Lonely Planet Travel with Children (How to) [Paperback]

Brigitte Barta (Author), Celeste Brash (Author), Fritz Burke (Author), Monique Choy (Author), Jayne D'Arcy (Author), Charlotte Hindle (Author), Katharina Kane (Author), Virginia Maxwell (Author), Korina Miller (Author), Amelia Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Series: How to | Publication Date: July 1, 2009

Our team of parent-authors gives you ideas and advice about every aspect of traveling with your kids, from planning to packing to getting along on the road - and what to do when things go wrong.

Tips on choosing the right kind of trip for your family
How to stay healthy, keep safe and keep them happy
Special advice for solo parents and parents with teenagers
Travel games to while away long car, train or plane trips

With Hundreds of ideas for where to stay and what to do in the world's best family-friendly destinations

Toy shopping in Tokyo
Swimming with dolphins at Kaikoura, New Zealand
Climbing the rock towers of Meteora, Greece
Counting mountains and spotting bears in the Canadian Rockies
Riding an ostrich at Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 5 edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740595025
• ISBN-13: 978-1740595025
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Living on a remote coral atoll for five years with no phone, plumbing and limited solar electricity prevented Celeste from getting an early start in her writing career - although it sounds idyllic, washing laundry by hand, digging your own well and sustenance fishing takes a big chunk out of one's day. She now lives in a small village on Tahiti, complete with flushing toilet and an Internet connection, and her travel articles have magically crossed the seas to appear in newspapers and magazines including the LA Times and Islands Magazine. She has contributed to nearly 20 Lonely Planet guidebooks and her award winning travel narratives have been published in Travelers' Tales anthologies. Having travelled to some 40 countries, Celeste speaks fluent French as well as conversational Spanish, Thai and Indonesian. In her spare time she can be found singing with a French Tahitian choral group, Tahitian dancing or distance swimming in Tahiti's spectacular lagoon. You can find Celeste on the web at www.celestebrash.com or read her blog at htpp://coconutradio.blogspot.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Book ... If You're New To This, October 15, 2009

By 

Arnim Zola - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Travel with Children (How to) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

If you're a new to traveling with kids, this book provides a good overview. If you've made several trips before, you really don't need this book.

My own personal experience has been flying with kids from NY to Hawaii (10+ hours each way) and from NY to Hong Kong (15+ hours each way). I was hoping for additional tips to make things smoother in flight but there wasn't anything earth shattering here.

The book is broken down into a few key sections:
- Trip Preparation (52 pages, 8 of which is dedicated to air travel specifically)
- On the Road (20 pages on routines while traveling)
- Types of Holidays (21 page overview on camping, resorts, tours, etc)
- Destinations (155 pages on different cities to visit around the world with about 1/2 page dedicated to each city)
- Travel Games (4 pages)

So it's not a "complete resource" as the full book title claims. More than 1/2 of the book is a travel guide of various cities. And each city is only given 1/2 page of coverage. I would suggest buying a few travel books focusing on the cities that you are considering instead. (There are many travel destination books with a focus on kids. And most travel books have at least a small section for kids). I feel this book could have been a lot better if it used the ;ast half of the book for more travel tips rather than an overview of cities around the world.

GOOD POINTS
===========
+ Good overview of air travel with kids (if you've never done it before). Also consider the CARES, Child Aviation Restraint System harness in place of lugging a car seat. You can buy this harness for kids 2+ and it's FAA approved for use in flight. But this wasn't mentioned in the book.
+ Good tips on trip preparation like immunizations, medical kits, etc.

BAD POINTS
==========
- This book is more of a destination guide and each destination is only covered with 1/2 page of information on average.
- Not really needed if you've traveled with kids (successfully) before

SUMMARY
========
I love Lonely Planet guides and this was not the among the best. It's good for an overview for the inexperienced. It is not the "complete resource" that it claims to be.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth it for new parents, decent for experienced travelers..., October 7, 2009

By 

Y. R. Wu "The will to win is nothing without ... (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Travel with Children (How to) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Summary: An excellent resource for new parents (5 stars) who haven't traveled with small kids before. A decent value for more experienced parents (3 stars). Targeted at the "Lonely Planet" type - those who prefer traveling off the beaten path.

I have to admit I was somewhat jaded when I received this book to review from Amazon Vine - My wife and I have taken two toddlers (including a terrible two) to Taiwan and had three kids five and under to the Virgin Islands, Utah, Puerto Rico, Maine, and on planes more times than we could count. What could this book tell me I hadn't already lived?

For one, more than half the book (~185 of 275 pages) is dedicated to telling you which places are good for given activities (Beach, camping, cities, adventure, etc) while being kid friendly. It also gives a few pages on travel games you can play to keep the kids occupied. There is also advice on older children, up to teenagers.

I admit that much of the advice in he first two sections ("Before you go" and "on the road") seemed very basic, but I expected that given my experience with our kids. There are some good tips on how to address issues like schoolwork while you're away. Very little is rocket science, but it's a thorough resource for covering all the bases.

We have several extensive travel checklists - one for overnight road trips, others for week long trips by plane. A sample checklist for different scenarios would have been a good add.

In fact, I'd recommend anyone traveling with kids adopt this approach - it's not like you can easily go get the right kind of pacifier or lovey at 11 am in a foreign country....

Full disclosure: I received this item through the Amazon "Vine" program

If you've found this review helpful, please let me know!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful guide for a globe-trotting family (with young children)., September 29, 2009

By 

indiestar "indiestar" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Travel with Children (How to) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This is a great buy for a travel-loving family with young children. My husband and I travelled extensively before we had kids but have stayed closer to home (mainly travel within the lower 48 and Canada) since our two kids were born. They are now, 5 and 2 and we're ready to start globe-trotting again but we're a little overwhelmed at travel planning with young kids in mind. This book does a terrific job of outlining all of the planning that needs to be done beforehand regardless of the tyoe of trip you plan on taking - they address road trips, train trips, plane trips, local and international travel, etc. There is a section devoted to travelling with teenagers but the book's true audience are parents with toddlers or elementary school-age children.

In addition to all of the prep and planning in the early parts of the book, the second half goes into great detail on ideas for "destinations" for travel with kids. These chapters are organized by continent and then by country and address all of the major areas of the world with insight into interesting things to do and see that would be great for the whole family. This is by no means a replacement for a guidebook geared to the particular country or region you plan to visit but it's a great starting point to help you decide where to go and what to think about for the travel to and fro and what to plan for while you're there.