Carmel Mooney is a professional travel writer, but she wears many hats. While she teaches travel writing, and has an AM travel talk radio show as well, Carmel is also very involved in educating the public about autism and biomedical interventions for children on the Autism Spectrum. She also dabbles in real estate, and finds time for leading her daughter’s Brownie troop, gardening, cooking, and parenting her blended family of five kids. Seeing that I can barely make the time to nuke a TV dinner, I’m impressed (and a wee bit tired, just thinking about her schedule). Here’s what Carmel had to say about travel for work, and taking the kids along.

1. Do you get to take your kids with you often?

Yes. My kids are so fortunate to get to see so many things I never got to see as a kid. Our two youngest had both been to over 43 states and three countries before their third birthdays. I keep trying to convey to our 9-year old that it’s not “normal” to go on ten cruises before the age of nine. She even has a “Funship” game she made up, that she plays when the cruise bug is making her itch for another cruise. Up until this year, I homeschooled so my kids could experience the world as their classroom and could have flexibility to travel when opportunities came up.

2. What is your favorite place so far, and why?

I don’t have just one favorite because there are so many magic places. I especially love(d) a historic sailing resort in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. I also adore the Mayan Coast and Tulum, Mexico with its jungles, cenotes, sparkling turquoise waters, wildlife and gracious people.
There are some very special off-the-beaten-path areas around Puerto Vallarta that are special to me for fond memories. And Mendocino and the North Coast of California are majestic with the redwoods and great uncrowded beaches. I really do have many favorites.

3. What special preparations do you do prior to traveling with your family?

Other than the usual like making arrangements for the pets and doing all the other last minute things that everyone does, I always start a packing and “to do” list about a week before we leave. Typically it keeps me really organized and it allows me time to think of and pick up anything else that comes to mind for our particular destination. So, far, I’ve never forgotten anything important this way. But I never seem to sleep much the night before a big trip. I always find myself hopping up out of bed to check the list or add to it.

4. What items do you absolutely need to take with you on a trip?

My kids. No, just kidding. For tropical and warm destinations I always pack a couple of pareos because they make great beach cover ups, blankets for chilly airplanes, and even picnic table clothes or sun shields. Sunblock—lots! And with my radio show I always take a small tape recorder. I encourage my kids to keep trip journals and we have a tradition on plane trips that my kids each get a small activity book of some kind for the plane, so they get excited to see what I’ve picked up for them on the way to the airport and it helps me keep my sanity on the plane. Oh, and my kids always take a small pair of binoculars everywhere we go—we’ve been glad we did so many times for spotting bald eagles or whales or bears or whatever is special to that area.

5. Finally, what are your plans for the future, professionally speaking?

I plan on doing a lot more of the same since it’s all what I love doing, but I have finished an exciting romance novel and will be working on finding an agent and/or getting that published.

Carmel Mooney can be contacted through her website.

Kayt Sukel’s son, Chet, has traveled to nearly 20 countries — and he’s only three years old! Kayt, a freelance writer, lives in Bedesbach, Germany, where her husband has been stationed with the U.S. Army since 2003.

While her main beat is information technology, Kayt also covers parenting and travel (natch!) for such publications as American Baby, the Christian Science Monitor, Parenting and the Washington Post.

Here’s what Kayt had to say about recent trips — mostly throughout Europe, but also to Africa and back to the States to visit family — and the importance of never forgetting beloved stuffed Grover:

1. What’s is your favorite destination you’ve traveled to with Chet?

I think my favorite would have to be Malta. It’s got everything. History, gorgeous landscapes and these fabulous little pastries called pastizzi that are filled with ricotta cheese. And those pastries are exactly what you need after running after a toddler all day.

2. What’s his favorite destination?

Chet really enjoyed a recent trip to Luxembourg. He had a blast running around the old fortress ramparts. But honestly, he seems to really enjoy just walking around and seeing new things.

3. Most memorable moment traveling together?

We call Chet our little ambassador because he really does open up people’s hearts and minds to us wherever we go. Our most memorable moment still has to be him being swarmed by school children in the Ayasofya in Istanbul. We didn’t even see them approach, but it was a class from a rural part of Turkey in the city to visit the museum there. They saw that we brought a baby and just came over and started kissing him. And though we worried it was too much, Chet just loved it. It was just so sweet to see him and these kids just connecting in this strange and beautiful way.

4. What’s one piece of travel gear you absolutely can’t live without when you travel with your preschooler?

We have very little in the way of gear these days. Chet won’t sit in a stroller or a backpack anymore. So really, as long as we have his Grover and a few toy cars to play with (and of course, a sturdy backpack to keep us in diapers and juice), we’re all pretty happy.

But when he was younger, the Baby Bjorn and then the Kelty stroller/backpack combo saved us. Until Chet turned about 10 months old, we carried him all around in the Bjorn. After that, the convertible stroller/backpack was a must have — especially for Europe. You never know where you’ll find nothing but stone steps or be asked to take your child “off” in a museum. They worry that you”ll turn and knock something or trip an alarm. Who knew?

5. Any tips for flying with a preschooler?

Don’t underestimate the allure of the mundane! We’ve kept Chet happy on flights with a few extra plastic cups from the beverage cart, coloring on the barf bag and counting the number of baseball hats in the rows. And if all else fails, nothing is more fun than wandering the aisles (again and again) once the captain turns off the “fasten seatbelt” sign.

6. What’s next on your family travel agenda?

My husband just deployed to Iraq a few weeks ago so Chet and I will be traveling on our own. We just got back from a whirlwind trip to the states complete with long road trips and we plan to go to Bruges next month and then Israel once the prices go down at the end of the summer. When my husband was here, we did about one trip a month. We’re hoping to keep that up even in his absence.

Chanize Thorpe, a freelance travel writer/editor, is a Traveling Mama who lives in New York with her husband and three children. She has traveled the world and has agreed to share some of her insights on being a mama and traveling.

How did you first become a Traveling Mama?

My dad was in the military so I’ve been traveling all of my life. Even after I left home for college, I had “itchy feet” and would find myself packing my suitcase to go somewhere every 3 months. That never changed, even when I had children!

When you travel solo for work, how do you deal with leaving the kids and hubby?

At first I used to be a wreck. I’d have this prolonged good-bye and then my children would start crying as if they’d never see me again. It was awful. Finally my husband told me that the more I make a big deal out of it, the worse it would get, so I stopped the drama on my end. I’ve got a good support system, my husband and grandma tag team it while I’m away, and they all know the routines I have in place, so I don’t worry any more.

Is there any advice or tips you can give a Traveling Mama about to embark on her first solo/girls getaway?

Make sure you leave a plan for whoever’s watching the kids. I make a menu for my grandma so she knows what to cook while I’m gone (that eliminates McDonald’s for dinner every night), we go over the girls’ chores for the week, I leave my itinerary with her as well as numbers for hotel, airline, etc. Leave no questions unanswered.

You are a freelance travel writer, so you’ve seen a few places around the world. Is there a special place Traveling Mamas could go to renew their vows or for a second marriage?

It’s no secret that I am in love with Aruba. I’ve written so many features on the island I’ve stopped counting. It’s really one of my favorites. To me, a vow renewal on an island with the sand in your toes and a tropical flower in your hair is the ultimate. Pick a place that has a vow renewal ceremony package so you’re not stressing out about all the details. You just pick package “A” or “B” and it’s easy peasy.

If there were three things you could take with you on a trip, what would they be, and why?

I take a tunic top that works for day and night, I take my gold Cole Haan Air Jane shoes for the same reason, and an exercise band because I’m trying to keep my routine going while I’m on the road.

Do you have any final advice for a Traveling Mama about to embark on a journey?

Talk about a Traveling Mama Extraordinaire! In 2006 and into 2007, Nancy Sathre-Vogel, her husband John and their two then-eight-year-old sons bicycled across the country, from their home in Idaho west to Washington, south to Mazatlan, and all the way to Connecticut, over the course of 12 months and 9,300 miles. Amazing!

And the Vogel family isn’t stopping with this incredible adventure under their belts. They are up for more more! This June, they’ll depart on a cycling trip all the way from Alaska to Argentina! They plan on 30 months of travel over 20,000 miles. Twin sons Davy and Daryl will mark their 11th, 12th and 13th birthdays on the trip, and when they complete the journey, they’ll be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest people ever to cycle the Pan-American Highway.

The family plans to use two single bikes and a tandem bike, with the young boys taking turns cycling behind Dad. For their first trip, dad John and the boys were on a triple the entire way.

Mom Nancy is a special education teacher and freelance writer, dad John is also an educator, and the boys go to elementary school in Boise when they aren’t on the road (and then, they are homeschooled to keep up with their studies — what an education in geography, cultures, and, well, LIFE, they are receiving from their adventurous parents).

So curious about the Vogel family’s activities, I asked Nancy a few questions about the first cycling trip and their plans for the next one:

1. Why a cross-country bike trip? I mean, aren’t there other, less-ambitious ways you can enjoy “quality family time” together?

I do understand that a bicycle tour, for most people, seems kind of “out there,” but for us it really isn’t. John and I met on a one-year bike tour of the Indian subcontinent, and have toured in many other countries since then. Even though I hadn’t toured since before I got pregnant (John had done a couple tours in that time), the idea was there in the back of our minds. When we decided to go, there was no question that it would be on bikes.

2. A year is a looooong time to spend traveling with the whole family. Did you ever crave “alone time” just for you? Did you ever get it?

There were times when I wanted to be alone, and I was able to get that time on the bike. John, however, had a much harder time in that department – he was joined at the hip with the boys. All I had to do was drop back away from the triple and I was in my own little world. Sure, I could still see my family, but for all practical purposes I was alone.

3. How did you handle homeschooling on the road? Did you have a curriculum to follow?

One would think our years in the classroom would lead us to favor a more traditional approach, but it’s actually convinced us of the value of “unschooling.” We’ve seen, time and time again, that kids have a natural desire to make sense of their world. They want to learn, and they will learn if they are provided opportunities to do so. Our journey provided those opportunities. We took advantage of educational opportunities wherever we found them (national parks, state parks, etc.) and we made sure to read to the boys and have them write in their journals. But mostly we let Mother Nature be their teacher.

4. You updated a website with diary entries along the way. I’m assuming you brought a laptop and hit wi-fi cafes?

No. We were constantly on the prowl for internet access. We stopped at public libraries and internet cafes. We also utilized the computers at the countless number of houses we were invited into.

5. What was the most surprising thing you learned on your trip?

The idea that eight-year-old boys don’t need a bunch of toys! Before we left, we designated a small bag on the bike for each boy – that was their space and anything they took with them had to fit in that bag. At the beginning of the journey the kids dragged miniature plastic aliens out of their bag at each break. Their aliens fought battles and conquered new lands. By the next day rocks and sticks had become spaceships and distant planets which their aliens controlled. Within a few days, the aliens had been forgotten and their playthings were solely of the natural variety: rocks, sticks, leaves, and pinecones.

6. What was your favorite locale or destination?

Each part of the journey was so different and there were things we enjoyed about them all. But if I had to choose one locale, I would have to say “The West” (as opposed to the “The East”). Cycling through the deserts in the western part of the USA and Baja was wonderful in that we could camp anywhere. All four of us loved our time out in the desert beneath towering saguaro or cardon cacti.

7. What will you do differently for this next, more ambitious trip?

Not much. The major change is the basic configuration of bikes. We will travel with a tandem and two singles on our next trip. John will captain the tandem, I’ll still have my single, and the kids will switch between the stoker seat and their single. There are a number of reasons for that change – the kids will have more freedom, John won’t be quite so exhausted, and it’ll be a lot easier to get the bikes in hotel rooms.

8. What are you most looking forward to for the Alaska-Argentina adventure?

Time. Time with the kids. Time to play. Time to explore. Time to grow. Oh yeah – and the freedom of the road. I can’t wait to feel the wind blowing through my hair, my legs pumping, my heart pounding, and my lungs struggling to catch every breath they can. In short? Freedom. That’s what I crave.