Car trips with children: Here’s one less hassle for parents

When taking a car trip with your kids, have them wear slip-on shoes. Otherwise, you’ll spend time at every stop while they fish around for their shoes, untie them and retie them.

M. Molen

Oceanside

When traveling through several states or countries, I take a picture of a license plate to help identify where I am when looking through hundreds of pictures.

Sandy Hoaglund

Valencia

When traveling to Antarctica, select a ship that carries 100 or fewer passengers. Ships are allowed to disembark only 100 passengers at a time to protect the environment. So if you are on a ship of 200 passengers, you will get only half as much time ashore.

Marci Sandell

West Los Angeles

If you and your spouse or traveling companions are all taking photos with your own cameras, be sure to set the cameras’ clocks to exactly the same time before you start your trip. That makes it much easier to share photos and sort them when you download them on your computer after you get home. We learned the hard way.

Barbra Reinecke

Encino

When traveling with a group, family or even just one other person, each time you enter a venue to tour, whether it’s a museum, a wall city or what have you, have the group gather around and agree to a meeting point that is easily recognizable (especially for children). It can be a main entrance, a cafe, an information booth, etc. If you are separated during the tour you can always return to your agreed-upon meeting point to find one another. We used this with our children every time we traveled, and, yes, we did have to use it more than once, and it prevented a very stressful and scary situation.

Cyndi Strand

Manhattan Beach

Carry a clear plastic bag with you and use it before airport security. I put the following things in it: my change, my wristwatch, my pen and any other small metal items that I might be carrying that would fit in it. After it has gone through the scan, I just pick the bag up and I am on my way.

Fred Weiss

Porter Ranch

When you purchase sets of sheets, bedspreads or quilts, keep the plastic bags they come in. They’re ideal for packing. You can separate clothes into casual and dress. They are easy to see through and keep everything safe in the suitcase. I have never had one opened by the Transportation Security Administration.

Peggy Williams

Ontario

How do you make travel more fun and less stressful? Send your tips to [email protected], including your full name and city of residence. To see previous reader tips, go to latimes.com/readertips