Which type of road trip does your family take?

Liz Hough on

When my husband had the opportunity again to speak at a conference in Charleston, South Carolina we instantly decided to turn it into a family vacation.  We had taken the family two years ago when he had the opportunity to speak and we had so much fun.  Deciding to go again was an easy decision.  The tough part was getting there.  Flying to Charleston from Pittsburgh is easy as they now have direct, non-stop flights, but we decided to take an adventure.  A road-trip adventure. 

What comes with a road-trip?  There are two ways to do a road trip.  The first I like to call the “Just Go” road-trip which doesn’t involve much planning at all.  If you don’t like to plan, then this may be the option for you.  The “Just Go” road-trip involves leaving very early in the morning, way before the kids are even awake.  You can leave at 1am or 4am, just anytime before the kids would wake up for the day.  The night before you simply put the kids into their clothes they are going to wear the next day and let them sleep in them for the night.  When it comes time to leave, you move them from their beds into the car and “Just Go!” 

With the “Just Go” road-trip you can plan to stop along the way or you can drive straight through depending on how long it will take you to get to your destination.  Driving straight through is the goal, but as with many kids, the constant asking “are we there yet” can be a big reason to add in a stop or two along the way.  My recommendation for kids six years of age and under is to try to stop every four hours when they are awake.  Four-hours is a good amount of time that allows you to cover a large distance.  This amount of time also helps get the kids out of the car to expend some of that built up energy. 

The other type of road trip I like to call the “Scenic” road trip.  With the “Scenic” road trip you build in more places to stop and see various sites along the way.  This type of road trip takes a lot more advanced planning.  The planning that is involved includes mapping out places to visit along the way with shorter breaks in between, usually 2 to 3 hours in the car before a stop.  Each stop is something fun for the kids to do like a zoo, museum, battlefield, caverns, a farm, an Amish market, or the world’s biggest ball of yarn. 

Picture: Pixabay

The “Scenic” road trip also involves sleeping at various motels and hotels along the way until you get to your final destination.  Depending on the areas you will be stopping, you want to make sure the accommodations receive good reviews from other families who have stayed there.  You don’t necessarily have to stay in the same area as one of your stops.  If you plan to be in that area late, then it is a good idea to stay there.  If you decide that you want your road trip to be a “Scenic” road trip, you can easily map it out on Google Maps and find local hotels and sights.  You can also contact a travel agent to help you come up with a plan. 

You can also do a combination of “Just Go” and “Scenic” road trips.  There really is no right or wrong when planning a road trip as long as you are planning it to fit your family’s needs.  Just remember, Life is Better Traveling!

Stay tuned next month for more on my road trip adventure to Charleston and my family’s adventure.

Fill out the form below to get started planning your next European Vacation.  Looking for a motor coach tour, self-drive, or private tour, we can easily put together the perfect European vacation for you and your family’s needs. 

When you book your vacation with a member of the Life is Better Traveling Team, you are supporting local families and business.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 4 years, we have become an AMAZING travel agency due to your support!

Next up…Charleston, S.C.

Liz Hough on

If you haven’t been, here’s why you must go!

 

Our family recently took a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina.  The last time my husband and I were in Charleston we didn’t have any children and we enjoyed the pleasures of Down Home Southern Cooking.  We walked around the romantic waterfront and sat in front of the iconic Pineapple fountain while watching the sunset project beautiful hues of pink and purple onto the bay.  We walked around the entire historic district taking in the sights of various mansions, quaint alleyways, and hearing ghost tales of years that have gone by.   One thing about Charleston is that the historic district remains the same, not much had changed in the past 10 years since we were there last.  Except, this time we had two little ones with us. 

 

We didn’t have much time at the Pineapple fountain before one of the children had a meltdown and didn’t want to get a picture as a family, but we tried anyway.  The meltdown probably came from a long day of excitement, playfulness, and good food as there is a lot of amazing things to do in Charleston with children.  Every day the kids were exhausted, ate well, and couldn’t wait to get out of the hotel the next day to see where we were going next.  One thing to make sure of when you travel to Charleston with the kids is to make sure they get a good, hearty breakfast.  There are so many amazing breakfast places in the historic district and we found them by simply asking our concierge where to eat.  There is an amazing place on Meeting Street called Toast that has homemade biscuits the size of my hand.  They may be large but they are not heavy. We visited Toast on several occasions as they had some interesting breakfast items that we wanted to try, and the food was consistently good. 

Anywhere we travel, if there is an aquarium or zoo, it is a must stop on our itinerary.  It had been 10 years since I was last at the Charleston Aquarium so I didn’t recall exactly what was there.  Our first stop was to the outdoor enclosure which was a nice surprise.  It was a large pool containing several rays.  If the rays come close to the surface of the pool you can actually touch them.  Now if you have recently seen Finding Dory, there is a part in the movie where the animals in the “touch pool” don’t really liked to be “touched” and when the kids put their hands in the water they all start to find hiding places.  I felt like this scene played out when we were at this pool as the rays clearly didn’t want us to touch them because they all stayed at the bottom!  There were two windows on the bottom of the pool that you could look in and see the rays swimming around happily and that kept the kids occupied for some time. 

 

 

 

Inside the aquarium they have several great exhibits including their large tank with a sea turtle that is my size in height.  They put on various educational seminars about every half hour at various exhibits throughout the aquarium and these seminars really kept the interest of the kids.  One seminar was about alligators and crocodiles, and at the end of the seminar our children actually had the opportunity to pet an alligator, which was a huge excitement for a 5-year-old.  After talking with another employee about what fish and rays eat, she gave each of us a small cup with uncooked shrimp.  The kids put the shrimp on the end of a rod and then they feed the rays.  This was a interesting experience because the rays come up to the glass and use the glass as guidance to find the food.  They are quite aggressive when it comes to food and the large rays would push the smaller rays to the side to get the food.  Again, pure excitement for the kids!  I would highly recommend a half-day to do the aquarium, and try to schedule it so you can see the seminars.

 

 

 

The Children’s Museum of Charleston is another must when visiting Charleston with the kids.  It is all one floor and there are seven large rooms each with a different theme.  I personally like the castle themed room, but the pirate ship was a huge hit with the kids.  The seven rooms are: the arts and crafts room, the castle room, water play room, large building blocks room, pirate ship room, the baby play area, and grocery shopping room.  Each room was designed to have the kids engaged in some type of activity and they were able to dress up in various characters in some of the rooms.  It was fun to see the kids dressed up like pirates and running around a pirate ship yelling at each.  I also enjoyed the grocery store because the kids have a shopping list and then they must go around and pick up the items.  Once they have retrieved all of the items they bring them to the kids sized check-out line and the parents can scan their items.  The kids pay with fake money and they can bag their own items.   

 

 

 

If you have little ones under the age of two, there is a whole area that is enclosed so the kids can’t get out.  They have soft pillows, slides, climbing stairs, and big foam blocks for the little ones to play.  The time flew by so fast when we were here that we didn’t get to go outside to ride the big fire truck or do any of the other outdoor activities.  I would highly recommend the Children’s Museum for either a half-day or if the weather is nice and you can play outside, a good 6 hours. 

 

Check out next week’s ezine when I talk about how to survive at a plantation with kids!

 

Fill out the form below to get started planning your next European Vacation.  Looking for a motor coach tour, self-drive, or private tour, we can easily put together the perfect European vacation for you and your family’s needs. 

When you book your vacation with a member of the Life is Better Traveling Team, you are supporting local families and business.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 4 years, we have become an AMAZING travel agency due to your support!

 

Traveling to Charleston with Kids!

Mary Yohannan on

Charleston, South Carolina

If you haven’t been, why you must go!

 Our family recently took a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina.  The last time my husband and I were in Charleston we didn’t have any children and we enjoyed the pleasures of Down Home Southern Cooking.  We walked around the romantic waterfront and sat in front of the iconic Pineapple fountain while watching the sunset project beautiful hues of pink and purple onto the bay.  We walked around the entire historic district taking in the sights of various mansions, quaint alleyways, and hearing ghost tales of years that have gone by.   One thing about Charleston is that the historic district remains the same, not much had changed in the past 10 years since we were there last.  Except, this time we had two little ones with us. 

We didn’t have much time at the Pineapple fountain before one of the children had a meltdown and didn’t want to get a picture as a family, but we tried anyway.  The meltdown probably came from a long day of excitement, playfulness, and good food as there is a lot of amazing things to do in Charleston with children.  Every day the kids were exhausted, ate well, and couldn’t wait to get out of the hotel the next day to see where we were going next.  One thing to make sure of when you travel to Charleston with the kids is to make sure they get a good, hearty breakfast.  There are so many amazing breakfast places in the historic district and we found them by simply asking our concierge where to eat.  There is an amazing place on Meeting Street called Toast that has homemade biscuits the size of my hand.  They may be large but they are not heavy. We visited Toast on several occasions as they had some interesting breakfast items that we wanted to try, and the food was consistently good.

Anywhere we travel, if there is an aquarium or zoo, it is a must stop on our itinerary.  It had been 10 years since I was last at the Charleston Aquarium so I didn’t recall exactly what was there.  Our first stop was to the outdoor enclosure which was a nice surprise.  It was a large pool containing several rays.  If the rays come close to the surface of the pool you can actually touch them.  Now if you have recently seen Finding Dory, there is a part in the movie where the animals in the “touch pool” don’t really liked to be “touched” and when the kids put their hands in the water they all start to find hiding places.  I felt like this scene played out when we were at this pool as the rays clearly didn’t want us to touch them because they all stayed at the bottom!  There were two windows on the bottom of the pool that you could look in and see the rays swimming around happily and that kept the kids occupied for some time. 

Inside the aquarium they have several great exhibits including their large tank with a sea turtle that is my size in height.  They put on various educational seminars about every half hour at various exhibits throughout the aquarium and these seminars really kept the interest of the kids.  One seminar was about alligators and crocodiles, and at the end of the seminar our children actually had the opportunity to pet an alligator, which was a huge excitement for a 5-year-old.  After talking with another employee about what fish and rays eat, she gave each of us a small cup with uncooked shrimp.  The kids put the shrimp on the end of a rod and then they feed the rays.  This was a interesting experience because the rays come up to the glass and use the glass as guidance to find the food.  They are quite aggressive when it comes to food and the large rays would push the smaller rays to the side to get the food.  Again, pure excitement for the kids!  I would highly recommend a half-day to do the aquarium, and try to schedule it so you can see the seminars.

The Children’s Museum of Charleston is another must when visiting Charleston with the kids.  It is all one floor and there are seven large rooms each with a different theme.  I personally like the castle themed room, but the pirate ship was a huge hit with the kids.  The seven rooms are: the arts and crafts room, the castle room, water play room, large building blocks room, pirate ship room, the baby play area, and grocery shopping room.  Each room was designed to have the kids engaged in some type of activity and they were able to dress up in various characters in some of the rooms.  It was fun to see the kids dressed up like pirates and running around a pirate ship yelling at each.  I also enjoyed thegrocery store because the kids have a shopping list and then they must go around and pick up the items.  Once they have retrieved all of the items they bring them to the kids sized check-out line and the parents can scan their items.  The kids pay with fake money and they can bag their own items.   

If you have little ones under the age of two, there is a whole area that is enclosed so the kids can’t get out.  They have soft pillows, slides, climbing stairs, and big foam blocks for the little ones to play.  The time flew by so fast when we were here that we didn’t get to go outside to ride the big fire truck or do any of the other outdoor activities.  I would highly recommend the Children’s Museum for either a half-day or if the weather is nice and you can play outside, a good 6 hours. 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out next week’s ezine when I talk about how to survive at a plantation with kids!

Click Here to check out the Life is Better Traveling Team!

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Congratulations to Mary! 

She recently earned the distinguished Certified Travel Associate (CTA) designation from the Travel Institute, the travel industry’s oldest education organization.  She completed a comprehensive exam-based training program that demonstrates extensive industry knowledge and experience, and she must continue to fulfill stringent education credit requirements each year. 

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Have a Great Week!