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Celeb Travel / Salma Hayek / Family Travel / → All Tags

Family Travel: Salma Steers the Stroller

Salma Hayek takes daughter Valentina to the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, which Boston.com just singled out as one of the most kid-friendly places in the City of Light.

A mega-stroller is just the thing to take your one-year-old to the park, but can you get it on the plane? Despite TSA's protests that its policies will never separate mom from child, horror stories about the difficulty of getting a stroller through security can head itchy-footed parents off at the pass.

If you're headed out Salma's way, try e-mailing MESSAGE Paris, a parents' support network that might be able to recommend a good stroller store (or even lend you a spare!)

Related Stories:
· Demi Throws Ashton a 30th Birthday Party at the Bowery Hotel [HC]
· Kid-Friendly Paris gallery [Boston.com]
· Luxembourg Garden Carousel in Paris [Deliciousbaby.com]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Movie Travel / Theme Parks / Amusement Parks / Resorts / Family Travel / South Korea Travel / → All Tags

Movie Studios Invade South Korea

On Tuesday, Paramount Pictures unveiled plans to open a theme park in South Korea, a country that's already crammed with movie studio resorts. Six months ago, Universal Studios announced its intent to open a similar venture. The trend started back in 2006 when MGM revealed plans for their Studio City theme park and film academy. All three theme parks will be located within an hour of Seoul.

The movie studios see South Korea as a "fast-growing and attractive market" because it's popular with Chinese tourists. The execs also cite the almost magical hold Korean pop culture has on the rest of Asia. Paramount expects to host over 5 million visitors during their first year in South Korea with attractions based on movies like "Mission: Impossible" and "Tomb Raider."

Paramount's "Movie Park" and MGM Studio City will both be neighbors in Incheon, a city that's about a half-hour west of Seoul. The Universal Studios park will be headquartered to the South in Hwaseong, which is connected to Seoul by subway. When all of the construction is completed in 2012, South Korea will offer visitors a world-class combination of theme park entertainment and barbecue the likes of which has not been seen anywhere in the world since Dollywood opened its doors in Nashville in 1961.

Related Stories:
· Paramount Movie Park Korea Planned for 2011 [LADN]
· MGM Plans £585m South Korea Theme Park [Guardian]
· Universal Studios to Build Theme Park in Korea [IHT]
· Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of Seoul's Lotte World: randomwire]

Celeb Travel / Biking / Denise Richards / Family Travel / → All Tags

Denise Richards' Family On Wheels

So daughters Sam and Lola aren't quite big enough to travel under their own power. In the mean time, mom Denise Richards gives them that little extra push to get to the park in Malibu.

Hey Denise, when they're old enough, check out this list of family biking tips from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Before you take them on something bigger than a trike, make sure they've got the right helmets with help from Away.com. And don't take them to Boobs on Bikes--yet, anyway.

Related Stories:
· Denise Richards Gets Kiddie Massages at Four Seasons Maui [Jaunted]
· Denise Richards is the New Russell Crowe [Hotelchatter]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebrity Baby Blog]

Celeb Travel / Family Travel / Gwen Stefani / TSA / → All Tags

Family Travel: Gwen Stefani Travels Prepared

Traveling with kids is no picnic, but the trade-off of having Junior there to share in life's big moments can be priceless. Just check out Gwen Stefani stomping down the runway at New York Fashion Week with son Kingston, complete with both pacifier (for meltdowns) and ear protection (for the bass). He's even wearing Mom's newest L.A.M.B. collection. Maybe he won't remember his first trip to fashion week, but we bet Gwen will.

Whether you're taking Mini-Me to a wedding or just on a weekend trip, make sure you're prepared for anything. If you're driving, pack up the car with games inspired by Mom's Minivan. If you're flying, review the TSA guidelines for kids and check out Denver International Airport's tips for keeping your rugrat happy and entertained.

Related Stories:
· Mom's Minivan [Official Site]
· Traveling with Children [TSA]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Angelina Jolie / Brad Pitt / Family Travel / Super World Travelers / → All Tags

Super World Travelers: The Chicago Family Travel Plan

When your kids have traveled around the globe before their fifth birthdays, where else do you take them? To the museum! Must be why Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were snapped outside Chicago's Field Museum this weekend with their brood. Maybe Shiloh got a kick out of Sue, the most complete and best preserved T.rex skeleton ever, while Maddox begged to be taken to the ancient Egypt exhibit or the Hall of Gems.

The Field Museum is great for all ages, but when it's Zahara's day to pick, maybe she'd like the Children's Museum on Navy Pier a little better. After she tired of the Inventor's Lab and the three-story climbing ship, there's always the Ferris wheel and miniature golf on the pier itself -- and fireworks almost every weekend. Try doing that in Hollywood!

Related Stories:
·   Chicago Travel [Jaunted]
·   Chicago Hotels [HotelChatter]

[Photo: JustJared]

Island-Travel-Map / Islands / Drugs / Family Travel / → All Tags

The Dominican Republic Is All About Family Travel and Drug Smugglers

Apparently the Dominican Republic uses its 800 miles of stunning coastline for two things--tourist snorkeling and cocaine smuggling. For a small island Hispaniola sure does have quite a few airports--better to smuggle to the U.S. with my dearies. The most smuggled drug is cocaine, with a bit of heroin mixed in for good measure. The drugs destination? Big cities in the US. Looks like maybe drug runners dig DirecTV on JetBlue too.

That's really crazy, considering the New York Times dubbed the Dominican Repbulic the "Family Destination of the Year" in 2006. In defense of the Times, it is 2007.

The local drug control agency is currently "trying" to stop all the smuggling, but the Dominican Republic does not have radar to track incoming planes, and the Dominican Navy is short staffed. They do have eight Vietnam-era Huey helicopters, but they don't have night-vision capability--sort of an issue when most drug drops are made at night.

Somehow we don't think the family of four from Scarsdale will appreciate the abundance of drug trafficking going through the newest "Family Hot Spot", then again, what do we know about the suburbs.

Hmm, what to do. Hey, how 'bout this, when the media is referring to the Dominican Republic as an award winning family vacation spot they can call it the Dominican Republic and when the media wants to call the Dominican Republic out as a drug dealers paradise they can call it the Island of Hispaniola. Deal?

Getting There:
Flights to Santa Domingo (SDQ) from New York are around 3 hours and JetBlue flies direct.

Related Stories:
· Dominican Republic Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Drug Travel [Jaunted]
· Drug Flights [CNN]

[Photo: M Eriksson]