Packing for a Tropical Destination

Traveling to a tropical destination? Maybe you're going on a cruise, hitting the beach in Florida, or someplace more exotic.  There are some key must-haves when traveling to a tropical / sub-tropical location.

#1 - Sunscreen - you will need a lot of sunscreens. The sun rays are always worse around water. Here in Florida, you can burn in as little as 15 minutes, so lather that sunblock on and make sure you reapply it every 80 minutes. I personally like Elta MD sunscreen the sport is your best option as it is suitable for swimming and sweating.

#2 - sunglasses - you will need some shade for your eyes.  You'll enjoy the views much better with a good pair of sunglasses. Plus you will protect your eyes from those harmful rays. I would recommend  polarized sunglasses as your eyes will be more protected

3# - Sandles - Down here in the summer, spring, and part of the fall season no one willingly wears "real shoes".  We love our sandals and flip-flops. I would recommend something that is slip resistant. tropical regions get a lot of rain in the warmer months plus if your swimming your feet will be wet. You don't want to get injured while you are on vacation.

#4 - Water bottle - You will become dehydrated really quickly in the heat and humidity.  It is important to keep water on hand. You may not notice that you are dehydrated till its too late. a reusable bottle is a great way to save cash, protect the environment, and stay hydrated. If you're going to be doing a lot of walking around I would recommend either a camelback backpack or a collapsible hydration bottle.

#5 - Bug spray - If your anything like me the mosquitos love to pick you out of a crowd.  I find myself either traveling with a small can of bug spray or picking one up once I arrive especially if I plan on doing any hiking. There are lots of different types of bug spray out there, if you're doing some hiking I would recommend a deep woods spray to help with ticks and chiggers.  If you are just hanging out or taking a walk in the evening you should be fine with a regular bug spray my favorite is Off smooth and dry.

#6 - A swimsuit - who doesn't want to get their feet wet and enjoy the water on a tropical vacation.  Don't forget your swimsuit maybe even 2 so you have an extra while your primary one is drying out.

#7 - A good attitude - have some fun, relax, and let your worries melt away.  Afterall you're on a beautiful tropical or sub-tropical vacation.

Planning Our New York City Vacation

Having school-age children one of the biggest struggles is timing.  Our children attend public school and participate in sports activities, therefore, finding a time where both children are out of school and do not have sports activities to attend.  As I'm sure this is a challenge for many traveling families.  Typically what we have found is Spring break, winter break, and Thanksgiving break are usually the best options for our schedule and for our budget.  Summer is usually hectic with sports camps and mandatory band camps plus summer is one of the most expensive times to travel.

So, when we think of taking a trip we don't set a destination, in the beginning, we think of a few places we might like to visit and the times we are available that year and begin looking for flights and hotel prices.  That's how we ended up choosing New York City for our spring break trip last year.  Using Google.com/flights we were able to find amazing prices for flights through Jet Blue directly from Jacksonville Florida to New York City.  Not only were the flights a great price compared to other airlines but we also had in-flight movies and got to pick our seats for free.  I know a lot of airlines charge for that option nowadays and don't always offer in-flight entertainment, especially for short flights.  

After booking our flights we began searching for a place to stay.  We knew we wanted to be in a safe neighborhood, close to metro stops as we didn't want to rent a car, and we wanted the hotel to provide breakfast. During this trip, we would also be traveling with my sister, Aunt, and cousin so we would need 3 rooms.  I searched several discount sites such as hotels.com, kayak.com, and Trivago.com as well as direct hotel sites for weeks.  During my searches, I also set up alerts to get notifications if pricing dropped.  I compared locations in the city center vs. outside the city.  It is much less expensive to stay outside the city and commute to the city.  So I focused on hotels outside the city that offered free breakfast.  Each time I considered a hotel I read the reviews posted by customers that had stayed there before me.  Not only reviews posted on the sites I searched but also other sites for that same hotel.  I always want to make sure I am staying in a clean, reputable hotel, and safe hotel.  

After a month of searching, we located a hotel that met our needs for about $100 a night per room.  Considering all the research I had done during this time the price was great.  The rooms were comfortable and clean when we arrived as well.  The location was perfect for our stay.  I will say the breakfast wasn't as good as we had hoped for but for the price it wasn't bad.  

Now that we had a place to stay I began researching things for us to do while we were there.  Each of us had our "must see" list so I started with that.  I took the list of things that we all wanted to see and went to each of the sites to see the entry cost and the days/times the facility was open.  Then looked for tour groups and city pass options.  You can save a ton of money with a city pass option if you are visiting a lot of sites and the price of the pass is right vs the entry fee of the attraction, you should always compare the two before purchasing.  I compared the cost of our entry fee with The City Pass of New York, the The New York Pass, and so many more.  We found that the New York pass provided us with more of the activities we wanted access to plus free tours, hop on hop off bus and there was a mobile app we could download to help us find each attraction.  

We used the New York Pass for two tours, the river cruise, and access to museums, 911 memorial, top of the rock, Empire State building, the hop on hop off bus., Statue of Liberty, and so much more  We ended up spending about 20% less than we would have if we purchased entrance to the attractions.  That's including if we had chosen to access the museums on their free days.  

If you're interested in visiting the Bronx Zoo they also offer Wednesdays where you can donate what you want to visit their facility.  I would recommend checking out their website to verify they are still running this promotion before planning your trip, however, this promotion was running during our visit.  We were able to access the zoo without a taxi or car rental.  We used the metro to commute to and from the zoo.  

For the Metro, we purchased a 7-day unlimited card when we arrived in New York City.  You can purchase these at any of the kiosks in New York City.  They are found at most of the main metro stations.  You can locate them on the New Your City Metro website. The unlimited card was significantly less expensive than paying per ride on the metro.  We purchased an unlimited card for each family member but we later leaned on our New York City Tour that we could have purchased fewer cards because up to 4 people can share a card as it can be passed back to another person and swiped again up to 4 times. You can also download a New York City Metro app on your mobile device to assist you with navigating around the city.  

These are tips and tricks that I used to plan my families New York City trip this last spring on a moderate budget.  I hope you find this information helpful when planning your next trip to New York City.

Recent Adventures in NYC

This past spring my family, some extended family, and myself traveled to New York City. We spent months planning our trip as we were traveling on a budget and only had a week to see the city.  After months of planning, researching, and exploring the city I have several tips to share with you. 

First I would like to start off by saying make sure you research the airport you are arriving in to see if Uber, Juno, or other car services are recommended or are at least familiar with the pickup process at the airport. The Juno service in New York was not familiar with JFK airport procedures and after waiting for 30 minutes in freezing cold weather we watched our Juno app while the driver drove away.  Juno was kind enough to refund our electronic payment and the airport customer service was able to get us quick and inexpensive transportation across the city.  In fact they arranged for our party of 7 transportation nearly 40 minutes from the airport for only $80.  This was a great price, the Juno driver was charging us $100, taxi's would have charged us much more and most can not accomodate such large parties without waiting long periods.  We waited about 10 minutes for a van to arrive.  For return to the airport our hotel was able to get us the same service.  

I would also advise when looking for a place to stay consider staying outside the city center.  Its all about location, so your going to pay for location.  True staying in city center is convenient however, staying outside the city you get to save $100 or more each night per room. Plus you get to experience what most of the New York population experience every day when commuting to the city.  By staying outside the city we found great food, experienced riding the metro into the city daily with most of the residents of the city.  It felt like a more authentic experience and less like being a tourist.

You should be prepared to navigate the New York Metro stations.  There is absolutely no need to return a car or take a taxi even if your staying in one of the outlying boroughs.  The Metro stations are everywhere and are super convenient but can be confusing if you aren't careful.  During our visit they had metro lines under repair which made it more confusing but with modern technology at our fingertips we were able to download a metro app and find our way around without getting lost.  Most of the larger stops have security guards or an attendant to ask questions if you need assistance. 

Another great tip about the metro is you can buy unlimited cards to use for a week or longer depending on how long you are going to be there. Also, something the metro site does not tell you but a New Yorker will, you can use 1 unlimited card for up to 4 people. Meaning you can buy 1 unlimited card the first person can swipe to go through the metro gate and then pass the ticket back to another person to use for entry.  This can be done up to four times before the ticket will read as invalid for up to an hour.  After the hour you can use your ticket again.  

If you plan to visit any of the museums they are wonderful to visit and have coat check options if you are visiting in the winter as we did.  Take advantage of the coat check some are free and others are only a few dollars.  Some museums are free on certain days of the week so check the website to see if they have a day that is free to the public.  Also some are closed on certain days of the week so plan your itinerary accordingly.  Also if your looking for the MoMA they have two locations.  The famous Starry Night painting is located in the Manhattan location.  My daughter loved the museums the beautiful paintings, statues, and art.  

If you are planning to visit some of the other sites such as the 911 memorial, statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, or take any city tours then I would recommend the New Yorker pass.  We purchased this pass and we received hop on and hop off bus passes for the city which was amazing. Plus we received free entrance to all of the major city sites including museums if you dont want to visit on a free day.  We were also able to take a New York City walking tour with the pass as well as a SoHo tour.  The SoHo tour was wonderful we were able to try desert in little Italy and dumplings in China town.  after the tour we even chose to eat at a wonderful restaurant in China town that was recommended by our tour guide.  This was the best food we had while in New York.  

One of my absolute favorite things to do was the night time cruise along the river.  This was also included in our New York Pass. The city is so beautiful at night and the cruise captain was wonderful pointing out all the different building and bridges.  The boat was designed well for all different types of weather, when we visited the average temperature was high 40's and low teens.  Even with these cold temperatures we were able to enjoy this wonderful river cruise as they have heated indoor and outdoor seating. the windows are very large allowing you to view the sites just as well from indoors as you can outside.  If you have time to take a cruise like this I would highly recommend it.  

My sons favorite locations were the bronx zoo and the intrepid sea and air museum.  It does take some time to get to the sea and air museum, the closest metro stop is a bit of a walk but it is great to walk through these neighborhoods.  We walked through Hells Kitchen and ate lunch in a Greek restaurant on our way back from the sea and air museum. The zoo was very fascinating as well.  a lot of the animals are not on exhibit during the winter due to their need to be warm but the ones that were out were great.  The best part is on Wednesdays the zoo is on a pay what you would like to donate so if you cant afford to pay their regular price for admission for a large group you can choose your own price on Wednesday.  The Zoo has some beautiful scenery with a small waterfall and foliage.  It is one of the nicer zoo's we have been to.  The only one my family has enjoyed more is the National zoo in Washington DC.  

If you get the opportunity you should take a walk through Central Park. It is a beautiful park and it was much larger than we though.  The day we visited it was snowing the park is even more beautiful in the snow.  Being from Florida the family and I spent more time than we expected in Central Park enjoying the beauty of the snow.  

Even if you don't plan to buy anything while you are in New York you should check out some of the cool stores on time square.  The M&M store is crazy busy but they have some really neat stuff that i've not seen in any other store. Of course you could order the items online but seeing the store in person is an experience.  It's 3 floors full of M&M history and fun.  Then there is the Hersey store, it has everything supersized. A 3lb Hersey bar or Kit Kat bar sound good to you? Or how about a make your own Smore bar?  they have it all, go and check it out it smells amazing too.  

Also, remember when visiting New York City its the city that never sleeps so you can plan your dinner later than you would normally eat to avoid long wait in line for a table and avoid eating in time square or high traffic areas.  You will pay less, have more table space, and spend less time waiting and more time enjoying your time.  Museums will still close early but other places are open late like the river cruises, top of the rock, and empire state building.  So plan your day to make the most of your time.  Also, if your a light sleeper like I am take some ear plugs and download a white noise app on your phone.  Otherwise you will never get any sleep theres traffic and city noise all night long.  

We loved our visit to New York City, it truly is a beautiful city and the people are strong and welcoming.  I would encourage anyone that is thinking about visiting the city to not waste another day, start planning your trip today.