Family Road Trip Advice From a Former Full-Time Traveler

This morning I'm coming to you just back from two family road trips in the span of four days ready to share a little something I've learned this week about family road trips ⤵

The very best road trips are so often the spur-of-the-moment, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, impromptu ones.

The ones that start when you wake up one morning with a wild streak and start asking, "What if we . . . ?"

The ones where you make last-minute reservations, forget your phone charger and toothpaste, and end up back in your home driveway at 2:30 a.m. spent, exhausted, and full of good memories.

The ones where the magic happens.

In my younger years, I wasn't a big fan of these kinds of trips. I wanted to have every detail planned out, every moment accounted for, every dollar budgeted (and certainly everyone's toothpaste packed days in advance). But if traveling full-time for 7 years taught me anything, it's this ⤵

We should always leave a little room for magic.

So this week, after taking a two-day road trip with my kiddos down to Portland, Maine to see a few colleges and then taking another 12-hour excursion two days later down to Boston, Massachusetts with my husband to do some unplanned car shopping—and encountering a little zing of magic and big family togetherness wins both times—I couldn't help but dig up some encouragement from the Togetherness Redefined archives to help you take a little trip of your own the next time the mood strikes you.

Here's the best I've got ⤵

#1 — Thoughts on the magic of family road-tripping (and my family's favorite travel movie)

#2 — Tips for roaming around a big city with kids

#3 — How to make hiking with kids good for family togetherness

#4 — Why national parks are magic for family adventures

#5 — Why I think travel is definitely NOT selfish

#6 — How to suck-proof your next family road trip

#7 — a link to the whole travel collection on the blog

I hope you find something in there that gives you that extra ounce of courage it takes to say YES next time and gets you out there having fun with your crew.

(By the way, can I just say how good it feels to be out there mostly mask-free now?! 🙌)


& one more very important thing. . .

To every woman who loves,
who extends herself for another,
who worries and nurtures and cares so much,
🌷
Happy Happy Mother's Day weekend.

I hope yours is filled with people you love and plenty of time, energy, money, and magic to do something you love with them.

Want more encouragement like this on the regular?

Hop into the email group today and chat with me — I’d love to hear from you!