Travel for the holidays

Holidays can be fun and exciting, but along with that can come additional stress, especially if there is a new baby in the mix. Traveling long distances via plane or car; changes in eating schedules; sleeping in a new environment; as well as changes to the sleeping schedule are just a few of the stresses that can affect your family's holiday.

Colleen from Travel Mama's has written a great piece called "How to Survive Visiting Family During the Holidays". The story contains information on sleeping arrangements, baby proofing, and scheduling your visit times.

The most important thing about holiday traveling is to not overbook your time so that you are constantly on the go. Try to keep baby on a normal napping schedule, and if time allows, mom and dad should nap, too! Finally, relax and have fun. Create special moments with your family to start a lifetime of holiday memories with your child.

Starlight Children's Foundation

JetSetBabies is helping kids by partnering with Starlight Children’s Foundation to help children fight life threatening and chronic illnesses and we need your help.

Starlight Children’s Foundation serves children fighting life threatening and chronic illnesses such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV/AIDS, and kidney disease so that they can forget for a few moments about being sick and do what they do best – just be kids. Touching the lives of more than 180,000 children each month, Starlight uniquely offers a comprehensive menu of both "high tech" and "high touch" programs.

Between now and Dec 31st for every facebook fan and blog follower we get signed up, we'll donate $1 to Starlight. What will your $1 do?

Every $1 donated to Starlight provides a child with cancer to play video games for almost an entire day on a Starlight Fun Center while going through chemotherapy.

$1 for Starlight enables a hospitalized child to spend 5 hours reaching out to friends and family after visiting hours have ended using a PC Pal’s email and messaging tools.

$1 enables a teen who is too sick to leave home to spend one day finding supportive friends on Starlight’s Starbright World social network.

So pass the word to all your mom friends and help us reach up to 1000 fans as quickly as possible! Sign up for our JetSetBabies newsletter and we'll add on another $1!

JetSetBabies

Eyes Cream Shades

If you are looking for a great pair of sunglasses that block UVA, UVB, and UVC rays and stay on the little ones, Eyes Cream Shades specialize in providing premium quality sunwear. They are designed specifically for children ages six months and above – and believe me they stay on!

They have polycarbonate lenses that block virtually 100% UVA, UVB, and UVC rays!

We are running a special on them for ONLY $13.00 - they are great stocking stuffers. My little one loves to wear them when we are outside playing, in the car or on top of his head like his dad – and they don’t fall off.

Check them out at JetSetBabies If you are interested in a different color please email us and I will see if we can get them.

JetSetBabies October Newsletter

'Read our October Newsletter.'

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Need help with holiday travel - Check out Travel Mamas

While planning our two holiday trips this year, we are driving to South Caroline for Thanksgiving and flying to Florida for Christmas, I was a little nervous as how to travel with a 2 year old and a 7 month old. How do I keep them entertained on the drive? Do I buy one or two extra seats on the airplane? Airline tips? Will I forget anything? And who better to ask then mamas who have done it before!!! Travel Mamas was a great resource for me, I found a ton of tips and advise from other mom's. I was able to learn a lot from their travel tip page such as; what to bring, how to dress my kids and what snacks to pack. Their was also a great check list that was very helpful – when you are packing for 4 people sometimes you forget that you need socks. As you all know there a lot of things that go through your mind while planning a trip and sometimes it easy to forget the small things. Thanks Colleen at Travel Mamas for all her help, tips and advise I am very excited for my first holiday travels with my husband and two children.

Bottle Warmers

Are you looking for the perfect on the go bottle warmer? Well JetSetBabies is now carring On the Fly bottle warmers. On The Fly™ bottle warmer was designed for mothers and fathers ‘on the go’ that desire a functional and chic product for their baby. For more information check them out at JetSetBabies.

Duration of heating is 8 hours.

Travel to Australia with a baby

We often have moms traveling to Australia with an infant that are very nervous about the long trip with such a little one. Who wouldn't be nervous. I was nervous on a two-hour plane trip with my baby, wondering what I would do if they screamed the entire trip. I've never flown internationally with my children, so unfortunately, I'm not much help in this area.

However, I've located a website from a seasoned traveled Mom who knows all about flying to Australia with a baby and she has a great resources on her website. The website is Lucy Loves Australia and her story is called "Lots more info on flying to Australia with babies and toddlers". It contains great information and even some tips on dealing with the jet lag. If you are planning any long trip with your babies, it's well worth the read!

Also, we get many calls on whether you can ship food and formula to Australia. The answer is YES. It's a bit tricky because there are some special documents that are required by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and there is a weight limit on the amount you can ship ahead into the country, but we have done it successfully many times.

So relax moms, and go ahead and keep planning that trip of a lifetime!!! It can be done.

Post a review of your vacation - earn $10

The fabulous website for family travel, Trekaroo, is offering a $10 rewards card at Amazon, Starbucks, or REI for posting hotel or activity reviews of the places you and your family visited this summer. Even if you stayed close to home, there are probably lots of local sights you visited with your children this summer. Trekaroo is a fun website to use and you'll be helping out other families chose appropriate activities to do with their kids.

Fabulous Fun Finds contest winner!

Congratulation to Heather W. for winning the Fabulous Fun Finds contest Week at the Beach pack. Heather was able to claim her prize from JetSetBabies in time for her vacation to Washington State.

Affordable lodging options for your family vacation

Renting an apartment, renting university housing, or house swapping is a very affordable way to get in that family vacation you've dreamed of. Renting an apartment or a home can be much less money than paying for a hotel room. If you are traveling overseas, you may find that the cost savings will allow you to extend your stay even longer, making your trip a more memorable one.

In addition to the cheaper lodging costs, having access to a full kitchen to prepare your own meals can save a bundle. When traveling with children, eating out can not only be expensive, but can be difficult with fidgety kids, or pickey eaters. Having a space to prepare your own meals is much more affordable and you can make sure that kids get the meals they like and eat well while traveling.

Having access to separate bedrooms also makes sure everyone gets a good night sleep and children can take scheduled naps, adding to the enjoyment of everyone's vacation.

Some houses or apartments may also have laundry facilities allowing you to pack much lighter and save on baggage fees. JetSetBabies can ship packages to most home rentals by shipping directly to the management company that overseas the rentals or by schedule specific date and time deliveries with the carrier, basically, scheduling the package to deliver on your arrival date.

Here are some other websites that provide more information on arranging lodging alternatives:

Affordable Getaway Ideas
Vacation Rentals
Vacation Rentals by Owners
Home Exchanges
Home Exchange Vacations

Welcome to the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort

The Salishan Spa & Golf Resort, located in beautiful Gleneden Beach, Oregon, is the latest JetSetBabies partner. The staff at the Salishan know how to treat guests to total luxury. That treatment will begin with the arrival of all your baby supplies directly to the Salishan - no heavy luggage for baby's things. While at the resort Mom can relax and rejuvenate at the Salishan's spa while Dad relaxes with a round of golf.

JetSetBabies is offering Salishan guests a free gift for those guests who have their baby supplies shipped directly to the hotel. Your free gift is your choice of a Rubber Duck Bath Set (from Elegant Baby) or our fabulous Burt's Bees massage oil for baby - so baby can enjoy the same luxury as mom. We are excited to have the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort as our partner!

JetSetBabies announces newest Partnership

JetSetBabies and Virgin Holidays are partnering to bring the concept of "light travel" to the millions of families that travel to the U.S. with Virgin Holidays each year.


Virgin Holidays is the largest transatlantic tour operator in the world and the market leader for travel to the U.S. and Carribbean. Virgin Holidays and their sister companies work together closely to bring the most perfect holiday experience combined with excellent, reliable, and fully customer-focussed service at every stage of the journey.

A Passion for Service - a moto of both Virgin Holidays and JetSetBabies !! Companies passionate about creating the best holiday experience, making it that little bit easier and more enjoyable from start to finish. Virgin Travel customers traveling with a tiny tot can now experience the luxury of having their baby supplies waiting at their destination and enjoy the fabulous customer service both companies can provide from start to finish.

Virgin Holidays has 21 years experience, offering advice and reassurance to help guarantee the best holidays ever. Sister companies include Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Cruise Lines, HIP Hotels, and Real World Adventures.

Free Jet With Kids Book with every order

Anya from Jet With Kids has given JetSetBabies a supply of her book, Jet With Kids, Taking the Fear Out of Flying. We will be giving away a paperback copy of this book with every order, while supplies last. Valued at $19.95! An invaluable resource for families who travel frequently with kids, with down-to-earth advice and recommendations from experts, Jet with Kids will prepare you for a safe and fun flight with your kids!

Get your FREE copy today with any order from JetSetBabies.

Washington DC Travels

My family and I just returned from a week long vacation in Washington DC. We stayed at the Westin City Center located just 4 blocks from the White House. The hotel was beautiful and the staff was fabulous. I had shipped ahead all of our belongings so that we could travel light - even though my children are long out of the baby stage. When we arrived, the man at the front desk told me that I had packages that had arrived and asked if we would like them brought to the room, which we did. Unfortunately, they charged me a small $10 fee on my bill for package handling, but it was still less than the cost to check two bags at the airport and was wonderful to travel without the baggage.

The manager happened to be at the desk when we were checking in and leaned over and told the clerk to upgrade us to a deluxe room. We were so thrilled. We had booked a standard room, and for the same price as the standard (and a large tip) we spent the week in a gorgeous and huge deluxe room. With hotels not booking up these days, I think it is very reasonable to ask staff for an upgrade. In the past, I have even been able to get a honeymoon suite for no additional charge!

My children got a little bit bored with all the walking and looking. An occasional roller coaster ride would have cured that - but there were none to be found close by. Their favorite place ended up being a day trip to Mount Vernon. We did the National Treasure Tour there and they enjoyed seeing places they recognized from the movie and discussions about how the movie was filmed. We even got to go into the basement of the house, which is normally off limits to the public.

The Smithsonian Museums were another great day trip, and we made sure we got in a view of the Ruby Slippers, and the Hope Diamond and other great relics on display there. A ride in the simulator at the Air and Space Museum broke up the monotony a bit.

It was a very luxurious trip, for a reasonable price. We got our airline tickets for $250, a free upgrade on the room, and all the activities we did at little or no cost, we had a pretty economical vacation.

Introducing new travel packages to make ordering easier

JetSetBabies recently added new baby vacation packages that include an array of baby travel supplies perfect for your week at the beach, week in the woods, week at a hotel with a pool, or a week on the ski slopes. Each package contains baby bottom care products such as diapers, wipes, changing pads and disposal bags, some feeding utensils, bath products, and then items specific to each trip. The week on the beach adds swimmers, sunscreen, bottle cooler, beach blanket, and other items to make ordering your baby supplies a breeze !

Now you just click on one item in the shopping cart and make your diaper brand and size choices, wipes brands, and all the other selections from one screen for quick ordering. Baby food, formula, snacks and other items can be added to the order - and you are on your way to a fabulous vacation with baby.

Simple, fast, affordable shopping for your trip. Just one more way that JetSetBabies makes travel with babies and toddlers easier! And our new photos are so fun!

Week at the Pool:

Week at the beach:

Think you got a good travel deal? Check your math.

Everyone is offering specials and deals to entice the traveler to their locations this summer. But before you fall for the headlines, recheck the math. For example, a hotel offering a special that includes "the fourth night free" equates to a 25% savings on the rate. This sounds like a great deal and many fall for the "FREE" offer, but an overall 30% off the entire stay will result in a greater savings. Another gimick is 50% off of one night. However, if you are staying for five nights in the hotel, this equates to only 11% savings overall based on the price, or 14% off when comparing the fourth night free deal.

If you have your heart on a particular hotel, ask for a discount, and don't be afraid to haggle. Many hotels are not filling up and will offer discounts to get your business. Keep in mind that even if they won't lower the room rate, they might be able to throw in extra amenities such as free breakfast, or discount tickets to a nearby attraction.

Other cost saving measure is to consider paying the extra money for a suite with a kitchen and preparing your own meals. With the cost of eating out rising, this could save you a lot of money on your trip. But again, do the math and make sure you will use the in-room kitchen often enough to save the money on eating out. Personally, eating out is part of the vacation experience and something we seldom do when at home, so I don't mind paying the extra money for restaraunt food. Don't forget to look for the "kids eat free" deals at many hotels. This is a great way to help you save money.

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Green Hotels

Hotels are finally getting on board and doing more to help the planet than limiting their washing. Wyndham Hotels won an award in March for implementing uniforms made from recycled plastics.


My favorite green story is one that appeared recently in our local paper. It reported that the Sheraton housekeeping staff in Santa Monico has ditched their skin-chapping bleach and pungent ammonia for spray bottles filled with electrolyzed water to clean toilets and sinks. Electrolyzed water is also being used to disinfecting produce making the lettuce last longer. This whole process saves money and is safer for the guests and the environment. I personally hope more hotels go in this direction.



Looking for other green hotels? Check out the list on the "Green" Hotel Association website.

Kudos to the Disney Swan Dolphin Resort

My view of judging a company's customer service is not how they do things right - but how do they respond when something does go wrong. We ship packages on a daily basis to the many Disney resorts in Lake Buena Vista Florida at Walt Disney World. In the six years of doing business with Disney I can't remember ever having a problem or a lost package. So I was very surprised when last Sunday night our JetSetBabies phone rang and it was a customer who had just arrived at the Disney Swan Dolphin Resort and had been told they could not find her JetSetBabies package.



I first looked through our notes on the package and we had called the hotel a few days prior and spoken with an employee at the Concierge Desk and he confirmed that he had the package and it would be held there until the guest arrived Sunday. I called the concierge desk immediately and talked to the person working that night. The employee we spoke with had already left for the day, the package was not there, and it had not been logged in their book. He stated that he had put in a call to security to look for the package.



I then called my employee who had spoken with the hotel earlier in the week. He stated that he still had the number for the Receiving Dept at Swan Dolphin and he had originally spoken with the department manager - he would call again and see if he could reach anyone.



Well, this is where I think Disney really shined. My employee dialed the number. The Receiving Department was closed but the phones forwarded to Department Manager's cell phone who answered our call at 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. He said he remembered everything clearly - he knew exactly where the package was, and if the security guard was unable to find it, please call him back and he would drive into work and get it for the guest!! Now that isn't just good service - that is what I consider great service.



By the time I called the concierge back with this information, they had already found the package, and had delivered it to the guests room. I called our customer as she was unpacking the box. She was thrilled and I was thrilled. So hats off to Disney Swan Dolphin for an opportunity for both of us to show our great customer service skills!

Trekaroo - kids, trips and tips.

Trekaroo is a trip planning website that is designed specifically to help parents overcome the stress of traveling with kids. Trekaroo takes intuitive tools and combines them with the power of a fast-growing, grassroots community of moms and dads. The website is designed to connect users to a community of families who have traveled to popular destinations all over the world. Parents can use search tools that allow them to discover tips and ideas based on their budget or their children’s ages.

Trekaroo is a fast-growing, grassroots community of parents who are passionate about exploring the world with their kids. It’s a guide filled with thousands of activities and places to stay ranked by the reviews of moms and dads and also a place to get your travel questions answered by knowledgeable parents who’ve already been there.

Next time you are ready to plan a trip, find tips or have travel questions please visit http://www.trekaroo.com/ to see how is works.

P.S. - keep watching for a chance to win some great prices from Trekaroo and JetSetBabies!

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Travel Deals

Two weeks ago I purchased airline tickets for my family to travel to Washington DC this summer. The Northwest Airline tickets from Minneapolis to Washington DC were a great bargain at $250 each! However, ever since them I have been hearing stories of airline ticket discounts and worried - did I pay too much? I just finished checking on Expedia and discovered the tickets are actually higher today by $48 than when I bought them. That's good new for me...but made me wonder about other travel deals.

Here are a couple of great items I found in about 15 minutes of research. Expedia currently has a "No Booking Fee" special going on for a limited time. This is worth looking into further.

And of course my favorite travel site Travel + Leisure has some fabulous bargains on hotel specials right now. The one that I liked the best was Caribbean Beach Resorts from $125! That's a great deal and we have alot JetSetBabies customers traveling to places like Aruba, St. Croix, St. Maarten, and other islands right now. In addition, to great airline discounts, and great hotel rates, international shipping prices are down slightly also. So shipping your JetSetBabies packages are also a bargain compared to six months ago.

For more great travel bargains, including airline tickets from NYC to Spain for $150!! check out Travel + Leisure Hot Deals.

Kids Travel Happy

KidsTravelHappy.com is a website dedicated to high quality, unplugged travel games, toys, lap trays, books and activities for kids of all ages. Items are great for on the go, or play at home. They also have a small storefront in Bethel, Maine that’s open 3 days a week.

Their goal is to help other families embark on the great adventure of travel with their kids. With a little luck, their products make the whole experience a bit easier and less stressful for all involved. Another unique aspect of KidsTravelHappy.com is that they provide 7 options for on-the-go playing surfaces (trays and lap desks depending on age, car seat type, travel mode etc.). Then, one can shop by tray type to find which toys work best for their choice. OR, there is the ‘no tray necessary’ category.

Please check them out at KidsTravelHappy.com for more info.

http://www.kidstravelhappy.blogspot.com/

Tastybaby - organic baby food

Are you looking for some great organic baby food? If so Tastybaby takes strides to make sure their baby food is high in nutritional value, healthy & delicious. They make 100% USDA-certified organic products gluten-free and as unrefined as possible by leaving out any preservatives, trans-fats, sugar or salt. They want to ensure that you or your child can enjoy Tastybaby without the worry of an adverse reaction. They are happy to assure you that all 10 Tastybaby flavors are 100% USDA-certified organic & gluten-free. Packed with vitamins & nutrients (thanks to state-of-the-art blast-freezing technology), easy single servings are as eco-friendly as they are palate-pleasing. They use BPA-free / recyclable containers & biodegradable cardboard printed with vegetable-based inks.

At Tastybaby, they embrace the idea that foods should be processed or altered to the bare minimum. Ideally, they would all live on farms and grow the food we eat. Some lucky folks, like the Organic farmers who grow our ingredients, actually do. The rest of us have to recreate that organic simplicity in our own lives.Organic foods are grown without toxic pesticides and fertilizers and are minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, irradiation or cloning. Organic foods are produced without antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic engineering, sewage sludge and other dangerous practices.And Organic food tastes great! The color and vibrancy of natural ingredient are left unadulterated, so the delicious, natural flavor of fruit and vegetables is undeniable.

I tried these great products out on my son and he loved them. The shipping was quick, the packing was great and they were easy to store.

Check out http://www.tastybaby.com/ for more info.

Latest in baby travel gear - the POP-A-TOT

The lastest baby travel gear item is now available at JetSetBabies, and its wonderful. The Pop-A-Tot is a portable stationary activity center for babies 6-18 months. PopATot gives you a safe environment for your child when you're busy doing something else; and it goes everywhere! Literally, take it everywhere, because you never know when you need a safe place for your child. The perfect travel gear for baby - use it in your hotel room, at the beach, at the park. PopATotTM opens and closes in seconds with one hand -- while you hold your child with the other. This high quality sports gear for your child comes with a shoulder bag and is perfect for camping, backyards, baseball and soccer games, Grandma's house, the beach, or wherever you need a safe place for your child. It's the most practical baby sports gear in your collection of kids stuff.

We tried one out before offering to our customers and we loved it - as did the children of the moms who work for JetSetBabies. Its light (only 8 pounds) and compacts small and comes with a tote bag for easy carrying. It sets up easily and has loops to tie down baby's toys, and has cup holders for babies drinks and snacks.

We think you'll love it, too! And for a limited time, we have it on-sale so check it out today.

Making sense of all the airline baggage fees

It's been difficult to keep up with all of the different airline policies and prices on number of bags allowed in carry-on and checked baggage, as well as the various overweight bags. In additional to the three different types of fees, the prices change depending on whether you are flying first class, economy, national or international and more!

Now there is a source of information that has all this information on one website and the data is accurate and easy to understand. The website is Airline Ala Carte and it is the perfect resources to make sense of all the confusion.

In addition to containing baggage fees there is a great page containing other resource information to websites that track flight status, travel documents, the TSA, and other resources.

Airline Ala Carte is definitely the place to go for reviewing baggage charges and policies!