As a mom, I always dreamed of taking my kids on a magical trip to Disneyland. I was not disappointed. The hotel in Anaheim was more expensive and smaller, but it still had some great perks. Our hotel gave us a free meal plus a $20 voucher for dining with them. So, after arriving from San Diego via Amtrak and taxi, we pigged out on a surf 'n' turf dinner with all the trimmings, side salad, chips, guacamole, and even apple pie a la mode. Also, as part of our hotel package, the next morning we received 4 sack lunches with huge club sandwiches, chips, and juice for us to take to Disneyland (which saved a lot of money in the park). We also packed drinks for the day. That night, we found out (via Google) ... read more

I think the only reason Jessica agreed to visit Ireland was that we had an overnight layover in Paris. We really didn't know anything about this country, or what we were going to do for 4 days. Looking back, it was probably one of the more interesting, laid back, and friendly places that we have visited. Armed with little more than a general location of our hotel and a couple of popular sights to see the first day, we walked out of the double decker 747 airport express bus. There was hardly a small crowd of people walking around, very few signs written in Gaelic, and a lot of old looking bank buildings - we could have been in Boston except that we were exiting the left side of the bus onto the sidewalk. This was ... read more

Today started at 5:30am (Paris/Rome time zone) for us, getting ready to head to the airport. Our flight was not until 9:15 and the hotel is only a 5 minute shuttle ride away, but being unfamiliar with the airport and local check-in procedures, it was probably a good idea to give some room for error. The Holiday Inn Express buffet breakfast was satisfying as usual, although they didn't have the customary (in the US at least) cinnamon rolls that melt in your mouth. A quick check of the room, and then we caught the 6:30 shuttle to the airport. The return trip was scheduled slightly longer than the east-bound trip (because of head winds), but more concerning to us was that it is almost entirely in daylight, landing at DFW at 8:00pm on the same day ... read more

After breakfast in the apartment of bread, Nutella, and eggs; we headed out for our tour of ancient Rome. Our Italian guide book has been hit or miss on our trip, but we followed the advice and bought tickets to all 3 sites (Palantine Hill, the Roman Forum and the colisseum) at Palantine Hill. We were not disappointed--not only did it save us about an hour wait at the colliseum but we were able to tour the other sites as well. As we walked through the Forum and Palantine Hill, we taught the kids about the history of Rome and stopped at each landmark reading the description in our travel book. Unless absolutley necessary, don't bring strollers to these 3 areas. It was very difficult to navigate the stroller over many of the ancient Roman roads ... read more