No Worries For Family Travelers This Summer!

For many, it is the highlight of their year. For others, it can be the ultimate test of patience- – the annual migration known as the Family Vacation! Family travel is actually on the rise this year and by the end of 2007, traveling with the kids is projected to be the years most significant growing trend. What might seem hilarious in a Chevy Chase movie, however, can be a nightmare when it happens to you. So how you do avoid the pitfalls and make sure your family vacation memories are ones youll cherish for years to come? It takes time and planning to cover all bases. Especially children will be spending time in a plane, train or automobile. Family travel guru and Taking the Kids columnist Eileen Ogintz, is known for her innovative yet realistic travel advice & ideas for families. The meeting of a three-year-old, a cat and a goldfish pond started Taking the Kids. The three-year-old, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062586106?ie=UTF8&tag=takingthekids-20&link_code=em1&camp=212341&creative=380613&creativeASIN=0062586106&adid=04235eaa-ba1c-4f9f-8dda-606274c468ad”>Eileen Ogintz s son Matt, pushed the hapless kitty into the pond at a Wisconsin cottage her family had rented for the weekend. I thought the kitty wanted to go swimming, Matt explained. The furious owner insisted they pack up and leave immediately. The embarrassed parents drove home three hours to Chicago in a downpour. More about Eileen Ogintz: Eileen Ogintz was a national correspondent for the Chicago http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375722092?ie=UTF8&tag=takingthekids-20&link_code=em1&camp=212341&creative=380613&creativeASIN=0375722092&adid=21510509-a490-4a87-b916-394768cafe74″>Tribune then, covering news stories around the country. The travel editor, hearing her tale of woe about the cat and the goldfish pond, encouraged her to write a story about the trials of traveling with children. That story led to others. We realized there were a lot of people like me, parents who wanted help planning trips now that they had kids. The award-winning syndicated column Taking the Kids grew out of those stories. Ogintz left the Tribune, after 14 years as a reporter, national correspondent and feature writer, to spend more time with her three young children and to launch the column nationally. The http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817436553?ie=UTF8&tag=takingthekids-20&link_code=em1&camp=212341&creative=380613&creativeASIN=0817436553&adid=d9fb103a-7978-4a73-aec2-6776fbbeabde”>Taking the Kids series of travel guides for children, published by HarperCollins West, has followed. Taking the Kids now appears in more than 50 major newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Sun-Times, Dallas Morning News and Portland Oregonian. The column won a 1994 national Clarion Award from Women in Communications, Inc. and appears on AOLs Family Travel Network and elsewhere on the Web. Today, she is regular contributor to numerous national publications, and has appeared on such television programs as 48 Hours, The Today Show, Good Morning America and Oprah. She created a course on the changing American family at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CQ3ADG?ie=UTF8&tag=takingthekids-20&link_code=em1&camp=212341&creative=380613&creativeASIN=B000CQ3ADG&adid=f4051eef-a885-4035-a095-09c50f53ebce”>Northwestern University and consults on work/family issues. From their home in Westport, Connecticut, Ogintz travels with her husband, an executive in financial services, and their three children, Matt, Reggie and Melanie, who servenot always graciouslyas Taking the Kids special team of experts. https://videos.whiteblox.com/gnb/secure/player.aspx?sid=32412