UNACCOMPANIED MINOR

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Whenyour child needs to travel alone preparing them well in advance will make theworld of difference.  If they know in advance what to expect it will make if fun for them and limit some of the fear or anxiety, especially for TSA.

• You should educate yourself and your child on the policies and procedures.
• They should know what to expect and how they should be handled by the airline and staff.
• Contact the airline for their policies on pricing, age requirements, flight cancellations and delays.
• Try to avoid a connecting flight if possible but if necessary give more than the minimum connecting time to avoid missed connections and possible stand by situations.
• Familiarize yourself with the connecting airport, the arrival and departure gates.  Most airports have a website and layouts on their website.
• Try to book them during less busy times like the middle of the day and steer clear from late night flights that could result in a night at the airport.
• This is certainly a good time to give your child a cell phone if they don’t already have one and have them call or text you when they land and just before take-off when they’re on the plane and before the shut off electronic announcement. (Remember the two children who were scolded for violating this policy)
• They should also report to you any delays or cancellations to you immediately.
• Give them some cash for snacks and a gift card for emergencies.
• The most important thing is to have a plan and to make sure that the drop off and pick up persons have complete details on the process of an unaccompanied minor.

Yours Truly,
Ja'Vonne

Strolling the Canals of Venice…Beach 10.27.12

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This year I wasn’t able totravel to Europe for vacation, but I was still able to go to Italy! Okay, notreally, but we took a day trip to the beaches near Los Angeles, includingVenice Beach. We love unique and fun places, so it was definitely on our list.Since Venice Beach is just 8 miles from Santa Monica, I decided to do them bothin one day. Before our trip, I looked up more things to do in Venice and itturns out that developer Abbot Kinney had a Venice in America plan andrecreated 16 miles of the Italian canals in 1905.

Unfortunately, 75% of thecanals have since been covered up, because the sidewalks and houses surroundingthem fell into disrepair in the 30s and 40s. The city was salvaged and the remainingcanals are lined by million-dollar homes and looked amazing online, so Eric andI wanted to see them for ourselves. We parked at the beach and walked down toWashington Boulevard on the advice of a local walking his dog. Although I was bummed that I couldn’t rent a gondola to float down the water, I still wantedto experience the neighborhood.


The houses aren’t large, thoughthey are fantastic “beachfront” houses with small yards and largemortgages/rents. They have the advantage of being steps from the beach, havinga great walking neighborhood and being on a manmade river that they can cruisedown. The banks of the canals are lined with small boats owned by theresidents. Maybe they row down the river to their friends’ houses when theweather is nice. Whatever the case, I’m sure it’s a beautiful view from theirtiny balconies.


We visited the beaches on aweekday on the off-season, so we didn’t get the whole experience of Venice, butI love that the beach is clean and there are two sidewalks. One is specificallyfor bicycles and the other is for walkers. It’s a great way to keep trafficseparate and minimize accidents. I didget to see an old guy rollerblading in a pair of jean cut-offs, but mostly weenjoyed the quiet day and watching bicyclists roll by.


Venice is a great way to enjoyboth the beach and a recreation of the European canals on a budget. Both arefree, there are usually unique street performers and there are plenty of funshops and restaurants to choose from, too.
Have you been to Venice Beach?If so, what was your favorite part?

Stay Safe Out There! 10.31.12

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With Halloween here andHurricane Sandy still wreaking havoc on our east coast, there are plenty ofreasons to stay safe this week. If you’ll be out trick-or-treating or partyingin costume, make sure  you takeprecautions and don’t travel alone, especially in neighborhoods you aren’tfamiliar with. Bring a flashlight or wear some reflectors to be seen by cars.

For those traveling during thischaotic time, you may need some help with getting home or out of the disasterzones. It’s times like these that travelinsurance would come in super handy, too. Harriet Baskas from Stuckat the Airport has some wonderful resources for those that are stranded inthe wake of Sandy – links to airport guides, information on what to do fordifferent transportation types and extending or cancelling your hotel stay.

Since everyone will likely bebusy in some capacity tonight, even if it’s just handing out candy, I’vedecided to keep it short and sweet today with some fun Halloween pics from mytrip to Southern California earlier this month.






What are your plans for Halloween?

Giveaway: Pur Minerals

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You all know that I love products that do double-duty. It's easy to find make-up that does this now, but to find good quality make-up that does the job of two or three items already in your beauty bag is a great find. Right now, Pur Minerals is hosting a giveaway to win $1,200 worth of make-up – that's $100 of goodies per month for a year. It'll be super easy to keep your travel bag packed with copies of all your favorite products.
If you win, you can stock up on Pur Minerals new 4-in-1 pressed mineral foundation. It's a fantastic multitasking product that is the first foundation, powder, concealer and SPF all rolled into one. Your (travel) beauty bag is about to get so much smaller! It is a lightweight powder that gives full coverage, plus it is made with natural products, so it helps your skin look amazing! Enter below for your chance to win one of these six prizes:

	· First Place: One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive twelve hundred dollars ($1,200) worth of Pür Minerals merchandise, which will be distributed as twelve (12) one-hundred dollar ($100) Pur Minerals Gift Certificates redeemable on purminerals.com (1 for each month of 2013).
	· Second Place: Two (2) lucky second place winners will each receive a $100 Pur Minerals Gift Certificate redeemable on purminerals.com.
	· Third Place: Three (3) lucky third-place winners will each receive a $50 Pur Minerals Gift Certificate redeemable on purminerals.com.

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A Car Show Every Day 11.3.12

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Once I heard about Disney’s new addition to its California Adventure park, I started to get jealous of all the people who were going to be traveling to Anaheim this Summer. Cars Land was just another new thing to add to the list of Disney things that I hadn’t seen yet: Star Tours reboot, World of Color, Mulholland Madness replacement ride, The Little Mermaid ride. It’s no surprise that I was really excited about our back-up plan for our annual vacation. As disappointed as I was to not get to go to Europe, I was thrilled to share in the excitement of the new Land that little kids thought was the real Radiator Springs when they got to visit the opening day. I mean, how fun is that?

I had no idea just HOW exciting Cars Land would be for visitors. Our first day at Disney was a Sunday. Lines weren’t that bad, so we made our way to Toy Story Midway Mania (always a long line) and California Screamin’, then headed over to Cars Land. Uh, apparently, this should be your first stop. At 8:30 the FASTPASS machine was out and the line for Radiator Springs Racers was 120 minutes. Mind you, this is 30 minutes after the park opened. Yikes! We decided to put it off until early the next day and did other things. We enjoyed walking around the rest of Cars Land and riding the super-fun Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Flying Tires.



Since the lines for things seemed ridiculously long, we chose to eat at Flo’s V8 Café for breakfast. Eric had the chicken tamale breakfast and I thought bananas fosters French toast sounded like something I would enjoy. It was much like eating bread pudding covered in caramel sauce. Not bad, but not really a great breakfast meal. Soooo…if you want to not eat dessert for breakfast, I would suggest choosing something else. I kinda wish we had gone back for lunch to try different food, but we didn’t.




Eric thought the best part of Luigi’s was the line, which was not a total overstatement, especially when the line was 30-40 minutes long many times. Listening to Luigi tell you about the ride and send people on their way was pretty fun, as well as all the reproduction tires and race memorabilia. Guido loves to photobomb all the great pictures taken when Lightning McQueen wins a race. The ride itself is a unique twist on bumper cars. You don’t get to steer. Instead, you lean to move your tire on a giant floor that blows air to keep the tires afloat.


If you love the teacups, but hate having to do all the work to make them spin, then you may love Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. You sit in baby tractors while they “dance” to 8 original songs sung by Mater – THE greatest part of waiting in line, too. The tractors drag you behind and spin you in an arc, so you slide from one side to the other instead of a circle. It helps if you REALLY like the person you’re riding with on this one. The concept is that you are at a square dance and the tractors dance in a figure 8 in a really genius dance floor construction.

After getting our fill of all that is Cars Land, with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers (curses!), we explored the rest of California Adventure and checked back every so often to see if the line for the Racers had gotten any shorter. It didn’t. We did, however, come back to grab a snack at the Cozy Cone. I was determined to get churro bites (no trip to Disney is complete without a churro in my opinion) and then we saw some fancy frozen apple drink at one of the other cones, so Eric went to get one while I stood in line for our treat. You are going to wait in line for a looong time at some of these stands, because there is one person inside taking money and also making your snack/beverage. Worth it? I think it was, just for the experience – and I also got my churro.

Did I ever get to ride Radiator Springs Racers? I did! Guess how long we waited in line in the comments and then find out the answer in my special Monday post.

All-Gals River Trip Insider's Tips

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Last week while in Phoenix and Scottsdale for a fantastic Girls Getaway, I asked one of our hosts, Seth Heald of ARIZONA OUTBACK ADVENTURES for some insider secrets for a great Grand Canyon river trip. Seth, president of AOA is a veteran river runner.

"Do you want to know the REAL advice? Even if it is a bit gross?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, I want it all. Give it to me," I challenged.
"OK then. You are going to be sitting on a plastic seat for seven days. You're going to be wet most of the time," he said alluding to ailments that might affect the bottom side. I think he said get a C-cream. "You might not need it, but if you do, you'll be happy you brought it along."

"I should have written it down," I thought as I perused the huge pharmacy aisle. In preparation for our upcoming river trip, I went into Flagstaff, AZ today to procure "butt balm" and waterproof band-aids."Should I get PreparationH?" I couldn't find any C-cream. Or was it Sea-Cream?
I was hoping that no one would come and ask if I needed help.I finally found Cortisone cream. It was half the price of the H-cream, so that settled it for me.

Band-Aid now makes a clear, WATER BLOCK PLUS bandage. They're supposed to give 100% waterproof protection. I guess we'll find out as we float down the river next week.

Girls Adventure Guide Tip: For extended river trips, bring along cortisone cream for any rash that might appear on your bottom side. It will also work on cracked heels if the sun and water do a number on your feet.

There is still room available on the 9-9-9 All "Girls" river trip. Call Joy or Cheryl at Canyoneers at 928-526-0924.
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Girls Adventure Guide offers adventure travel tips and Girls Getaway ideas for increasing your travel fun quotient.

Sedona's Seven Secrets

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Sedona, AZ -- Enter the Red Rock country of Sedona and you will feel a sense of adventure radiating from those terra-cotta colored walls. Walk along paths that are wearing into sandstone ledges and you know you are experiencing a place that has long been inhabited.


Natural light and cool breezes make this secret place a natural respite from the hot Arizona desert.

Yesterday photographer Charles Bame and I spent several hours photographing and writing about one of Sedona's secret places. Do you recognize it in the photo above? Probably not, since it is hidden away inside thick sandstone walls. It is not a far hike from downtown Sedona. Leave a comment below if you know this secret place.

Canyon Adventure
Watch for all seven secrets to be revealed on Girls' Adventure Guide website, and soon in a new book that you can order online. Don't forget to subscribe to this website in the right-hand column.
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Girls' Adventure Guide is written by Arizona travel writer Stacey Wittig. Share your own girls adventure travels by leaving comments. Follow Girls' Adventure Guide for free adventure travel tips and travel deals.