Happy Earth Day!

As we focus on ways to go green in our lives at home don't forget that you can stay green on vacation as well! Make an effort to look for sustainable tourism, buy carbon offsets for your air or car travel and make sure you mind your trash to leave the destinations as beautiful as you found them.
According to the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, the region boasts the largest concentration of Green Globe certified resorts in the world. http://www.cha-cast.com/GGproperties.html
I am particularly impressed at the efforts of Sandals and Beaches properties, which are all Green Globe certified.
http://www.beaches.com/general/greenglobe.cfm
http://www.sandals.com/general/greenglobe.cfm

When choosing shore excursions, try to look for activities that do not harm the very environment you are enjoying. Some areas do not encourage jet skis or water skiing to protect the fragile coral reefs and sea life. The Riviera Maya area near Cancun offers many excellent activities outside of Chichen Itza that showcase the lush jungle and archaeological sites surrounding the resorts. (Xel-Ha, Tulum, Xcaret) There's so much more than partying!

Buy local products and craft souvenirs whenever possible. Sure those 3/$10 t-shirts from China are tempting, but something unique will bring back great memories of your trip later.

Eat local food. OK, this may be difficult for some, but at least stay away from MacDonald's. Just as we should support local farmers at home, support those in the countries you're visiting. (Where do you think those patties are coming from when you don't see any cows?) I bet you'll be surprised at how many fruits and vegetable varieties seem exotic to us, but are staples in other countries...and you just might like it.

It seems to be a little harder to cruise green, but Holland America has made a commitment to do what they can from using low flow toilets to non-hazardous cleaning products.

If you have some other tips, or tourism companies that you feel do a great job protecting the environment comment and let us know!

Family Friendly Travel

As you're starting to look forward to summer break and family vacations take a look at some trips you may not have thought of. The first thing that usually pops up for families with young children is Disney world or other amusement parks. I do sell Disney packages as well, so I'm certainly not bashing them, but many parents have not thought of bring their kids to the Caribbean. When you add up the cost of food and everything you'll spend, most of the time it's comparable to an all-inclusive or cruise...and there are no line mazes!
Most cruises, resorts and large hotels offer daily activity programs for children. The particulars will vary, but in general most will have qualified staff supervising and leading children in activities related to the destination. They'll have fun learning about new animals, the ocean and other cultures all while you kick back with a nice tropical cocktail. The price of these is most often included with your rate.
Some of my favorite kid's programs include:

Norwegian and Carnival Cruise Lines: Their program starts with 2 year olds and they change diapers! The other major lines do not. Kids are divided up into age appropriate groups to keep everyone interested.

Dreams Resorts: Their program runs until 10 p.m. for kids 3-12.
Movies on the beach and rock climbing are also fun for everyone. This summer some of their properties are offering kids free!

Beaches Resorts: They have partnered with Sesame Street and Crayola offering shows, character visits and activities the young ones are sure to love. The nursery is even available with US certified nannies for babies. For the older set they offer 'night clubs' and the Scratch DJ Academy.

These are just a few of the kid-friendly vacations out there. If you have a specific hotel or destination in mind let me know.


While you will have a blast once you reach your destination I do recommend packing plenty of patience in your carry on. About the only thing TSA is consistent on is being annoying. I hate to say that because I do have a friend who works there, but airport security can be daunting for a parent.
Check here for current regulations http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/index.shtm

Arrive early and pack lightly, but be prepared. I usually stock up on some dollar store toys before a trip. That keeps my son busy with things he hasn't seen before. I might even bring some snacks he doesn't usually have for when times get rough. Flight attendants are usually great at offering extra plane snacks to kids too. Your stroller will have to go on the x-ray machine, so keep that in mind when deciding between the umbrella and the big one. If you have a little one, just use a carrier instead. (I've had a patapum and a maya wrap) I also found one of those document holders that goes around your neck invaluble for the 10 times you get asked for your ID and tickets. No need to fumble in your pockets or back while trying to keep a hand on a little one.

Atlanta has a mini toddler playground in the Delta concourse to burn off some energy before your flight.
Make sure they are drinking something during takeoff and landing and bring Tylenol just in case they still get an earache. My 3 year old had been on lots of flights but has only had one big meltdown. Just like in everyday life with babies and toddlers sometimes it's unavoidable and you just have to grin and bear it. I have noticed that those with small children who were obviously nervous and very anxious had kids that just cried louder the more they shushed them. Figure out what it is and the meltdown will probably last a few minutes instead of an hour. Most people are understanding and won't give you the evil eye for the entire trip like I feared.

When it Rains it Pours!

The clouds are finally parting here after almost a week of rainy weather. The weather just echoed my mood with much of my time devoted to solving communication problems. Pouring meaning I had issues with snail mail and e-mail at the same time! It's times like these that make me afraid of our dependence on computers for just about everything.
I completely stopped recieving mail and after a long talk with the post office found out someone mistakenly directed my mail in the postal system computers 'return to sender'! I had no idea it was that easy to comletely screw up someone's mail. Apparently things don't even go to your local office before being rerouted anymore. It's all computerized. A wrong keystroke by an employee entering someone else's forwarding or mail stop order can send your things clear across the country without you ever knowing the difference. I had no idea that the postal system was even that advanced. Reminds me of that scene in the movie Eagle Eye where the packages were rerouted by the big computer. I thought only FED EX and UPS tried to be efficient =) Who knew the government could too!
My ISP, AT&T decided to have a problem communicating with other servers at the same time this week. In particular I could not send or recieve anything from hotmail addresses. This then spread to emails coming from GSG as well as my personal address. As of today it looks like all of the problems are fixed. Now I'm going to enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

If you sent me anything recently that was not replied to or recieved any returned mail please let me know. Most likely I never got it. I always respond to e-mails within 24 hours or you'll get an away message.