I love to plan and organize family vacations, but in 2007 I was somewhat dissatisfied with some of the choices I had made for flights and accommodation. So, this year, I thought I would try something new:
- Start early in the planning process.
- Read guidebooks so that I’m better informed before I start booking the trip.
- Check out family travel oriented websites (which I’ve never done before).
Since we’re planning to travel (to Tuscany) in June 2008 and I’m already starting my research, I think I can check off #1.
I picked up copies of Lonely Planet – Tuscany and Frommer’s – Tuscany and Umbria. Check for #2.
Most helpfully, in the introduction to the Frommer’s book, family travel is covered in the section on “Special Needs†travel. They have a list of websites which seem to be mentioned in all of their books under Tips for Families. So I diligently opened each of the referenced websites and was unpleasantly under-whelmed at the organization and content on these sites.
Frommer’s recommends:
- http://www.familytravelforum.com/
- http://www.familytravelnetwork.com
- http://www.travelwithyourkids.com/
- http://www.thefamilytravelfiles.com/
Beth Whitman, knowing I was considering a family travel blog, forwarded the following websites to me:
- http://www.familytravelguides.com/
- http://www.sixintheworld.com/ –> this is one family’s story of their Round-The-World trip. Definitely worth checking out if you’re any way interested in adventuring off-the-beaten-path with your kids, but not really a site intended for use in planning or booking family travel.
In general, on each of these websites, once I found an article on a topic which interested me, the content itself was acceptable, sometimes using articles syndicated from well-known authors. However, each of these sites except www.travelwithyourkids.com was difficult to use. The content was not well organized, making it difficult to find information. I’ll continue in my next post with a summary review of each of these family travel-planning websites …
I recently had the same concerns and started my own Family Travel website, http://FamilyTravelPlanet.com. Hopefully, the material will be organized under “Destination Hot Picks” and easy to navigate for family travelers. I have two young boys and am the Family Travel Expert for VisitFlorida.com as well, so I am hoping that my expertise can be shared with other parents who need to simplify family travel with pre-planning trip tips and tricks of the trade!
Jennifer Michaels
Adding you to my blogroll now! Excellent. I’m glad you found me.