US Road Trip Review: Portland

Portland's unofficial motto is 'Keep Portland Weird' and I have to say I found this offbeat and slightly nerdy city utterly charming.
We arrived after a long drive from Seattle (4 hours) and easily made our way to the Hotel Fifty.  This was a cool, boutique hotel with a large room, delicious restaurant and on a great location by the waterfront in downtown.  The only problem is that hotel parking is expensive but we found a cheaper parking lot over the road.  Read my Tripadvisor review here
Portland Activities

• Another great city for kids.  Portland is fairly small so you can enjoy walking the streets with your stroller.  The tram is frequent and easy to use.
• Always check your destination for events.  We were so lucky the Rose Festival was on during our stay, essentially a big carnival with lots of fun rides for our toddler, yummy food and music during the evenings
• Portland has a bustling street food scene, take your kids for lunch at the Food Carts and have great fun picking bits from all over the world for a picnic http://www.foodcartsportland.com/
• Washington Park has a plethora of museums; the Children's Museum was a massive hit with our 2 year old with water activities and a pretend theatre.  We didn't have time to go to the zoo but had a hike around the enormous park
• The guidebooks raved about the Portland Aerial Tramway  We were disappointed with this, yes it was a great view over the city but the journey only lasted about 5 minutes and the start/finish were quite far out of town.
• If you're a fan of Man Vs. Food, sample giant mancakes at the Stepping Stone Cafe.  You might have to queue so make sure you have something to entertain the kids with

Travel blackout blinds

We've just moved apartment and the door of our ensuite has an opaque window - annoying if you're trying to sleep and your partner's in the bathroom. My ingenious husband has solved this by taping some black paper over the window.

I was suddenly reminded of all the hotel rooms and bathrooms where I wish we had blackout.  When travelling with my daughter, we would often park her travel cot in the bathroom for the night.  This is normally a failsafe plan apart from those hotels that have random windows with no blinds in their bathrooms.

There are some products on the market like the Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind that attach to windows with suction cups.
http://www.gro.co.uk/Gro-Anywhere-Blind.html
However, it's still quite bulky although relatively inexpensive at 25 pounds on Amazon.co.uk

If I am organised I'm going to do as my husband and buy cheap black card to pack at the bottom of my suitcase with some double sided tape.  What are the chances of that happening?!

US Road Trip Review: Seattle

As a teenage indie kid I dreamt about hanging out in Seattle with the likes of Nirvana.  Couple that with the prospect of bumping into Seattle Grace's McDreamy and I was very excited about my visit.

We arrived at Seattle train station by Amtrak from Vancouver (4.5 hrs) and were met by our hire car representative who drove us to their office and handed over the keys to our road trip mega car.

I had picked a cool, child friendly boutique hotel which had great reviews on Tripadvisor, the Maxwell Hotel Seattle.  I highly recommend this place - large rooms, walking distance to the Children's and Music Museums, free parking, small pool and gym

Read my Tripadvisor Review here

Seattle Activities with Kids

• This is a great city to visit with lots to do and easy streets to navigate with a stroller. 
• Take the family on a walking tour of Downtown Seattle and Waterfront, ending up at Pike Place Market for lunch.  Be careful around some areas of Pioneer Square, a few wrong-uns lurking the streets.
• Loved Pike Place market, a hive of all things food in Seattle.  We watched fish being tossed around and sampled amazing dishes including the best mac & cheese ever at Beechers
• Seattle Center has a number of museums including the Children's and Experience Music.  Our toddler loved the music museum in particular and had great fun playing on the guitars and drums.  Be sure to check their opening hours before you go.
• Your kids will adore the Seattle Ducks Tour, a bus that turns into a boat!  Book ahead as these tours fill quickly http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/
• If you're a fan of Man Vs. Food then eat at Beths Cafe for huge plates of American diner deliciousness (see pic of Daisy & her milkshake!)

US Road Trip Review: Amtrak - Vancouver to Seattle

I decided to go by train from Vancouver to Seattle as I thought my daughter would enjoy it, we could relax and enjoy the scenery and it would make the border crossing into the US a lot easier.  Indeed it was all true and she had a great time

Booking the train tickets
I didn't find the website easy to use and after I input all my details the site crashed on several occasions!
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage

As this is an international border crossing you need to include your passport details.  I contacted my hotel in Vancouver http://www.sunsetinn.com/ and had the tickets delivered to them by courier

Departure
To clear immigration you need to arrive at the station at least an hour in advance so factor that into 6:40am Amtrak Cascades departure
Don't forget to organize your ESTA (visa waiver program) documentation

Onboard
I paid US$20 extra per seat to go business class.  I think this was worth the little extra for more leg room and a comfier seat.  My daughter loved being on the train and she happily watched her DVDs and stared out the window.
The journey is 4.5 hours and they do have a buffet car onboard.  We stocked up the night before with food suppliers from a grocery store close to the hotel
As you pass into the US, the train stops briefly and immigration officials climb aboard and check your passports

US Road Trip Review: Our starting point - Vancouver, Canada

What a beautiful city!  I fell in love with Vancouver and would return in a heartbeat to enjoy its fresh air and friendly people.  We started our trip here and stayed for 2 nights/3days before taking the Amtrak train across the border to Seattle

Hotel
Found this gem on Tripadvisor: http://www.sunsetinn.com/
Knowing we would be jetlagged, I wanted more of a serviced apartment for our first few nights.  This was a great price, clean and big with separate bedroom, living area and kitchen.  The hotel is positioned in a hip area of town off Davie Street near to lots of restaurants

Activities

• The Vancouver streets are wonderfully stroller friendly
• Took the Aquabus to Granville Island to see the farmers market.  We were incredibly lucky that the Vancouver Kids Festival was on during our stay and they had lots of activities for our daughter.  She also enjoyed the indoor softplay at Kids Market open all year and the parks on Granville Island
• Took a stroll around Stanley Park, one of the largest urban parks in the world.  If the weather's nice they have a heated outdoor pool on the shores of English Bay: http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/index.htm
• Long walks around the city, including ye olde Gastown area
• Enjoy delicious icecream at Marbleslab Creamery by the entrance to Stanley Park
• The city really comes to life during a Canucks Game (ice hockey) at the Rogers Arena so be sure to check the schedule: http://canucks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm 

http://gocanada.about.com/od/vancouver/tp/topvancouverkid.htm

Kids Market, Granville Island

US Road Trip Review: Vancouver to San Francisco

Last summer we embarked on an amazing 2 week road trip from Vancouver to Silicon Valley, California.  We were visiting friends in Silicon Valley (just outside San Francisco) and knew that would be our last stop.  Having done southern California the year before and much of Northern California in a previous life sans kids, I decided to find a map and conjure up a route

VANCOUVER - SEATTLE - PORTLAND - CANNON BEACH - NEWPORT - BANDON - SAN FRANCISCO - MOUNTAINVIEW

We were traveling with our daughter, who was just over 2 and I was about 5 months pregnant:

ADVANCE PLANNING - MAKE YOUR TRIP EASIER

• I booked 90% of the hotels in advance, direct on their website to obtain cancellable bookings
• Put together my geeky travel spreadsheet detailing accommodation, driving distance, hotel, activities, restaurants (a big driver for our US food trips is my husband's obsession with Man Vs Food and the need to eat at all his restaurants)
• Cathay to Vancouver (hubby flew back to HK from San Fran and I flew on with daughter with BA to London)
• Booked hire car and confirmed child car seat *make sure you have valid drivers licence for US
• Obtained the US ESTA (visa waiver) for the family https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

It was an incredible trip and I will write my reviews of the cities in a separate post

Blog recommendation - Bubs on the Move

I came across a great travel with kids blog, written by an Australian doctor.  I was looking for the ultimate holiday medical kit inventory, which I will return to in a future post....

She has lots of top tips but I particularly enjoy her insight on travel health:

http://www.bubsonthemove.com/category/travel-health/