One of the things my children love the most about traveling, believe it or not, is 'the fun bag'.  Before we embark on a big journey, I typically pop off to the local 99c store, Michael's craft store or Bed, Bath & Beyond... a European equivalent would perhaps be Tiger.  At this type of store I purchase an inexpensive fabric bag (the best kind have drawstrings) that can be easily stowed in the front pocket of a carry on suitcase, or thrown quickly into a backpack.  Another suggestion would be to get a drawstring sports bag, the kind you might use to carry your child's soccer uniform and water bottle in to their team practices or games.

Once I have the bag, which I prefer to buy cheaply, I can begin filling it.  

I create one fun bag for each child and individualize each bag to his or her interests.  Since I have three children, I typically create three fairly different fun bags (because my kids are of different ages and have very different interests).  I keep the items small, inexpensive, replaceable and disposable so that there will be few to no tears shed if my child happens to misplace his/her fun bag on our trip.

Here are some of the many items I have included at one time or another in the past in fun bags:

• Small packets of LEGOs
• Coloring books and crayons
• Books of mazes or puzzles
• Books of tongue twisters and riddles
• Mad Libs
• Travel journal
• Rainbow loom bracelet/necklace materials (gazillions of little rubber bands)
• New stuffed animals
• Books (one or more, depending on the length of the trip and the reading level of the child)
• Origami paper
• Simple crafts
• Travel guides written for kids about the place we are visiting
• Deck of cards
• Small disposable games including board games
• Stickers

The beauty of a 'fun bag' is that you can always replenish it along the way, and leave behind items that are broken, missing pieces or no longer useful.  I also appreciate how easy it is to affordably customize a fun bag, so that each child can enjoy a unique experience suited to their own personality.  Your child will always have something to do, and maybe you can actually enjoy the ride too!  ​

I actually don't mind airplane or train food at all, especially since you can order your meal in advance. There are always gluten free options available by pre-order on my favorite airlines, and while they may sometimes be very simple meals (chicken and rice, fish and rice) I find them to be perfectly acceptable.

However!  Depending on any airline, train company or even restaurant to supply your kids with the foods that will keep them relaxed and happy can be a very risky business!  It's a slippery slope because if your child doesn't like the food the travel company has provided, he or she won't eat.  

If he or she doesn't eat (as all parents know) your child will become grumpy, uncomfortable, loud, possibly whiny or hyper, and in all likelihood irritating to everyone around him or her.  Children who go too long without eating (or who eat only the dessert portion of the meal) become a little... crazy.  (Or maybe A LOT crazy!)

There's an easy fix to this potential disaster though.  Simply plan on buying food in the airport or train station; or, if you are allowed to do so, bring it from home!  (Most airport security will not let you bring your own food through, but most train security will!)

I try to make sure my children always have access to a protein-based snack and some fruit, no matter where we are or how long we are going to be there.  A handful of honey-roasted peanuts and an apple make a world of difference to a child that is about to LOSE IT big-time.  Other options include sliced cured salami, small sandwiches, granola bars, veggie sticks, potato chips (although these can be messy), and croissants.  ​

When you travel internationally with kids you want to be sure that if there is ever a surprise problem or accident, your children can be identified quickly and returned to you or your family with ease.

However, it isn't the best idea to have your children carry their own official passports or identification cards - especially not the little ones. When my children were four, six and eight, they very frequently forgot their books, toys and belongings nearly everywhere we traveled!  

Accordingly, I always kept all their passports safely tucked into my own waist money belt, safe from pickpockets and other mishaps.

Still, sometimes we traveled in crowded cities like Rome and Madrid. There were plenty of moments when we could have gotten separated from an adventurous child who'd decided to wander off for a moment.  Getting lost in a foreign city where you don't speak the language might be exciting for some adults, but for young children it would be quite scary.

Due to this reality, I invented the 'travel necklace' concept for our family. You could really call it anything you like!  Each time before we embark upon a summer of international transatlantic travel, I go to REI (or any other travel store) and purchase each child what the companies (like Eagle Creek) call a 'neck wallet'.  It's really just a soft carrier that goes around your neck and can be worn comfortably under your shirt without being seen.  

I buy the cheapest, softest one of these for each child that I can find (best if you can find them in different colors so they are easily identifiable if you have more than one child... but one benefit of using the flesh-colored neck wallet is that it really becomes camouflaged under the child's outfit).  ​

I then go to the local copy store and make a color xerox of the front pages of each child's passport, and have them laminated. Once the lamination is no longer warm, I take a Sharpie or permanent marker and write down my international cell phone number and my husband's cell phone number on the reverse side of the laminated passport page, along with an address where we may be reached in the country we are visiting.  If we're going to more than one country, I give the address that would be simplest to use to track us down.  

I fold each lightweight, laminated passport page with contact information and place it into the neck wallet for that child. From the second we leave California, my children wear the neck wallets (we call them 'necklaces') and I rest easy with peace of mind that if my children and I ever become accidentally separated, it will be very easy for authorities to identify them and find me or their extended family members.  

Depending on the age of your child you can opt to put some emergency money into this necklace as well, in case they need to buy food or to pay to use the bathroom or make a telephone call.  My children always have their ID and a few Euro coins with them when we travel in Europe outside of Barcelona.  

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Perhaps not all countries are the same, but in the United States there are laws about whether one parent can take their child(ren) out of the country alone.  Legally (although I don't know if it is always enforced) you may be required to show proof via notarized letter that you have permission to leave the country with your children if you are not traveling with your spouse.  (I assume this is due to complicated custody battles and parents who have 'kidnapped' their own children to keep sole custody.  Yikes!)  

Every time when I have traveled internationally with my children separately from my husband, we have always visited a USA notary first to verify in writing that both parents are comfortable with this arrangement and approve it.  I've only been asked to show this proof once or twice in all of these years traveling separately, but better safe than sorry!  I can't imagine arriving at an international airport to be told that I don't have the right to travel with my own child (without notarized proof that my husband agrees)... or vice versa. Receiving that bad news a few minutes before boarding your flight could roil even the best vacation! 

We hope and trust that these little tips and strategies can help your family plan for wonderful travel adventures during your spring break, weekend getaway, or coming summertime months!  As they say here in Spain, 'Que le vaya bien!'  

I cannot believe our good luck, but just this year... as in within the last few months... our cherished city of Barcelona became a main hub for two low-cost airlines that will now fly directly to Los Angeles (and other U.S. cities).  

Norwegian Air

High quality 'budget airline' Norwegian Air announced last Fall that beginning on June 5, 2017 they will run a direct flight twice a week between Barcelona and Los Angeles... and for the heaviest travel month of August, they'll even expand their service to three times per week!  Norwegian is a no-frills airline where you pay only for the services you want; so if you decide to bring only a carry-on bag and your own food, you'll pay a lot less for a ticket than the passenger next to you with three bags who wants to dine Norwegian style.

Norwegian uses Boeing 787 Dreamliners for this route. When my husband and eldest son traveled to Barcelona on Norwegian Air last summer they reported back that it was a perfect, comfortable flight equipped with the latest technology.  

Direct flights take place on Mondays and Fridays... and while prices vary based on your dates of travel I just looked and was able to find a direct flight between Barcelona and LAX (roundtrip) leaving in June and returning in July for 632 euro (tax included). That's $681 round trip at the very height of summer!  A great deal for a 'high season' flight.

Norwegian will also be running direct flights from Barcelona to Oakland and Newark!  This is fantastic news for our friends and relatives on both coasts of the United States of America. ​
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Level Airlines

Don't write this airline off just because you've never heard of it before!  This brand new carrier is legit, safe, and it can save you a bundle.

Just last week, the IAG group (parent to British Airways, Iberia and Vueling) announced that it has decided to give Norwegian Air some competition in the low cost, international, direct flights to USA market!  (Woohoo, when airlines compete, travelers win!!!)

IAG has created a new airline named "Level" that will be staffed and run by Iberia, at least initially.  Level Airlines will be based out of - you guessed it - Barcelona!!!

This new budget international airline will fly two brand new Airbus 330-300s direct between Barcelona and LAX or Barcelona and Oakland.  

Much like on Norwegian, Level Airlines passengers will get only what they want to pay for. WIFI, extra luggage and food will all cost more than the base fare... which started off last week with an introductory sale as low as $198 round trip!  I'm not joking!

​You can spend the same price to fly between Los Angeles and Barcelona on Level Airlines as you'd spend on two tickets to Disneyland! (More on that later).  

Level will run this flight twice a week starting in June, and currently you can purchase tickets for their direct flights using Iberia's website.  It will say, "Operated by Iberia for Level" when you select your flight.  (You'll be able to see the difference right away, since the tickets are so much cheaper than Iberia's other fares.)  

I suggest you book soon though... the airline sold 52K tickets on its first day in business! 

Vueling and RyanAir

If you haven't traveled by air in Europe before, you may not know Vueling and RyanAir. These airlines remind me of Southwest, although perhaps a bit less luxurious.  Vueling and RyanAir are the low-cost budget airlines of Europe. You can get fares between Spain and London, for example, for less than 20 euro.  Right now, for example, Vueling is running a promotion called POSSIBLE where you can book tickets for next winter from Barcelona (and many other Spanish cities) to fly all over Europe for 19.99 euro. From Barcelona to Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rome, Zurich, Venice... all of them for 19.99.  Wow!!!

Vueling is actually based out of Barcelona, while RyanAir (based in Dublin and London) flies regionally out of Girona, about an hour outside of Barcelona. Either way, you can get insane deals flying all around Europe using these two airlines. Vueling carries the same safety rating from AirlineRatings (7 out of 7 stars) as its fancier sisters British Airways and Iberia.  Neither Vueling nor RyanAir has ever been involved in a fatal crash.

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Travel By Train In Spain... RENFE's Family Deals Are Amazing!!!

Museums all over Spain offer reduced cost admission for families and free entry for children.  For example, the world famous City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (housing an IMAX, Oceanography museum and Science Museum) offers single and multi-day deals with tickets for less than 7 euro for children ages 4-12.  At the prestigious Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, children under age 12 have free admission!  The Museo Del Prado in Madrid also offers free entry to all children under age 18, along with free entry for university students ages 18-25.  Wow!
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When my kids were little and growing up in San Diego, we used to see advertisements for Disneyland on television.  It looked so magical, with the fairy godmother from Cinderella casting her sparkling spell and everyone dancing around for a nighttime parade of lights.

"Can we go to Disneyland, Mommy?" my sons used to ask me.
I'd always respond, "Oh, that would be great!"  I meant it, too!

I can't tell you the number of times Señor Aventura and I discussed trying to plan a family Disneyland trip over the past twelve years.  In the end though, we only went to Disneyland twice... and never as a family, just in groups of 2 or 3.  Even though we lived only an hour away!  

Why didn't we go?  Well, we're a family of five!  A single day at Disneyland - just to walk through those famous, magical gates - costs us $500!  That doesn't include food, ice cream, drinks, souvenirs or anything extra.  Doesn't include the cost of gasoline between San Diego and Anaheim, or the price of the insane Disneyland parking lot that can take an hour or more to exit if you hit it at the wrong time of night.

To put this another way, I could buy 2.5 round trip tickets from Los Angeles to Spain on Level Airlines for the cost of taking my family to Disneyland for a single day.

Still, financial reality didn't stop my kids from craving rollercoasters and theme parks.  They adore them, and would jump at any opportunity to have a fun day cruising rides and thrilling coasters in a brightly-colored manmade land.  

Enter Port Aventura.  We discovered this incredible Spanish theme park two years ago and even now, we're still amazed. ​

 
Located just an hour's drive from Barcelona on the Costa Dorada of Spain (near Tarragona) this enormous and beautiful park features six different 'worlds' all of which have their own rides, attractions, shows and restaurants.  

The six worlds feature Meditterànea, Polynesia and China among others.  They are fabulously clean and enormous.  

​Lines for the more popular rides can take a while (nothing like Disneyland) but there is plenty of shade to be found along with relaxing places to dine that will appeal to adults as much as kids.  

Here's the most amazing part.  Tickets to Port Aventura cost only  47 euro (adults) and 40 euro (children)!!!! Would you like to stay for two days?  If so you can buy 2-day passes for 56 euro adults, 48 euro kids!  

My family can spend two full days at Port Aventura for half of the price of a single day at Disneyland.  Plus, there are many more rollercoasters and attractions to see!  

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Over the last few weeks many dear friends from home have gotten in touch to let us know that they're seriously considering taking us up on our standing offer to host everyone in Spain this summer.  How exciting!  We don't know who will be more eager for their journeys... them or us!  Welcoming our family and friends from home is such a delight, especially since we've taken the plunge and decided to extend our time living here in Barcelona.  

​We miss our loved ones and can't wait to share the beauties of our adopted city and country with them!

Planning an international adventure, especially if you haven't traveled much in Europe before, can feel daunting!  There are so many options... so much to choose from... and it's hard to know where to start!  

Understanding this, I decided to put together a blog post highlighting answers to a couple of questions several friends from home have asked... little tidbits that could help anyone thinking of trying to bring their family abroad on a shoestring.  

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Book Your Flights Early​
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Let's face it, if you have to pay for groceries, school tuition or daycare anyway, you might as well get something for it!  My husband and I both selected credit cards that accrue airline miles on our favorite airlines (him: American; me: British Airways). Most airlines have relationships with credit card companies I think!  

You can see if your favorite airline offers the chance to build up free miles by using a certain bank's card.  I use my Chase British Airways Visa card to pay for everything (medical bills, soccer team fees, you name it) and then immediately pay off the monthly bill in full out of our checking account.  

Thanks to these credit card programs we've earned several free tickets to Europe and also additional tickets at vastly reduced costs.  It's completely legal and completely worth it!  I highly recommend looking into how to make your money work for you!  How wonderful if your daily errands and Starbucks can help pay for your once-a-year bucket list adventure! 

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Airport Security Lines: Be Patient and Prepared
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I think we'd all agree that airport security is necessary these days, even when it's a pain.  

​The main thing is to be mentally prepared for it, especially if you're flying into a big international hub like Heathrow or Charles De Gaulle.  

Try to remember that you can only bring certain types of toiletries and that anything that's like a gel, creme or liquid needs to fit in one sandwich ziploc sized clear plastic bag.  

It actually really helps to be traveling as a family, because since I have three children, I get to bring one plastic bag for me and one for each of them (4 bags!) and so we have room for all of the toothpaste, shampoo, body wash and lotion we may need in those little bags.  

If you bring bottles of anything that are larger than 4oz they will be confiscated at the airport (this includes drinking water) so do yourself a favor and pack correctly in advance.  

You can find small travel-size bottles at stores like "Bed, Bath and Beyond" or on Amazon.Com.  

It will save you a huge headache to have your toiletries correctly sorted out when you are going through security and customs.  

Expect to go through a full body scanner when you arrive in Europe.  Plan on taking off your jewelry, passport carriers, wallets, shoes, boots, belts and anything else the security team wants to put through the x-ray machine.  

​Twice my children have been subjected to a full body scan at Heathrow (when they were little no less, ages 4 and 6 the first time) but I understand the principle... there are no exceptions. My four year old's Doc Marten zipper boots may have been concealing something; so better that they check than not.

I try to smile at the workers, thank them, and comply patiently with their demands... because ultimately they have an awful, thankless job dealing with irritated travelers all day long.  They keep all of us safer and I appreciate how hard they work to make sure that our planes can do their job and get us to our destinations!
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Consider A Home Exchange
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There are multiple online platforms you can use to arrange a home exchange, but the one we've used in the past is called HomeExchange.Com.  We have high confidence in this company and how it is run, and we've had mainly great experiences.

​Putting together a house profile on HomeExchange.Com is not unlike putting together a dating profile on something like Match.Com.  

​You take nice photos of your house in good lighting... emphasizing any good points like a garden, a well-appointed kitchen, a view, a fireplace... really anything that you think is the best part of your home.  Along with the photos you post a little 'bio' of your home and its finer points, along with a description of the neighborhood.  Do you have restaurants in walking distance?  Do you have a bicycle or surfboard they could borrow while staying at your house?  All of these things serve to make your ad attractive and welcoming. 

There is a one-time yearly cost to advertise your home (and you can choose different levels of price, as I recall) and then you're off and running!  You will be AMAZED at how many offers you are likely to receive... not just from families in other countries, but a lot of times from families in your own country!  ​

In our first year on HomeExchange we received approximately 300 offers of exchanges.  I am not kidding.  300!  We could have been traveling all of the time, if we weren't working.  

The hardest part is to find a family that wants to exchange with you at the same time you want to exchange with them... in an area that you really want to visit.

Sometimes a family will want to exchange with you in June but your vacation isn't until August. Sometimes a family from Finland will want to come to your home, but your dream destination is Bali!  

Finding a perfect match can take real time and work... you might have to sift through 50 or 100 offers to find the right one.  Or maybe, you'll get lucky on your first try!  

Señor Aventura and I advise that you be as candid as possible with potential exchange partners from the get-go.  

Are you a meticulously tidy person that wants to return home to find your house EXACTLY as you left it?  If so, be clear about that from the beginning!  Make sure you're well matched to the other family.  

​Are you a large, laid-back and relaxed family that isn't going to mind a little wear and tear, but also wants to be sure that the other family feels the same way?  Be honest and clear from the beginning.  
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A few summers ago, we participated in two exchanges.  One was amazing! The other... not so much.  

​​The difference lay in the attitude of the exchange partners.  

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Blue skies. Pristine snow-capped mountains. Empty ski slopes with fresh powder. Peaceful pastures full of cows and horses gently grazing, not to mention castles revealing themselves in the most unexpected places. A journey to Cerdanya in late February is nothing short of wintry bliss. ​

One could not ask for a more perfect family road trip, since the drive there from Barcelona is visually interesting and blessedly short. In less than two hours travel from our densely populated metropolis we reach thickly wooded forests and a vast lush valley set amid the Pyrenees. 

We stay in Queixans, a tiny hillside town of just a few hundred people in peak season. Indeed we nearly miss the turn off the highway, this town is so small.  While waiting to get house keys, the children goof around and make friends with a local. ​

 
After ten minutes here though we understand. We would like a tiny second house in the country too! Why not?  What a lovely dream for 'someday'!  We check the real estate listings for fun... and are amazed.  A brand new three or four bedroom house with such spectacular vistas for less than 200,000 euro? In this pristine spot, just moments from both ski slopes and summer river rafting?  

Yes, please!  

We luxuriate in our comfortable AirBNB, enjoying five days without having to worry about bothering upstairs or downstairs neighbors (since there are none). ​

We teach the children how to play pool, which becomes their new obsession.  "Wow Mom, you're really good," they say as I run the table and best their father; I love that I am still able to surprise my children with these tiny skills (like speaking in Italian) that they'd not known I possess.  For ten entire minutes, I glory in being a 'cool' mom/pool shark.  ​

​We ski.  We, who have never, ever skied before as a family, ski.  We wake early, drive forty minutes through the glorious valley and along curving mountain roads, and ascend into the heavenly sky.  ​

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Our instructor is Jesus.  He is patient; he is kind.  He strikes me as highly intelligent with an impressive physical memory.  He tells us that he lives nearby; he is from Aransa. Jesus gives us two family lessons, teaching all five of us simultaneously.  Not an easy feat, with students ranging in age from forty-two to seven!

​He watches us attempt each new exercise, individually, and then closes his eyes as though reviewing all he has seen, remembering the unique angle of our every move.  He opens his eyes and fixes them upon me.  ​

I am feeling proud as we start; in two days I have not yet fallen on the slopes.  I convince myself that I am a badass, I was obviously born to ski. Hard? No! I convince myself. Not at all!  What could be more natural?

​"I'm actually pretty great at this!" I tell my husband with a smirk, seconds before I take a hard spill and land flat on my stomach with legs twisted everywhere.  Señor Aventura tries (half-successfully) to suppress his laugh.  I cannot hold back my own giggles, I am laughing out loud.  "Oh well," I grin at him.  "You know what they say... pride goeth before the fall!"

On our last morning, my husband and I awaken feeling fifty years older.  We ache like a pair of ninety year olds; he moans about his tailbone, I try to stretch out my sciatica.  

"Are we skiing again today?" the children pester us eagerly. 
"No," we shake our heads mournfully.  "Mom and Dad are too old."

Instead we take them over to La Molina, to the "pista para trineus" (sledding slope).  They spend hours sledding down the empty hill, the only children there mid-week.  Our boys build a snow ramp and practice trying to catch air with their sleds.  Little Angel wears a golden helmet and sparkles as she bombs down the hill again and again.  ​

...and what of the Castillo de la Torre del Río, which surprises us as we head back through the pass from La Molina toward Alp?  "Is that a real castle?" Little Angel asks us, and at first we cannot be sure.  
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"It could be a hotel," I speculate aloud, "Or perhaps a house built to look like a castle?"  It seems to have fallen straight from the pages of a fairy tale.  

We drive down to inspect more closely... Señor Aventura fearlessly plunges Chico Suave the car straight down the gravel road that leads toward the castle's entrance.  ​

My husband steps out of the car to read the small Spanish and Catalan placard attached to its thick stone wall.

​"It's real!" he exclaims as we inhale the earthy scent of cattle mucking all around us. "It says here that first there was an old Romanesque chapel here... and that is what these thick fourteenth century walls are from. Then it became more of an agricultural property and later, at the end of the 19th century, its owner remodeled it into a France-inspired castle! Kind of sad though... It was abandoned and partly destroyed during the Spanish Civil War... so now the owners mainly live in that little house next door, and farm the land." ​

We are properly enchanted.  We gaze in wonder and appreciation at this unexpected ancient treasure that has popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, just around the bend in the road from the nearby town of Alp.  Just when we think we have begun to understand our adopted country, there is always something new to discover!

I have fallen in love with Cerdanya.  With every adventure I become more attached to Spain.  "The hills are alive with the Sound of Music!" we sing as we cruise home merrily through the Pyrenees.  Already we feel a powerful yearning to return.