How did parents travel with your children before tablets? Thankfully, I have no idea because I had my son in 2010 and my daughter in 2014! Fun and educational apps on our Samsung Galaxy tablet have gotten us through long (and short!) plane rides, restaurant meals and downtime in hotel room and vacation rentals, where there are never enough toys. The Samsung tablet is an invaluable traveling companion when it’s loaded with stellar apps for kids. Here are my picks for the best apps (all $.99 or free) for traveling two-year-olds:

In the days and weeks leading up to my trip to France and Switzerland last summer, I found myself playing a little game with my friends. I would tell them that I was going to the South of France (true) and watch them grow envious. After getting their reactions (“Oh, you’re so lucky!” “I wish […]

If you don’t learn anything new about travel from the 1,000-plus booths at the New York Times Travel Show, then you aren’t trying very hard. This year, I had the honor of being a Family Travel Expert at the show, but luckily my 45-minute shift left me plenty of time to visit with the countries, […]

Greetings from my rental in Antibes, France, where I’m staying for three days. My rental is terrific, and I will be giving it a full review after I leave (next stop is Provence, and I just came from Avignon). But first, I wanted to share with you my five tips for finding a great vacation rental. In addition to Antibes, I’ve stayed in rentals in Lisbon, Seville, Copenhagen, Newport, Breckenridge, Park City and St. John, USVI, so I consider myself somewhat of a pro.
Here are the five things that I always ask about when I inquire about a rental (even if it’s in the listing):

Remember when I was worrying about how difficult it would be to travel with a two-and-a-half-year-old? Well, I got over that… Switzerland and France, here we come!

Every time I thought about where I wanted to go this summer, my mind kept coming back to the South of France. I was last there 12 years ago with my sister, and I just loved it. I knew I needed some sort of beach destination for my beach-loving toddler, but I also needed some culture to satisfy my own wanderlust.

The New York Times Travel Show, an annual consumer and trade show at the Javits Center in New York City, has become a must-attend event for travel media, tourism organizations, tour operators and travel enthusiasts. And indeed, they were all there this weekend, along with a samurai (Japan) and a sloth (SeaWorld) and about one […]

Wondering where to go in 2013? The major travel publications have made their annual predictions of what will be popular and they each have their own, vastly different ideas of where the jetset will be hanging out this year. Let’s take a look at the hot lists from the New York Times, NatGeo Traveler,  Conde Nast Traveller […]

The predictions for what will be the hottest destinations of 2012 are out! Conde Nast Traveller and the Travel Channel have each offered us 10 prospective hotspots, Travel & Leisure has given us 12, National Geographic Traveler has given us 16 and the New York Times has named a whopping 45 potential locales. There’s a […]

Even if I traveled 365 days a year, which I certainly don’t, I still couldn’t go everywhere I wanted to go. I mean, that would only be like 365 places max, and even then I’d be really rushed. Luckily, I can count on my fellow travel bloggers to traverse the globe in search of the […]

How not to play golf in St. Andrews, Scotland, aka Home of Golf? Even if you absolutely adore playing golf and have always dreamed of playing golf in Scotland, like my husband? It’s really quite easy: 1. Go to Scotland on your babymoon with your pregnant wife (me), who does not play golf. 2. Promise […]