Travel with Kids in Southeast Asia – Page 10 – Journeys Within Tour Company

If you could pick just one item for traveling with your child what would it be???

Posted by April on April 10, 2009 | 2 Comments

If I were told I could only bring one thing with me to keep my 2 year old entertained while traveling what would it be? Simple, it would be his Thomas the Tank Engine blanket. His blanket has been used as a pillow, a fort, a playground, a sanitary place to sit and eat, a familiar item from home – and so much more. I honestly do not travel ANYWHERE without this blanket!!

blanket

If you want to have some fun and are looking for a project you and your little one can do together, why not make your own special blanket? I did! (feel free to insert Wanna Be Traveling Martha Stewart notation here). It was really easy and Gavin just loves it. If you want to know how to easily make a blanket of your own here ya go.

1. Take your munchkin with you to your local fabric store, ask the clerk to show you where their character fabric panels are and let your kiddo pick out their favorite one. I personally LOVED the Disney Princess white fabric, which allowed your little one to actually color their own blanket ** like this one here http://www.thefabricfinder.com/SpringsDisneyPrincess5716ToileD.JPG ** but Gavin was not interested in the princesses.

2. Get some batting to put in between your two fabric pieces.

3. Sew them all together and you are done! (See I told you it was easy!)

Now that I’ve shared the one item I would bring with me while traveling with my toddler, I’d love to hear what your one item would be. Comment away!!

For more info on traveling with kids check out http://journeyswithinblog.com/category/travel-with-kids/… Read more »

Phuket through the years

Posted by Andrea on April 1, 2009 (Updated: 2011-02-10) | Leave a comment

We first went to Phuket in 2003 and fell in love with the people, the food and the beaches. I think backpacking through a place first gives you a very different impression and we have loved Phuket from basic to top-of-the-line.

brandon-and-andrea-at-the-bamboo-shack-phuket

We returned to Phuket in 2004 to get married. We had an amazing week with our best friends going kayaking, taking a cooking class, going diving and just enjoying adventures. At the end of the week we got married on Kata Nui Beach at the Kata Thani Beach Resort, it was magical.

good-luck-lanterns1 — Good luck lanterns

Callie and I headed to Phuket in 2006 when I was pregnant with Couper. We had a fun girls only trip and enjoyed the beach and just hanging out.

In 2007 John Walsh, then our JWOC director, ran the Phuket marathon and we all went to cheer him on. It was a fun time in Phuket with Barrett, our then Bangkok director, John, Brandon, Callie and by then, Couper!

Cool Callie

Couper in his sand hole The family in Phuket June 2007 And here we are today. We loved our 2009 Phuket adventure. The Amari Hotel was great and it was nice to be back in paradise… At the Amari in Phuket, 2009 … Read more »

Ready, Set, Oh No!

Posted by Andrea on March 25, 2009 (Updated: 2011-02-10) | Leave a comment

Callie woke up on Sunday saying she was itchy. Strange since mosqitos haven’t been bad, but not that unusual. Then she got itchier…there were no mosquitos, we looked again, yup, chicken pox. The day before our family vacation was to begin and she had chicken pox!

I frantically wrote my nurse friend (thank you Ellie) between the tears while doing searches on chicken pox… “chicken pox on vacation”, “chicken pox and swimming”, “chicken pox and the beach”. They all said the same thing..my kid, and therefore I, was going to be miserable for 10 to 12 days. Perfect.

We thought about cancelling. Then we remembered that despite our advice to guests we didn’t have travel insurance. We decided n0t to cancel. I wrote my mom. She explained that she had taken us camping when we had the chicken pox and hadn’t my kids been vaccinated? Ummm, yes. M0re internet searches… Turns out if you’ve been vaccinated you can still get them, but usually a milder case. We left our vacation hopes and dreams on that internet search and packed our bags.

The next morning we set off. Callie and I listened to music in the back – Sound of Music, High School Musical and Grease…we sang along.

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Couper just ate for three straight hours.

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It wasn’t great, but we told Callie and Couper to be thankful because this is how we got to Cambodia before they were born…

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We arrived at the border and Callie crossed into Thailand in style…

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One more very long car ride and we made it to Bangkok where Callie settled in no problem. She very astutely said, “Now we’re the guest in this hotel, like people the guest at our house”…

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The next morning was root canal morning…not as bad as I had expected and it cost $100…I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I love Bangkok!!

This morning we were up at 530am and checking in by 7.

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Couper was all business despite still being in his pj’s

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We are now happily ensconsed at the Amari Coral Beach Reosrt, Phuket. Our room has an ocean view and the pool is the perfect temperature!

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Oh, and the chicken pox are gone, so here’s to rough starts and happy endings. We love Phuket thiiiiis much…

dscn0824 … Read more »

Airport Fun and Games

Posted by April on March 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

I love playing games. Cards, board games, silly games – whatever! With my love of good-clean-fun, I made up this fun scavenger hunt to keep myself, my husband and our 2-1/2 year old entertained during long layovers and the dreaded delay.

Game: Airport Scavenger Hunt

Number of players: 2 +

Rules: You can only claim two “found” items from one store.

*for example: you can’t go into one store and check off everything from your list – although if you ask my husband he may debate you on this one, but it’s my game so my rules :).

You can count a store as a found item, plus two items inside the store.

People or characters listed can be checked off if you find any reference to them – picture, writing, product etc.

Options: You can make this a “photo” scavenger hunt and require a picture of you + the found item (makes for some funny pictures)

Sample List of Things to Find:

Dora the Explorer

Sees Candy

The exact same souvenir in 3 different stores

Rental Car

Mini Spoon

Sushi Bar

Thomas the Tank Engine

Key Chain with departure city

Ice Cream

Donald Duck

Coffee

Barack Obama

Internet Access

Place to get a massage

Diamond Ring… Read more »

Traveling without the kids? Leave them a photobook, while you're away.

Posted by April on March 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

This weekend I went to visit my sister. While I was there my son Gavin went over to her book shelf and pulled out a little book that I had made him when my husband and I took our first extended trip away from him. Gavin brought me the book and said, “Mommy, I want to read this”. So we sat on the couch, snuggled up and read the book.

Page one read “Mommy and Daddy are going on a trip, they love and miss Gavin. Today they are going on an airplane, they will be home in 1,2,3,4,5,6 days. Can you count to 6?”. On the other side of the page was a picture of our little family by an airplane, and a map of where we were going. I continued reading the book, each page was a day from our itinerary. I had pulled images from Google of the places we were going and mixed it with family pictures from past travels. It was so fun to see Gavin so happy with his book so long after we had returned, and it was so fun for me to reminisce on each day from our fun getaway. As we finished the book I thought that this would be something other moms would enjoy making for their kiddos at home. Not only is it something to share with your kids, but it’s a pre-made keepsake from your vacation. (I’m sure we all know after you get back from vacation the time to sit down and make a scrapbook is hard to find!)

I’ve copied a little example from my book below which I made at shutterfly.com (for about $30.00). For me, I liked using repetition in the wording, and had each page start with the same phrase “Mommy and Daddy are going on a trip, they love and miss Gavin. Today they are going ___________, they will be home in ______ days. Can you count to __?” This made thinking of the wording easy, and it helped Gavin to understand the words on the page, it also made it a keepsake reminder of each day from my trip.

I hope you enjoy making your keepsake, and if you have any examples or other fun traveling tips, please feel free to comment and share.

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