Welcome to the April 2006 edition of SINGLE PARENT TRAVEL e-zines - a continuing series of monthly newsletters created for the community of single adults who travel alone with kids.

To sign up for our newsletter go to http://www.SingleParentTravel.net. Forward this newsletter to a friend!

In this issue:

I. GLOBAL BRENDA'S MESSAGE
II. SINGLE PARENT TOURS
III. SPRINGTIME AND STATE PARKS
IV. SINGLE PARENT FAMILY FRIENDLY SPECIALS
V. MEETING OTHER SINGLE PARENTS
VI. SUBSCRIBERS SPEAK UP-REQUESTS, INQUIRIES, COMMENTS

I. GLOBALBRENDA'S MESSAGE

Dear Readers,

The big news is that we have our largest group ever for a weekend at Rocking Horse Ranch Resort. Currently we have 17 families (over 40 people) booked for the April 28-30 weekend in beautiful Hudson Valley, New York. Several families are repeaters with Single Parent Tours, either from a previous Rocking Horse weekend or one of the Beaches trips. What wonderful weekend it will be!

I wish to thank everyone who answered the journalist's call for people to interview regarding single parent travel difficulties. We had nearly 70 responses, way more than Lisa Iannucci needed for her article. Thank you. We both made it a point to respond to each email. If we missed you, our apologies. We were overwhelmed with emails. I will post part of the article when it appears in print or refer you to the publication.

Next month I leave in early May to host a group of travel agents for a nine day inspection tour of Brazil, as part of my job with Maxim Tours. It is a working trip so we will be on the move visiting Salvador de Bahia, Iguaçu Falls, the beachside resort of Buzios and, of course, one of my favorite cities of the world - Rio de Janeiro! In between inspection tours I hope to get in a little samba! I will be writing about this exotic country in my May or June newsletter. Until then, get out there and enjoy spring!

Happy Trails! GlobalBrenda

II. SINGLE PARENT TOURS

April 28-30, 2006 The weekend at Rocking Horse Ranch Resort in NY is almost sold out and we have our biggest group ever. If you were unable to make this trip, keep it in mind for our November weekend. (Dates to be announced).

August 19-26, 2006 Our bookings for Beaches Boscobel in Jamaica and Beaches Turks and Caicos are coming along nicely. They are running on concurrent dates. Join us for your summer family vacation! Click here for Turks & Caicos: http://www.singleparenttravel.net/tours/BeachesTC.htm

Click here for Boscobel: http://www.singleparenttravel.net/tours/beaches.htm

For details go to http://www.singleparenttravel.net and click on tours. For reservations call 877 GOGO SPT and ask for Janet or Lynda.

III. SPRINGTIME AND STATE PARKS Spring is in the air and what better place to enjoy the lovely weather with your kids than your local state park. Unlike their "big siblings," America's national parks, our state parks vary wildly in their facilities, size and what they offer and there is no one resource that lists them all. Nonetheless you can find a lot of information by checking on the Internet for information on your local state parks. To get you started, here is information on five outstanding state parks in the U.S.A. We will start on the Eastern side of the country and move west.

Adirondack State Park - New York Encompassing 6 million acres, Adirondack State Park is the largest state park in the U.S.A., bigger even than many of our national parks. It is a canoeist's and camper's paradise. Hikers can enjoy magnificent views on the trail leading to the peak of 5,344 foot Mt. Marcy. I have written about Adirondack State Park in past newsletters and it is the backdrop for one of the featured single parent dad travel stories in my book, "The Single Parent Travel Handbook." For further information you can call (518) 891-4050 or click on http://www.apa.state.ny.us/.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State park - Florida This marvelous state park in Key Largo, an easy drive from Miami, offers a protected mangrove forest and a coral reef. You can dive, snorkel, canoe, kayak, and even ride a glass-bottomed boat. Hikers can explore the Wild Tamarind Trail. The park is open year round with 47 campsites. For information call (305) 451-1202 or check out http://www.floridastateparks.org

Valley of Fire State Park - Nevada Surprise! There is a lot more to Nevada than Las Vegas and it numerous casino towns. One of its most interesting state parks, Valley of Fire is located about an hour east of Las Vegas, not far from Hoover Dam. Besides the red-colored petrified sand dunes, the park features spring wildflower blooms, petroglyphs and desert species, such as the kit fox and the roadrunner. The park is open year round but be aware that summertime temperatures can reach well over 100 degrees. Call (702) 397-2088 or click on http://parks.nv.gov

Castle Crags State Park - California Overshadowed by its neighbor, Mt. Shasta, many tourists pass this park by. Located just a few minutes from Interstate 5, the park is worth the visit just to see the crags. A short hike from the parking lot leads to a beautiful view of Mt. Shasta as well as the polished granite spires that give the park its name. Campsites are available and are especially appealing along the Sacramento River. Call (530) 235-2684 or view http://parks.ca.gov

Denali State Park - Alaska Not to be confused with its big brother, Denali National Park, Denali State Park lies east of the national park, between the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna Mountains. Visitors can take the classic drive through the state park, with views of Denali Mountain, or they can hike the Kesugi Ridge. There are more than 100 campsites, but beware, this is bear country. Take the necessary precautions. If you do not know what they are, then order a copy of my book, "The Single Parent Travel Handbook," and check out the section on traveling through bear country. For park information call (907) 745-3975 or visit http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/

State Parks of the Midwest And for all my Midwest readers, I found a very good Web site managed by GORP, the outdoor gear company. It lists state park information for 7 Midwest states, from Illinois to Wisconsin. Check it out: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/statepark/mwgl.htm And, speaking of Wisconsin, the state has an excellent travel Web site and a very good newsletter. You can subscribe to it by going to: http://www.travelwisconsin.com

IV. SINGLE PARENT FAMILY FRIENDLY SPECIALS

Special #1 - Beyond Boundaries Travel Beyond Boundaries Travel based out of Colorado Springs has some very unique tours. They offer multiple theme tours, including a Harry Potter Themed trip to London, Oxford and Scotland, a Pirates of the Caribbean themed tour to Hollywood or, for the truly adventurous visit the movie locations on our Pirates Jamaica tour! As well as a Sci-Fi Space Camp and a special Lord of the Rings themed tour. The company offers discounts for single parents with more than one child. Lynn emailed us stating that they do not charge a single supplement if a child is booked in the same room, but we were not able to verify that as their Web site says 'based on double occupancy'. Feel free to call the tour operator yourselves at 1-800-487-1136 or check out their Web site http://wwwBeyondBoundariesTravel.com.

Special #2 - Camp Common Ground, Starksboro, Vermont. Camp Common Ground hosts family summer camps where half of the families are single parents. They offer one week camps with quality programming for all ages. Morning programs are age-segregated and afternoons and evenings are filled with multi-age appropriate activities. This summer's camps are 7/29-8/4, 8/5-8/11 and 8/12-8/18. Their website is http://www.cgcvt.org or you can call 1-800-430-2667.

Check out all our single parent travel specials at http://www.singleparenttravel.net/Specials/

* Don't have a travel agent? Then find one in "The Single Parent Travel Handbook" which has a listing of over 75 travel agents who specialize in single parent travel. Buy the book from any place books are sold or get an autographed copy from GlobalBrenda, the author, at http://www.SingleParentTravel.net/Book/

IV. MEETING OTHER SINGLE PARENTS

Wow! Since we have switched over to new boards they have become very active. Here are the latest posts:

Champton is planning a trip to Iberostar Paraiso Lindo in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in late June for herself and her five year old daughter.

Lady Karen is looking for single parents in the Virginia/Maryland/WDC area.

Jenn in Jersey wants to know which would be better the Beaches Boscobel or Turks and Caicos trips that Single Parent Tours is offering.

Reply to them all here: http://www.singleparenttravel.net/forums/

Please note that this bulletin board service is provided free of charge to our readers. The Single Parent Travel Network does not monitor postings or have any knowledge of the exact nature of the individuals doing the posting. BEFORE communicating with anyone on the bulletin board, please take precautions to protect you and your family. Also, please note that if you post your email address on the bulletin board, there is a likelihood that it will be harvested by spammers. Thank you.

VI. SUBSCRIBERS SPEAK UP-REQUESTS, INQUIRIES, COMMENTS

Shannon from New Mexico writes: Do you ever plan warm weather trips during the winter/spring? Summer and Fall is quite hot in the Caribbean. I'd love to visit with a Single Parent Tour, but don't think August would be the best month to do so. Do you have any tropical trips planned for Dec - April, ever? Thanks! We may come visit you on your dude ranch next month - I'll contact next week about airfare from NM. GlobalBrenda responds: There are 3 reasons why we do not do December thru spring trips to the Caribbean: 1) Parents will not take their kids out of school for one week, at least not enough parents to make a tour worthwhile 2) Christmas vacation time is sold out at hotels. They charge top dollar and do not offer group rates. I would have to charge over and above to make a profit and who wants to pay for that? 3) Tried spring break as a possibility. I surveyed my readers for spring break dates. I received answers that spanned a period of 8 weeks for spring breaks. So that idea bombed. Summer seems to work very successfully. Everyone loves the destinations, the pricing and the dates.

Jill writes a similar question: Thanks for the newsletter. I was wondering if you ever do trips during "regular" school holidays. I ask because my 7 year old son and I went away for the holidays in December 2004 and just this past week (to Club Med in both instances) and we were both keenly aware of the fact that we were pretty much the only single parent family there. As you can imagine, school holiday vacations (as opposed to summer vacations) can be really tough on kids from a divorced family. Has any thought been given to having single parent's tours at such times? Thanks for your thoughts. GB answers: Yes, we have given thought to having trips at Christmas time. Many parents ask about it. Why don't we? Because this period of time is when resort hotels fill up to overflow. They offer no discounts, no group rates, nada. For us to create a tour we would have to add a fee on top of the already expensive holiday rates and none of my single parent families want to pay that. Sorry, but that is how it is. Azar writes: I try to Post Messages to this group through group email but failed. I got the message "You cannot post to this Group" GB responds: We used to use Yahoo Groups to send out our monthly newsletter and now we use another service. We have never did set up Yahoo Groups in a 'conversation mode'. Our Web site is: http://www.SingleParentTravel.net. You can post a message on our active bulletin board there.

Alisa writes: Hi Brenda--Just came back from The Atlantis in Nassau, with my 11 year old son. Of course this was no discount resort, but I can not think of a better place to vacation with children. We stayed 3 nights but 5 nights would have been better. There is so much to do and all kinds of kid's clubs to keep busy. I had plenty of time to read on the beach! They must have the world's largest aquarium which is good for shark lovers. I used one of your travel agents in your book--First In Service in NYC, which was great.

Mike from Washington State writes: I like your site and I think you have a lot of excellent information but there is something I can't find an answer to. My question is, my son is 12 and I would like to get him a passport. I am not the sole custodial parent but here I am considered the "residential parent". My son's mother is adrift and we don't often hear from her for months and we don't know where she lives. He has substance abuse problems. So to make a long story short.... she is homeless. She does currently have a warrant for her arrest for failure to comply with child support payments. I understand that when traveling and no letter of consent is obtained from absent parent, you should contact the country you are traveling to, but how can I even get a passport for my son? I see nothing on the US government site and nothing I can find on your site addressing this issue. Any answers? GB responds: Go to my web site http://www.singleparenttravel.net and click on Documentation under the FAQs. This section has the government passport page and lots of good information on how to get a child's passport when you are unable to get support documentation from the other parent. Good luck and Happy Trails!

Sue of B.C. Province, Canada writes: Are you related to the Elwells of London England at all? My partner and son, of Salt Spring Island BC, are called Elwell, descended from Lionel Elwell of London. Just thought I'd ask as it is an unusual name. Great site by the way! Monique Elwell responds: Sue, The short answer is probably not. My 13th great grandfather Richard E Elwell came across on the Recovery in 1632. Richard settled in to what was to become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I can give you the names of the books written in the U.S. about the American Elwells if you like.

Karla writes: I AM A MOM WITH A SON WHO WILL BE 3 IN JULY. I AM NOT SURE OF SAFE TRAVEL WITHIN THE U S OR ABROAD. WE ARE NOT IN CONTACT WITH MY SONS NATURAL FATHER. GB responds: If you have concerns about safety while traveling I recommend you do two things: 1) Go to my Web site http://www.singleparenttravel.net and click on the documentation section. That will address your issue of traveling without permission of the alternate parent. 2) Purchase a copy of my book, "The Single Parent Travel Handbook," which contains a chapter on safety. You will find the book to be informative and entertaining. You can order it through my Web Site. Click on the book cover picture. 3)

Debi writes: I am glad you had good luck with this personal site but I thought it was awful. Believe me, I am no prude and like to have a good time, but this site scared me. Almost all the men in my area (northwest of Chicago) were either freaks or looking for sex partners or lesbian couples with names like "are you...comin" and "luvnpussy". I put in my profile and then browsed. Scared me so I deleted everything right away! Even the personality quiz gets pretty racy. Also, they don't allow you to post a photo with your children. That is not a single parent network in my opinion. Did you completely check this out before recommending it to your members? Monique Elwell responds: To answer your question, yes, we did check it out. In fact, I met my boyfriend on the site (I was on the site for six months) and I found all the men to erudite and charming. I went on plenty of dates. So, given your description, I wonder if we're looking at the same site. I went on just now and looked at the four personals it offered up and they seem perfectly reasonable. I did a search for 30-50 year old men in Chicago and did not find any men that were the slightest bit sketchy. Can you tell me what you are searching on, please? What location, age range, etc. The site I am looking at is: http://personals.singleparenttravel.net As per your question about posting pictures of children - First, we were unable to find a nationwide site that was exclusively for single parents. From what I have seen those sites do not have a separate place for posting pictures of children. It's usually prudent not to do so. My apologies that you had that experience. We're happy to complain to Fast Cupid on your behalf, but we'll need to recreate what you found.

Robin writes: I am a single parent of a 7 year old. She is my best travel buddy - up for anything. However, some of the obstacles I've encountered are (quite obviously) the cost of everything....geared to a 2-parent family. Also, there is not enough opportunity for "grown-up" time. Not enough places to go where there are other single parents...... GB responds: Have you considered purchasing a copy of my book, "The Single Parent Travel Handbook?" It offers great tips on how to save as a single parent and discusses many single parent family friendly destinations. Besides being informative, it is entertaining and an easy read. For directions on ordering, go to my Web site:http://www.singleparenttravel.net and click on the book cover. Why not join us on one of our Single Parent Tours? We offer one week and weekend trips at all-inclusive prices. Hope to see you on one of them. Details are on my Web site.

Diane writes: The one biggest difficulty I have found traveling as a single parent is traveling out of the country and gaining "permission" from my child's father. He is barely involved in my daughter's life, yet I must rely on him to mail to me a notarized statement saying it's ok to travel to even someplace like Canada. And, now that passports will be required to travel to Mexico, I will need him to fill out a form for the passport as well. I wish there was something we responsible parents could do so that we may be able to take our children on trips to other countries, where it can only benefit the child, without having to rely on the deadbeat other parent. GB - Note to readers: I had several emails of this nature. Parents, single parents in particular, seem irritated by these new, more stringent, passport regulations. These new regulations were put in place by our government to protect your children, not make your life more difficult. They apply to all parents and they are designed to prevent parents from taking children out of the country without the other parent's permission. Unfortunately, the paperwork trail is a bit more difficult for single parents, but if readers will take the time to read the documentation section on my Web site, you will see that you have MANY options open to you, in lieu of getting signed papers from an uncooperative or absentee parent.

Sherri from Louisiana writes: I am so excited to have discovered your website! A single mom in Mandeville, LA, I am always looking for other single parents to travel with. We are interested the Beaches trip this summer. However, our schools here usually start in mid August. Are there any trips earlier in the summer? Keep up the great work! GB responds: We had a trip in late June - a cruise from New York to Canada but we had to cancel it due to lack of participation. When we move our trips up to July or early August departures, the prices jump up and they do not sell as well.

Lauren from Canada writes: Hi Brenda, I plan to travel to Guatemala later this year to adopt a baby. Let me know if you need some info. Also, regarding the lack of father's name on a birth certificate: I have this situation with my birth son and will soon have this situation with my adopted son. It seems that for things that require 2 parent signatures, this rule is waived if the birth certificate only lists one parent. I recently obtained a passport for my 3 year old by producing the birth cert and a notarized form on which I simply handwrote "Father is absentee." My experience is still limited but we've flown a few times within the US and managed to clear customs in Canada with just his birth cert. And of course we plan to travel together this year to Guatemala. As you know, research and planning ahead is the key!! Thanks for your site, which I've shared with several friends! PS- Congrats on your 4th Anny!! Don't worry- you're still legit!

Change Subscription: http://ezinedirector.com/subscriber/member_profile/?skid=41949994

Cancel Subscription: http://sub.ezinedirector.net/?fa=r&id=41949994&c=964710478