Be choosy when booking a bed.

Rooms in all price ranges are on the green bandwagon. Many Holiday Inns use CFL lightbulbs, and they all serve Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee. Marriott, InterContinental, Kimpton, Fairmont, and Sandals offer environmental programs; go to www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com or www.greenhotels.com for more green options.

Go paperless with your PDA.

Save a tree — and your back — by downloading travel guides, maps, and even boarding passes onto a handheld device. Lonely Planet sells travel content in “Pick & Mix Chapters” downloads, allowing you to buy only the information you need and view it on your PDA, and Rough Guides provides free downloads of cultural audio “iToors” for iPods. On domestic flights, Air Canada offers paperless tickets featuring scannable electronic bar codes that are sent to your cell phone or PDA. Continental Airlines is currently testing this technology.

Streamline your suitcase.

Even 10 extra pounds per passenger translates into the need for extra fuel, which can then lead to more carbon dioxide emissions. Pack light.

Towel off twice.

Use only the towels you need, hang them to dry, then reuse. Likewise, why have your sheets changed every day? Leave a note for housekeeping to skip changing the sheets and towels. Opting to use them again can save up to 30 gallons of water a day.

Bring your own shampoo — or take theirs.

Hotel soaps and bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and lotion that have been opened — even if just for one use — are routinely tossed in the trash. Carry your own amenities in reusable travel containers. If you open one of theirs, toss it in your bag to be finished off at home and refilled for future trips.

Eat locally.

An American meal involves food flown in from, on average, five different countries, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Minimize food-transport pollution by choosing a restaurant that utilizes regional ingredients.

Drink locally.

If the tap water is safe, go ahead and drink it. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, while public water gets tested for contaminants thousands of times a year, bottled-water facilities may not test their products as frequently. Plus, a discarded plastic bottle can take years to biodegrade.

Walk, ride, or rent a hybrid.

Too far to walk? Hop on a bus or the subway. Most cities’ transportation-authority websites have a route-planner function; also try www.hopstop.com or www.subwaynavigator.com. If your trip requires a car, rent a hybrid (choose “hybrid” under “car options” at www.kayak.com) to reduce emissions by up to one-half. The next best option? Find a “green” car at www.hybrids.orbitz.com.

1. Have a discussion on expected behavior prior to the trip, as well as a little refresher before boarding.

2. A bag stuffed with essential treats. In our case, that would be Teddy Grahams.

3. Pack plenty of books, stickers, paper, crayons, magazines, and anything else that can be read, or incorporated into an easy mess-free craft project. Remember, obviously, no scissors.

4. Fresh out of craft ideas? Here’s an easy one! Bring a fine point Sharpie marker and allow your children to – just this once – add moustaches to all the faces in the in-flight magazine. Or blackened teeth. Or both! Hey, go wild (quietly, and to yourself)!

5. Three words: Portable. DVD. Player.

6. Fly a kid friendly airline like Frontier, JetBlue, or Virgin with seat-back televisions. There’s almost always a channel with children’s programming.

7. Request a window seat so your child can look out and lean at will without disturbing other passengers.

8. Never do early boarding. The less time on board, the better. Sitting around, twiddling thumbs (or using up all your games and activities before you even take off) while you wait for the plane to fill up will probably take longer than you think.

9. Don’t hand out all the toys at once. Conserve what’s out and for as long as you can. Who knows? You might not even make it through the entire bag of tricks, which can be a real bonus on the trip home.

10. For smaller children (under one year), try using a Boppy pillow on your lap, to fill that scary gap between your lap and the seat in front of you.

11. For the slightly older kids, who may potentially taunt one another: Pay them off! $5 an hour, $1, a quarter, whatever you think sounds about right. Personally, my mother would clutch her pearls at the suggestion that she pay her children to behave, but hey. I’m certainly not above it. Says the person who suggested that one, “We used this trick when going to Disneyworld, and they only lost one hour’s worth of bribes.” See?

12. Let them stay up a little later the night before the flight, or wake up very early the day of. Once onboard, bring blankets and pillows and let them catch up on sleep.

13. Still in the sippy cup years? When the beverage cart comes ’round your way, ask the flight attendant to fill up those sippy cups instead of plastic cups that tend to spill.

14. See other children acting up on your flight? Remember to thank your own for not doing that, and for setting a good example.

15. If all else fails, and your child cries excessively or rubs an open pudding cup into your seat mate’s face or something horrible, bring along little I’m-sorry gifts to “bribe”/”win over” your fellow passengers. A $5 Starbucks card, a box of chocolates, etc.