The subject almost never comes up anymore. But when it does, there’s a long pause in the conversation. Yes, I’m on the road with three kids for more than 350 days a year — a single parent traveling with three teenagers.
There’s a lost art to doing a road stop. And that’s a shame since road trips are a time-honored American tradition. Shouldn’t road stops get a little respect too?But they are not. People don’t plan their road stops like they should, they show little or no discrimination about where they pull over, and it ends up being all about the destination, not the journey. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Toxic people are everywhere — even on vacation. Or maybe I should say especially on vacation. I know, because I’ve survived several trips in which behavior problems on vacation threatened to make the journey miserable for everyone.
Oahu is a one-week destination. As in, it takes one week before my kids and I run out of things to do and fall into a predictable cycle of visiting the beach, driving to Foodland for groceries, and coming home to make dinner and watch whatever’s on Netflix.
From booking the cheapest place to ignoring the fine print in the property description, I’ve made so many vacation rental mistakes that I could write a book about them. For now, an article will have to do.
A fruit picking vacation may be among the most adventurous and creative family getaways. I know because I’m looking at a cluster of ripening bananas on my kitchen counter that we harvested. Our visit to Hilo, Hawaii, just turned into what my eldest son calls a fruit safari.
It’s way too many bananas for a family of four, and I’m not entirely sure what to do with them.
If you haven’t heard about the infamous airline separation algorithm yet, here’s what you need to know: It’s a seat allocation program that allegedly keeps families apart on the plane, prodding parents into paying more for advance seat assignments.
One year ago, Away is Home launched as a weekly column. (Happy Birthday, Away is Home!) And in that time, one question keeps coming up from readers: “Chris, what’s the best family travel advice you have?”
