Welcome to the seventh edition of SINGLE PARENT TRAVEL e-zines - a continuing series of monthly newsletters created for the community of single parents and single adults who like to travel with their kids. SingleParentTravel.net continues to receive press. The Web site was recently featured in an article on Univision Online, a Spanish speaking electronic news magazine. SingleParentTravel.net has now reached out to the Hispanic community.

For those of you living in sunny Southern California, I will be interviewed "live" on the radio this Sunday, August 5th starting at 5:30pm West Coast time. The station is Los Angeles based KLAC, which is 570 on your dial. At the end of the interview listeners can call in with their questions. The topic will of course be "Single Parent Travel." I hope all of you located in the L.A. area will listen in and perhaps call in with a question. If you do, please make it an easy one!

SINGLE PARENT TRAVEL SURVEY
Now is your chance to make your needs and desires known to the travel industry! Appearing on the home page of www.SingleParentTravel.net is the first ever survey of the travel habits of Single Parent Families and any single adult (single grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc) who travels with children. The survey will take five minutes or less to complete and I urge every one of my readers to complete the survey. When completed please refer the survey to all your friends and associates who are single parents or grandparents. The purpose of the survey is twofold: (1) It will provide much-needed statistical information to be included in my forthcoming book "The Single Parent Travel Handbook" and (2) it will provide me with the valuable facts I need to address the questions posed to me by reporters, editors, and travel suppliers.

This is your chance to have a voice and influence policies and rates for single parents in the travel industry. PLEASE take the time now to fill out the survey and PLEASE, once you are done, pass it on. This information is for statistical purposes only. The information will not be sold or shared, other than in its generic statistical format. To complete the survey, click on the Web page below: http://www.singleparenttravel.net/Survey/survey1.htm

The past month readers have sent me emails on a variety of topics some of which I would like to share with you.

WAYS TO MEET LOCALS OVERSEAS
One reader had an excellent suggestion for a source I did not mention in my last newsletter, which is the Thorn Tree section of www.LonelyPlanet.com. He suggested posting a message to the Thorn Tree before leaving for a trip, which will enable you to exchange information with people who have traveled there or perhaps even find a travel buddy or local new friend.

SINGLE PARENT DAD TRAVEL STORIES
In my last newsletter I put out a call to all single fathers or any single adult male who travels with kids, grandparents included, asking them to share a travel story for a chapter in my forthcoming book "The Single Parent Travel Handbook." Several readers have sent in stories, all of them wonderful and all very different. Thank you to those who did. . If you were thinking about sending in a story, but hesitated because you feel you are not an experienced writer, please do not worry about your writing ability. Just drop me an email - globalbrenda@yahoo.com - and I will be happy to interview you for the story if you choose not to write. If you yourself are not a single parent dad but know someone who is, please refer this newsletter to that person.

TRAVELING WITH TEENS
Several people emailed me asking about travel tips and ideas for traveling with teens. The newsletter and my forthcoming book are designed to assist single adults traveling with children of all ages from pre-school to post college. Since traveling with adult children takes less advance preparation than traveling with small children, I have been focusing on the latter topic. With this newsletter we will switch off from the pint-sizers and talk about traveling with teens.

Traveling with teens is somewhat different than traveling with younger children. Teen-agers want to be more independent and are not always inclined to agree with everything a parent wants to do. Many teen-agers want "time alone," often difficult to achieve on a trip. Traveling can be stressful and tiring, especially an active vacation or a trip to a far distant, exotic locale. Relaxing vacations can also produce boredom, especially with teen-agers, who, in addition to needing friends their own age, also need lots of activities to work off their high energy levels. During vacation you and your kids are thrown together for longer periods of time than that to which you are accustomed. There is often no place to retreat from one another, other than the far corner of a hotel room or back seat of a car. Family dynamics, such as sibling rivalry, will often be exacerbated during a vacation. As a single parent you are going to bear the brunt of your teen-ager's frustration, boredom, anger, and exhaustion, which changes from minute to minute. What's a single parent to do?

Grin and bear it.
First of all be prepared that arguments and disagreements will occur, even with the best-laid plans and itineraries. This is especially true with teen-agers. As wonderful as each of our vacations were, there was usually a few mini-disagreements throughout each day plus at least one big "blow-out" during the trip. As the years would go by and I would think we had a system going to diffuse those arguments, family dynamics would change, and we would be back to ground zero. As my daughter finished college, my son entered his "terrible teens" and began to feel "outnumbered" by two adult women as he maneuvered through his changing status in the family. More than once on a trip, he would storm off on his own, only to join us an hour or two later, as if nothing had happened. Just remember that no matter how much you argue, years later, if the trip was well planned, your memories will focus on the good times, not the disagreements, even though you swear at the time you will never travel with your kids again.

Get buy-in from your kids
In an earlier newsletter, I wrote about ways to get your kids involved in the trip planning and how to prepare a fun-filled, exciting vacation that offers something for everyone to enjoy. Following these principles will help to eliminate some of the conflict, which is especially important with teens.

Borrow a kid
Borrowing a teen-aged child is one solution to traveling with teen-agers, especially if you are traveling to an area where there will not be a lot of other young people. Of course you need to exercise caution when selecting a new travel companion and ascertain beforehand that the young person will adhere to your travel rules, even if they are different than those imposed by his or her family. Being a single parent, you should not be shy about asking the other parent(s) to cover the additional cost of bringing along their child.

NB: When you bring a child that is not your own on a trip, even if that child is a relative, you must travel with the following documents:

• A copy of the child's insurance card · All necessary medical information about the child - allergies, prescriptions, etc.
• A written signed letter from one or both parents giving you the permission to get immediate emergency treatment at a local hospital without having to wait for the parents to be contacted.
• A list of all contact information for the parents
• If you are going out of the country, even just to Canada or Mexico, you must travel with a written signed letter from both the child's parents granting you permission to take that child out of the country. (The word both applies even to divorced parents).

One last note on borrowing kids, make sure they have different socks than the rest of your family. During our three-week trip out West, when we "borrowed" a friend for my son, the word "share" took on new meaning when we did our weekly laundry containing 28 pairs of identical white socks.

Allow your child some space and freedom
When the kids were little it was understood that we all stuck together, at all times, when traveling. As each of my children entered into their teens we began the delicate dance of when to let go and when to rein in. This is a tough call and an individual family decision. What do you do when your child is asked out on a date while you are traveling or is asked to join a group of teen-agers for a few hours? If you are on a cruise ship or staying at a resort hotel, it is somewhat easier to keep tabs on their whereabouts and activities but what about when you are in a strange town? Teen-agers need to spend some time with kids their own age, learn about different lifestyles, and parents need to know that their children are safe. There are times your parental instincts tell you the answer is no and other times you feel you can let go. This is definitely an arena ripe for conflict.

Allow me to share some "single parent travel with teen-ager" vignettes with you, if for no other reason than to let you know you are not alone.

* The summer my daughter turned sixteen, we spent a couple of nights in Cooperstown, NY en route to Niagara Falls. Besides the Baseball Hall of Fame, this delightful town has many fine museums including an indoor/outdoor Farmer's Museum showing what life was like in this part of the country in the mid 1800's. The kids had a ball trying out the popular games of that period including the stilts. We were soon joined by a local guide, a mannerly and poised young man of eighteen. About twenty minutes later he walked purposefully over to me. I knew at that moment he was going to ask permission to take my daughter out that night. I also knew at that moment I would say yes. There were three reasons:

1. He had been respectful and looked me in the eye when he earlier introduced himself.
2. He was attending a state university in the fall on a full scholastic scholarship. I doubted he wished to do anything that would jeopardize that.
3. My daughter and I needed a few hours break from each other. This year had been the most difficult and traumatizing in our parent/teen relationship.

I advised the young man of my daughter's midnight curfew and he nodded. Much to my surprise my daughter was returned to our guesthouse shortly after 11:00pm. (She never came home before curfew). The party they attended had ended at 11:00pm. Her escort explained that in a small town like Cooperstown, he was expected to come straight home when a party ended, unless he was willing to risk a search party and the ire of his relatives. It was an educational experience for my daughter and a big quiet chuckle for me.

When my son turned fifteen, we spent an overnight in an historic mining-camp-turned-hotel in the town of Ester, Alaska. I had reserved tickets for the show at the Malamute Saloon. Shortly before the show began, my son ran over to our table, told me he made some new friends, wasn't attending the show, and took off. I shot out of my seat and soon caught up to him and his small group of friends. Coming from a large suburban environment and wanting to do my motherly thing, I pulled out my memo pad and proceeded to ask his friends where they lived and was next prepared to ask for phone numbers. One young man gave me a strange look and pointed to six houses down a dirt road. "That's the extent of the town, Ma'm," he said. "I live in the brown house at the end, but we will probably move about all the houses tonight." At that moment, I couldn't decide whom I had embarrassed more, me or my son. Tucking away my memo pad, I simply said, "Have fun!" and trotted back to the Malamute Saloon in time for the show.

DESTINATIONS FOR TEEN TRAVEL
There are many destinations that have appeal for teen-agers. Basic requirements are an ample supply of other teen-agers, lots of fun activities, and a safe area for your teen-ager to hang out with his or her new friends. Three places come immediately to mind (besides Walt Disney World): U.S National Parks, the Riviera Maya, and Hawaii. You can read more about these destinations on my Web site. Just click on the page below: http://www.singleparenttravel.net/Articles/index.htm I invite readers to send in more suggestions.

On a final note, if you haven't already done so, please fill out the survey by clicking on the Web page below:. http://www.singleparenttravel.net/Survey/survey1.htm

POSTING MESSAGES
Feel free to send me your comments, queries or feedback to me directly at: globalbrenda@yahoo.com or to the list directly at: SingleParentTravel@yahoogroups.com. Please note that comments sent to the list must pertain to single parent travel.