Tag: how to

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Blog Tips Video Posts

Don’t buy that HD video camera till you read this

Aaaarrrrgh! (courtesy hnnhlh14 on Flickr CC)I just finished a post over on my Sheila’s Guide to the Good Stuff blog, about why tourism organizations might want to hold off using one of those neat pocket video cameras that shoot in HD (high definition) unless they have access to some rather sophisticated editing software and a pretty powerful computer.

Here is a quick summary of my own painful recent painful videographer learning experience as outlined in “Look before you leap into HD video:”

If you’re thinking of shooting HD to take family travel video, be aware of the following issues:

  1. The file extension is different and may not be recognized by your video editing software.  My PC’s installed version of Windows Movie Maker can’t “see” the new .MP4 files from the FlipHD Mino, and the latest version of Movie Maker (that can work with MP4) won’t work with my Windows XP. Technology awesomeness!
  2. Technology crises always happen at 9 pm on a Saturday night when you’re alone – at least, they do with me.  When I saw I had a mess, I put a call out to my video-savvy Twitter followers, who quickly gave me software suggestions.  Hurray for helpful networks.  No, I can’t “call the IT people” because that’s me.  Freelancer awesomeness!
  3. Adobe Premiere Elements was recommended by several (thanks, Dwight Silverman at the Houston Chronicle‘s TechBlog) but I found it crash-prone (corroborated in several user forums.) I never could even launch the 30 day free trial and finally had to uninstall it.  The real problem became clearer when….
  4. ….I then bought (for about $100 at Best Buy) and installed Pinnacle Studio Ultimate HD (thanks for the tip, Omar Gallaga – he’s the Austin American-Statesman Digital Savant.)  Pinnacle didn’t crash and nicely corrected several problems in a few of my video files – harsh sunlight, funky audio – but playbacks kept stuttering and everything just seemed “gummy.” Turns out that when I actually read the Pinnacle system requirements (d’oh!) my laptop has insufficient RAM and the processor is too slow.
  5. To handle the two videos (plus lots of B-roll) that I’ve shot in HD, I’ve now installed the Pinnacle software on my family desktop PC, which has a more powerful processor (but the same amount of RAM as the laptop, so cross your fingers for me.)  I’m copying all the HD files on my laptop onto a 500G-capacity Seagate external hard drive, then dumping them from the Seagate onto the desktop so I can try to make everything work properly on a better platform. You can’t transfer such big files by email or sticking them on a thumb drive (without losing your mind) so I went with the big digital shovel.  Tech logistics awesomeness!

Bottom line? If you want to roll with HD, it’s not enough to shoot it. That part is deceptively easy.

You need a high-powered, fairly recent computer with capable software to edit those HD files unless you’re always going to be content to upload directly online (i.e., can shoot without error and never want to change it much.)

I’m dropping back to my lower-resolution Flip Ultra for now, so before you drop any serious coin on video toys, research what you’ll need to edit your footage.

Do as I say, not as I already screwed up….

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Tips

How to take your first road trip with a newborn baby

Teensy newborn in a car seat (courtesy chimothy27 at Flickr CC)I’m thrilled to report that Sean Keener, the CEO of BootsnAll (the travel network that hosts this blog) and his wife just welcomed their new son Kai into the world.

Here’s his announcement tweet about it, which of course made me bawl.

They’ll probably be thinking about taking at least a short trip soon, because boots are made for….well, you know….

When my daughter was born, I could not WAIT to get out of the house after a couple of weeks. Part of the urge was to prove to myself that motherhood wasn’t going to mean the end of travel until the kid was older, and part of the urge was to do something besides baby care plus trying to figure out how to shower and sleep occasionally.

I also wanted to see if I could nurse a baby while traveling (answer = oh yes.)

When our new baby was three weeks old, we drove from the Washington DC metro area to New York.  My Mom was rather aghast that we would venture out so soon (not done in her day) but I itched to pack my suitcase.

Here is what I learned about road trips with newborns:

  • You will be terrified because the baby is so tiny and you feel so clueless. Within reason, proceed anyway.
  • New York was a pretty far drive for us with a wee one in the back seat who has to face backwards, as infants do until a year or so.  There was a lot of crying and yelling until I sat in back with her and soothed her to sleep. We made it to NYC and back, but a shorter trip would have been better.
  • You are going to fill up the car with a ton of crap that you don’t need, if it’s your first baby.  Then you’ll worry about having all that in the car and whether it will be stolen, so you’ll schlep it into the hotel room. Then you’ll have to schlep it back out to the car.  You’ll learn.
  • You do need a few of those removable window screens/sunshades for your car windows.  Babies seem to yell a lot about direct sun.
  • You will overdress the kid, if it’s your first baby.
  • A newborn can sleep in a drawer, as long as it is well-padded. Don’t bring a giant portable crib contraption when they’re that tiny.  We used a Moses basket with a little mattress till our daughter outgrew it.
  • There are stores where you are going. Really.  You do not have to bring everything!
  • Lots of large, gallon-sized Ziplock bags can corral any number of stinky messes, like that cute onesie that baby immediately poops upon.
  • Do not buy a pink, googly-looking doofus diaper bag that Dad is embarrassed to tote around.
  • Have a nice big mat for changing diapers. Some changing surfaces are pretty, um, questionable in terms of hygiene.
  • A newborn child is not walking, crawling or even turning over yet, and therefore does not need shoes, or even socks if it is warm. Duh.
  • Moms need to wear tops that are easily accessible for nursing. My one-stop shop was always Motherwear.com. They can be pricey because they’re built with special features, but there’s a sales page and believe me, they wear like iron through every sort of barf, milk, spills….I’ll spare you any further liquids details.
  • Get a sling and carry that baby. You’re going to want the freedom of walking around (interacting with adults! Yay!) while the baby hangs out/sleeps in the sling. You do not want to wrestle up and down stairs and around sidewalk foot traffic with a stroller.
  • Don’t plan to do anything but walk around, maybe have one semi-nice meal if the baby’s quiet and take a luxurious shower at the hotel.  You’ll spend the rest of the time changing diapers, nursing, changing diapers again, walking, sitting, nursing and probably changing another diaper. BUT,  you’ll get to do it with different scenery than your home, which is nice.
  • Always check to see if the men’s bathroom has a Diaper Deck or other diaper changing table before Dad marches in there with baby. If it doesn’t, complain to the restaurant/shop manager. Dads have duties, too.

We still talk about the epic trip to New York to this day, although that daughter of mine will head to college this fall.  We learned that we could still travel, the baby was fairly adaptable, and if we scaled way back on expectations, we could have a really nice time and get a break from routine.

Did I miss any newborn road trip travel tips? Let us know in the comments!

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Site reviews Tips

A few more Priceline tips

I’ve written before about our experience with Priceline…here’s a quick refresher on our takeaways from that search for a Las Vegas hotel room for a business trip….

  • Hotel rooms and other purchases from travel auction sites are generally nonrefundable.
  • Be prepared for a walk or dealing with transportation if you get a hotel on the far edges of your desired region.  If you have kids, ensure that they can handle a walk on crowded city streets.
  • For the best “bang for the buck,” bid on fairly high-level properties [3.5 – 4 stars.] It doesn’t make sense to get a room at a Days Inn or Motel 6 through Priceline.
  • Be flexible. My husband requested a King room but found when he checked in that they were out of King rooms that were non-smoking. He was fine with a room with two Queens.

This time, we needed a hotel room on a Sunday night in north Dallas.

As I’ve said before in my post on how to find the best hotel deals, Sunday is a great time to score a cheap room because the weekend traffic is gone and many business travelers aren’t there yet, so rooms stand empty and hotels are ready to deal.

Sunday night in an area (north Dallas) with a TON of big chain hotels (lots of competition to fill rooms) is prime territory for a Priceline score when you aren’t particularly picky about exact hotel or precise location.

It worked: we bid $50 for a four-star hotel and got the Hyatt North Dallas, normally around $170/night and up.

My son is cavorting in the pool as I type this.  He does not really care that this is a business/conference hotel. A pool is a pool. 🙂

Thank you, Priceline.

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Tips

Is a hostel any place for a family? Sometimes, it sure is!

If you’ve dismissed hostels as exclusively for the single, young, party-hearty sort, you may wish to reconsider.

Some hostels have private rooms for families, rather than the dorm-style accommodations that singles use, and you sure can’t beat the price.

I’m going to start poking my head into hostels when I travel, to check them out on the Kid-Friendly Scale, but meantime here’s a great BootsnAll article by Jennifer Miller:

Hosteling with Kids: Benefits and Tips.

Why hostels?  From Jennifer’s article:

“Finding lodging for families while traveling can be a real challenge. The more children you have, the bigger the challenge and the more expensive it gets. If you’ve got kids and you haven’t tried hosteling with them, give it a try; it’s fun, it’s easy and there are lots of benefits over the traditional hotel stay. Among them, it’s generally cheaper. At $15-20 a bed per night our family of six can stay for an average of $100 a night in a hostel. Try finding two hotel rooms that adjoin for that price!”

Let us know about your own hostel experiences in the comments: recommended places, and places that may seem family-friendly but don’t work out so well in reality.

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Europe Tips USA

Looking back at Dr Pepper, the Little House and London Calling

I love poking around in my archive attic, especially with this blog’s 4th Anniversary coming up in February 2010….

A year ago on the Family Travel Guide, we had fun talking about:

***  Sugar overload at the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, TX

***  Nautical fun in Norfolk, VA

***  Some TSA tips for dealing with kids through airport security

Want to go back further?

In December 2007, we looked at:

***  Cool US museums you’ve never heard of (brief summary plus link to an article I did for Education.com)

***  Holidays with kids in New York City

***  Whether the airlines should provide harnesses for kids

***  A reminder to make travel plans to see March Madness games

***  One of my very first videos (eek!) of the site of the original Little House on the Prairie in Independence, KS

Even further?

In December 2006:

***  Support your parks and pay a visit (based on an overnight at the CCC-built cabins in Bastrop State Park, TX)

***  Tips and advice when it’s London Calling (with one of my favorite photos of my daughter when we visited)

***  Me as a non-skier kvetching about constant travel articles about skiing this time of year

Thanks for wandering down memory lane with me!

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Blog

Getting serious about your blog? I can help

Join Me!

For those of my readers who are interested in really ramping up their own blogging skills, I’ll be participating in a Webinar next week called the Girlfriend’s Guide to the Business of Blogging.

(After blogging about family travel for almost four years here, you know I have stuff to talk about! Conference organizer Debbie Lawrence saw me on Twitter – where I can’t shut up either – and was kind enough to invite me to speak.)

Continue reading “Getting serious about your blog? I can help”
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Tips

Thanksgiving travel packing tips

Don't do it to your family; check-in misery (courtesy hoyasmeg at Flickr CC)Are you braving the busiest travel days in the US in the next few weeks?

That’s right, it’s the Thanksgiving holiday, so have some Tums (or your antacid of choice.)

If you insist on flying, remember that the airline experience these days is often similar to the worst bus trip you’ve ever taken. I’m sorry to be such a cynic, but it’s me against them when it comes to incredibly unpleasant US air travel.

Consider these survival tips:

***  Drive rather than fly if you can, and take some back roads while you’re at it.  Arm yourself with detailed maps before you go. GPS is nice, but map backups always boot up!

***  Shift the crazy travel days….work right up till Thanksgiving or even till noon Thanksgiving Day, but then take the following Monday and/or Tuesday off.

***  Heck, grab some last-minute fares and leave the country! I’d be all over Thanksgiving somewhere in South America or Europe.  Asia’s great but the flights take too long from where I live. If your family’s in Hawaii, however, go for it.

General flying tips:

—->  Do not check your luggage. You will pay extra fees to check on most airlines (one reason so many love Southwest Airlines, which still doesn’t charge to check.)  For the privilege of paying a fee, they may lose your stuff. No, thanks, they aren’t getting their paws on mine. I pack lightly (see video tips below.)

Continue reading “Thanksgiving travel packing tips”
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Tips

Oh by the way: Whither AMEX Traveler’s Checks?

My Mom asked me the other day if anyone still uses American Express traveler’s checks (or cheques if you’re hoity-toity faux British.)

Back in the dark ages of travel, say, in the 1970s/1980s, I remember going to get those checks before a trip.  You took in cash (or one of those old-fashioned checks from your brick-and-morter bank,) paid for traveler’s checks in the amount you wanted and then you slid them carefully in your wallet.

It was also a good idea to make a photocopy of them, or at least a list of the check numbers, so that if they were lost or stolen you could go into any American Express office and get them replaced.

Just like that copy of your passport that goes in a separate place in your stuff in case the real one is stolen.

You do that, right?

Anyway, the AMEX offices were an overseas Expat/Tourist Central, because not only could you go there to do financial stuff, but you could have your mail (snail, the only kind) sent there while you were traveling.  It was your own personal post office, plus it had a clean bathroom, which was KEY in a lot of funkier places.

Why go through such hassle?  Because, duh, there was no other way to get money!

ATMs were a new innovation and not yet widespread.  I vividly remember the first time I stuck my ATM card into a machine in the United Arab Emirates, and local currency popped out.

Local Bongo Bucks, right there.

It was a total miracle.

Everyone and their brother didn’t take credit cards, either, so you needed traveler’s checks to buy stuff.

Even in today’s plastic world, you still have to be careful about foreign currency and purchases, because banks are starting to tack on onerous fees for using overseas ATMs and for using your credit card overseas.  It’s sometimes called a “currency conversion” fee.  If you travel overseas a lot, look for companies that don’t do this to you.

Feeling nostalgic….Seafarer