LONDON, England (AP) – Cutting through the canopy some 60 feet high, Kew Gardens’ new XStrata Treetop Walkway gives nature-lovers a look at a part of the forest that’s seldom seen — a view from the top.

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, in west London, is hoping the soaring steel walkway will allow the public to experience the environment hidden just above its tree line.

"Retrospectively it was a leap of faith," curator Nigel Taylor said, describing the difficulty of erecting the 448-ton structure at the heart of an 18th century landscaped garden.

But he said the 220-yard circular walkway allowed visitors to "see a side of the forest that was completely invisible."

Project manager Tony Kirkham said the walkway was aimed at showcasing every part of the tree — from top to bottom. Entry is through an underground chamber where bronze-cast roots poke out of the concrete, animatronic insects buzz and squirm behind glass portholes, and a glowing mosaic (representing fungi) casts an uneven light.

"It’s meant to look like a factory," Kirkham said, "This is the engineering part of the tree."

Kirkham allowed that real roots would have been "pretty boring," but once at the top, the view is anything but.

The whole park stretches out from the various viewing platforms — on a clear day central London’s skyscrapers, some 11 miles away, are visible.

Sweet chestnuts and American red oaks crowd around the structure, branching out over and under the walkway, their leaves poking gingerly through the crosshatches as a sparrow hawk wheels lazily overhead.

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written by Andrew

(CNN) – Flying with a baby or toddler can have its fair share of turbulence. From finding a place to change diapers to keeping your child quiet to dealing with eye-rolling passengers, parents have their work cut out for them on a plane.

Still, with some careful thought before, during and on the flight, you and your baby can survive the ride with minimal headaches.

Booking seats

In a perfect world, your child will sleep on the plane. But kids can be unpredictable — as can flight delays — which makes the planning process tough.

If your child sleeps well in the car, your best bet is to schedule a flight during nap time, said Elizabeth Pantley, author of Gentle Baby Care.

But if his or her nap time isn’t like clockwork, you’re better off not trying to schedule a flight during usual sleeping time, because the baby might stay awake for the whole flight and act fussy, she said.

Pantley suggested requesting the bulkhead seats and a bassinet if you have an infant. However, she cautioned that the front of the plane is less convenient with older babies and toddlers because, with the absence of under-seat space and seat pockets, you’ll have to store toys and supplies in the overhead compartment, making them less accessible. iReport.com: Share your experiences of flying with kids

What to pack

Parents shouldn’t count on anything on the plane keeping their children occupied, Pantley said. It’s important to bring plenty of toys, especially unfamiliar ones that the child can explore for the first time on the flight. Rather than buying all new toys, you can take away some of their toys for a time and have them resurface on the flight, she said.

Remember, your young child can also be easily amused by lots of things, even something as simple as a crinkled, empty bag, said Rachel Fishman Feddersen, director of Parenting.com.

Bringing an ample amount of snacks is key, because "the last thing you want is to be trapped on a plane with a toddler that has not eaten," Feddersen said. These foods can also help the babies with ear popping and keep them occupied in flight.

As an added bonus, Feddersen said, by distributing them to neighboring passengers, you can make some friends of people who may not be thrilled about sitting next to the family with a baby in tow.

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MIAMI BEACH, Florida (AP) – Charity Simon is sharing a bedroom and a bathroom with two other young women she has never met during her stay at the Tropics Hotel & Hostel in Miami Beach. But that’s fine with her since she is saving a ton of money every night.

Simon, who is from Germany, used to stay in four-star hotels until she found out about hostels, which offer low-price lodging and the chance to make new friends.

“It started with I wanted to travel around the world as much as possible,” said Simon, who declined to give her age. “I asked what is it all about? They said a hostel is where you save first of all a lot of money, where you meet a lot of people international from all over.”

With its Art Deco buildings, bikini-clad women and late-night party scene, experts say South Beach is becoming a hot tourist destination for young travelers looking to spend less money on where they are going to sleep and more on sightseeing.

Anywhere between three to 14 travelers are cramped in one room at a hostel, sleeping on bunk beds. A room with 12 beds can run for $18 a night per person; an eight-bed room is $18; $30-$40 for smaller rooms.

At Jazz on South Beach Hostel, some rooms are divided by gender (four or six-bed rooms for women) while other rooms are mixed. Depending on occupancy, and if there are any empty rooms, people who are traveling together can request to room together - just like they would in a hotel.

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ORLANDO, Fla. - Don’t let high gas prices and rising airfare put a damper on your summer travel plans. If you’re heading to the theme park capital of the world, there’s plenty new to see and do.

Last year, despite a year-to-year decrease in Florida tourism for the first time since 2001, the state’s giant theme parks still saw more tourists. And for the first time in recent memory, each of them has a new major attraction to keep the turnstiles churning as tourism rebounds this year.

So take a water slide ride with dolphins at the new Aquatica park adjacent to SeaWorld. Come face-to-face with orangutans and Bengal tigers at Busch Gardens’ new Jungala. Zap Toy Story targets in 3-D at Disney, or spin though Springfield on Universal’s new Simpsons ride. It’s all here waiting in sunny central Florida.

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(Tribune Media Services) — It’s well past the kids’ bedtime, but no one is nagging the preschoolers and kindergartners to brush their teeth and go to sleep.

Instead, they’re dressed to the nines (the girls, anyway) in full princess regalia before heading to a poolside pirate party, complete with fireworks, to get up close and personal with Goofy and all of his pirate friends aboard the Disney Wonder. Others are busy in the shipboard Oceaneer Club playing the latest video games, watching movies in seats designed to look like clam shells and climbing on the pirate ship play structure.

All of this is after they’ve seen a brand-new Broadway-style show — “Toy Story: The Musical,” featuring all of their favorite characters from the popular film — and dined like royalty at dinner where the waiters not only knew their names but also performed magic tricks and were happy to get them anything they liked at no extra charge (a side of salmon with your chicken fingers … no problem!)

When my 5-year-old cousin Ethan Sitzman and his 3-year-old sister Hannah finally got back to their stateroom, they were thrilled that the steward, Pacifer Ticao, himself a young father from the Philippines, had fashioned a PJ Party with the kids’ stuffed animals and a monkey he had made out of towels. The kids truly thought they’d arrived in vacation heaven.

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(Tribune Media Services) — Surrounded by vineyards and filled with atmospheric wine-gardens, this small, tourist-friendly town (just 90 minutes by train from Frankfurt) is easy to navigate by foot or streetcar. Today, 25,000 of its 130,000 residents are students — making the town feel young and very alive.

Standing on Wurzburg’s venerable bridge — the second oldest in Germany — I squint up at a statue of the town’s favorite saint, an Irish monk named Killian. I wonder why he still has his head on. Killian was one of three Irish missionary monks who dropped by in A.D. 686 to Christianize the local barbarians. Overreacting, inhospitable locals beheaded them. Later their relics were planted in the town’s church, putting Wurzburg on the pilgrimage map.

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(Tribune Media Services) — Mick Fleming arrived by dugout canoe; Lucy Fleming on horseback a day later.

There were no roads to the overgrown farm in the Cayo district of Belize that the young couple hoped to run. Their land was a jungle — literally. "But there was something about the place," Fleming, who was raised in England, recalls more than 30 years later.

"I felt it," adds Lucy Fleming, originally from New Jersey. "This place always had a certain amount of magic. We were young and crazy — no money. We decided to be pioneers."

But ultimately, not in the way they expected. Though the Flemings started out living in a cabin without indoor plumbing, electricity or running water, raising vegetables — taking them by canoe to sell at local markets — the couple is now at the forefront of the burgeoning ecotourism movement in Belize. Chaa Creek, their 365-acre nature preserve in the Cayo District, is a model for sustainable tourism and new-style adventure family travel.

"People want the kids to experience the real deal," explains Lucy Fleming, past president of the Belize Tourism Industry Association. She raised her two kids and five foster children on the property. Guest accommodations include 24 thatched-roof cottages; kids stay free and those under 12 eat for half price.

So many adventurous families are finding their way to Belize — a small (less than 300,000 people), peaceful, English-speaking country that borders Mexico and Guatemala, where the U.S. dollar is accepted everywhere and the exchange rate is fixed — that the Flemings are launching a Mac Morpho Rainforest Adventure for kids and teens complete with horseback riding to ancient Mayan ruins on site, as well as offering guests the chance to learn how to make tortillas with nearby villagers — after canoeing down the Macal River — and planting corn and beans in the big organic garden.

As an added bonus, upon check-in, kids get a ready-to-be hatched Blue Morpho butterfly from the on-site Blue Morpho Butterfly Breeding Center. There is also a more modest tent camp where families can stay in screened platform tents with communal bathrooms. Parents can either join the activities or take a few hours on their own — maybe stealing away to the spectacular hilltop spa that’s run by the Flemings’ 30-year-old daughter, Bryony. The resort’s naturalists are especially attuned to kids. (Ready for a night hike to see snakes and other nocturnal creatures?)

But this place isn’t for everybody. There’s no air conditioning or TV, no phones in the casitas and Internet access only in the conference center. Be forewarned you might spot a lizard or a gecko in your cottage. A pool is just now being built. The food is tasty, but not gourmet fare.

That’s where Belizean hotelier Ian Lizarraga — himself the father of two young kids — and his Irish partners come in. A few miles from Chaa Creek and just outside the town of San Ignacio (69 miles from Belize City) they’ve opened the 15-room Ka’ana Boutique Resort. Set in tropical gardens, Ka’ana, which means "heavenly place" in the Mayan language, lets guests experience the jungle and the nearby Mayan ruins without giving up their creature comforts, Lizarraga explains.

There’s air conditioning, WiFi, plasma TVs, espresso makers, room service and an infinity pool that’s irresistible after a long, hot day touring along Belize’s bumpy backcountry roads. You’ll also find iPod docking stations, signature martinis, a wine cellar, and 25-year-old chef Manolo Castillo, already considered one of the best chefs in Belize, who whips up creative dishes with vegetables and herbs from the resort’s garden. (How about a papaya scrub in the spa, after a long day in the jungle?) And then there’s Ka’ana’s stellar guide, 24-year-old Wilbert Moh. Lizarraga welcomes families with open arms. (Check out the second room at half price deal this summer.)

Still, when families think of Belize, they think of the beach, of snorkeling and diving along the reef that stretches nearly the length of the country. (More about that in another column.) "But there’s so much more than that here," says guide Wilbert Moh, who is so enthusiastic about this region where he was raised that he should be working for the Belize Tourist Board. (Visit http://www.travelbelize.org/.)

Go caving — on a tube, on foot, or in a canoe. In some spots you’ll pass the remains of victims of Mayan human sacrifice, tour Mayan ruins or zip line above the jungle canopy, shop at the bustling Saturday market in nearby San Ignacio (I’ve never seen so many watermelons!) or swim in natural pools. You won’t have time for all the adventures. "My kids see Belize and its people and its activities as a HUGE adventure," says Lizarraga.

Families can easily divide their stay between the beach and inland. Chaa Creek, for example, offers a variety of such packages, arranging the transfers. "The whole idea of the jungle appealed to me," says Amy White, who was traveling from the Southeast with her daughter and, like us, split her stay between this area and the Inn at Robert’s Grove, which is located on the beach near the sleepy fishing village of Placencia.

Katrina Pratt, from California, who was traveling with her husband, 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, reported that her kids loved exploring the Mayan ruins — clambering up and down the ancient limestone steps — as much as the beach. "We’re not the people who like to hang out and get a sunburn," she explains.

Sustainable tourism, meanwhile, has been the Flemings’ goal from the beginning, when young travelers found their way here by word of mouth, offering to help on the farm, and the Flemings built a second simple cabin to house them, feeding them alongside their kids. "We were eco before eco was a word," Mick Fleming laughs. Today, the huge organic garden produces much of the vegetables and fruits guests eat. (Have your kids ever seen pineapple grow?)

There are all kinds of birds in the area — nearly 300 species within five miles of Chaa Creek — and screeching howler monkeys. "It’s time to introduce the next generation to conservation," Mick Fleming says.

Honestly, I loved both places — and I don’t say that often. I especially loved what the region had to offer families. Lucy Fleming says family tourism has increased 100 fold at Chaa Creek in the last several years, even in summer — the traditional rainy season.

The best part, Mick Fleming promises, "The kids will do things they never get to do at home."

Parents too.

See you in the cave.

(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)

Copyright 2007 EILEEN OGINTZ, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

written by Andrew