I know it’s traditional to look forward on December 31st, but I’d like to look back instead.  It was a great year, and I am beyond grateful to the dozens of women who loaned their stories to Travel Savvy Mom.  They gave me an opportunity to laugh, learn, and think (pretty much in that order).

Here are some of my favorites.

1.  The Grim Reaper Goes to Scotland by Jody Mace.  In which an American mother living in England takes her kids trick-or-treating, and receives…a potato.

2.  5 Things I Learned When My Daughter Threw Up on a Plane by Jane Rytina, who once arrived at London Heathrow so saturated with child vomit that her own mother opted to postpone hugging her until after she’d had a shower.

3.  Why We Travel by Kayt Sukel, who defends her family travel philosophy that Museums>Theme Parks. Even for kids.

4.  Been There, Done That by Rebecca Tompkins, who found out the hard way on a road trip to Stonehenge that 6 is the new 16.  Or can be.

5.  Oh No!  It’s . . . a Grandcation by Jamie Pearson, who has vacationed with her parents and in-laws on at least four separate occasions and lived to tell the tale.

6.  Fair Play: Ethical Family Travel in South Africa by Katherine Barrett, a thoughtful expat mom who considers the political implications of family travel.

7.  Costa Rica: Five Family Favorites by Jenny Jensen.  All the jungles, volcanoes, and beaches, without the schlepping and whining.

8.  Top 12 Things I Learned at Disneyland by Debbie Abrams Kaplan, who loved her trip to the happiest place on earth, wet crotch notwithstanding.

9.  Look, Up in the Sky! It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a . . . Treesort by Jennifer Margulis, who lived everyone’s childhood fantasy of sleeping in the trees.  Don’t hate her.

10.  In Which an Indoorsy Writer Vacations on an Elk Farm by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt, which is no less hilarious for being self-explanatory.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful year.  If 2009 is half as good, I’ll consider myself lucky.

Halloween photo courtesy of Jody Mace. Frowning girl photo courtesy of Rebecca Tompkins.  Treehouse photo courtesy of Jennifer Margulis.

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