Family

Crazy times in Washington D.C.

April 3, 2008 By Elizabeth

A few years ago, while my husband was working in Baltimore, I took the boys to see him and we planned a day to visit Washington, D.C. Now, there are plenty of things to do in Washington DC, and when you look on a map, it looks like everything is just a short distance away. So rather than take the car in and deal with traffic and parking, we took a train from a station near the hotel in Baltimore and got off at what looked like a station near the Lincoln Memorial. It was about 90 degrees that day.

We started walking. And walking. And sweating. And complaining to each other about how hot it was and how much further was it and how much longer did we have to walk? By the time we got to the Memorial, we were already exhausted, and our day had just started! After freshening up in the bathroom and consulting the map again, we set off for the Smithsonian and the Museum of Natural History. There was an ice cream cart on the way, and we happily slurped down ice cold Popsicles and three dollar bottles of water.

We kept walking, and walking, although under the shade of trees at least, and finally made it to the Museum. We spent several hours there, then walked back to another (much closer) train station, went back to Baltimore, and collapsed on the beds of our air conditioned room. It was absolutely CRAZY of us not to just take the car, or get on one of those handy BUS TOURS that take you all over DC and you just hop on and off.

Are you looking for family vacation ideas that might involve planning your trip a little more carefully? Trusted Tours & Attractions has a newsletter you can sign up for, and they will email you about great deals on trips to cities all over the country. They have deals on trips to museums, bus tours, and places like the San Diego zoo.

Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win an IPOD Nano! This offer ended Monday, March 31st, 2008, but check the site to see if it’s been extended.

Filed Under: Family

A plane, a taxi, and Trusted Tours

March 20, 2008 By Elizabeth

When my family and I go on vacation, I generally plan everything very carefully. I know where we need to go, when we need to be there, how long it will take, and it usually works out just fine. Except for the summer that we went to California to visit my sister and go to Disneyland and Legoland-that time my planning didn’t work out as well.

Our flight home left from John Wayne airport in Orange County, and I assumed it would take us about thirty minutes to drive there from our hotel. Problem was, the distance we needed to drive would have taken thirty minutes had we been in Michigan traffic, only we were in California traffic, which turns out to be a whole lot different. The drive ended up taking over an hour, and by the time we got to the airport, dropped off the rental car and got through security, we had missed our plane.

To say I was freaked out would be a huge understatement. I must have looked sufficiently panicked to the Northwest Gate agent, because he got on the phone and next thing we knew, he had transferred our tickets at no charge to another flight-leaving from LAX in Los Angeles! Fortunately for us, while the plane had been boarded and the doors locked, the baggage had not yet been loaded, so we were able to get our bags pulled off and brought back to us in the airport. I waited in the ticketing area while my husband went to find a taxi that would take us to LAX-oh, and Northwest also gave us taxi vouchers for a free ride to the airport. Since then, my husband and I have been fiercely loyal to Northwest for caring so much about us.

Anyway, I saw my husband motioning to me from outside that he had found a taxi, so I put our suitcases on a cart and went out to load them in. And then realized that I had left the taxi voucher AND OUR TICKETS on top of the counter in ticketing. I ran faster than I ever have back inside, sure that I would get there to find that someone had stolen our tickets and the voucher. But the heavens were smiling down on me that day, and they were right where I left them. We all piled into the taxi, drove to LAX, and made our flight home on time. And so far, that has been the CRAZIEST thing that has ever happened to me on vacation!

So, why am I telling you this? Because Trusted Tours & Attractions wants you to know that if you like to plan your vacations like I do, their site can show you plenty of things to do in Los Angeles (in case you ever miss a plane or anything). The site has lots of great family vacation ideas in cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

Have you always wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? Trusted Tours & Attractions has tickets available right from their site, as well as deals on lots of other great museums and sightseeing tours. Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win an IPOD Nano! Offer ends Monday, March 31st, 2008.