Gambling vacations can take place wherever a destination has a casino (and, well, legalized gambling). Bradley Booth is a high stakes poker champion, known throughout the gambling world as one of the best around. He also is Head of Poker Development and spokesperson for online gaming site GR88. He’s had to travel quite a bit, and in this Q&A, “Yukon” Brad Booth told us about his favorite gambling vacation destination tips, as well as his feelings in regard to mixing gambling with family travel.

Now, here at The Vacation Gals, we’re firm believers in the rejuvenating effects of top girlfriend getaways, the best romantic weekends, and other types of vacations that aren’t only about the kids. Finding time for some adult activities makes family vacations more well-rounded as well. Gambling is an especially popular vacation activity, but it’s best to keep children away from the gaming floor. Where it’s legal, there’s nothing wrong with a little poker or blackjack! Many travelers like to incorporate a trip to the casino as part of their vacation experience. Let’s hear what “Yukon” Brad Booth told us about his favorite gambling vacation destinations.

What are your favorite places to take gambling vacations?

My top five favorite places for gambling vacations are Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Connecticut/Southern New England, Dublin (in Ireland), and cruise ships.

Of your top five gambling destinations, which do you think is also best suited for a family trip (and why)?

Las Vegas really can be a great family destination, as it is set up with free entertainment or the whole family. Where else can you just walk around, and see so many spectacular light shows and events out on the street? Paradise Island, in the Bahamas, is also a fantastic, fun family adventure. From the water slides though the Shark Tank, to the River Rafting Ride, it is all good, clean fun. The casino there is a good size, with something for everyone.

Are vacations centered around gambling becoming more, or less, popular with the current economic recession?

Recessions create great value opportunities, especially in gambling vacation destinations. Cut rate travel packages in top hotels are more common to stimulate business these days, due to the ancillary revenues that are created via shopping, food, alcohol, gambling, and other forms of entertainment. Almost everyone who goes to a gambling location for a vacation will spend a portion of their time in the casino, so by creating these value added offers, more people are willing to find room for a vacation in their budget.

Vegas is really built on the gambling culture. Do you recommend that parents leave their young kids at home with Grandma during a Vegas gambling vacation, or do you see it as amenable to a family travel?

This depends on what they are looking for in a vacation. Sometimes the parents need to rekindle the fire that created the children in the first place, so it their goal is to relight that fire, them leave the kids with Grandma. On the other hand, if they are looking for something that is fun for Mom and Dad and the kids, and you’ve worn out family friendly theme park vacations, then I would highly recommend Las Vegas. Bring Grandma; she can play the slots during the day and babysit the kids in the room at night. It’s win-win!

Well, when it comes to vacations that include trips to a casino, nothing sounds better than “win-win.”  Thanks, “Yukon” Brad.

Cruise travel planning tips are useful, whether you’re planning your first cruise vacation, or looking to enhance your next vacation at sea. Using a travel agent who specializes in cruises is free (it’s the cruises that pay a commission, not you), and it’s the agent’s job to find the best cruise at the best rate for their clients. The Vacation Gals are happy to have Michelle Fee on hand to answer some cruising questions and give us some worthy cruise travel tips. Michelle Fee co-founded and co-owns Cruise Planners, the largest home-based cruise travel agent franchise in the U.S.  She also sits on the advisory boards of Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line, as well as the Cruise Line International Association. Named “Travel Agent of the Year” by Travel Trade (2006), Michelle clearly is a cruise expert. Here are some of her tips and advice for finding a great cruise vacation.

I grew up watching The Love Boat on television. How are cruise vacations different today than they were in the 1980′s?

Oh gosh, where to start? My first cruise was on a ship called M/S Dolphin — I believe it was around 1982 and the ship’s tonnage was about 12,000 tons — and yes, it rocked and rolled to the point that I was begging to get off at the next port… little did I know that I would own one of the largest cruise companies in the U.S.  To compare that cruise shop to today’s ships is impossible. My last cruise was on the Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, which is over 220,000 tons; over 20 times bigger than the Dolphin, and much easier sailing in rough waters. Today, dining is any time, as compared to the Love Boat days of designated dining times. Also, in the Love Boat days, entertainment onboard was a main show, a late show, and a late night comedy show. Today, we still have those shows…  plus Broadway caliber shows, comedy clubs, ice skating, water theater, and dinner shows. The level of entertainment has skyrocketed.

When my daughter was 7, she slightly sprained her ankle on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship trip. She was very well taken care of. Are there standards and practices across the board regardless of cruise lines, of does each company set up their own rule regarding medical non-emergencies?

I’m pretty sure that each cruise line has strict guidelines on setting up their medical facilities at sea. I was just onboard with someone who fell and broke her arm, and they had full X-ray machines and caring medical staff to accommodate her pain management until she could get back to port and to a hospital. If there is a life threatening situation, they medevac then off the ship to the closest hospital.

Do you recommend certain cruise shops for certain vacations? That is, is one cruise line considered best for Alaska trips and another for transatlantic cruise vacations?

Each cruise line definitely has a personality — so although they might all give great service, have incredible dining experiences and sail to fabulous ports of call, each one is somewhat different.  For instance, Royal Caribbean has taken the trophy for “most innovative cruise line.” Their ships have rock climbing, surfing machines, zip lines, and more that make then wonderful for active travelers. Plus, in the evenings, Royal Caribbean has many entertainment choices like the Broadway hit “Hairspray,” ice skating, comedy shows, and, on the new Royal Caribbean ship Oasis of the Seas, there is an Aqua Theater for water shows. The ship is so large, Royal Caribbean actually gave the ship neighborhoods, such as Central Park and Boardwalk!

But let’s say that you don’t want a big ship experience and you do want more personalized service, would maybe like to see less children onboard, and perhaps more luxury. Then the Regent Cruise Line, Crystal Cruise Line, or Azamara Cruise Line ships would be the perfect choice. They cater to passengers’ every whim. Also, the smaller ships like Azamara feature unique ports of call that larger ships aren’t able to dock in. This accommodates the more experienced traveler, looking for a special cruise vacation.

Someone might say, “But how do you know what cruise line is right?” My suggestion, or tip, is simply to call a travel agent. That’s what our service is all about! And, it doesn’t cost “you” the customer a single dollar more to do business with us. We earn our dollars from the cruise line and it’s NOT cheaper to go direct. Actually, to the contrary, large cruise companies negotiate special deals with travel agents that might include extra amenities such as shipboard credits or upgrades.

Are cruise lines making changes in terms of environmental friendliness?

Today’s cruise lines are very much environmentally conscious. They have spent thousands of millions of dollars upgrading their fleets to reduced waste reduction and installing systems that have cleaner burning fuel. They are definitely doing their part to keep the waters clean.

Thinking about the future of cruising, what are you most excited about — what’s on the horizon for cruise trips?

I’m really excited about the future of cruising, and that the cruise industry continues to build new exciting ships with amazing features. The new Norwegian Epic, which begins sailing in July of this year, will wow the cruise industry with features including The Blue Man Group, Legends in Concert, Cirque Dinner Show, an ice bar, a bowling alley, and a private suite area with its own pools and dining features. It’s going to be amazing!  Goodbye, old Love Boat days, today’s cruising is more like staying at a floating, moving luxury hotel.

Thanks so much for your expertise and insight, Michelle! Anyone considering a cruise vacation should consider contacting a Cruise Planner agent and describe the perfect vacation; Michelle is certain that there is a ship in the water that suits every person’s style.

Sunday is Mother’s Day — do you have big plans? Will you be served breakfast in bed, or perhaps you have a spa appointment? A special brunch at a favorite restaurant? Or maybe you have an entire weekend of travel on the agenda. I’ll be hanging out with my family in our pop-up camper in a Utah campground on Mother’s Day. I’m hoping it will be a weekend filled with hikes and scenic vistas and plenty of s’mores — or at least that’s the plan, anyway. Toasty warm desert weather is quite appealing to me right now, after the snowy and wet spring we’ve had here in Colorado.

In honor of the Mother’s Day holiday, we present some of the awesome traveling moms we’ve interviewed over the past few years. These are oh-so-talented ladies are incredible bloggers, website owners, book authors, travel industry experts and more. We hope you’ll take the time to read their Q&As to learn more about some inspiring, fun moms who love to travel.  (And don’t forget to call your own mother to say, “Hey, thanks for putting up with me through those teenage years…”)

Travel writer Andy Gross

TBEX and Galavanting.tv founder Kim Mance

TwitterMoms founder Megan Calhoun

Movie star Nia Vardalos

Ciao Bambino contributor Nancy Solomon

Fabulously40.com founder Yana Berlin

Type A Mom founder Kelby Carr

ZUCA luggage company CEO Laura Udall

Travel writer Nancy Brown

Jet with Kids Author Anya Clowers

Road-tripping book author Carol White

The Little Travelers DVD series creator Angelina Hart

Bookstore-blogging mom Kim Allen-Nielsen

Travel Savvy Mom Jamie Pearson

Travel writer Allyn Evans

Travel writer & radio-show personality Carmel Mooney

Travel writer (who just signed a book deal) Kayt Sukel

Cross-continent bicyclist (with kids in tow) Nancy Sathre-Vogel

Whew! We’ve talked to a lot of moms. We sure are inspired by their endeavors, and we hope you are too. Enjoy your Mother’s Day!

Adam Glassman, the creative director at O, The Oprah Magazine, is my favorite man in fashion. If you read O (if you don’t, you should), you know that Glassman gives style advice to real women in his monthly column “Adam Says.” For The Vacation Gals, here are some of his favorite tips for high-fashion flying.

What would you recommend for travelers who need to pack lightly (carry-on luggage, for example) but still want to look stylish during their trip?

When packing lightly, throw everything in an easy wheelie bag. Not only does it save your back from schlepping a heavy bag on your shoulder, but they also fit comfortably in both the overhead compartment and underneath the seat in front of you. To look stylish in the skies, skip the sweatpants. Instead, choose a comfortable sweater and easy-fitting cargo pants (the multiple pockets make it a cinch to store your passport and boarding pass). To save time at airport security, wear a pair of a slip-on sneakers or a ballet flat. Don’t forget socks!

What products do you bring with you on a long flight to make yourself more comfortable and/or to look refreshed after landing?

To stay warm on flights, I recommend wearing a scarf that can double as a blanket when the air conditioning is too chilly. To drown out crying babies and your neighbor’s conversation grab some noise-canceling headphones. (I like the ones by Bose.) Since airlines no longer provide in-flight snacks, I always fly with a bag of raw almonds. I love Dr. Sharon’s Am I Dreaming essential oils and Formula 303 natural tension relief to calm my nerves in-flight. In lieu of a pillow during the flight, I place the StressRoller behind my lower back. Finally, when you land, do some light stretches to keep the blood flowing. The StressRoller works wonders to get the knots out of your neck upon landing.

Devin Tomb (StyleGal) is a graduating senior at The Pennsylvania State University with a major in print journalism. She is the editor-in-chief of Valley, Penn State’s life and style magazine, and started Penn State’s chapter of Ed2010 and Her Campus. Devin has interned for CosmoGirl and O, The Oprah Magazine, and after graduation she will be interning for InStyle in the office of the managing editor.

Everyone knows flight attendants have some of the wildest work stories in the world. If you’re looking for a light hearted read filled with hilarious flight attendant and pilot anecdotes - Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase is for you. Today we’re lucky to have “the” Betty with us…she is going to tell us about herself and share some of her funny experiences. Enjoy…

Welcome, Betty! Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh the youngest of ten children, my family didn’t have a lot of money. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to travel and see the world.  In my humble surroundings becoming a flight attendant seemed like the only way I was ever going to get the chance to travel.  So in my twenties I got a job as a flight attendant for a major airline. This turned out to be the perfect job for me, I got to travel for work, meet really interesting people and actually have a lot of fun at work.  The ”non routine” of airline life really fits my personality.

In my early thirties I started traveling to far flung destinations, then I started traveling alone. When I discovered that I could actually travel to other counties alone I gained the strength  to make other big steps in my life.

Tell us about your book.

In 2005 I met a pilot who had a podcast called Fly With Me, I told stories on his podcast and it went really well.  I love to tell stories, and I love old fashioned radio so before you know it I had a podcast of my own.  My podcast Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase is full of flight attendants and pilots telling funny airline and travel stories.  To my surprise the podcast got really popular, and a listener told his wife (who happens to be in the publishing business) about my show and she contacted me about writing a book. This is when you could have knocked me over with a feather.  I was happy being a flight attendant who travels.  Then I’m a flight attendant with a popular podcast and a book deal!

The book is a natural extension of the podcast.  It is the best stories from the shows but in written form.  There have been many flight attendant books but they have usually been solely from flight attendant’s perspective.  My book has lots of pilot stories and is salted with cartoons and spiced with interesting facts about flying, giving the book a wide appeal.

My sister drew some of the cartoons for the book, but being a busy single mother she didn’t have time to draw more.  So most of the illustrations in the book I put together myself.  It’s funny how many jobs you can take on yourself in this new fangled world of “peer generated” entertainment!  If you told me just a few years ago that I would be a radio host, editor, producer, author and illustrator along with being a flight attendant I would have told you that your were out of your mind!

What do you love about your job?

Every flight attendant will tell you they took the job so they could travel, but the ironic twist that most people don’t know is that–a LOT of flight attendants don’t travel!  The reasons could be kids and families or that traveling just becomes synonymous with work.

But I am a traveling fool. Just last year I went to the Galapagos, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Borneo and Mexico.  There is no way I could travel that often without my travel benefits.  But there are other reasons I still love my job.  I relish that my schedule is so flexible, I work with really fun people and I still get a kick out of all the crazy things the passengers do!  Just the other day a guy in his thirties called me over during boarding and said “Since when did you guys start wearing uniforms?”  I responded…”Oh , the days of the naked flight attendants are long gone”  all the other passengers started laughing.  I keep thinking I’ve heard it all…but people always surprise me!

What are some of your memorable flight attendant experiences?

My best experiences as a flight attendant were the CRAF flights. Civil Reserve Air Fleet is an agreement the airlines have with government, that in times of war, the airlines have to loan airplanes and flight personnel to deliver troops to and from war zones.

Airlines can not force employees to fly into a potentially dangerous area so these flights are maned on a volunteer basis.  I volunteered.  During the latest Iraq war we had to fly into Kuwait at night with the airplane lights off in case someone would be shooting at us (that is a surreal experience on a commercial aircraft!).  We had to be equipped with chemical war suits and learn how to give ourselves chemical warfare antidote injections in the event were were exposed to chemical weapons.

These are not things that I do in a typical day at work!  The flights when we were flying these young soldiers off to war were extremely emotional for me.  In route we would stop in Rome and there was a gate agent there that would sing over the PA system of the airplane. With the voice of an angel she would sing the star spangled banner with all the soldiers standing at attention and I would cry like a baby.

As hard as it was to fly them off to war, bringing them home was even more emotional!  We would decorate the airplane with flags and welcome home hero banners.  Our airline gave us cakes to cut in celebration.  Some flight attendants went to local schools and had kids write letters to the soldiers and we would tape them to  the walls of the airplane that would be delivering them home. I was thrilled to be the first smiling face on their flight home to safety, it was truly a remarkable experience!

As far as “most outrageous incidents” with passengers, well, my entire book is packed full of them! Here are three:

I was serving on a flight to L.A. and on that particular plane, the suction on the toilet in the lavatory was extremely strong. We served breakfast, and one lady passenger spilled something on her dress. It was a red silk wrap-around dress, and she went to the bathroom to clean it off. Apparently, she took off the dress in the lavatory, and when she was done cleaning it, she laid it next to the toilet, and then went to the bathroom. When she flushed, a piece of the dress was hanging close enough to the toilet so that it got sucked right in and flushed right down. So there she was, standing there wearing nothing but her underwear. She just stayed in the bathroom until we were ready to land, when we started knocking on the door and insisting that she come out and take her seat. She said, ‘I cannot come out!’ and when we asked why, she opened the door a tiny crack and said, ‘My dress got flushed down the toilet!’ So one of us loaned her an extra coat so she could come out. When we landed, we explained the situation to the agent and he said, ‘Well…do you want your dress back?’ and she said emphatically, ‘NO!’ I’m sure that by then her red silk dress was a pretty shade of blue.

Once on a long full flight to Honolulu, I was chatting with the captain and co-pilot in the cockpit when the co-pilot described something he’d seen flight attendants do to entertain themselves on the ground or on flights with no passengers. It involved tucking the tail end of a toilet paper roll down the lavatory, unwinding the toilet paper the length of the plane, then flushing. The powerful suction of the lav would suck the toilet paper down, like a kid slurping spaghetti. Well, the captain just had to see this in action, even though we had a completely full flight. He told me to go set everything up and call him when it was ready. I got one fellow flight attendant to guard the door to the lav in the back of the plane while I walked backwards up the aisle, unrolling toilet paper as I went. It must have looked outrageously insane to the passengers, but it was, after all, a long flight in the middle of the day to a vacation destination, so I figured everyone would be willing to play along. I just kept telling people, ‘It’s an experiment!’ and that piqued their interest. When the toilet paper was laid out the length of the plane, I called the captain, and when he stepped out of the cockpit, I gave the thumbs-up signal to my accomplice in the back, and she pushed the flush button. Well, that piece of toilet paper lifted into the air, waved like a noodle, and SCHWOOSH! went down the lav. The entire plane erupted into applause and cheers, and the captain said it was the neatest experiment he’d ever seen on a plane.

The word most often spoken by a flight attendant is not “hello” or “thank you” or “excuse me” or “I’m sorry”. The word most often spoken by a flight attendant is actually, “PUSH!” That’s because the lavatory door is a bi-fold door that opens like a telephone booth. People are always searching for a door knob to try to pull the door open, and they constantly grab the ash tray in the door thinking it must be a handle. So from one end of the flight to the other, the word most often repeated by every flight attendant in America is, “PUSH! Push it! Push the door!” because there is always a confused passenger standing in front of the bathroom door trying to figure out how to get in. I think the only professional who uses the word “push” more than flight attendants must be an obstetrician.

Thanks for the laughs, Betty. We enjoyed having you today. Happy travels!

Wondering how to budget a family vacation? Playoutdoors is a useful site for parents who want to buy quality outdoor gear and clothing for their traveling kids. I admire the site’s ethos of getting our children outdoors and active; the best family vacations The Vacation Gals have involve a lot of outdoor adventure. The site also contains great information from parenting experts regarding how outdoor time and travel can create family bonding experiences, and tips regarding fitting travel into any family budget. Playoutdoors founder and budget travel expert Sarah Laufer sat for an interview.

1. What led you to start up PlayOutdoors.com?

I was really inspired by Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods where he coined the phrase Nature Deficit Disorder, and wanted to build a company around getting kids outdoors! I am lucky to live in Bend, Oregon and we want to share our lifestyle with the rest of the world, encouraging parents and families to spend more time outside because there’s just no substitute for fresh air.

2. Parents worry about expenses when budgeting a vacation for their families. What are the benefits of PlayOutdoors for the budget-minded family?

Because our focus is on the outdoors we are really offering ideas for an alternative to the resort/Disney style vacation. Camping and visiting state and US National Parks are just some of the ways to save money and still make awesome memories — which is really what family vacations are all about.

3. Was there one special trip you took with your family that you’d recommend to others?

We’re in the habit, in general, of joining up with another family or families and renting houses in different destinations. We did that last year on the in Cannon Beach at the Oregon coast. We stayed in a beautiful house beach front home that was half the cost of a week at a hotel, we had a kitchen so meals were cheap and easy, and the kids had friends to play with so it was easier on the adults too. Because we went with another family we got to split the cost of the house and groceries, and even traded an evening of babysitting so the other couple could go out!  All in all, it was a week’s vacation at the beach for a family of four for a little less than $4,000.

4. What are a few of the most important tips you’d like to share regarding keeping a family vacation budget-friendly?

A) Try to avoid flying if you can, airline tickets can add up especially if you no longer have a lap infant. When you do decide to fly somewhere make sure you are spending the money on someplace you have been wanting to go for
awhile and stay for awhile.

B) If you’re staying in a hotel, try to stay someplace like an Embassy Suites or Marriott Residence Inn where you have a small kitchen. The rooms are bigger for a family, which means more privacy and you can hit the local grocery store and save money on eating out. I always like to make sure I have breakfast stuff and sandwich fixins’, then we splurge on someplace fun for dinner.

C) Keep the extraneous spending to a minimum. Do your research and try to find out where the locals go to eat. Usually these places are cheaper and better than the tourist traps. Also, explain to the kids that souvenirs are the pictures you take and the memories you makes not t-shirts, shot glasses or other knick-knacks. That stuff is just fluff and in reality, are forgotten about months later.

5. How do you recommend parents balance the travel needs of their differently aged children and themselves?

Really, just be realistic. If you have preschool age kids that still take naps, mom or dad can use that time to take turns exercising, shopping, or going to the spa.  If you have older kids and younger kids, lets the kids each take turns deciding on the activity for the afternoon. Everyone gets to feel like they have a say and everyone is hopefully still spending time together. Outdoor activities are usually the best option for everyone, so go someplace beautiful, put on your walking shoes and get some exercise.

I think overall the key is finding balance, being open and listening to your kids, teaching them about compromise (because we all do it), planning and research. It may seem like a lot of work up front, but really it’s fun to plan your trip, and all in all its less stressful when you are trying to figure out what to do once you get there. But don’t forget to work in some free time for just hanging out reading a book, or a night in watching a movie. Just because you’re planning, it does not mean you have to fill every hour of every day you’re away.

Every time I’ve traveled to Chicago, Illinois, I’ve absolutely loved it there. From the great restaurants to Lincoln Park Zoo, to Old Town and Second City, there are always lots of fun things to do in Chicago…in the summer, at least. I’ve never been brave enough for a winter vacation in the Windy City! Now, a new luxury hotel in Chicago brings a new level of sophistication to this most cosmopolitan of midwest cities. The Elysian’s interior design and architecture brings iconic 1920′s Paris design to mind; the designers were inspired by Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, and the Art Deco movement that was born in 1920′s Paris. The entire interior scope shows off the results of their inspiration. I spoke with Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary, the owners of the Simeone Deary Design Group in Chicago, about their part in creating the luxurious Parisian feel of The Elysian hotel. Anyone curious about creative, inspired interior design, or finding an incredibly romantic luxury hotel stay for a Chicago trip, should find this interesting.

Many Chicago travelers are saying that The Elysian is the best new luxury hotel in the Windy City. Could you please describe what, if anything, is inherently “Chicago” about the Elysian?
Aside from the fact that the Elysian flagship is based in Chicago and that the architect and interior designer are Chicago based – the design of the Elysian is not necessarily inherently Chicago but embodies the spirit of the glamour and excitement of an urban city.  We did make reference to design motifs found in Chicago art and architecture during the 20’s and 30’s – and these are woven throughout the hotel – but the overall feeling is more European and not city specific.

What was your inspiration? Do you always tend towards such sleek, high-end decor?
Our inspiration came from many and varied sources from our client’s wishes, to the architecture of the building; however we built the foundation of our design on the artisan movement, the Paris exposition, the glamour period of the 20’s and 30’s and the timeless designs of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior.

Typically our design aesthetic leans toward the project that we are working on and the concept that we develop for that particular project – currently, in addition to the Elysian hotel, we are working on a ranch resort in Wyoming, a green café in Illinois and an uber modern high end home downtown.

To what degree (if any) did you work with the architect, to ensure a sense of flow from the exterior to the interior of the building?
At our firm, we feel it is critical to work with the architect to ensure this flow….we strongly believe in cohesive and congruent design – it gives a project harmony that is evident to the guest.

What would you hope that the interior conveys to Chicago tourists staying at the Elysian?
We hope that the interiors give any guest that stays at the Elysian that sense of wonder and awe, that each and every detail was thought about to enhance the guest sensory experience and that they feel transformed to a time when high design and detail and client service really meant something.

If there is one thing you could go back and change, tweak, or improve, what would it be?

This is a tough question because there are many little things that we would love to go back and tweak – not so much on the design side, but more on flow and planning.  Truly, the end result of this project is almost exactly as we envisioned it.

The Elysian just officially opened around 2 months ago. How would you say it has been received so far?

From the comments we hear, it is very well received and guests are quite inspired by the design…..it also helps that the talented and passionate staff of the hotel are extremely dedicated to the guest experience.  This was truly a project that does not come along every day.

Well, looking at all the lovely photographs of The Elysian, I have to believe that Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary’s inspiration is paying off in spades. This is an absolutely beautiful looking luxury hotel in Chicago; one that almost makes me consider a winter trip to the midwest. After all, as windy as Chicago is in the winter, it must be incredibly pampering to come in from the cold and warm up in The Elysian.

Today we have a Q&A with Andy Gross, a travel writer I absolutely adore. She’s going to chat with us about her travels, grandchildren, endeavors and more, as she is certainly a Vacation Gal and has already claimed the moniker “Gramma Gal” for her “Gal” name.

1. Where do you live and what do you do for a living?

I live in Denver, CO. Why? Because my grandkids live here. My husband and I were living in Asheville, NC when our son and daughter-in-law invited us to move to Denver. “You guys write for a living,” they said. “We have internet connection here in Denver. Wouldn’t you rather live by your grandchildren?”

You bet we would! It took us less than two months to sell the house in North Carolina and find one about ten blocks from our son and his family. It was the best move we ever made.

Now, when we’re not actively involved with our family, we split our time between travel writing and our business, Legacy Prose, through which we help seniors tell their personal stories to pass on to their children and grandchildren.

We began this business because we saw how much documenting their past benefits seniors, a subject I explored in a Newsweek My Turn article. Now we know that it benefits children as much or even more. Research by Marshall Duke, Ph.D. at Emory University shows that children who know their family history are more likely to do better in school, avoid drugs, and have higher self-esteem. In short, says Duke, they are “better able to withstand the storms of life.”

This has strengthened our commitment to helping families get their stories down on paper. Our only problem is that we haven’t had time to get our own stories down!

2. How many grandchildren do you have? Do they enjoy traveling?

We have two grandchildren, but with four children, we’re likely to have more in the future. Meanwhile, the two we have are, of course, absolutely perfect! And they are terrific travelers.

3. Do you get to travel with them? If so, where and what have been your most memorable trips?

Absolutely! We travel with them all the time — day trips, weekend getaways, longer vacations. We travel in all combinations, sometimes taking both grandchildren, sometimes just one and sometimes going as a multi-generational clan.

Three years ago we spent a week at a ranch. Last year we all drove to South Dakota because then eight-year-old Jeremy had memorized the names of all the presidents and wanted to see Mt. Rushmore. This year some of us went to Quebec (Samantha’s first experience with a passport!), and we all went to Mesa Verde and the Four Corners.

Samantha touches four states at one time at the Four Corners National Monument — except that, as she reminds us, due to surveying errors, the marker is actually about 2.5 miles west of the actual intersection.

Next year? Who knows. Half the fun is in the planning — and the dreaming.

Best of all, because the kids keep journals of their trips, we get to relive these trips not only through photos, but also through our grandchildren’s on-the-spot observations.

These let us see the trip from our grandchildren’s perspective, right down to the fact that while seeing Mt. Rushmore was fun, the macaroni and cheese that we had afterwards was “totally crumby.” I wrote about kids’ journal keeping in an article for grandparents.com in an article called Keep the Kids Entertained on the Road.

4. What is your favorite destination (with or w/o kids) that would inspire other travelers?

My husband and I love Asia and Southeast Asia and, one of these days, we hope to go there with our grandkids. But meanwhile, we’ve found that there are plenty of places where we can explore the world without leaving the United States.

I currently write a column for Home & Away that focuses on places like Door County, Wisconsin where folks can get a glimpse of Scandinavia, the Kangaroo Conservation Center near Atlanta, Georgia, which has a distinctly Australian flavor, and the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, where they can see an exact replica of the famous building as it was back in the days of Plato and Socrates.

Otherwise, grandparents.com covered 5 of the ethnic communities in my story titled “Travel the World Without a Passport.” We’ve even found a way to travel the world without leaving the city of Denver. We took Samantha to a different ethnic restaurant every month, introducing her to the food and also the customs of various countries. This was detailed in yet another grandparents.com article, “Around the World (Without Leaving Home.”

5. Do you have any tips for other grandparents traveling with their grandkids?

While we love traveling with our grandchildren alone, we also savor the time that traveling lets us spend with our son and daughter-in-law. Most of the time they’re so busy with jobs and responsibilities that our conversations are hurried, but when we travel together, we have a chance to visit in a more relaxed manner.

And, by watching them parent their children, we can remember how much fun we had raising ours. Grandparenting is a chance to enjoy those years all over again — minus the stress!

So I guess my main tip is to relax and enjoy your children as well as your grandchildren. Thank you, Andy for telling us about your family, writing and of course, travels.

When travel writers love what they do, it shows in their stories. Be it through articles, blog posts, or videos, that passion for experiencing different aspects of travel can’t be faked. The Vacation Gals admire Kim Mance for this very reason. Not only did she co-create the website/video blog Go Galavanting/Galavanting, but she also started the Travel Blog Exchange, a forum/online meeting ground for professional travel writers everywhere. It’s quite an accomplishment, and Kim manages to take some pretty fantastic vacations at the same time. This, no doubt, is a mama we wanna get to know better.

Tell us a little about your family; how do you schedule your trips around your children’s needs? How have your kids adapted?

Have you heard of a little group called The Brady Bunch? That fairly well sums us up — down to the curly-haired youngest girl. We’ve actually got five kiddos between my newly gained husband and me. And this is where it gets awkward, because I have to point out the one big benefit of divorce (if it has to happen): visitation.  I have custody of my three, and my ex has visitations in week or two-week increments during school breaks. So basically, I just schedule the bulk of our travels around their visitations with the other parent. The kids never even know I’m missing, and I enjoy guilt-free travel.

The kids love watching the videos and all make me promise I’ll take them hiking in Italy’s Cinque Terre or to Rome’s famed monuments one day. And I will. In fact, whenever possible, I take the kids with me traveling now, because it not only expands their worldview, it helps them realize that packing a bag and going somewhere isn’t scary or intimidating (and that mommy always returns).

What was the inspiration for creating TBEX?

Debbie Dubrow and I wanted to get a bunch of travel folks together. Chicago is a great central location, and since the fabulous BlogHer annual conference is happening in late July, we cooked up a meeting and planned it. The whole thing has come together beautifully and the response overwhelming. Attendees are coming from far and wide and we want to make the big bash worth everyone’s time and effort.

My cohorts at Galavanting and I took it a step further and thought it would be great to involve the worldwide travel folks who can’t make it to the TBEX 09 meetup in an online community as well. So we spent many very late nights brainstorming and creating until we came up with the TBEX Community website in January 2009. To date, the site already acts as a hub for nearly 1,000 travel bloggers and PR professionals interested in connecting with them.

What are your future plans for TBEX and/or Galavanting?

We want to keep TBEX active and useful and will be reaching out to members of the press, media, and PR reps, as well as advertisers, to highlight the burgeoning community of travel writers on the web. TBEX can raise their visibility and connect bloggers to each other in ways that simply surfing the net for kindred spirits cannot.

As far as Galavanting goes, we want it to become a household name. My co-founder Katy Quissell and I had the original idea of a television show that featured women with spunk, useful information, adventurous tendencies, and non-boringness. Women we could relate to. And not many of the travel shows, if any, were doing that. We started the online travel magazine GoGalavanting.com to help other women tell their stories of adventure, and then launched Galavanting.tv which was fairly quickly picked up by a distributor called KoldCast.tv who made us available on TiVo and across the web. We hope it will soon be on regular television too.

You co-operate Galavanting, and the four of you live in very different places. Do you coordinate travel plans to see each other – and if so, how often?

Great question. I’m in Chicago, Katy is in London, and Maren & Courtney are in Omaha. In fact, I don’t know what we’d do without the many Google tools available to us — we use a shared calendar, collaborative spreadsheets, and endlessly confusing color-coded documents before a trip. We make carefree, fun Galavanting episodes, but there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work and planning that goes into it. And keeping up with a brand new travel destination every month has proved to be no small feat. We end up seeing each other about once every three months or so at least, which goes faster than it seems. Surely you experience the same thing with the fabulous Vacation Gals group! It is pretty much the best job in the world.

Thanks for the Q&A, Kim! Any traveling mom is a friend of ours.  Kim can be found on Twitter, for anyone who would like to hear more from her.

At Sun Studios in Memphis

Candy Harrington is the editor of the print (and online) publication Emerging Horizons, and she penned Barrier-Free Travel, which will be released in its third edition later this summer. This heralded book is a “nuts and bolts guide for wheelers and slow walkers,” covering everything from the logistics of air travel and how to protect your wheelchair in flight, to how to find an accessible hotel room and how to book accessible shore excursions while cruising.

Candy and her husband share their California home with an aviary full of rescued pigeons and three ring-necked doves. Plus, there’s Agnes the chicken. (“Yes,” says frequent-traveler Candy, “We do have a bird-sitter.)

How long have you been a travel writer?

About 34 years now. Outside of a sappy advice column I wrote for a now defunct hometown paper (from age 8-17) I’ve pretty much always covered some aspect of travel.

How did you start covering accessible travel?

I’m able-bodied, and I pretty much got my start because of boredom. About 16 years ago I got tired of writing what I considered fluff. I was writing mainstream travel, I needed a change and a friend suggested accessible travel. Nobody was doing it at the time and it sounded challenging, so I went for it. My colleagues all thought I was crazy, but it’s worked out well for me over the years. It’s still a challenge, which is good for me.

Do you ever cover general travel anymore, or is all your work about the accessibility of a place pr excursion?

I don’t cover mainstream travel at all — just don’t have the time or inclination. I do however cover accessible travel from every possible angle — interviews, property reviews, new products, reader questions, op-ed pieces, destinations, cruises, best practices, legal matters, rules and regulations and the general nuts and bolts. It keeps me pretty busy.

This is the third edition of Barrier Free Travel; what’s new?

A lot of access laws and regulations have changed — in major ways — since the last edition, so I’ve included updates about them. This includes everything from the Air Carrier Access Act, Canada’s One-Person, One Fare regulation and Europe’ s EU PRMS (all concerning accessible air travel) to the landmark hotels.com settlement and even upcoming changes in the ADA regulations. And since cruise travel is such a popular subject with my readers, I added a new chapter about shore excursions, which includes the contact information for 45 local tour operators who can provide accessible shore tours. Additionally I updated everything and added lots of new resources, including a worldwide list of companies that rent accessible vans. And of course I threw in some new tips and tricks, as well.

What U.S. city is most friendly to travelers in wheelchairs? How about a foreign city?

In the US I like San Diego — very family friendly with good accessible public transportation, some nice hotels and lots of accessible attractions like Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and Hornblower Harbor Cruises. Plus they have a great access guide published by Accessible San Diego.

Outside the US, it’s a toss up between Vancouver and London — both offer excellent access — but if I have to pick one I’ll go with London.  The deciding factor is that all London Black Cabbies are wheelchair (and stroller) accessible. It’s the law, so in that respect they are even ahead of the US in access.

I’m assuming that in general, hotels, planes and public places have become more accessible in recent years. Is there still a hold-out anywhere — some place or some aspect of travel that is not accommodating to people with disabilities?

In the US, things are looking pretty good. Laws, including the ADA, have helped that; however in the past few years I’ve also seen a huge change in attitude from the hospitality industry. They are starting to look at disabled travelers as a market segment — one they want to attract. So I’ve seen many sites go above and beyond minimum access standards. I’ve even seen wheelchair-accessible tree houses in public spaces!

Worldwide, I’d say the biggest problem is with denied boardings to wheelchair-users by domestic airlines in Asia, Australia and Africa. In fact, Tiger Airways totally ruined one family’s vacation when they refused to board their daughter on a Singapore to Athens flight. The airline was well aware that she was a wheelchair-user, but when the gate agent saw her, her whole family was turned away. There’s not much you can really do about this, but it pays to be aware of the situation when traveling in those areas.

Candy at Bandelier National Monument

Is there anything in particular that parents should keep in mind if they are booking travel for their wheelchair-bound or disabled child?

Probably the biggest hiccup comes when little ones get too big to fly in a car seat. Many parents forget that they will need to figure out some way to stabilize their child if they lack the balance or the strength to sit up unassisted. Sometimes this can be done with pillows and blankets (on airlines that still provide them), but it pays to plan ahead. And remember, you can’t bring aboard anything too bulky, or seating devices that are not FAA approved. If you can find a way to stabilize the child for take-off and landing, you can recline them for the duration of the trip. But sometimes this takes a little advance planning.

You’ve traveled all over the world. Do you have a favorite personal location? Or a spot to which you’d like to return?

Well, I’m a mountain girl, so I love Yosemite, but not in the summer as it’s way too crowded for my taste. I lived in Far North Queensland (Australia) for a few years, in a town called Palm Cove, and absolutely loved it. New Zealand, specifically the North Island, is also a favorite of mine.

What’s in the future for you? Will you keep on doing what you’re doing for a while?

I expect so. Emerging Horizons is doing well, and I will keep writing more books; and I get a lot of assignments from other publications and have several regular columns. I’m also accepting a lot more speaking engagements these days, which I really love. Accessible travel will probably be part of my life until I die. I can see myself slowing down, but never totally retiring.