5 Tips for Experiencing England
In June of 2017 I traveled to England, with a group of High-School students to explore British Literature and Culture. I traveled to Oxford, Stratford, Bath, Warwick, Canterbury, London, etcI. was...
Read More 2 min read
A Step That Took 250 Years
You could say this vacation trip actually started over 250 years ago. That’s when my eighth great grandfather (Granddad Matthew) came to America. I bet you are saying…WHAT? Well, his life story...
Read More 3 min read
Undressed in Atami
Our loaf-shaped tour bus wove up hilly roads to the New Akao Hotel, located in Atami of Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture. Its snow-white buildings had tucked themselves into leafy pockets on the rocky...
Read More 3 min read
Life Hack: De-Stress By Celebrating Family Holidays At Sea
Thinking of spending the holidays (any holiday) on a family cruise vacation; here's my report on the stress-free pluses and minor minuses of cruising over an Easter school break. As much as I love to...
Read More 7 min read
Dying Legacies and A Dusty Attic: The Lost History of Hungary
One thing Andrew Pongratz is notoriously famous for is his horrendous driving. On his visits from Arizona, he would occasionally drive me to basketball practice, involving serious bumper riding and cruising...
Read More 3 min read
Loving The Unloved: I Can Make A Difference
Large innocent eyes stare at me solemnly, faded from hopelessness and caked with the grit which came from years of living in garbage. Underneath the grime, I notice...
Read More 3 min read
Best Wine Country Family Attractions – Sonoma And Napa With Kids
If you're visiting California's Napa Valley or nearby Sonoma...
Read More 6 min read
Restricted By The Lens
It was just yesterday that I was cleaning and came upon a large cardboard box marked pictures. As I opened it up, I looked at the heap of scrapbooks and bundles of photos randomly scattered...
Read More 3 min read
St. Croix, USVI
It was not the dream trip we thought we had planned. Even still in the plane to St. Croix, USVI, I had expected to...
Read More 2 min read
Family Destination News from IPW
For Family Travel Forum, the IPW travel convention which brought together 6,300 buyers, sellers and media covering international travel to the United States, was an opportunity to understand the facts...
Read More 5 min read
Short Breaks And Weekend Getaways From Greater Los Angeles
The neighboring Pacific Ocean, lush farmland, arid desert and snow-capped mountains give southern California families plenty of options for weekends away. "California, Here I Come!" may be the cry of...
Read More 4 min read
Kaanapali Beach Hotel, Maui, Hawaii
The Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, one of many resorts on the 3-mile-long Ka'anapali Beach, is so authentically Hawaiian that families return over and again, as if to visit ohana (family). Over several...
Read More 4 min read
10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Wales
Wales, a small country in the United Kingdom (along with Scotland, England and Northern Ireland), offers a great diversity of surprising experiences. It feels comfortable, safe, and familiar -- yet foreign...
Read More 4 min read
Making Island Connections on a Caribbean Cruise
Every year my family and I take a cruise ship from Miami, Florida around the many islands of the Caribbean. My family is Afro-Caribbean, and we feel very strongly about our roots in the islands. Traveling...
Read More 4 min read
5 Reasons Families Favor Airbnb Vacations
Everyone looks forward to a family vacation, but planning for it, especially when there are so many new choices in transportation, lodging, reservations and more, can be overwhelming. After the decision...
Read More 3 min read
Shoot for the Stars
Every family has their ups and downs. Every family is different, every family loves in different ways. Every family is at least slightly crazy, and if this in't true for your family, you haven't spent...
Read More 3 min read
The Paper Airplane Wars
A week. That’s all I had: a week to experience a new culture, a new world, a new perspective. I assumed that the geography, culture, and people of other countries would be wildly different. What else...
Read More 3 min read
An Unexpected Present
As we approach our destination of Lake Tahoe, California, a drastic shift from our home town gradually emerges. The tall buildings which ruled the city are replaced with densely packed fir trees, stretched...
Read More 2 min read
Like a Scooby-Doo Cartoon
I half expected a monster with matted green fur wearing a sombrero to scare me just like out of a Scooby-Doo cartoon. Perched on a two-foot wide stone ledge with no guardrail, I gazed at ancient carvings...
Read More 2 min read
The Korean Summer Sun
The smell; that’s the first thing I noticed when my plane touched down in South Korea on July 17, 2016. The smell was nothing like I’d ever experienced before,...
Read More 3 min read
Adventures in Aspen
I'd say that nothing can really change you like travel can. I was sixteen years old, teetering on the edge of elated freedom and terrifying reality. I had never flown without my parents before,...
Read More 2 min read
Roadtrip to Friendship
On June 30 of 2016, I left my home in Washington State to go on a two-week adventure with my grandparents. For me, the main goal of the trip was to meet my best friend in person, for the first time...
Read More 3 min read
Why Tourists Shouldn’t Be Tourists
I knew from the beginning that my itinerary would not consist of sunny days spent lounging by the pool, coconut slushy in hand and sunscreen smeared sunglasses perched on my head. Despite my frequent...
Read More 3 min read
A Muggy, Mesmerizing Madness: Airports
I am not an avid traveler. I fly occasionally--once or twice a year, sometimes not at all. I wish it was more. My family always drove wherever we went, enduring the cramped car trips to cut expenses....
Read More 2 min read
Best Family Activities in Victoria, British Columbia
Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria hits scenic and culinary sweet spots, balancing leisurely outdoor activities like whale watching with cultural offerings such...
Read More 5 min read
The Touch of Magic
As soon as I walked in, I immediately regretted it. Cobwebs were dangling off broken chandeliers and spooky music hummed in the background. Dim lights gave the room an orange glow, and everything looked...
Read More 2 min read
The Sovereign Joy
I couldn’t daydream in Kampala. Getting somewhere required all my concentration, patience, and if I failed to stay watchful, too much money! The clammy streets of Uganda’s capital city were ringing...
Read More 2 min read
Where To Find Me
The most free twenty four hours I ever experienced in my life were spent on a cramped train barreling along the coast of Vietnam. I, and fourteen other teenagers, slept 4 to a car with our luggage as...
Read More 2 min read
Baby Equipment Rental on Arrival
By serving tiny travelers and their parents from coast to coast, baby gear rental companies know what babies and toddlers need to travel in comfort and style, so take advantage of them and save on checked...
Read More 5 min read
Mockingbird’s Call to Humanity
It was blasted cold, and being the Texas girl I am, I was bundled in layers of thick jackets and mittens. After having waited in a long line outside and then confronted by a picky squad of security, I...
Read More 2 min read
Weekends Far Away In Abingdon, Virginia
How does Abingdon, Virginia make you feel both a thousand miles away and at home at the same time? Maybe it was the blind...
Read More 3 min read
Cleveland!
As we traveled across the sleepy Ohio landscape, no one imagined the history we were about to encounter. We made our way through the tree lined streets till we were greeted by Alan Canfora, a self proclaimed...
Read More 2 min read
Shoebox Campout – The Things A Person Will Do When They Are Hungry
There is an annual boy scout campout my troop does every year called Shoebox Campout. Of all the trips that our troops does in the year, this is one of the most challenging. For one weekend,...
Read More 3 min read
Lost in Iceland
One year ago I had the opportunity to journey to Iceland with my father in hopes of finding an adventure. Beside the island’s infamous volcanic eruptions and music from Bjork, Iceland is home to a...
Read More 2 min read
We Are the Lucky Ones
Growing up in an indian family, traveling the almost 20 hour journey to India, was always sought out as a long and tiring one. As a child, my sister and I would dread the journey to the motherland because...
Read More 3 min read
A Chihuly Summer in Gardens of Glass
Through October 29, the New York Botanical Garden will be showcasing more than 20 beautiful installations by world-renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Chihuly, sponsored...
Read More 4 min read
Tips for Family Travel in Japan
I have traveled with my children to this far-off country on two occasions and want to share tips for family travel in Japan. Specifically, I took my daughter, Brianna (at age 6 and 8) to Japan twice, and...
Read More 4 min read
Tech Infused Holiday Presents for Travelers
With luggage being rethought by crowd-funded entrepreneurs, and technology infusing all aspects of travelers' essentials, we surfed around and tested some of the latest products to bring you fresh picks...
Read More 4 min read
Solace on a Roller Coaster
Here I was. The moment I had always dreaded, but simultaneously looked forward to - riding a roller coaster. Before me was Expedition Everest, Disney’s behemoth of a coaster, situated in a mountain modeled...
Read More 2 min read
Outstanding Family Vacations at Martinhal’s Portuguese Resorts
The proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention” came to my mind when I met Chitra Stern, the founder, along with her husband, Roman, of the Martinhal...
Read More 5 min read
The Blessed and The Ravaged
As an American, I am extravagantly blessed with comforts most of the world cannot even imagine. I often find myself hiding from this world inside an impenetrable bubble, a bubble...
Read More 3 min read
Bryce Canyon And Zion National Parks
Bryce Canyon and Zion: their names are known by every family contemplating a national parks road trip because of their unusual geological formations. Along the far West edge of the Colorado...
Read More 4 min read
Small Ship Cruising with Families
I have been on three cruises: one with a traditional, large cruise line and two with small ship companies. Yes, big ships offer swimming pools, rock climbing walls, and teen lounges. But...
Read More 3 min read
June Values for Babies and Dads at Smugglers Notch Vermont
Parents with infants and toddlers should take advantage of June savings at Vermont's Smugglers' Notch Resort to renew romance and get some outdoors activity into their relationship....
Read More 2 min read
The Big Island, Hawaii Attractions
Bring the family to Hawai'i, the biggest of the Hawaiian Islands, for a taste of volcanoes, some outdoor adventures, history, pure culture and just to have great fun. Also known as the "Island of Adventure,"...
Read More 7 min read
Outdoor Adventure At Glacier Bay National Park
Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska welcomes more than 400,000 visitors every year, even though the park cannot be accessed by car. This UNESCO World Heritage Site -- a body of water and coastline crusted...
Read More 3 min read
Introducing Rocky Mountain National Park
More than 415 square-miles of rock-ribbed wilderness draws nearly three million visitors to Rocky Mountain...
Read More 2 min read
Alaska Overland At Denali National Park
Since its discovery over a century ago, Denali has seen many hopeful explorers braving its hard terrain. From the early miners who dug through tough rock to gold seekers during the Gold Rush and mountaineers...
Read More 3 min read
