A feature about sustainable and authentic destinations around the world.
Before you go on vacation, maybe you should ask yourself a legal travel question or two.
I’m not just talking about your passport or visa paperwork. A legal travel question could be something as simple as whether or not you’re allowed to pack a radar detector.
If the words “California” and “road trip” are synonymous for you, then we might be related. Every time I look at a map of the Golden State — San Diego in the south, Crescent City in the north, and Highway 1 tying the two together like a string gone partially slack — that’s what I think. Road trip! My kids agree.
It happened on a hot autumn afternoon as we cruised south toward Santa Rosa, Calif., on Highway 101 in a 24-foot Coachmen Leprechaun recreational vehicle.
“THUMP!” the camper went. Not like the kind of thump you make when you go over a speed bump. It was the thump of hitting something.
When it comes to vacation trouble, the worst is the kind that you don’t see coming. I’m talking about insects, rodents, and other creepy-crawlies that decide to join you on your getaway. Add kids to that mix and you have the soundtrack for a horror movie.
If you’re about to take a bucket-list drive up California’s Highway 1 to Monterey or down Florida’s Overseas Highway to Key West, you need to know this: These road trips are unlike any other drive you’ll take. And that’s especially true if you’re doing it with your family.
What’s your worst vacation experience ever? Was it a delayed flight, a missing hotel reservation, or maybe terrible weather that ruined everything? Or maybe it was someone who ruined it for you?
If you’re looking for a way to make your next family getaway special, don’t just consider where you go, but what you do when you get there. You can upgrade your next vacation with a private tour, sometimes at no extra cost.
The fog over Anacapa Island hung low and thick. “Is that where we’re going?” my daughter asked, waving at the white cliffs that floated in a flat calm Pacific. It was just another day island-hopping with my family — and the answer was “yes.”
You look like a tourist.
Yes, you, with the Hawaiian shirt, the sunburn, and the big camera around your neck.
Tourist. You.
If your family vacations are fraught with conflict, then welcome to the cold, hard reality of life on the road. But the fights aren’t inevitable, even if you’re traveling with kids who seem to thrive on chaos. Yes, you too can end a vacation conflict and keep the peace — maybe.
