Travel Safely: 10 Things Every Mom Should Know

Featured in Spring 2013 issue of Multiplicty Magazine

Written by: Natasha T. D’Anna

Spring gently creeping upon us and holiday vacations scheduled for everyone, safety is a number one factor for all families. For moms traveling alone or with your little ones, here are ten things that should be considered while making your travel plans. Let’s start with some at-home planning, before leaving for your vacation.

1. Whether you are a mom traveling alone or with your family, make sure that you do the most research that you can on the location where you will be staying, and it’s surrounding areas. It is always best to stay in a highly populated tourist area close to the city, especially when traveling out of the country. The best places to stay for boarding are usually on popular travel websites, such as Trip Advisor and Travelocity, where you can find other customers’ comments and ratings. If you are traveling alone, leave all forwarding information regarding the name of your hotel, your check in and check-out time, and keep in touch with friends and family back home on a predetermined schedule.
2. Always pack your necessities in your carry-on luggage or an easy to access bag if traveling by car (i.e. passports, driver’s license, itinerary, credit cards, favorite snacks, items for the kids, chargers, and means of communication, etc.). Also, make sure that you begin your journey with a fully charged phone or laptop, and at least $200 in cash.
3. Instead of copying your passport and photo ID, scan and email all passports to yourself.
4. If traveling with your own car, have your mechanic check your oil, make sure your wipers are working, along with all major lights. Most importantly, fill up your tank with gas. Always pay attention to your gas tank along with speedometer on roads with heavy traffic. When your tank is a quarter full, begin to look for a popular, well-lit area to get gas. Don’t wait until the last minute and take the chance of having to drive into a dark, unfamiliar area looking for gas.
5. When traveling with children that are still using a carseat, always bring their own. You are familiar with the history of your child’s carseat, but not that of a borrowed one that may have possibly been in an accident. This safety precaution applies to cribs, as well. You are better off bringing a pack-and-play with you. If you plan to fly,the safety precaution is to make sure that the crib that the hotel is providing is in great condition, is not broken, is a popular brand, and has not been recalled….

…Read tips 6-10 on page 40 & 41 of the Spring 2013 issue of Multiplicity Magazine. Also check out our Great Family Getaways on page 26 for planning a great family vacation!

Natasha T. D’Anna is a mom of wonderful twin girls, an educator, a self-published writer of a children’s book titled Twindollicious, and a blogger; she enjoys blogging about all things twin-like and fashion for kids. You can also find her on facebook.

Taking the Twinnies on Their First Vacation?

So we’ve had some great vacation tips this week from 5 different families! I hope that is has given you the courage to plan your next family vacation in the coming months. Weather it’s to the Grandparent’s house, the beach, the woods or a boat- we could all use a change of scenery every once in a while.

A very important thing to think about when you are going somewhere new is child safety. At home, you have child safety measures in place and your children learn their boundaries…. Eventually! But it is especially hard when you have multiples who have a knack for thinking of every way under the sun to get into mischief. I know the rare moments when I have only one child, I can tell them no and they listen whole lot faster. When I have both of them, I tell one child “no,” then the other child has to do it too to see if they will get the same reaction. The outlets, the cabinets, the toilet, the door knob! This can be frustrating, but it’s the stage we’re at and I know they will grow out of it- (I hope. Please tell me they will grow out of it!!)

So what can you do to make your life a little easier when you go visit different places with little ones? Well one smart mom came up with an answer. She realized that temporary  childproofing was a must when traveling with small children so she came up with Travel Tot.

The Travel-Tot Childproofing Kit is an affordable, temporary all-in-one childproofing kit that is easy to apply and completely reusable.  What makes this product different than anything else on the market is that it is truly temporary and completely non-damaging to furniture yet provides the necessary items for childproofing on the go.  Childproofing your home only protects your children when you’re at home.   It can be stressful enough to travel with small children, take along some portable peace of mind! Travel-Tot keeps your family as “safe as home, wherever you roam”. – Wendy Bergstrand – Creator of Travel-Tot

The components of the portable child proofing kit require no tools and can be installed in about 5 minutes; they go on strong, and come off clean! Items included are: finger pinch guard, electrical outlet plug covers, foam corner guards, door knob cover, cord wind-up, sliding door lock, cabinet lock, multi-purpose straps, water thermometer, bandages, forehead thermometer, and “shhh, Travel-Tot sleeping” door hanger.

Travel-Tot also has a great check list and tips here for preparing to take your babies on their first vacation! Print it out

This weekend Twiniversity is giving away 2 Travel-Tot Kits!! One to a Twiniversity member and one to a Twiniversity Gold member. Winners will be chosen Monday morning. Enter below and have happy travels!

Giveaway has been closed

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