Budget Travel's Dream Trip to Italy

7- TO 10-YEAR-OLDS Many state and national parks offer ranger-led experiences geared toward grade-schoolers. For example, Junior Ranger programs allow youngsters to complete a set of activities during their park visit under the direction of an adult ranger. Participants receive an official Junior Ranger badge or patch and a certificate. Call your park to find out if it runs this program. If it doesn't, the National Wildlife Federation suggests some do-it-yourself activities, such as planning a nature scavenger hunt, telling campfire ghost stories, and asking your kids to identify the night sounds as you all fall asleep. Find more ideas at greenhour.org. Suggested activities and parks: Tidepooling, or searching for crustaceans (such as crabs and starfish). This activity can be fun anywhere that there's a substantial body of water. Some fantastic national parks for tidepooling are Acadia National Park, Me.; Cabrillo National Monument, Calif.; and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Hawaii. Fishing. This is available at many state parks. Within the national park system, try: North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Wash.; Everglades National Park, Fla.; and Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Mo. Be sure to call ahead for the latest rules and regulations. Otherwise you may get fined for fishing out of season or without a state license. Riding horses and mules. Outings can be booked at Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz.; Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Ky. (same-day reservations only); Palo Duro Canyon State Park, in the Texas panhandle; and Glacier National Park, Mont., among other parks. 11- TO 14-YEAR-OLDS With this age group, you can take it up a notch. Appeal to your tween's innate competitiveness and curiosity by seeing if they'd like to try caving, rock climbing, or cross-country skiing. Suggested activities and parks: Caving. A guide leads you through narrow, pre-explored passages, where lamplight reveals unusual insects and rock formations. Available in Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky.; Sequoia National Park, Calif.; and Wind Cave National Park, S.D. Rock climbing. Teen-scalable rock faces can be found in such national parks as Joshua Tree National Park, Calif., and Custer State Park, S.D.—plus at state and national parks throughout New England. But only a handful of parks have experts who offer guidance, control the ropes, and insist on safe practices. For example, the final 400 feet of the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, Calif., is scalable by inexperienced but fit climbers using steel cables. Call ahead to see if help is available or if you'll need to book a guided excursion with a private outfitter. Cross-country skiing. Try Catoctin Mountain Park, Md.; Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo.; and Yellowstone National Park. (Note: While Yellowstone spans three states, most of its cross-country skiing trails are in Wyoming.) 15- TO 18-YEAR-OLDS They're probably more capable physically than you are, and more eager to take on challenges. Let them test their mettle in the wilderness. Ask them to prepare a few meals by themselves. You might even consider booking teens a separate, adjoining tent site, to give them some privacy and independence. Suggested activities and parks: Mountain climbing. Aim high, at peaks like Mount Katahdin at Baxter State Park, Maine, and the Chimney Tops in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tenn. White-water rafting. Build your teen's confidence by tapping into his or her thrill-seeking side. Call your local park to find out if it has beginnerlevel rapids, such as the one on the southern (a.k.a. upper) part of New River Gorge, W.Va. Snorkeling. Have your kids play aquanaut by donning masks to explore a park's narrow shore bed. Call the ranger at your local lakeside park to find a spot suitable for beginners. To illustrate, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wis., features fish darting around the spooky wreck of the Noquebay, lying beneath about 15 feet of clear water. Rent a charter service in nearby Bayfield to take your kids the quarter mile from the shore of Stockton Island. Volunteering. Many high schools now have public-service requirements, and some camping areas have volunteer opportunities, such as taking a senior citizen for a walk. Your teen might be able to combine a family trip with a volunteer experience. Contact the National Wildlife Federation for details. Wilderness skills training. Challenge your teens to brush up on their outdoorsmanship under the guidance of pros. There are orienteering trails in some parks, where your teen can sleuth out control points by use of map and compass alone. Orienteering courses teach the necessary skills and are run either by park rangers, field schools, or nonprofit institutes. For example, Prince William Forest Park, Va., provides reservation-only introductions to orienteering courses led by rangers. A similar program is at Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

On paper, choosing a cruise cabin seems pretty simple. There are four basic styles: insides (no window), outsides (with window), balcony, and suite. But booking a stateroom is not a snap. Even though there are just four room styles, cruise lines divvy them into as many as 20 price categories. A cabin's location, size, and amenities determine the price, which generally increases the higher, bigger, and more deluxe you go. The trick is figuring out what's worth paying extra for, and that depends on your priorities. If you don't plan to spend much time in your cabin, feel free to book the cheapest price you can find. But if you think of your stateroom as a retreat, proceed carefully and avoid these not-so-ideal scenarios. A CABIN THAT'S TOO SMALL Cruise cabins are designed for maximum efficiency, so they're generally more than adequate as long as you're neat and you haven't overpacked. Some cabins, however, are just plain miniscule. Rooms on older vessels can be as little as 100 square feet, particularly for inside cabins. If this is your home for a week, you might feel like an inmate in a cell. When looking at cabin measurements, note that cruise lines often include the veranda in the overall square footage. A balcony cabin on Celebrity Summit, for example, may look about average size at 208 square feet, but that factors in 38 square feet of veranda. The cabin itself measures just 170 square feet. So the advice is: Think hard before booking a cabin that's extraordinarily small—say, one that's less than 150 square feet, not including the veranda. What to ask a travel agent: What's the square footage of the cabin? Does that figure include a veranda? A CABIN THAT'S TOO LOUD A ship's deck plans, available at each cruise line's website, are easily readable, like this one for the Carnival Ecstasy. It's important to check what's below, above, and around the corner from the cabin you're considering. Avoid anything right under the lido buffet, as meals are served nearly around-the-clock. Unless you plan to close the ship's late-night disco, don't book a stateroom nearby. If your cabin is just below the pool deck, your morning wakeup call could be the scraping sound of chaise lounges being dragged into position. Cabins on lower decks are cheaper largely because guests have to put up with the hum of propellers. The best bet is to choose a cabin that has staterooms above and below it—and then cross your fingers that the neighbors in every direction aren't rowdy night owls. What to ask a travel agent: How noisy will the cabin be? Are there restaurants, discos, pools, or public areas nearby that'll keep me up at night? A CABIN WITH A LESS-THAN-STELLAR VIEW Every outside cabin pretty much looks out on a similar sea-and-sky vista, but there are some notable differences. Most are located either port or starboard, so you're always looking sideways. A front-facing stateroom lets you see where you're heading, but also takes the brunt of wind and rough seas—the big reason why these cabins rarely come with balconies. Backward-facing cabins boast the best views. There's something incredibly Zen-like about gazing at the wake and the panorama behind the ship. Backward-facing cabins are hard to come by because most cruise lines devote that part of the ship to public spaces. Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity Cruises are among the lines that regularly have backward-facing cabins. What to ask a travel agent: What's the view like? Can I get a better view for the same money? A CABIN THAT FEELS LIKE GRAND CENTRAL STATION Many passengers prefer centrally-located cabins because they're close to stairways, elevators, pools, and buffets. Still, there's such a thing as too central a location. Stateroom doors are absurdly flimsy, so you'll hear pretty much everything going on outside. There is no truly quiet corner of a cruise ship. But it's smart to avoid lower deck cabins that are close to the ship's atriums—the extravagantly designed openings, often several stories high, attract a lot of foot traffic. In a cabin around the corner from an atrium, you'll hear the hordes milling or power walking past your door from dawn to dusk. What to ask a travel agent: How close is the cabin to the ship's atriums? Is the cabin on the main walking path for people disembarking or reboarding the ship? A CABIN THAT'LL MAKE YOU SICK Newer ships have all sorts of nifty stabilizers that try to tame the sea and give passengers a smoother ride. Most people feel fine, even during mildly rough seas. But if you are unusually sensitive to movement, you may want to forego the higher decks. The higher you go, the more likely you'll get not only back and forth (or side to side) rocking, but will also feel an unsettling swaying effect. Stick to the center, the most stable part of the ship, and by all means avoid any stateroom within a dozen cabins of the front. What to ask a travel agent: I'm worried about getting sick if the seas get rocky. Can you book me in a cabin in the most stable location? Carolyn Spencer Brown is the editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com.

PURELL INSTANT HAND SANITIZER Highly recommended "It's 65 percent ethyl alcohol, plenty potent at getting rid of germs. Sanitize the armrests and tray tables at your airplane seat by wiping them down with Purell. (It doesn't have to be Purell; generics are OK, too. Just look for the store brand that says 'compares to Purell.') Get a bottle that's three ounces or less so you can get through airport security, and go with a bottle with a screw cap—not a pump bottle that will make a mess in your bag." WET ONES HANDS & FACE ANTIBACTERIAL WIPES or GERM-X ANTIBACTERIAL SOFT WIPESHighly recommended"Similar ingredients to Purell, so they're just as effective. The wipes are handy, too—no need to worry about airport restrictions on liquids. Liquids spread better, however, so if you use the wipes, make sure you rub them around well into every nook and cranny of your hand." NOZIN NASAL SANITIZERNot recommended for most travelers"The 50 percent alcohol solution should definitely kill bacteria when you spray this up your nose. The problem is that it evaporates pretty quickly, so I doubt the effects last long." HIBICLENS ANTISEPTIC/ANTIMICROBIAL CLEANSERHighly recommended"This is the top-of-the-line stuff that doctors use. It's harder to find and more expensive than the more common brands, but it's loaded with alcohol and other active ingredients and is incredibly good at killing bacteria and germs. Comes in wipes, too." AIRBORNE HEALTH FORMULAEBOOSTECHINACEA or VITAMIN-C SUPPLEMENTSNot recommended"There's simply no data showing that these sorts of holistic dietary supplements help travelers fight off germs or prevent illness. They're totally unproven, and I have nothing positive to say about them." PLANE CLEAN AIRMaybe it works"Hooking this up to the fan over your airplane seat gives you a constantly refreshed source of clean air, which is great in a confined space like a plane. But while I'm impressed with the concept, there's only so much it can do. It won't help much if the person next to you coughs in your direction. Or if the flight attendant prevents you from attaching it for some reason." SURGICAL MASKSNot recommended"Oddly enough, these are best at keeping the wearer from spreading germs to other people, not vice versa. Most people won't wear them properly anyway. On a long flight, a mask is really difficult to put up with; a half-hour into the flight, chances are the mask will be down below your nose so you can breathe more freely." SOAP AND WATERHighly recommended"Washing your hands remains the single most important way to avoid getting sick. Any soap will do the job—in a pitch, just water works too—the hotter the better. To use a catchphrase, the solution to pollution is dilution, so you want to really rinse off, especially before you eat and after you use the bathroom."

1. Jet lag "It takes your body typically one day to adjust to each time zone traveled, so if you've gone through seven or eight time zones, it'll be about one week before your internal clock matches the actual time. The main factors in resetting your biological clock are light exposure and melatonin. If you've traveled eastward, you can fool your body's reactions to the time zone by getting light exposure early in the day. If you've gone westward, you're trying to extend your day, so you want light exposure in the evening. Melatonin (available over-the-counter in the U.S.) is a clock-resetting agent. Adults traveling eastward can take three milligrams before going to bed upon arriving at their destination." It's less useful for westward travel, though. —Dr. Robert Sack, professor of psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, with an expertise in sleep disorders 2. Economy-class syndrome (a.k.a. deep vein thrombosis) "Flights longer than eight hours increase your risk for DVT, a blood clot that forms in a vein, which can lead to fatal complications. Cases are rare, though. Out of every million travelers who fly, only about 27 are struck with DVT. The risk factor tends to be found in people who have had heart failure, a history of pulmonary embolism, a hip or knee replacement in the last six months, or any neurological weakness of the legs. Medications that put people at risk include oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement therapy. Pregnancy also puts you at risk. But that doesn't mean you should stop traveling. Prevent DVT by staying hydrated and exercising calf muscles by pumping your foot at the ankle and wiggling your toes and feet. When the flight allows it, get out of your seat and walk in the aisle. You want to have the blood flowing in your legs." —Dr. Daniel Becker, professor of internal medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine; coauthor of the medical journal article "Air Travel and Venous Thromboembolism: A Systemic Review" 3. Colds and flus "Cold and flu viruses can live on surfaces for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Norovirus (a.k.a. stomach flu, with symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting) can survive on surfaces for two to four weeks. You can reduce your risk of getting ill by 30 to 50 percent with frequent hand washing. Use alcohol gel hand sanitizers, if you can't always get to a sink with soap while traveling. When purchasing gels, look for bottles that say 'sanitizer'—because that label is FDA-approved—and that have at least a 70 percent alcohol content." —Dr. Charles P. Gerba, microbiologist, University of Arizona 4. Seasickness "Request a mid-ship cabin. Picture the ship like a child's seesaw: There's much less motion in the middle. If you feel queasy, situate yourself mid-ship on a low, outside deck, preferably standing up. Getting fresh air and staring at the horizon might help." —Dr. John Bradberry, medical director, Carnival Cruise Lines 5. Food-borne illnesses Follow the advice, 'Cook it, peel it, wash it, or forget it.' Thoroughly cooking food destroys bacteria. Fruits that you can peel, like oranges, are safe to eat. If you are going to wash the food, you have to wash it carefully. In some places, the water is a little risky." —Dr. Ewen Todd, professor, Dept. of Advertising, Public Relations, & Retailing, Michigan State University; former director, National Food Safety and Toxicology Center, Michigan State University 6. Sunburn (especially for kids) "Severe sunburns and excessive sun exposure increase the risk for skin cancer later in life. Liberally use sunblock with a sun protection factor (SPF) rating of 30 or higher and reapply every three or four hours. You don't need to spend more money on sunblock with higher SPF ratings (such as 45 or higher) because there's no evidence those levels are more effective. What counts is reapplying SPF 30 sunscreen frequently. Parents should also keep kids out of the sun during the hot hours between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Take a siesta!" —Dr. Rick Malley, associate professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; senior associate physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital Boston; Travel and Geographic Medicine Clinic staff, Children's Hospital Boston 7. Avoid germs on airplanes "Jet cabins are unnaturally dry and suck moisture out of the mucos membranes in your mouth and eyes, whose immune cells and enzymes otherwise help break down invading pathogens. Staying hydrated keeps those membranes functioning well and protects your natural defenses against colds and the flu. You could also use the little overhead vent above your seat, turning it on to low or medium power and adjust the airflow so it falls right in front of your face. This current may push away germs floating your way and prevent them from entering your eyes, nose, and mouth." —Dr. Mark Gendreau, senior staff physician and vice chair of emergency medicine, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Mass; coauthor of the medical journal article "Medical Issues Associated with Commercial Flights" RELATED ARTICLE >> Health Products That Could Save Your Trip