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An Early Nomination for the Stupidest Travelers of 2012

Last year it took us until the end of January to open nominations for the stupidest traveler of the year. But now that we're living in the future, here in 2012, everything moves faster.

It's the first week of the new year and already there are stories of travelers who—if they aren't straightforwardly blistering idiots—start off at least as idiot-adjacent. But then at the end there's a punchline that literally causes our blood pressure to spike, and that crosses the line into incandescently stupid.

The Fickes family of North Carolina has quite the broode. There are the two parents, Kathy and Jason Fickes. Then there's their 3-year old son. Then there are their 18-month old twins. Then there's their eight-month old baby. All six of the Fickes were traveling to Chicago to visit grandparents over Christmas. So far so good. The problem enters inasmuch as they tried to fit the entire family into a single row in coach on a US Airways flight.

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Travel With Children / Delta / ATL / Airlines / Airports / Airline Lounges / Airport Lounges / → All Tags

Kids Traveling Solo Now Have Their Very Own Delta Lounge at Atlanta Airport

Traveling with children can sometimes be a pain, but Delta’s got a new idea that might make things a little better. For right now it’s only for unaccompanied minors traveling without Mom or Dad, but maybe eventually it’ll be open for all the little ones to swing by and blow off some steam.

The Delta Sky Zone is open in Atlanta on Concourses, B, C, and E, and it’s available to those little ones connecting all by themselves—or with a little help from Delta employees. Inside, kids have access to brand new furniture to bounce all over, XBOX 360s, and unfortunately some kind of educational materials. We’re thinking that there’s got to be some soda and chips thrown in their too, or at least a little tap water. Video games during a layover would definitely make us thirsty!

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Theme Parks / Amusement Parks / Legoland / Florida Travel / Travel with Children / Theme Park Travel / → All Tags

Legoland Florida Puts the Pieces Together for an Opening Date of October 15

Get your little plastic pieces ready, as it's finally almost time to hit new world's newest Legoland just outside of Orlando. It's not just any old land dedicated to Legos either, as this place is going to be the biggest—as in 150 acres—Legoland in the world. As you might remember the place was kind of Cypress Gardens for many many years, but on October 15 it will be officially transformed into a shrine of all things Lego.

It's park number five around the world for the Lego empire, as there's already a park in California along with options in Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In total there's going to be around 50 new rides, shows, and attractions, so there will be more to see than just crazy-nuts Lego creations. Although, we're pretty sure there's going to plenty of those too.

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Theme Parks / Amusement Parks / Legoland / Asia Travel / Travel with Children / → All Tags

The Plastic Pieces are on Their Way to Malaysia for Asia's First Legoland

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of all things Lego to Florida, but now it seems like we might want to turn our attention elsewhere around the globe. The plastic pieces are on the move, and it looks like Malaysia might be welcoming the first Legoland in Asia sometime in 2012.

Apparently bulldozers have already been hard at work clearing around 75 acres or so for the new park, and its 40 plus rides and attractions that will make up the new Legoland Malaysia. This will be the sixth land devoted to Legos worldwide, so if you’ve already been to the other five, you better start planning your trip to hit up the latest and the greatest. There’s over 30 million plastic pieces to assemble, so you’ve still got a little bit of time to find a decent flight.

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Passports / Gay Travel / Travel with Children / Travel News / → All Tags

New Passport Forms Heart Your Two Moms (or Dads)

It's small, but very notable: US passport forms for children have been changed in order to accommodate families with two dads or two moms, by changing the "mother" and "father" headings to include "parent 1" and "parent 2." The new forms became available January 3, meaning 2011 begins just another governmental agency's acceptance (the Department of State, in this case) of same-sex couples. They may not be able to get married yet in all states, but being able to sign on as official parents of their children is a major step.

The Global Cocktails blog has quotes from the Family Equality Council in appreciation:

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Theme Parks / Amusement Parks / Legoland / Florida Travel / Travel with Children / → All Tags

Opening Day is a Year Away, But Florida's Legoland is Already Selling Tickets

Opening day is still like at least a year away, but the newest Legoland is already trying to build a little bit of buzz in Florida.

Last week, park officials busted out the artist renderings and other pretty pictures for some of the new attractions. One of the main attractions that caught our eye might just make Cinderella jealous, as the park will have its very own castle within the Castle Hill section of the park. No princesses inside the castle though, as there’s going to be a dragon-themed coaster working its way in and out of the toy fortress.

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Travel With Children / Airlines / Airline News / Airline Fees / Travel Hell / → All Tags

Could the Next Airline Fee Be For Childless Airplane Sections?

Repeated Jaunted experiments have shown that, next to "overweight passengers on planes" disagreements, nothing generates heat like "kids on planes" arguments. Both debates even have the same sides. On one hand, there are people who insist they shouldn't be miserable because they got an unfortunate seat next to an obese adult or a screaming child. On the other side, you've got overweight folks and parents who point out that hey, they get to fly too.

Now, thanks to suggestions coming out of a new study, there are renewed discussions about separating children from fliers who want nothing to do with them. "Family-only sections" are being bandied about, and there's even talk of "child-free flights!" Apparently surveys show that an overwhelming number of people without kids prefer not to to have their flights ruined by unruly kids. Fascinating! Even more fascinating, it turns out that the surveys are filled with stacked questions and all end up justifying a new round of airline fees. Strange!

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Cruise Travel / Travel with Children / Royal Caribbean / Cartoons / → All Tags

Shrek and Kung Fu Panda are Coming to a Cruise Ship Near You

How much do you love Shreak or Kung Fu Pands? Hopefully you love them enough to be stranded with them for days out on the open ocean...that is, onboard a cruise ship. Royal Caribbean Cruises has announced that beginning during the holiday 2010 season, popular characters from Dreamworks films will hit the decks to entertain passengers onboard select ships.

The first to get a dose of Madagascar, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon madness will be the Allure of the Seas, followed in early 2011 by the <>Liberty of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. All of this includes themed ice shows—because yes, these ships have ice skating rinks down in them—as well as 3-D Dreamworks movies onboard and the characters roaming about the ship looking for photo ops. The promise of "table-side visits" at dinner makes us shudder, but then we aren't starry-eyed 8 year old kids on their first cruise.

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Travel With Children / Airlines / Airports / Airline Lounges / Airport Lounges / Air France / → All Tags

Kids Get an Airline Lounge of Their Own at Paris-Orly

Sometimes we wish that we were still flying as unaccompanied minors. Think about it—kids usually get to board the plane first, get extra snacks and soda, and they might even score a junior set of wings. The one place little ones aren't allowed by themselves are airline lounges, but now there’s a special lounge just for those traveling without mom and dad.

Air France has set up a new private lounge for those with connections over an hour at Paris-Orly airport. Kids will get to play, chill out and read, or participate in naptime. Children nowadays definitely have some high-tech gadgets, so let’s just hope the lounge staff know how to get their iPod Touch to connect to WiFi. There will also be plenty of DVDs available to watch on flat-screen TVs, and we're assuming snacks like complimentary milk, cookies, and juice.

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Airplane News / Airline News / Travel With Children / → All Tags

Another Baby Born In The Air, Another Set Of Free Airline Tickets

Someone was probably not listening to her doctor, but things turned out pretty well despite the circumstances. Last week a baby was welcomed to the world at an altitude of about 24,000 feet aboard a Transportes Aereos Militares flight, and we’re thinking the little girl has already caught the travel bug.

The newborn was about two weeks early, but despite the makeshift maternity ward mother and baby were doing fine. Thankfully there was a doctor and nurse on board to ensure things went smoothly as passengers headed to La Paz experienced some unique in-flight entertainment.

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Lawsuits / Travel With Children / British Airways / Airlines / Airline News / → All Tags

British Airways Treats Passenger Like Pervert, Passenger Sues

Here’s a pretty odd airline rule of which we weren’t aware. Apparently unaccompanied minors and kids in different rows from their parents are not allowed to sit next to men on British Airways. We understand that many people—not just men—are kind of gross and weird, but this just seems a little excessive. One man isn’t too happy with the policy, and he’s decided to sue British Airways over it.

Mirko Fischer is claiming that the airline is making an assumption that all men are potential sex offenders and that innocent travelers are at the risk of being embarrassed and humiliated. He isn’t too thrilled about the British Airways policy that requires flight attendants to check out the seating situation to ensure that male strangers aren’t sitting next to any kiddos.

The offended passenger was asked to move his seat when flying with his pregnant wife, and when he refused, he was told the airplane was staying put until he moved. Eventually he selected a different seat, but had this to say about the whole situation:

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Museum Travel / Science Travel / Kids Travel / Travel With Children / Queens / → All Tags

An Alternative to Manhattan's Big Museums: The Hall of Science in Queens

People crowd places like New York City's American Museum of Natural History to give the kids some scientific edu-tainment. But if you're looking to change it up, check out the underrated New York Hall of Science in Queens.

Although its name sounds kinda boring, NYSCI is New York City's only hands-on science and technology center with more than 450 hands-on exhibits that explore biology, chemistry and physics.

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