Lightening the Load

This is our first family trip. In fact for me this is the first time as an adult that I will have traveled with a toddler. I have discovered that if you have a kid or kids you do not get to travel light. My wife and I really do not want to be lugging stuff through the airport or have to check more bags than necessary. So after some research we have found a great alternative to bringing a caravan. Equipment rental. Now I bet there are some of you out there that are saying "duh, we have been doing this for years". For me it was a bolt of lightning. I called up Ready Rentals and told them that I wanted to rent a crib and highchair, they asked me when I would be there and the address of the rental and voila. It will be set up and ready when I get there.
You can do this with medical equipment too -- I may need to rent a shower bench.

This left us with some wiggle room for bringing something we don't mind lugging with us, my handcycle. I have searched high and low and there are very few places globally that rent this type of item. So I looked up shipping it (very pricey $300 and up for both ways), and then checked with our airlines. They do allow sporting supplies to be checked and my handcycle could be checked for around $75 each way (or we could ship it back as it is cheaper returning to the mainland).

We are less than three weeks out from our trip, and I am SO excited to post some new pictures from Kauai!

Cool travel product

Just a quick post to tell you about my favorite new travel product. I have purchased a luggage scale for home because my wife was taking an overseas trip. The luggage restrictions were fierce and the price for overweight baggage. We wanted to avoid that so for just $19.99 we could pack, weigh and adjust from the comfort of our own home. If you do a lot of traveling, get one.

What Can Brown Do For You?

(or for that matter, what can FedEx do for you?)

#4 -- My fourth tip for domestic travel is consider shipping some of your medical supplies or other items ahead of time to your hotel. I've done this on a couple of occasions, when luggage space was at a premium or if I was staying somewhere for an extended period of time. It would also be a huge help if I were traveling alone and wanted to cut down on the amount of stuff I had to lug around.

You'll need to check in advance with your hotel. This probably works best in a large hotel with a concierge, or a smaller boutique hotel that prides itself on service. Don't assume that this is a service they will offer or allow, as many hotels may not have ever come across this kind of request. You definitely don't want to count on them accepting and holding your package, only to get to your destination and find out they refused it.

Also be sure to ship with a tracking number (that's where UPS or FedEx has it over the regular mail -- more expensive but worth it). That way you'll not only be able to check progress before you leave home, but also see who signed for it and when it arrived. Very helpful if you check in and no one knows what you're talking about!

This is not only a great way of saving luggage space, but with the new baggage fees in effect, and limits on weight and number of checked bags, it could end up saving you a lot. This is also good advice for anyone traveling with young kids, who tend to require lots of STUFF (ie diapers, formula, etc.). Save money by buying this stuff at home, rather than paying the resort price. That will leave you more money for those awesome oversized sunglasses and that t-shirt that says "I've been to California and all I got was this t-shirt."

More later!