Grupo Mayan Vacations Travel Tips

A beach vacation is the quintessential measure of childhood bliss - the experience that defines family fun and togetherness and creates enduring memories of happiness. When that vacation is on an endless beach in Mexico, with its famous sunsets and migrating whales, or the palm-fringed sands on the Caribbean Sea, the pleasure is year-round and, at Grupo Mayan Resorts timeshares, suited to fit every family’s ideal getaway. And, one of the best things about family vacations at Mayan Resorts is its popular Kids Club.

The Mayan Resorts’ Kids Club is a program of supervised daily activities and events designed to entertain, provide healthy recreation and even educate young guests while their parents engage in championship golf, indulge in a luxury spa, go shopping or sightseeing, or pursue other adult interests provided by the resort.

Available from 9 AM to 5 PM, each Grupo Mayan Resort’s Kids Club features such activities as mini-dance lessons; a variety of sports, including beach soccer, water polo, mini-bowling and darts competitions; a choice of arts activities such as bead, flower and paper handicrafts and drawing; and age-appropriate movies. Other activities include swimming pool time, lunch and snacks, puppet-making and cooking lessons. The Club is also an excellent way for children to discover the unique natural environments surrounding them, with projects featuring ocean habitats, native flamingos and crocodiles.

Two days a week the Grupo Mayan’s Kids Club features special extended evening activities until 10 pm. On Wednesdays, there is “Pirate Night”, filled with costumes and make-up, face painting, treasure hunts and games. On Thursdays, it’s “Camping Night,” featuring beach camping, contests and games. And, Sundays are “Superhero” days when Kids Club members are visited by their favorite superheroes for a day of magic and fun.

Grupo Mayan Resorts offers premier Kids Clubs at their Sea Garden, Mayan Palace and Grand Mayan timeshare properties, located in Acapulco, Nuevo Vallarta, Puerto Peñasco, Los Cabos and Riviera Maya.

For more information about Mayan Resorts and the Mayan Kids Club, please visit http://www.mayanresorts.com/

Traveling with children of any age can be quite stressful.  Grupo Mayan travel experts recommend that you find interesting ways for your children to keep active while on board a plane or in a car to help you have a less stressful trip.

If you are traveling by plane, you may wish to book seats for you and your partner in different parts of the plane.  This will allow one parent a chance to get some rest while the other is watching or dealing with a child.  If you are traveling with an infant, you need to try to keep to the infantís schedule as much as possible.  It is a myth that the engine will lull a child to sleep.  When they want to be awake, they will be!

Take advantage of the screen time.  You may normally restrict how much TV time your child can have, but while on a plane, you should take advantage of this great entertainer.  If you are afraid the plane may not have something worthwhile for your children, bring a DVD player and some movies you know they will enjoy.  Do not forget to bring enough headphones to go around.  You may allow the children to bring a few small electronic games to play.  Be sure to check with the airline staff to see when they may use these, as most flights will not allow them while taking off or landing.

Grupo Mayan travel experts recommend you not forget those classic card games.  Cards do not take up much space and you can customize the games to their ages.  For older children, you may want to allow them to bring a MP3 player or some other device for listening to music.  Be sure to bring enough extra batteries to last for the devices your children may use.  Batteries may be expensive, but they are much cheaper than trying to deal with an unhappy child when you are stuck on a plane several thousand feet up in the air.

Another option is to bring some books or magazines.  No matter what age the child may be, you could read to your younger children and older ones may enjoy a good book.  Grupo Mayan travel experts warn that some people do not do well reading while traveling.  If this is the case, avoid this solution.

You have many entertainment options you can use.  Be sure to take full advantage of them so you can make your trip less stressful and it will help your children to relax.

Everyone enjoys a vacation at a wonderful hotel or resort.  Grupo Mayan professionals recommend some tips for packing for your trip to make sure you donít forget anything you will need for the kids.

Women have the option of carrying a purse and can take advantage of this by getting an extra large purse to carry on the plane.  Now you can fit extra stuff for the children such as small toys, snacks, wipes, and fresh diapers.  Due to changes in regulations, most liquids are no longer allowed on the plane.  Check with the airline to see what restrictions are in place so you will not delay yourself with materials that cannot be taken with you.

Some people think a leash for small children is a bad idea.  They obviously do not have small children.  A leash can allow your child to wander around and still be under your control.  Be sure to pack such a leash for the trip.  Find backpacks that have fun characters on them so your children will want to carry them on the plane.  This will allow you to have to carry less yourself and provide you with some extra room for packing stuff for the trip.

Everyone should have a waist pack for storing your passports, tickets, cash, travelerís checks, IDs, and other important documents.  You can keep it close to you so you donít have to worry about someone stealing it.  Be sure you have some items to keep your child entertained while traveling.  While many planes have entertainment such as movies to watch, not all children will enjoy this.  Some simple card games or handheld electronic games may be answer.  Remember that electronic games should be turned off when the plane is taking off and landing.

Another important item to pack in your carryon bag is a small first aid kit.  Children are constantly getting boo boos and you should be prepared to take care of them quickly.  Small packages of candy or fruit snacks are great for getting their minds off the plane and the possible turbulence.  Be sure to pack duplicates of your childrenís medications.  One set should be carry on if possible and another set in a different bag for backup.  Grupo Mayan professionals recommend you scan a copy of your childís medical record and save them to disk or on a flash drive in case you have a medical emergency while on vacation.

No matter where you might be traveling, keeping your children safe is of imperative importance.  While vacationing, Grupo Mayan wants to help you to keep your children safe.  Some important travel tips that no parent should be without follow below.

We all know we should keep an eye on our children.  When visiting new places, we want to see everything we can and may forget to watch our children.  Consider a bracelet that is linked to another that your child can wear.  This way you are both linked even when you might be looking at the wonderful sights.

Before you go out each day, make a list of what your child is wearing and be sure to take a picture.  You donít have to scare your child.  You can get them to pose somewhere and take a ëvacationí photo.  At the end of your trip, you will have a great many pictures to remember your trip by.

If you plan to leave your child with a childcare provider, be sure to check out the references and certifications of the chosen provider.  Do some research to make sure the accreditation is up to date.  Be sure to meet the childcare providers and do not be afraid of your intuition.  If you are uncomfortable for any reason, do not leave your most precious possession.  Rethink your plans and take your child with you.

Everyone should find a way to carry his or her medical records with him or her.  Perhaps you can scan the records and store them on a flash drive or CD.  This is just as important for your child.  Having their records can be very handy in the event of a medical emergency.  While most of the planet is moving to a global medical system, having the records handy can make an important difference in response time.

A great number of people like to create special outfits for everyone to wear when they are on vacation that has their name on it.  It might be t-shirts that all have some common picture with each personís customized with their name.  Avoid doing this for your children.  A stranger may be able to lure your child away because they know their name.  Have a talk with your child about how to deal with strangers before you make your trip.

Your vacation trip should be fun and Grupo Mayan wants to help you keep yourself and your children safe while away from your home.  Follow these simple tips and you can help ensure your child is safe as possible while on vacation.

When a parent tries to imagine their teen travelling on vacation, alone, away from the protection of adults, it is a truly scary thought.  As parents we have to learn to let go at some point.  One of the first times we allow our kids to go on vacation alone is the time where we sit and think about all of the negatives instead of the positive while our teen is only thinking about all of the fun they are going to have as well as the freedom.

With freedom, comes responsibility we have all heard that statement before but when travelling without adult supervision, it could not be so true.  Teens alone on vacation with their friends, you know there is going to be alcohol involved at some point and other drugs unfortunately, they will be faced with the pressure that their own parents went through as well.  It cannot be stressed enough, say the Grupo Mayan experts, how important safety is while travelling especially for teens.

By the time we become adults, we have already experienced some of the doís and doníts of travelling and it is our responsibility as we pass on this freedom to also pass on the sound advice of experience.
There has been many tragedies in the past where a teen has disappeared or even been killed while travelling on spring break or at other times.  This article, say the Grupo Mayan experts, is going to provide you with some really good safety tips to keep in mind while you are out there experiencing your fun and freedom.

One of the first things that Grupo Mayan experts tell anyone who is travelling alone, even though you might not be alone most of the time, you might find yourself alone at some point as well as, if you are inebriated it is easier to lose sight of the fact that you should always be aware of your surroundings.  Not just for your own personal safety, but the safety of your friends as well.

When you and your friends are partying and having a good time, you need to know your limits.  You cannot control what other people do, say the Grupo Mayan experts, but you can control what you do.  Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to black outs and alcohol poisoning if you are not careful, and sometimes it even leads to death.  As previously mentioned, alcohol can make you do stupid things but it is also an inhibitor at the same time that it is an anti-inhibitor.  You have no inhibitions when you are partying, but at the same time, your judgement is inhibited.  You make poorer decisions and this could lead to putting you into situations that are less than safe.

Try to make sure that whatever you are doing, you always have someone with you to protect you and you to protect them.  The buddy system is not as lame as it might sound, say the Grupo Mayan experts, and it can save you life or the lives of the people you care about.  Try to make sure that you stay in contact often with your other friends as well.  Establish a meeting place for everyone and plan on meeting there every few hours just to check in.  This does not always go over well with everyone, but if you remind them of the incidents of recent years past with other teens on vacation who have disappeared and died, they might not have such a big issue with it.

Keeping these tips in mind should keep you safer while you are having a great time and keep everyone a lot safer.

At some point, when you have kids, you have to travel or want to travel.  Of course, when they are real young, you try to avoid travel as much as possible and some of us choose to travel from the time they are real young to get then used to traveling.  The Grupo Mayan experts in the travel industry tell you, there is no right or wrong way and no way is better than the other because I have tried both.

What I have also learned are these few tips that will help you out if you are planning a trip with your children.  If they are old enough, prepare them for the trip.  One way of doing this is to pull out a map and show them your route, it gets them excited as well as you can talk about some of the places you will be visiting.  You can also go as far as to check out some books from the library on the place you are visiting.

If you are traveling by plane, say the Grupo Mayan experts in the travel industry, make sure that you pack plenty of finger foods in your carry-on.  Remember there is a point and time during take-off and landing where their little bodies have to adjust to the cabin pressure just like yours.  If you have a toddler, try using a sippy cup.  If they are old enough to chew gum, this is one of the best ways to get their ears to pop.

If your kids are older, you can have them start a countdown calendar that helps them be better prepared especially for a trip that is exciting to them.  You can sit down with them and mark on the calendar how many days you have left for each day until the trip.
Make sure that you take your child’s favorite book, say the Grupo Mayan experts in the travel industry, especially if this is a young child or an older teen who gets bored really easily.  Another good idea is that if it is an older child you can take handheld electronic games that they can use, just make sure that they understand the airlines policy about electronics.  Usually, they will make an announcement on when it is okay to turn on electrical devices.

You can also be prepared by putting things in your carry-on that the kids do not expect to be there, say the Grupo Mayan experts in the travel industry.  Such as stuff to draw with, paper, pencils, pens, colored pencils.  This will help with the boredom they might get from what they chose to take themselves.