Since I’ve written about traveling as a single parent, I wanted to share some of the articles I’ve written on the topic when the kids were younger.
First, I wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times Travel Section 10 years ago!!!! Interestingly, the information is still pertinent today. Some of the links at the bottom of the article don’t work, but some of the places are still in existence, so make sure you Google the website instead. (The link to the entire article is posted below the excerpt.)
The kids may still be in school and the calendar may still say winter, but vacation time will be here before you know it. For single parents trying to fill two roles, however, a vacation may seem more like work.
Travel agents, resorts, touring companies, hotels and cruises have recognized single-parent travel as a niche market and are beginning to cater to them, offering special rates and package deals and eliminating single supplement fees.
“Single parents need a vacation even more so than the average parent because they are doing double-parent duty,” said Brenda Elwell, author of “The Single Parent Travel Handbook” and the founder ofhttp://www.singleparenttravel.net .
“They have to take care of the children, do all the chores, take care of all the finances and be all of the emotional support to the children, so they need a vacation to just have fun.”
Be prepared for the single-parent difficulties on vacation, such as an amusement park that seats only two in one car or doing something that one child wants to do and another doesn’t. Research as much as possible so you’re prepared. Don’t promise what you can’t follow through on.
Originally printed here.
Taking the Tots on a Business Trip
Here’s another article that focuses on traveling with your children while on a business trip. I also wrote this for the Los Angeles Times Travel Section.
Mixing business and pleasure doesn’t always work, so taking your children on a business trip may seem like sheer madness.
For some people — single parents, for example — lack of child-care options may force the issue. For others, such as Jamie Levey, combining business trips and bonding time with the kids is rewarding.
Levey, an international investment banker from Long Island, N.Y., plans to take her 20-month-old daughter to Switzerland when she is there to meet with clients. “I don’t think having her impedes me from doing anything,” said Levey, who has taken her daughter on several trips.
“The whole travel part of my career is to enjoy the places that I’m at and try to extend the trip,” she said. “I can bring in the culture that we’re in and experience the same thing with my daughter and have her enjoy it too.”
Freelance writer Janet Strassman Perlmutter of Worcester, Mass., started taking her daughter Eliana on business trips when she was only 3. Today, the 9-year-old even assists her mom while she works.
(To read the rest of this article click here.)
If you are a Virgin Traveler, but your children are older, they can help to plan the trip and might even be able to contribute if they have a part-time job.
