If you’ve vacationed with your children you know the look – a couple of bleary-eyed, bedraggled parents returning back to the hotel at 6 p.m..  In tow, are 2 hyper-active offspring wearing mouse hats or whale t-shirts sporting cotton candy hair extensions.  Next it’s the big choice:  wash them up and suffer through another dinner or collapse in the hotel room with another room service or take-out pizza meal.  And today’s receipts for all this fun?  Well,  let’s just say it cost more than your first car did?

If this is how you define vacation in your household, maybe it’s time for something different.  How about an experience where EVERYONE actually gets a vacation?  The answer is quite simple and does not end with the words “Park”, “World” or “Land”. But it does end with the word “Happy”.  On a cruise it is possible to make everyone happy with their vacation.

Contemporary cruise lines figured out quite a while ago that if you can keep the kids happy and occupied, then the parents follow right along.  Over the years, children’s programs on board ships have blossomed from having one children’s counselor on board over the holidays to full blown year round programs and separate facilities for the different age groups.  Every year from 6 months to 16 years is covered and child care is offered at various levels.

Cruise lines are now savvy enough to plan nighttime activities for the children so their parents can enjoy the facilities of the ship in a relaxed style simply unavailable at most land-based resorts.  Cruises are an exceptionally good idea for single parents as they have a controlled environment and child care on the ship,  but have the freedom and time to make new friends around the ship.  Extended families also love ships because cousins and friends can hang together on the ship while the adults reconnect. 

Before you plan your next road trip, let us fill you in on the many choices and the “secret” affordability of family cruising.  Oh, did we forget to mention that all meals, snacks, entertainment, accommodations and transportation are included in one upfront price?  This year take a cruise and leave the mouse hats, maps, and (cotton candy remover) shampoo at home.

We chose to stay outside Manhattan, because frankly, I couldn’t bring myself to spend $300 a night for a room. And New Jersey, on the map, was literally miles away. How bad could it be?

Turns out, New Jersey might as well be a world away. In miles and attitude. So I’m not sure I would recommend anyone doing what we did, unless you don’t mind the inconvenience. But our hotel was wonderful, and offered a shuttle to and from the city.

We saw and did nearly everything one could want to see, and packed a week’s worth of sightseeing into a few short days. We were great travelling partners, got along great, and found we had similar travel habits. I think who you’re travelling with makes all the difference.

Some words of advice: Pack your own water bottle daily, buying one from a street vendor will set you back $3-5 a bottle. Buy an Explorer’s Pass, or City Pass. You can choose from a long list of sights to see, and the card will save you a lot of money overall. One of the attractions is a city bus tour. There are actually two you can choose from, and they are both the same in terms of  quality and price. I recommend taking the city night tour, which takes you across the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk, for some gorgeous picture opportunities of the Manhattan Skyline.

Of all the things we did, the most memorable was the 9/11 museum. It’s a compilation of memorabilia and memorials of the victims and survivors, and all proceeds go to the families. It is both beautiful and horrifying. The actual site however, is under construction, so you won’t really see much.

The best part of the trip for me was, of course, spending quality time with my son and experiencing a new place. We laughed, cried, oohed and aahed our way through a new favorite for both of us. And isn’t that what vacations are for?

Wow. Blogging about one’s life is much harder than I anticipated. Actually getting down the perspective and experience of your life requires deep…pockets of time. Seriously. I’m not a stressed out busy person, per se, I am active in many ways in my community, but finding the time to blog  continues to end up on my “Things to do when I have absolutely nothing else going on” list. So I hereby commit (yikes) to blogging more regularly from here on out.

Ok. So how, you ask, was the trip to New York? In one word, absolutely one of the most wonderful trips I’ve ever taken. Really. As a girl from the Pacific-Northwest-West, I was a little apprehensive about spending any amount of time in the Big Apple. After all, would I even be able to understand the dialect? The language barrier? Would I be able to read the signs and converse with the natives? My fears were completely erased at the airport, when the friendly airport attendant pointed to an empty cab and said, “Get in.” I understood that.

Welcome to my true first blog entry! I’m semi-new to writing about my adventures as an agent and traveller, and I hope you enjoy my perspective on both!

As a travel agent, people always ask me, “So where are you traveling to next?” I don’t always get to travel as much as I’d like to, because, like you, I have a job, and need to work to support my large family. By family I’m referring to my 2 dogs, one cat, and two recently adopted sealpoint siamese brothers I like to place in a classification all their own. My son thinks I reacted to his leaving home for college in the near future was the impetus for this impulsive addition to my pet family. I like to think of it as filling the hole he will leave before it’s created!

So I was asked again “Heading anywhere interesting this summer?” And I can happily report that indeed I am. I promised my son since he was 12 that I would take him on a trip when he graduated. We’ve decided on New York! He plans to study theatre, and what better place to immerse yourself than the Big Apple! We’ll play tourist, and see the landmarks and places we’ve always dreamed about, or seen on TV, as well as visit museums, take in some shows, and eat at wonderful restaurants! I’m voting for Little Italy, and he insists Chinatown for Sushi. I think we’ll end up trying both. 

My favorite part of the entire trip will be sharing this incredible experience with my nearly grown son, knowing inevitably, his life will change from this point on. Life as it has been, just the two of us, will never be the same. These memories for me will hold much more than eggrolls. Til next time, thanks for your indulgence in my sentimental beginnings!