Travel Advice and Resources from BabySafeTravel.com

Summer is here. I started to feel it throughout my panic-stricken nervous system as it anticipated the ending of the school year June 8. After passing the buck to the Kane County School system for the last nine months, I am again finding myself wondering what I'm going to do with TWO kids 24/7 until August.


Summer, of course, is divided into three categories for most: day trips, vacation trips, and trips to Insaneville courtesy of the kiddos. Now Insaneville is unavoidable. The kids are bound to get on each other's nerves (and thus yours) no matter how occupied and entertained you keep them. It's in their DNA.


One sure way to stay on track with the out-of house experiences you'll be planning for your summer travels is to check out a new website called Baby Safe Travel, an excellent resource for all your traveling-with-kids needs. (Let's face it: few of you escape to vacationland without them. If you're one of the lucky few, you are ordered not to pine over your little ones during me-time. They're just fine with grandma! But for the rest of you, if ya can't leave 'em, enjoy 'em.)


Baby Safe Travel is a site born out of the traveling experiences of Megan Radke, mom to Keegan and expecting double trouble in the form of twins. Megan requested a hotel crib and got a gnarly old stink box accompanied with a king-sized bedsheet/makeshift noose. After that experience, Megan realized the importance of a travel website created for parents, babies, and small children and created this awesome website.


On the home page, just plug in your destination, dates, and number of rooms you'll need and the site does a search of hotels in the area. You get the average price per night, a list of hotel details, amenities and room options, and both a star- and rattle-rating (rattle ratings appear on parent-reviewed hotels). You can help make travel better for babies and kids by reviewing hotels you've stayed at as well.


The site's Baby Boutique is full of all kinds of travel-friendly products for parents including bath gear, sleep gear, and travel gear, among other things. My readers will receive a 10% discount on all merchandise by using the coupon code 'summertravel' at checkout.


My favorite part of the website is the Baby Travel Tips section, which is filled with helpful advice for traveling with infants, crawlers, walkers, and multiples. I love that there's a list of toddler-proofing supplies. I never would have thought about that--and I consider myself a seasoned veteran when it comes to traveling with my kids. Remember, Mr. Busypants has been to Florida no fewer than 10 times in his short life and saw both coasts and the Smokey Mountains by the time he was a year old. I sincerely believe that if I handed him his ticket and dropped him off at the airport that he'd make it onto his plane just fine.


Another great section of this site is the Baby Blog section, which includes blogs for Beach Babies, Adventure Babies, Snow Babies and the Wild Child. Parents are invited to blog about their own travel experiences under these four categories.


Traveling with kids can make or break you and traveling with babies has the potential for disaster, but with the resources available to you through Baby Safe Travel, your chances to actually vacation on your vacation increase significantly.


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