Tag: road trip

Should You Drive Or Fly For Your Vacation?

This is a question we hear quite often when we fly to nearby locations. “Why didn’t you just drive?” It’s a legitimate question and I agree there are several advantages to driving in comparison to flying. You don’t have to deal with the hassle of the airport. You aren’t on such a strict schedule, so if you’re running late you won’t miss your flight. You can bring everything you want with you, including food, clothes and your pillow without worrying about how heavy your suitcase will be. But driving also has its own perils, since it’s no fun to be sitting on a highway in a traffic jam or trying to drive through a blinding rain (or snow) storm.

There are several factors that can influence your decision. The cost of flying vs. driving is an important one. This is compounded if you have a family because, for example, four airline tickets cost twice as much as two tickets. If you drive, you’d also have to figure out the cost of gasoline and the wear and tear on your car (or the cost of a rental car if you don’t trust your vehicle for a long drive).

Continue reading “Should You Drive Or Fly For Your Vacation?”

This Perfect Road Trip Will Keep You In 70 Degree Weather The Whole Time

Who doesn’t love a road trip? And why shouldn’t we? The United States has 164,000 miles of highway, 58 national parks, and thousands of roadside attractions ranging from dinosaurs in the desert of California to Hillbilly Mini Golf in Tennessee to a (possibly haunted) cave off Rt. 66 to the infamous South of The Border (right over the state line in South Carolina).

One potential problem with road trips is the weather. Depending on where you’re going and when you’re going there, severe heat or cold could put a real damper on your trip, especially any time you have to go outside. Well, one smart Redditor has made the ultimate road trip – one that not only could take you a year to complete, but will keep you in roughly 70 degree weather for the whole trip.

Continue reading “This Perfect Road Trip Will Keep You In 70 Degree Weather The Whole Time”

What To Do If You’re On A Road Trip With Your Pet & Need An Emergency Vet

A few years ago, Joe and I used a couple we selected from Trusted Housesitters to watch our house and dog when we were going to be out of town for 3 weeks. We had a huge list of “dog things” written for them, including info on food and medications, favorite toys, etc. We also included her medical history and contact information for both her regular vet and our local after-hours emergency vet of choice, in case something happened and she needed medical treatment while we were away.

Meanwhile, fast forward to today and I saw one of those realty TV shows about an animal medical center and a new patient they had who was there with its people while they were on vacation. That got me to wondering what’s out there to help you if you’re traveling with your pet and you have a pet emergency? How do you know where to go?

Turns out, not surprisingly, there’s a website that can help!

Continue reading “What To Do If You’re On A Road Trip With Your Pet & Need An Emergency Vet”

ROAD TRIP! Easy Ways To Find Out What’s At The Next Exit

Years ago, before smart phones were a thing, you were fairly limited in finding out what was coming up next on those long highways. Oh sure, you’d see the blue highway signs that would tell you the next rest stop was in 27 miles, or there was an amusement park, a KOA Campground and a Wawa at exit 7A. Your AAA triptych would give you some idea of what was on the way, too, but overall you were pretty limited when it came to details, especially if you were further out than just a couple of miles away.

Back in the 90s, Joe and I, along with our friend Steve, used to do a lot of road trips. We all lived in the NY/NJ/Philadelphia area at the time and visited Niagara Falls, Williamsburg VA, Cape May NJ, Cedar Point, a Disney convention in MA, and a bunch of other places. Steve had a book called The Next Exit, which had a listing of everything at, you guessed it, the next exit. Food, gas, lodging, camping, shopping, you name it. Let me tell you, that book was super important to us when we did road trips, because it had listings for every exit of every U.S. Interstate Highway in the contiguous United States, so we could know specifically where to find a Wendy’s or Holiday Inn Express (Joe may have already been doing the “points” thing), or if the next gas station was a name brand or not.

It wasn’t until the advent of smart phones that this information was at your fingertips, and even now, if you’re in a remote area without much signal and no way to become your own hot spot, you might still be out of luck. Plus, of course, you have to know where to look – I mean, if you’re on the I-90 in Anystate USA, have a picky eater in the car and want to know what restaurants are at a rest stop 2 hours ahead of you so you can plan lunch, where do you look to find out? Well, as the (not so) old saying goes, “There’s an app for that!” (and sometimes a book, too!)
Continue reading “ROAD TRIP! Easy Ways To Find Out What’s At The Next Exit”

Important Things To Bring On A Road Trip (Or Even Just For A Long Ride In The Car)

Who doesn’t love a road trip? Your spend hours in the car, talking, singing (OK maybe arguing a little bit here and there), seeing parts of the country that you may have never seen before.

We’ve given some advice for road trips in the past, from how to find out what restaurants, gas stations, hotels, etc. will be at the next exit, to learning what kind of interesting things will be along your route, to the pros and cons of the various map/GPS programs out there and even what to bring and NOT to bring in your suitcase. But what you bring specifically for the actual road trip can be just as important as all of those and, in some extreme cases, might just save your life.

Continue reading “Important Things To Bring On A Road Trip (Or Even Just For A Long Ride In The Car)”