family beach vacation – Page 2 – Family World Travel

In Amazing family vacations

How to look for, find and book a hotel online- simple, easy and cheap

April 23, 2016 No Comments

A step-by-step process to book the perfect accommodation for your vacation

Finding a hotel online can be a really exhausting and confusing task. Not only is it difficult to sift through all of the choices you are provided with, the huge number of websites from search engine results and all of the countless options you get makes it feel like the world hottest dance club.

Did you know that there are simpler, easier and more comfortable ways to find the right hotel for you?

There are a few things you should know about search engines and mega search engines in general before going about finding the right hotel for your vacation, a little bit of backstory shows why it’s a bit complicated and exposes the politics behind the hotel industry.

Today, there are three main options for booking a hotel online. These include;

• Through a mega search engine– These huge search engines often claim to offer and cover dozens or even hundreds of smaller search engines. This makes it a good fit to find the cheapest results especially when you would like to have a good variety of options.

• Through a regular search engine– Such search engines would have a stock of hotels it partners with and will display the price for each booking according to your search term.

• The private websites of each hotel.

According to a research by “The guardian” on the hotel industry, a large number of these mega search engines are under the same ownership as the regular search engines. This means that the mega search engines will display a clear preference for some websites and hotels over others.

How then can you really trust the validity of results from these “mega” search engines?

Can you be entirely certain that these search engines will always provide you with the best results when you use them to search for accommodations online? (this is also true for the flights and aviation industry but well discuss that at another time).

Another research shows a price difference between the prices gotten on the private websites of hotels and the prices of the same hotels found through a search engine. Typically, the private websites are often more expensive even when searched on the same dates.

More research on this shows that there is not much difference between search engines. When checked at different times, the cheapest results checked was in a different engine every time with absolutely no pattern.

How do you get around this problem?

It’s simple! You have to cross check a few different websites to evaluate what the best options are for you.

The three websites I prefer to work with are:

–Hotelscombined– A mega search engine.
–Agoda- A regular search engine that is considered to be the best in South Asia.
–booking– A regular search engine.

Here’s a simple step-by-step process to book a cheap hotel;

1. Click hotelcombined and search for the dates and the destination you’re looking for. Next, select all the relevant filters and add them to the first search. These could include,

Number of kids
Number of rooms you want
If you want a pool
The type of hotel you want (3-5) star
Your budget
Distance from airport

Simply add all of the filters and leave the tab open. This process is very simple and doesn’t take any of your time.

To help you along, use this search box to get all of the information you want.

2. Open a new tab and click Agoda– search for the same things. Use the filters properly or just fill up your details here for a faster result.

3. Choose two of the best offers you find. Pick two from each website. This will amount to a total of 4 hotels or accommodations.

♥ Don’t forget to read the reviews- pay attention that it’s only the most recent ones and those that match the dates you plan to stay there. As a general rule- always choose those with a higher rating (I never even bother looking at anything with a rating of 7.5 or less.)

4. How then do you ensure that these hotels are the best options?

Simply crosscheck on a third site like booking to compare results and ensure that you don’t get the bad end of the deal. Visit booking and crosscheck each of the 4 hotels you chose one after the other.

5. You’re almost done!

Check through the booking conditions for all 4 hotels and remove all those that do not allow last minute cancellations. Filter these out and leave only those that allow cancellations or even allows you to book now and pay later.

You want to be able to keep your options open to change especially when you are not entirely decided.

6. Now choose the one you like best and book.

♥ The reason for this quick booking is that those websites will save your search history and may raise the price when you use it again or search too much for the same hotels on their listing.

This is because, your search results around the same booking shows interest and would mean a higher profit when you decide to book later. So decide on which one to choose in one sitting and book right away.

7. Now relax and let the websites do the work for you!

After booking, these websites will send you emails with offers for the searches you’ve done with them. Take a few days to evaluate each offers they send. Take your time and see if there is something better, more interesting or cheaper than the option you chose.

Just make sure that you do not get confused by getting into a million tabs with countless options again.

8. Now check your final decision again on all 3 websites before leaving for your trip

We recommend making your reservations 2 weeks-2 days before the travel date. Cross-check all 4 hotels on all three websites hotelcombined, Agoda, booking.

9. Make sure nothing’s changed

If you find that the prices changed or got lowered- you can cancel (because you made sure of that option in the original booking) the original booking, and book again.

10. You’re all set to go!

If nothing changed, you’re already set and ready for a great vacation.

In Blog

About to go travel? The two most important tips I can give you.

April 22, 2016 No Comments

A second before summer vacation, a lot of the families I escort can already smell the flight date getting nearer. And the closer the moment comes for them, I feel a sort of confusion, a need to hold on to something, a minute before they lose control and head into the unknown.

So for their sake, and for any others that feel the need, here are the two most important tips I can give:

1. you already made a basic plan (after in depth research or maybe in less depth), bought flight tickets, consulted with a traveler’s clinic. Everything is more less arranged? Great.
Now let go. Leave the travel guides be. Leave the facebook groups, leave the blogs (even mine).
From now on, let the road set the way. Sit quietly, breath deep. Live already knowing that each one will get his/her own journey. It doesn’t matter if it rained on you on the way to Dharamsala or if it was boiling hot. If you have a hotel in New-Delhi or not. Those things are no longer in your control. All that’s left is to look on the road, the view, on what your journey will bring you.
That the decision that whatever comes your way- you’ll deal with. That you’re open and ready for adventures, of every kind and color. To meetings with others, with yourselves, with your family members. Accept that the way won’t necessarily be what you imagined it would be, or (and especially) what you planned. Changes and surprises will come. They’re part of the journey.

2. the hot springs in Vashisht are a huge gift. A little piece of heaven I’m grateful for everyday I’m here. We enjoy them and learn a lot from the experience of going to them.
Things that would’ve been very hard to teach my daughters any other way. And that I probably couldn’t teach them any other way, if it wasn’t for our stay here.
But not everyone sees it that way. In fact, most tourists that come here to see the hot springs don’t spend time on them, and definitely don’t dare to actually swim in the pools.
They see that place in an entirely different way. They see grey cement, dirt, bare brick walls.
And they run away.
And I want to thell them- wait a moment. Stop. Take those western glasses off for a minute. And look. Lean. Without prejudice, without criticism, without judging. Leave the west outside. Come try. Open a door to experiences, to curiosity, to love for something completely different, and not necessarily better or worse.
Open yourselves. Completely. Don’t close down because that’d be a shame. To visit a different place, a new place, totally different from anything you know and manage to really experience it on a deep level- that’s amazing. A whole world suddenly opened. A million flakes of inspiration, a million new points and each one of them can lead to a different and spectacular way. And it’s a shame to miss that.
Oh… all the things I learned in the last five years. From everyone. The tourists. The travelers. The views. The locals. There’s so much wisdom in them, a different wisdom, odd and fascinating. Yes, they think very differently from us. They see things differently. But that’s what’s so interesting!
I see tourists that made an effort and saved money for a very long time, invested a lot of money and and went really far. And all that for what?
Leave the books, the researches on the internet. Leave them. Go see the world with clean eyes. Sit with the locals, talk with them, ask them where they think you should go. Where is the best local food. And how exactly do you eat it. How to get from this village to the other one. Join that journey you took yourself into.
Come take of your clothes, slowly slowly dip your legs in the hot water, until you get used to them, look around you, see the women, the youths, the old ladies. How everyone here, free with their bodies, washing each other, dipping naturally in the pool, chit-chatting, laughing.
Come, get in, like it’s your first day alive.

watch this video– the girls talk about their experience at the hot springs in vashisht.

In Asia with kids

Philippines with kids- how I found myself in an amazing house on a magical beach and how much did it cost me…

March 27, 2016 No Comments

For almost a month now we’re enjoying ourselves on a private beach that sits in the middle of a small bay on a beautiful* island in the Philippines.
We drink fresh Coconut milk, and eat pineapples and watch the Starfish. The water is clear and warm and we swim every day.
We’re in an area that lies outside the tourist road, and so we get the local Filipino experience in all its glory.
Meeting the village people, going fishing with them, play basketball with them, go out for some barbecue in the tiny local restaurant, that also fixes bicycles.
In the local market they offer fresh cocoa beans just like that, in baskets. And all sorts of fruits and vegetables and pastries we’ve never even seen before. Actually… today on the way to the ATM I saw in a small bakery store the little sweet pastries we loved so much in Vietnam. Where they sell it very cheaply in carts. Immediately I bought some for the kids. How fun it is to remember something we loved to eat in another country.

Click here to get a month’s worth of food filled adventure in the Philippines.

“Before the development of tourism, travel was conceived to be like study, and it’s fruits were considered to be the adornment of the mind and the formation of the judgment”.~Paul Fussell, Abroad.

I feel that this experience, like many others we’ve had, both for me and for the kids, is incredibly enriching. Just as is, natural and wild and real and pure. Without make-up. But in comfort and with all the luxuries (we actually have a tv after all…).
The combination of the beautiful waters, of passively watching the tides, the effects of the moon and the weather. Walks on the beach and seeing dozens of living creatures, the refreshing swim. Playing with the village children. And so much more.
From time to time the owner of the house we stay in comes to visit. She stays a few days. In those days she takes us on a journey deep inside the Filipino culture. She teaches us to cook Filipino dishes, explains to us about the oceans life and the creatures in the ocean. Opens the door to experiences like fishing at night using a flashlight, coconut peeling and explaining everything you can do with coconuts. She explains about the leafs they put in the soup and why they’re very healthy, and why in all the gardens around people cover their plants in empty eggshells.
Today she told me exactly where I can see dolphins. And how to get there.
For me the stay here is the peak of the good life. Sun, ocean, soft sand, and fresh coconuts. You don’t really need anything more. Just let me lie in the hammock and look at all that blue.
And if I can write to you a bit more personally, I feel like this place is drawing me deep into myself. I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s the quiet. Maybe it’s the dream coming true in living here. One dream of many :-). Both for me and for the kids there is a sort of understanding, realizations that pop up, and a type of maturing. Of sharpening.
And the love I hold for life and the world bursts out in joy.
♦ So how did we get here?
We make friends fast, fall in love fast, stay very open, brave and free. All those create non-internet-opportunities that express themselves in exceptional and exciting friendships and experiences. When you start your own journey pull your nose outside of the internet. From the guides. Give the road a chance. Don’t be scared. Come to it with your love, and you’ll see how it rewards you. There’s a whole world outside. An exciting world full of love.
♦ Ok ok. So bottom line: how much does it cost me?
◊ The whole house, all three rooms, the amazing gallery, the handmade furniture, the balconies, the accessorized kitchen, the barbecue station in the yard, the fertile coconut trees and all their coconuts, the banana trees, the privaaaaaate beeeeeeeeeeaaaaach.
◊ Laundry.
◊ And transportation (cause a girl need to go on the back of a motorbike from time to time)
All that costs me 15$ a day.

*the island is called Bohol and it’s one of the better known and more touristic islands in the Philippines. It’s a beautiful island but its tourist centers are very small and focus in very specific areas. the rest of the (pretty big) island is tourist free.

You can watch the girls talk about this experience here.

In Asia with kids

Going to conquer southeast Asia with your kids? Here is how you’ll look (naturally) hot even after 40 days in the Mongolian outback.

March 3, 2016 No Comments

Travelling in southeast Asia, even with kids, doesn’t mean being banished to the land of the wild things.

I write this post following a number of inquiries I got on the subject. The fear that becomes bigger the closer your flight is, that you’ll have to sacrifice your soft skin, not to mention those killer selfies, in return for the dust of the roads and adventures, probably lurks in every woman’s head.
(ok maybe it skipped me, after all, I ooze sexiness naturally).

So here are a few tips I learned from my five years of experience:

♦ Southeast Asia is a cosmetic heaven. It only looks scary from the outside. Once you get here, once you stick your head to the first store in India, you’ll see that a lot of your fears were empty. But really empty. A wide range of amazing companies (and every ‘Himalaya’ product you can dream of), tons of natural products, oils, soaps, creams, scrubs. In short: pack light.

♦ Just never forget to check the expiry date before buying anything.

♦ One of the more important parameters is the weather. The main principle in taking care of your face is matching the cream to the weather.

♦ Invest in a night cream, something that gets the job done. And during the day find something appropriate for the weather.

♦ When we made our way by night bus from Beijing to the Mongolian border, I slept on a bunk when underneath me was a beautiful young Mongol woman. at some stage, before she went to sleep, she shamelessly pulled out her toiletries bag, and during the drive, in front of everyone, took cotton swabs and tonic, cleaned her face, put cream, oiled her hands and went to bed. Since then I take her with me everywhere. 40 days and 40 nights of staying in the Mongolian wilds (you thought I was kidding with the title?!), no matter how tired or lazy I felt. Cotton, tonic, face cream. In darkness, cold, heat, rain, in the good, the bad. No half assing.

♦ Keep those in a place that’s easy to reach.

♦ Make sure to wash your face in clear water (even a river, waterfall, lake… whatever) at least once a day.

♦ Have a scarf in your bag. The local women use it to cover their faces and protect them from the road’s dirt whenever they find themselves on a bus/bike. I don’t do it but I’m just lazy.

♦ Watch what you eat. In southeast Asia it’s easy to take care of your face’s skin using fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, different kinds of tea, fruit juice. Pay attention and don’t go wild with the junkfood.

♦ Even if you’re trekking or adventuring in remote places- eat fresh cooked food (over instant for example)- what the locals cook for themselves, drink water or tea (not chemical juice), snack on nuts and dried fruits. Sweeten with honey.

♦ Beauty salons are everywhere. But everywhere. Waxing, eyebrows, moustache. And maybe some face treatments, haircut, color. You can maintain everything even during a trek. Just ask the locals. And there’s a chance you’ll earn a conversation with a fascinating local woman and maybe even learn a few new techniques.

♦ Invest in a hat that looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g on you. You’ll be surprised how useful it can be…

♦ Don’t let pimples erupt. For that there’s a small narrow tube containing a colorless jell for focused treatment (In every other shop in southeast Asia) that neutralizes them within hours.

♦ Make-up: personally I’d recommend one core principle when it comes to make-up: keep your face skin soft and pretty, so you’ll need the minimum and the minimum.

◊ Now, depending on the season but southeast Asia can get reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaally humiiiiiiiid. No make-up is equal to this kind of weather. For this reason, I wouldn’t use much powder, mascara, or black pencil and all its variations.

◊ If anything, it’ll be in the locals stores that you’ll have a chance of finding the super eye-liners that you you could fly to the moon and back with without a single smudge. And it’ll probably cost 20 rupees.

♦ Hair: same thing here. Keep it shiny and healthy. Not so hard in southeast Asia because the range of hair products is simply never-ending. Asian women take care of their hair obsessively.

◊ And of course all the gadgets and stuffs and things for your hair. Everything is dirt cheap and the range is unbelievable.

◊ And let’s say you went on a trek and didn’t wash your hair for a few days- baby talc will absorb the extra oil and give off a nice smell. I heard there’s also “dry shampoo”.

♦ Skin and body care: depends on where you’re traveling. In Vietnam for example there are amazing (and cheap) spas. In India there are hot springs and natural oils, in Nepal there are amazing organic products, in short… go and discover. One of the pleasures or traveling this way is entering a cosmetics store or try out a new massage. I can tell you that the mud bath I did with my daughter, and the swim in a mineral water pool, and the other experiences we had in that area will not be soon forgotten :-).

◊ I use salt as cleaning-disinfecting pilling mask to the skin, preferably natural Himalayan salt (sometimes mix it with a bit of some oil) and honey as massage/cleaning face mask. But that’s only because I am too lazy to carry too much with me. I buy a small amounts and if anything is left I leave it behind.

♦ Nails– mani and padi there’s everywhere. I don’t see a problem. All the other decorations for nails I also saw almost everywhere.

♦ Yoga- it balances you both inside and out.

♦ It’s likely that travelling and the freedom and that feeling of letting go will also express themselves in how you take care of yourself. Don’t be surprised if you want to make rainbow stripes in your hair. Or if your whole definition of beauty completely turned on its head.

♦ And it’s also likely that your adventures, passion, love, adrenaline, and pleasure will all show themselves in the spark in your eyes, the flash of your cheeks and the light in your eyes. Spread out all the love within you.

♦ And then there are places that make you feel like the hottest woman in the world. Let them.

And a few nice links on the subject:

Packing Secrets from Travel Pros

Travel Beauty Tips! What to Bring with you on Vacation/Holiday!

18 Travel Beauty Tips — to Go

35 travel bloggers reveal their-top beauty tips and tricks

Stay Sexy on the Road: 6 Beauty Blogger Tips

BTW- you don’t have to be skinny to look hot. here is an awesome link for plus size hotness.

In How to travel with kids

East Asia with kids- What to take in your first aid kit?

February 10, 2016 No Comments

A first aid kit is one of those things that make you feel safe, even when you’re in the middle of nowhere in southeast Asia, and especially when you are with kids. When you always have one in your bag, you can be as spontaneous as you like and still be a ‘responsible adult’. It’s important, though, to never forget it in your room because that will be the one time you actually need it. Yes… I learned that the hard way :-).

Things I recommend taking:

Basic first aid- sterile pads, disinfectant, plasters of different sizes, bandages, tourniquet, and something special for burns.
Hand sanitizer (a small bottle just in case you really need but don’t have one).
Mosquito repellent. I always have some in my bag, but in my first aid kit I always carry some wet wipes with mosquito repellent, just in case.
2 hygienic bandages in a sterile wrap.
And empty plastic bag.
Multiple purpose disinfecting liquid- a little bottle that can disinfect anything, cuts, surfaces, toilets.
A salve to sooth the skin- stings/sun burns/nettles.
Antihistamine.
Two unopened tooth brushes+paste. The small kind they give in hotels and airplanes. Yes, sometimes you have dinner at a friend’s home and the girls decide to stay to sleep there.
Lavender oil for everything- scratches, cuts, burns.
Soap pages in a travel pack.
Lipstick for dry lips.
Hair bands.
A lighter.

In addition, it’s best if you give your kids a few basic safety rules. Whatever seems important to you. For example, my kids know to beware of certain plants that irritate the skin- you just need to point it out to them and tell them to be careful. They also know not to touch shoe soles or anything off the floor, or to come close to a motorbike’s exhaust pipe (in southeast Asia there are more bikes than cars)

You can buy a ready-made first aid kit and just buy a few more things that are important specifically for a trip in southeast Asia with kids. That’s what I did to begin with, but as time went on the bag got ripped and ruined so I bought a camera bag. A square bag, waterproof, opening from the top and divided to several compartments. I chose the size that fits comfortably in the bottom of our bag that still goes everywhere with us, and put everything in it.

In How to travel with kids

southeast Asia with kids- food and drinks : safety rules

January 29, 2016 No Comments

A big fear many parents have is about the hygiene of foods and drinks in developing countries. Even doctors specializing in travel medicine recommend to be extra careful with those. I wrote here the ways we deal with it.

Drinks:

Many of the worst diseases originate in water.

2. That’s why I always go under the assumption that the water anywhere is not fit for drinking. Not taking any chances.

3. The most effective way to disinfect water is by boiling.

4. That’s why any dish containing water must be well boiled.

5. Drinking water- you can find different qualities of drinking water anywhere. From mineral water from abroad to locally treated and disinfected. Buy a few types, pick the one you like best and stick with it. And of course, pay attention to the lid signature.

6. Juices- fresh fruit juice is one of the ways to keep the kids healthy. It’s important to make sure they don’t mix it with water or ice. Also, pay attention to how clean the dishes are.

7. Cold drinks- sodas and the likes are perfectly safe to drink.

8. Hot drinks- usually there’s nothing to fear, the water is well boiled and even if they add milk- they boil that too for you.

Food:

The best way to disinfect food is by boiling.

2. That’s why it’s always better to eat food that was cooked in high temperatures, baked or well fried.

3. Meat is one of the biggest sources of disease, that’s why rule no.2 is twice as important if you’re going to eat meat. Don’t eat meat that hasn’t been well coocked!

4. You don’t have to eat meat.

5.Eggs- go under the assumption that the Eggs have been fertilized. If that doesn’t bother you, I recommend you to put Eggs in the same category with meat- make sure all parts of the Egg have been well cooked (I don’t order fried, boiled or scrambled Eggs, I order an omelet and ask it to be well done).

6. The locals prefer to be healthy and know all these rules even better than us. True that their digestive system is designed to those conditions, but they’re not immune either.

7.That’s why the local foods are always healthy and nutritious, while keeping to the hygienic rules relevant to that place.

8.On the other hand, it’s the western foods that are made only for the tourists are those that aren’t prepared properly according the hygienic rules and hence have a higher chance of making you sick.

9. In addition, take under consideration that the local food is what the locals cook best. Western food won’t be ‘like home’, and especially the meat- not always worth the risk (depending of course on the destination of your trip)..

10. In short, it’s recommended to just order the local food.

11. Another important detail- people are always warning of the cooling and keeping conditions of the food, but in local restaurants they never prepare food in advance. They only start to make it when they get an order. It takes a while (take a deck of cards with you J)… but together with that you can be sure the food is the freshest it can be.

Fruits and vegetables:

Fruits and vegetables that were watered with polluted water are not recommended to eat, because their peel is contaminated.

2. That’s why you have to make sure they were properly cooked.

3. Or properly peeled..

4. Or properly washed..

5. If there’s no way to wash/cook you should always pick the fruits or vegetables with a thick peel (Papayas, Oranges, Coconuts, Pineapples, Bananas). And those that grow on trees/bushes and not on the ground.

6. Many restaurants in touristic areas are aware of the problem and clearly mention that they wash their fruits and vegetables with disinfectant (iodine usually). Even with that, I don’t take risks and don’t allow the kids to eat fruits and vegetables that aren’t peeled.

Buying snacks or packed food:

One thing you have to remember: pay attention to the expiry date. If that’s not written, or if it’s expired, DON’T BUY!

Eating at food stands:

Usually their food is very fresh (and tasty!), they always make it that same day.

2. In large, the rules are the same rules, don’t forget them.

3. Pay attention how many locals eat from that stand. Don’t buy from an empty stand.

4. Pay attention to their utilities and where they sharpen their knives (there are stand owners that sharpen their knives against the sidewalk..).

5. Don’t forget to ask a number of times ‘not spicy’.

6. Or come with a ready-to-pull bottle of waterJ.

7. It’s best to come with your own disposable utilities.

8. And yet, I wouldn’t eat meat in stands.

General hygiene:

The utilities are washed with regular water, usually with soap..

2. They have a different way of washing dishes: they soak the dishes in a big bowl full of water, then scrub with soap, wash and leave in the sun.

3. Their use of the sun is not only to dry but also to disinfect.

4. They serve the silverware on a plate.

5. Table cleaning: oh well, it’s usually not very clean. You can ask them to clean, you can use a wet wipe yourself, or you can simply not mix the silverware with the table.

6. You don’t have to use glasses, drink straight from the bottle..

7. You can buy a packet of straws and drink through them for maximal hygiene.

8. Remember to wash your hands before every meal.

Bottom line:

Wash your hands before every meal.

2. Prefer local foods.

3. Cooked in high temperatures.

4. always suspect the water. Drink only purified water/fresh juice/sodas/hot drinks

5. Check the date of expiry on all packaged snacks.

It looks complicated but within a few days you get used to these rules and they become habit. Even the kids learn fast and the rules become a part of their life. they don’t even think about it anymore.

In Asia with kids

China with kids- 15 tips I wrote down for you all, after our visit to china

January 29, 2016 No Comments

1. because China is a bit different than what we’re used to, it’s important to make sure the landing is as soft and as easy as possible. Especially when traveling with kids. The most important thing to make sure of is a good hotel or another place that can give you information in English.

2. In China there is a network of youth hostels that provide everything the western traveler needs. Rooms with a great price range- from the cheapest (a bed in a dorm with shared bathrooms and showers) an up to the expensive intimate rooms. And the staff is made of Chinese youth (most are working there as a part of a student program) and western youths, studying Chinese volunteering there to brush up on their Chinese. They help with everything you need. They helped me buy a local sim card, book bus tickets, organize a birthday party for my daughter, they wrote a note with Chinese sentences I asked them to, explained to me how to get everywhere and much more. In every hostel there’s a common room where there is a bar, a small restaurant, a few strategy/thinking games (the staff is always happy to play with you, or at least teach you how to play), art materials, computers, books, sometimes table-football or a snooker table or a tv room with loads of movies for you to choose from. Within a day or two the staff knows all your names.

3. in short- I warmly recommend you to book a room with one of the youth hostels spread across china, they’ll make your trips that much easier, especially in the first few days after landing.

4. don’t come to china without an app that translates words and sentences to Chinese, preferably one that also sounds the words, and that doesn’t require internet.

5. anyway it’s recommended to buy a local sim card on the first chance so you can use the internet comfortably on your phone.

6. that way you could also use maps and navigate in busy streets, whose names are written in Chinese.

7. the taxi drivers in china are very strict on the max number of passengers- four. So anyone going to china with three or more children is going to have a problem. To find a taxi, especially in the big cities, especially in the tourist centers, is not an easy task, and finding two is a nightmare. Easier to find two rickshaws or deal with the public transportation.

8. If you chose to walk notice that the green light for the crosswalk is very short and there’s an arrangement with the two-wheelers so warn the kids.

9. and about the public transportation: in China there’s a very wide range of buses and trains. From old trains, stuffed so full of people that you can’t breathe, sweaty and sweltering, through to a relatively comfortable sleeper trains all the way to express trains that look like they’re taken straight from a futuristic film. The same goes for buses.

10. in the sleeper trains they lock the bathrooms in the morning long before you actually get to your destination. Just so you know.

here you will fond a special route for nature loving families traveling to china

11. the Chinese, even those that speak good English, tend to get confused between the ‘teen’ numbers (11, 12, 13…) and the whole numbers (20, 30, 40…) it’s best to always make sure exactly what they meant. There is a big difference sometimes. (how many hours is this bus drive? 40??? Ahhh 14.)

12. in restaurants and street foods they use a lot of tasting powder (msg). you can tell them “no msg” and most will understand.

13. public restrooms: I have to say that the public restrooms in China were the most disgusting I ever saw. But really. Those on the roads, in between, at bus stops during long drives. They were actually a long narrow hall, with an open draining tunnel (sewage) and two long boards on the sides, to step on. Everything is open, without even partitions. There are places where this even costs money.

For few more extreme experiences in china click here :-).

14. the rumors that the Chinese are not nice proved entirely false. The Chinese people we met, almost all of them, were simply charming, and sometimes really went out of their way to help us any way they could. Even those that didn’t speak a single word in English.

15. the Chinese, like the Indians, and a few more, have a favorite hobby. They love taking pictures with tourist. Especially with kids. Especially those that don’t look like them (=curly hair for example). Sometimes, and in very touristic places, you need a lot of patience to take pictures with all of them. Prepare the kids.

To find a youth hostel to your taste you can begin with this link

Or simply google ‘youth hostel’ in whatever specific destination you have in mind.

OR- you can take a look at Our favorite hotels & guest houses in china.

before going to China, try to learn some mandarin. it will be very beneficial!

In Travel budget

How to travel the world with kids without paying for accommodation. Or at least.. Paying a lot less.

January 21, 2016 No Comments

And no, it has nothing to do with volunteer work. It’s really a regular trip with hotels or apartments or rooms. Just for free.

do you know this website ( www.airbnb.com) ?

It’s one of the biggest and best website there are for finding accommodation at prices that fit everyone.

Not long ago i got an email from Yossi (i swear that’s his name), he asked me for a recommendation for cheap accommodation in Florence. And me, what do i know. I don’t remember where we booked that apartment we stayed at 3 years ago in Tuscany, and anyway we became friends with the owners and from the three weeks we stayed there, we only payed full price for the first one..

So i went to this website, and I did some research for Yossi. I searched ‘Florence’ without high expectations. Florence, after all, is an e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e city. Truth be told, i was surprised to discover it’s possible to find beautiful apartments for very low prices.

So i sent Yossi there.

The reason i searched in this specific website, is that just a few days beforehand i searched for myself cheap accommodation on the beach in Vietnam. And when i typed ‘mui ne rentals’ this is the website that gave me most cheapest, most diverse options. And when i entered this website, and i saw it’s name, i suddenly remembered that a few years ago a friend of mine told me she only books accommodation there. And i remember trying to remember the name of the website, and i even asked her about it a few times, because she travels a lot, this friend, she knows what she’s talking about, she was even in the Brazilian jungles. So of course i could trust her.

And after recommending it to Yossi i thought why not write about it in my website?

So i went and did a bit of research for you too. First i typed ‘Italy’. I found a lot of results for surprising prices, starting from a room for 10$ and through to a whole house on lake Garda, with a swimming pool (!) for 42$ a night. I moved on, and saw another house with a swimming pool on lake Garda for 61$ a night. Ok. But this is Italy, supposedly, i don’t know, something is going on with the economy.. The prices are low.

Then i checked the mother of all expensive destinations and typed ‘Tokyo’ just to see what I’ll get. I Found an apartment with park view, Internet and everything, for 422$ a week. Meaning less than 61$ a night.

I continued to Paris. Actually had me interested. Because living in Paris for a few weeks is a dream of mine. It was a bit more difficult there but i tried to be ‘large’ and searched for whole apartments, big ones, with a kitchen and everything. The price per night (even in the good quarters) was 100$-250$.

Why am I telling you all this? First of all- because if you’re looking now to travel anywhere in the world, and it doesn’t matter where or for how long- you should check the offers on this website. If you book through the link in my website you’ll automatically get 35$ free to book with.

But more importantly: this website has an amazing ‘referrals’ plan. According to it, the more friends you send to use this website, and the more people book through you- the more money you’ll earn. 35$ per booking, 65$ for anyone that offers his property for rent.

So it’s not really cash but more of coupons you can use on the website. And that’s why the title says ‘how to travel the world without paying for accommodation’. Because that’s exactly what you can do!

Think about it: say you’re planning a family trip to Italy in the summer. Or in Christmas. Or any holiday. It doesn’t matter. If you register now to the referrals plan, and make sure to tell everyone, within a few months you could earn enough to pay for all your accommodation! Or at least lower them drastically. Worth it isn’t it?

*by the way, if you have a property you can rent out you can even make some real profit. Jusy saying.

What do i need to do?

Enter the website.

You’ll get a small window where you’ll need to fill email and password or login directly through Facebook. And that’s it.

Email confirmation will be sent within seconds and once you confirm your registration you’re signed up.

After registering you’ll automatically see your namw on the top right cpenre of the page. Scroll down until you see “travel credit”.

Click on it. You’ll get many different ways to refer your friends- through their email, through your email, through Facebook, Twitter, or through your personal link.

And that’s it.

You don’t need to book through the website or even know it to be it’s ‘referrals’. All you need is what I wrote here.

It’s all so very simple it’s really a shame to pass up the option to make your trip so much cheaper.

We have been saving hundreds of dollars using this program. Just recently we stayed at Singapore, Vietnam, and Bangkok for few nights at a time, absolutely free!

My new ebook is now available on amazon. click here, and find out how to travel the world with your kids for less then 1400$ a month (while staying at nice hotels, eating great food and forgetting all about laundry :-)).

In Asia with kids

Vietnam with kids- things you should know before setting off

January 19, 2016 No Comments

Whether you’re already traveling in southeast Asia with your kids and whether you’re looking for to change something and go to a different destination than the one you usually go to, here are some tips that will help you travel with kids in Vietnam:

Vietnam visa– very simple. You can make it online from anywhere in the world. The websites i checked (and there are loads) all look legit. I chose one where I could pay using PayPal and even though it was a bit more expensive, i felt safer. You give them the details, pay, and within two days you’ll get a signed confirmation letter to present at the airport. Price: 20$-25$ per person for the letter and the service (for a visa of a month/three months).

With the letter you go to the visa counter in the airport (visa upon arrival). It’s important to get there as fast as you can 🙂 so you won’t stand in line for so long. There are forms to fill but the Vietnamese are very considerate and let you fill just one form for the whole family (very rare, in other countries you have to fill a form for every person… Exhausttiiiiing). You present it at the counter together with your passports and a passport photo for each person and wait.

You need to prepare the visa payment in advance. It’s 45$ per person for a one entry three months visa.

There is an ATM machine there. Only it doesn’t always work…

It takes a bit of time until they’re done making the visas. In that all you do is sit and wait. It’s not always easy after a long flight. I recommend to make sure you have at least a water bottle and maybe something for the kids to do.

They’ll call your name (pay close attention, it’s very hard to understand what they’re saying…) to go to the counter and take your passports with the visa signed off. Pay them and you’re done. With the passports you go to the immigration counter to get them stamped.

tip: if you are with kids you’re allowed to go to the shorted lined VIP counter. Don’t stand in the long line.

(what’s written here stands for the airport in Ho-chi-minh. I haven’t been to the other ones)

The ATMs when you exist the airport are especially nice and allow you to pull a larger sum than most ATMs everywhere else and they do it for the same fee. Take advantage of it.

Health and Clinics in vietnam:

network of excellent modern clinics managed by an Israeli doctor: Family Medical Practice.

Vietnam is cleaner than Thailand and has a lot less mosquitoes. Especially on the beaches. It seems an irrelevant detail but when i go to choose our next destination that detail plays an important role. The mosquitoes in southeast Asia can carry diseases.

Television: in most hotels there is a TV. The main kids’s channels are Disney and cartoon network. Both in English (in many countries the programs are in the local language but not in Vietnam!). Also, in Vietnam there are no TV commercials.

The Vietnamese love kids. They just look a bit cold. But if you’re nice, you’ll immediately find out they’re warm, charming people that are always happy to help.

Motorbikes: The amount of motorbikes and scooters is just huge. I highly recommend you show your kids where the exhaust pipe is in a two wheeler and warn them to stay away from it, especially when working your way in between the dozens of parked bikes..

passports policy: In Vietnam they take your passports when you check into a hotel. So should always have photocopies of your passports and visa.

To travel with kids in Vietnam is an amazing experience. It’s a very diverse country, it has indulgent beaches, beautiful well developed cities, treks, rice fields, culture, language, flavors. It’s crowded sometimes and completely crazy but also calm and luxurious. That’s it’s charm. Don’t be afraid. Go along with everything Vietnam has to give.

you might also be interested in:

Our Favourite Guest-house in Saigon

In Amazing family vacations

Family vacation- Recommended hotels in Mui Ne, on the beach in Vietnam

January 18, 2016 No Comments

Mui Ne is a wonderful stretch of beach in Vietnam, sweet and relaxing. i like to stay there with my kids for few weeks at a time, every chance we have.

I recommend it to any family or couple or really anyone looking for a welcoming place, where he can live like a millionaire (literally), and pay fair or even low prices.

Amazing hotels, excellent beach front restaurants, an atmosphere of freedom, bars and night-life, some water sports and bicycles. And everything is clean, air conditioned and has decent internet.

And here are some recommended hotels you should check out if you plan to travel to Vietnam with your kids:

Coco Beach Resort– a charming hotel, prices starting from 140$.

Saigon Mui Ne Resort. one of the sweetest places.one of our personal favorites. Prices starting from 75$ a night.

Casa Beach House costs 100$ a night for a family room, including breakfast. With a lovely beach, a special atmosphere and all the extras you can think of. Very warmly recommended.

Herbal Hotel & Spa Mui Ne– a wonderful hotel, in an excellent location with excellent service.

Two places I come back to every time I visit:

Shades Resort Apartments Mui Ne-. a breathtaking apartment hotel, with a charming view and wonderful atmosphere. Great fun. The apartments themselves are indulging, they have everything you need and the price includes laundry services! Prices starting from 65$ a night for a whole apartment

Tien Dat Resort– we like this hotel very much, the clean rooms, the amazing shower, the fun swimming pool (with a slide straight into the water) and mostly their breakfast, which is the best we got anywhere. There are all sorts of little things, like free bicycles the guests can use, a trolley that takes you back and forth, a bar on the water and more. we even shot one of our videos inside this hotel’s pool :-). prices starting from 40$ per room per night.

My new ebook is now available on amazon. click here, and find out how to travel the world with your kids for less then 1400$ a month (yes, even when staying at those really nice hotels :-)).

Want to keep looking yourself? You’ll probably be interested in this post: how to look, find, and book a hotel online -simple, easy and cheap.

And you might also be interested in this article:

Vietnam with kids- things you should know before setting off

And if you are a sexy plus-size woman, check out this shop, to show some beach hotness.