Since January has been a particularly busy month for many of us, and since there were also so many great posts this month (no bias here), I thought a quick roundup of the ground we’ve covered might be in order. In case you missed any of this earlier this month, including how I earned 4 miles for every dollar I spent on my new washing machine, here’s a summary with links:
How can you fit more travel into your family’s New Year?
Of course this is something very close to many of our hearts, and with 5 of us and two kids officially in school now, I can assure you it doesn’t get any cheaper or easier. Here are the four ways I shared that may help all of us travel a little farther, a little more often, or stay a little longer this year:
- The 5 low-travel long weekends to take advantage of this year
- Earn (at least) one roundtrip flight with a new mileage credit card
- How to earn more frequent flyer miles without even flying (or leaving your desk)
- Why and how to choose a small city for your big vacation
How can you help a baby (or toddler) adjust to a big time change and jetlag?
In this latest “Ask Shelly,” I answered a very common question from parents planning travel. If you’ve got big travel with a tot in your future, you’ll want to take a look at this post, and don’t miss the comments that followed (share your own, too, if you didn’t get a chance).
Travels with Baby Traditions: From Epiphany Eve to Chinese New Year
In January, we added two more fun family traditions to the series (and renamed it a more appropriate “Travels with Baby Traditions”). Following the Camels and Kings of Argentina we featured last month (which was chosen for a BlogHer spotlight – yay!), the Befana came riding in on her broom to check on the Children of Rome in this fun guest post by Valeria Spizzichino. Then Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett let us in on the many great traditions and rituals of celebrating Chinese New Year in her native Taiwan. If you missed the earlier Traditions, you can browse them all at their new page here.
>>> And if you live somewhere with a fun, festive, and/or famous tradition celebrated by families, I’d love to hear from you! See “Join us” details on the Traditions page.
The big blog switcheroo:
If you missed the memo, we also packed up the truck and moved this blog into a spacious new address at TravelswithBaby.com/blog (Please bookmark! Like! Visit and tell me what you think so far!). After 4 years with Blogger, I’m working hard to get up to speed on WordPress and the nuances of fitting it into a 7-year-old website without too much confusion. Frankly, I’m tired and I’d rather be traveling and writing than dealing with these technical details. 😉 But it’s nice to have enlisted some expert help for this monumental restructuring (“Thousands of links!” has been uttered on more than one occasion), and with any luck I’ll be able to blog blindfolded before we know it.
Before I sign off, I’d like to also say thanks to the newest Travels with Baby Facebook fans! I try to check the page daily and love to answer your quick questions there when I can. In fact, that’s where this month’s Ask Shelly post originated from.
I hope your 2012 and Year of the Dragon are off to a great start! More soon.