @smithsholidayroad. We admire her family's focus on travel as a vehicle to change themselves, push themselves, and prove that they are capable of anything if they try. She provides a unique focus on inclusive and accessible family travel, which she has first-hand experience with because her eldest son, Cooper (age 10) uses a wheelchair. We hope you'll enjoy getting to know this family of five a little bit better through our interview below. You can also find them at www.smithsholidayroad.com.

Tell us about your family.

We are a family of 5. We are outnumbered 2 Adults, 3 Kids. Cooper is 11, Pepper is 8 and Elwood is 5.

Where do you live when you aren't traveling?

We live in Melbourne, Australia. We take as many family adventures as we can!

How often do you travel with your family? Is it local travel or international or both? 

We travel both locally, domestically and overseas. We try and go overseas twice a year. (Some of the places they have traveled include: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, UAE, England, Wales, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and France)

Tell us more about your focus on sharing inclusive and accessible family travels. Are there a lot of places that are very difficult to travel to with a wheelchair? What resources do you use to help assess whether somewhere will be accessible before you travel there? Do you think your website and instagram help empower other families who have kids with disabilities to travel? 

We started blogging and sharing our adventures on Instagram with the view of inspiring all types of families. We do things a little differently because of Cooper's disability but that is actually the best part of it. We get to do and see things we might not have usually been exposed too. We do a little research just so we know what to expect but we would never not explore a place because access is bad. We just have to prepare a little bit more in those cases. 

Why do you like to travel with your kids?

I love the family connection time away from routine. I love that kids open our eyes to so much difference and can often be the icebreakers in meeting new people. I guess I like the escape it can create and the challenging situations you can discover.

What's a memorable travel experience you've had with your family?

Without doubt it was traveling to Cambodia. When we arrived at Siem Reap airport we had 70 kids welcoming us with big signs! Cooper had recently done a fundraiser for New Hope Cambodia and raised $15,000 and we were going to see the Kindergarten.

What are the easiest and hardest parts about traveling with your kids?

The easiest part is they all love to be out exploring. They are pretty fierce and driven so we can push them in different situations. The hardest part is trying to find activities to suit all ages and interests and abilities. Often we will divide and conquer. Andrew will take Cooper and I’ll have the younger two.

What are your favorite travel resources? 

I love family travel blogs and Lonely Planet Kids.

What are three items you never leave home without?

My DSLR, Travel insurance, and chewing gum.

What's your next travel adventure?

We are spending Easter exploring the North Island of New Zealand.

You can learn more about their family travels on Instagram at @smithsholidayroad and you can read more about their family online at www.smithsholidayroad.com

**All pictures are property of @smithsholidayroad and cannot be used without permission**

Travel Family Spotlight: Lizzie Hinckley Davis

One of my favorite things about social media is meeting other families that love to travel and adventure. I like to dig in and find out what works for them and what draws their family to want to be "on the go".  I decided to start a little series here on the blog where we spotlight other travel families. We hope you will enjoy the first installment of the "Travel Family Spotlight" series.

I "met" Lizzie Hinckley Davis via Instagram earlier this year and was drawn in by how effortlessly she appears to adventure all over the East Coast with her boys (ages 4 and 1). One weekend she is in Cape Cod, then New York City, then Tennessee, and then the next thing you know she is on a trans-Atlantic flight to London. Lizzie adventures non-stop with her kids around Manhattan and the East Coast and, honestly, I'm always a little bit jealous of all of the fun she is having. I hope you'll enjoy getting to know her a little bit better though our interview below.

Tell us a little bit about your family.
My husband and I are coming up on our 10 year anniversary.  We have two young boys, James and Harrison, ages 4 and 1.  Motherhood is my greatest joy and I love being a "Boy Mom." I am grateful that their desire to adventure, travel, and explore matches up with my own.  They are my best travel buddies.

Where do you live? Have you moved around at all?
We live in Connecticut, in a quaint New England seaside town only 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan.  We feel like this area really has it all.  We have the city close enough to take advantage of the good but we skip the inconvenience of living in it.  We take our kids to the Met Museum, Central Park, and can go to a Broadway show for date night.  Then back here in Connecticut we have all the perks of the suburbs: great schools, community feel, clean, safe and a yard.  We even have beaches that we frequent along the Long Island Sound.   We feel like our kids are city kids (they know how to hail a taxi), beach kids (they feel at home in the sand), and suburb kids, which is a unique combination.  Plus there are so many wonderful cities and places to explore within driving distance.  We feel like we found the perfect place for us.

How often do you travel with your family? Is it local travel or international?
I have an insatiable desire to see and experience so many places so we try to travel as often as possible.  We love to travel internationally when we can, but most of our travel is within driving distance.  We feel like we can drive in any direction and find a new wonderful place to explore.  We've done road trips to Boston, Maine, Vermont, Lake Winnipesaukee, Philadelphia, Martha's Vineyard, The Hamptons, Washington DC, and Rhode Island.  Since being on the East Coast, we've also explored Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, The Caribbean, The Carolinas, and Canada, which are all short flights away.  Our most recent trip as a family was to London!  We try to get go West when we can too - we love California, Utah, and Mexico. 

You do a lot of local adventures and activities with your kids around the NYC area. How do you find all of the fun activities you plan? What motivates you to get out so much and explore where you live?
We love to explore New York City and I am always amazed that even after 9 years of living out here I am still discovering new things to do and see.  The city energizes me and keeps me coming back for more.  I think one thing that continues to motivate me to get out and explore is seeing the city through my kids eyes.  I've experienced NYC in many different ways - as a young professional, as a young couple, as a girls night out, etc. - but my favorite New York is with kids.  Discovering the parks, playgrounds, activities, museums, and food through my kids eyes keeps it fresh and entertaining.  Just walking down the street in New York City is exciting for kids: "truck! bus! taxi! bike! hot dog stand! tall building! pigeons!" they yell.  It's joyful!

Why do you like to travel with your kids?
Traveling with kids is often a lot of work.  But I love to do it because they are only little once.  I can travel the world my whole life but I only get to introduce it to their little personalities for a short time.  On our recent trip to London, we decided to focus on only two things: Kid Friendly and Christmas activities.  Our itinerary was very different than if just my husband and I had come alone, but doing these new activities showed me a whole different side of London that I would never have known about without kids.  Having our kids with us changed the trip but it changed it for the better. 

What's a memorable travel experience you've had with your family?
One of our most memorable travel experiences as a family was on our recent trip to London. Since we were focused on kid friendly and Christmas activities, we found one unique activity we could all do and enjoy: ice skate on the mote at the Tower of London.  Normally you can't even walk down into the mote so being able to ice skate on it was a real treat.  The kids absolutely loved it as did we.  The views of the Tower were so pretty.  This experience was way more memorable than just taking the tour!

What are the easiest and hardest parts about traveling with young kids?
One of the easiest things about traveling with kids is that they typically adjust better than I do!  I was worried about the actual travel and time difference when heading to London, but I had a much harder time than the kids.  My 4 year old fell asleep before the plane took off and woke up after it landed.  I almost felt bad for him since he had been so excited about riding on such a big airplane!  But not bad enough to wake him up, of course.  One of the hardest things about just adjusting expectations.  For us we realized this in a big way on our second day in London.  We were staying near Westminster Abbey, so I insisted we go inside since my husband had never seen it.  Of course we wanted to read every plaque and listen to the audio guide.  But the crowds were thick, the doors and hallways were not made for a double stroller, and every time our one year old cried it echoed through the whole place!  We finally realized we had to bag it.  It was after that experience that we talked about focusing on only kid friendly and Christmas activities from that point on.  Once we made that adjustment to the itinerary (but mostly in our minds) the trip went really smoothly and we all had the best time. 

What are your favorite travel resources?
I read lots of websites and blogs, follow NYC instagram accounts, etc. but the best recommendations always come from other moms who are out exploring the city with their kids.  There is nothing like a mom-to-mom recommendation! 

What are three items you never leave home without?
My calendar & notebook.  I find that if I have a tangible notebook with me I'm more likely to write down my thoughts or experiences.  And my calendar goes right along with that because you never know when you might need to plan another trip or fun activity!

Books for the kids.  I always bring books for the kids and pull them out when we get caught in a long line, or when they lose interest at a museum.  Books never fail me!

Water & snacks.  Me and my little travelers are only about as good as how many snacks we have.  If someone's hungry, no one is happy!  #Hangry

What's your next travel adventure?
Our next travel adventure is the Turks and Caicos Islands!  It will be our second time there with the kids, and we can't wait to go back to this family-friendly and sunny beach!

You can learn more about Lizzie and her family's travels on Instagram at @lizziehdavis.

**All pictures were taken by Lizzie Hinckley Davis and cannot be used without permission except photo at Metropolitan Museum of Art of Lizzie and boys is by Amanda Petersen @_amandapetersen**

10 Holiday Gift Ideas for Travel Families

Almost everyone has someone in their family who loves to travel -- or wishes they traveled more. So, for this holiday season, we've got some ideas for you. Most of our gift ideas would be great for families but they could definitely work for anyone you know who likes to travel. We've tried to include a few ideas that are simple and easy and then a few ideas that might require a little bit more thought. We'd love to hear what your favorite travel-themed gifts have been over the years.

1. Try the World subscription box. One of our favorite gifts last year was a Try the World subscription box. This subscription box gives you the opportunity to discover the world through food. Every month you receive a themed box with a selection of curated foods. You also get tips on how to recreate a cultural experience at home. So far our girls have loved trying the variety of foods from Argentina, Brazil, Japan, France, and Italy. There are a variety of gift options you can pick from.

2. Scratch off World Map. This is on our personal "want" list because it is a fun and interactive way for our family to see which countries we have visited while also learning more about geography and the world. We love to pull out maps and discuss where we are traveling next, so this way we could also scratch off countries as we visit them.

3. Travel Books or Magazine subscriptions. We can't even begin to tell you all of our favorite travel books. We do post about some of them on our Instagram account every once in a while. Some of our favorite travel series are the Lonely Planet books for kids. You could also gift a subscription to National Geographic Kids or Time for Kids. Another idea might be to buy children's books about countries or cities that you know a family is traveling to. For example, for our younger kids we've loved the "Madeline" book series and the M. Sasek "This Is" book series.

4. Travel accessories. Almost everyone can use new travel accessories and they are especially great stocking stuffers. Think headphones, eye masks, toiletry kits, passport holders, luggage scales, stroller/car seat bags, luggage tags, etc. You really can't go wrong with any kind of big or little travel accessory because these kinds of things usually get worn out over time. Some bigger travel accessories for families might include travel booster seats, travel highchairs, strollers, a portable crib, baby carriers, etc.

5. Packing Cubes. If you follow us on Instagram you know that our packing cubes have been life changing. It is so much easier to pack and unpack when you use packing cubes. We used packing cubes on our Europe trip this summer as we hopped around to four different cities in three weeks and they made me actually enjoy (gasp!) packing. We especially love our TravelWise packing cubes and if you are new to packing cubes we'd recommend checking out the 5 piece weekender set that they sell on Amazon (it is usually a pretty good deal).

6. The Gift of an Experience or a Class. For the family that has everything, or for families who don't want to accumulate too much stuff, you can give the gift of experience. A few years ago my brother and his wife signed me and my husband up for a chocolate tasting class at Tony Caputo's in Salt Lake City. Caputo's offers the largest selection of premium chocolate in the United States. We learned about chocolates from around the world and got to taste them. It was an awesome experience. Some other ideas might be: a museum pass, zoo pass, subway or train tickets, tickets to a local show or event, airplane mileage, etc.

7. Travel games for the whole family. This is one of the simplest gifts you can give any travel family -- games! You can find travel size games at any big box store or online. Some of our favorites are UNO, Monopoly, Connect Four, Battleship, checkers, and just regular old playing cards. We even have a jumbo checkerboard that folds up easily that we like to travel with.

8. Boogie Boards. Last Christmas our kids received LCD writing tablets from their grandparents. My kids use these tablets on the airplane, road trips, at church, and in restaurants -- basically everywhere. These tablets let them use their imagination to write and draw and they are small and portable. If you do buy these for a friend, pick up an extra pen or two because they sometimes get lost...

9. Chatbooks subscription. Most people who travel also like to keep track of the memories they are making. We post a lot of pictures to Facebook and Instagram of our adventures. But, we also like to keep a photo album of our travels. Since we don't have the patience or time to create and design our on photo books, we've relied heavily on Chatbooks. Chatbooks is a subscription service that helps you create photo books automatically from your Instagram feed and you can also upload additional images from Facebook or your camera. For $8 per book, we think it is an amazing deal. So far we are on volume 56 of our Chatbooks. Our kids like to regularly pull out our stack of books and glance through them to re-live our trips and memories.

10. Ring Doorbell. For any tech-obsessed travel families, you should check out the Ring doorbell. This doorbell basically lets you answer your door from anywhere using your Smart Phone. It has wide angled HD video, smart motion detection, and cloud recording. They say, "it’s like you’re home even when you’re not". So if you travel a lot, you might want to add this to your Christmas wish list asap.

Did we miss anything you have on your Christmas wish list? Have you given any amazing gifts in the past to travel families? We'd love to hear your ideas. 

Travel to Cuba (Legally) as a U.S. Citizen

Since September, Americans have been able to fly direct to some cities in Cuba from Florida but just this week several airlines launched direct flights from locations throughout the U.S. to the city of Havana for the first time in 55 years. By the end of the year there should be flights from Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, and four from Florida — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa. Of the 20 daily nonstop flights allowed to Havana, 14 will be from Florida, home to the U.S.'s largest population of Cuban Americans. We had the opportunity to travel to Cuba in November and we have gotten a lot of questions about how we did it because there are still certain restrictions on travel to Cuba for U.S. citizens. So, I thought I'd put together some details here and then I'll add some additional posts later about where we stayed and what we did.

Understanding the U.S. Travel Restrictions
This next part is going to sound confusing -- but I promise I will help you understand it. In order to travel to Cuba as an American citizen you must fit into one of the 12 categories of legal travel. These categories include: educational activities and people-to-people travel, professional research or meetings, public performances/clinics/exhibitions, religious activities, humanitarian projects, journalistic activities, family visits, activities by private foundations/organizations, support for the Cuban people, exportation/importation of technologies, certain export transactions for private use, and official U.S. or foreign business. I don't know about you, but when I read this long vague list I was a bit overwhelmed and still didn't see how I could legally travel to Cuba.

From everything we read and researched we found out that the best way to travel to Cuba legally (if you are an individual that wants to see the country and learn about the people and not just sit on a beach or snorkel) is to choose the category "educational activities and people-to-people travel". If you want to just go to Cuba to sit on a beach you can't (legally) -- and, honestly, there are a lot of other countries where you can do that. The reason you should want to go to Cuba now is to experience the rich culture that has been basically hidden from Americans for the past 50+ years and interact with the people. In 2014 Obama made it legal for Americans to plan their own "people-to-people" trips to Cuba. Before that you had to go to Cuba with an organized group if you want to go.

The other requirement within the "educational activities and people-to-people" travel category is that you have a full-time travel itinerary planned. But, this doesn't mean you need to join an organized tour or plan every little thing out ahead of time. We prepared a list ahead of time of the things we wanted to do in the country in case we were asked any questions as we were leaving the country (we weren't) and I kept a list on my phone of everything we did every day in Cuba in case we were asked to show proof of our full-time itinerary on the way back into the U.S. (we weren't). We did hear from some people that U.S. Immigration/Customs agents sometimes randomly select people to interview but we didn't notice that happening on our flight. All in all, in terms of immigration/customs we didn't really notice anything different traveling between the U.S. and Cuba than we did when we traveled between the U.S. and France (aside from the much shorter Cuba flight!)

Booking Airplane Travel and Visas
As of this week it looks like JetBlue, American, United, and Delta all have flights to Cuba from the U.S. When you book your airline tickets online the airline will ask you which legal travel category you fit within. You choose which one of the above categories works for you. Also, if you book an Airbnb apartment they will make you check a box as you book a rental that affirms you are traveling within one of the legal categories. When you arrive at the airport the airline will have you fill out paperwork to get a Cuban travel visa. You will also note your category on this paperwork and sign it. The visa we got from JetBlue cost $50 per person. Some websites say you will need medical insurance but we were never asked for any. We did have to fill out paperwork as we entered the country about our health status, but that was it.

Cuban Requirements
When you enter Cuba you will fill out immigration/customs paperwork. We had to write really fast because our flight was so short (the pilot said we'd be up in the air for about 20 minutes). When we landed we went through the usual border patrol that you have when you enter any country. We handed them our passports and they asked us questions. The main questions the Cuban authorities asked us as we entered the country had to do with where we were staying and for how long, who we were traveling with, and what we were doing in the country. I printed out our hostal addresses so it was easier to just show them where we were staying. Each interview was fairly short -- although I was still a little nervous at first because it is a Communist country. After the brief interview we went through metal detectors and then you could collect your baggage (we only brought carry-ons). We also turned in our health questionnaire as we left the airport. Aside from all that, entering Cuba was easy, and the really exciting part was exploring the country.

Money and Internet/Phones
Just in the last few months the U.S. phone companies and credit card companies have been formalizing relationships in Cuba. Some phone carriers have roaming plans now for Cuba. We have AT&T and T-mobile and our phones worked but the pricing was still very high. We did not use the roaming and relied heavily on WiFi. Right now WiFi is still hard to find in Cuba, a lot of parks have it but not very many other places. We laughed every time we found a huge group of Cubans and tourists standing together using their phones in a plaza or park because it was a sign WiFi was near. Usage and access to internet is controlled by the government. So government run hotels also had WiFi. In order to use the WiFi throughout the country you had to buy a ETECSA WiFi card (it took us a while to find some because a lot of places run out of them). We bought 1 hour WiFi cards throughout our trip.

None of our credit cards or debit cards worked in Cuba so we had to plan ahead and bring cash. We just brought American cash and then changed it periodically for the Cuban convertible peso (CUC). 

Why Travel to Cuba Now?
To visit Cuba is to step back in time. It doesn't have a lot of commercialization yet, unlike other Caribbean countries, and it has a vibrant culture, beautiful art scene, amazing architecture, and it seems a little bit mysterious. A lot of people we talked to want to travel to Cuba now before Starbucks and McDonald's are on every corner and some of the authentic charm is gone. Some people we visited with think Cuba will stay the same for another 50 years. I think the unknown is making Cuba a hot spot to travel to right now. So, if you've been nervous about going or confused about how to make it work, feel free to contact us with any questions via our Contact Us page. We hope our tips above help and make it seem a little bit easier to understand. You can do it. Anyone can go. Now is the time to plan and make it happen if you want to see the real Cuba. 

Gratitude When Traveling

It's not a secret that travel can be stressful, especially when children are involved.  But if you add in children, security checkpoints, long airplane flights, and a ton of holiday travelers it can make for pure craziness. There are long lines at security, people are in a hurry, and there are just more people traveling -- often people who don't travel very much. I usually find myself extra frustrated when I'm traveling during this season, but one way that I've found to combat my attitude is to focus on gratitude.

I'll admit, gratitude isn't always easy when you are traveling. For example, I'm not usually grateful when TSA makes me unwrap my Christmas presents or wants to do an extra search of my backpack or sippy cups. And I'm not always nice. But, last year we did an experiment with our kids that involved kindness and gratitude while traveling that really worked and improved our perspective too.

On one of our travel days last year we decided that we were going to help make people's day better. As we arrived at the airport we started with smiling at everyone and thanking the baggage handlers and Delta counter workers as they took care of our suitcases and printed our tickets. Next, we made sure to be gracious and thankful towards our friends at TSA. While we wandered the airport waiting to board, we looked for opportunities to open doors for people and to make friendly comments.

As we boarded the plane to get ready for our journey we went out of our way to be kind towards the flight attendants and to let them know how grateful we are for what they do. We also looked around for other families on the plane and gave them encouragement and looks of sympathy when they had children cry or act out. We had decided that on our travel day we were going to be the passengers that made everyone's day better, not worse. And, not surprisingly, in return we had a better overall travel experience.

When you spend your time focused on the negative things around you it can be hard to see anything positive. But, when you look for things to be grateful for AND you take the time to let people know that you are grateful for them it can be life changing -- for everyone.

So, as you travel this holiday season, I hope you'll look for ways to show gratitude. There are opportunities all around us.