March Break madness: Submit your tips for surviving a family trip

A vacation is not a vacation without the right attitude. With kids, you always have to expect the unexpected. Don't pack your day with too many activities/goals. Just relax, laugh and roll with it (and an extra change of clothes and lots of diapers and wipes would help, too).

question for you: my kid hates - i mean HATES - getting on a plane because of what the altitude change does to her ears. she's 8, and she starts crying even before take off. anything i can do to calm her down and make the ear popping more comfortable?

I travelled to Disney Land by car, three days driving. I let my 12 year old son check off the towns and cities along the way, I had him write down locations that were interesting. He learned how to use a map and read street directions and signs. we started early in the morning and stopped around 3 pm at a motel, with a pool and the kids can play, I can rest/relax.

Going to California, I think the smartest thing she did (beside helping us find good activities etc), was her response to bickering. She calmly pulled over to the side of the road, and simply would not drive until we were more civilized. Brilliant.

Not an easy thing to do but we have been very successful in travelling early in the day. We pack our vehicle the night before with the majority of what we are taking, get to sleep and then wake up and leave by about 4am. Less traffic on the road, cooler in the summer and the kids(wife too) usually sleep for hours, the best so far has been five hours. The trips we take that can amount to half of the day drive. Very peaceful for me as the driver, I finally get to listen to my music. By the time the crew starts to wake up we can stop for fuel, breakfast, bathroom breaks etc. Once again not an easy thing to do but I am a morning person. Happy trails.

I've traveled extensively with my kids - now 6, 4 & 2. I usually drive or fly after supper and they fall asleep. If that's not an option, I try to have activities for them that break out into 20 minute increments - colouring books, small toys, books, games etc. I usually help them pack their back packs and we make the transition through the airport etc. an adventure. I like to show them the plane through the window and they love the action on the ground. Trains are really great for kids - you can walk around. Also, we bring a lot of snacks - good stuff with a few treats. Most important for us - three of everything - no sibling fights about who got what. At the destination it's all about managed transition. Let them know ahead of time when you're moving on and keep them excited about the activities by having them have a say. I don't like to over schedule and this allows them the time to dawdle - it is a vacation after all. When we can't dawdle (flight, etc.) We make it a "mission" to get there and try to leave a lot of time. Overall, I've had a great time traveling with the kids with minimal crying or other unpleasantness.

Best advice we ever received for travelling with kids was to give each child a roll of quarters as you leave the yard. Ground rules-- each bicker, nag, 'are we there yet?' is a loss of $.25. Arguing with the driver was $1 loss. Whatever they had left at arrival of destination was their spending money. Kids quickly learned to entertain themselves and be polite.

After reading my column on the weekend about the power of travelling with kids, a reader asked if I could recommend particular trips for her, her husband and their three-year-old daughter.
My response: I think, at that age, any trip that interests you is the right one. The magic, with young kids (say, below 8) is simply taking them - everything from Canadian parks to Russian cities have been grand, and enhanced by the presence of our boys.
That said, the first place we took Bodi as an infant was Buenos Aires - and the first one always remains special! Several of our friends have also taken wee babes to Argentina - and had wonderful experiences. A memory we all seem to share: Sitting down to 8 pm dinner at one of the best steak houses in town (there are many). Empty of course, since no one in Argentina goes out before midnight. And if wonderful steak and Malbec is not enough, the cook emerges with a handful of dough which entertains our youngster for a while. Later, my wife and I are left alone while the dotting staff take our youngster into the kitchen to bake his creations, and bang on pots and pans for a while.