Please welcome my guest post for this month, Ruth, from Mom’s Musings. She is a mother of 5 and an avid camper. I don’t know how she does it! Ruth wrote a such great article on her Hubpages that I asked her to share it here.

Thanks Ruth! I hope you enjoy the great outdoors this long weekend!

I live in Canada, and our winters can be pretty harsh…One day, I hope to be able to travel during the winter and soak up the sun in some remote, island location:-)

I know that you can find websites galore listing the top destinations for snowbirds, so this list is going to be different!

I am going to share MY dream destinations…dreaming is good…

I am a big dreamer and truly believe that I will visit all of these destinations in my lifetime!!

The List…

Please welcome my guest writer for this month, Tara, from Tara’s View of the World. She is currently driving across Canada for her summer vacation but before that She managed to write a great article on her Hubpages, “Family Vacations: 10 Common Travel Mistakes to Avoid” that I asked her to share here on my Travel Blog.

Thanks Tara.

1. Passport Issues

Be sure both you and your children have valid passports. Every American citizen, including infants, needs a valid passport for travel outside of the USA. Some destinations require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after you arrive so be sure to get your passport renewal done in plenty of time. If you are in a hurry companies like RushMyPassport.com can get it done in as little as 24 hours.

2. Not getting adequate travel insurance

It may not seem like a huge deal but if something goes wrong and someone gets sick or injured it is vital to make sure you are covered. 

3. Being overly ambitious with activity plans

When you are planning your activities be sure to keep in mind how old your children are and how much they can feasibly do – and ENJOY- in one day. Try not to become so focused on what to DO that you forget to just BE with your family. Trying to squish too much into one day will just make the kids overtired which will make mom and dad grumpy and then no one is having any fun!

4. Booking connecting flights too close together

Expect delays. Make sure you give your family enough time to navigate plane transfers with ease. It is never fun to be running through the airport dragging screaming kids along behind you because you don’t want to miss your next flight. 

5. Having unrealistic expectations

Traveling with kids is not the same as traveling without them- both can be equally enjoyable but your expectations will need to be adjusted. If you expect your family vacation to be perfect you will be disappointed. Remember that travel can be tough on kids and parents alike. Allow for things like jet lag and adjusting to your new surroundings.

Parents often dream of complete relaxation and enjoying the easy life on vacation- perfect, non-bickering, non-whining children who will peacefully play while mom and dad relax on the beach. And while that could happen… for most of us our kids will still be our kids even if we are on a beach in Mexico. If they aren’t perfect at home then they won’t be perfect on vacation either. The parenting never stops. Enjoy a family vacation for what it is- a departure from the normal. But don’t expect your children to magically change personalities on the flight over.

6. Not making reservations

Don’t be disappointed by arriving somewhere and having nowhere to stay. Some attractions suggest reserving a spot beforehand so be sure to check ahead of time and make the appropriate arrangements.

7. Packing too heavy

Many parents fall into the trap of feeling like they have to bring everything they own to be prepared for every potential circumstance. Carefully plan what to pack keeping in mind the amenities located in your destination. Only pack what you will really need! Your child will probably not need 13 different toys, 18 pairs of pants, 36 t-shirts, and 22 bedtime stories for your 7 day trip. Be careful not to pack too many clothes because the vast majority of places will have laundry facilities if you need them.

8. Forgetting to take the camera or the video camera

You will want a way to record all your fabulous family adventures!

9. Spending too much money

Make a budget before you go and be sure to stick to it! Don’t fall into the trap of believing you have to purchase your children an expensive souvenir from every single attraction you visit. Souvenirs are great but don’t overspend your budget on things that won’t really matter in 6 months.

10. Forgetting to relax

Take time to rest and simply enjoy being with your family. Soak up your surroundings, forget about your troubles and focus on living in the moment.

WOW, this has been quite the week. I’ve met some incredible bloggers through the Ultimate Blog Party and tweeps along the way! My hubby is happy this day has come… I might have overdid it just a bit…. I’m already planning for next years! Thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom and Happy Panda Baby for all that you did!

I will be pulling the winner of the $150 Canadian Tire gift card tonight (April 17) and announcing the winner on Monday (April 19), I need a day off!

So to celebrate the last few hours… I’ve decided to double your entries!!

To get 2 entries for the price of 1… all you need to do is… DIGG, Stumble, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook… basically share my sponsors site, Canadian Tire Travel Insurance then go onto my original party post where the giveaway is listed and leave 2 comments for each time you share it. First leave me comment telling me what you did and leave the link, for the 2nd comment just say this is my bonus entry for ________ (doing what you did). *1 Tweet Max*

How does that sound?!

We might as well go out with a BANG!!

Here are the links you’ll need again:

Canadian Tire Travel Insurance – http://www.travel-insurance-worldwide.ca/

My Party Post – http://canada-travel-worldwide.com/2010/04/ultimate-blog-party-2010/

This contest is open to Canadian residents only. All entries will be verified. The winner will be contacted and will have 48 hrs to respond before another entry will be drawn. Random.org will decide the winner.

Natural Beauty

My hubby took this last summer –

he took a group of teenages camping in Temagami for a week.

Did you want to participate in Wordless Wednesday?

Click the link and add your blog to their Mr Linky.

I have been preparing for the Ultimate Blog Party for a couple of weeks now. Today alone I’ve been huddled over my laptop making sure my posts are all ready to go. This is very exciting for me on a few points. I’m participating through two blogs this year. My own personal family blog has been going since January 2006 and this blog… which I’ve dedicated to all things related to travel… I only started last summer. So it’s still a baby.

me with 2 angels

The blog has been many years – if not a decade in the making. After coming home from backpacking through Europe with my husband and nearly newborn almost 11 years ago. A friend of mine had a travel blog in which she was documenting all her travels. She is an artist and moved over to Spain and a few other areas. I wish she still had that blog, it was so wonderful to live vicariously through her… anyway, my point was… She encouraged me way back then to write about my journeys on the road. Traveling is great – traveling with kids is a whole other adventure! So Sara… this blog was dedicated to you.

Jumping for Joy

We pretty much take our kids with us where ever we go. We’ve flown with them dozens of times, usually always back to British Columbia, where I was born and raised. We’ve also sent 2 of our kids, the oldest mind you, on their own flights … all by themselves to visit my family in BC. My parents love to travel as well and have taken half my kids to Disneyland, the other two have to wait a little bit longer. They’ve had quite the life so far and they’re only 11, 9, 7 and 4!

It’s not just to exotic places like Vancouver do we travel as a family. We’ve taken many road trips through the United States. We’ve even driven across the country in an RV. That was the trip I probably turned grey afterwards… 4 small children, my hubby, me and my father-in-law… all inside a 24′ motor-home for over 2 weeks. Did I mention the youngest was 5 weeks old at the time?!

Ah… sweet memories! That’s what I’ll be sharing on this blog. I hope you stick around – take a look through my past journeys and come back again real soon!

If that doesn’t entice you… MAYBE THIS WILL!!

I am giving away a couple of prizes on my family blog, over on 5 Minutes for Mom prize page and on here! I’m in the giving mood!!

How would you like a chance to WIN……

A $150 Canadian Tire Gift Card

*Sponsored by the lovely folks at Canadian Tire Travel Insurance, where they have several insurance companies compete for your travel insurance, and when they compete, you win! Contact Canadian Tire Travel Insurance for a free quote today! This prize is available to those living in Canada only.

There are 2 very simple ways to enter:

1. Become a fan of Canada Travels on Facebook
1. Become a fan of Shasher’s Life on Facebook

AND / OR

2. Follow on me at Canada Travels on Twitter
2. Follow me at Shasher’s Life on Twitter

*If you do both please leave 4 separate comments so you can have 4 entries!*

For additional entries you can do ANY or ALL of the following – but be sure to LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each thing that you do – each time you do it!:

* Follow this blog on Networked Blogs.
* Follow Shasher’s Life blog on Networked Blogs.
* Add my travel blog button to your site or add me to your blogroll and leave me a link.
* Follow me on Twitter and tweet this giveaway (as many times as you like – leave a comment on this post for each time you do!) Use @thiscdntravels in your tweet if you would like me to retweet for you.
* Share this giveaway on your blog, Facebook or another social networking site of your choosing
* Share each of the fan pages with your friends! Just tell us which pages you shared and how many people you shared it with.
* Subscribe via Email (on my right sidebar).
* Stumble, digg, tag, bookmark, vote up, thumbs up, favourite, or anything else you can think to do for this prize’s sponsor, Canadian Tire Travel Insurance or this giveaway on this site (as many as you like, just come back to tell me what you’ve done).

This giveaway is open to readers in Canada ONLY. I will choose a winner on April 17, 2010. Don’t forget to leave a link to YOUR party post in your comment (if you are participating) and A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU in case you win!

*Winner will be chosen with random.org and notified by email. Winner will have 48 hours to reply to my email or I will have to choose a new winner.

*BTW, my boss is giving away an iPad to a Facebook fan! How cool is that?!! Become a fan today for a chance to win!! You can follow White Cloud Marketing on Twitter too.

* Domino’s Canada is giving away Free Coke, a 40″ Samsung LCD TV & a PS3! You simply need to click the link to  fill out their online form! You can enter and share on Twitter too! *Canada only*

* Voice on the Go is giving away free long-distance for a month to everyone who fills out their form. They’re welcoming #UBP10 participants with a grand prize of free long-distance for a year! Follow them on Twitter or Facebook. *Open to Canada and the US*

* Select Taste, a corporate food catering company in the Greater Toronto Area, is offering a 25% discount and you could win a corporate lunch at your office for 10! Follow them on Facebook. *Open to Mississauga, Etobicoke, Oakville and Burlington, Ontario ONLY*

* Cottages of Paradise Point, a vacation rental in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, is giving away an iPAD to one of their Facebook fans, join their fan page to win!! The draw will take place on June 30th. *This is open to the US and Canada*

——————————————————————————————————-

*This giveaway is now closed.  A winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced on Monday. Thank you to all who entered. It was extremely overwhelming to my inbox!! For my very first giveaway… not bad EH?!**

I worked for a major cruise line for 4 wonderful summers, I loved my job! What wasn’t to like?! Qualifications for the job included: smiling all day long, meeting and helping thousands of people get on and off the cruise ships going to and from Alaska. This was next to the lowest paid job I’d ever had… but it was FUN!

I enjoyed watching people leave and come back from their vacations, to many of these people – this was their dream vacation. To me… a cruise isn’t that. I need more space and more time on the land!

The older I get, the more luxurious my dreams get!! Don’t you find that?!

A friend of mine recently sent me information about a luxury resort in Barbados. The moment I clicked onto their site… I started to drool… It’s going on my bucket list for sure!! How can you NOT want to go here?!

They even have an incredible video!! I’ve been replaying it all day as my 4 children and the puppy run circles around me and it’s thundering and lighting and cold outside!!

I am participating on my family blog in the Ultimate Blog Party that 5 Minutes for Mom is putting on April 9-16 and so I thought I should do the same thing here. A friend of mine works for Canadian Tire Travel Insurance and he heard about my participation in the blog party.  So the other day, he asked those in charge… if they’d sponsor a giveaway prize!!! So what a better place to give it away than on my travel blog, right?!! Makes sense eh?!

Yeah!! During the UBP week, you could enter to win something from Canadian Tire Travel Insurance! We’re working on the final details right now. **UPDATE** he managed to get me a $150 Canadian Tire gift card to giveaway!!!!!** I can’t wait to start the blog party, it’s going to consume a lot of me for the week!!!

I’m sooooo excited!!

If you want to participate on your own blog, there’s still time to do it and click to 5 Minutes for Mom’s instructions page on what details you should know!

Thought this may be an appropriate blog for this contest to be on, being that this is a travel blog, and this is a travel contest:-)

Canadian Tire Travel Insurance is giving you the chance to win this awesome, weeklong cruise for 4. All you have to do to enter is ask for a free travel insurance quote.  BUT, you have to hurry, the contest ends March 31st!!

That is it!! So, click this link for Travel Insurance.

Click the red button and follow the directions for the quote.

Then after you have done that, there is another button at the top of the form for your entry, it has a picture of a cruise ship.

Easy entry, cool prize!!

Top 10 Reasons to buy Travel Insurance

There are hundreds of reasons that could force you to seek emergency medical treatment while travelling or that could cause you to cancel your trip or return home early.

To demonstrate the importance of purchasing travel insurance, here are some examples of what could go wrong during your trip:

1. You’re involved in an accident and adequate medical treatment is not available. Who will help arrange and pay for medical evacuation?
2. It’s your first visit to Europe, and your passport and wallet are stolen. Where do you turn to for emergency cash, and how will you get your passport replaced?
3. Your bag was lost with your medication inside. You need help locating your bag as soon as possible and having your emergency prescription filled.
4. You suffer from a leg fracture while skiing in Colorado. Who will pay for your $45,000 bill?
5. Your cruiseline, airline or tour operator goes bankrupt. Who will pay for your non-refundable expenses? Who will help get you to your destination?
6. You’re walking down a street in Prague and twist your ankle. Who can help you find an English-speaking physician?
7. If an immediate family member becomes seriously ill and you must interrup your trip, who will help you coordinate your return?
8. You arrive in Bermuda but your luggage doesn’t. If it’s lost, who will help you find it? If it’s delayed, who will pay for your necessities? If it’s stolen, who will pay to replace it?
9. You are retired and fall down the stairs in Florida and end up with a hip fracture. Who will pay for your medical bills and coordinate your air ambulance evacuation so you can be cared for in your province of residence?
10. Your baggage’s arrived at the airport but are severaly damaged. Who do you turn to for compensation? (or your bags are lost, like mine were!)

Have you ever been in any of these predicaments? I have! Thankfully when I was in the hospital in the US, I had purchased Travel Insurance. Same thing when the airline lost my bags!! I hear of all the horror stories how people just “popped” across the line for a quick trip, got injured or sick – ended up in a US hospital – and now have an astronomical bill outstanding. The average cost of a night in an American Hospital is between $5,000 – $10,000 A NIGHT!!!

My niece, who recently moved to the US, told me a story of a friend of hers, Canadians who were visiting friends in the US, she was pregnant and went into labour early. They had not purchased travel insurance prior to leaving Canada… the bill… was $165,000!! How in the world does a young couple in their early 20’s, just starting out in life with a new child, ever pay that back?!

It’s not worth traveling without insurance. It’s like playing Russian Roulette!!

Trust me, it’s not worth the risk!

I am happy to welcome Ruth from Mom’s Musings to my blog today to talk about a lesson learned by her son on his last mission’s trip…

My son, 13 at the time, went on a mission’s trip (humanitarian aide) to Guyana with a church group affiliated with our church.  They had a great time helping a local church in Georgetown. One of their tasks was to fix up the building and the outside washroom.  My son was up on ladders taking down spider webs and painting, they were digging pathways and filling them with cement. 

But the highlight of the trip was handing out the shoes.  Our church collected 3 suitcases full of shoes for the boys to bring with them.  Shoes are very expensive there and when we asked the pastor at the church in Guyana what they could use the most – they said, “Shoes”.  So the team dumped the shoes and sorted them all, then the kids and adults came in to “shop” for a new pair.  My son said he couldn’t believe how fast they disappeared!!  It didn’t matter if a pair of shoes were pink, if it fit a boy, he was thrilled to have them.  Really makes you think about our life of over abundance here in North America!! 

 

Their trip wasn’t only to work – they also got to enjoy some time travelling and experiencing the country.  They went to the ocean and played in the waves and the sand. They went on a boat to a small village where they played in the trees and enjoyed meeting some new people, and they went to a market.  This is where my son had an experience that he would not forget – and we have pictures to remember it!!  He knows that he is allergic to cats, but usually it is just a small respiratory problem.  Well… this particular “market” cat that they found and he befriended… must have had more then just “cat” on him. 

 

My son petted the cat and a short while later ended up with what the locals called “pink eye”.  His eye had swollen so much that he couldn’t open the lid anymore.  He looked like he walked out of a boxing match!!  I am glad that he didn’t need to use the travel medical insurance that we had bought for him.  It seemed to clear up over the next day.  I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if I had gotten a phone call back here at home, saying that my son was in the local Guyanese Hospital!!  We learned through all this that it is better to be prepared for sure always have your insurance, you never know when you may encounter a market cat!!

Thank you Ruth for sharing with us your son’s experience. Hopefully he’s learned his lesson! Ruth writes a blog about her life, her passions and her 5 amazing children, it’s called Mom’s Musings. You’re welcome to go check her out, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind!