Mom's Guide To Travel

Trip Planning, Expert Tips, and Fun Ideas For Family Travel.

What makes me a proud mom

I originally intended to write a post on what a fabulous Mother’s Day I had, doing a few of the things I really enjoy doing: traveling locally, spending time with my family, exploring new places, and sipping on wine. However, as I thought about the events of my day (and coincidentally, heard about a $50 blogging contest sponsored by UPrinting event printing services on the subject of being a Proud Mom -> my disclaimer) the focus of my intended words shifted. It was no longer about me, but about the two people that help to define this new role that I’m in – my two sons.
 
My boys   M day started off with a morning run and my husband’s request of my preferred activities for the day. I wasn’t clear about what I wanted to do exactly and I knew that my choices would be limited since it was so last minute. I thought about the things that I really love doing and worked my way from there, seeing how I might be able to get what I wanted for the day. My 3 favorite things are: traveling (duh), visiting the spa, and drinking wine. Aha! I had a plan. My idea for an awesome Mother’s Day was to attend church with my family, take a day trip to a local vineyard, and do a wine tasting while hubby entertained the kids in the car or in the fields. And that’s exactly what I did!
 
However, through the course of the day, my boys gave me the best mother’s day presents I could ask for and made me exceedingly proud:

  1. They were well-behaved the whole day!
  2. In the sanctuary, My 7 year old proclaimed that he wanted to be baptized again and give himself to Christ. (Wow! That one really caught me off guard and brought a smile to my face)
  3. My 3 year old who has limited verbal abilities demonstrated some new sounds and phrases and seemed more conversant than ever.
  4. My 7 year old took great interest in making sure I was happy and wanting to surprise me for the day–> a detour from the usual desires of shopping for Legos and focusing on himself.
  5. And last but not least, my oldest took a burning interest in photographing our day’s travel and exploration – something that he’s seen mommy do for the past couple of years. This was definitely my second proudest moment of the day, though by the end of the day my husband wanted to kick himself for buying our son the new camera as no stone was left un-photographed.
 
So, as you can see, I had several great reasons to feel like a proud mom on Mother’s Day. Little did I know that the day would wind up being less about me and more about them.
 
P.S. I couldn’t resist showing you a few of the other things that made me smile on Mother’s Day. Check out the gallery below:
 
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Freschetta Pizza By the Slice: Another quick pre-travel meal

The day before travel is always the storm before the calm around my house. So to make my life easier in the kitchen, I’m always looking for convenient meal ideas. However, sometimes I’m just not in the mood to cook or too busy. And I also don’t want to spend our precious vacation funds on takeout. Freshcetta’s Pizza by the Slice has just been added to my list of quick and easy pre-travel meal ideas. Here’s why:

  1. The pizza is inexpensive, helping you keep more of your vacation money in your pocket and not in take-out.
  2. Since our kids follow a gluten free diet, ordering a regular pizza pie just doesn’t make sense for our family. Now my husband and I can enjoy a Freschetta slice and not worry about waste and leftovers.
  3. It’s extremely convenient and well-portioned. You get 1 slice in the box and can either microwave or oven-bake for 18 minutes and you’re done. No messy clean up or over-sized pizza boxes to leave around while you’re away.
  4. Sometimes we all want something different on our pizza – my husband may prefer plain cheese whereas I prefer barbecue chicken. Now we can both have what we want, again with limited waste.
 Review
 
BBQ Chicken By the Slice
Freschetta's BBQ Chicken
  I tried the BBQ chicken recipe and it was perfect – not too sweet and not too salty. The toppings were good quality toppings – I had ample amount of chicken chunks, cheese and sauce and thankfully, nothing tasted processed. It all tasted very fresh. I chose to bake my slice in the oven for that crispy crunchy crust and it was delish! (Gosh I sound like a commercial) But seriously, it was a really nice slice of pizza. The crust was a little thicker than I’m used to but it wasn’t doughy and the topics were plentiful enough to balance it. I’d love to see a thinner crust option for those of us counting carbs.
Giveaway
Want your own slice? Enter the Freschetta By the Slice giveaway and you can get your own. It’s simple. Just leave a comment below noting your favorite flavor of pizza or a pre-travel meal idea of your own and that’s it! You’re in. One lucky randomly selected winner will receive a coupon for a complimentary By The Slice pizza as well as a 3 piece storage set. The contest runs from 12:01 am EST May 5, 2011 – 11:59pm EST May 6, 2011.
 
*Bonus*: Become a new follower of Mom’s Guide to Travel on Facebook and earn a second entry.

One last thing, the makers of Freschetta Pizza contacted me and provided me with products to review. However, I’m not a droid and the opinions, thoughts, and ideas in this post are strictly my own.

Affording Family Travel – Road Trip or Fly?

As my husband and I start thinking about our weekend getaways, I began to get curious to the price of taking a road trip with current gas prices. I have to admit that I was slightly annoyed to spend $64 the other day filling my gas tank although I know many people around the country have to spend a lot more.

Here is a sample price comparison chart of the cost of flying for a family of 4 vs. driving using various departures and destinations across the country.

FLy vs. Drive

Destination Departure Miles Flight for 4 Driving (Fuel)
San Diego San Francisco 500 $149/pp $596 $191.25(3 tanks)
San Antonio Dallas 278 $138/pp $552 $128 (2 tanks)
Charleston Baltimore 580 $280/pp $1120 $256 (4 tanks)
Norfolk New York 357 $228/pp $912 $128
Nantucket Baltimore 475 $447/pp $1788 $191.25
Fresno, CA Salt Lake City 815 $376/pp $1504 $320 (5 tanks)

So looking at these figures, rest assured that although gas prices have jumped significantly in the last few months and have compromised your leisurely driving, a road trip for a family of 4 is still significantly cheaper than flying everyone. Each method of transportation has its positives and negatives. Depending on your schedule, patience, time commitment, and goal for your family vacation, one mode may prove more beneficial than the other.

Parameters:
* Fuel totals calculated using current national average price of $3.72/gal for unleaded gas.
* Flights are based using economy airfare prices for a weekend departure.
* Friday Departure, Saturday Return; early summer; non-holiday weekend.
* Gas/mileage rate of 20mpg with a 17 gallon tank

Note:
* Prices for flights will vary depending on your travel flexibility. It’s cheaper to travel Mon-Thu vs. Fri-Sat, so keep that in mind when comparing the figures.
* The closer you are to the destinations, the cheaper your fuel costs will be and the more reasonable it would be for you to drive. Thus, I have tried to include a collection of popular family destinations.

If you want to do your own math, check out sites like:

www.distancebetweencities.net
http://www.travelmath.com
www.cheaptickets.com

The Spontaneity of Travel

One of the things I prided myself on prior to having kids was my spontaneity when it came to just about everything I did. It kept life interesting and kept me fulfilled. Now that I have a laundry basket full of responsibilities and obligations, the spontaneousness in me appears to be waning. In short, I over-think way too much. And honestly, sometimes it’s not that serious.

For instance, I’ve been back from my annual BFF getaway for a week and a half now and I just haven’t made the time to sit at the computer and do my review of our cruise on the Norwegian Sky. It’s not that I didn’t want to, it’s just that I’ve been running 60 mph since I’ve gotten back. Pictures are still on my camera, videos need to be uploaded and information shared. Deadlines, meetings, bills, Easter travel, and everything in between have derailed me. I’ve been thinking hard about a crafty post to write when all I should have done was just sit down at my computer as I am now and just write it.

If I thought long and hard about the places I’ve traveled to prior to traveling to them and the activities I’ve embarked in at some of those destinations, my life wouldn’t be colored with the memories of some of the best travel experiences a girl could ask for. Sometimes you have to just throw caution to the wind and just do it. Don’t over-think “Are the kids going to enjoy it?”, “What will they eat?”, “Is this the right time to go?” or “Is this the right place to go to?” – just go! Enjoy! Live, explore, adapt, learn! By all means, you should PREPARE but don’t get so lost in that pre-prep that you shy away from going past “GO”.

Life is short but regrets are LONG. Go somewhere different with your family and simply enjoy.

P.S. I promise I’ll get pictures up next week. Promise, promise, promise.

Travel Anxiety

Is it just me or do the nights before a big trip create a bit of anxiety that impede your sleep? Me of all people, talking about anxiety? Yes, me, consummate traveler, and professor of travel organization gets a tinge of anxiety before going on a trip. Thankfully enough, t’s not bad anxiety; it’s an immature type of kiddie anxiety. I’m not stressed about an upcoming trip, I’m actually overly excited about it. Maybe I should look for the opposite of anxiety, since that word’s root meaning is to vex or trouble and I, by no means feel troubled for an impending travel.

However, travel anxiety is real for many people. Either they’re afraid to fly or their afraid of tight spaces or they simply are troubled about traveling with their young child. Part of the issue is a simple need for more practice and addressing the fear head on. In the past where I’ve indeed felt anxious about traveling overseas with my oldest son when he was a baby, I redirected my thoughts and viewed our upcoming trip as more of an adventure than as an oncoming train wreck. I kept my mind focused on the end result instead of the small steps to get there. It’s the negative thoughts of a perceived future event that creates anxiety. When you can flip the switch on your mind that your upcoming travel will be fun, no matter what happens, you can allay those fears and get past all that anxiousness.

So, don’t think this:
Anxiety

Think this instead:
Happiness

What do you normally get anxious about?

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