This is one of the websites recommended by Frommer’s. You need to become a member to access most of the content on this website. For me, that’s a distraction that I’d rather not have to deal with. Membership costs $3.95 (1 month) – $38 (1 year). The benefits of membership include: information for planning a trip; travel agent; deals; bulletin boards (www.familytravelboards.com); counselors; newsletter; discounts; open forum: tidbits/leaders from member articles & boards for non-members to view.

It may be that the owners of this website are changing their opinion on using membership to constrain access to their content: I found a beta site www.tinytravelers.net which seemed to include a lot of the same content, but without requiring paid membership.

In terms of the content , there are lots of articles on a wide variety of travel and family-travel related topics on this website which are organized into different categories within “Planning” and “Resources”. However, for example, the “Family Preferences/Ideas for … “, an option under “Planning” on the main page, seems at first as if it’s a useful tool for trip ideas suited to a specific age group. But, the page of “ideas” is long and unwieldy making it difficult to find what you’re looking for.

The Search box also seems useful at first. However, the search results include both Deals and Articles. The results are displayed as a long list without any organization – except that Deals are listed first. This is a nuisance if the topic you’re searching on (e.g. Spain) returns many related Deals and/or Articles.Some of the articles on this website are written by travel writers who have never traveled with kids (Airplane Survival Kit); some who have (“Daddy, When Are We Going Home?”); and some are obviously sourced through services (Packing Tips).

For me, the authentic voice of an experienced wander-parent was much more interesting than either of the other two kinds of articles. While I was poking around this website, I noticed that my browser was blocking pop-ups constantly. if I didn’t have a blocker, this would have really distracted from the usability of the website.

Share and Enjoy

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:

1. Start early in the planning process.
2. Read guidebooks so that I’m better informed before I start booking the trip.
3. 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 …

Share and Enjoy