A guerrilla approach to flying with kids

"It broadens the mind."By taking their daughter to foreign countries since she was just a few months old, Coronado and her husband see Michelle, now age 7, developing a more global point of view. "She'll have a better appreciation of what makes each place and each people unique."When can a child fly?We know some of you will not bend on wanting child-free flights, resorts and lives. You remain convinced that kids will never be bearable as fellow travelers. That's OK.But you should know that there's just no blanket rule for when a child is old enough to be on the move. Sorry, baby haters. Some children are easygoing and can travel well at any age, and others are more temperamental and cannot.The temperament of the child and the parent are key in deciding if a child is ready to travel or not, says Yale Parenting Center director Alan Kazdin, a Yale University psychology professor and author of "The Everyday Parenting Toolkit."A mellow, organized parent can handle changes in flight plans and food and can teach those strategies to his or her child. The parent who gets frantic easily may not go with the flow when faced with travel delays, jet lag or even the "wrong" kind of chicken nuggets.

 "And that predisposition will be passed on to your child," says Kazdin.Do young children benefit from travel?There are those parents who've taught their children to behave in changing situations and who can adapt when weather, flights and different languages affect their plans. And they tell stories of trips abroad that benefited both parents and children.
Coronado thinks her daughter benefits from learning about new places and cultures before they travel, then seeing the reality. Before a 2012 trip to see family in Italy, Coronado borrowed books from the library to teach her daughter about the places they planned to see. Before a 2010 trip to the Philippines, Coronado told her daughter that she could ask her parents about anything she saw that she didn't understand."She can whisper her question to us and we'll try our best to answer her question," writes Coronado. When Michelle saw a homeless girl begging on the street, it turned into a quiet conversation about poverty, hunger and having a safe place to call home.That got Michelle, then age 5, excited about the trip.It can be hard for adults to behave as well.

It's greenlit for six one-hour episodes produced by Crazy Legs Productions

 It's greenlit for eight one-hour episodes produced by dick clark productions and WD Entertainment.Big Time RV gives viewers an all-access pass to America's largest, and most prestigious, RV dealership in Florida. It's greenlit for six half-hour episodes produced by Half Yard Productions.Booze Traveler follows Maxwell as he travels around the world, one drink at a time. It's greenlit for eight one-hour episodes produced by Karga Seven Pictures in association with White Reindeer Productions.Expedition Unknown chronicles the adventures of Gates as he investigates iconic mysteries across the globe,Xinjiang travel agency such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart's plane. It's greenlit for six one-hour episodes produced by Ping Pong Productions.Hotel Amazon chronicles the story of longtime friends Johnson and Jablonski as they build a luxury resort on top of the Peruvian Amazon. It's greenlit for six one-hour episodes produced by Crazy Legs Productions.

Resort Rescue follows world-famous hospitality consultant Green as he helps hotel and resort owners figure out what's going wrong inside their establishments. It's greenlit for 13 one-hour episodes produced by Relativity TV.Tours by Unger goes where ordinary travelers can't courtesy of irreverently funny host Unger. It's greenlit for six half-hour episodes produced by Half Yard Productions.Underground BBQ Challenge, hosted by chef G. Garvin, pits neighbors against neighbors across the country in an epic BBQ cooking contest. It's greenlit for eight one-hour episodes produced by The Michael Group.

World Access takes viewers through off-limit areas, captured through innovative methods such as drones, time lapse and robotic cameras.  It's greenlit for seven one-hour episodes produced by Indigo Films.One Day on Earth shows sights and sounds in countries from all over the globe from bustling cities to exotic jungles to the rolling countryside captured all on the same day. It's greenlit for a one-hour special produced by Electus.1 Way Ticket surprises couples with a free trip to an exotic location after friends secretly nominate them. It's greenlit for two half-hour episodes produced by JOHLT Productions.Travel Channel president Shannon O'Neill today unveiled ten new series, one new special and a series in development.

Here is a description of the greenlit productions

 New series Big Crazy Family Adventure wt, Hotel Amazon , World Access and the special, One Day On Earth , highlight the cultures, landscapes and people that make travel so transformative. Other series, including Big Time RV, Booze Traveler, Expedition Unknown, Resort Rescue and Tours By Unger, will introduce new talent who share their knowledge on specific topics and places. And for traveling foodies, Travel Channel crisscrosses the country to discover America's best grillers and BBQ'ers in American Grilled and Underground BBQ Challenge. In addition, the network has greenlit two half-hour episodes for a new series in development called 1 Way Ticket. Here is a description of the greenlit productions:American Grilled pits grill masters from various backgrounds against one another in the ultimate outdoor cooking challenge.

 Host and renowned chef David Guas is turning up the heat on grillers across America as they pete for a $10,000 cash prize and bragging rights. Four contestants test their epic backyard skills by serving up delicious and original plates that skillfully showcase the grill and embrace the amazing local flavors. "American Grilled"is greenlit for 13 one-hour episodes produced by Original Media.Big Crazy Family Adventure follows adventurer, writer and photographer Bruce Kirkby as he treks from Vancouver to the Himalayas with his wife and two children. Kirkby, an experienced world traveler, takes his family across undiscovered landscapes, through challenging climates and inside unique munities in an effort to escape the everyday modern world and expose his children to some of life's simple wonders. "Big Crazy Family Adventure" is greenlit for eight one-hour episodes produced by dick clark productions and WD Entertainment.

Big Time RV gives viewers an all-access pass to America's largest, and most prestigious, RV dealership located in sunny Florida. The larger-than-life sales force and over-the-top service center work together to satisfy the demands of RV lovers, looking to buy or rent the biggest, most customized RV's in the business. "Big Time RV" is greenlit for six half-hour episodes produced by Half Yard Productions.Booze Traveler features cocktail connoisseur Jack Maxwell as he travels around the world, one drink at a time.

The network also is adding shows that feature new expert faces

In its bid to grab new viewers, the cable network is expanding into more food and adventure fare with 10 new originals, one new special and a series in development. Included in the slate is a mix of shows focused on hospitality consultants, a Peruvian resort and a sizable RV dealership."We believe in travel's inherent ability to connect us with people from different places and cultures," said Travel Channel president Shannon O'Neill in the announcement Wednesday. "Our mission is to provide our viewers with transformative programming that provides a gateway and personal portal to experience the world."
The new offerings include Big Crazy Family Adventure, which follows adventurer Bruce Kirkby and his family as they trek from Vancouver to the Himalayas; Hotel Amazon, which chronicles Rusty Johnson and Stephan Jablonski as they leave New York to pursue their dream of building a world-class resort in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon;xinjiang tour World Access, which explores fascinating sites and hidden locations via highly trained experts and journalist; and Big Time RV, which centers on America's largest RV dealership.

The network also is adding shows that feature new expert faces, including Booze Traveler, which follows cocktail connoisseur Jack Maxwell as he travels across the globe; Expedition Unknown, which chronicles the adventures of Josh Gates as he investigates iconic mysteries around the world; Resort Rescue, which follows hospitality consultant Shane Green as he helps hotel and resort owners fix their establishments;xinjiang travel and Tours by Unger, in which Brian Unger takes viewers to fascinating places most Americans don't know about.The special One Day on Earth will focus broadly on the transformative nature of traveling, series in development 1 Way Ticket will center on traveling with a unique last minute twist, and other new series American Grilled and Underground BBQ Challenge will be geared toward foodies who love traveling.Here's a look at the full slate:
American Grilled, hosted by chef David Guas, pits four grill masters against one another in the ultimate outdoor cooking challenge. It's greenlit for 13 one-hour episodes produced by Original Media.Big Crazy Family Adventure follows adventurer Kirkby across undiscovered landscapes in an effort to escape the everyday modern world.

That much psychologist and parenting expert Kevin Leman remembers well

That much psychologist and parenting expert Kevin Leman remembers well.It could have been another tantrum-filled flight from hell. But Leman says a quick-thinking flight attendant could see what was about to unfold. She got the captain's attention and he ordered the family off the aircraft before they could get to their seats.
"The parent was incapable of controlling the kid, and nothing was going to help in that kind of situation," says Leman, the author of several parenting books, including "Parenting Your Powerful Child," and father of five grown children.Leman, who lives in Tucson, Arizona, and travels constantly for speaking engagements, says he sees a child acting out on his flight at least once a week. If you don't set limits on the ground, he says, you won't be able to set them inside a narrow metal tube at 35,000 feet."The parent you are in the ground is the parent you're going to be on the airplane," says Leman.

"Do you have a game plan? If you do, you're going to have a kid who will sit in an airplane, entertain himself and not be a pain to other customers on the plane."Haunted by experiences and tales of children behaving badly in flight, many travelers have pretty strong and sometimes visceral feelings about sharing space with young globetrotters. And what are the wee ones really getting out of such travel? Aren't their parents going to suffer for bringing them long after the earsplitting cries leave the confines of the airplane?Can young children benefit from travel?Traveling parents tell CNN those meltdown moments do not represent the entirety of their experiences.

Navigating airport security and learning about different cultures practically since birth, many well-traveled children have better airplane manners and more frequent flier miles than some adults."I think my daughter benefits from seeing there's a world beyond Baltimore and that there are all different types of people," says aviation blogger Benet Wilson, who's taken her 8-year-old daughter on airplanes since she was 10 days old.
Almira Coronado of Daly City, California, agrees. "Traveling enables people to be more open-minded, you get out of your fort zone, experience unique things, meet different people, hear/speak a different language," writes Coronado, owner of a travel agency. "It broadens the mind."

Tyson again threw some shade at anti-evolutionists

Danielle: Speaking of fantasy and fiction, Tyson again threw some shade at anti-evolutionists, saying that to believe that the universe is between 6,000 and 7,000 years old "is to extinguish the light from most of the galaxy." He's targeting young-earth creationists here, who believe that the world is 6,500 years old but this would, logically, mean that we would only be able to see stars that were formed 6,500 years ago, Kashgar tours which isn't the case. It's a standard argument, but Tyson delivers it with flair, and the earlier part of the episode really sets him up to authoritatively rule out any possibility of a young earth.Abby: He's also setting up a really interesting parison: viewers, which universe do you want? The disproven, small universe of the young-earth creationists that could only extend to the crab nebula and back a tiny portion of the milky way galaxy or the one with galaxies billions of years older than the earth itself, with black holes leading to an extraordinary unknown?

Danielle: Exactly. Tyson still presents science as a nearly-mystical pursuit. The show opens with cartoon William Herschel who discovered Uranus and apparently was also a musician talking about ghosts planet ghosts, it turns out. Which takes us into time travel, which takes into spacetime, etc. The idea of science as belief in the extraordinary is highlighted, once again. Four episodes in, I think it's safe to say that this is a Theme of Cosmos.Abby: silk road group tour Yes, for sure. Tyson is asking mystical question and providing scientific or at least science-based answers. Not to get too academic, but this episode actually reminded me a little of St.

Augustine's theories of time and memory. He divided time up into memory, experience, and expectation, or "a time present of things past; a time present of things present; and a time present of things future." He does this to bracket out our understanding of "time" from what Augustine, who was after all a Bishop, believed to be a defining characteristic of God: an eternalness. For Augustine, there was no literal act of "creation" of the universe it is a unified act with the rest of the universe. Although obviously science leads to somewhat different conclusions and priorities than those of Augustine's, it felt like Tyson was answering or wondering about the same questions.

Just three days after the State Department issued a travel warning for Ukraine

Just three days after the State Department issued a travel warning for Ukraine, it began promoting a campaign urging Americans to visit the country, prompting confusion and concern from some foreign policy observers.The State Department issued a Ukraine travel warning on March 21 warning "U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine and to defer all travel to the Crimean Peninsula and eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Lugansk due to the presence of Russian military forces in the Crimean Peninsula, and in Russia near the Ukrainian border."Three days after that warning was issued the State Department's official Twitterfeed disseminated an official video promoting travel to Ukraine and arguing that all is safe for tourists.

"Disinformation: Kyiv is a burned out battle ground filled with rampaging lawless groups," wrote a caption on the video, which was posted by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. "Fact: The effects of the Maidan confrontation are extremely localized, relegated to three or four streets in the center of the city."
The video struck some foreign policy observers as confusing given the sharp contrast between the two messages.State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf told the Free Beacon that the video is an effort to bat "Kremlin propaganda" that aims to distort the situation in Ukraine and mislead the international munity. Before Mary Sue Stegehuis, a teacher in Grand Rapids, Mich., traveled to Tanzania last summer to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, she bought trip insurance a policy that provided for emergency medical evacuation.

A helicopter plucked her off the mountain and took her to a hospital in Nairobi.After she was treated by an American board-certified cardiologist who determined that all was well, she was flown back to resume the climb. The insurance covered the $11,500 in evacuation costs, along with $5,000 for medical services."It was a huge benefit that the insurance pany specializes in dealing with these logistics," says Ms. Stegehuis, age 57.Travel insurance has long been part of travel planning. But with more people participating in adventure trips and heading for increasingly remote destinations, policies today offer more options and are more plicated than ever before.