Twelve Tips to Help Survive the Family Holiday

Taking the kids away on a family holiday can be a daunting task for parents - single or otherwise. It can also be fun – but a bit of thought and preparation can help avoid some of the common pitfalls. How do you decide where to go? Do you decide by destination, the package, or the price?

These days, the first consideration for most parents is finding a price to fit the dwindling holiday budget.

Should you choose a beach holiday, a lakeside holiday, or the countryside? Switching each year is a great way to give children a healthy exposure to each environment.

Twelve Tips

1. Pay with credit cards for the extra protection they afford in case of airline or other travel company failure.
   
2. If you are not dependent on budget carriers or a package and can choose your airline, check with SeatGuru.com for the best seating layouts for your family needs.
   
3. Pack over-the-counter medications for common ailments to avoid dealing with foreign doctors and pharmacies. Alternatively, ask your chemist to recommend a list of medicines and write down the names they are known by in your destination country.
   
4. Have plenty of disposable wipes on hand. You’ll find a million uses for them – cleaning sticky fingers and faces, spilled food and drink, wiping toilet seats…
   
5. Pack travel-size washing powder and a spray stain remover to avoid having to purchase new clothes when accidents strike
   
6. Take plenty of ziplock-type bags in different sizes - for all sorts of uses
   
7. A lightweight throw or your beach wrap or sarong can double up as a clean space for babies and toddlers to stretch out. Plan journeys and flights during nap times or at night if possible
   
8. Pack snacks and drinks (small juice boxes with straws are a good option). Avoid anything that will squash, make a mess, go off, or melt (i.e. chocolate)
   
9. If your airline doesn’t offer special boarding for families, or you are flying with the budget airlines, it’s worth paying for priority boarding. Otherwise, consider sending one adult ahead to grab the seats and stow the carry-on luggage before you arrive with the kids. (Reins will keep adventurous toddlers from wandering off).
   
10. Pack favourite toys for the flight and times of travel boredom. A good strategy is to pack ‘new’ toys to surprise and distract them during inevitable airborne or earthly tantrums. If all else fails have their favourite sweets on standby! Bribery isn’t a good thing though - so save it for emergencies! Older kids and teenagers will be happy with their electronic gadgets. Audio books are a good option for all ages – not just those who can’t read yet.
    
11. Pack comfortable clothes that can be layered for changing temperatures. Stretchy clothing will be easier to manage for trips to the loo and nappy changes. Shoes that slip on or with Velcro fastenings are great for all ages, especially for removal during airport security.
    
12. Online forums designed for parents travelling with children are a great way to pick up tips from those who have gone before you – and learnt their lessons the hard way!

Dubai Holiday Magic

Not so long ago Dubai was just a small fishing village where pearls were harvested from the sea – but since the discovery of oil that has all changed – and how! It is fast becoming a major attraction to rival Disneyland or Las Vegas. So, why not end the family dispute about your holiday destination and head for Dubai… Where beach lovers can tan, shoppers can shop, golfers can golf, and skiers and boarders can hit the slopes – all at the same time! Skiing… In the desert? Yes, the gigantic Mall of the Emirates houses Ski Dubai, the Middle East’s first indoor ski area – and it is huge. The skiing is on real snow with beginner runs, a black run, a Freestyle Zone for boarders and a snow park for kids and kidults to throw snowballs and play. What a great way to escape the desert heat for a while. No wonder they call it the ‘Coolest thing to do in Dubai’.

If a tight budget means setting aside cash for just one annual holiday, family squabbles may rage over a winter versus a summer trip. As children, many of us listened in wide-eyed wonder to stories about Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad and fantasized about mysterious and exotic, far-away lands. Why not bring those childhood fantasies to life and let Dubai’s sparkling magic fill your holiday order - and keep everyone happy!

The skyline of modern Dubai graces glossy magazines and promotions everywhere as it continues to gain in popularity. The huge ‘sail’ of the impressive 321m high Burj Al Arab hotel (currently the tallest building in the world) is a fascinating sight by day or night - whether or not you can afford its all-suite luxury with chauffeur driven Rolls Royce and butlers. If you look, the minarets and mosques are still there in Dubai, but are fast being overrun by the new resorts and high-rise buildings.

Arguably, many are calling Dubai the eighth wonder of the world… Well, the man-made Palm Islands are visible from space! At the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah it’s possible to stay in an underwater suite, have a dolphin experience, or slide through shark-infested waters. The three billion sq.ft. Dubailand, currently under construction, will include a host of amazing new attractions, including a Six Flags theme park.

An overview of the wonders of Dubai and the surrounding area can be seen with an aerial sightseeing tour by helicopter, hot-air balloon or seaplane. The Wild Wadi waterpark, located between the Burj Al Arab and the famous, moated, beachside Jumeirah Beach Hotel has 30 exciting rides and slides, including an 80 kms/hr downhill rush on one 33 metre-high slide.

If you can’t live without your daily Starbucks then head for the Ibn Battuta Mall and top up with your favourite leaded or unleaded brew before heading for the shops. The selection of shopping experiences is mind-boggling, including the Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Wafi City Mall and Deira City Center Mall. A trip to the Gold Souk is a must, but make sure you know the price of gold and are prepared to haggle. Bombard your senses with exotic aromas at the Spice Souk. For some culture head for the Dubai Museum, located within an old fort. There is even camel racing during the day and thoroughbred racing at night.

A desert safari by 4WD over the dunes of the Arabian Desert is sure to be on the list of the fit and adventurous. Some tours take in a Bedouin meal experience, camel ride, belly dancer, and even a go at smoking the traditional hubbly-bubbly pipe.

Nature lovers are not forgotten in Dubai, with the oldest zoo on the Arabian Peninsula housing many species including desert fox, gazelle and flamingo, as well as many endangered species like Siberian tigers, Arabian wolves, wild cats, oryx, chimpanzee and gorillas. Dubai is also on the bird migration path between Europe, Africa and Asia so spring and autumn are great times to visit for bird-watchers.

Golfers will be teed off if they miss the Emirates Golf Club and home of the famous Dubai Desert Classic. But there are many other courses, including The Montgomerie and The Tiger Woods Dubai - a private golf resort and hotel with a course designed by the master himself.

Dubai is setting a lot of firsts, among them construction of an 80-storey luxury, ever-changing skyscraper featuring 80 apartments which rotate individually by each floor on a central column, powered by wind turbines and due for completion by 2010.

Whether or not Dubai is your idea of the perfect holiday, it almost seems believable that stories of the Arabian Nights were a prophecy which has come true. With so much to do you may not know where to start, but, as in most major cities today, it’s easy to explore the city with a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. A double-decker bus may not be quite as other-worldly as a magic carpet but at least it’s air-condtioned!

Cherish Peace

Well we can’t be accused of sitting around doing nothing can we! It was another early start this morning so after a quick shower in the water tank amenities we were off towards Port Arthur.

The drive is just over an hour and the journey is easy in the early morning with little traffic on the roads.

Port Arthur is a place steeped in history, a convict prison from the 1800’s which has always created curiosity for tourists even in the early days. Sadly it was also the scene of a violent massacre in 1996 where a number of people were killed by a lone gunman. On our travels around Australia we’ve heard of ‘conspiracy theories’ about the later event and how the place is so eerie and unbalanced that people couldn’t stay overnight anywhere and just wanted to leave. We travel with an open mind and just hope to leave here wiser and more respectful.

Your admission ticket to the site includes a short cruise in the morning, two days access and a convict card so you can play the ‘Lottery of Life’. What with our

Just a fraction of the Port Arthur site

Ghost Tour booking for 9pm tonight it’s going to be a very long day trip.

The guided tour gets our day off to a good start, Sue is very informative, very jolly and we’re amazed at the sight in front of us. Today Port Arthur looks stunningly beautiful, the sort of place you would expect to find an ancient castle not a convict prison.

Sue gives us a great welcome as she describes the history to the site, a timber getting camp established in 1830 which was turned into a penitentiary in 1833 for repeat offenders transported to Van Diemans land from mainly Ireland and England, the regime was seen as a machine to grind rogues honest. It was a harsh place with cruel methods and experiments of what came to be known as asylums in later years. There was a whole community that lived within the settlement; military men with their wives and children, doctors, chaplains and hospital staff making up the total of 2000 people by 1840. With the exception of the convicts held in the Separate Prison, they worked producing, amongst other items, ships, shoes, clothing and bells. As we walk past the ruins of

Separate Prison cell

the main prison, Sue is busily building us a picture of the discipline and punishment regimes that the inmates were ruled by. The prisoners rations of salt meat and flour were subsidised by additional vegetables they grew in their own gardens. In 1833 Governor Arthur confiscated the gardens stating that they were a privilege the prisoners should not be afforded, outbreaks of scurvy soon followed. One of the toughest jobs in the early days of the penitentiary was working in the flourmill and granary during 1845. Powered in two ways, a water wheel and a by convicts who drove the treadmill. It was a dreaded punishment which could result in severe injury and exhaustion.

136 separate cells at the bottom of the main prison were for those convicts who had to be separated from others, men under a heavy sentence. On the top floor dormitory, 480 better behaved prisoners were housed but in 1849 a new threat was established for them all. The Separate Prison was built further up the hill with an intention to ‘change the evil tendencies of the convicts minds’.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Words alone are hard to paint an accurate picture of what being part of the Olympic spirit is like in your own country. Take me for example; I meant to be here for a few days and ended up staying for the entire duration of the Olympics! I caught Olympic fever and just went with it! And what an experience it was!

Vancouver was electric. I have never seen that much enthusiasm to be Canadian and to revel in the festive cheer for two weeks non-stop. Every day the streets were jam-packed and the mood was over the top joyous! That infectious spirit gripped everyone and the atmosphere was amazing. Canada is a hockey mad country, but try experiencing it in Vancouver after Canada has won a hockey game! Whaaa.

Despite what it seemed like on the internet, it really wasn’t hard to get tickets to many of the events (obviously not hockey or speed skating…) but events with general admission standing room there were plenty of tickets to be found at face value from scalpers. I ended up going to see a few cross country ski races, some downhill skiing and slalom races and the highlight of all,

mini-IMG 0413

watching our Canadian women win gold and silver in bobsled! It was incredible thing to be a part of.

I spent half my time in Whistler and half in Vancouver. It was cool to see the two sides, Vancouver being over the top crazy busy while Whistler, still busy but in its mellower village feel. It was also much easier to get into events such as all the free concerts in Whistler compared to the Vancouver gongshow. Travelling around was also a pleasure in Whistler vs. Vancouver. But the feel of Vancouver is something that you just can’t describe in words. You had to be there my friend!

It was quite the spectacle, the weather was amazing and you really couldn’t ask for a better fairy tale ending for Canada at its own Olympics. Just look for yourself as my pictures will describe another thousand words.

Sochi 2014 here I come!