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Vacation Henna: Keep it at Arm's Length

It's fun to be a little reckless on vacation. Three weeks ago my kids were zip-lining through the Costa Rican rain forest, and we were eating fruit directly from roadside stands - no washing, no idea (in some cases) what it was. Water skiing or parasailing - why not? Then, when we were on Rhodes for a day ten days ago, our eight-year-old daughter asked to get a temporary henna tattoo. It didn't seem like a big deal - I've watched many people get henna done, primarily in India, and we hadn't heard of any reactions or negatives. So we said yes. The artist got to work and roughly 15 minutes later she had a large seahorse on her left arm. We were advised not to touch the ink for half an hour.

We didn't give much thought to the tattoo after that, other than it being a reminder of a fun day on a Greek island. It progressively got lighter, and we figured it wouldn't it wouldn't be around much longer.

Then yesterday, she started complaining about the tattoo area itching. We looked at it and there were large welts in the shape of a seahorse. Within an hour she was in agony. We gave her allergy medicine and waited to see if her arm would improve. It didn't.

Today it was still bad. I took her to a Parisian pharmacy and, in broken French, asked for medicine for an allergic reaction. I showed the pharmacist her arm. The pharmacist then consulted with another pharmacist, and they came back to me and told me that I had to take her to a doctor. Right away. They even got on the phone and found a nearby dermatologist who spoke English. One hundred Euros later we had a prescription for a strong topical corticosteroid. The doctor said that it will hopefully clear up in under a week.

But that's not all. If you do an internet search on Black Henna, it's scary. Apparently henna at vacation destinations often contains an ingredient banned for use on skin in western countries, para-phenylenediamine (PPD). There are numerous lifelong potential side-effects, including scaring. The information was out there - we just didn't know about it. The tattoo artist in Rhodes may not know about it. All of the girls waiting in line behind Evelyn likely didn't know about it. But now we do.

Don't let your kids get black henna vacation tattoos! It's fun being a little reckless. But we didn't think that a simple temporary tattoo could have lifetime complications.

Venice in High Season with Kids

When we booked a Disney cruise departing in July from Venice, my immediate thought turned to how to give my young kids (4, 6 and 8) a great introduction to the city. The conventional wisdom is that July is a bad time to visit because of the crowds, but we had no choice as to dates. How to make the best of it? This is what we did to maximize our time in the city and make sure that the kids saw the magical Venice, and not the crowded Venice.

On the patio at the Hotel Al Ponte Antico

1)  Hotel. My wife and I stayed at the Al Ponte Antico five years ago and loved the hotel. The staff was amazing and the location near the Rialto Bridge was perfect. Given its high TripAdvisor ratings, I knew that the hotel would fill up quickly. So I booked two rooms a full 16 months in advance. I’ve previously written about what makes a hotel kid-friendly - there are a lot of little things that resort hotels can do to make a trip better for families. In the case of a 9-room boutique hotel in a 500-year-old palace on the Grand Canal, most of that isn’t applicable. All that matters is that the staff is kid-friendly, that we feel comfortable with the kids making a little bit of (standard kid) noise, and that the kids feel comfortable. All three were unequivocally the case.

2) A local guide. After booking the hotel, I headed to TripAdvisor to find a guide. We had an excellent trip to Florence last year due in part to our guide there, and saw first-hand the difference between navigating a city by yourself and hiring an expert. Based on TripAdvisor reviews I wrote to Nadia Danesin and booked her for two days. The only guidance I gave her is that we wanted to get away from the crowds and wanted some kid-friendly activities planned. She delivered.

First, she started with a 15-minute history of the city directed to our kids but very interesting to us as well, including how the buildings were constructed. Then we headed out walking. On the narrow thoroughfare near the bridge and our hotel there were thousands of fast-moving tourists. Within one minute we were off that path and we encountered very few other tourists for the next two hours. She pointed out major historical sites and showed the kids unique architectural details as well as elements of the city that are left over from hundreds of years ago that we would have otherwise overlooked, like the corner shelves in narrow passageways that prevented thieves from hiding there. Despite being slightly jet-lagged, the kids loved it. One highlight was a visit to the aptly-named Acqua Alta (high water) bookstore, that let the kids see first-hand how Venetians cope with regular flooding.  We then got into a waiting water taxi and explored the canals for an hour, where Nadia pointed out the elements of the city better seen from the water. It was a great tour and lessened the need to take the kids on a gondola ride.

Acqua Alta Bookstore

The next day Nadia picked us up in a water taxi at our hotel (how often can you say that?) and we headed to Murano and Burano for four hours. On Murano Nadia arranged for a glass-blowing demonstration that impressed all of us. The expert glass-blower crafted a horse and a cat for the kids in under five minutes. On Burano, we saw a lace-making demonstration and strolled the colorful canals and hidden courtyards. Nadia also took us to her choice for the best gelato, Dai Fradei, which was excellent. Coming back to the city, we pulled up to the Palazzetto Pisani on the Grand Canal near the Academia bridge where she had Prosecco waiting for us. No matter where we went, from Venice to Murano to Burano, we were off the beaten path, and we were always moving at the pace of the kids. Everything was interesting to both adults and kids.

Glass blowing on Murano

3) Activities. Nadia arranged a mask painting class for the kids at Il Canovaccio. They loved it. Each of the kids picked out a plain mask and then, with assistance from their mask expert, painted them. They added silver and gold leaf as well, which was a very nice touch, and then Il Canovaccio lacquered the finished masks which we picked up the next day. It was great to be able to do a very local craft, and give the kids a personal connection to the city and the masks that they see in many, many shop windows. 

Another highlight, and the only one where we encountered (predictable) crowds, was feeding the pigeons in St. Mark’s Square. We had actually contemplated not going through the square, since our goal was to avoid crowds, but given its fame and the fact that the kids hadn't been to Venice before, we reconsidered. And I’m glad we did. In the late afternoon the square wasn't very busy, and the kids absolutely loved being swarmed by birds. The birds landed on their arms and heads and even our youngest daughter, who normally shies away from any animal/insect encounters, thought that it was great.

4. Water Taxis. We loved taking the water taxis everywhere, especially out to the islands. They were more expensive than the ferries but infinitely more convenient, and they allowed us to spend a lot more time on the islands and seeing the real Venice instead of walking long distances (with short legs) to the ferry stops and queuing to get onto the crowded, slower ferries. And this led to a definite highlight for my six-year-old son. On the way from Murano to Burano, Nadia had booked a very kid-friendly water taxi driver who let my son drive the boat most of the way. How many six-year-olds get to drive a water taxi in Venice? 

The goal of the trip was to give our kids a great introduction to Venice and get away from the crowds, and we were successful. There’s no reason to stay away in the summertime – it proved very easy to (largely) have Venice to ourselves despite 140,000 other visitors sharing the city with us each day. 

Customer Service and the Sonnenalp

With one kid away at camp for a few weeks, we've become (temporarily) a family of four. Four is a lot easier than five. Most restaurant tables are meant for four. Bedtimes are easier with just two kids. And most importantly, when it comes to travel, we can all fit into one hotel room. So I decided to take advantage of the situation and get out of town for a few nights.

I love ski towns in the summer. The mountains are green and covered with wildflowers. There are fast-moving streams, taking the melted snow away, with their relaxing sound of rushing water. People are in good moods as the weather warms up. And the hiking is great. One of my best college memories was a fun three-day weekend in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, with a lot of hiking up and running down ski slopes. So I figured I would expose the remaining kids to a little of that and I booked three nights in Vail. For a hotel I went to TripAdvisor and chose the number two rated hotel, the Sonnenalp. When I posted where I was staying on Facebook, I received comments like "great hotel", "loved that place" and "probably the best place to stay in Vail." It certainly seemed like we made the right choice, and I fully expected to love the hotel. I figured that we may become annual guests; a new family summer tradition.

And sure enough the location was great - halfway in between the pirate playground and Lionshead. The staff members were extremely friendly. The hotel was charming and the grounds were beautiful. It felt like we were in a Bavarian lodge. We liked the hotel a lot. But we didn't love it. And it all came down to kid-friendliness.

We've stayed at some very kid-friendly hotels recently, including the Four Seasons Bora Bora. So I notice when hotels go out of their way to engage the kids. And more importantly, the kids notice. Either the kids are excited to come back to the room in the evenings or they're not. If they're not, it takes away a little of the vacation fun. And it makes us less likely to come back to a hotel in future years.

What does it take for a hotel to be kid-friendly?

1. An acknowledgement that we have young kids and a recognition that our vacation and requirements are going to be a little different from a couple traveling without kids.
2. Something at check-in. We usually travel with paper, crayons and colored pencils. The kids can occupy themselves for hours drawing and coloring. If we forget to bring supplies, we need to go buy them. So it's always a nice touch for the front desk to bring out something for the kids at check-in. 80% of the time it's something drawing-related. Sometimes it's a kid adventure pack or stuffed animals. Regardless, it serves to immediately engage the kids and gives them something to do during downtime.
3. Pro-active recommendations of things to do with kids that we might not otherwise know about. This could come from the concierge, front desk staff, or even the waitstaff in the hotel restaurants. It's always nice to receive a printout of well-thought-out, kid-friendly activities.
4. Breakfast and other meal recommendations from the concierge or front desk that take into account kid-friendliness. It's annoying when staff only recommend the hotel restaurants and won't tell you about the great place down the street. 
5. When we do eat at the hotel restaurants, it's important for the servers to treat the kids like kids. It's nice to be offered kid cups and straws. But even if you want to give our kids adult glasses, which is fine, don't fill them to the brim! Some servers really understand this - in addition to kid's cups and reasonable refill levels, they leave the salad forks for the kids to use and bring spoons without us asking. 
6. Turn-down at night. This isn't by any means a necessity, but if we've cleaned up before dinner and used towels, it's nice to get dry towels. And the kids LOVE chocolates or other tiny things that housekeepers leave on the pillows. It makes them excited to come back to the room after dinner.
7. An overall kid-friendly vibe. This doesn't necessarily come from the hotels themselves. Other guests need to be in the mindset that it's fine for (well-behaved) kids to be at the hotel and sharing the pool and other areas. 

Unfortunately the Sonnenalp fell short on all of those. The hotel was nicely proactive before our arrival. They emailed us for details of our vacation, and they called a few days before our arrival to get the ages of our kids. This then translated to...nothing. There weren't kid-sized robes in the room. There weren't coloring books and crayons. There wasn't a packet of information on kid-friendly activities around town. When we asked the concierge specific questions he answered them, but he wasn't proactive at suggesting things for the kids that other guests have done or that the hotel recommends.

While the servers at the Swiss Chalet were absolutely perfect in interacting with our kids, the staff at the breakfast buffet restaurant (Ludwig's) gave the kids very full glasses of water and apple juice, and kept topping them off. It's stressful watching a 4-year-old try to get a full glass of apple juice from the table to her mouth without spilling!

The vibe at the pool definitely wasn't kid-friendly. Even though the kids were well-behaved, we got the impression that other guests preferred not to have them there. The hot tub was only for guests over 12, and there was no similar option for younger kids.

And turn-down service was a mystery. The first night is was excellent - you could tell that the Sonnenalp takes a lot of pride in the service. The housekeepers made the room cozy, replaced towels and arranged robes, delivered sparkling water, and, most importantly for the kids, left behind fresh-baked cookies. But this was a one-time event. The subsequent two nights we would see the carts in the hallway when we left for dinner and then later open the room door expecting to see the cookies and bedtime atmosphere. Instead we came back to find the room to find it exactly like we left it.

So here's where the customer service part comes in. The day after we arrived home, I received an online survey from the hotel. I completed it, noting my disappointment in the kid friendliness of the hotel. In response to the question about whether I would  stay there again, I said No. Even though there were a lot of good elements to the hotel, it just didn't engage the kids, so I figured we would try a different place next time.

Barely an hour after I submitted the survey, on a Sunday no less, I received a call from Stefan, the Sonnenalp's general manager, and we had a great conversation. He acknowledged the issues and admitted that it's part of their process to ask the age of child visitors, but that nothing's done with that information. He truly wants to use my comments to make the hotel kid-friendlier, and offered us a night on them next summer to give them another chance. He promised several times that when we come back we will see improvements in all areas. Wow! So in the course of a couple of hours, I went from being fairly negative about our experience to having a very positive feel about the hotel. That also prevented me from writing a negative TripAdvisor review - I'll wait until we stay there again to review them and their progress. It's great to see a property willing to implement kid-friendly things to make future family stays more enjoyable. And that can only lead to new business - if you keep the kids happy, you keep the parents happy. If the parents are happy, they're more likely to return year after year. And if children grow up with a family tradition like that, they may just decide to continue the same tradition with their own kids.

If you are at the Sonnenalp with kids in the next year, please let me know what you see. Have they implemented any changes? What have your kids liked best?

Flying With Kids - Tips

We've flown on well over a hundred flights with our three kids - ages 4, 6, and 8. Most have been family trips. Some have been one parent and any combination of 1, 2 or 3 kids. I'm frequently asked for tips on making flying easier. Every family is different, but this is what has worked well for us.

1) Snacks. Always, always, always bring snacks for the kids. And bring more than you think you'll need, since you could have unexpected travel delays. Hungry kids are grumpy kids. Our go-to items are zip-lock bags of cereal and Wheat Thins, granola bars, Chex mix and animal crackers, and sometimes we let the kids choose cookies to bring. If we're staying at a hotel with mini cereal boxes at the breakfast buffet, we'll grab several for the flight home.

We also bring a water bottle for each of us and fill them after we've gone through security. S'Well bottles are the best. They're not light, but they're indestructible and they keep liquids cold (or hot) all day. Using the bottles also means fewer spilled airplane beverage service cups, since flight attendants rarely give kids drinks with lids.  

2) Bulkhead - pros and cons. The only time we've liked the bulkhead (front row) is when traveling with infants. It's great for very young kids to be able to crawl around and not worry about them bothering the people in front of you. Beyond that, though, we've stayed away from bulkhead seats for two reasons. First, you can't have your bags there for take-off and landing. Second, the armrests don't go up. Up until five years old or so, all of our kids fell asleep frequently on planes. It's a lot easier to make kids comfortable when you can put up the armrest and let them sleep flat across their seat, using your lap as a pillow.

3) Reserving Seats. We have five travelers. A lot of the time we're on planes with a 3-3 seat configuration. I always reserve three seats on one side and the aisle and window seats on the other side. The middle seats are the last to be ticketed, so more often than not we get an extra, empty seat for free. And when the flights have been full and someone has been assigned that seat, we've never had problems convincing him/her to take the window seat instead of the middle. Low risk, high reward. It works for us about 70% of the time.

Another option to sitting across from each other, as reader Jennifer pointed out on Facebook, is to book some seats right behind the others (11 A, B, C and 12 A, C for example).  We do this frequently and always place our 4-year-old in the further back row.  Although she knows not to kick the seat or mess with the tray table, if she absentmindedly forgets, she's only annoying someone in our family.

Also, I use Seat Guru religiously to choose the perfect seats for every flight. I also go back monthly and check our reservations to make sure we still have those seats. When airlines change flight times or flight numbers, I've found that they also periodically reset the seat chart. If an airline moves us from five good seats together to five scattered bad seats, which has happened several times, the earlier I find out about it, the easier it is for the airline to fix things.

4) Fly Early. Nothing is worse than missed or cancelled flights that make an already long travel day a lot longer. We fly as early in the day as possible. There's less traffic, and early morning flights are rarely delayed or cancelled since it's likely the planes spent the night at the airport. We put pillows, blankets and travel clothes in the car the night before and warm up the car for a few minutes before we wake up the kids and carry them to the car. They usually sleep on the way to the airport and are in a great mood by the time we head into the terminal. There’s always time to get breakfast at the airport.

5) Travel Light.  I know everyone has their own preference on this one. For us, the less we're carrying through the airport, the better. We only let one of our kids (the oldest) bring a small rolling backpack, and she is then responsible for taking books, headphones, stuffed animals and paper/crayons for the other two kids. My wife and I both have small backpacks/bags with snacks as well as standard stuff that you would never want to check. If we get into a foreign airport with a long passport line and tired kids, we would rather pick up our kids to help/comfort them than worry about hauling a lot of small bags. We've never carried strollers or car seats through an airport - we check them with everything else. In addition to letting us get through airports easier, the light packing also lets us go through security faster. And it allows us the flexibility to board a flight at any stage of the boarding process, since we don't require any overhead space (see number two - this wouldn't work if we had bulkhead seats).  

6) Book Business Class for Overnight Flights. This is obviously easier said than done, and involves paying more or getting upgrades through luck, elite status, or frequent flier miles. If you can make it work, though, it's worth it. If I'm traveling solo, an upgrade isn't a big deal. With kids, though, if they're not sleeping, I'm not sleeping. One way of making this work fairly economically is to mix and match business and economy seats over the course of a trip. If we're leaving from a small airport heading to Europe, we will likely have three flights - a short flight to a hub airport, a long overnight flight and a short intra-Europe flight. I only care about business class on the overnight flight. Coming back to the US, if we leave Europe early in the morning, all flights are when the kids would be awake (on European time) anyway, so a nicer seat isn't necessarily worth paying more for. Basically, in six total flights, I'm only willing to pay for business class on the flight where a flat bed means that the kids can get a full night's sleep, or close to it. Given that most internet booking engines don't let me combine coach and business seats in one booking, this is when I turn to a travel agency like Cranky Concierge. They've put together some great itineraries for us, booking business class only on our overnight flights. This sometimes works out to only slightly more than an all-coach ticket would have been, and it makes the trip infinitely more comfortable. Plus they're experts at getting upgrades, so they can figure out the best path to business class.   

7) Entertainment.  I'm a big fan of iPod Touches and iPad Minis for kids on planes. We entertained our kids for hours with simple apps like Peekaboo Barn when they were infants/toddlers. As the kids have gotten older, we've obviously downloaded more age-appropriate apps.  Minecraft is very popular with my 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter right now (as well as seemingly every other kid) - five-hour flights literally and figuratively fly by.  I've also converted most of our DVD movies to mp4 format and loaded them onto the iPods, and downloaded shows that the kids like. When traveling with my 6-year-old to Easter Island and Iguazu Falls last month, we had roughly 40 hours on planes.  He entertained himself the entire time with Minecraft, Stack the States (learning US geography), Stack the Countries (learning world geography), Presidents vs. Aliens (learning US presidents) and Mathmateer (learning multiplication and division), as well as downloaded episodes of Chopped and Mythbusters.  Everything was fun and more or less educational, and he never once complained of being bored.  We also travel with paper, colored pencils/crayons and books, but the iPods get the most use.  And I'm absolutely fine with that - taking the flying out of the equation makes for much more enjoyable trips. 


But that's just us. What works well for you?

Easter Island with a 6-Year-Old

Easter Island! It's one of those places that you see in National Geographic or the occasional Discover Channel show, or as a reference on the Simpsons, that never makes the news but that you grow up sort of knowing about: remote; unique; mysterious. Part of being there involved continually pinching ourselves and reminding ourselves where we were - on a tiny dot in the middle of the south Pacific, halfway between Chile and Tahiti. A dot with a lot of cool statues.

My 6-year-old son Henry has been traveling the world since he was born, and he's always been an excellent traveler. Unlike my other kids, though, he's never wanted to go anywhere. Home is good. His room is good. His LEGO collection is good. Why leave? That changed, however, with an out-of-the-blue request to go to Easter Island.

The question I got most frequently from others during the planning stage was: He does know that the Easter Bunny doesn't live there, right? At first I laughed it off, but then I realized that it was a completely reasonable question to ask a 6-year-old willing to spend 20 hours on a plane to go to one of the most remote spots on earth. I certainly didn't want to take him all the way there only to see profound disappointment on his face at the lack of a large rabbit carrying chocolate. So I asked him why he wanted to go and he replied that he really wanted to see the Moai (the large human-like statues carved on the island between 500 and 800 years ago). Plus, he had recently become fascinated with geography, and liked that it was a remote island. He assured me that Hop notwithstanding, he wasn't anticipating anything Easter-related.

Easter Island is definitely remote, but it's not difficult to get to - it just involves a lot of travel.  In our case we flew LA-Panama, did a one-day layover in Panama, flew to Santiago, Chile, did a one-day stop there, and then flew non-stop from Santiago.

It's always fun to spot land when you've been over nothing but water for 5+ hours. It was really fun to know we were about to land at Easter Island. We thought we even saw some Moai from the plane.

Day One

We were met at the airport by Bill, an Aussie expat who owns the Taura'a Hotel with his Rapa Nui wife Edith. We booked the Taura'a based on TripAdvisor ratings and couldn't have been happier with the choice. Bill drove us all of four minutes from the airport to the hotel, and we dropped off our luggage and walked into town. The walk took roughly four more minutes.  

Hanga Roa, Easter Island's only town, has a great island vibe - a lot of cafes and restaurants, a lot of low-key souvenir stores, some playgrounds, a couple of ATMs, several dive shops, and a school right in the middle of everything where the kids seemed to be playing soccer every time we passed by, regardless of the time of day. On the playgrounds all of the equipment was made out of wood. Henry wasn't too sure about sliding down a wooden slide.

We ate lunch the first afternoon on the water. None of our restaurants the entire trip were far from the water. The food was excellent everywhere. I generally stuck with seafood. Depending on the meal, Henry chose chicken, steak or seafood. Our entire stay in Easter Island was mercifully free of pasta and pizza, a win when traveling with a 6-year-old.  

La Kaleta, Hanga Roa

After lunch we walked roughly five minutes to Tahai, the closest major Moai site to town. Henry was extraordinarily excited to be there. When he wasn't taking pictures with his iPod, he was running around, checking out the different rocks, getting as close to the Moai as we were allowed, jumping off walls, and overall having the time of his life. If Antarctica was a huge playground for an adventurous 8-year-old, Easter Island was a playground of equal stature for a 6-year-old who loves geography, history and nature.  

With only one flight a day, and with people staying an average of four days or so, there are rarely more than 1,000 visitors on the island at a time.  And even then, we barely saw any of those other visitors. There was no one else at Tahai that first day. Pretty cool to be the only ones there - just us and the Rapa Nui chiefs, immortalized in stone.  

After Tahai we roamed around the town a little, checking out the various craft markets and stores, comparing mini-Moai statues and carved canoe paddles and getting a feel for the price of souvenirs, which of course we knew we would be taking home. How can you go to Easter Island and not buy a mini-Moai? We ended the day with an excellent dinner at La Taverne du Pecheur. We chose it based on the upstairs patio with a great view of the harbor, and luckily the food matched the view.  

Day Two

We had breakfast at our lodge before joining Bill for a 6-hour tour of the island. We started at Vaihu / Hanga Te'e on the south side of the island and circled counter-clockwise from there. Bill was a great guide, giving us the background on each site and telling the story of the Moai, the Rapa Nui people who sculpted and moved them, and the chiefs they depicted, as well as overall island history. We hung on every word. After visiting several coastal sites, we headed to Rano Raraku, the quarry where all Moai had been sculpted before being transported to their seaside locations.

Rano Raraku was very cool. Any photos that you see of Moai on a hillside, either standing or lying down, are from Rano Raraku. Because of the Easter Bunny questions we had gotten before the trip, as well as the timing of our trip the week after Easter, we brought along some eggs.

Heading directly down to the shore from the quarry, we reached Tongariki, the most impressive line of Moai. Even here we were alone - it felt like we had Easter Island to ourselves!

Henry the photographer

We continued north to Anakena, the island's only beach and likely the landing site of the earliest inhabitants. Henry loved the Moai at one end of the beach, as well as the beach itself.

Showing his love of Rapa Nui

From Anakena we cut across the island back to Hanga Roa, and Bill gave us a tour of the town before we returned to the hotel. That night we had a great dinner at Haka Honu and hung out in town until well after sunset, just watching the surfers and paddle boarders and enjoying the atmosphere around the harbor.

Day Three

On our last full day on the island, we could have done anything. There were one or two sites that we hadn't seen the day before, so we could have arranged a tour or rented a car.  We could have gone back to the same amazing sites as the day before. We could have headed back up to the beach at Anakena. I ran through the options with Henry at breakfast, and he voted for just sticking around town and spending more time at his favorite Moai site, Tahai. It was his trip, so I didn't try to change his mind. And that plan worked out really well because as we walked to Tahai we discovered the only thing that could intrude on our private island experience: a cruise ship. An Oceana ship had just disembarked its passengers, most of whom immediately jumped on buses heading to the sites we had seen the day before. Easter Island had been magical for us partially because we had the sites to ourselves. To have gone back and seen them with hundreds of cruise-goers would only have taken away from the previous day. So we spent time at Tahai in between tour groups, enjoyed a leisurely lunch of empanadas by the harbor, and scoured the markets for the perfect Moai replicas.

In Hanga Roa, with the symbol of Rapa Nui

Dinner was at Te Moana. Another great meal on the water, watching the surfers and the sunset.

Day Four

After breakfast we headed to Tahai one last time, packed, and went to the airport. Edith recommended getting to the airport about two hours before the flight, and it was good to check in early, but otherwise we spent a lot of time there just reading and wasting time. At least the terminal was largely outdoors - exactly what you would expect for a tropical island that sees one flight a day.

Overall it was an excellent few days, and well worth the journey. We easily could have spent more time there, but we had seen most of the island and spent a lot of time wandering the town, so we were ready to move on to Iguazu. We talked to other travelers who were spending a week on the island, but they were cycling, renting mopeds and/or diving - none of which are realistic options with a 6-year-old. Both of us would go back in a heartbeat, though. Next time we'll look up the cruise schedule in advance and plan around that, just to be safe.

Summary Information

Kid Friendly: Very
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Specifics

Airline/Routing: Copa Airlines to Santiago from LA (via Panama), LAN from Santiago to Easter Island and back.  Aerolineas Argentinas to Iguazu and Buenos Aires, and United from Buenos Aires back to LA.
Hotel: Taura'a Hotel
Trip Length: 11.5 days total, including three days on Easter Island. We spent a day in Panama and a day in Santiago before heading to Easter Island, and then two days at Iguazu, Argentina and a day in Buenos Aires on the way back. Travel added up to a couple of days too.
Travel Stats: 9 flights, 19,148 miles
Days of School Missed: 7.5 Days
Cost Factors:  In order to put together a complicated air itinerary at the best cost, I once again used Brett Snyder at Cranky Concierge. The main expense was the airfare. The hotel for three nights, including breakfast and a full-day island tour, added up to about $600. Meals on Easter Island were cheaper than Bora Bora but more expensive than Hawaii. The food was excellent though.

25 Hours in Panama

Hats.  The Panama Canal.  Noriega.  The third track from Van Halen's 1984.  I didn't know a lot about Panama.  But flying from Los Angeles to Santiago with my 6-year-old son Henry, our best Star Alliance option was to fly Copa Airlines via Panama City.  We could have a 1-hour layover in Panama, or a 25-hour layover.  It seemed like it would be fun to stop for day and see the canal.

Based on TripAdvisor reviews, I booked a room at the Hotel Deville.  We got there around 4pm, checked in and walked around for a couple hours.  Once we navigated past the banks and skyscrapers, and took multiple risks crossing streets at crosswalks that were only casually honored by the rush-hour drivers, and figured out which streets with no names (or at least no signs) led to the shore, we reached said shore.  There were some good views of Panama City and the ocean, but after the long travel day and journey from the hotel, it was a definite let-down.  We walked along the seaside path for a while (but apparently not far enough to get to the restaurant area, we would find out the next day) before turning around, re-tracing our steps, risking our lives stepping off curbs once again, and eating a mediocre meal at a large American chain restaurant close to the hotel.  Day one was kind of a failure. 

 

The next day was much better.  We booked a half-day tour through Panama Roadrunner.  Lorna, a heavily-tattooed, very friendly Reiki expert and British expat, picked us up 6:30am and we drove about 20km out of the city to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.  We planned to get on the 7:30am boat to Monkey Island, a place that had definitely piqued the interest of my son when he heard about it.  We got there in time but learned that the booking hadn't completed for the 7:30 trip, and in fact there was no 7:30 trip that day.  But there would be a boat at 8:45, so we booked it.  This actually worked out really well - it gave us a chance to eat breakfast at the hotel and walk around a little.  The resort had hammocks on all balconies, a nice pool and birds everywhere.  Given our negative experience in Panama City, Henry and I were both wishing that we had spent the previous night at Gamboa and skipped Panama City. 

After a quick ride in a safari-like vehicle, we arrived at the marina and got on a small boat with three other Americans, a guide and a driver.  The boat took us out onto Lake Gatun, where we saw large cargo ships transiting the canal.  Pretty cool to see.  We then continued to Monkey Island, where we were not disappointed.  Howler monkeys swung from the trees, sloths hung around, turtles crawled on the shore, iguanas relaxed on thin branches and baby crocodiles scurried on rocks.  I had the wrong lens and wrong timing to capture any great wildlife photos, but it was a fun experience, especially when the boat driver stopped and pulled out some mango, luring monkeys to the boat.

From the resort we headed back towards the city and stopped at Miraflores Locks, one of three sets of locks on the Panama Canal.  It’s the 100^th anniversary of the canal opening, so there was a little bit of a festive atmosphere with signs everywhere stating 1914-2014.  The four-story museum is very well-done – there are a lot of exhibits on the building of the canal and on the wildlife of Panama, and a lot of interactive areas for kids (and adults), where you can get the idea of what it’s like to operate locks, pilot ships through the canal, and direct ships through the canal from shore.  Henry really liked the models of the various ships that helped to create and maintain the canal.  The 20-minute film about the canal was similarly well-done.  And the gift store was pretty good, although the snow globes were out of place.  Rain Globes, you really need to create a Panama Canal version and sell through the store! 

We then had an extra hour before our flight so we drove to the Casco Viejo (old town) area of Panama City.  This was a highlight – much more interesting than the area around our hotel.  I had been warned about staying in that area of town, since apparently there are some sketchy areas, but I regretted not looking into it.  We really enjoyed walking around the markets and historical buildings.  If I was going to do another one-day layover in Panama with a kid or multiple kids, I would go out to Gamboa for the night.  If I was going to do a layover with a friend, my wife or solo, I would stay in Casco Viejo. 

After Casco Viejo the drive to the airport was nerve-wracking, with the dashboard clock slowly approaching our flight time but Saturday traffic being alternately stopped or diverted due to political rallies.  Luckily the airport is small and check-in fast, so we were still fine and got to the gate with time to spare.  Overall a worthwhile stop for a day.  Next time I’ll just plan the hotel better.  

Summary Information

Kid Friendly: Moderate
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Specifics

Airline/Routing: Copa Airlines direct to Panama City from Los Angeles
Hotel: Deville Hotel
Tour Company for Day Trip: Panama Roadrunner
Trip Length: 1 Day
Days of School Missed: 1 Day
Cost Factors:  The layover in Panama didn't increase the cost of our plane tickets, and there were no visa or other transfer fees.  Total expenses in Panama for 25 hours were a little under $500, including hotel, transportation/tour, Monkey Island boat tickets, Panama Canal museum/film entrance and food.  We could have brought that down by renting a car instead of hiring Panama Roadrunner to take us around, but after having seen the roads, traffic and street closures, I'm glad we didn't attempt that.