Nancy Schretter: You need to consider what travel documents you might need when going on a family vacation. First of all if you're going internationally make sure, to have your passports and make sure that they are up-to-date and set. Make sure, you have passports for every member of your family.

In addition bring with you any insurance documents that you might have such as health insurance and other things so that you know what's going on. If you have an older family member going with you such as a grand parent, make sure they bring a list of all of their medications with them.

Sometimes if something happens overseas, people need to know exactly what medications people are on, and you need to have that list to be able to give to the hospital.

If you are bringing along a child's friend on a vacation, you need to have forms as well. Yes if the child's friends who give you a notarized statement, giving you permission to do medical treatment and also giving you permission to travel with that child on your trip.

Many destinations especially those overseas and also cruise lines require that before coming on board or entering that country. If you're a single parent traveling overseas, you will need special documents as well. There is a great site called singleparenttravel that can help you with that online.

You'll need to have documents from your ex-spouse letting you have permission to take your child overseas. It's also a wise idea to have those with you if you're traveling in other areas as well. If you're married, but your traveling singly with one of your children, make sure that you have those forms as well, if you are going out of the country.

Some destinations such as Mexico will not allow you to enter the country, unless you have a notarized statement from your spouse saying its okay for you to take your child 18 or under that's going out of the country.

Travel insurance is something that every family should consider purchasing when going on a family vacation. What is travel insurance? Travel insurance will protect you from a lot of unseen or circumstances that can be very difficult to handle on a family vacation and will help you to protect your money, and protect your investment from your family vacation.

If your child gets sick prior to going and you can't go; your travel insurance will probably pay for that. If you go on a trip and you are traveling by air, and your flight is cancelled and you are stuck in a city, where you don't have a connecting flight for a while, travel insurance will help you with that. If you are in a city and you're at a beach vacation and your child has an accident and you need to go to the hospital, travel insurance will help you with that as well.

Really important things to consider are make sure, that you understand what you're getting with each type of travel insurance you are considering and read the fine print. Know what's covered and what's not covered.

For instance, if swine flu shows up in Mexico, you are not covered because you are afraid to go, that is not covered by travel insurance. However, if you get sick with the swine flu and you need to quarantine, that is covered. So you need to understand what you're buying and what's worth it for you, when you are purchasing travel insurance.

We really suggest that families buy travel insurance or consider it carefully when planning their family trip.