The White House's travel blog

Recently posted passionate opinions about the idea of creating child-free establishments, such as coffee shops, restaurants, cruise ships, and select airport lounges, that are "child free." Readers were reacting to Disney's decision to ban children under age 10 from one of its Florida restaurants, and to AirTran's decision to kick a misbehaving little girl off of one of its planes. (See the earlier post for details.). Here's a sampling of our reader's creative and impassioned thoughts about "sectioning-off children" on airplanes and in restaurants. [Note: Comments have been edited for space]: From a parent who's been criticized: I've been given horrible looks, overheard people talking about my 10 month old baby, been asked to "Please move to the back of the plane" or "Please keep your baby quiet"...like I want my baby to cry! Who's being more childish in this situation? The baby who's ears are hurting or the adult in the next row who forgot their earplugs? Maybe you should move to the back of the plane, not the mother and child. NEWSBREAK: Babies Cry! Hello!!—Sari From a parent who is disappointed with other parents. I don't think they should ban kids, they should just ENFORCE RULES and make THE PARENTS RESPONSIBLE! I have four kids, all under age 12 and I have been thanked so many times by people on planes and in restaurants because my children were seated while other kids were screaming, running down the aisle or in one case rubbing soap from the airplane lavatory on peoples armrests. Fine the parents or ask them to leave.—Patricia From a traveler who wants airplanes to have designated areas for families. I definitely wish airlines would (at a minimum) limit children under 12 or so to their own section of the plane so child-free travelers aren't subjected to children running up and down aisles, kicking seats, crying, or screaming. Even better would be if airlines offered "children-free" flights during peak travel times for business travelers.—Evelyn From another traveler who agrees: Let's put all of the folks with children under 5 years of age in the back of the plane where they can enjoy each others company and not bother so many other folks. You shouldn't punish good parents. Don't say that is discrimination because we did it with the smokers in restaurants! —Charles From a parent who dislikes the idea of "family sections on planes": It's not fair to separate parents with children from the rest of the group is people like me who have very well behaved children, it's not fair to those children that they should have to put up with misbehaving children either. Maybe changing seats once the flight takes off is a better idea. The flight attendants SHOULD speak up for the rest of the people on the plane who deserve a comfortable and peaceful ride. —Lori From another parent who also dislikes the idea of family sections on planes: To me, flight attendants and the airlines need to deal with the behaviors individually instead of banning a group or seating them somewhere else. What if we need to fly, and the "children's area" is booked for that flight? We only have one flight a day to our destination to visit my husband's family, this could set us back several days, or we could just have to cancel altogether. I make sure I am well prepared for flights with lots of snacks, books, toys, and a touch of Benadryl for my two small children. You shouldn't punish good parents.—Maureen From a traveler who thinks parents should not travel with sick children: I totally agree that traveling with a sick child is difficult but that is why travel insurance was invented!. If your child happens to be sick, it is prudent to consider canceling the trip - this simple action will benefit your child by preventing exposure to additional germs and allow other passengers to travel in peace.—Yanna From a frequent global traveler who's disappointed with other adults: Think about all of the times you've been bothered by adults in restaurants and on planes. More times than by kids, I'll bet. The loud couple behind you that talk incessantly, the smelly guy next to you, the people walking down the aisle that hit your arm, the man that moves the back of your seat whenever he gets his fat butt up, the smoker constantly hacking pieces of his lung up, the guy on his 3rd beer that won't stop burping, the crotch in your face as they put luggage overhead. Why aren't we banning adults? —Bob Here's the full list of 60-plus comments. EARLIER How to deal with rowdy kids? Travelers trade tips.

Readers of this blog have offered some tips for travelers who are sitting next to children who are acting out. If a parent is silent while their child is acting out, speak up. I travel often and on a recent flight a little girl seated right in back of me continued to scream...and her mother was doing nothing about it. We hadn't even taken off!. After a while, I turned around and looked the little girl in the eyes and told her to stop screaming. Of course, she stared at me, an adult who scolded her! Her mother made excuses for her...that she was afraid. I told her to hold the little girls hand to ensure her that all was well. We never heard another peep from the little girl!—Eileen If the child is related to you, threaten to deduct money from their "allowance." Once, we had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant at Epcot and my son misbehaved. After a warning, we made him pay for his own lunch with his spending money. It made a big impression on him and all the rest. We still say, "Ask your brother what happens if you misbehave in a restaurant." We haven't had to make anybody else pay.—Sharon Get the waitstaff involved. Obnoxious behavior by any age should not have to be tolerated by the public. One method to decrease obnoxious behavior in a restaurant is to inform the waiter or manager that there will be no tip if the offending party is not dealt with.—Ray Use positive reinforcement to prevent outbreaks of bad behavior. I cannot tell you the number of times a random child in a restaurant or cafe has come up to me to show me a toy or so say, "hi" or whatever. You, parent, might think I should be delighted by your little rapscallion, but I am not. Compliment parents whose children are well-behaved.—Alyssa Use restaurant comment cards to suggest that the prices on children's menus should jump after a certain hour of the night. I have always asserted, that, if I owned a restaurant, my CHILDRENS' MENU would be double the adult's price— Charles Feel free to offer your own ideas by posting a comment below. (If you disagree with any of the above tactics, speak up, too!)

I found it annoying when, during a September visit to the Kalahari indoor park in Wisconsin Dells, renting a locker proved to be a pain (we couldn't bill the locker to our room the way we would a hotel-restaurant meal). The workers instead told us to just leave our stuff, including our room keys, on a chair inside--"Everyone does it," they said. Anyway, I was excited to learn that KeyLime Cove (a new waterpark resort in Gurnee, Ill., that opens on February 29) will have radio-frequency identification wristband technology. That means you don't have to carry a room key or cash (to rent a locker with, say). You just use your wristband. The resort will also take photos of you going down the slides, and ID you by the wristband, so you can look at the pix later. The resort, by the way, is the "brainchild" of Dave Anderson, founder of Rainforest Cafe restaurant chain.

This post is aimed at travelers who are computer geeks, too. Let's say you found a long article online that you've been meaning to read—but haven't yet. Well, you're in luck: It has recently become worthwhile to take any text and turn it into an audio file for downloading to your iPod or similar music player. In other words, you can easily turn an article from, say, BudgetTravel.com , into an audio clip that you can play while you fly or drive. Here's the lowdown: The latest Macintosh operating system, nicknamed Leopard, offers a text translator called Alex. He speaks with natural breathing and intonation that makes him far superior to previous text-to-voice translators. For the first time, the computerized voice is actually tolerable to listen to during a long drive or plane ride. Before I go any further, though, let me ask you: Does this whole concept sounds bizarre? If so, watch this video explanation of how to let your Mac read aloud to you. [If you already understand what I'm talking about, skip to the text below...] How To Make Your Mac Read Text Aloud. Video: Two-and-a-half minutes long The good news is that you can use Alex to turn a text file into an audio file. Mac users can use the free software called Automator that is part of Leopard. You'll find the clearest instructions on how to use Automator to do this by reading this blog post by Scott Bourne. Windows users will need to buy an application like TextAloud2 ($30), which will come with its own instructions. FYI: For some odd reason, Alex has a British accent. If you prefer an American or a female accent, you'll have to buy a text-to-speech translator, such as AbleReader, which costs about $50.) (One blogger predicts that Apple will add a text-to-speech function to its iPhones.) ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB More Leopard tweaks today on Lifehacker. EARLIER ON THE BLOG What to do during a trip when the memory card for your digital camera gets too full. EARLIER IN BUDGET TRAVEL MAGAZINE: A Blackberry, Palm Treo, or other PDA is useful for a lot more than e-mail.