Vacation Mavens: Recent Episodes

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Traveling with kids, parents, and grandparents can be one of the most rewarding experiences—but it also comes with its own set of challenges. In this episode of Vacation Mavens, Tamara and Kim are joined by travel expert Kirsten Maxwell, founder of Kids Are a Trip and Groups Are a Trip. With over 40 countries under her belt, Kirsten shares her best advice for planning stress-free multi-generational vacations, from cruises and resorts to vacation rentals and group tours.

Kirsten Maxwell is a travel expert and founder of Kids Are A Trip and Groups Are A Trip, who has turned her adventures across 40+ countries into inspiring travel resources. The best adventures happen when you travel with the people you love the most! You can follow Kirsten on Instagram and Facebook.

Whether you’re dreaming of a big family trip or just starting to plan, this episode is packed with tips on how to balance budgets, expectations, and activities so everyone—from toddlers to grandparents—has a memorable experience.

Episode Highlights: * What “multi-generational travel” really means and the different ways families are making it work: "skip gen" (aka grandparents and grandchildren), grandparents, parents and kids, extended family with cousins, aunts and uncles * Popular multi-gen trip types: cruises, vacation rentals, dude ranches, all-inclusive resorts, and group tours * Family meetings (and honest conversations about budget and expectations) are key before you book * Tips for managing food, chores, and shared expenses without stress * How to balance mobility needs, activity levels, and different interests across age groups * Favorite destinations for all-ages trips, including Lake Tahoe, Orlando, New York City, and all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean * Why cruises and resorts with strong kids’ clubs make trips easier for parents and grandparents * The benefits of guided family tours like Adventures by Disney, Tauck, and Backroads * Money-saving tip: ask about group rates when booking cruises, resorts, or tours * Practical advice for delegating trip planning (or hiring a travel advisor to take the pressure off) * Travel gear pick: crossbody phone case with strap for safety and convenience

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In this episode of Vacation Mavens, we are joined by adventure traveler and blogger Sherry Ott of OttsWorld. We dive into what it takes to plan a successful cycling vacation — everything from choosing destinations and tour types, to picking the right gear, training beforehand, and recovering well. Whether you're a biking newbie or looking to level up your next bike‐based trip, this one’s packed with insights and practical advice.

Sherry Ott is a long-time travel blogger (since 2006) specializing in adventure travel, especially for women. She started leading small group trips in 2018, including unique “cat lady tours” in Japan. Sherry began serious biking during the pandemic, upgrading to gravel bikes and exploring both domestic (U.S.) and international routes (Chile, France, Prince Edward Island). She is passionate about making bike travel accessible, safe, and fun for all skill levels.

Episode Highlights Planning & Choosing a Trip * Decide between guided and self-guided tours — guided trips offer support and community, while self-guided give you more flexibility. * Research destinations with strong bike infrastructure (trail networks, signage, support). * Check elevation, distance, and trail type (paved vs. gravel) to match your comfort level. * Look for tour companies that provide e-bike options if you want extra support. * Read reviews, ask about group size, and confirm whether you can bring your own gear (seat, mirror, pedals).

Training & Fitness Prep * Start riding regularly at home to build saddle time and comfort. * Practice on terrain similar to your trip (gravel, hills, road). * Work on balance, confidence, and endurance. * Don’t underestimate elevation — even moderate climbs can feel tough over multiple days.

Safety & Comfort Gear * Always bring your own helmet for the best fit and safety. * Pack a rear-view mirror (handlebar or helmet mount) for traffic awareness. * Wear bright, high-visibility clothing so drivers and riders can see you. * Bring rain gear and layers — weather can shift quickly. * Prioritize comfort over style on the bike.

Recovery & Wellbeing * Use compression socks or leggings (e.g. Vim & Vigor) to reduce muscle fatigue. * Hydrate often and refuel with snacks during rides. * Allow time for rest and stretching after long days. * Be mindful of long flights post-trip — keep circulation flowing with compression wear and movement.

Helpful Resources * Adventure Cycling Association – maps, routes, and trip planning tools. * Tour operators like Experience Plus, Biketours.com, and Backroads. * Tourism boards for bike-friendly regions with trail networks and infrastructure.

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We recently covered Tamara's Galapagos cruise and also some tips for visiting Ecuador, but this week we are digging into where to stay in Ecuador. Tamara gives a recap of her trip including some mini hotel reviews for Hacienda La Danesa, Mashpi Lodge, and Hacienda Zuleta.

Episode Highlights * Tamara spent 17 nights in Ecuador including 5 nights in the Galapagos, 1 night at Hacienda La Danesa, 2 nights in Cuenca, 1 night near Cotopaxi, 3 nights in Quito, 2 nights in the Mashpi Lodge, and 2 nights at Hacienda Zuleta * You wouldn't want to move around this much but Tamara wanted to see a lot of the country * Hacienda La Danesa is a good pairing with the Galapagos * It is 1.5 hours from Guayaquil * It is on a large property with a farm, cacoa plantation, and a teak plantation on site * It is an all-inclusive property. There are only seven accommodations and there is also the family home, as it is still family run * The lodge is very beautiful with a bar, restaurant, lounge area, and library * The design and style is very beautiful and perfect for those that really appreciate nice design * Included activities include milking the cows, biking with a local guide, river tubing, a visit to the cacao plantation, and a chocolate tasting and making workshop * Additional activities include horseback riding, cooking classes, and off-site excursions * For a Cloud Forest experience, especially if you don't want to go all the way out to the rainforest, Mashpi Lodge is a good option to pair with a visit to Quito or Cotopaxi * It takes about two hours to get to Mashpi Lodge and the last hour is on a very rough dirt road and not great if you have neck or back issues * Mashpi Lodge is really great for birdwatchers * Tamara wouldn't recommend it for families with very young kids as it is pretty active * 2-3 nights is perfect for the Mashpi Lodge * There are morning and afternoon excursions and you can also opt into a night hike * Each evening there are presentations from naturalists or biologists * It is an all-inclusive experience with meals and activities (not alcohol or spa services) * The Sky Bike gives a "birds eye" view of the Cloud Forest but it is hard work to pedal across the cable * Hacienda Zuleta is located in the mountains about 1.5-2 hours from Quito * It is a historical, family-run, colonial-style hacienda that offers a very authentic feeling stay * This is also an inclusive stay with meals and activities * The town is known for embroidery and there is a handicraft market every Sunday * Some of the activities include hiking, biking, horseback riding (additional), visiting the Condor rehabilitation center, embroidery classes (additional), visits to the cheese making factory, tours of the kitchen garden and grounds, watching the sheep or cows be milked, and more * The food is fantastic at Hacienda Zuleta * Tamara also spent two nights at Casa Gangotena in central Quito, which is a fantastic luxury hotel which is well-located in the historic old town

Related Episodes * Galapagos cruise

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For this episode, we are joined by Nicky Omohundro of Little Family Adventure and the Untethered and Wanderwise podcast to talk about some of our favorite fall getaways.

With over 15 years creating digital content and as a USA Today 10Best family travel expert, Nicky Omohundro operates a nationally syndicated travel website, Little Family Adventure, and award-winning podcast, Untethered & Wanderwise. As a licensed travel advisor and empty-nester with international trips planned, she inspires women over 45 to reclaim their wanderlust and travel independently.

Episode Highlights Here are a mix of road trips, international getaways, and local staycation ideas for the fall.

• Eureka Springs, Arkansas in the Ozark National Forest. Eureka Springs is a cute Victorian town in the heart of the Ozark Mountains. It is a pretty drive and peak fall color is late October. If you like haunted history, the Crescent Hotel is supposed to be one of the most haunted hotels in the country.
• Vermont is quintessential New England charm and beautiful fall color. You have beautiful country inns and bed and breakfasts. Top towns include Stowe, Woodstock, and Manchester. Hotels book up very early for peak weekends and prime foliage is late September - early October.
• Victoria, British Columbia is easy to access from the Victoria Clipper from Seattle. The harbourfront is beautiful and Butchart Gardens. It is also a unique wine region. September is a great time to go.
• Piemonte in Northern Italy. Fall is white truffle season and wine harvest season. You do need to book hotels in advance, especially near Alba because of the Alba White Truffle Market, but otherwise the towns aren't crowded.
• Portugal is an amazing destination in October, including the Porto and Douro Valley wine region. For sunshine, head to Alentejo where it has started to cool off and you can enjoy wine tasting and relaxation.
• Oklahoma City - right in the middle of the country but often overlooked, it makes a great weekend getaway. Pumpkinville is one of the best pumpkin patches in the country. You also have great food, art, and history including western and indigenous culture. Next year is the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 and Oklahoma City has the longest stretch of the highway. The old Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel is now set up in Wheeler Park in Oklahoma City.
• Finger Lakes, New York - it is beautiful in the fall with cute small towns, wine trails, and special events. The area also has a lot of agritourism including apple farms, pumpkin patches, cheese makers, dairies, and even alpaca farms.
• Boone, North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Great scenic drives or hiking on Grandfather Mountain and a mile-high swinging bridge. You can fly into Asheville and drive to Boone. It is also a fun college town.
• West Coast road trip along Highway 1 from the Washington / Oregon coast, through the sand dunes and into the Redwoods. Some of the small shops in the tourist towns may close during the week as it gets later into the fall.

Related Episodes * New England travel * Portugal girls trip to Douro Valley and Porto * Piemonte in Northern Italy * West Coast road trip

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Today we are talking about what happens when you turn left on the airplane and fly business class! Now that Kim and Tamara have flown business class on many airlines including Delta One, Aer Lingus, TAP Airlines, Emirates, Finnair, Condor, Avianca, and others. Whether you are booking on points or paying cash, there are some things that you need to know first.

Episodes Highlights * Research what aircraft is flying the route you are looking to buy because the business class can vary dramatically depending on the plane and the layout * Keep in mind that the airline can still change the aircraft after booking * The airline will provide you with the aircraft type and should list if it is a lay flat seat or a suite * You can also research how often the aircraft is switched out * Also look at YouTube plane reviews for the specific route that you are looking at booking * You may want to splurge on business class on longer flights, for example longer than eight or nine hours * Consider if you have an overnight flight, you may want to upgrade to business class * Keep in mind that if the flight is leaving in the early evening, it may still be hard to sleep * Also, dinner service can really cut into your potential sleep time so on a shorter flight (e.g. from the east coast to Europe), it may not be worth it * If you want to book with points, you can also use a paid service or use paid apps to try to find the best reward flights * If you are booking on points, keep in mind that you still need to pay taxes and fees on most flights and some airports (such as London Heathrow) are very expensive * If you have Avios points, you can move them to different programs but other partner programs you can combine * Business class is different than first class. Many airlines don't have first class, such as Qatar or Delta, but others have first class, business class, premium economy, and economy * When you are traveling business class, you have access to the priority lane for checking your bags * Some airports offer a priority security lane as well * When traveling business class, you have access to the airline lounge (if available in the airport) * You also get to board early and they will typically bring you a welcome drink * Keep in mind that your under-the-seat space is limited in business class and some airlines or aircraft set ups have better storage than others * The airline will also provide you with a small amenity kit with a sleep mask, moisturizer, lip balm, and other items * They will also provide you with a comfy blanket and pillow and some will make up your bed for you * Our favorite business class experiences include Qatar, Turkish Airlines, and JetBlue Mint * Our favorite lounge experiences have been the Virgin lounge in Heathrow, the Business Class lounge for Turkish Airlines in Istanbul, and the Garden in Doha, and the British Airways lounge

Related Episodes

• How to choose your seat on the airplane
• What to know about airline fees
• Airport travel tips

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We recently talked about Tamara's trip to the Galapagos but today we are talking more about the logistics about traveling to Ecuador and some travel tips. Tamara spent 17 nights in Ecuador, including 5 nights in the Galapagos and found it a warm and welcoming country with beautiful and diverse landscapes. Amazing Ecuador helped Tamara organize her trip.

Episode Highlights * Most flights from the U.S. come into Quito or Guayaquil * It is only 3.5 hours from Miami * There are many regions including the Cloud Forest, Rainforest, volcanoes and mountains, National Parks, Galapagos, and more * Tamara spent: 5 nights in the Galapagos, 1 night at Hacienda La Danesa, 2 nights in Cuenca, 1 night in Cotopaxi National Park, 3 nights in Quito, 2 nights in the Cloud Forest at the Mashpi Lodge, 2 nights at Hacienda Zuleta * It helps to work with someone to figure out your priorities and build an itinerary around your interests * Generally you want to spend at least two to three nights in each place * Cuenca is a UNESCO heritage city with plenty of outdoor adventure nearby too * Cotopaxi is at a higher elevation, making hikes challenging * If you just have a week, fly in and out of Guayaquil and do the Galapagos and Hacienda La Danesa * Safety - you need to be very careful after dark in Quito and other cities and beware of pickpockets. Don't walk around after dark, especially alone * Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as their official currency but most places also take credit cards but you will want small bills for tipping and the handicraft markets * Many of the hotels are all-inclusive with meals and some activities * Ecuador is a huge exporter of roses and through some regions you will see many roadside stands of 25-50 roses for less than $5 * Tamara recommends getting a driver because the roads are not very well marked, some aren't in the best condition, Google Maps isn't reliable, and drivers are very aggressive * There are a range of four star boutique hotels and luxury hotels * Ecuadorian food is very fresh and utilizes year-round produce of veggies and fruit * Most meals start with a soup and then have a salad or vegetables. Fish and ceviche is quite popular. Quinoa is a popular grain * You shouldn't drink the tap water in Ecuador but the produce at good restaurants and hotels are washed in filtered water * Guinea pig is also popular in Ecuador as it is in Peru * Chocolate and coffee are also grown in Ecuador and very popular * Ecuador is the most densely populated country in South America * If you have liked Costa Rica or Belize, you will probably also like Ecuador

Related Episodes: * Galapagos cruise * Mother-daughter trip to Peru * Winelands of Chile * Chile's Atacama Desert

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Kim and her daughter Mia just got back from a mother-daughter trip to Switzerland. They celebrated her high school graduation with a grad trip and since Mia loves mountains and she was already going to be in France with a school trip, Switzerland was her top choice!

They visited Geneva, Zermatt and the Jungfrau Region because they really wanted to focus on the mountains. Altogether they spent eight nights in Switzerland and they moved around a lot. The itinerary included:

• 1 night in Geneva
• 2 nights in Zermatt to see the Matterhorn
• 2 nights in Grindelwald
• 2 nights in Wengen
• 2 nights in Lucerne

If you are going to Switzerland and you really want to spend time in the mountains, skip Geneva and Lucerne and focus more on the smaller towns, not the cities. Their favorite town was Zermatt for hiking and also wine tasting.

Grindelwald was the other favorite because of the hotel and the view of Eiger.

Some of the activities included:

• Visit the old town in the cities (e.g. Geneva)
• Hiking (which are harder than you might expect even on trails described as easy, use Google Maps to see elevation, buy or bring hiking poles if you can and are checking a bag)
• Cable cars (which are pricey)
• Matterhorn Glacier (you can also ski even in the summer)
• Alpine slides / mountain coaster / ziplines

The train is a great way to get around the country and if you use a Swiss Rail Pass you also get transportation on some of the cable cars (but not all). It makes it very easy because you don’t need to worry about buying tickets. First class will give you more seating options and it is less crowded so it is quieter. It is hard to use the trains if you have large luggage as some of the trains are more for locals/commuters. Try to pack light if you can or use a luggage forwarding service.

It is better to stay longer in each destination as you spend a lot of time transiting up and down the mountains via train/cable car. Basing yourself in Murren or other smaller towns ends up with a lot of time waiting for transportation. It makes more sense to stay in Grindelwald, Interlaken, or Lauterbrunnen.

When planning a trip, be sure to plan at least six to nine months in advance if you want to stay in town and at the better hotels. Also, when considering different hotels, the hospitality is wonderful but look closely at the amenities that are offered. Most don’t have air conditioning but it wasn’t needed in the mountains. Some hotels have screens on the windows but not all and there are a lot of flies and some mosquitoes.

Keep in mind that shops close early (6-7 pm) and that busses also stop running by 7:00 pm in small towns. Hotels and meals are very expensive in Switzerland, especially now that the dollar is weak against the CHF and Euro. Main entrees are 30-50 CHF per person, salads 12-19 CHF, and beer was cheap but wine was expensive. To save money, you can buy wine or beer at the grocery store to enjoy before you go out. Drink sizes are also very small.

The food is a lot of fondue, cheese, pasta, raclette, and chocolate. Other regions might have more regional specialties. Otherwise there are a lot of burgers and international cuisine. If you do have allergies, there are a lot of peanuts and other nuts being served as a snack or included in dishes.

Credit cards can be used almost everywhere. In all the tourist areas, everyone spoke English. They were less accommodating in the city or non-tourist establishment.

Be sure to pack and wear sunscreen. It is hard to find places to refill a water bottle so you may want to carry your own snacks and drinks.

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Tamara is just back from a 5-night Galapagos Islands cruise on board the Galaxy Yacht. She was hosted on this trip by Galaxy Expeditions but all opinions are her own.

Galaxy Expeditions operates a number of yachts in the Galapagos and also can arrange for land travel in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The Galaxy Yacht has eight cabins for a maximum of 16 passengers.

Episode Highlights * You need to fly to the Galapagos from either Quito or Guayaquil in Ecuador (1.5 - 2 hours) * At the airport before leaving the mainland, you need to purchase your tourist card and have your luggage inspected and zip tied to protect the islands from bringing in invasive species * A delegate from Galaxy Expeditions met her at the airport to walk her through the process * Once you arrive in the Galapagos, you need to pay an entrance fee to support the National Park ($200 per person) and they reinspect luggage, which takes about an hour on arrival * You then meet your group and take a bus to the port where you load onto zodiac boats to get to the yacht * A 5-night cruise was a nice amount of time to reach many of the islands and see a ton of wildlife but longer would be more tiring and could get a little repetitive * Most of the cruises in the Galapagos are 16-32 or maybe 50 passengers * If you are prone to motion sickness, you will feel it, especially at night as they moved from place to place * The engines are also loud so bring ear plugs or a sound machine to help drown it out * I'd recommend bringing Dramamine or seasickness meds as well as sleep aids * On board, there were two solo travelers, a few couples and a mother-daughter duo from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and the USA * The food was really good and breakfast was usually a buffet and lunch was a buffet or served and there were usually two options for a dinner entree * They also served light snacks and fresh juice or tea after excursions * Excursions and meals are included (alcohol is not) * Excursions start early and stay busy all day. The first excursion of the day is usually at 6 - 7 am * There are typically two hikes per day and one to two snorkeling excursions per day * They provide wet suits and snorkel gear on board * The week started busy and got a little less so towards the end, which was appreciated * Tamara saw sea turtles, fish, penguins, frigate birds, blue, red, and brown-footed boobies, sea lions, iguanas, and Galapagos tortoises * There is a naturalist guide on board that leads every excursion and provides so much information about the wildlife and ecosystem * The islands Tamara visited on Galaxy Yacht itinerary C are: Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Bartolome, Santiago, Genovesa, South Plazas, and San Cristobal

Related Episodes * Land-based trip to the Galapagos * Mother daughter trip to Machu Picchu * Atacama desert in Chile

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On this episode we are sharing some of our top tips for finding good guided day tours or special experiences when you are traveling. We will walk through how to find them, how to book, and tips for taking city tours.

Episode Highlights * On your arrival day, don't schedule a guided tour since your plane may not be on time and you may be tired from traveling. If anything, look at doing something impromptu like a hop on hop off bus or just walking around on your own. * On your first full day in a city, it is helpful to take a guided tour to get the lay of the land and get recommendations from a local * Some common tour booking platforms are Viator and Get Your Guide. Just understand that these are platforms advertising different tour companies or operators, the tours aren't actually run by Viator or Get Your Guide * Often you can find the tour operator name on the listing and if you want, you can look up that company and book direct to support small businesses * Be sure to read the details of what is included on the tour and whether or not you are going inside points of interest or just seeing it from the outside * Pay attention to the meeting points and end point to choose ones that are fairly convenient for you based on where you are staying * Make sure you look at the reviews and ratings before booking a tour * Look at the number of people that are on the tour. It will often list the maximum number of passengers on a tour. * Some tour companies, like Shore Excursions, offers a back-to-ship guarantee, which is great if you are booking cruise excursions * Look at what tickets are included * Put in the date when you are looking at pricing as it can vary depending on the season, day of the week, etc. Also, go through the full checkout screen to see what additional fees or taxes are added when building your budget * Some other tour companies that we like are: Walks (or Take Walks), Livtours (small groups), Devour Tours (food tours), Eating Europe (food tours), Tours by Locals, The Tour Guy, and City Experiences * You can also Google "free walking tours" to find pay as you go or tip-based walking tours by locals * Always plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before the tour starts to check in * Map out the meeting place before you go and know how you will get there * Know if you need to be dressed a certain way (headscarf, covered shoulders, etc) or if you can't bring bags/backpacks, etc. * Private tours are great for families or if you have mobility issues because it is easier to customize them * Don't forget to tip a good tour guide. Group tour tip is typically $5 per person and a private tour is $10-20 per person if it is a half day or full day * Have small bills handy for tipping * Rick Steves has great audio tours for Europe, GPS My City has self-guided tours, and VoiceMap is another app for self-guided audio tours that are more cost-effective than a guided tour.

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What should you look for when choosing a hotel, and what are some pitfalls you can try to avoid? Get ready for summer travel with this week's episode full of tips and laughs.

Episode Highlights * Pay attention to the bathroom layouts when viewing photos and reviews as a new hotel trend has been for more open bathroom layouts or glass doors/walls which may not be great for families or friend groups * Hotels are getting better at sustainability initiatives but many are just paying lip service so if this is important to you, look for companies truly dedicated to environmental issues and offer things like bottle refill stations * If you want to check out the location of the hotel, look at the Google Street view to see more what the area is like * Keep in mind that suburban hotels off the highway are more likely to offer free parking, laundry facilities, and free breakfast * When booking city hotels, make sure that it is located near public transportation but avoid hotels near train stations or bus stations * When selecting a room, look at the square footage to compare the various room categories * Keep in mind that when you are traveling internationally, it is hard to find rooms with two queens or doubles. It is even harder to find rooms that sleep five. Typically the rooms will have a double/king or two twins * Sofa beds are not always clean so always ask for clean linens, just keep in mind that you will need to make them up yourself * Accessible rooms sometimes have lower closets, which might not be great for longer dresses, and the showers might have roll in showers and the floor of the bathroom can get really wet * Request a room location away from the elevator / ice machine and a higher floor if near a loud highway * Connecting rooms have thin doors and there is a lot of noise that comes through so put in your special request "no connecting room door" * Be sure to read reviews and look out for red flags about noise, cleanliness, location, and service * Bring a sleep mask or something to cover the glowing appliances and lights in the room * Travel with a white noise machine * Look out for daily resort fees and high city taxes * Some brands or boutique hotels offer happy hours or cookies throughout the day * Don't expect upgrades - book the category that you want * Check out what the parking situation is and whether or not it is indoors or outdoors. Parking garages will sometimes list the clearance height * Tipping housekeeping for good service is appreciated so it helps to carry some smaller bills

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Tamara is just back from a multi-generational trip to the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. If you have ever wondered what it is like to stay at one of the popular Baha Mar Resorts, now is your chance to get the scoop and see if it is really the vacation of your dreams or not.

Episode Highlights: * This was a multi-generational trip with 14 people ages 17-83. There were a lot of considerations when choosing a destination including budget, activities, direct flights, and mobility issues. * Tamara also considered the Hyatt in Aruba, the Hilton Zemi Beach House in Anguilla, and the Westin or Kimpton Seafire in Grand Cayman. * There are three hotels within one resort at the Baha Mar and it has multiple restaurants, making it possible to stay for a week and eat somewhere different every night without taking cabs into town. * The food is really expensive at the Baha Mar so you need to build that into the budget as it is inline with going out for a nice dinner in a big city, which is similar to many other island resorts. * The three hotels are: + Rosewood Baha Mar - luxury property + SLS Baha Mar - good for couples, friends, and more of a party scene + Grand Hyatt Baha Mar - good for families and more affordable + There is also a "Reserve" section of the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar with suites and lounge access that is a hotel within a hotel * You fly into Nassau and you fill out a form on arrival and then the immigration line was quite short. They pre-arranged hotel transfers through the concierge. * There are many pools within the Grand Hyatt but if you don't reserve a cabana, sunbed or premium lounge chair it could be hard to find chairs, especially if you want a larger group to be together. * They rented a cabana at the Nexus Club, which has an indoor section with a couch, television, fridge, and a full bathroom. It also had a sun bed, a table and chairs with an umbrella, and use of two in-pool loungers. It was a private pool just for those renting cabanas or staying at a certain room category that included a hot tub. It also had its own bar and food service. * The beach isn't deep but it is longed and it is lined with 4-6 rows of lounge chairs packed in together and the beach was quite busy even in June. * There is also a waterpark that is included for guests with some big slides and a lazy river, as well as a good restaurant. * You can do paddle boarding and snorkeling and there are also paid motorized water sports and there is an activities desk that arranges excursions and day trips. * The Baha Mar also has a kids club with daily activities and there are flamingos that do a "parade" every morning. * The food at Baha Mar was very good and even Tamara was impressed. * Regatta is where they serve a huge breakfast buffet but it costs about $44 per person. * Because Tamara is a preferred partner with Hyatt Prive, she was able to get the following perks and amenities: + Free breakfast for 2 people per day per room + $100 per room resort credit + $50 per room beverage credit + automatic upgrade within 24 hours of booking * There are many pool bars serving food for lunch and there are also food trucks by the beach. * You need to pre-book dinner reservations and they cover the gamut from Italian, Asian, Chinese, Steak, Mediterranean, and some celebrity chef restaurants like Cafe Boulud and Marcus Fish and Chop House (from Marcus Samuelson) * In Tamara's opinion, the Baha Mar is better suited for families with teens or adults versus with younger kids as the casino is really the center point of the resort.

Related Episodes: * Where to stay in the Turks & Caicos * Everything you need to know about Beaches Turks & Caicos * Sonesta Maho Beach St. Maarten * Caribbean cruise * Where to go in the Caribbean * Planning a Barbados vacation * Planning a Grand Cayman vacation

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Get ready for your summer vacation and future travel with these expert packing tips! From carry-on to checked bags, here are some things to keep in mind when packing for your next trip.

Episode Highlights: * Use a packing list! It helps you not forget critical items. Start creating your packing list early in your Notes app * Kim has an outfit planner that you can sign up for on Stuffed Suitcase * Pay attention to your itinerary to figure out what you need to bring for each activity * Also pay attention to the weather forecast for your destination * Try to minimize the number of shoes that you bring on a trip * Try on your outfits while packing and take a picture of yourself so that you remember what you put together (with shoes, accessories, etc.) * You can also put the picture into your notes app with notes about what day you were going to wear it to remember * Packing cubes with compression can be great for saving space * You can pack the cubes by destination/stop on the trip or daily outfits or just pack all your pants together, all your shirts together, etc. * If you are flying on an international carrier, make sure to look up their baggage rules to understand the size and weight of carry on and personal items * Even domestic carriers have different weight limits * If you are buying new luggage, buy the matching packing cubes that fit perfectly * Look for packing cubes that zip to a rectangle and not lumpy * Gonex and Eagle Creek can be great brands to try * Lay flat bags are great for toiletry bags * Travelon makes a good organizer for your electronics * Vodka in a spray bottle can help refresh clothes * Bring a travel scale to check baggage weights

Related Episodes * Packing tips for family travel

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It is summer road trip season so it is time to recap some of our best road trip tips from preparing, planning, packing, and more. Plus, we share some of our favorite road trips.

Episode Highlights * Before you head out on a road trip, make sure your car has been serviced recently and check the tires to make sure the pressure is correct. You may also want to top off your fluids and use the bug windshield washer fluid. * Bring a go-to kit with wipes, sanitizer, tissues, lip balm, moisturizer, sun screen, and eye drops. Also bring a couple of extra baggies or ziploc bags. * Bring a trash bag for the front and back (or for each kid) and empty the trash at each stop. * Bring a small cooler and ice pack that you can refreeze each night for left overs and snacks. * Have a specific spot for your snacks that can be refilled when needed. * Use a car freshener or car air purifier to help keep food smells away. * You may want to consider a AAA membership and bring your card with you. * For longer road trips, consider bringing a carry on bag with a duffle bag instead of a larger checked bag. * Use a duffle bag to transport what you need in and out each night. * It is good to have one overnight bag for toiletries and pajamas for everyone that always goes in. * Bring a laundry bag that you can put your dirty clothes in each day in your car or larger suitcase. Plan an overnight stay at a place that has laundry facilities. * When choosing where to stay, consider staying just off the highway where you are more likely to find a chain hotel that has free breakfast and free parking (and laundry facilities). Plus it is easy to get on and off the highway. * Some of the chains like Best Western have summer promotions for multiple stays. * Some apps to have are Gas Buddy, Road Trippers, and of course Google or Apple Maps. Google Maps is also good at showing you how busy attractions are at different times of the day. * For road trips in less-populated areas, bring a road atlas or paper maps (you can get free maps at AAA if you are a member) * Maine Coast road trip - read the full post here: https://we3travel.com/boston-to-bar-harbor-a-maine-coast-road-trip-itinerary/ * Florida Keys road trip - read more here: https://yourtimetofly.com/key-west-girls-trip/ * Canadian Rockies road trip - read more here: https://we3travel.com/canadian-rockies-vacation-itinerary/ * West Coast road trip - read more here: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/west-coast-road-trip/ * Road trip packing list: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/pack-car-road-trip/

Related Episodes * West Coast road trip * Southwest Grand Circle road trip * Oregon Coast road trip * California road trip * Midwest road trip * Family road trip tips

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Tamara recently took a travel agent FAM trip to Turks and Caicos and spent two nights at The Palms and two nights at The Shore Club. She also visited many other properties and today she shares her insights into each to help you decide where to stay in Turks and Caicos.

Episode Highlights * Turks and Caicos is known for its beautiful beaches and not for all-inclusives or as a party island * Most of the hotels have great accommodations for families with 1, 2, 3-bedroom accommodations and up (including villa rentals) * When arriving, be prepared for a long wait at passport control/immigration. Expect about an hour and longer on the weekends. When departing, leave 2-3 hours to get checked in and wait in the security line. There isn't a lot of room in the gate area but there is an area upstairs that has more space. * To save time at the airport, you can pay for Fast Track access starting at $75 per person, each way. * Private transfers from the airport are about $150 each way, but cabs can be $30+ per person for shared taxis. Taxis throughout the island are priced per person and are pricey. * It is about a 15-20 minute drive from the PLS (Providenciales) to most of the hotels * The Palms is on Grace Bay Beach (the most famous beach on the island). It is a luxury hotel with a lush, garden-like setting right on the beach. The style and decor is similar to Sandy Lane in Barbados, a colonial or plantation style. * Tamara stayed in a one-bedroom suite oceanfront, which was huge with a full kitchen, living room, laundry, dining room, large balcony, bedroom with tons of closet space, and one and one-half bathrooms. * They recently did a renovation at The Palms of rooms but also of the pool area and added a new pool/beach restaurant and pool bar (including a swim-up bar). * The restaurants at The Palms were very good. Parallel 23 is fine dining and Sisi is modern Mexican. * The Palms also has one of the best spas in the Caribbean * The high season is during Festive (winter holidays) and President's Day weekend. The low season would be July-September * Pricing in the Caribbean is quite high. * The Shore Club is across the island on Long Bay Beach. There is a beach-to-beach package so that you can split your week vacation between the two properties. * Long Bay Beach is breezy and very popular for kite surfing. The beach itself is narrow but long and The Shore Club has plenty of space to spread out. The water here is very calm and you can walk out very far, especially at low tide. * Shore Club is also a luxury hotel and it has a sophisticated feel. There are villas and multi-bedroom accommodations that would be amazing for a girls' trip or multi-generational vacation. * The one-bedroom oceanfront suite is huge and great for families with teens because there is a study that has a pull-out couch, full bathroom, and closets and a door that closes off from the rest of the space. There is another pull out couch in the living room. * There is a sushi restaurant and a comfort food restaurant, plus pool bars and restaurants. * There is a shuttle between the properties and also the four-star Sands property and guests have signing privileges for all the restaurants. * The Alexandra Resort is a four-star, all-inclusive on Grace Bay next to The Palms with multi-bedroom suites and restaurants * The Wymara Resort has a South Beach, sexy vibe that would be great for couples and honeymooners but the rooms are a bit smaller * The Ritz-Carlton is a high-rise hotel with a smaller beach. The second tower is for Ritz-Carlton Residences and you can't use or earn points for the Residences. * They are building an Andaz and St. Regis on Turks and Caicos now too. * The H20 Resort on Long Bay Beach is a small boutique hotel that is good for people that are independent travelers and enjoy watersports as they have a kite surfing school and tons of rentals. * Tamara is going back to Turks and Caicos in the fall for a Family Travel Association conference at Beaches Turks and Caicos (stay tuned!!) * On Thursday nights there is a fish fry with food trucks, music, and artisans/souvenir vendors. The Junkanoo band performs and it is such a lot of fun. * You can island hop by ferry or plane (but there is a separate terminal for domestic flights) * You can also go scuba diving, snorkeling, charter a boat for fishing or island hopping, or boat out to the tiki bar off Long Bay Beach.

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Kim recently took a quick trip to her happy place, Disneyland, to attend a special media preview of its 70th anniversary celebration. This yearlong celebration features new entertainment from fireworks to parades, special celebratory food items, decorations throughout the park, and fun interactive activations.

There are also promotional package deals available through Kim's partner Getaway Today. Learn more here and use code 'Stuffed Suitcase" when purchasing to save an additional $10 off a 2+ night vacation package.

Learn more about Disneyland's 70th celebration foods here: https://disneyparksblog.com/dlr/disney-eats-disneyland-70th-celebration-foodie-guide/

See more of the special events and decorations on Kim’s Insta post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJskA7ZJRKD/

Related Episodes:

• Girls' trip to Oceanside, California and Disneyland
• Disneyland and Irvine, California
• Disneyland Holidays
• Planning a trip to Disneyland
• Disneyland travel tips

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If you like culinary or wine travel, you need to put the Chilean Winelands on your travel bucket list. Tamara just came back from a two-week trip to Chile including the Atacama Desert and the Winelands.

Episode Highlights: * The wine regions are south and west of Santiago * It is easy to drive through these regions but it is still recommended to get a driver for days when you are doing wine tasting * Two hours south of Santiago is the Colchagua Region that is known for its red wine including Malbec, Bordeaux blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenere. * One hour west of Santiago is the Casablanca Region, which is closer to the coast, and is more known for its white wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. * She stayed at the Vibo Wine Lodge in Colchagua. This is a small boutique property on the Viu Manent Vineyards near Santa Cruz. It has individual lofts or tiny homes spread out throughout the vineyards. Another popular place to stay in this region is Clos Apalta, which is a Relais & Chateaux luxury property. * Vibo Wine Lodge includes breakfast in the coffee shop on property and they also have two other restaurants, the Rayuela Restaurant and the Vibo Wine and Food Studio. * On property you can hike, borrow bikes, enjoy the pool, go wine tasting or set up horseback riding. * They also did a wine tour with Colchagua Wine Tours, which was only $125 for a day with a private driver (you pay for the tasting separately.) * Tamara enjoyed wine tasting at Montgras Winery and Maquis Winery. They had a nice lunch at Fuego Apalta on the Montes Winery (but she didn't like the wine at Montes.) * Tastings of the "icon" wines, which are the top wines, are about $40-50 per person. * Clos Apalta Residence is also an excellent place to go for lunch or dinner and you can go wine tasting at the winery. * In Casablance, they stayed at La Casona, which is a hacienda which has been converted to a hotel on the grounds of the Matetic Vineyards. This was all-inclusive because there isn't a lot nearby to eat. But the menu doesn't change so it gets repetitive if you are there for any length of time. * The package also includes excursions and they did a biodynamic wine tour and tasting, mountain biking, and hiking. They also offer horseback riding and excursions to towns. * They took a day trip to the coast and visited Pablo Neruda's house.

Related Episodes: * Chile's Atacama Desert * Wine tasting in Northern Italy

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If Hawai'i is on your bucket list, you need to listen to this episode with Hawaii travel expert Marcie Cheung. Marcie is a family travel blogger and mom of two who's been to Hawaii more than 40 times, staying everywhere from luxury resorts to budget-friendly condos. She helps parents plan unforgettable Hawaii vacations with kids by sharing expert tips, honest reviews, and stress-free itineraries. You can learn more on her website hawaiitravelwithkids.com or follow Marcie on Facebook and Instagram. You can also listen to her podcast, Hawaii Travel Made Easy.

Episode Highlights: * The most popular tourist islands are: Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii (The Big Island) * Oahu is best if you can only visit one island and are looking for a mix of experiences and attractions from Pearl Harbor to the Dole Plantation and also city life, nightlife and beaches on the North Shore or Waikiki * Maui is also popular for luxury resorts, a quieter vacation, the famous Road to Hana, and also great restaurants and activities * Kauai is even more laid back * The Big Island is good for those that are looking to be adventurous and take road trips, plus this is where you will find Volcanoes National Park * A first time visitor coming from the U.S. should look at least one week and spend it on Oahu because it has such a range of experiences. If you have two weeks, then you can island hop from Oahu to Maui or Kauai. Be active on Oahu and then relax on Maui or Kauai. * Keep in mind that when you island hop you still need to fly and deal with all of the airport security, rental car lines, etc. that eats up a lot of a day in travel. * The Big Island is really large and you need at least five to seven days. It takes several hours to drive from the beach area to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. * Expect to spend about $12,000 or more for a family vacation to Hawaii. Airfare from the West Coast is about $500 and closer to $900 from the East Coast. You can use a Southwest Companion Pass or Alaska Companion Pass if you have them. * Accommodations keep getting more and more expensive. Midrange hotels are $350-500 and luxury resorts can easily go over $1000 per night. * You need to beware about vacation rentals because they are being closely regulated in Honolulu and often they will be cancelled last minute as there are a lot of illegal vacation rentals. If you go with a vacation rental, go with something reputable. * Food is also expensive because so much needs to be shipped in on the islands. Plan on spending about $100 a day on food if you are able to mix up going to restaurants and buying groceries or eating at food trucks. * Rental car prices are high and you need a rental car for at least a few days on each island. Keep in mind that hotel parking can be $40-60 per night. * Activities are also quite pricey, at $300-500 per person. Luaus are at least $200-350 per person. Narrow down your wish list to 2-3 activities and have beach or pool days or exploring on your own for the rest of the time. * Minimum stays during winter break can be 7-14 days and this is the most expensive time to visit. * When planning road trips or hikes, be sure to map them out to see how far they are and how long it will take to get there. * Don't overpack your itinerary.

Related Episodes: * Insider tips for visiting the Disney Aulani * Planning a Hawaiian vacation

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Kim just wrapped up round two of college tours and her daughter Mia has committed to UCLA's School of Engineering! We thought we would share some of our college search experience to help others that are just getting to this phase of parenting.

Episode Highlights * It is important to visit various college campuses before you begin the college application process to help your student understand the style and size of campus that they feel most comfortable in * It helps to start early during their sophomore or junior year * Before you look at a particular school, make sure it is a school that you can afford by researching their tuition, merit scholarship opportunities, and the financial aid calculator * Join the Parent Facebook group for the schools they are interested in and this is a great source of information but make sure they are run by the school or parents and not just a data-mining company * Try to find hotels that are near the college campus for campus visits because it will give you a better sense of what it would like to be on campus. Graduate Hotels is a great chain to look at as their properties are always close to college campuses and it is now part of Hilton * Make sure you drive around the campus and the surrounding neighborhood and think about how they would get to campus if they are flying in from out of state * If you want to tour campus, you need to make a reservation to join a group tour and these can fill up far in advance * Try to time your visit to when students are on campus and not during their spring break * Be prepared to ask questions about food, class size, how hard it is to get into the classes they need, dorms, and campus life * You can find dorm room tours on YouTube * Be sure to check out the student union and see how busy it is and what the options are. Also pay attention to whether or not it is a swipe or cash system * Check out the department buildings where your kid would be taking a lot of classes, the library, and where the dorms are * Visiting on the Admitted Students day will give your student a good introduction to campus and campus life and provide an opportunity to connect with other students. Admitted Students day typically takes place during April * Be sure to pay the housing deposit early unless your school guarantees housing for freshmen * If the school doesn't guarantee housing, look at housing costs in the area * When thinking about dates, also look at booking hotels for move in, move out, and parent's weekend * Make dinner and brunch reservations during move in and Parents Weekend

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Tamara and her husband recently took a couple's trip to Chile and this week on the podcast she shares her impressions, experiences, and tips for Santiago and Atacama Desert. In a future episode, she will talk about her week in Chile's Winelands.

Episode Highlights * Tamara flew Avianca Airlines on a flight deal from Boston to Bogota and Bogota to Santiago. Avianca Airlines business class is more like premium economy and not a very impressive business class but overall the flights went smoothly. * She really enjoyed her stay at the Hyatt Centric Las Condes. Las Condes is a nice area to stay in Santiago. * If you are visiting Santiago or Valparaiso, be on alert of pickpockets and petty crime and don't wear jewelry and keep your phone secure. * Foodies would love the chef's tasting dinner at Borago in Santiago. * To get to the Atacama Desert, you fly 1.5-2 hours to Calama and then it is a 1.5 hour drive to San Pedro de Atacama, which is the central hub for the region. * Tamara stayed at the Nayara Alto Atacama, which provides a transfer to and from the airport. They offer an all-inclusive rate that includes food, drink, and group excursions. Other options include the Explora and the Tierra and the Awasi offers private excursions. * She wouldn't recommend self-driving because there is very little cell service and getting to some of the attractions includes driving on dirt roads. * The Atacama Desert is at a higher elevation so it is good to stay at least 3 nights so that you can do the higher elevation excursions later in your stay after you have time to acclimate. * Nayara Alto Atacama is part of Virtuoso and booking through Tamara you can get perks that include a $100 spa credit. * They did three excursions: + Sunset excursion to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) with some short hikes and finishing with a sundowner + Salt Flats and Flamingo Reserve - the salt flats are not the flat white salt that you see in Bolivia or Utah, the salt is mixed with minerals and the flats looks a lot like a white lava field + Rainbow Valley - not as dramatic as Rainbow Mountain in Peru but a great landscape with layers of red, white, and green rock + Star gazing - the Atacama Desert is well-known for its dark skies and star gazing * The food at the resort was fine but lunch was a three-course meal and if you want something more casual you can eat at the bar. The portions are small and there are only a few options per meal, but at least the menu changes every day. * Make sure you get the correct adapter for electrical outlets. * You need cash for small shops and some tips but you can mostly use a credit card or charge tips to your room * Make sure you wear sunscreen and a hat because there is a high UV index * Be sure to stay hydrated and bring lots of moisturizer and lip balm * Bring plenty of layers because the desert gets cold at night * Remember that it is in the Southern Hemisphere so the summer high season is December - March and winter is during our summer. * Bring shoes with good traction.

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A mother-daughter trip is an incredible way to bond in ways that you can't recreate in your home environment. This week, Kim and Tamara share their tips for mother-daughter trips and provide ideas for some of their favorite mother-daughter trip destinations (these can also be used for mother-son or father-daughter/son trips too.)

Episode Highlights * When kids are younger, it is fun to find a theme to base the trip around or pick a destination that is tied to their interests * Get your kids involved in the planning or allow them to choose a destination. At a minimum, let them choose activities. * Plan to do a side-by-side activity like a cooking class, surfing lesson, rock climbing, white water rafting, etc. * When you learn something new or get out of your comfort zone, they see how you handle the situation. * Group travel can actually be a great solution for a mother-daughter trip because you can interact with others but then your alone time is even more precious. * Talk about your highs and lows for each day or part of the trip while traveling. * Recognize your kids as individuals and cater to their travel styles and don't try to push your preferences or travel style on them. * Also, think about taking a mother-daughter trip with your mom. * These trips help kids learn how to be a traveler, how to navigate, and how to make travel decisions. * Plan a hotel or two that offers room service when you are on a long road trip. * Some of our favorite mother-daughter trip destinations have been: Peru, Canadian Rockies, Ireland, Iceland, Chicago, NYC, cruising, road tripping through the South, and a spa trip.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy: * Canadian Rockies * Ireland road trip * Civil Rights Trail road trip * Cruising around Iceland * Midwest road trip * Swiftie trip to NYC

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Tamara is just back from a bucket list trip to Peru with her daughter and she shares all about her lodge-to-lodge trek with Mountain Lodges of Peru and tips for visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: * Tamara “won” this trip as part of an auction that benefits the Adventure Travel Conservation Fundthat takes place each fall * When visiting Cusco and the Sacred Valley, it is best to give yourself 3-4 days to get used to the elevation prior to hiking (Cusco is at about 11,000 feet) * You can take Diamox or acetazolamide (prescription) to help prevent altitude sickness * Coca tea and coca candies help you with altitude but it also has caffeine so it can disrupt your sleep * Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo are at a lower altitude so ideal you would start there and work your way up * Peruvian food has a lot of rice, quinoa, and potatoes. For proteins there is beef, pork, chicken, alpaca, and a specialty — guinea pig! The portions are also very large. * You shouldn’t drink the water (even to brush your teeth) and consider avoiding salads, veggies, and fruits that are rinsed in water * Tamara and Hannah took a 5 day trek with a small group of six people and one local guide with Mountain Lodges of Peru. * The trip was perfect for those that like to hike but don’t want to camp. It includes a mix of cultural activities and hikes but you stay at nice lodges. * Some activities included visiting an alpaca museum, a ceremony with an Incan priest, enjoying dancing and music with locals at a weaving cooperative, visiting local markets, exploring Incan ruins, and having lunch at local homes. * You need to bring your own hiking poles and need to pack in a light duffel bag or backpack * The rainy season is typically November – April and they typically close the Inca Trail in February. However, this year was worse than usual because of El Niño. * For the most part you can use credit cards but it helps to have some Peruvian Soles (or some US Dollars) to tip guides, pay for bathrooms, and purchase from local vendors and markets. * For the first two nights in Cusco, we stayed at the Andenes Hotel, which was affordable, nice, and great traditional architecture. On our return, we stayed at the Palacio del Inka, which is a part of the Marriott Luxury Collection (which we booked via points.)

RELATED EPISODES: * Machu Picchu with kids * Galapagos with kids

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On this episode, we are joined by Susan Heinrich from Midlife Globetrotter. Susan is a Canadian writer living in Denver, Colorado. She is passionate about travel and supporting women in tourism. In 2020, she created Midlife Globetrotter, a website and platform that helps women over 40 follow their travel dreams to new places, with destination guides, practical tips and stories of her own adventures. Susan is passionate about reframing midlife as an opportunity, and explores themes of reinvention and self-discovery in her work. You can follow Susan on Instagramand Pinterest.

In this episode, we talk about group tours and group tour operators, especially those that offer group trips just for women.

To learn more, see Susan's blog posts about:

• Women's tours around the world: https://midlifeglobetrotter.com/womens-tours/
• How to select a small group tour: https://midlifeglobetrotter.com/how-to-select-a-small-group-tour/
• Croatia group tour with Adventure Women: https://midlifeglobetrotter.com/a-womens-sailing-trip-in-croatia/

Episode Highlights * Some things to think about when choosing a group tour include: + What is the pacing of the trip -- is there any free time, how often do you switch hotels? + What is the group size? Small group tends to be under 14 people. Small groups have advantages in terms of the type of accommodation and the size of the tour group when exploring cities + What is the activity level? Some companies like Adventure Women and Adventures in Good Company specialize in active trips and offer detailed explanations of the activity level involved in the trip + If you are traveling solo, you can also look for tours that are only solo travelers * When you are evaluating a group tour, be sure to read the itinerary in detail. * You can also call the tour operator and see if they can give you any information on how many solo travelers there might be versus those traveling with a friend or relative. * Also look at what the single supplement is. Some companies like Girls Guide to the World have private rooms by default but typically group tours are priced based on double occupancy and if you want your own room they charge a single supplement. * Some companies will pair you with another solo travel as a roommate if they don't charge a single supplement. * Be sure to read through the documents to understand what is included in terms of transfers and meals * Understand who is guiding the trip -- is it a local or a U.S.-based guide * Make sure you understand the cancellation policy and buy travel insurance * If you aren't sure if a group trip is for you, opt for a private room, start with a shorter trip, feel free to opt out of activities, and maybe start with a trip in the U.S. that doesn't require a more expensive airfare. * If you just want to relax or if you don't like having scheduled activities, then a group tour may not be a good fit * Good tour operators for budget travelers include G Adventures (now have tours for women and certain age groups) and Intrepid Travel (who have women expeditions to places where you can meet and interact with locals in a way that you couldn't if there were men on the trip) * For a luxury trip, Girls Guide to the World is a good fit and Insight Vacations is upscale and have women-only trips * For nature and wildlife, Natural Habitat Adventures partner with the World Wildlife Federation and are known for wildlife trips and have women's only expeditions * Adventure Women is one of the first companies to get into women only tours and typically offer four-star accommodations with active adventures * Backroads is known for cycling and hiking tours and offers some just for women and they have trips that accommodate a variety of activity levels each day * There are also group tour operators focused on certain destinations like Viking Women in Iceland * Another themed tour is the British Book Club Tour: https://thebookclubtour.com * Susan is also co-hosting an art-history based trip to Paris this spring

Some women-only focused travel companies and others that have women-only trips

• Next Chapter Travel - small group, curated trips in Europe
• Next Tribe - over 45 women
• Gals Abroad Getaways - luxury
• Untethered Expeditions - adventure
• Adventure Women - small group adventure
• Adventures in Good Company - active
• Girls’ Guide to the World - authentic, responsible (luxury)
• Sisterhood Travels - over 50
• Country Walkers - walking/hiking
• Scout Escapes - mother daughter travel and group trips for women over 40
• Viking Women - Iceland
• Explorer Chick - hiking and adventure in National Parks and abroad
• Insight Vacations - upscale group trips some women only
• Backroads - women only hiking and cycling
• Road Scholar - educational, some women only, over 50
• Uniworld - women’s cruises

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Vacation Mavens recently celebrated nine years of podcasting!! For all of you who have been with us for this journey, we thank you for your support! For those that joined us recently, welcome and we look forward to many more years of sharing our travel experiences.

Tamara recently launched a new business as a travel advisor! You can learn more about her custom travel planning services here. Even if you aren't looking for full itinerary planning services, you can support Tamara's business by researching and booking hotels (and getting perks with preferred partner hotels) on this online booking platform.

Episode Highlights * A travel agent and a travel advisor are generally the same but a travel advisor is more apt to offer custom trip planning, versus off-the-shelf packages, and serves as more of a consultant * You want to use an advisor for many reasons including: + Industry knowledge + Destination knowledge + Preferred partners + Knowledge of sales + Traveler perks and amenities + Save a significant amount of time in the planning process * How do travel advisors make money? + Some charge planning or service fees for custom trip planning. Tamara charges based on the length and complexity of the trip, starting at $500 per week and $50 a day for additional for a typical couple or family. + Advisors also receive commission from booking hotels, cruises, and trip packages. So travel advisors can't help with booking using points or Airbnb or places that don't offer commission. Generally, it should be the same rate or better than booking directly with the hotel. * Many independent travel advisors are part of a larger host agency, which provides buying power and knowledge to get preferred relationships with partners. * How do you choose a travel advisor? + There are people that focus on specific niches such as cruising, Disney, or all-inclusive resorts + Tamara focuses primarily on Europe and North America but she is part of an agency with resources and also partners with in-country specialists who have vetted hotels, guides, etc. + It is helpful to work with someone that has been to or is very knowledgeable about the destination + Word-of-mouth is a great way to find someone + If you are a luxury traveler, you can visit Virtuoso.com and search for the destination. You will then see travel agents that cover that destination in the sidebar + You can also find travel advisor specialists on Instagram by searching hashtags such as #luxurytraveladvisor, #travelagentlife, etc. * How does working with a travel advisor differ from booking through Amex Travel since Amex Platinum card holders receive perks for hotel bookings within the Fine Hotels and Resorts. You need to book those through Amex Travel. * Many of those luxury hotels are also part of a consortium such as Virtuoso. If there is a booking through Amex Travel vs a travel advisor, the booking through the travel advisor will have priority for upgrades. * Virtuoso is a consortium for luxury properties and brands that offer additional perks when booked through a Virtuoso agency. The perks include free breakfast for 2, $100 resort or F&B beverage, and upgrade based on availability, or early check in or late check out based on availability * Many travel agencies also have other preferred partnerships too that can offer perks or amenities for hotels that aren't part of Virtuoso * Tamara works on creating custom itineraries that include hotels, activities, private tours, transfers, etc. However, she can also help with hotel bookings, river cruise bookings, and all-inclusive resorts, often without a planning fee. * Does a travel agent help when things go wrong? Yes, they can help you if something goes wrong or if you need to cancel.

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On this episode, we are joined by Jessica Williams. Jessica is the author of the award-winning Dachshund educational blog, YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner.com. She's been traveling, hiking, and camping with her dogs for over 20 years. She's taken her dogs on many extended road trips, covering up to 5,000 miles, and she's flown with them many times. Her two biggest dog-focused travel aspirations are living in Switzerland for a month to hike in the Alps and spending a year road-tripping around the US with her dogs to hike and camp. You can follow Jessica on Instagram @youdidwhatwithyourweiner, Facebook, or YouTube.

Episode Highlights: * Most airlines have pet policies that you should review before booking * To travel in the cabin, the pet needs to fit in a carrier that goes under the seat * The weight limit is generally 20-25 lbs (although Spirit is higher) * You need to call the airline in advance to let them know you are bringing a dog on board as there is a limit to how many can go onboard * You don't need to pay for a ticket but you do need to pay a pet fee (typically around $150 each way) * According to the FAA, unless you have a true service pet, the pet must stay in the carrier for the duration of the flight * Some flight attendants look the other way and you can take the carrier out from under the seat so the pet can see you but technically you can't even unzip the carrier * Your pet carrier counts as your personal item so it helps to have a carrier with side pockets for things you need on the plane * Aisle seats don't have as much space under the seat in front of you for a carrier. The middle seat has the most space * In the airport, the dogs don't always want to use the pet relief area because it smells and is unusual * In the airport, dogs should be in carriers but not many people are policing that because service dogs are allowed to be out * To go through security, they come out of the carrier and you can walk through the metal detector but you need to take off the collar so they need to behave to not run away and walk through if they are too big to carry * Bring along a small water dish, water, and a few treats * Jessica recommends layering a potty pad in the bottom of the carrier under a blanket so it is easier to clean if there is an accident * Otherwise, you need to potty pad train them before travel * Don't feed them right before a flight. Usually, the last meal should be 2-3 hours before travel * To find pet-friendly hotels, use bringfido.com * Hotels usually have a pet fee, which is typically around $20 per dog per night, but it can also be extremely high * Red Roof, Motel 6, Kimpton, and Virgin Hotels generally are pet-friendly without a pet fee but they are franchises and still can charge a fee * There is usually a limit of two dogs per room and a combined weight limit of about 150 lbs. * Some boutique hotels allow you to bring more than two dogs * For international travel, you can get a pet passport for EU countries * For Canada, you can drive across the border with your pets * The United States changed requirements for dogs coming into the country (even by car) that dogs need to be at least 6 months old, they have to have internationally recognized microchips, and have vaccinations up to date particularly a recent rabies vaccine and health paperwork * You need to fill out a CDC import form * Some destinations have strict quarantine rules (especially Hawaii and other islands) of 10-30 days * Visit AdventuresCats.org to learn more about traveling with cats. Note that many hotels don't allow cats. * Tamara recommends TrustedHousesitters.com for free pet and house sitting from vetted sitters. Use her referral link for 25% off a membership!

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This week, we are wrapping up our Turkey trip recaps and Tamara fills us in on her visit to Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the lesser-known city of Izmir.

Episode Highlights * Izmir sits on the Aegean Sea and Ephesus is a popular cruise port for cruises visiting Greece and Turkey. * There are also a number of religious sites that attract religious travelers and pilgrimages. * One site near Ephesus you can visit what is believed to be the last house that Mary, mother of Jesus, lived in before she died. * Bodrum is more of a beach resort but Izmir is a city based on the sea. * You can fly into Izmir, which is about 1.25 hours from Istanbul airport and the airport is about 20 minutes outside of the city. * Izmir is a good home base for exploring the region in a hub and spoke manner. * You should plan to stay three to four days in this region. + 1 day in Ephesus + 1 day in Izmir + 1 day in Urla (fishing village, small artsy town, and wine route) * Ephesus is a UNESCO Heritage site that has Ancient Greek and Roman ruins. The site is immense and there is so much that isn't excavated. So much is very well preserved. The Library of Celsus is a highlight. It is worth paying extra to see the houses with mosaics and frescoes. * It is recommended to visit Ephesus with a guide and you need at least two to three hours. * There is a lot of walking so you need comfortable shoes and it can also get very hot so you want to go early or late and wear a hat and sunglasses. * In the summer it stays open until 10 pm at night so you can visit while it is cooler. * Selcuk is a cute town nearby where you can go for lunch. * The Izmir Marriott is right on the waterfront and has a rooftop pool, restaurant, and nice rooms and location. * In Izmir you can: + Walk or bike along the promenade along the coastline + Visit the Ancient Agora of Smyrna + Spend an afternoon exploring the bazaar * Should season is going to be better because the heat in the summer can be brutal * Izmir is also known as a place to buy wedding dresses * Read more about Tamara's time in Izmir and Ephesus: https://we3travel.com/izmir-turkiye-3-day-itinerary/

Related Episodes * Istanbul * Cappadocia

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On this episode, we are joined by Nedra McDaniel from Adventure Mom, who is passionate about having attainable adventures at every stage of life. We are sharing some of our favorite places to go for Spring Break in the USA. You can follow Nedra on her blog, and on social media as @adventuremom on Instagram, Facebook, and others.

Expedia recently shared some travel trends for 2024 showing that March is the most expensive month to fly, so if your spring break is in March, you may want to consider a road trip! If you are looking for a cheap airfare, use Google Flights from your airport and put "anywhere" as the destination so that you can sort by price.

Spring Break Destinations * Florida Keys - is not oppressively hot and humid like it is in the summer. Hawk's Cay in Duck Key is a great location for families. You can take a day trip to Key West and enjoy a wide variety of water sports. Plan a Florida Keys road trip: https://we3travel.com/florida-keys-roadtrip/ * Daytona Beach / New Smyrna, Florida - "You have grown up and Daytona Beach has too", it is no longer a party spring break destination but very family friendly. You can go pedal kayaking, climb the Ponce Inlet lighthouse, eco boat tours, see manatees, Daytona racetrack tour, and you can drive on the beach. See more things to do at Daytona Beach: https://adventuremomblog.com/things-to-do-daytona-beach-and-ponce-inlet-fl/ and some of the themed attractions in Daytona: https://adventuremomblog.com/racing-themed-attractions-in-daytona-beach-fl/ * Caribbean Cruises - some leave from Florida and some visit Florida ports of call. Just keep in mind that the cruise ships, especially the pools and kids clubs, will be crowded during prime spring break weeks. Read about Kim's spring break onboard Holland America last year: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/review-caribbean-cruise-on-holland-america-nieuw-statendam/ * Washington D.C. - Spring break is often Cherry Blossom season and a popular time to visit. For some museums you can arrange timed-entry tickets and many of the Smithsonian Museums are free. D.C. has a great metro system so that you can stay further out to save money and use the Metro to get around. See Tamara's Washington D.C. itinerary: https://we3travel.com/washington-dc-itinerary/ * Gatlinburg, TN - Smoky Mountains National Park is free and offers plenty of hiking, be sure to drive or bike Cades Cove Loop, there are also quirky adventures like zorbing, alpine slides, mountain coasters, treetop adventure courses, and Hillbilly Golf. Plus there are so many themed restaurants and shows, along with Dollywood theme park. See Nedra's suggestions for unique adventures in the Smoky Mountains: https://adventuremomblog.com/unique-adventures-try-smoky-mountains/ * Phoenix / Scottsdale - spring break is also spring training for Major League Baseball and you can get great ticket prices to watch games in the Cactus League. There are also world-class spas, great brunch spots, and hiking. In the spring the desert is in bloom and beautiful. Scottsdale getaway: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/scottsdale-girls-weekend-itinerary/ * Las Vegas - you can use Las Vegas as a base and then explore some of the national parks in the area. It is especially good if you can do Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon midweek and explore the city on the weekends. The Pinball Museum and the Neon Sign Museum are fun and for older teens, try a food tour. See tips for hiking the Narrows: https://adventuremomblog.com/hike-the-narrows-for-an-incredible-adventure-at-zion-national-park/. See more unique adventures in Vegas: https://adventuremomblog.com/7-unique-bucket-list-adventures-in-las-vegas/. And ways to explore from Flagstaff: https://adventuremomblog.com/grand-canyon-beyond-from-the-flagstaff-koa-holiday/ * Little St. Simons Island, GA - for families looking for a unique all-inclusive here in the US, Little St. Simons Island is a private island and nature reserve off the coast of Georgia and it is perfect for nature lovers. See Tamara's review: https://we3travel.com/little-st-simons-island-all-inclusive-resort/ * Southern California - the weather is great and there is so much to do. Huntington Beach is great if you want to learn to surf. San Diego has the zoo and museums. Plus there are the theme parks. It is also a good season for whale and dolphin watching. See Kim's Southern California itinerary: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/one-week-southern-california-itinerary-disneyland/ * Destin, Florida - you can go online and find adventure packs with moms who can consult with you on things to do. You can bike on 30A, go paddle boarding, or go indoors at the underwater-themed bowling alley. Learn more about the adventure packs: https://adventuremomblog.com/why-families-love-destin-fort-walton-beach-adventure-packs/. See more things to do in Destin: https://adventuremomblog.com/things-to-do-destin-florida/ * Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama - also on the Gulf of Mexico not too far from Destin, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach has that same gorgeous white sand, blue-green water, and calm surf. There are tons of fun activities, great food, and cool, family-friendly beach bars. See more things to do in Orange Beach: https://we3travel.com/things-to-do-in-orange-beach-and-gulf-shores-alabama/

Related Episodes * Kim's Holland America spring break cruise * Southwest Grand Circle road trip * Kim and Tamara's trip to Oceanside, California * Kim and Tamara's Florida Keys trip * Las Vegas with kids * Kim and Tamara's trip to Scottsdale, Arizona

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In November, Kim and Tamara took a trip to Turkey for a travel writer's conference. After their time in Istanbul, they jetted off to different parts of the country to see more of Turkiye. This week, Kim shares her experience in Cappadocia and offers up tips for anyone that wants to experience this magical world of fairy chimneys and sunrise hot air balloon rides.

Episode Highlights * Plan to stay in Cappadocia at least four days * It pairs well with three to four days in Istanbul (it is about a 2 hour flight from Istanbul) * Kayseri Erkilet Airport (ASR) is the main airport for the region * Cappadocia is not a town but region that is made up of multiple towns * Going up in a hot air balloon is a bucket list experience for many but sometimes flights are cancelled because of various weather conditions so you want to leave some extra time in case you need to reschedule * Göreme is the main town and definitely a tourist town * If you want something quieter, you can stay in Uçhisar * Kim stayed in Ürgüp at the Avant Garde Cave Hotel * The Pigeon Valley Hike goes from Uchisar through the National Park to Goreme (about 3 miles) * The Valley is where all the balloons fly above * Göreme also has beautiful sunsets * Goreme National Park is where you will find all the fairy chimneys or hoodoos * You can book a balloon ride through your hotel or online, there are many tour operators that offer balloon rides * Departure time depends on the time of year, but it is usually fairly early morning * The balloons are big with large baskets that hold at least 20 people, with 4-5 people in each section * Make sure you have a lanyard or strap for your phone or camera * The pilots take photos and then sell you the photo package if you want at the end of the ride * At the end there is a light breakfast and champagne but no tables or chairs * They pick you up and drop you off at your hotel * Use AllTrails to find and download nearby hiking trails * The Goreme Open Air Museum gives you access to some of the ancient churches * You can have a hammam experience for a traditional Turkish bath * Pack layers and shoes or hiking boots with a good grip

Stay tuned for our next episode about some of our favorite Spring Break destinations!

Related Episodes * Istanbul, Turkey * Favorite hotels of 2024

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Airplanes are not known for their comfort or service. So if you want to have the best experience that you can while cramped inside with a bunch of strangers, here is some advice on how to choose the best seats on an airplane. We share our pros and cons of the bulkhead seats and areas of the plane to avoid.

Episode Highlights * Tamara doesn't like row 1 or the bulkhead row because you can't keep your personal item at your feet and often the overhead bins above that row are full you end up needing to store your valuables and even your carry on bag a few rows back. * Often the first couple of rows of economy is where they store crew luggage, blankets, emergency kits, etc and the room is really limited. Also, since those rows are often "premium economy" people sitting there board early and have status and take up the overhead space. * Those bulkhead rows also have fixed armrests that are a bit of a wall that can be uncomfortable. * Also, this is where your tray table and tv screen is stored there so you also end up looking down if you are watching the screen. * These seats also often have the very thick seatbelts with a built in airbag that can be uncomfortable. * The middle section bulkhead is also where they put a bassinet and a baby. * The pro is that you have leg room and you aren't going to have someone reclining in front of you * On the exit row, you also sometimes have a bump out for the slide that cuts into your space in the window seat * Remember to always double check your seat assignments in the days and weeks leading up to the trip, especially if there have been any changes to your flights as they may have shifted your seats if there was an equipment change * Sometimes the middle section of a larger plane or international flight you can find a seat without someone next to you, especially if you are traveling solo * When choosing a seat, always look at the layout and be aware of where the bathrooms are. You don't want to be either right across from the bathroom or the rows nearby if possible * Also, if you are sensitive to sound, you may not want to be in the very front or back near a galley because of the noise, light, and movement * The row just in front of the exit row is often used for storage in the overhead bins and space is tighter * The seats in the exit row or just before/after sometimes don't recline. Also, the very back of the plane or section have seats that only recline a tiny bit * Kim and Tamara both prefer the aisle for easy access to the bathroom and to not feel as claustrophobic * Windows can be nice if you want to sleep and you aren't getting bumped by people walking by or the carts going up the aisle * Kim likes the aisle of the middle section on international flights because sometimes there might be an open seat next to you * If you see all four seats of that section booked, it is likely a family and you might want to be two rows before or after that row * If you have a tight connection, try to be as far forward as you can in the plane. It is worth paying extra for a premium seat towards the front * Seat Guru is not always updated but can be a good resource. Another site that gives seat reviews is Aerolopa * If you have an American Express Platinum card you get a $200 airline credit each year but you need to select your airline. This doesn't go to the fare but can be used for seat upgrades or baggage fees * If they change your flight schedule, you need to go in and accept or reject the changes. If the schedule changes more than a certain amount of time, they have to give you a full refund

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Anyone looking for a weekend getaway from Seattle, or a small-town add-on to a trip to the Pacific Northwest, Whidbey Island is a great choice. Learn all about where to stay and things to do on Whidbey Island and hear about a fun time to visit during Mystery Weekend in February!

Episode Highlights: * Whidbey Island is one of the northern islands off of Seattle * At the end of February each year the town of Langley hosts a Mystery Weekend * You can get there via the Whidbey-Clinton ferry route or you can drive and take the bridge * Learn more about Mystery Weekend: + Kim's article on 5 Things to Know About Langley Mystery Weekend: https://stuffedsuitcase.com/langley-murder-mystery-weekend/ + Langley Mystery Weekend: https://whidbeycamanoislands.com/event/langley-mystery-weekend/2025-02-22/ * If you live locally, the winter is a great time to visit Whidbey Island because there aren't any crowds and the prices are much lower. * Where to stay on Whidbey Island: + Comforts of Whidbey - winery bed and breakfast + Saratoga Inn - cute historic home turned into a hotel in downtown Langley * The island is very dog-friendly with many hotels and restaurants that welcome dogs * For the Langley Mystery Weekend you go to the tourism office and purchase a booklet and entry form to guess who did the crime. It offers discounts/coupons for local businesses and encourages you to explore and find clues at different locations. You then put all the clues together to guess and solve the crime. There are also volunteers around town who are in character as part of the story. * A local resident writes the mystery every year and it changes each year so you can go every year for a different experience. * You need a car to get around Whidbey Island. There is a long highway down the middle of the island and it is easy to navigate. * Whidbey Island has an impressive food scene. A few to highlight include: + Saltwater - offers pub-style seafood restaurant in Langley + Savory - small-plates style restaurant that is perfect for sharing + Langley Kitchen - good for breakfast + Braeburn - good for lunch and breakfast * Things to do in Whidbey Island: + Take a hike or get outdoors + Earth Sanctuary - $7.00 entrance fee, a space to be in nature, there is also a labyrinth + Hammons Family Preserve - great walking trails + State Park Beach with kite surfing + Shopping + Wine, cider and mead tasting rooms * What to pack: a raincoat and waterproof shoes * Where to take a photo: Hammons Preserve with a view of the water

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Kim and Tamara recently visited Istanbul, Türkiye for the first time to attend the SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) Annual Conference. In this episode, they share their insights and tips for others planning a trip to Istanbul including where to stay, top sights to visit, safety, and other travel tips.

Show Highlights: * Turkish Airlines has a lot of direct flights from the USA (including Boston and Seattle) * Turkish Airlines business class varies depending on what plane you are on and you need to be strategic about choosing your seat * It takes about an hour to get from the airport to the city center and there is a lot of traffic in Istanbul. Tamara used Welcome Pickups and Kim used Sun Transfers for private transfers, which were both affordable and possibly cheaper than taxis. * It is best to stay in the Sultanahmet neighborhood for first time visitors near the main attraction, Kim also stayed in the Galata Tower area but it is very hilly and hard to access for cabs. * Tamara stayed at the Hagia Sofia Mansions Hotel (a Curio Collection by Hilton Hotel) and Kim stayed at the White House boutique hotel. * They also stayed at the Conrad Hilton during the convention but wouldn't recommend that area unless you are about to get on or off a cruise. * You can ask Google Maps for an accessible route to avoid hills. * Kim and Tamara really enjoyed taking a small group tour of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. You can do it on your own but the guide takes care of getting the tickets and plan it so you don't need to figure out what time the mosques are open for visitors. * You need to cover your hair when you enter a mosque and take off your shoes so it is helpful to wear slip off shoes and socks. * In the Hagia Sofia, visitors can only go to the second level and look down at the main prayer area. You can also see the gold mosaics and Christian imagery from when it was a church. * The Basilica Cistern is also nearby and it is very popular with very long lines. We would recommend that you buy skip the line tickets online in advance. Tamara took a guided tour but it was hard to stay together in the crowd and you need to use a listening device to hear the guide. * The Sulimaniye Mosque, near the Spice Market, is also well worth a visit for its gorgeous architecture. It is equal or even better than the Blue Mosque. * The Rustem Pasha Mosque is also beautiful, but smaller. * The Spice Market, also known at the Egyptian Market, has tons of shops selling tea and spices. Just beware that they sell via the kilo and that is a huge amount so you need to request a much smaller amount unless you want to spend an arm and a leg. The sales guys are very good at upselling and aggressive about engaging you to get you into the shop. They also offer free samples. * See Tamara's tips on visiting to Istanbul as a solo female traveler: https://yourtimetofly.com/istanbul-solo-female-travel/ * The Grand Bazaar is largely gold jewelry and knock off designer goods with just a few more authentic shops with Turkish linens or carpets. * Make sure you try simit in the morning, baklava, Turkish Delight, and Turkish coffee and tea. There are some shops or tours that include someone who "reads" your tea leaves or coffee grounds. * Turkish cuisine is very beef and lamb centric. A braised beef and eggplant is a popular dish. * Let the restaurant bring different types of mezze, as many of these are delicious and things you might not have tried if you picked yourself. * Gozleme is a flatbread topped with cheese or cheese and spinach. * Credit cards are widely used but you should bring cash (or get cash from an ATM) for taxis and you will be able to spend less if you pay in cash when you go shopping. * Be prepared to tip. * Make sure the taxi starts the meter and know ahead of time about how much it should cost. And if you use Uber, don't let them tell you that they don't pay via the app. * The tram is an easy way to get around and there is a kiosk to purchase tickets with an English option.

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Kim and her daughter Amelia went to New York City in December to experience the Big Apple for the holidays. In addition to enjoying the holiday markets, ice skating, and decorations, they went on a quest to find all the of the Taylor Swift related spots in the City. If you have a Swiftie fan, give this episode a listen!

Trip Highlights: * Kim stayed at the Grayson Hotel near Bryant Park, which has a good location but the rooms are very small and the rooftop bar is pretty loud and crowded * They visited from Sunday - Wednesday to avoid the weekend crowds * Earlier December is better because the crowds get heavier the closer it gets to Christmas and between Christmas and New Years * Ice skating in Bryant Park is much cheaper than skating in Rockefeller Center and if you have your own ice skates, it is free. You need to book your time slot when it opens a week in advance. You get 20 minutes to get your skates and 50 minutes on the ice for your time slot. * Kim and Mia used CityPASS New York to see many of the sights. The passes are available digitally and you can book reservations (when needed) from within the CityPASS app. * They did Top of the Rock at night and then the Empire State Building during the day. During the holidays, Top of the Rock has a seasonal Christmas pop up bar. * There are Christmas Markets at Columbus Circle, Bryant Park, Herald Square, and Union Square to visit. Bryant Park is one of the busiest markets. * The storefronts on Fifth Avenue are decorated and Sixth Avenue has a lot of large ornaments and other holiday decorations. * They didn't get to visit the lights in the neighborhood of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

Taylor Swift Spots in NYC: * Housing Works - where Taylor Swift filmed part of the "All too well" video * House on Cornelius Street * Bus Stop Cafe near Cornelius Street * Walk on the Highline * Chelsea Hotel * See more details in Kim's Instagram post

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On this episode, we recap our favorite hotel stays from 2024, with picks that are great for international and domestic travel for couples, friends, or family trips.

• Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht - part of Hyatt Hotels, this hotel has a fabulous location on one of the main canals in a great area. The staff was helpful and the room was stylish. The only thing to keep in mind is that it has an open bathroom concept, so it wouldn't be great for families or two friends sharing a room. This is a good option for those who travel with points. Chase is a transfer partner with Hyatt. Tamara visited this hotel in January on her weekend getaway to Amsterdam.
• Exeter Hotel Reykjavik - this hotel also has an open bathroom format. The location is about a 10-minute walk from the main shopping and sightseeing district. The room rate also included free breakfast and there was a passcode-locked gate for storing luggage. Kim stayed here with her daughter before their Windstar Cruise.
• Weston Inn Vermont - this is a nice luxury inn in Southern Vermont with top-notch service, a great restaurant, nicely appointed rooms, a spa and fitness center with fantastic yoga classes. This is a perfect romantic getaway. Read Tamara's full review.
• Inn at Laurel Point, Victoria - Kim talked about this hotel on a recent episode about Victoria, BC. It is located right on the waterfront just a short walk from downtown. They have spacious rooms, nice L'Occitane bath products, soaker tubs, and a fabulous cafe and full-service restaurant on site.
• Sandestin Hilton, Florida - located along 30A near Destin, Florida, this area has gorgeous white sand beaches and calm water. This is a great hotel for families because one of the towers has 300 rooms that have bunk beds. It is easy to have a family of five in one room and not feel cramped. Read Tamara's full Sandestin Hilton review.
• White House Hotel, Istanbul - had rooms with three twin beds, making it a great choice for a friend trip to Istanbul. The price was extremely reasonable and it is in the Sultanahmet neighborhood near all the main attractions.
• Hagia Sofia Mansions, Istanbul - this is a Curio Collection by Hilton Hotel, also in the Sultanahmet neighborhood and it was beautiful. The rooms are spread across multiple buildings and the rooms feel very luxurious. There are two restaurants and the breakfast has so much food.
• Park Hyatt Istanbul - Macka Palas - the hotel room was fabulous but it is located in a high-end shopping district, which may mean you spend more on cabs getting around the city.
• Avantgarde Refined Urgup - Cappadocia is a region of towns and this hotel is in the up-and-coming town of Urgup. This is a newly-opened, cave-style hotel with excellent service and food.
• Meneghetti Wine Hotel, Croatia - this is Tamara's favorite hotel of the year. They stayed in a one-bedroom residence that had a living room, 1.5 baths, loft bedroom, with a private backyard and patio. The hotel is located on a wine estate and has multiple restaurants, two pools, a beach club, spa, and more. Read about Tamara's couples trip to Croatia.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Where to go in 2025 * Explore Iceland on a Windstar Cruise * Weekend getaway in Victoria, BC * Explore Croatia from Dubrovnik to Istria * Amsterdam with kids

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Tamara is just back from a festive trip to Nova Scotia, Canada where she was able to experience small town holiday celebrations, the Halifax Evergreen Festival, and the Christmas Tree Capital of the World! Her trip was sponsored by Tourism Nova Scotia. All opinions are her own.

We are looking for feedback for 2025! Do you want weekly episodes? More interviews? Short episodes? Video? Drop us a line at tamara@yourtimetofly.com and kim@stuffedsuitcase.com.

Mentioned on the podcast:

• Tamara visited Halifax, New Ross, Mahone Bay, Lunenberg, Barrington, Liverpool, and Shelburne in Nova Scotia.
• While Nova Scotia is popular in the summer, it has plenty to offer in the winter for the holidays
• Many of the small towns feel like walking into a Hallmark Christmas movie set with a great small town, community atmosphere.
• It is a different vibe from big city holidays or German Christmas Markets, but it is perfect for those that prefer a small town environment.
• The Canadian dollar is also weak against the U.S. dollar so it is a good budget, off-season destination.
• It is only a 1.5 hour direct from Boston, but there are also direct flights to other cities on the U.S. East Coast.
• Downtown Halifax has an Evergreen Festival that includes an Evergreen Bright Trail, a small Evergreen Market with shops and fire pits, and other special events like a sports area with mini curling.
• Glow Gardens in Halifax is a great event for families featuring indoor light displays, bouncy houses, mini golf, roller skating, a Christmas train, live entertainment, and more.
• 2 days in Halifax was perfect.
• Museums in Halifax include the Pier 21 Immigration Museum and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which has a great exhibit on shipwrecks including fragments from the Titanic.
• New Ross is the Christmas Tree Capital of the World, which ships its Balsam Fir trees. You can visit the Ross Farm Museum or one of the cut-your-own Christmas tree farms. There is also a trail called Ruby's Trail that you can climb through the evergreens to a small chalet, which is home to "Twig the Elf."
• Mahone Bay had a Christmas festival with a small craft fair and a Christmas bells concert, as well as holiday decorations throughout the shops downtown.
• Lunenberg hosted a huge community arts and crafts fair for the holidays. The town of Lunenberg is very pretty, with colorful architecture and plenty of restaurants and shops.
• In Shelburne, Tamara stayed in a huge waterfront suite at Albert's Inn. Shelburne hosted Miracle on Dock Square with a walk-through Christmas parade, visit with Santa, craft fair, and various stands throughout town. It finished with fireworks over the water.
• Tamara also went searching for the lobster trap and buoy Christmas trees along the coast of Nova Scotia.
• Tamara finished her stay at the White Point Beach Resort, which has cabins, a lodge, and glomes (glamping domes). It was warm and cozy, with a great view and very nice, even in the winter.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy: * Summer travel recap: New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island * German Christmas Markets * European Christmas Markets

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Not sure where to go on vacation next year? We have all kinds of ideas from new theme parks, new attractions, new hotels, cities and destinations celebrating anniversaries, destinations that are easier to access thanks to new direct flights, and more. Plus, stick around to hear where to avoid in 2025 too!

• Universal Orlando is opening Epic Universe in May of 2025 and you currently need to buy a three-day ticket, with one day to be spent in the Epic Universe Park. There are also three new hotels opening in 2025 in conjunction with the new park.
• Walt Disney World is also reopening the Test Track attraction and getting a new parade in Magic Kingdom. Disneyland will also be celebrating its 70th anniversary all year long and adding a new Walt Disney animatronic attraction. Two new attractions will also open in the Avengers land.
• Mattel Adventure Park is opening in Glendale, Arizona with a Barbie Fun House and Hot Wheels roller coaster.
• Oklahoma City is opening an Okana Resort with a hotel and waterpark right next to the new First Americans Museum near the Bricktown entertainment district.
• Santa Rosa, California is celebrating the Peanuts comic strip's 75th anniversary at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. (Hear more about Kim and Tamara's trip to Santa Rosa.)
• Germany is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Fairy Tale Route (read more about Jade from Vagabond 3's tripwith her daughter)
• Southwest is now flying direct flights to Iceland from more cities (such as Nashville). Just know that you won't be able to use your Companion Pass for Iceland flights.
• This winter is also supposed to be another peak solar cycle to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, Alaska, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
• There are also new direct flights from Atlanta and Philadelphia to Copenhagen via a KLM code-share with Delta.
• Copenhagen is one of the oldest theme parks in the world and the city is quite family friendly.
• If you are traveling to Europe next year, at some point they will introduce the ETIAS visa and the UK is now going to introduce its own visa system in January 2025.
• 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth and cities like Bath, England will be doing a lot to celebrate. It is a great time to plan a trip for literary fans!
• Fiji now has direct flights from Dallas. Fiji is an affordable and exotic destination for families, which is easier to get to and much cheaper than places like the Maldives.
• There will also be new direct flights from Newark, NJ to Faro in the Algarve in Portugal (hear about Kim and Tamara's trip to Portugal). United also has flights to Sao Miguel in the Azores.
• Turks and Caicos has opened many new luxury hotel properties and beachfront villas and offers beautiful beaches. They are also opening a second airport.
• Indianapolis will be a great spot for a girls' trip or a mother-daughter sports-themed trip - just get your tickets to the Indiana Fever very far in advance. Seattle is also a great sports city with a women's soccer team and WNBA team.
• Italy is celebrating the Jubilee year from December 2024 through Epiphany January 6, 2026. Rome is going to be extra busy next year, especially at the Vatican (and it could be closed for events.)

In 2025, Tamara will be visiting both Peru and Chile in March and April 2025. Kim is meeting her daughter Mia in Paris in July and doing eight days in Switzerland.

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Imagine taking a weekend getaway to another country without needing a car or getting on a plane! Kim recently took a trip to Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria is on the tip of Vancouver Island and is actually closer to the U.S. than Vancouver. You can take a high-speed ferry on the Victoria Clipper directly from Seattle. Another option is to take a seaplane from Kenmore Air or Harbour Air from Vancouver. There is also a car ferry from the Port Angeles area.

You can listen to more about Kim's previous trip on Episode 139 about Victoria or read her tips for taking the Victoria Clipper. This trip was hosted by the Victoria Clipper.

The high-speed ferry takes about 2.5 hours from Seattle. The ferry drops off in the main Victoria Harbor and you can walk to the Inn at Laurel Point. Kim has also stayed at the Coast Hotel during a previous stay, but that is slightly further away from the city center. The Fairmont Empress is great for a luxury stay or even just to book a high tea experience.

Things to do on a weekend getaway:

• Butchart Gardens - which also offers high tea in the original family home. If you book a trip on the Victoria Clipper, they offer vacation packages that also include things like bus transfers to the Gardens.
• In the Harbour, Canada has done a place-making project to give more visibility to First Nations as it was historically a very important cultural site for many local First Nations people.
• There are three free daily shuttles to the Malahat Skywalk, which is owned by the Malahat Nation. You climb a ramp through an open, beehive-like structure and at the top, you can climb on a net and look out over the scenery and the water. There are also various sculptures made by locals. You can walk back down or take a slide for part of the descent.
• You can also go wine tasting in Victoria at Blue Grouse Estate Winery with a gorgeous tasting room, or the Venturi-Schultz Vineyard, where they also make estate balsamic vinegar and Enrico Winery. Local wines include Pinot Noir, sparkling wine, and white wines.
• Ritual Nordic Spa in downtown Victoria has a great Nordic spa experience with steam, a sauna, a cold plunge pool, salt room, showers, an infrared sauna, and a private patio for relaxation.
• Aura is the restaurant at the Inn at Laurel Point and is excellent (the coffee shop also has amazing croissants)
• Endive is a pescatarian restaurant with seasonal ingredients and many things are served family style.

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Tamara recently took a press trip to San Antonio, Texas, hosted by Visit San Antonio, to see what there was to do in San Antonio for families. She found that San Antonio has a lot of history and culture, great food, fun theme parks, and plenty of free or affordable attractions.

San Antonio could make a great winter or spring break family vacation (when the weather is cooler). The city is also ideal for a girls' trip or couples getaway weekend. Top sites include:

• San Antonio is the theme park capital of Texas with four theme parks within a short drive. They have the largest SeaWorld of all the parks. There is also a Six Flags, Schlitterbahn water park, and Morgan's Wonderland.
• Morgan's Wonderland is an ultra-accessible amusement park but built so that everyone can play. Each ride and attraction has been designed from the ground up to be accessible and conscious of those with special needs.
• The San Antonio CityPASS can save you money if you want to visit quite a few museums and attractions (including the San Antonio Zoo).
• The Riverwalk extends for 15 miles and outside of the core downtown horseshoe section, it is a quiet and lush urban park. You can even kayak on the river.
• The Pearl is a dining and entertainment district with residences and the Hotel Emma.
• The food in San Antonio is great and it is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. Some highlights: Eddie's Taco Shop, Best American Daughter, Burgerteca, Stix and Stone, The Jerk Shack, and La Panaderia
• In addition to the Alamo, there are four other Missions that are run by the National Park Service, which offer even more to see.
• The Witte Museum is great for kids with plenty of interactive exhibits and play areas.
• The Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park is beautiful and peaceful
• Hemisfair Park downtown also is great for family with young kids with splash pads and climbing structures.
• Tamara stayed at the Intercontinental San Antonio Riverwalk on the quieter section of the Riverwalk. There are also great resort hotels in Hill Country just outside of San Antonio.

See more about Tamara's trip and reasons to visit San Antonio with kids.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Girlfriend getaway to El Paso, Texas * Things to do in Austin, Texas with kids

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Kim recently took her two girls to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando for a mother-daughter getaway. Hear more about her trip, learn some strategies for using Lightning Lane, new rides, new theme parks coming, and comparisons between the parks.

It was hot, humid, and rainy in the afternoons, but they still had a fun time exploring all the parks. Luckily, Universal Orlando has more indoor rides that help on rainy days.

Updates from Walt Disney World * Tron in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom - it is like riding a motorcycle but on a roller coaster track. The ride is fabulous but really short. * Splash Mountain is now Tiana's Bayou Adventure - this is a two-by-two flume-like ride that has been redesigned. * Disney now has Lightning Lane Multi Experience and Lightning Lane Single Experience. With the Multi Experience, it works on multiple rides and as soon as you tap into one ride, you can request the next Lightning Lane. You want to purchase and prebook your first ride in advance. Single Experience is where you can buy a Lightning Lane time slot for individual rides like Tron or Rise of the Resistance. * Disney's Lightning Lane experience is better than Universal's Express Pass because they load people from that lane faster. * Disney has also changed their rules around their Disability Access service and made it much harder to obtain a pass. Keep this in mind if you have children with special needs and have used that service in the past. * Tip: If you want to stay at one of the Deluxe hotels on property, you can stay by renting Disney Vacation Club points. (Riviera has Skyliner access) See Kim's article on renting and using DVC points. * Disney is building a new ride in the Avengers Campus and they are getting rid of the Tom Sawyer Island and Riverboat in Magic Kingdom to create Cars Land.

Updates from Universal Orlando Note: Universal Orlando hosted Kim's family for this part of the trip.

• Kim stayed at the Loews Sapphire Falls, which is a Moderate property and does not include the Express Passes. The Sapphire Falls is within walking distance to the parks and guests get one hour early entry.
• Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure still has very long lines.
• The nice thing about the Universal Express Passes don't require you to book any times online, so it is less stressful to manage. However, many people have these passes because they are staying at the premium hotels and the lanes load slowly so sometimes you don't save a lot of time (sometimes only about 10 minutes of time savings).
• There is a Universal Express Unlimited Pass that lets you ride a ride in the Express pass lane as much as you would like, without limits.
• Universal Orlando is building a whole new theme park in 2025 called Epic Universe. It is going to be further away from CityWalk and the other parks or hotels. It will also have another portion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic. There will also be two premium hotels and a How to Train Your Dragon land.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Disney Vacation Club tips * Choosing a Disney World hotel * Walt Disney World tips * Universal Orlando's Volcano Bay * Universal Orlando insider tips

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If you love Italy and Greece, you are going to love today's destination! Tamara shares her two-week trip with her husband to Croatia. They visited Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Zadar, and Istria for a mix of relaxation, food, wine, history, and cultural exploration.

Croatia is a lovely country to visit because it is very clean and one of the safest countries to visit in the world.

Unfortunately, it is also surprisingly expensive. It isn't the "cheaper" Italy. You can see a full Croatia budget breakdown. Istria was less expensive than other parts of the country.

Tamara's itinerary included:

• 3 nights in Dubrovnik at the Rixos Premium
• 1 night in Korcula at Aminess Hotel Korcula
• 3 nights in Hvar at the Beach Bay Hvar Hotel
• 1 night in Zadar at Hotel Bastion
• 4 nights in Istria at the Hotel Meneghetti

You can find her full Croatia itinerary for couples here.

It is best to fly into one city and fly out of another. For example, fly into Dubrovnik and out of Zagreb. To get around in the southern Dalmatian region and islands, you can ferry hop to different islands. To visit the northern part of the country, it is best to rent a car.

Another option is to take a small ship cruise or yacht charter to explore the coast and islands that way.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Tamara's anniversary trip to Greece * Couples trip to Piemonte, Italy

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Tamara heads to Tucson, Arizona frequently since her daughter Hannah is now a junior at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Kim and Tamara first experienced Tucson together at a Family Travel Association Conference, but since Hannah started school Tamara has visited a number of times.

While many of her activities are centered around the University of Arizona, she has taken time to explore more of the area.

A few tips for visiting Tucson: * Visit in the summer for lower prices but expect dry temps over 100 and it can also be monsoon season with short heavy rain storms and flooding * Avoid May graduation, August move in, Parent weekend in September or October, the Mineral & Gem Show in February, and big football or basketball games to find better availability for hotels * If you want a resort hotel with a pool, you are better looking at some of the hotels in the foothills versus downtown * You need to rent a car if you want to stay at a resort and explore the area * It is about 2-2.5 hours from Phoenix if you want to fly into there instead of Tucson or combine the two destinations

Favorite hotels: * Best for families: Westin Paloma * See Tamara's picks for the best places to stay in Tucson * Favorite for couples: Hacienda Del Sol * Best near campus: Graduate Tucson * Best downtown: Home2Suites by Hilton

Things to do in Tucson: * Saguaro National Park * Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum * Sunset at West Gate Pass * Night sky star gazing at Mt Lemmon Windy Point or Kitt Peak * Hiking in Sabino Canyon * Pima Air and Space Museum * Horseback riding at White Stallion Ranch / Cowboy Cookout at Tanque Verde Ranch * Old Town Tucson * Shopping along Fourth Avenue * Enjoy Mexican food * See more things to do in Tucson * Great brunch spots in Tucson

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Scottsdale * Tempe, Arizona

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Kim just came back from her third cruise of the year and her first small-ship cruise on Windstar Cruises. TL;DR, she loved Windstar and small ship cruising! In this week's episode Kim dishes on everything you need to know about small ship cruising on Windstar.

Plus, hear about her pre-cruise excursions from Reykjavik including a small group Golden Circle tour with Hidden Iceland and hot springs experiences at the Sky Lagoon and Blue Lagoon.

Note: Kim was hosted by Windstar Cruises for purposes of her review. All opinions are her own.

Highlights of the Windstar Cruise experience:

• Small staff with personalized service
• Easier to make connections with fellow cruisers
• Very large cabins with a sitting area, walk in closet, and large bathroom
• Dining options
• Observatory lounge

OTHER EPISODES YOU MAY ENJOY * Princess Alaska Cruise * Holland America Caribbean cruise * Barge and river cruising through France * Off-the-beaten path in West Iceland * Iceland family travel tips

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Are you ready to go leaf peeping in New England this fall? Tamara shares some great destinations and road trips on where to go to northern New England including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

• New England covers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
• If you are visiting in the fall, you will want to keep an eye on the fall foliage trackers and know that the further north you go, the earlier it will peak
• The prime time is late September through mid-October for fall travel
• How to plan a New England road trip: fly into Boston and then head north to Portland, Maine and then into the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then into Vermont
• You will need at least a week to do a road trip if you are flying in
• Otherwise you can easily plan a long weekend
• 7 Fall New England road trip options
• Best things to do in New England with kids
• The White Mountains in New Hampshire makes a great long weekend or even weeklong trip
• Where to go glamping in New England
• Where to stop on the Kancamaugus Highway in New Hampshire
• Vermont is great for couples with quintessential charming towns
• Burlington, Vermont is a fun getaway and Brattleboro is perfect for artists. One of Tamara's favorite towns is Manchester, Vermont.
• Tamara has done a wonderful romantic getaway at the Weston luxury inn in Vermont
• Plan a Vermont road trip
• Highwood Retreat in Vermont is an off-the-grid glamping spot great for couples
• Lumen Nature Retreat in Lincoln/N.Woodstock, New Hampshire
• Alpine Garden Glamping in the White Mountains has a great location with cabins, Hobbit Houses, and a treehouse and it is located on a winery
• Best lobster rolls in Maine
• Best vacation spots in Maine
• Boston to Bar Harbor Maine coast road trip
• Things to do in Portland, Maine in the winter
• Things to do in the Berkshires in the winter and summer
• Best family vacations in New England (for every season)

Other Episodes You May Like * Fall travel destinations * Off-the-beaten path in Maine * Tamara's New England travels * Planning a girls' trip to Maine

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Kim is back from her 7th Alaska cruise! This one was on Princess Cruise visiting the Inside Passage that cruises from Seattle and visits Victoria, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagaway and sails through Glacier Bay.

Note: Kim was hosted by Princess Cruises for her trip.

• This cruise visits Victoria very briefly at night so not a good choice if you really want to visit Victoria
• When evaluating cruises, you need to look closely at the time and length in port very carefully
• If you do want to pick a cruise that flies out of Vancouver, it may be cheaper to fly into Seattle and take either a train or bus to Vancouver
• The Discovery Princess ship carries up to 4300 guests so it is a large ship about the same size as the Norwegian Bliss (which we have talked about previously)
• It leaves from Pier 91 in Seattle, which is a bit north of the main Seattle waterfront and port area
• If you sail with Princess, do the onboard check in on the app at least a month or a few weeks in advance so that you can receive your Medallions in the mail
• The 16th floor on the Discovery Princess is the pool deck so you may need to walk outside to get the buffet and mid-ship elevators depending on where your room is. Kim's room also had an overhang covering the balcony
• The cabins on the Discovery Princess are a little small, with no additional seating beyond the bed (except on the balcony)
• The cabin had a very generous closet space but the bathroom was quite tight (look at the cabin layout in advance)
• Kim went in mid-June and had amazing weather but there are no guarantees
• The Princess Theater was quite large
• The premier package level is $80 per person, per day includes WiFi for 4 devices per person, 2 specialty dining meals, and the highest level of drink package
• The 360 dining experience is something you need to book when you arrive and it is a seven-course meal with courses from around the world and it includes videos from makers around the world
• The food on board was good but fairly standard cruise fare outside of specialty dining
• Princess has a lot of lounges with something going on somewhere at all time
• You can buy a day pass to the Sanctuary pool and area
• Princess has a kids club and activities but there weren't a lot of families on board but it is great for multi-generational family trips
• In Juneau, Kim went whale watching and it was spectacular wildlife sighting
• In Skagway, Kim did the White Pass Scenic Railway and "Sip to Summit" excursion
• In Ketchikan, Kim did a fishing excursion and after you catch fish they cook it for you on a private island
• Not all cruise ships in Alaska goes to Glacier Bay National Park so be sure to look for this! There seem to be better views from the left side of the ship
• Bigger ships have to dock further away and some need to tender to port so this is something else to consider when taking an Alaskan cruise
• Smaller ship (like Holland) are better for walking on and off the ship

OTHER EPISODES YOU MAY ENJOY * Holland America Caribbean cruise * Barge and river cruising through France * NYC to Bahamas cruise on Norwegian * Norwegian Bliss cruise to Alaska * Disney Cruise for First-timers

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Summer vacation is almost here and we are getting ready for the busiest summer travel season ever! Be sure to pack your patience, your travel insurance, and these travel apps. In this episode we talk about some of our favorite travel apps that we are using lately for road trips, plane travel, and international travel.

Travel Apps to Download this Summer:

• Flight Aware - helps you track to see where planes are and their status
• Airline apps - send you alerts for delays, help you rebook easily, download mobile boarding passes, can sometimes track luggage, inbound flights, or provide information on airport lounge locations and status
• Mobile Passport Control - for international travelers that don't have Global Entry
• Apple Find My Device with Apple AirTags or alternatively use Tile or similar trackers for checked bags
• Roadtrippers - helps you plan road trips and find things to stop at along the way
• GasBuddy - helps you find gas stations and the most affordable gas
• Welcome Pickups - arrange airport transfers or other transportation in 256 locations worldwide
• Daytrip - sightseeing city to city transfers with stops along the way
• Hotel apps - allow you to chat with the hotel, digital check in and check out, and sometimes select room, get a digital key, manage entertainment, and other services
• Card Pointers - helps you manage all your various credit card offers and helps you decide which card to use where and when and maximize your special offers
• Global Blue - helps you manage your VAT refund forms
• Stasher and Bounce - helps you find places to store your luggage, which is great if you are staying at an Airbnb or stopping somewhere along your way but need luggage storage
• Going - great for finding flight deals

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * What to know about airline fees * Best credit cards for travel * Favorite places and travel products * Best hotel loyalty programs for families * Tips for finding hotel deals

Follow Kim at @stuffedsuitcase on Instagram

Follow Tamara at @yourtimetofly on Instagram

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St. Maarten is a popular destination in the Caribbean, but many people only visit as a brief cruise port destination. However, getting there is pretty easy with direct flights from the USA and there is plenty to do and see on this Dutch and French Island.

Tamara recently visited St. Maarten to stay at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort as part of a press trip. This is the largest all-inclusive resort on the island and it has plenty of offer for families.

Read the full review of the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort on We3Travel. It is located in Maho Beach Village, very close to the airport and the famous Maho Beach.

Sonesta Maho Beach Resort fast facts:

• 420 rooms and suites in one tower
• There is an adults-only sister resort next door at the Ocean Point Resort
• The rooms either have a water (pool or ocean) view or island view
• It isn't directly on Maho Beach
• Large pool with water slides and swim up bar
• Small pool with kiddie slides near the kid's club
• Teen Zone offers a variety of games and entertainment
• There are many food options including: Mexican, Asian, Italian, pizza, cafe, tavern, and buffet restaurants

Tamara also did a johnnycake cooking class and the world's steepest zipline at Rainforest Adventures.

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Caribbean Cruise on Holland America * Where to go in the Caribbean * Planning a Barbados vacation * Everything you need to know about Beaches Turks & Caicos * Planning a family vacation to Grand Cayman

Follow Kim at @stuffedsuitcase on Instagram

Follow Tamara at @yourtimetofly on Instagram

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Kim took her oldest daughter on a Caribbean Cruise for her college spring break this past March. After sailing Holland America in Alaska in the past, she was excited to try the Holland America Caribbean cruise on the Nieuw Statendam.

This was a unique itinerary that left from Fort Lauderdale and visited Nassau, Bahamas, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos, along with Half Moon Bay, which is Holland's private island in the Bahamas. This itinerary included two days at sea.

Kim has cruised Norwegian, Disney, and Celebrity in the Caribbean in the past, so in this episode, she points out the differences between the different cruise lines and the highs and lows of the Holland Nieuw Statendam.

Learn more at:

• Review: Caribbean Cruise on the Holland Nieuw Statendam
• Printable cruise packing list
• Review: Our Alaska Cruise on Holland America

Follow Kim at @stuffedsuitcase on Instagram

Follow Tamara at @yourtimetofly on Instagram

Other Episodes You May Enjoy * Barge and river cruising through France * NYC to Bahamas cruise on Norwegian * Norwegian Bliss cruise to Alaska * Disney Cruise for First-timers

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Tamara has finally made it to her 50th state...Oklahoma!! She took an Oklahoma road trip to visit both Oklahoma City and Chickasaw Country in south-central Oklahoma, in partnership with Chickasaw Country and the Chickasaw Nation.

Oklahoma City has a lot to offer as a stand-alone destination including the First Americans Museum and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Tamara stayed at the aLoft hotel in Bricktown, which is the entertainment district with plenty of restaurants, bars, shops, and the minor league baseball stadium and water taxis.

If you are interested in learning more about First American culture and love visiting small towns, tune in to learn more about Chickasaw Country. Some highlights include:

• Chickasaw Cultural Center
• Chickasaw National Recreation Area (see bison!)
• Chisholm Trail Heritage Center (learn about life as a cowboy)
• "Leg Lamp" sculpture in Chickasha for those that love roadside attractions
• Small town shopping in Sulphur
• Art Walk in Pauls Valley

You can also read more about Tamara's Oklahoma road trip itinerary on We3Travel.

Follow Kim @stuffedsuitcase

Follow Tamara @yourtimetofly

Other Episodes You Will Enjoy: * Glacier Country, Montana * Off the beaten Path in Maine * West coast road trip * Southwest road trip * Family road trip tips

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Tamara is hosting an all-women small group trip to Portugal this fall and she would love for you to join her! Find out all the details and sign up here.

Did you know that Kim has been on safaris in four African countries? Today she shares some great tips that will help you decide where you might want to go, understand the differences between various safari experiences, and provide some advice for planning an African safari trip.

You can read more about a few of Kim's safari experiences here:

• Garden Lodge, Chobe River, Botswana
• Chobe National Park, Botswana
• South Africa

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Tamara is hosting an all-women small group trip to Portugal this fall and she would love for you to join her! Find out all the details and sign up here.

In this episode, Tamara talks about her two-week German Christmas Markets road trip! If you have this magical holiday trip on your radar, make sure to give this episode a close listen and check out the following articles:

• German Christmas Market itinerary (10-day road trip)
• Beyond Bratwurst: 32 German Christmas Market foods and drinks to try
• 5 Reasons to visit the Stuttgart Christmas markets
• 7 Christmas Markets near Frankfurt work a day trip

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Before we say goodbye to summer and pull on our flannels and break out the pumpkin spice, Tamara and Kim are back with a recap of Tamara's European summer travels including a month spent exploring France by river and barge cruise!

Tamara first spent two weeks in the United Kingdom, on a road trip through both Scotland and Wales with two other travel writers. She then took the Eurostar down to France and spent one week cruising through the Canal Nivernais on the Hotel Barge Elisabeth. Next, she went to Bordeaux and her husband joined her for a weeklong river cruise with AmaWaterways. Tamara finished up her summer of cruising with another canal barge cruise with European Waterways on the Canal du Midi in Southern France.

The Mavens break down the differences between river and barge cruising and what to expect on each.

Mentioned on the Podcast:

• 2 Days in Edinburgh itinerary
• Wales road trip itinerary
• Prettiest villages in Wales
• Cruising through Burgundy, France on the Hotel Barge Elisabeth
• Barge Lady Cruises - travel agency specializing in barge cruising
• Things to do in Bordeaux, France
• AmaWaterways
• Guide to a Bordeaux river cruise with AmaWaterways
• European Waterways

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Well it has been a minute since we had a chance to catch up and record a podcast but in this episode Tamara shares her insights and experience from her recent family trip to Japan.

Kim and Tamara also share their love for Scottsdale, Arizona and some of the things they did on a girls' trip together. Read more at:

• Scottsdale girls weekend
• Reasons to visit Scottsdale in summer
• Best Scottsdale Arizona resorts for girlfriends trips
• Scottsdale weekend itinerary

Tamara also talked about her time in Paso Robles, California. You can read her Paso Robles itinerary to get inspired to visit this wine region.

Kim attended conferences in Walt Disney World (read her tips for using DVC points to save money on a Disney World vacation), Disney Land, and San Antonio. She also took a family cruise to Alaska aboard the Norwegian Bliss, which was different from her Alaska cruise on Holland America last summer.

Kim also took a quick press trip to Iceland, where she was able to explore Reykjavik and visit the Sky Lagoon.

We really dug into Tamara's 2-week trip to Japan which included:

• 5 Days in Tokyo
• 5 Days in Kyoto
• 3 Days in Osaka

If you are planning a trip, be sure to read Tamara's Japan travel tips!

When talking about how great Google Maps can be to figure out transportation in Japan, Kim also mentioned her post about using Google Maps to plan a trip.

Tamara was also just back from a short press trip to Waterton and Glacier National Parks.

We will be traveling a lot over the summer so expect to hear another episode in the late summer. Then you will hear about Tamara's trip to Scotland & Wales, her river and barge cruises in France, and Kim's amazing trip to Kenya.

Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim

Today, we're journeying to the land of the rising sun.

[00:00:14.520] - Tamara

Welcome to Vacation Mavens a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suicase and Tamara from We Three Travel.

[00:00:29.740] - Tamara

Kim, I can't believe the last time I really talked to you was when we were together in Scottsdale in April.

[00:00:34.670] - Kim

I know. It's been a crazy travel season for us. Good. I love that travel's back and everything, but it's also crazy because I thought we would be talking more and we've seen each other so much at the beginning of the year. And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh, summer is almost over.

[00:00:47.920] - Tamara

Not quite. That was our intent was to have this monthly. We're struggling, guys. So if anyone is still listening and subscribe to us, which I hope that they are, we're going to do a quick little rundown of some of our recent travels. Now you'll see why we haven't been able to connect and record an episode.

[00:01:07.600] - Kim

Yeah, exactly. It's been insane. The last time you guys heard from us, we were headed to Scottsdale, which was middle of April, and we both, I think, had an amazing trip there. We both published our articles, so you can always head to Wee 3 Travel and Stuff Suitcase and see the stuff that we covered. But I loved Scottsdale. It was great.

[00:01:25.720] - Tamara

Yeah. I think Scottsdale just continues to be a place I want to go back to because there's so many beautiful resorts and hotels, so there's always some place new to check out. There's amazing spas. Then this time, we did a lot of really cool activities.

[00:01:41.370] - Kim

I loved how it was really I think Scottsdale is a great destination a combination for being able to do outdoorsy things. We did hot air balloons, horseback riding, a few different things. But we also did wine tasting and shopping and went to some museums. Then, like you said, went to an amazing spot, the Phoenixion. Scottsdale, if you are a spa person, that's where you want to go.

[00:02:03.230] - Tamara

I've been watching our friend, Colleen, that lives out in Scottsdale. She seems to be hopping around another spa every day. I'm like, Wow, I want to come be your friend right now.

[00:02:12.830] - Kim

I think everyone's been saying that, I want your job.

[00:02:15.790] - Tamara

I'm sure. I would definitely say romantic getaway, girlfriend get away. Scottsdale is amazing for that. There's plenty to do with the family as well because of all those outdoor activities. But definitely check out. I know I have an itinerary. You have some great suggestions on things to do in the summer and how to manage the heat out there. D efinitely check those out on our websites to see more.

[00:02:39.620] - Kim

So where did you head after Scottsdale?

[00:02:41.800] - Tamara

I went right from Scottsdale to T uson to see Hannah for a little bit. And then the following week, I went to Paso Robles, which I'd learned.

[00:02:51.090] - Kim

I always said it was Paso Robles. Oh, it's Robles.

[00:02:52.980] - Tamara

Yeah. And it's actually Robles. And I'm like, I feel silly saying Robles.

[00:02:57.270] - Kim

Yeah, it sounds like Marbles.

[00:02:58.630] - Tamara

But that is a wine region in central California near San Louis Biscoe. I just love it. I was there, I think it was nine or eight years ago with the family, and we were checking out some family friendly wineries there. But it has just exploded in terms of the number of wineries, but also really good food now. The downtown has expanded. I stayed in a new boutique hotel that was just I loved it, which was so cool. It has a rooftop bar. It had a wine, actually a champagne vending machine in the lobby. Oh, I saw that. I saw your story on that. Yeah. So I had a great time out there. And I definitely think anyone that's into wine, put that on your radar as a region to visit. You can easily spill a long weekend. I had a couple of really wonderful spots that I went for wine tasting, just those perfect, incredible views, great food, wonderful wine. I think where many, many years ago it was newer to the scene or it was well known for J. L oor, some of the bigger names. There's just so much going on out there.

[00:04:02.940] - Tamara

Where did you go next? Because I know you were really busy right after our.

[00:04:06.130] - Kim

Scottsdale trip, too. I had three trips back to back. I did go to Disney World for a conference and I got to ride the new Tron ride. I also checked out a new hotel, which was the Contemporary Hotel, which I had never been to. I loved that. I really do love the splurging on those Disney World hotels that have the monorail access and the ones we've been at Revere too with the Skyliner because, man, it's amazing how much easier it is just to get into and not have to deal with the bus system because then whenever I have to wait for a bus to one of the parks and it's like, inevitably I get there and I'm the last one, I've got to wait for 20.

[00:04:39.400] - Tamara

Minutes or something. I will say that's what I liked the most about Disneyland because I've never stayed on park at Disney World. I've only stayed at partner hotels and by hotels.

[00:04:50.150] - Kim

Yeah, it is a big splurge for sure. I have a great article about that, though, because we splurged and used... We rented DVC points to be able to stay, and it's still not cheap. It was for the graduation trip and stuff, and this one does a conference hotel rate. I'm definitely not saying it's cheap, affordable, but if you do want to splurge, renting DVC points, and I have a link, so if anyone wants it, or you can look up the how I saved $2,000 plus dollars at Disney World. I have how we did that in there. I actually just tried to do it for Disneyland, but they didn't have any availability because Disneyland only has one property, almost two. Anyways, I did that. But then right after that, I also went on another Alaskan cruise, which you and I have talked about a few times. I'll soon have a couple of articles updated, but this was more of just a family cruise, so I didn't actually treat it like a work trip, which was nice to.

[00:05:39.930] - Tamara

Just relax. Which cruise were you on this time, though? Because I feel like was it last summer that you did celebrity?

[00:05:44.310] - Kim

Holland last August, which I absolutely loved. I loved Holland. I haven't done celebrity in Alaska yet, but Holland America was awesome. This time we did Norwegian because my family has status with there, and so they like to book Norwegian. We did the bliss, which we have been on the bliss before for a little media sailing when they started it.

[00:06:02.560] - Tamara

That's the one that we took.

[00:06:03.920] - Kim

To Alaska. Yeah, exactly. Family trip. Yeah. Anyway, so that was that. Then I had one other conference, then back to Disneyland. I hit both the parks within about three weeks of each other, but that was a lot of fun and just...

[00:06:17.460] - Tamara

You should have really had a Disney.

[00:06:19.000] - Kim

Cruise in the middle. I should have. That would have been perfect. Yeah, exactly. But anyways, that was a wrap up for me. My final trip that I did was I went at the end of May and went to San Antonio for another conference. It feels like most of mine were conferences. I was just conference out. But San Antonio is a cool city. It's been a while since I've been there. I went there for one day when I went to school in Texas for a little while. It was fun checking out San Antonio. But I know you've done a lot of other travels that did not involve conferences.

[00:06:51.170] - Tamara

Yeah, I'm like, Have I? I guess. You forget by now. Yeah, that's for sure. Well, I went back to T uson a week and a half later to pick up Hannah and bring her back from school. Then we were home for a week. Then we did our two week trip to Japan. Then I was home for, I don't know, two weeks. Then I just did a real quicky trip to Glacier National Park area.

[00:07:14.290] - Kim

Right. I forgot you went to glacier and I went to Iceland. I forgot to mention that. Oh, yeah. I'm blanking on June. I forgot June even existed. Sorry, I was just focusing on up to May, but yeah, definitely. I didn't get to experience the Iceland you got to experience because we stuck around Reykjavik and just explored a couple of attractions that were around there. So it was a quick, quick trip. But Mia is quite the little outdoor lover and cultured lover, so I definitely want to go back to Iceland with her because I know she'll just love to do some of the exploration that you've done.

[00:07:48.850] - Tamara

I was going to say, I'll meet you there. Yeah, definitely. I'm always ready to go back there. Yeah, well, I'll definitely put all of these links to articles in our show notes so you guys can read more. But I think.

[00:08:00.800] - Kim

That's a good way to do it. But I think we should dive into Japan because it is a very hot destination. I'm still so sad because ours was canceled. We were supposed to be going in April 2020, so we switched off and now you got to finally live the vacation that I was dreaming about back then. I think we should give everyone just a really quick rundown because I know that you have done an amazing job of writing a whole bunch of articles that are really going to be useful for people who are planning a trip to Japan. Let's just start off and give you an idea of how many days were you there and how maybe did you break up your itinerary?

[00:08:36.480] - Tamara

Yeah, absolutely. We took two weeks because especially coming from the East Coast, it's just such a long trip. Honestly, it's been on the top of our bucket list for so long, but we just haven't had two weeks where we felt comfortable to go that far knowing we're going to deal with jet lag on the way back. And then the flights are just always so expensive. But at least I was able to use points for one of our flights. So we took two weeks. I flew out on a Saturday morning. Yes, I got there on a Sunday, and then we were supposed to come back on Saturday, but we came back on Sunday because of a weather delay. But anyway, so I did five days in Tokyo, five days in Kyoto, and then three nights in Osaka. When I first started planning the trip, a lot of people told me that I would only need two or three days in Tokyo. But as I was looking at everything that we wanted to do, I was like, I really feel like I could easily spend a week here. It's just a fascinating city. There's just the ultra modern, and then there's the more traditional and each neighborhood is so huge.

[00:09:42.570] - Tamara

I think what many people don't realize is just how large the cities are. It's funny, I was talking to my mom before I left, and I don't think she's kept up on modern times as much. There's no way she's listening to this podcast, so I can say it. But she was like, Oh, I showed a picture when we went. She's like, Sky scrapers? I wasn't expecting that. I'm like, What do you think? It's rural villages. But this is the biggest city in the world.

[00:10:09.310] - Kim

Yeah, for sure.

[00:10:11.080] - Tamara

So it's so huge. And I'm used to going to Europe where even though the cities can be really large, we always stay in that historic, more central area where you're mostly walking. You're taking the metro, but you're primarily walking around a lot. And you may pick a neighborhood, I think about Paris. You pick a neighborhood each day. But in Tokyo, to get to a certain neighborhood, it might be 45 minutes on the couple of connections with the subway and stuff. So I'm glad that we did five days. That's crazy. I could end that was within without doing the Disney stuff, which I know many people like to do when they go there.

[00:10:49.630] - Kim

I do know that as a Disney person, it would be hard for me to go to Tokyo and not do Disney, at least Disney Sea, because it's considered a really unique park.

[00:11:00.330] - Tamara

Yeah, that's what everyone says. It's unlike any of the others. I get it. But we're not as.

[00:11:06.430] - Kim

Into the.

[00:11:06.990] - Tamara

Theme parks. Glenn was like, I am not going around the world to go to theme parks.

[00:11:11.590] - Kim

Exactly. When you have limited, yes, it's totally valid. I mean, it's very hard to figure out. I agree. I get what he's saying, but I also have that side of me that's like, Oh, but how can you be this close and not do it? So it's very hard to balance that. So, yeah, it sounds good. So you were saying, I know you guys... So I'm picturing Tokyo for my own planning. So you guys were in the Northwestern side of where you look at the downtown to the...

[00:11:38.990] - Tamara

Right. The Shizuku neighborhood, which some people were like, oh, do you want to stay there? It's like Times Square. And the area right around the train station is lots of neon, lots of crazy, especially at night. But we were honestly within a 10 minute walk to that, but where we were was more like, business, like government buildings, things like that. So it was really quiet, peaceful. It was great. And we stayed at the Hilton, Tokyo, and it was basically on top of... You could go just down an escalator and connect to two different subway stations. Plus they had a free shuttle if you wanted to the Shinkoku train station. So it was really very accessible. It felt very convenient. And there was plenty of restaurants and things around, but it wasn't super expensive. I don't know how expensive, really, but the Ginza area is much more high end. And then the Shiboya would be nice. But it totally.

[00:12:43.620] - Kim

Worked for us. We were happy with it. Nice. That's perfect. Yeah. I had looked at staying in the ginza area because of a few... I was also liked that it was closer to the Disney side, so it was a little easier to get out there. For those of you planning Genza area is basically opposite, diagonal across from where tomorrow states. I've heard the same thing from my research. You really have to allow a lot of time to transfer if you're going to different sides of what you consider the downtown center, 45 minutes to get across sometimes. Kind of crazy. Great. Well, what were some of the highlights then that you guys did when you were in Tokyo?

[00:13:17.970] - Tamara

We did a sushi making workshop with True Japan, and we really enjoyed it. The ladies were just really friendly and funny and nice. And so it was fun to see what goes into making sushi. And you probably know that I'm not a sushi eater, really. And we can talk about food later because it worked out better than I expected, except for a couple of times. But it was just fun. It's such a huge part of the culture. So I enjoyed that. We didn't do a whole lot of tours and things. We did a lot of exploring on our own. But the one thing that everybody has to do, which was as amazing as you would think, was the team lab planets, which is that immersive art experience where there's water and flowers and reflections. It's just unlike anything else. And it's really cool. And we've done the traveling, like van go immersive experience. But this was turning that up times 10 or more. And Hannah really loved it. It was really cool. The thing about it is you definitely have to book your tickets well in advance because just one of those things you have a timed entry.

[00:14:30.970] - Tamara

It's super popular. And honestly, when it comes to planning Japan, you really need to plan really far in advance. I mean, if you want to get restaurant reservations, some of them book up a month in advance. I think because some of them are so small that if they could take reservations, it might be for eight seats. And so they just go really quickly. And we weren't even there during cherry blossom season or golden week in early May when it's extra busy. difficult to do that. It was amazing. But I would say those are definitely highlights. I just loved exploring different areas. We did go, surprisingly, I liked this, but we went to a sumo wrestling tournament. Yeah, I wonder if I saw that. Which sometimes when people are there, they can see a practice. But there was actually a tournament going on while we were there. So that was something that I had figured out ahead of time. And when the tickets went on sale, I was able to book those the day that they were released. And it was a very cool thing. You don't want to spend hours and hours there because you don't know who the guys are.

[00:15:33.160] - Tamara

But just like you could see how excited everyone was to cheer for their favorite, the local person or whatever. And it's just such a dramatic theatrical type of sport. It was interesting. Yeah, for sure. Those are some of my highlights.

[00:15:48.770] - Kim

That's awesome. Because I know I saw some of the restaurant experiences you had. It seemed like sometimes you guys went simple and basic, but other times you went really over the top. Anything in Tokyo that you think somebody should splurge on or any savings tips for food or eating in Tokyo other than the restaurants making the reservations?

[00:16:08.160] - Tamara

Yeah, we did mostly the casual places in Tokyo. What I was trying to do, because I'm not a sushi eater, is have a variety of foods. And in Japan, all the restaurants really specialize in one thing. They do ramen, they do tempura, they do soba noodles, different things like that. So there's so many different styles of food to try within Japanese cuisine that we just booked a different style of food each night. And honestly, in some of them, we had to line up for the first night that we got there, we went to a place where it opened up five, and we got there at 445, and there was already probably 40 people in line for a 10 seat little place. And you basically you would wait till there was enough space in line. There was people sitting at the counter eating and then people standing behind them waiting for the second that they got up to sit in.

[00:16:56.790] - Kim

Their seat. Oh, my goodness.

[00:16:57.810] - Tamara

Oh, wow. And you had a vending machine, which is typical. Yeah, a vending machine to order from. So it's typical in a lot of ramen shops. So there's pictures and you just hit the button of what you want. You put in the money, you get a ticket and you hand.

[00:17:11.650] - Kim

The person the ticket. That's like McDonald's.

[00:17:13.780] - Tamara

Yeah. I'm just kidding. Those.

[00:17:16.820] - Kim

Screams in the middle. They have one at Tim Horton's as well. So of.

[00:17:20.940] - Tamara

Course, I made a mistake the first time because I saw people with a broth, which I thought was a ramen, and then a bowl of noodles. And I'm like, oh, that's so I saw on the machine that they had dipping noodles and they had ramen. And then you could add extra things, but only if you could tell what the picture was because it was otherwise in Japanese. And so I ordered dipping noodles because it looked really good and ramen because I thought that that's what people had. And then when I handed the girl the ticket, she was like, for one person?

[00:17:51.710] - Kim

Oh, no. And she was like, you.

[00:17:53.890] - Tamara

Want small or large? Because I was like, oh, is that not what they have? And she was like, no, they have. Because the dipping noodles come with a broth, so I thought it was that they had two.

[00:18:02.980] - Kim

Different things in front of them. Oh, and bologna.

[00:18:04.650] - Tamara

Yeah. Okay, got you. But I'm really glad that I did it because both were delicious. So I'm happy to sample both. But then Glenn ordered on his ramen, Scallions, and it was covered. It was like a mountain of Scallions because I was like extra. But it was like, if you get extra cheese on a pizza, it's like extra.

[00:18:23.110] - Kim

Extra extra. Oh, my goodness. Crazy. I mean, I love Scallions, but I don't know if I could handle the mountain of them.

[00:18:27.560] - Tamara

It was crazy. So you make those little mistakes. But we did a lot of the more casual things. And the hard thing is that honestly, I kept saying this, but there's very little in between. So there are the places where you... First of all, Japanese people love to line up, which is really hard when you're visiting and you're tired and you want to be able to eat with a certain time. People wait for two hours to get into this little ramen place or whatever. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, because you're like, I'm tired. I've been running all day. We were running like 5 to 9 miles. We were doing a lot of walking every day. So I'm like, I just want to sit down. So that's why we tried to do some reservations. But there were the really casual, inexpensive, really inexpensive places. And then there's the crazy, crazy high end... Some of the Sushi places, I'm like, there's no way. Because some of them charge up to like $500.

[00:19:19.820] - Kim

A person. Oh, my goodness.

[00:19:21.930] - Tamara

Insane. That's crazy. So there's just not a lot of middle ground is what I found. Okay, good to know. But the low end, not low end, but the inexpensive stuff is really good.

[00:19:31.970] - Kim

Yeah, of course. You just have to go on to wait for it.

[00:19:35.440] - Tamara

Yeah, exactly. And honestly, one day... So we had a bit of a rough start because Glenn had a stomach bug the day before we left. So the whole flight over and everything, he basically didn't eat for a couple of days. And then I had a really bad cold the day before we left. And for two days, I was so nervous, I'm testing. I'm like, Please.

[00:19:57.490] - Kim

Don't let it be.

[00:19:58.350] - Tamara

And it was. And it was just a cold, but I was still super congested, so it was just hard. And in Japanese society, you can't blow.

[00:20:06.290] - Kim

Your nose.

[00:20:06.970] - Tamara

In public. So I'm trying to be so discreet, going outside and blowing my nose and sanitizing and tucking it into my pocket know, like very... Like trying to be really conscious of that and trying to be super sanitary. But Hannah did end up getting a cold also. One day she was just not feeling up to going out and doing a tour and stuff. So we're like, just stay here and sleep. It was going to be the day that we toured one neighborhood and then we went to the sumo wrestling, and she wasn't super into that anyway. So we're just sleep. And then she went out on her own and she found a 7 11 because just like everybody says, 7 11 has amazing convenience food. So you can buy these really good sandwiches and all that stuff. So there's definitely plenty of ways that you can eat cheap there.

[00:20:56.090] - Kim

That's good to know. So then from Tokyo, you went to Kyoto? Yes. Kyoto is such a different vibe. Yeah, the bullet train, right?

[00:21:05.570] - Tamara

Yeah. So a couple of things to know about the bullet train is that we had gotten the JR pass, which allows you to use all the JR trains. We got the national ones, so you could use bullet trains as well, except the super fast ones weren't included. And we had gotten one that allows us to make seat reservations. And you also, if you're bringing luggage on the train, you now need to make a reservation for the luggage. And this is for more of a checked bag size luggage, not the carry on size. But we were there for two weeks, so we had checked bags. So you can make a reservation for the last row of seats where the luggage can go behind you, or there's a couple of spots on a luggage rack, but they're really cutting down on luggage on trains. Or you can ship your bags ahead, which we ended up actually a couple of times just shipping our bags ahead. And it only costs $20 a bag. It's waiting for you in the hotel when you get there. It takes 24 hours. So you need to have a small bag with all your stuff for.

[00:22:06.140] - Kim

Then one day. Yeah.

[00:22:07.320] - Tamara

But we took the bullet train and that worked really well. We saw Mount Fuji because it was a nice day out. So and we ended up like, we got to Kyoto and we just put our bags in a locker and then we took a local train out to Nara, which is about a half hour away or so, maybe 45 minutes. And there's a really beautiful, huge temple out there. But also it's known for their deer park, which Glenn, years ago, because we both work for a Japanese company, so he's been to Japan many times, but 25 years ago. And so he would always tell us about the deer in Nara that bow to you to get fed. Oh, right. And the deer have changed a bit in the last few years.

[00:22:53.320] - Kim

Yes. I've heard about this stuff. They have this issue at the monkey place, too.

[00:22:57.310] - Tamara

They were so aggressive. That's too bad. They were grabbing my shirt and pulling on my shirt. They nipped my butt. I'm like, Whoa. I feel like all these videos of Glenn and I trying to run away from the deer and we're like, Oh, no. Let's just get away from where the food is so that the deer are calmer. But it's funny because later in the trip, we went to the island of Miyajima, and they have wild deer there also. And one of them followed me into the visitor center, went over to the desk, grabbed a brochure, and then ran out.

[00:23:29.250] - Kim

Because they like to get the paper.

[00:23:31.240] - Tamara

And so the person comes running out behind the desk, yelling at the deer. And then there's three people in the street trying to wrestle the paper away from the deer.

[00:23:39.390] - Kim

Oh, my goodness.

[00:23:40.590] - Tamara

And I'm like, You think of deer in the headlights, these gentle creatures.

[00:23:45.240] - Kim

Yeah, exactly. It's sad when humanity is like, Yeah, I won't get there.

[00:23:51.560] - Tamara

No, it's definitely because there's too many tourists now. They're being fed. Definitely not a great situation. But we did enjoy the day trip out there. Yeah, for sure. I love everything about Japan. It's just so clean and orderly and polite and easy to figure out. My type A personality just really appreciates the order of things. I would like that too. The fact that everybody stands in a line and waits and then you get on when you get on. I love that because in a society where everyone's pushing or whatever, I get.

[00:24:27.400] - Kim

Super stressed out. Oh, my gosh, I hated it. We were on a cruise, a European cruise, and that attracts a lot of Europeans. I thought, Oh, you wait in line for your turn to go get your food that you want served. But no, people just come up from other directions and just walk right up. There's no line concept. I'm like, Oh, I like lines. What am I supposed to do? So sorry.

[00:24:49.240] - Tamara

I get that. You would love Japan. I think it's such a wonderful place to visit. I think there must be challenges if you live there within the culture. I recognize that I used to work for a Japanese company. I'm aware of many of those issues, but as a visitor, it makes it so pleasant. But anyway, I was going to say that they have lockers where you can store things. Everything is just easy. The trains, everything is in Japanese and English.

[00:25:19.260] - Kim

I know they did a big push with that before the Olympics were going to be there. They were trying to...

[00:25:25.180] - Tamara

And all of the trains have signs that say what the next stop is. Because sometimes you're on a subway and you're trying to look and you're like, Oh, yeah. They might not answer, but you're like, What was that?

[00:25:36.320] - Kim

What did they say?

[00:25:37.460] - Tamara

That's Charlie Brown's.

[00:25:38.740] - Kim

Teacher talking to you. Exactly. I've had that happen so many times.

[00:25:43.040] - Tamara

So that part was great. And Kyoto is just very different. So it is more traditional in the architecture. They preserved a lot of the traditional architecture. There's tons of shrines and temple s o that's the thing is that you could get a little shrine and templed out, but the architecture is so beautiful. There is a downtown center city that's more city like, but it's nothing like Tokyo.

[00:26:09.310] - Kim

Or Nagasaki. I remember when we were looking to stay in Kyoto, I seem to recall because we were going to go during... We were hoping for cherry blossom season, but I seem to recall there it's still pretty spread out and there's little neighborhoods in Kyoto even. It's like, okay, this one has more of this vibe and this one I can't remember where we were staying, but I was looking at the different things and getting the bamboo forest, like, oh, well, I'd have to leave here and we want to be near a train station.

[00:26:32.970] - Tamara

All those plans. Yeah, you do want to be near a train station because the metro system is not as well developed there. So we took a mix of busses, GR trains, private trains that you paid for the same way you'd pay for a subway. But when we stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was probably about a 10 minute walk to one of the train stations, but there was a bus that stopped right outside that then went to the main Kyoto station, which is where we would get on to go to the bamboo forest. And then, yeah, so it was conveniently located, but you definitely needed to plan your travel because some of those destinations, especially many of them were taking slower local trains, and they could still take 45 minutes to.

[00:27:26.150] - Kim

An hour. That was one of the things in my planning that was the hardest is recognizing that there are so many different train lines, like brands, and you might have a pass with one, but it doesn't necessarily mean you can go on every train that's coming in. So it's an interesting thing that I've never... I'm sure maybe it's in other places around the world, but it's not something we think about in the states at all.

[00:27:49.420] - Tamara

The nice thing, though, is that we had our JR pass, which, by the way, I don't even know if they're going to be that useful after this fall because the price is almost doubling. It's going up. It's having some. Unless ticket prices are going up a lot also, you might just want to buy individual tickets.

[00:28:04.190] - Kim

Individual.

[00:28:04.600] - Tamara

Ticket, yeah. But we bought, as soon as we got, we had ordered the JR passes ahead, so we had our voucher that we had to turn in to get the actual pass. Then we went to an ATM because you needed cash for a lot of things. We have to also use cash to get an IC card. So this is the rechargeable card that you would use to get on the metro or the bus or something like that. But the nice thing is that unlike, Oh, I'm going to New York, I need a metro card. I'm going to this place, I need that card for their.

[00:28:32.660] - Kim

Subway system. Yeah, like Long Island Railroad and Metro card.

[00:28:35.370] - Tamara

Yeah, exactly. This card worked for all of them. And it also works for a lot of vending machines.

[00:28:41.990] - Kim

Some convenient stores.

[00:28:42.850] - Tamara

Yeah, the vending machine.

[00:28:43.690] - Kim

I forgot. And you reload it always with cash, though? You always have to reload it only cash. You can't reload it with cash.

[00:28:48.300] - Tamara

Yeah, which is so bizarre. It's like this is a digital payment system and I'm loading it with cash.

[00:28:53.590] - Kim

I wonder if it's because they want to make sure that you're actually paying for it. They don't want you to just be able to dispute it and have gotten the ride for free or gotten the food for free. You know what I mean? I wonder if it's a culture thing.

[00:29:04.840] - Tamara

I do know that it used to be, before COVID, a very cash based society. Now more and more places will take a credit card. And if you have, there's a lot of... Not many places take Apple Pay, but a lot of them do take a tap payment system, but more one that they have in Asia. I don't know if it's really worth signing up and trying to figure that out. Got you. I just basically used my.

[00:29:28.420] - Kim

Chip credit card. The IC card and.

[00:29:30.030] - Tamara

The card anytime for that. And the IC card for the metro, the bus, some vending machines, some required cash still. But yeah, it's just super convenient. So even though there are different trains, so yeah, maybe you can't use your free pass, not for you because you.

[00:29:44.710] - Kim

Paid a lot for it.

[00:29:45.480] - Tamara

But it's still pretty easy to get around.

[00:29:49.930] - Kim

Yeah, it's good. That's great. And I do want to quickly, before we jump over to finishing up Kyoto and going to Asaka, I did want to mention something that you did that I think was brilliant because I even had looked into doing it when we were planning our trip. And that was you had someone meet you at the airport, right?

[00:30:05.450] - Tamara

Yeah, I did. And don't do it. At least not for the company that I did. Okay, here we go. You and I had talked about it. I think it was about $75 to $100. It was the company that I bought the JR Pass from. I also arranged to rent a mobile hotspot, so that was taken care of ahead of time to pick up at the airport. And I arranged to have a greeter meet us after customs. And then what I was told was that that greeter would then take me to do the things I need to do at the airport, which would be pick up my mobile hotspot, exchange my JR Pass, get my IC card, find where I need to go to get my transfer.

[00:30:45.390] - Kim

Get the train.

[00:30:46.220] - Tamara

I figured, hey, it's not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things.

[00:30:51.800] - Kim

And especially.

[00:30:52.310] - Tamara

After traveling.

[00:30:52.820] - Kim

For 20 hours.

[00:30:53.250] - Tamara

And I want to be jet lived. Yeah, exactly. This will be useful. It was such a waste of money because first I'm trying to talk to the guy, I'm like, okay, we need to go to an ATM, and he's not even understanding what I'm saying. I'm like, You're a greeter. I'm not coming in there with like, everyone should speak English, but his job is.

[00:31:11.680] - Kim

To meet people. When you pay people. Yeah, exactly. I know a lot of times they'll have if you want to in English or if you want to in... You can specify a language, but.

[00:31:20.330] - Tamara

It seems like it's... Yeah. So one person had my name up and then she called this guy over. So it's like a service they do for multiple people. They had multiple greeters there. I don't know if I just got an inexperienced person, but I went to the counter of the mobile WiFi hotspot place and that person spoke perfect English, no trouble communicating at all.

[00:31:40.320] - Kim

And it was easy to find. And you were able to easily find everything.

[00:31:42.690] - Tamara

Yeah. I mean, he led me there, but I could have found it on my own, no problem. And then I was trying to explain that I wanted to go to the JR ticket office to get our pass, but also see if he could help us make reservations. Yeah, exactly. Because I wanted to make the reservations as soon as I had my pass because I wanted to try to get the luggage reservations. And he was just like, Oh, no, they don't do reservations here. And I'm like, Oh, well, that's part of why I wanted to pay for this service because I wanted somebody to help me translate what my need was. And meanwhile, we were back and forth, just not understanding each other. So then I get in line at the JR ticket office. I get up there, perfect English from the person that's behind the desk, completely easy to talk to. They didn't make the reservations there. They told me where to go in the Tokyo station or Shinchu station, whatever, which I did the next day. That person also spoke really good English, was able to communicate no problem. And then I was trying to explain that I want to get an IC card.

[00:32:38.620] - Tamara

And he was like, Well, you can get the one that requires a deposit or not a deposit. I'm like, I don't care? Can you just tell me where? And he didn't know where to go. Finally, the guy that was behind me in line at the JR ticket office was like, Oh, you want this line right here. And I'm like, Thank you. Then I'm like, What? Then I had arranged for an airport limo bus to take us from the airport directly to our hotel. I just thought first day, and it's really, it's inexpensive. Taxis there are very expensive, but this is inexpensive. And instead of having to drag some bags on multiple trains and subways, I thought it's easy. And so I was like, I thought all that would take us an hour and a half, maybe, from the time we arrived. So I had booked a later bus, but it was really quick to do all of it. So I was like, Oh, maybe we can get an earlier bus. So I was trying to get him to help us with that. No. So I ended up just doing it on my phone. But then he had to come down and he was like, No, I have to wait.

[00:33:42.890] - Tamara

Because I was like, Okay, we're all set. Thank you. Bye. And he's like, No, I have to wait till you get on the bus. I'm like, All right, well, can you just stand over there? Because I'm like, I'm done.

[00:33:52.120] - Kim

Yeah, exactly. You did not help me. Wow. Okay, well, that's good tip. Good to know.

[00:33:56.970] - Tamara

What not to.

[00:33:58.150] - Kim

Do, I guess. What not, yeah. No, I mean, it's good because I had considered that too because I was thinking the same thing like, Oh, my gosh, how am I going to get my pass? I was thinking all that same stuff.

[00:34:07.930] - Tamara

Cool. I think a lot of things with travel, it feels so overwhelming. But once you're there, you're like, Oh, this is not as bad as I.

[00:34:13.260] - Kim

Thought it was going to be. Well, especially in a country that you can't even get around with. It's like, Oh, I speak a little Spanish. I speak a little French. It's just like, None of that's going to help you. You don't want to go in being a ignorant traveler who's just like, Oh, why don't you speak my language in your country? Exactly. I can't stand people like that. But anyways, okay, good to know. Anything else about Kyoto you wanted to mention? I did think it was awesome, your little tip about the bamboo forest. It wasn't really a tip, but I was so happy that you had that experience because I heard the same thing.

[00:34:44.990] - Tamara

When I was there, even, I saw some people on Instagram that seem to be there at the same time, but a couple of days before me. And they showed just this mass of people walking through. Because the word is out that for many of these things, you need to get there early. And so even if you show up at 7 AM, there's still this massive crowd of people funneling through this little area. And I don't want to do that. It was an hour away. No one's getting up at 5 AM to get to a place by 7 or whatever just to take a photo. My family doesn't roll like that. They're like, I don't really care about your photo. We just want to see it. And so we decided to sleep in a little bit. We went, we had lunch, then we went to the monkey forest. And I will say the whole Arashima area is, for a touristy area, so much nicer than I expected. It was really lovely. And there's a really pretty river that runs along that on some days you can run boats. It was really nice. Anyway, so we went to the monkey park first because Glenn loves monkeys, although it's such a steep climb up there, he was like, This better be worth it.

[00:35:53.700] - Tamara

Actually, there was a fan of it that was like, This better be worth it for your monkeys. But it was cool. We saw a lot of baby monkeys. The monkeys were not aggressive at all. They just hung out as long as you followed the rules. You weren't staring at them in the eyes to challenge them or something. Then we went to a temple, then we went to the forest. So we got to the Grove, not really a forest. It's much smaller than you think it's going to be. We got there maybe like 2.30, 3 o'clock, and it was fine. There was people there, but no crush of crowd and plenty of space to have a photo. Yeah, there's people in the background, but that's fine. Honestly, we just wanted a couple of family photos. I'm not going to win an Instagram competition over it, but it was nice. And it's really beautiful. It's really pretty. But sometimes I think doing the opposite of what everyone says.

[00:36:47.700] - Kim

You should do and work out. Especially when it's been around for so long, people are saying do that because it's very much like, oh, the gates open at seven. And so everyone who's built up, it's just like Disneyland. People say, oh, rope drop, rope drop. And you get there. And if you get there late, there's such a long line to get in. And then people come 30 minutes after opening and they walked right up to the turnstiles. There's something about that.

[00:37:10.900] - Tamara

Yeah. And I looked at Google Maps is wonderful. It was so helpful for the travel, figuring out the trains because it would say what platform, but also what car to get on if you were transferring. And then when you were leaving the station, what exit to take because those train stations are huge. So you're like, you don't know where you are when you come out. So it was really, really helpful. And it would tell you like eight minutes, 3 stops, here's the name of your stop. This is how much it's going to cost. It was really very helpful. But you can also look for attractions, and it'll show you the busiest times, like a little graph.

[00:37:47.100] - Kim

Yes, for sure.

[00:37:47.990] - Tamara

I was like, Okay, it looks like 10 to 2 is super busy. Who knows how accurate it is, but let's go.

[00:37:53.690] - Kim

After it. I have a good article about how I use Google Maps and you can make a custom and saver on map to help you with your planning to help see stuff for not just road trips, but also when you're planning a city vacation. But that's a good thing. I always forget about how they have that busy season section. I should add that to my post because.

[00:38:11.540] - Tamara

That's a.

[00:38:12.160] - Kim

Useful thing.

[00:38:13.300] - Tamara

When you're trying to figure out, especially for public transportation, many times the night before, I would look like, Oh, how long is it going to take? Because we need to know what time should we be done breakfast? What time do we need to leave? I like that there's a little drop down where you can say when you're departing or when you want to arrive because it changes. Especially public transportation may not have as many trains when you're looking late at night versus when you're going in the morning.

[00:38:42.000] - Kim

Totally. That's awesome. I always worry about the train, the car thing, because even in New York, sometimes I've been like... Because I'm not used to using trains often. When I first started going to New York and doing that, the Long Island Rail Railroad and stuff, they have certain cars they don't open the doors to all the time. During different hours of the day. I'm always like, Oh, how do I know what car I'm in? It's definitely one of those Charlie Brown teacher's voices. Sometimes I'm like, I have no idea where I'm at.

[00:39:10.980] - Tamara

That's the other great thing. In Japan, it's like, on the avement on the platform, it has numbers. So it's like, you know exactly what car that's going to be. Oh, man. And then everyone lines up single file behind those on either side of the.

[00:39:26.830] - Kim

Door for.

[00:39:27.350] - Tamara

Everyone to come out and then they go on.

[00:39:29.780] - Kim

It's lovely. Lovely. Nice. Okay, so then your last little stop was OSAKA. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that? Because I had planned that we were going to fly into Tokyo and out of OSAKA, but you ended up going back to Tokyo to go home. But what did you do in Osaka?

[00:39:45.130] - Tamara

Yeah, flying out of OSAKA would be ideal, but for us, Delta doesn't do that. So we had to go back to Tokyo. So OSAKA is known as the Japan's Kitchen, so it's known for its street food. So I knew I wanted to take a food tour when we were there because it's just that's really one of the things it's well known for. So I ended up... We actually got there, we explored a little bit. We did the... You made a sky building, which actually Glenn did not do. No surprise that when we went up high, especially there's these glass enclosed elevators that go between two towers on the 39th floor. And he was like, Are you kidding me? No way am I doing that. So Hannah and I did that. And then that night we actually went to a baseball game, which was really fun because Japanese culture is really into baseball. And it was like being at a college game in a way because they were playing Hiroshima, so that's not far away. Half the stadium were Buffalo fans and half the stadium were carp fans and they all sat on the right side.

[00:40:49.140] - Tamara

So it's like one half was red, one half was white. And they each had a cheering section in a band. And so you felt like you were a little bit at a college game with the marching band thing. It was a lot of fun. But then the next day we took a food tour with Arrogato Travel, and they have food tours in multiple cities. If you want to do a food tour in any of the cities, I would definitely recommend them. The guide was amazing.

[00:41:13.870] - Kim

It seemed like you had a really good time.

[00:41:15.920] - Tamara

Yeah, she was really wonderful. She had lived in the US for a little bit. I think she went to the University of Wisconsin. She lived somewhere else in the Midwest, too, but it's just such a funky, fun city. We toured this area called Shenzakai. It was built after World War II to attract Westerners and has more of a Coney Island vibe is what they were going for. It has carnival games and all these street food things. It's just so funky and retro. I think anywhere else I would have been like, Oh, this is cheesy. But it was actually really cool. And all throughout that area and the Dontambury area of Osaka, all of the food places, it's like Vegas for food places because they all have these three-dimensional facades with a giant octopus or a giant crab, and they're moving and lit up, and it's just so funky. There was one place where you could fish for your own fish, and then they cook it for you. It's almost hard to describe, but it is just bright lights, really funky, interesting, but lots of street food, lots of fried food on a stick, or like.

[00:42:30.660] - Kim

A fair.

[00:42:31.420] - Tamara

No, I'm just kidding. And the takeyaki octopus balls is like, that's where that's from. So that's like really huge. Afterwards, we went to the Don Donburi and we had Okonomiyaki. My family always laughs at me because for some reason I could never get this out. And Hannah and Glenn are like, Why can you not say this word? But Okonomiyaki, so it's like the Pancake type of thing with egg and cabbage and other things thrown in that they make on a griddle in front of you. So they have it in Kyoto and other places, but it's really known there. And in Hiroshima also, they have slightly different versions. That was just fun. So to do all the street food stuff, to have the good food tour, we really loved that. And then on our last, what was supposed to be our last day, we went to Hiroshima and we did a tour. I have a whole itinerary where it has a link to the tour company that I booked. Our guide was really sweet. He was wonderful. I highly recommend that. So we did the whole atomic bomb dome and museum, which was really heavy, obviously.

[00:43:36.130] - Tamara

And you have very confused feelings.

[00:43:39.080] - Kim

About it. Yeah, being.

[00:43:40.620] - Tamara

A member. Our role in that. But then we went to Miyajima Island, which is just a short, like, ferry ride. And it is just beautiful. We were there, it was raining. So there was all these mist and clouds on the mountains. And it just had this magical feel to it. But it was such a... I would love to spend a night there. It wasn't overcrowded, but when the people left, have.

[00:44:07.840] - Kim

It more to.

[00:44:08.650] - Tamara

Yourself type of thing. But there's a really famous Tori Gate that's in the water that looks high tide like it's floating, or when we were there during low tide, so you can walk out to it. And just a shrine. It's just a really pretty lush... That's one thing that really, I don't know why it surprised me, but Japan, outside the cities, it's so lush. You're like, Oh, right. These are islands.

[00:44:34.300] - Kim

Yeah.

[00:44:35.380] - Tamara

And that's why I liked about Kyoto too, because it's like a city that's nestled in a valley surrounded by these lush mountains. Not like towering.

[00:44:43.150] - Kim

Mountains, but these really lush. And it has a nice little river or stream or something through it too.

[00:44:47.450] - Tamara

So that was how we finished. I loved that. And then unfortunately, then we got stuck in a delay on a train coming back because there was a lot of rain. And then we found out our train for the next day to get back to Tokyo in time for our plane was canceled and we were hoping it was going to be all fixed by the morning. But Glenn woke up at five and he said it wasn't. And so then we were up for a couple of hours trying to figure out, what are we going to do? Because we were like, oh, we'll fly up to Tokyo. And by then, all the planes were booked until 3 PM. But we had a 625 flight and we would have had to get our luggage, get to another terminal, recheck it. We're like, that's never going to work. If we get there at 415 or I don't know, it was 435 o'clock or something is when we would have arrived. Never would have worked. So we're like, all right, let's see if we can stay an extra night here and let's book stuff for tomorrow. And let's call Delta and see if they can switch us.

[00:45:40.700] - Tamara

So then we had such a long travel day home because we flew from Osaka to Tokyo. And then we had to do Tokyo to LAX instead of Tokyo. We were booked on a Tokyo to Atlanta. So then at least the last little leg is short. Then we're in LAX for four hours.

[00:46:00.110] - Kim

Then you had a six hour flight.

[00:46:02.380] - Tamara

Well, and then it ended up being delayed. So we came out, we were luckily at the lounge and we actually went on the patio. The Delta Lounge in LAX has a patio, so it's loud but it was really good. It was just nice to get fresh air.

[00:46:16.400] - Kim

After all.

[00:46:16.980] - Tamara

That time. I actually went and I took a shower. I didn't even have any clothes. We had even checked everything, so I didn't even have any clothes to change into. But I'm like, I'm just taking a shower anyway. Yeah, for sure. And so then we came out of the lounge. We're like, Go to the gate. They're like, Oh, we're waiting on a crew member still. We're going to wait to board you. And then they started boarding us. We're like, Okay, I guess everything's all set. And then we're sitting on the plane and an hour later, they're like, Okay, the pilot's now in the parking lot.

[00:46:42.550] - Kim

And we're like.

[00:46:43.320] - Tamara

Oh, my gosh. Seriously? It was the pilot. They weren't even on premises when you boarded us. So we were delayed a couple hours. So we ended up... We got home at 315 in the morning. We'd been going for 30 hours, I think, or more, like 33 hours maybe.

[00:47:02.380] - Kim

That one did you have? Did you have any of the upgraded seating for any of those legs?

[00:47:06.890] - Tamara

Luckily, because we had booked our tickets in premium select, which if you know Delta, there's like Delta 1, which is like the nice pod lay flat thing. Then there's premium select, which has like a footrest that comes out and it reclines, but not like all the way, but it reclines some. Then there's comfort plus, which is basically like a regular seat with a little.

[00:47:26.290] - Kim

More leg room. Like me coming.

[00:47:28.590] - Tamara

So the reason we went through LAX is that's what we could get for premium economy. Oh, good. Okay. I mean, premium select on that, the longest leg from Tokyo to LAX. Then LAX to Boston doesn't have that. So I think we were in, I think, we were in Comfort Plus. I don't even know at that point. I was uncomfortable, that's for sure. But yeah. And then we flew into Boston, which we had flown out of Providence. So my car is still in Providence. So I had to get a car service to pick us up, bring us back. T he next day I'm like, Hannah, can you drive me down to get my car? Whatever. That's a.

[00:48:03.840] - Kim

Whole long story. It worked out. It sounds like you guys had an amazing trip and it was awesome. I know, like I said already and mentioned, Tamara has quite a few blog posts and she'll link them in the show notes, but you can also just go to Wee 3 Travel. I'm sure it's pretty easy to find them, but I know she has all of her itineraries that are if you guys know Tamara, they're very in-depth with a lot of detail. So super helpful if you're thinking of planning a trip. I think it was great. I'm glad you guys had a good time and glad I got to hear about it a little more.

[00:48:31.780] - Tamara

Yeah, it was definitely a bucket list trip. I think being there and being together as a family was wonderful. I think we all acknowledged, we don't know when we're going to have that opportunity again. Just know Hannah is going to be very busy the next few years. S he's going to be more than happy to take a trip with us when she can. We might just know when that will be.

[00:48:52.240] - Kim

Exactly.

[00:48:52.840] - Tamara

I'm glad.

[00:48:53.360] - Kim

We got to do it. Yeah, that's awesome. Perfect.

[00:48:56.710] - Tamara

What's next?

[00:48:58.290] - Kim

I don't even know. You're like, What day is it? What month is it? Exactly. The big thing on my agenda, I'm trying to take the summer off a little bit. We do have a trip up to Canada to visit family coming right up for Canada Day. Happy Canada Day to those of you Canadians that might be listening. Then happy fourth of July to the US Americans that are listening. We are doing that. Then I have a fun trip. You'll be moving Hannah back to school, but I am going to be flying to Kenya and doing a Simara J. W. Marriott stay, which I just got a steal on points for. I'm using points to fly some nice flights as well. That's what's coming up for me. My fall is going to be crazy and booked again, but at least I have. It looks like I'm trying to keep my summer a little more calm. Although that Africa trip, I cannot wait. It's during the Wilder Beast migration. That's a pretty big trip to be. I'm really excited. It's going to be during the Wilder Beast migration, too. So hopefully we'll get some amazing pictures. I got to rent a lens, it reminds me.

[00:50:04.360] - Tamara

I was telling somebody about the points deal that you got on that. Everyone just can't even believe it. What a lucky straw.

[00:50:11.400] - Kim

That was. Oh, my gosh, it was amazing. I don't know if this would work always, but I'm just a little tip for you guys, if you guys are points people. If you know of any future opening hotels that haven't opened yet, that are opening in the future, just maybe keep an eye on their points rates because that's what happened. This hotel hadn't opened yet. It was opening in April, and in February or something, I saw someone mentioned, Oh, my goodness, they've got nights for 20,000, 20 ish thousand points a night. With Marriott, if you book five nights with points, you only pay for four nights. So it's like book five nights, get one free thing. I don't know how to.

[00:50:49.500] - Tamara

Explain it, but you get it. And it's an all inclusive property.

[00:50:51.920] - Kim

It's all inclusive property. So all the game drives are included, all the meals are included, everything. I'm paying 93,000 points total for five nights for two people.

[00:51:00.640] - Tamara

That's like one night at a nice city hotel.

[00:51:04.320] - Kim

Yeah, I know. I was looking at a Fairfield Inn in New York in January, and there were like 65,000 points. So it gives you a little idea there. But anyways, so that's what's up for me. But what about you?

[00:51:14.810] - Tamara

As you hear this, I will probably either be in Scotland or Wales, depends on how quickly I get this out. So I leave shortly for a week with a couple of other travel writers, a week in Scotland, a week in Wales, and then I'm going to be home for a couple of weeks. And then I'm actually going to have two weeks in France, which I don't think I've even had a chance to tell you about. But I'm going to do... Glenn and I are going to go to France. We're doing the Taste of Bordeaux River cruise on Amman Waterways. Oh, nice. And then something else that came up. I was invited to do a press trip on European Waterways, which does hotel barge cruises. And I was trying to look at dates in the fall, but they didn't have any availability. But they're like, Well, how about this one on August sixth, which would have been the day I was flying back from France. I was like, Well, I will already be in France. It's to an area that I've been to before. So I was hoping to see something new, but I think it just works out for me to do this back to back, a more traditional river cruise versus a hotel barge cruise just to have these new experiences because I'm not a big ship person, but I'm definitely been wanting to try some of these other types of things.

[00:52:28.570] - Tamara

And my friend Michelle is going to come join me for that one because Glenn can't stay for the two weeks.

[00:52:33.830] - Kim

Take off that whole time.

[00:52:34.800] - Tamara

That's awesome. And then as soon as I get back, Hannah will come back and we have one day at home and then we fly her to Arizona.

[00:52:43.570] - Kim

Okie dokey. Well, thank you guys for tuning in again. If you're still with us and still listening, as you can see, we have a few trips on the agenda, so we're not quite sure when we'll make another episode. But as always, we always appreciate you guys tuning in and we'll try to share again soon.

[00:52:58.280] - Tamara

Yeah, hopefully, maybe the end of the summer.

[00:53:00.250] - Kim

Talk to you later.

[00:53:01.640] - Tamara

All right, bye bye.

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Kim took a last minute spring break trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland with her younger daughter and this week on the podcast, she tells us all about it!

She flew into Dublin and then stay at a country estate hotel in Northern Ireland before visiting Belfast, the Causeway Coast, Derry/Londonderry, and Galway before looping back to Dublin.

See Kim's articles on:

• Ireland travel tips
• Ireland packing list
• 2 Days in Dublin

Ireland Trip Highlights: * Killeavy Estate in Northern Ireland * Belfast - Titanic Belfast and city architecture * Causeway Coast - Carrick-a-Rede bridge, Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle * Bishop's Gate Hotel in Derry - walk the walls around the city * Galway - Kim didn't love Galway and her stay at the G Hotel because it felt more like a conference center hotel then something great for families. It was also a long walk into the center city. (see where Tamara stayed at a bed and breakfast near Galway) * Kylemore Abbey in Connemara & Cliffs of Moher * Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin suburbs * Malahide * Dublin - Trinity City Hotel and Trinity College / Book of Kells, shopping for Aran Sweaters

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Spring break is almost here and on this episode Kim and Tamara share their experience on a girls' trip in Oceanside, California and then their mother-daughter trip to Disneyland with their girls. 

If you want some inspiration for a SoCal getaway, be sure to listen in!

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Happy New Year! We are back and apologize for taking so long to release a new episode. Moving forward, we will strive to have one episode a month to share our travels and tips, as we continue to each put more time into our respective websites.

But first, Tamara has a big announcement and that is that she is hosting a women-only small group trip to Iceland in September 2023! You can get all the information on YourTimetoFly.com and she really hopes that some listeners will be able to join! Note that there is a discount of 15,000 ISK if you register by January 15, 2023.

Next Tamara tells us all about her two-week trip to Northern Italy! Some highlights include:

• 5 Days in Piedmont full of wine tasting, truffle hunting, and great food
• Her stay at La Villa Hotel in Piedmont
• A wine tour with Piedmont Food and Wine Tours
• Grand Hotel Tremezzo in Lake Como
• 2 days in Milan (highlights walking tour with LivTours)
• Hired DayTrips to visit Bergamo, Brescia, Sirmione on Lake Garda, and Borgo sul Mincio
• 2 days in Verona (mentioned Love in the Villa and Letters to Juliet movies), ½ day walking tour with LivTours
• 2 days in Bologna
• Cooking class in Bologna with Cesarine
• 2 days in Parma
• Day trip with Food Valley Travel
• Return to Milan

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This episode is sponsored by Glacier Country Tourism. All opinions are our own.

This week, Tamara shares what it is like to visit Glacier Country, Montana on a girls' trip and Kim shares her thoughts on this scenic part of Northwestern Montana. From Missoula to Whitefish, Kalispell to Glacier National Park -- if Montana is on your bucket list, give this episode a listen!

Read more:

Adventurous Weekend Getaways to Western Montana- We3Travel

Best Things to do in Glacier National Park - Stuffed Suitcase

Things to do in Glacier Country, Montana

• Glacier Country is a tourism region of Northwestern Montana that covers eight counties
• To get to Glacier Country you can fly into Missoula or Glacier Airport in Kalispell, both of which offer many direct flights, especially from the western USA
• You need to rent a car to visit this region and part of the experience is the scenic drives through the countryside
• To visit Glacier National Park, Tamara stayed at the Homewood Suites in Kalispell, which is about 45 minutes to the western entrance of Glacier National Park
• To visit Glacier National Park you need a reservation to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road from when it opens in June through mid-September. Reservations open 120 days in advance and fill up in minutes.
• Things in and around the park close by mid-September to early October.
• Kalispell and Whitefish are both good for exploring Glacier National Park if you can't get reservations in the park. Whitefish is a ski resort town that is very cute but also pricey.
• The road into the Many Glacier section and Two Medicine Lake are gravel and very rough road.
• Kim stayed in Under Canvas at Glacier National Park in West Glacier and the Isaac Walton Inn, which is an old train depot and you can stay in a train caboose.
• On her trip, Tamara stayed in a few different types of accommodations including:
  • The Lodge at Trout Creek -- B&B lodge
  • Bridge Street Cottages in Big Fork
  • Laughing Horse Lodge
  • Residence Inn Missoula
• If you want to see wildlife, drive through the Bison Range not far from Missoula
• Other fun outdoor adventures are:
  • Kootenai Suspension Bridge & Kootenai Falls
  • Ross Creek Cedars Scenic Area
  • Llama trekking with Swan Mountain Llama Treks
  • Soak in the hot springs at Quinn's Hot Springs
  • Kayaking Clearwater Trail into Seely Lake
  • Sunset boat tour on Flathead Lake
• Shoulder season in September was a great time to be
• If you are visiting be sure to Recreate Responsibly:
  • Leave no trace
  • Plan ahead and make reservations
  • Be flexible as plans may need to change because of weather, fire, road closures, etc.
  • Be mindful of wildlife and carry bear spray when hiking (buy it there but don't bring it on the plane)

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We are back from our summer travel and packed a whole lot into a one episode recap! We apologize in advance for some audio difficulties on this one, especially after taking so long to get it live. Thanks for hanging in there with us!

On this episode we cover Tamara's summer trips to:

• Nantucket (read her 3 days in Nantucket itinerary)
• New Brunswick, Canada (Road trip itinerary, places to stop on the Fundy Parkway, and tips for visiting Hopewell Rocks)
• Prince Edward Island, Canada (3 day PEI itinerary)
• Sailing on the Schooner Heritage Maine Windjammer
• Walking holiday on Hadrian's Wall Path

And Kim shares about her adventures:

• Mediterranean cruise on Costa Cruise Lines (One Day in Rome Itinerary)
• Gorilla trekking in Uganda
• Alaskan cruise on Holland America
• Graduation trip to Disney World and Universal Orlando (How to Save Money at Disney World)

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We are still catching up about our spring break trips and this time Kim shares the ups and downs from a Norwegian Cruise Lines voyage from New York City to the Bahamas with stops in "Orlando" and Norwegian's private island. Listen in and see if you are ready to set sail.

• In NYC, Kim stayed in the Hyatt Centric in Times Square for 2 nights before her cruise. The hotel was part of the American Express Fine Hotels Collection and she was able to get a $200 statement credits on her Amex Platinum Card. The hotel has a good location, but slow elevators and the rooftop bar is not open to minors.
• They flew into Newark and took the Airtrain to NJ Transit to Penn Station
• Kim was able to visit the Museum of Natural History, rent bikes and ride through Central Park, see a Broadway show, and explore NYC before the cruise.
• The cruise port terminal in NYC is very busy and it is hard to find the right spot to check in with very long lines. It took over three hours to complete check in for the cruise so if you are cruising out of NYC soon, be sure to pick an early check in time and expect to wait.
• Passengers has to show proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test, as well as a passport, in order to board.
• The ship seemed to be understaffed because there was a lot of waiting in line to disembark and wait for tenders for excursions.
• The ship didn't seem to be at capacity but that may be because there wasn't enough staff to fully open.
• Kim and her family cruised on the Getaway from Norwegian Cruise Lines. Her girls like the ropes course but they have recently changed the ropes course and moved things around.
• If you book a package that includes specialty dining, it is usually just for the first 2 people in a cabin and if you want to add the kids you need to pay extra.
• In the bathrooms they provide a pump of shampoo and body wash but not lotion or conditioner.
• The kids club was not open during her cruise and they instead offered a voucher towards the arcade.
• When docked at Port Canaveral, Kim and her family went to the Kennedy Space Center but they didn't have a lot of time to explore because the boat didn't dock until 1pm and they didn't get off the boat until 2:30 and the KSC closes at 6pm.
• At the Norwegian private island in the Caribbean you need to take a tender boat over to the island so getting on and off takes a long time.

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After a long hiatus, we are back with an update! Unfortunately Tamara and Kim both came down with COVID after returning from their respective spring break trips, which has delayed getting a new episode out. But this week Tamara fills us in on her adventures (and misadventures) on spring break and shares some of the highlights and tips from her week in Paris.

Paris Trip Highlights This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission. All opinions are our own.

• Tamara and her family stayed at Le Relais Saint Germain in the 6th Arrondissement
• See her full 5 days in Paris itinerary
• Tamara's Paris trip planning timeline and checklist
• You can also see Tamara's Paris travel tips
• One of the highlights was seeing Monet's Water Lilies at the Musee d'la Orangerie, relaxing in the Tuileries Gardens, and an amazing tour of the Louvre
• The tour was "Mona Lisa at her Quietest" by Take Walks / Walks of France
• Tamara also recommend the Ultimate Food Tour of the Marais neighborhood with Devour Tours
• She recommends skipping a river cruise on the Seine, or do it at night when everything is lit up
• Tamara and her family also didn't enjoy going up the Eiffel Tower, but if you want to do it, make sure you book tickets well in advance for a timed entry
• Two food highlights were the chef's tasting dinner at Ze Kitchen Galerie and lunch with Hannah at Cafe Recruitment
• For Paris, Tamara recommends the Bandolier phone case and lanyard as the perfect travel companion for easy access to your phone for taking pictures, directions, etc.
• She also liked the packable travel backpack from Travelon

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Travel is roaring back and before you jet off on spring break, here are a few things you need to know about flying. Tamara and Kim break down which airlines charge fees for baggage, carry on bags, seat assignments, and more. Be prepared and know what to expect before you book your next flight!

• Airfares are pricey this year with increased demand and increase fuel prices
• When booking airfare, keep in mind that you have 24 hours to cancel from the time of booking with U.S. carriers with no change fees and for full refunds
• Pay attention to the type of airfare that you are buying so you know what the limitations of that fare might be (such as no changes, no carry on baggage, no seat assignment, etc)
• Always look at what the airlines charge for checked or carry on bags. Southwest is one of the only airlines that includes checked bags, unless you have airline status or an airline credit card
• For airlines that charge for checked bags, it can be hard to get your carry on bag on board if you are in a later boarding group. However, they can gate check your bag for free but often you will need to go to the baggage carousel to pick up your bag
• Some airlines offer a baggage guarantee that they will have your bag out within 20 minutes, which often it takes that long to get off the plane and to the baggage claim
• It is worth buying a luggage scale to make sure your bag is not overweight (usually 50 lbs for a checked bag but some budget airlines like Spirit and Frontier have a 40 lb maximum)
• When flying budget airlines, you should pay for your bags when you book the airfare because it gets increasingly more expensive later in the process
• Many budget airlines actually charge more for a carry on bag than a checked bag
• Some airlines like Easyjet let you buy additional weight for checked bags
• Most US airlines will include a carry on bag unless you book a restricted fare (usually labeled Basic) and all include a personal item that can fit under the seat in front of you
• Carry on bags do have size limits so you can't usually expand it or it won't fit in the sizer
• For some budget airlines, you can get a deal if you buy the ticket at the airport (in advance of the flight)
• Budget airlines also charge you to print a boarding pass so either use a mobile boarding pass or print it yourself at home
• Many airlines are charging for seat selection or at least charging for premium seating positions towards the front of the plane or aisle/window seats
• Especially for family travelers, if you want to sit together you should really purchase seat assignments, especially since so many flights are completely full these days and there is very limited options for switching seats
• You should definitely select seats at booking. If no seats are available together you can try to call the airline and see what they can do. Sometimes they reserve the back row for families
• You can usually upgrade to premium class seats that would have extra legroom and better location within the plane
• When you pay for seat assignments, that is per segment, which can really add up for a connecting flight
• Some airlines also offer early boarding upgrades. If you really need to get your carry on bag on board, it can be worth it to pay for early boarding. This is also usually a perk for those that have airline status or the airline credit card. Many times the premium seats (leg extra legroom seats) come with early boarding
• If you have a tight connection, it makes sense to pay for a seat close to the front of the plane
• If you don't have a carry on bag, then it makes sense to wait until the end to board, especially if you have an aisle seats
• Recently many airlines have gotten rid of change fees, but not all so make sure you look first before booking. Just keep in mind that they may not charge a fee for changing your flight but you do have to pay the difference between the two flights
• Cancelling flights usually means you are getting a credit with a certain amount of time to use it, you won't get your money back
• Usually you don't have to fly by the expiration date, you just need to book by that date (but double check the rules)
• Alaska, JetBlue, Delta, and sometimes Southwest are known for friendlier staff than United and American
• Many airlines offer in flight entertainment but you need to bring your own device. Some have seatback entertainment, like Jet Blue that has movies and live Direct TV, but they aren't reliable and you need to bring your own headphones, which sometimes need an adapter for the headphone jack
• There isn't always consistency between the in flight experience
• JetBlue gives a good snack selection. American only serves the Biscoff cookies. Some airlines offer snack boxes for sale
• Some airlines offer WiFi for a fee but it isn't reliable or strong enough for streaming and others offer free texting (like JetBlue or Southwest)
• Budget hotels do not provide entertainment and they also charge for all drinks or snacks, including water
• If you are able to achieve status on a particular airline you can get things like upgrades based on availability, lounge access or reduced charges for lounges, early seating, and free checked bags. There are usually levels that offer increased perks

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Wondering how to earn more points towards travel? Trying to decide which travel credit card is the best fit for your family? This week we chat with points and miles expert Jennifer Yellin about the best travel credit cards for families. Kim and Tamara also talk about the changing travel restrictions in Europe, the Caribbean, and cruises. Note that since this podcast was recorded, Italy has also dropped its testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers.

About Jennifer Yellin Jennifer Yellin is the founder of Deals We Like, where she helps her readers travel on a deal. She writes about everything travel related, such as travel credit cards, travel rewards (points and miles) and travel destinations. Jennifer is also a freelance writer for CNN Underscored and The Points Guy where she writes on similar travel topics. Jennifer loves traveling to beach destinations and embracing ski trips with her family.

How to Pick the Best Travel Credit Card for your Family * For family travel, you need to book early if you are looking to use points since they are popular times to travel and you need more seats than if you are traveling solo * When choosing a credit card to start using points there are some that are very easy to redeem points, like Capital One which allows you to earn points and then use the points eraser to erase the travel charge on your credit card. Others, like Chase Ultimate Rewards, you transfer your points to airline or hotel programs to use your points. You can get better value that way but it takes a little more work * There are also airline or hotel specific cards that provide certain perks, like a free night certificate or free baggage, that can be valuable if you are able to fully utilize it * Also look at the annual fees and make sure you are getting more value than you are paying in annual fees * The Hyatt card will help you earn Globalist status, which will provide nice perks like room upgrades. See our episode about the best hotel loyalty programs * Southwest is a popular card for Southwest fliers that can earn the Companion Pass (see our episode about flying families for free) * The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great card but wait to sign up until they have a very good sign up bonus. Points transfer easily on a one-to-one basis and you can even book through their travel portal. They have a partnership with Southwest and OneWorld Alliance members like American and British Airways * If you transfer 1-to-1 to Hyatt, you will get more value out of your points then transferring to Marriott * If you do decide to have multiple cards, make a note of which cards give more points for specific categories (e.g. gas, travel, supermarket) and put a piece of tape or label on each card and write on it which category to use that card for * If you have a specific trip in mind, find out what hotel you want to stay at and then look at signing up for that hotel brand credit card and sign up when there is a good bonus (unless a card like Chase has a better welcome offer) * You can also sign up for credit cards in you and your partner's name or a personal and business card to get multiple sign up offers if you have a specific trip in mind * When you want to use points for a family, it can be hard to find enough free seats for everyone. Just keep in mind that if you book separately you may end up separated if they reshuffle the flights but you can try to get the itineraries linked to avoid this * If you have status, you probably want to buy a ticket for the person with status and use points for the rest * Expert Flyer is a membership website that helps you find special award availability * For international airlines, it also helps to use an award booking service to help find flights to a specific destination, these usually cost about $150-200. Usually you don't pay unless you can book * You can use Point.me (used to be Juicy Miles) where you put in your itinerary and the system will provide you with options that you can book and that is a less expensive service because it is automated * When you transfer points, it can take 24-48 hours for the points to show up in your account and you can't book until they are available. You can Google how long it takes to transfer points between specific programs * Once you transfer points from your credit card to an airline or hotel program, you can switch them back to the credit card so be sure you want to use them * To earn additional points, sign up for every shopping portal available such as eBates/Rakuten (for cash back or points), some have Chrome Extensions to remind you to purchase through the portal. Most mainstream ecommerce sites will earn you points * There are also a lot of sign up bonuses around big shopping weekends * Cashbackholic will show you which shopping portals offer the best rates/points offers * EV Rewards will also compare for you * Always look at the targeted offers that are sent to you from your credit card companies to earn extra points or cash back * Buy gift cards through shopping portals, put purchases on credit card and have others pay you back for group dinners, class gifts, etc. * Never sign up for a credit card without a sign up offer * Southwest currently has a good offer for earning a Southwest Companion Pass * Make sure you can always easily meet the minimum spend requirements when signing up for a new card * If you are applying for a mortgage or a loan soon, don't apply for a new credit card, but otherwise it won't hurt your credit score * Cancel cards when you are no longer getting value, but you can also call and see if you can get a fee waived or reduced * If you have applied for 5 or more Chase cards in 24 months, you can't get approved for a new card and Amex offers are usually once in a lifetime but you may be able to get it once they roll off your credit card in seven years or so

Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.190] - Kim Tate Stay tuned to find out how you can charge your way to free travel.

[00:00:15.450] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We 3 Travel.

[00:00:29.890] - Kim Tate Tamara. It's kind of a fun intro today because I feel like we're going to share some happy news for a change that's happening. Do you want to kick us off and start talking about some changes that are happening in the travel space lately?

[00:00:41.710] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, just overall, I think everyone feels a whole lot better than they did a month ago, for sure. And I know traffic to my website showing that people are more interested in international travel than they have been, for obvious reasons. But it's just so nice to be on the side of things where it's like things are getting better.

[00:00:58.670] - Kim Tate We have good news. Yeah.

[00:01:00.680] - Tamara Gruber But as you guys know, we're planning a spring break trip coming up very quickly, and we've been keeping everything crossed that everything goes okay. But we saw just actually, I just saw very recently, I think it was on February 12 that France has lifted their testing requirement to get into the country. So it's just like one of these hurdles that I can check. I can just cross off like, okay, the day before, how am I going to get the test that I need? And is it going to come back in time depending on how things are there or they're going to shut now that things are better, they're closing some testing centers. What's the best way to get this test that they need? So it's just like one of those hurdles that I don't have to go through now. And it's just it's such a relief. And also because Hannah had COVID in early January, I was actually going to get her tested to see if she's still testing positive. Do I need to get the doctor's note and go through that whole thing? And so as restrictions are lifted, it's just so nice to have one less thing that you have to do as you're getting out the door, and then one less thing that could kind of screw up the road.

[00:02:11.860] - Tamara Gruber Obviously, you could still get sick, but hopefully you would know that versus like, oh, no, you're actually asymptomatic. Not that we want to be traveling asymptomatically, but you know what I mean? So I'm just encouraged that there are a number of European countries that are lifting their testing requirements at the same time, though, I should say that is for people that are fully vaccinated and different countries have different rules about full vaccination. Like, for example, for France, you need to also be boosted if it's been more than seven months since your second shot or your only shot if you're like me when it was Johnson, Johnson. So you need to follow still those kind of guidelines and all of the rest. But at least on the testing front, it's one thing. So, yeah, so France lifted it. The UK has lifted that, Ireland has lifted it. Spain lifted it. And I've seen that both Portugal and Greece have lifted it for the EU. And so my matter of time before they lift it for the US as well. And part of it might be like the US still has the requirement that people need to test, including US citizens, on entry into the US.

[00:03:24.420] - Tamara Gruber So it might be one of those things where it's like, well, if you lift it for us, we'll have it for you kind of thing. But yeah, at least I mean, right now we're still going to have to get tested in France to go into Italy. But at least we know that that's pretty easy to do. Like, there's tons of pharmacies around and it's cheap and readily available and fast turn around. So I'm not as worried about that. And then I actually just ordered some testing kits from EMED, which is what you and I used when we were in Portugal because it's the proctored self testing that is accepted for return to the US.

[00:04:00.540] - Kim Tate And it's instant. Yeah, it's really good.

[00:04:02.170] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:04:03.870] - Kim Tate That horrible one day window that the US enacted, which I hope they're going to reedit that now that Omicron is calming down because that one day is a big ask.

[00:04:13.080] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely and I was worried about like, oh, if we're in Italy, I know I can get tested, but will the turnaround be in time? So I just felt like bringing these along is going to be the easiest scenario. We just do that in the room and we'll be all set. So positive news on my friend. And I know you've been paying attention to some other stuff going on, so you have some positive news, too.

[00:04:34.640] - Kim Tate Yeah. Well, we're headed out on a cruise for spring break, and we're getting numerous emails that keep coming in because cruises are really volatile right now with the way they're changing. A lot of them went back into even a lockdown. They canceled a lot of cruises in January. And now I think things are loosening up, and so that's kind of opening up options. And so I think that for cruising, just know that cruising is back. Cruises in general have always been, as we talked about in that episode a while back, they're pretty obsessed with cleanliness and germs because of other things like norovirus that they've had issues with. So just know that cruising is back. And so if that's an option. The other thing that I like about cruising is because we're doing a Caribbean cruise and because you come in and out of a US Port, you are waived from a lot of those testing requirements that if you were just flying directly into a Caribbean Island. So there is some benefit to that. Just know that some of the Caribbean Islands also are editing what they're requiring. And I know that, for example, I believe it's the Bahamas and maybe even Aruba, if you're vaccinated, you no longer have to submit a PCR test.

[00:05:41.530] - Kim Tate You can take a rapid test. Of course, it has to be a proven rapid test. You can't just take one of the Amazon ones and take a picture of it. It has to be like the EMED ones that you're talking about. But I think for some travelers, those are way easier than, like you said, making appointments and going in through a drive through or some kind of testing site. And then that stress over. Will I get the results in time, especially if for us out here, the Sundays really throw us off because they don't run the results on Sundays and do the testing. So if you need it, you kind of have to either wait for Monday or you have to go Saturday and hope that process works. So I just know that for us, it's kind of a big thing to keep an eye on. And I do think, like you that things are relaxing, and I think everybody's ready to get back to travel. So I feel like a lot of us traveled over the past year anyways, but it's becoming more accessible for people who maybe don't want the cost or the stress of testing.

[00:06:35.070] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, I've talked to a couple of people recently. They were like, oh, I just paid $100 for a test, and then they dropped it the next day. The cost for a family to have to deal with that kind of testing is considerable. It's huge.

[00:06:51.000] - Kim Tate Well, our in laws won't come visit us from Canada because they're a family of five and they didn't come last summer because even after the border opened, they can't pay for five test times $150 or whatever. It just was cost prohibitive.

[00:07:06.880] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I like to be an optimist, and it's been hard for a couple of years. And I know things can change and all of that, but it is just nice to see positive news, positive things happening. And I'm excited. I'm excited for where all of our travels are going to take us this year.

[00:07:26.130] - Kim Tate I definitely think that it's exciting and I think that it's people I mean, governments are seeing that the travel restrictions and the testing isn't necessarily catching it. It's still spreading like wildfire all throughout the country. I think that's a bigger thing. Like, I'm fully into watching things, but the fact that obviously Omicron moved through multiple countries, it really shows that we kind of all just need to get back to living and do our responsible parts.

[00:07:54.940] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, speaking of getting back to living, I think everyone has been thinking of the trips that they want to take. And so we've been trying to have some episodes that addressed some of that, like some of that inspirational dream travel and today we're going to talk to really a credit card expert, and she's going to help us figure out ways to earn our way to those dream trips using credit cards. So I'm very excited to kind of find some new strategies after talking to her today.

[00:08:26.090] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. Jennifer is a true expert. So let's get talking to her.

[00:08:38.270] - Tamara Gruber We are here this week with Jennifer Yellin. She's a travel and credit card expert, founder of travel site Deals We Like, and a freelance writer for The Points Guy and CNN Underscored. So, Jennifer, I feel a little bit odd to have such an expert here today, but welcome.

[00:08:52.970] - Jennifer Yellin Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

[00:08:55.340] - Tamara Gruber Well, we get a lot of questions about credit cards and strategies. And there are always some of our favorite episodes, and people always have different advice. So it's really nice to talk to, like, people with different viewpoints and experience. But before we get into really talking about what credit cards families should be using to earn points, I was hoping you could inspire us a little bit with some of the trips or flights that you've been able to book using miles and points. Sure.

[00:09:21.790] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So this past two years, like many of you, probably has been a little bit of a pause in staying at home. But just more recently, my family was actually able to take our first trip since the Pandemic started to Aruba, and we were able to book that fully on points, utilize our JetBlue points. And with JetBlue, it's really cool that if the flight goes down in price, you can cancel now with your points and rebook it. So I was able to do that a few times and really get that price down really low. Booking with points, even during the Christmas time period, it was pretty awesome. And then we stayed at the Hyatt Regency there right on Palm Beach and used points as well. And my husband actually has global status, which is their top tier status. So we are able to apply a suite upgrade. And we're confirmed into a two bedroom suite. And my kids had their own bunkbed room, which I thought was so cool.

[00:10:11.020] - Kim Tate That's amazing. That's definitely like a dream. Good job on that, because I know those suite rewards are kind of difficulties sometimes. I hear they are.

[00:10:19.280] - Jennifer Yellin I mean, it wasn't available right away. I had a check online daily, maybe hourly leading up to it. And probably about two weeks before our trip.

[00:10:26.930] - Kim Tate It opened up nice.

[00:10:28.700] - Jennifer Yellin That was good.

[00:10:29.960] - Kim Tate That definitely sounds good. I know Tamara was in Aruba, too, but I think those are the dream trips that everybody thinks about when they can do points on Airlines and hotels. So Unfortunately, I get overwhelmed at that aspect of, like, how to redeem. And so I have a whole bunch of points, but they're all just sitting in my account doing nothing for me. So I had a friend who's in the point space once say to me, what do you hate free money? Because you're not using your points. So I know that that's a good thing when you can use them.

[00:10:57.520] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. Family travel, specifically points kind of early because we always are booking during the popular Christmas break, spring break time frame. And that's when everyone books early. So right now I have a bunch of trips planned for December break. Clearly, I'm not taking them all, but booking them right when the war calendar opens up has allowed like a word availability to be booked and it's easier to come by.

[00:11:22.660] - Tamara Gruber That's a good tip.

[00:11:23.840] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. As long as I can cancel them, I'm good. I probably have like four different trips.

[00:11:28.850] - Kim Tate Yeah. It becomes you have to have a spreadsheet to manage it sometimes.

[00:11:33.110] - Kim Tate Well, what do you think is some of the so let's start off by talking about what you think some of the criteria is for people to look for when they're choosing a credit card to start earning points because there are a lot of options and I know kind of what I'm thinking and what other people have said. So in your opinion, what should people look at?

[00:11:50.580] - Jennifer Yellin I think it kind of depends. There's two types of credit cards out there in the points space. Forget about cash back, but there's those that allow you to easily redeem your points. Like capital One is the first one that comes to mind. You book your flight and you can kind of use your points to wipe away the charge.

[00:12:10.730] - Kim Tate Like the eraser or something.

[00:12:12.510] - Jennifer Yellin Exactly. Like at a very easy rate. You don't have to worry about award availability. Like you were saying that you don't want to deal with if the flight is available. The hotel is available on points. As long as you can book it with cash, you can use your points. Then there's one like the Chase Ultimate Rewards, which kind of has a few different programs, actually. But those are where you can redeem your points to various hotel and airline programs by transferring your points. But that takes kind of some motivation, I guess it takes some effort and work and you need to kind of learn the programs, but then you could actually get something of better value. So it kind of depends on what your personality is.

[00:12:53.540] - Kim Tate Right. And then, of course, there's also, like specific airline credit cards, like Delta or I have an Alaska card just because it gives me some perks. But it's funny because on Alaska I still book with my Amex because Alaska pays three times, but Amex pays five times. So it's kind of funny how you have to think about that stuff.

[00:13:10.330] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. Other things I look for is I try to keep my annual fees low because I have a decent amount of credit cards. But are there perks that come with a credit card, like a free night certificate? So like Hyatt offers a free night certificate. It's capped at a category four, but I always find that that helps pay for the annual fee and actually allows me to come out ahead. So are there any of those other bonuses or perks that you'll utilize?

[00:13:35.210] - Tamara Gruber I used to have a Marriott card, and I felt like sometimes I ended up not always using that voucher for the free night because then you would look at it and when I wanted to book, it was only like $100, $150. And you're like, oh, I'm going to save it for something else. And then it never ended up happening with all these things you definitely have to stay on top of make sure you're using the perks and the bonuses that you get. Right.

[00:13:58.270] - Jennifer Yellin Definitely. Because if not, you could be spending a good amount on just fees where you're really not worth it.

[00:14:04.160] - Tamara Gruber I mean, I totally admit that we've had the Capital One venture card for years and years, and the Holy Racer thing is just super simple.

[00:14:12.670] - Kim Tate Yeah. That's what Paul likes. He loves that one. Just for the ease of it.

[00:14:16.910] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And we've also been using a higher credit card. And even though we're not getting the best value every time you make a purchase, it helps us earn global status, which, as I've mentioned before, is like their top tier status. So by earning that status, because every time you spend, I think $5,000 on the card, you get two nights towards status. So that, combined with staying at hotels, allows us to use that and then kind of get these awesome perks. So you kind of got to look at the pros and cons of every car and see what works best for you. Whenever anyone asks me, my simple answer sometimes is it depends.

[00:14:51.780] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. We talked to who is Ed Pizza, right. A few months ago, Kim, and he was really recommending Hyatt as a great program for families. So I'm glad that you brought that one up and like ways to kind of maximize that because their point redemption is certainly much more generous than, as I mentioned, the Marriott card.

[00:15:11.380] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. Ed and I are big Hyatt people for sure.

[00:15:15.100] - Tamara Gruber Well, it sounds like you gave a couple of good starter cards for someone that's interested in travel but maybe doesn't have any particular destination in mind, or they just want to be able to use it, like travel generally. I know some people are like, really into Southwest, do everything Southwest. We had somebody on that talked about that in the past. But are there any other kind of starter cards that you would recommend for someone that doesn't want to be loyal to a particular brand or a particular airline?

[00:15:43.570] - Jennifer Yellin Sure. Yes. If you don't want to be loyal and you kind of want to be agnostic and have to diversify your portfolio, I guess the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great card. I wouldn't say the sign up bonus is as high as it has been over the past year. So if you're not in a rush, you might want to hold off. But that is a good program where it's simple. They have really good transfer partners such as Hyatt, United, JetBlue, and then once you get more into it, you can explore some of the international airline partners as well. But it's simple. Everything transfers as one to one, and you can kind of figure out what your needs are and then transfer to the program. Or you can book through their travel portal. I think it's run by Expedia. It's the exact same process as booking as any other Expedia hotel you would or Air flight. And you can utilize your points that way, too. It's at a fixed value, so they offer a good amount of opportunities.

[00:16:37.550] - Tamara Gruber And are they one that has a really broad portfolio of Airlines? I remember I used to do that a lot with Amex, and then they had gotten rid of a lot of their partners and we kind of dropped Amex for a while. Some still have limited partnerships with the one to one transfers.

[00:16:55.310] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, I think they have a broad number of transfer partners. It's on the airline front, off the top of my head. United JetBlue, British Airways, which a lot of people will book domestically. You can book their British Airways points using on American Airlines, so they're a partner. So it's really easy to travel domestically even with an international airline. And then there are some other international carriers, too, in Southwest actually is one of them as well. So I think they have a good amount. There are definitely ones that are better than others just because of not all points are pretty equal. So if you transfer one to one to Hyatt versus one to one to Marriott, Hyatt points are 20,000 Hyatt points is probably equivalent to 60,000 Marriott points. So it's slightly different when you're transferring in a one to one rate. You want to get the best value. I'd say.

[00:17:45.920] - Kim Tate Yeah. I think that it's good to mention that you do have to be mindful of the transfer partners because that is where you can get into. There's a whole it's kind of like couponing, right? Where the people who are like those extreme couponers, they knew everything and they could stack stuff. And I think that people who really get into this are good at stacking stuff because it's like, oh, I know for a fact that British Airways has really high taxes. So maybe you want to fly Air Lingus into Ireland and then get to there's little things like that that you learn over time. But it is nice to have the multiple transfer partners knowing that you can kind of optimize the way the credit cards work for you. Do you have any tips? Because I know this is a big thing in the point space about deciding if you do decide to have multiple cards, how do you decide what expenses to put on each card?

[00:18:29.730] - Jennifer Yellin So I have many cards, probably too many, but I kind of look at category bonuses. So some credit cards will give increased payout for gas, some will for restaurants, some for travel, supermarkets, your common purchases. And so I kind of lay it out and I actually have what's it called tape with Sharpie written on which one to use for various types of purchases. And that has helped, but that can definitely get overwhelming. I'd say if you don't want to be overwhelmed, you're probably better off with a credit card like the Capital Adventure that just offers you two points for every dollar you spent. It doesn't matter what you're purchasing. If you're buying a toy for your child, purchasing travel, going to grocery store, anything, it's the same return. So it really depends on maybe your personality and how much you want to spend on this. But if you're willing to put in the effort, you can definitely maximize every single purchase you make. But it will require a few different credit cards.

[00:19:35.410] - Tamara Gruber I like that tip, though, of like putting a little note on them in some way because I have a terrible memory when it comes to numbers. And so I could see myself having a spreadsheet somewhere that says use this one for gas and this one for that. But until it becomes like routine and a habit, I would be like which 01:00 a.m. I supposed to use again. So like a little tip, right?

[00:19:56.480] - Kim Tate So many people in the point space on the groups, a new quarter comes around and they change out and they have those label makers like the Dymo label makers, and they put them on their cards, which card to use? And they do it for their spouses too. That maybe aren't into it as much because sure enough, I think of that. I'm like, which one do I want to use for dining? What do I want to pay here?

[00:20:24.450] - Tamara Gruber I'm thinking like when you use Apple Pay or you do online and your card saved, you can name them. Usually just name it like Amex or Visa. You could name it like grocery store, dining, gas.

[00:20:36.650] - Kim Tate All the gas probably isn't needed online.

[00:20:39.090] - Tamara Gruber So that kind of covers some of the general travel. I know some people have some dream trips in mind. Like say, okay, I want to go to the Maldives or I want to go to Tokyo. Like what is a good strategy to get me to a particular destination? Is that better to then look at a specific card for the airline? That might be best for that? What would your approach to that kind of scenario be?

[00:21:05.080] - Kim Tate Absolutely.

[00:21:05.600] - Jennifer Yellin Whenever I give anyone advice, I always actually find it's easier for me to help them when they have a specific trip in mind, because then you can have a strategy for that particular destination. So I know it was a few years back, but a friend of mine wanted to go on our honeymoon to the Maldives. Like you had mentioned, it's definitely a quite extensive adventure. So this is a prime opportunity to use your points and miles. And I said, well, the Hyatt actually has a great property there get the highest credit card. I can't remember what the actual bonus was at the time, but right off the bat, it was either two or three nights free at the Maldives. This was many years ago when before the point rates went up a little bit. But that was probably a $3,000 in savings. So I think if you know exactly where you want to stay, let's say it's the Hyatt, then look to see what the Hyatt credit card is offering at the time. Look to see what maybe the Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering at the time, since you can transfer the Hyatt and see which one is going to give you a better welcome offer for that particular destination in mind.

[00:22:07.650] - Kim Tate Yeah, I know we were planning a trip to Tokyo, and Japan Airlines is a partner with Alaska, and Alaska is my airline of choice here in Seattle. And so that was easy for me because I was kind of banking those miles and I got the Alaska card because my status gives me free bags, but I was able to get free bags for my kids as well. And all that. And those points really helped in the way get us our Tokyo flights that we didn't get to use, but still there.

[00:22:32.320] - Tamara Gruber You got them?

[00:22:33.530] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:22:33.910] - Jennifer Yellin I did something similar last year about probably eleven months ago. I knew I wanted to go to Hawaii over this past December break. We didn't go, therefore, we went to Aruba. But I purposely just got the Alaska credit card purely for them, based in Boston. Boston. I don't think I've actually ever flown Alaskan Airlines in my life, actually. But there was a points available I saw. So I immediately applied for the credit card and both my name and my husband's name. And actually I applied for the personal credit card and the business credit card in both of us. And I knew that immediately would give us both a one way flight there. And I already had American Airlines booked on the way home with points. So I applied for that card for that one specific destination. I now have all these Alaska airline miles, and I know that I'll just use them at another point of time to hopefully go to Hawaii again.

[00:23:21.250] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:23:22.350] - Jennifer Yellin So I did that myself, too.

[00:23:24.870] - Kim Tate So let's talk about we talked about booking flights and using points because this is something that I've struggled with a lot. When you are for a family, when you are wanting to use points, do you think it's easier to just always search for four tickets? Say you're a family four. Tamara is a family, three, whatever you are, your whole family search for tickets with those points? Or do you think it's better to be willing to pay for some and get tickets for some? Because I know that I've struggled with that, especially because as a status person, I almost want to buy my ticket, which is what I did for our spring break. I bought my ticket and I use points on my family's three tickets because now I'll earn miles on that trip and they don't care about anything else. So do you have any tips about that for using points with a family?

[00:24:10.340] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, we actually do the same. We fly JetBlue a lot now. And my husband had status and actually they extended his status. So he still has his status, which actually isn't worth as much anymore. But we'll pay for his ticket and then use the points to purchase tickets for myself and my two kids. And then Jeff, who allows you if you call them and the tickets are booked within a few minutes of one another, they'll kind of link them kind of for you. So that's a strategy we use with JetBlue and Southwest. There's no capacity control. So as long as there's a paid ticket available, you can go ahead and use your points. It doesn't matter, unlike some other Airlines. But with other Airlines, sometimes I do recommend just looking at one ticket at a time, because if there's one or two tickets, you could do that. The only problem is when you're booking with multiple itineraries. And sometimes if there's schedule changes, the Airlines aren't as helpful, I guess is the right term to keep families together, necessarily if they are booked on separate itineraries. So that's just one thing to keep in mind if you're booking under multiple reservations.

[00:25:15.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we've actually had that happen to us a number of times. We used to travel on points much more often and we were separated. And it's one of those things that especially when you book far out in advance, they tend to reshuffle flights fairly often and equipment, and so you can easily get moved around. And it's something I'm sensitive to because I have a child who is now older, but when she was younger was also a nervous liar. So there's, like, no way I would have wanted her separated from me. I think it's a good tip to say call, tell them to link the PNR numbers on the itinerary, but it's definitely not foolproof. So if it's something that you're concerned about, definitely something to keep in mind.

[00:25:59.070] - Jennifer Yellin Right. And my thought is if I'm willing to pay for two or three of the passengers and I'm probably willing to pay for all of them and then use the points at another time, I personally like to book with everything either paid or points just to keep everything clean.

[00:26:15.750] - Kim Tate And I know that when you do talk about just for people who are maybe a little more intermediate or advanced well, if they're advanced they already know this. But I know that a lot of people use Expert Flyer, which is a website. You can actually pay a yearly membership fee. I think it's like $49 a year. $99 a year. I don't remember what it is. And they somehow have some magic API that looks for special award availability that's coded a certain way. And so if you are trying to play a game, I know some people set up like alerts so that if they're watching a specific flight or a specific destination, they can kind of if an award ticket becomes available, they can hurry and log in and book it.

[00:26:57.950] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, absolutely. That is one good technique. And another thing I've kind of found helpful at times is using an award booking service. I know that seems silly from someone who kind of knows as well, but specifically with international Airlines, it can be beyond overwhelming. And they have all the tools and they have the same API's. And I don't know what they do in the background, but sometimes they're able to find ways that you didn't think of to go ahead and book an award internationally using partner programs. And it can actually save you points. So if you have points on one Airlines, but then also points in a flexible program like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which awards you ultimate reward points, you actually could potentially transfer your points to a program and then book your itinerary for less points than booking with another program. So there's so many different things to know, I guess, when it comes to that. But there are services out there.

[00:27:53.490] - Kim Tate Yeah. Do you have any? Because I know a friend that I kind of met once that's in the space. And at one point when we were looking at Japan and I was trying to decide if I was going to do it myself and he charged like 150 or something to do it for you. But do you know what those typically charge or what? Is there a top one or two that you know by name that you could mention? Sure.

[00:28:15.120] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. That price point sounds about right. But then there are other services that have kind of come out over the past few years. So one is Point me, it used to be called Juicy Miles, and instead of them actually booking it for you, you can kind of like Expert Flyer in a sense, somewhat. You put in your itinerary and it kind of lists out all these different options for you. So it's all system process. There's no one physically doing it for you. And that's a much less expensive option. I think that you can charge a monthly fee or maybe just you can do it a one time or even a seven day trial period. I think so. Those are some good options, too, because it's less expensive. But it will give you all these international Airlines that you do in point programs that you probably didn't even know existed. And how to book. The only problem is some of them are a little bit more challenging to actually transfer to and book. But by quick Google searching, there's, like everything out there that you can figure out on how to transfer points and everything. It's time consuming.

[00:29:16.410] - Jennifer Yellin It's really time consuming. And sometimes, I don't know, it might be easier.

[00:29:19.740] - Kim Tate That's what I'm saying at this point. I would pay someone $250 to do it for me because I do know how time consuming.

[00:29:26.970] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And usually you don't pay unless it works. Right.

[00:29:30.550] - Kim Tate Unless they get it for you.

[00:29:31.880] - Jennifer Yellin Right. If you're not happy with it, no harm.

[00:29:34.500] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's good tip. And I think also just a heads up for some people realize that a lot of these, like, I know Amex and Ultimate Rewards, a lot of their transfer partners take 24 to 72 hours for the points to kick into your account, which can be a big issue, especially if you're like, oh, this airfare just became available. Now I have to transfer the points, but then you're waiting there two, three days. I'm hoping that they hit your account so you can buy that award ticket. It's very stressful. I actually did that for Alaska to get our Japan tickets. I needed like 50,000 more and I had to transfer some. And I was like, oh, my gosh, please get in my account before these disappear.

[00:30:09.750] - Tamara Gruber That's a really good point.

[00:30:11.620] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. If you like Google also, I don't know why has it, but if you Google, like, time to transfer points from one program to another, there's so many experts out there, points people that have kind of taken all the data and put it all together. So some of them are instant. Some of them could even take seven days. But you could probably get a good inkling based on what these other people have put together.

[00:30:35.190] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, it's one of these spaces where there are so many experts, but trying to sort through it all on your own is definitely confusing. That idea of being able to hire someone to help you. And thinking about that, I'm such an advanced planner, you kind of want to be like, oh, well, I'm probably going to use this. I'll just switch the points over now, but then you can't switch them back.

[00:30:58.030] - Jennifer Yellin That is a good tip. Once you transfer points out of, like, Capital One or City or American Express Chase, I think those are the three main ones. They're in that program of choice. They are not going back in. So once flexible, points are no longer flexible.

[00:31:12.770] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. One way.

[00:31:14.020] - Jennifer Yellin Yes.

[00:31:15.690] - Tamara Gruber Well, we talked a little bit about some ways that you can maximize kind of your earning potential through these. But maybe we can just touch on that a little bit more deeply because I feel like it gets challenging for families that don't have someone that's like a real road warrior that's traveling a lot to kind of build up points simply from travel. So obviously you need to find other ways to earn those points. So maybe you can just touch on a few of those strategies.

[00:31:41.670] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So one major way is to sign up for every single shopping portal. Ebates is one that's always advertised and that will give you cash back, although you can now have those points go into American Express. But similar to ebay, you can sign up and receive points to American Airlines or United Alaska. All the Airlines have their own shopping portal. So all you have to do is Google Alaska Airlines shopping portal and it'll bring you up. And a lot of them even have those widgets on your computer where every time you go to a site, if you were to Gap.com, it'll pop up and say kind of give you a reminder, remember to shop through the Alaska Port. I don't know if that.

[00:32:22.620] - Kim Tate Yeah, the extensions. Like the Chrome extensions. Yeah, exactly. And I think Ebates, just so everyone knows it's called Racketon. Now, if you're confused about that. No, it's okay. You're good. I still think of them as ebay. So I wanted everyone to yes.

[00:32:35.800] - Jennifer Yellin Ebay was definitely a softer name. So every time you make a purchase online, there's no reason not to earn points unless it's more of a boutique store. But with your mainstream stores, even if you're only earning one point per dollar spent that's one point more than you would have earned otherwise. And sometimes if you sign up for their emails, if you spend $200, earn $1,000 bonus. They have these types of bonuses all the time, especially around the holidays, Black Friday, even randomly, the long holiday weekends, like Memorial Day, Labor Day, big shopping weekends, and just sometimes out of the blue. So there's ways to really accrue a lot of miles from home.

[00:33:17.530] - Kim Tate Absolutely.

[00:33:18.420] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah.

[00:33:18.790] - Kim Tate That's one of my favorite tips. I do that a lot and I really like it. And there's these websites now, the one I use the most is like Cashback Holic. And they'll compare. So if you're going to you're like, okay, I'm about ready to buy. I'm going to book this Marriott stay. You can type in Marriott and it'll show you like who, because I belong to Racketon and Top Cashback and I can compare those two. I try not to get into too many of them, so I mainly use those two. But I'm like, oh, Top Cashback is 6%. Racketon is only four. I'm going to go to Top Cashback so you can get really nerdy and kind of compare them also.

[00:33:49.190] - Jennifer Yellin Oh, totally. Absolutely. And EV Rewards is another one that will also compare for you is great.

[00:33:57.090] - Tamara Gruber I totally admit that. I completely suck at this. I don't use any of these. And every time you read about it, you're like, oh yeah, I should do that. And I just get excited if I actually learn how to use one of the bonuses on my credit card, like get $50, $50.

[00:34:16.510] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah. And another thing you want to do, I mean, this is separate from the shopping portal is I remember I think it was the last time I received an email from Barclaycard. And they are the bank with JetBlue. And it was like ridiculous offer spent $2,000 on your card over three months and earn I think it was 40,000 points. It was a targeted offer. I got it. My husband didn't. I was like, all right, moving all my spent to my JetBlue card for the next few months. Right. And they're just paying attention just helps you earn these increased offers. So there's definitely ways from home without flying to earn points and miles.

[00:34:55.990] - Kim Tate I've definitely been getting better about when I'm about ready to either go on a trip or go shopping with my girls or something along those lines. I log into my Chase and my Amex accounts online and I look because they have an offer section because you have to add them to your card.

[00:35:09.740] - Jennifer Yellin Yes.

[00:35:10.010] - Kim Tate And I don't think people always realize that. So if it's like, oh, Levi's is having a deal, I add it to my card because maybe they're going to want Levi's jeans while we're on back to school shopping or, oh, guess what? Hilton is doing this special. If you spend if you stay two nights, you get whatever the case may be. And I don't think people do that enough. But it's a good way to really I think if you want to get serious about it, you should log in often to the offers page because they reset every month.

[00:35:34.850] Yeah.

[00:35:35.740] - Jennifer Yellin Every day you're going to laugh. But American Express offers used to update every day at three in the morning. And I'm not joking. And so when my kids were small and I was up in the middle of the night non stop, I was like, so excited. And that was part of my daily routine. Some people have their morning coffee. I would look at my American Express offers. I'm not even kidding. That's awesome. Daily. But I will say it used to be you could add them to every single American Express credit card you have. I can't remember when, but a few years ago, it's now just one per account. So it's not as generous as it used to be. But I used to check them every single morning. And I'd saved thousands of dollars this way because it's not earning points. Well, actually, there are offers that you can earn points, but some of them are cashback. So now there's either cash back or increase point offers. So it depends on the offer and the type of card you have, because some cards might have it somewhere, but they're really great way to earn points or offset your purchases.

[00:36:33.850] - Kim Tate And like you said, so many are targeted. Like Tamara got this offer for a Marriott offer at one point on her Amex and mine. I didn't have it and I'm convinced it's because I had the Amex Marriott card.

[00:36:42.870] - Tamara Gruber I don't know.

[00:36:44.830] - Jennifer Yellin You'll never know. And sometimes you can even I remember I can't remember the exact offer, but it was like grocery stores and I spend $500 getting $100 offer, something like that. And I wasn't going to make $500 purchase in once because sometimes it's on a single purchase. So I just bought a $500 gift card there and then just use the gift card over the course of my shopping fees. So there are ways to kind of I don't know if scheme the system is the right term, but play the game.

[00:37:13.460] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, I do what you do, Kim, is when I'm shopping online, I'm like, wait, that might have an offer. Let me look. But the other thing with the gift cards is just simply like gifts, right. We give gifts and I buy gift cards for people all the time. And it's just like if it's something that you're spending anyway, just find a way to use to earn points on it, right?

[00:37:34.430] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. Or be the one to pay the bill at the restaurant and have everyone to Mo you buy the class gifts or anything like that. Like everyone wonders why I'm always a class mom. It's to accrue all the money and then I can put all the purchases on her credit card.

[00:37:49.320] - Tamara Gruber Love it.

[00:37:49.910] - Jennifer Yellin Little things like that.

[00:37:51.290] - Kim Tate Well, I know another big way to maximize points is with sign up bonuses. So could you give any final tips for people that are thinking of getting a new card, anything they should know about sign up bonuses or things to watch for, and then wrap it up with any final tips that you think people need to know about credit card points?

[00:38:07.580] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. So one thing you want to make sure of is when you sign up for a credit card, make sure it doesn't have to be the best offer because you might be waiting around for a year for the best offer. But make sure it's a really good offer. I know we were speaking before and you said you apply for an offer that was like half of what it typically is. So when you see an offer, make sure it's a good value and it's going to provide you with enough points that you'll be happy with that. Even if a better offer comes along in a month or two. Pay attention to best offer. Some banks, actually, if you apply within a few weeks or maybe even a month, if you call them up and say this better offer just came out, will you match it? They may or may not match it for you, but it's always worth a try. You never know. Some banks have kind of different fools and they change every so often also. But if you're looking for a credit card right now and specifically for family travel. The Southwest Credit Card actually has one of the best offers where you'll earn the Southwest Companion Pass.

[00:39:05.500] - Jennifer Yellin I don't know if you guys have discussed the Southwest Companion Pass much on the podcast, but it's definitely one of my favorite travel features. And it allows someone to fly with you for free in a limited number of times. I've been a passholder for the past 13 or 14 years at this point. And it's like the most amazing thing ever. So that's one of my favorite offers right now. If you live in a Southwest hub, if you don't live near Southwest, then it's not worth it.

[00:39:33.520] - Kim Tate And I'll chime in and just say that we did cover quite extensively about that Southwest offer and stuff with Lynne and that's episode 181. If anybody wants to go back and listen to that awesome.

[00:39:43.960] - Jennifer Yellin Yes, she's an expert and everything's Southwest as well. So that's one thing right now, credit card offers are changing all the time. I think Marriott just came out with something last week, United as well. So it's like hard to even keep track. But sometimes even just like Googling best credit card offers from the experts. You'll get pages, but make sure it's really the best and not just them pushing you on the best when it might not be.

[00:40:11.950] - Kim Tate Yeah, I definitely think that I've done that where especially if I have a big purchase, like, oh, I'm buying a new camera or we're about ready to take a big trip and I'm going to be putting a lot of charges. I kind of go and I say, okay, best credit card offers for March 2022 or whatever. And of course, it's the points guy, nerd wallet, upgraded points.

[00:40:31.310] - Tamara Gruber Like all those guys.

[00:40:32.280] - Kim Tate And so it's kind of good to just read through those and kind of see which ones are popping up. And they definitely, you'll know, because it's not just an offer. Like they'll write a whole article about this amazing offer is one of the best we've seen lately, that sort of stuff.

[00:40:45.640] - Jennifer Yellin Right? Absolutely. And also just another tip is make sure you can meet the minimum spend requirements. Some of the credit cards are 1000 $2,000 in three months, six months. But the Capital One Venture X card right now, for example, is like, I think it's $10,000. So that might not be obtainable for most families.

[00:41:04.130] - Kim Tate Exactly.

[00:41:04.910] - Jennifer Yellin So it just makes it something you can do.

[00:41:07.420] - Kim Tate Those business cards can sometimes have really high spends. Because I've looked at doing a business card, sometimes I'm just like, there's just no way I can spend that right now.

[00:41:15.240] - Jennifer Yellin Right.

[00:41:16.170] - Kim Tate Although I know that's a whole other expert level of people who do credit or gift card buy and resell to do that. So that's a whole other level.

[00:41:24.990] - Jennifer Yellin Yes, it is. If you're interested in that, go to Greg at the Frequent Mile or he is crazy when it comes to this. But awesome attitude.

[00:41:32.530] - Tamara Gruber One of the things that I'm thinking about. As I'm listening to you guys, I'm thinking about what I have an upcoming trip where I'm going to be spending a lot of money and some of that's already on one of my credit cards. But maybe I should look into what bonuses are up right now. But it makes me think about when you want to churn your cards. And we obviously talked about signing up, you and your husband for a card and signing up for this card in that card. And it's like, at what point are too many cards? Like too many? Like, how long do you keep it before you get rid of it? Are there considerations to think about in terms of your credit or just eligibility for future cards? That just to make people aware of?

[00:42:10.930] Sure.

[00:42:11.520] - Jennifer Yellin So as long as you're responsible with your credit cards, for the most part, credit cards are not going to hurt your credit. I mean, you'll see people who have 50 credit cards and they still have these awesome 800 credit scores. If you're applying for a mortgage to get a house in a few weeks, don't apply for a credit card right now. Right. So there's definitely or even any loan I wouldn't recommend applying for a credit card. Wait. And then go and get it. In regards to when you should cancel, if you're not getting value out of your credit card, cancel it's not going to hurt you or downgrade to a no annual fee. For example, if you have the Chase Sapphire preferred card and you find that the $95 annual fee is not worth it anymore, first of all, call and see if they'll do something for you. A lot of times they might say, okay, if you spend $1,000, we'll give you a $95 credit. You just never hurt. I know. Last year I think I ended up getting about $500 back from American Express amongst a lot of my credit cards. I know COVID played a hand in that.

[00:43:16.470] - Jennifer Yellin But always call and see. And if not, then see if there's a car that you can downgrade it to, and then there won't be a Ding on your credit report. I mean, it also depends on what your current credit score is. And sometimes you might get a Ding, but it will go back up in a few months. So there's a few factors depending on.

[00:43:34.050] - Kim Tate Yeah, it's like ten point Ding, and it does pop right back up because we've had that opening up a credit card kind of opens up.

[00:43:40.310] - Jennifer Yellin Gives you more credit, which creditors like, too.

[00:43:43.520] - Kim Tate So opening up credit cards is not a bad thing unless you're applying for a big mortgage. They don't like to see your capital, your accessibility too high, right?

[00:43:53.510] - Jennifer Yellin Absolutely. And then Chase also has Chase and American Express have different rules in place. So I'm not sure if you've discussed Chase is 524.

[00:44:01.800] - Kim Tate Yeah, we talked about that.

[00:44:03.530] - Jennifer Yellin So you've applied for five or more cards. Usually they're personal cards, but sometimes they throw business cards into it, too. Chase will automatically not approve you for another credit card. I've seen some reports that that might be changing, actually. So we'll kind of see what happens over the next few months. But that's one thing to keep in mind. It's five or more cards in 24 months, I think I said. And then American Express also doesn't allow you to get the welcome offer for I believe it's like once in a lifetime, but once it falls off your credit report, they might not know. So might be like seven years. So those are things to kind of keep in mind. That's why you want to apply when the offer is the best, because if it's not and you're going to be losing out on points if a new offer comes around and then you're not able to get it and you're no longer a card holder.

[00:44:48.390] - Tamara Gruber I have one more question for you, because now I'm just going to use you as my personal source for information if you want to get an additional card for someone in your family. So, for example, I have a 17 year old that we've been waiting till she turns 18 to get a credit card for her. And we've been debating like, do you get her own credit card or do we put her on one of ours? Do we get another one of the capital one cards? Any tips for if you're adding somebody in your family, maybe a first card? Is there any advantage, like kind of getting points from them versus kind of setting them up on their own?

[00:45:24.660] Sure.

[00:45:25.100] - Jennifer Yellin So just remember, if someone is an authorized user, you're responsible for all of their credit card habits. So if the credit card bill is not paid or if anything happens, it kind of can hit you. So just something to keep in mind with teenagers. But I actually personally don't know a lot about the high school age and what credit cards you can and cannot apply for for that age. I'm not there yet, fortunately. But setting someone up as an authorized user, I think some credit cards you can maybe do as early as 13, you can add them on. And that actually helps them as well build their own credit score. So it's always a great thing to get add on authorized users if they're not eligible to get their own credit card. And then when they are to get them, there are various student credit cards, and a lot of times those comes with $300 spend limits or very low thresholds that you might want for your child. But yeah, definitely getting them set up will only help their credit score, which can then ultimately help them in their 20s to apply for a credit card.

[00:46:26.470] - Jennifer Yellin That will be useful. But there are a lot of student credit cards out there that do give you points and miles.

[00:46:32.810] - Kim Tate They do come with a really high annual fee or not annual fee interest rate. Normally, that's the only bad thing. We actually added my husband and my daughter, both as authorized users with my Amex Platinum Tamara, because of the lounge access. So now, especially if they're changing it, we're going to get Mia. And that'll be my maxed on three, because with Amex Platinum, you get three authorized users for $175 total. So you pay the $175 and then they get all the lounge benefits as well. Are they changing the lounge that you can no longer guests unless you spend like $75,000 starting in January of 2023? I think you don't get anywhere. Is that right, Jennifer? I think that's right.

[00:47:15.840] - Jennifer Yellin That I don't know.

[00:47:17.100] - Kim Tate Okay.

[00:47:17.820] - Jennifer Yellin Sorry.

[00:47:18.780] - Kim Tate No, you're fine.

[00:47:19.580] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, but I will say that the expensive credit cards a lot of times you have to pay to add an authorized user, but no annual fee or low annual fee credit cards. Usually you can add a few authorized users for no fee.

[00:47:33.380] - Kim Tate Great. Well, one of our questions that we ask all of our guests is what do you wear when you travel? So do you have any favorite brands that you want to tell us about when you travel?

[00:47:41.020] - Jennifer Yellin Sure. I travel as comfortably as possibly. And I also wear my everyday clothes, which consists of black as leader pants, which is side pockets, like those leggings. And then you can put your cell phone or any cars. Side pockets are a necessity. Once I found them, like two years ago, I can never go back. And sneakers or flip flops, depending on the weather. Nothing fun and exciting.

[00:48:05.480] - Tamara Gruber Well, you're brave wearing flip flops on the plane.

[00:48:07.370] - Kim Tate My feet are always freezing.

[00:48:09.230] - Jennifer Yellin Yeah, that is a good point. It depends on the length of it's. Just like an hour flight that's going to be different. But you're right. I used to travel for work every single week for many years. And I would always be traveling like those high heels and hated every second of it. I would get off the plane and go straight to the client site for the week. And now I just want to be comfortable.

[00:48:28.770] - Kim Tate And everyone has those little packable ballet flats that you can just pop in and out. Yeah.

[00:48:34.610] - Tamara Gruber I'm happy, though. So work travel days are behind me, too. And just like work dress in general has changed.

[00:48:41.210] - Jennifer Yellin Oh, yeah. I got rid of all of my stuff, never going back.

[00:48:44.640] - Kim Tate Good.

[00:48:45.030] - Tamara Gruber Well, can you remind our listeners where they can find you online or learn more about points?

[00:48:51.120] - Kim Tate Absolutely.

[00:48:51.940] - Jennifer Yellin So you can find me at my blog Deals We Like. You can also find me on Twitter or Facebook. Everything is at Deals We Like. And then also I'm a freelance contributor at the Point Sky and CNN Underscore. So I have some great articles there as well. That where you can learn more about credit cards, family travel, anything in the points and miles world.

[00:49:10.850] - Tamara Gruber Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us. It's always really great when we can get an expert on and just kind of brainstorm some ideas. Hopefully people will have something new that they can try to get them a little bit closer to their next kind of dream trip.

[00:49:25.130] - Kim Tate Thanks for having me. It was great chatting with you.

[00:49:27.320] - Announcer Thanks.

[00:49:27.630] - Tamara Gruber You too.

[00:49:31.850] - Kim Tate Well, as always, thanks for joining us for another week here and I have a little request. Tamara, I was looking at our podcast page the other day and I noticed that we were almost at 100 reviews. We are really close so I'm going to do a little bag from all of our lovely listeners and ask you guys if you're willing if you love our show, if you would leave us a five star review on your favorite podcast app, the one I looked on was Apple podcast. But wherever you're at or listen to us, if you'd leave us a positive review, we'd love it. We love hearing from you guys and I'd love to see that switch to 100 reviews.

[00:50:05.780] - Tamara Gruber That would be great. I know we've been at this for almost six years and actually by the time it comes out it will be six years and we're just really bad about asking for reviews. We definitely appreciate it. I know some podcasts every day it's like the first thing that you hear is like leave us a review but we would appreciate it. We'll give you shout outs online. We'll read them especially if they're nice, but even if they're not nice, we will read them mindful of it but otherwise stay tuned because next episode we're going to be talking about sustainable travel and I think that is also on a lot of people's minds as we're getting back out there and how to be responsible and thinking about things in a more sustainable way. So join us next time talk to you again soon. Bye.

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Family travel adventurer Karilyn Owen, from NoBackHome.com, shares her love of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California. Find out why you should look beyond Yosemite to these lesser visited National Parks. Tamara also shares a some new attractions in New York City that you should check out if you are planning a visit soon.

About Karilyn Owen Karilyn, the founder of the popular family travel blog No Back Home, is a writer, photographer and influencer sharing her family’s adventures at home in Southern California and around the world to inspire other families to get out and explore, even if it’s just in their own city. Karilyn and her nature-obsessed 11 year old focus on hiking, backpacking, camping, hands-on learning and seeking out the world’s beauty wherever they find themselves. Karilyn has traveled to 50 countries on her own and to 35 with her son. Follow Karilyn on Instagram.

Read Karilyn's blog posts about:

• Kings Canyon Scenic Byway
• Camping in Kings Canyon
• Visiting Sequoia National Park in the winter
• Sequoia National Park in one day

Tips for Visiting Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks * Sequoia and Kings Canyon are actually two separate national parks, but they are operated together * They are south of Yosemite and many people will extend a trip to Yosemite to include Sequoia and Kings Canyon, but they have enough to make for a good stand alone trip, even for multi-generational families * They offer huge sequoia forests, granite canyons, and rivers * If you wanted to fly out for a trip, the largest major airport would be Los Angeles (LAX) and it is about a 3-4 hour drive from there. You can also connect and fly into Fresno, CA * Sequoia is good to visit any time of year and you can go snowshoeing and you can drive all the way into the park (in the summer you need to take shuttles) * You need to visit Kings Canyon in the summer as the road that goes through the park closes after the first snow. Giant's Highway which connects the two parks is also closed in the winter. The roads generally open in late spring, as early as April and as late as June, depending on the snow * You can drive from the Giant's Forest area of Sequoia to the main tourist area in Kings Canyon in about one hour, although it is another hour into the Canyon * If you are doing just these two parks, you will want to stay three days or longer, especially if you are visiting in the summer when you are spending more time waiting for shuttles * Some people will do Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia in one week * The must-see places in Sequoia are: + The Congress Trail - about 3 miles through the forest + Morro Rock - climb up about 430 stairs to the top, sometimes people like to do this for sunrise + Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the continental US but you need a permit to climb it as part of the John Muir Trail + Big Trees Trail is great for kids because it is a boardwalk with signposts explaining the life cycle of the trees + Topakah Falls - there aren't sequoias but it is a great trail that has a waterfall, you can see wildlife, and it isn't as crowded * In Kings Canyon do Mist Falls trail, but not in the early season because the rivers are too high * Sequoia and Kings Canyon don't currently require reservations to enter the park or permits for hikes beyond the John Muir Trail or backpacking * Favorite camping sites: + Camping is the best for both parks because the nearest towns are about 45 minutes away (without traffic) + Sentinel Campground, open mid-May-September is best in Kings Canyon + Lodge Pole in Sequoia is a good spot for families with plenty of amenities + In the winter, stay in Three Rivers, near the entrance of Sequoia, and there are places to explore in town + If you want to stay outside of Kings Canyon, there are Airbnbs in small towns outside of the park but the biggest large town with hotels would be Visalia, CA, about an hour - an hour and twenty minutes away + If you are driving an RV or camper van, there are limitations on lengths/heights for both parks that you should check ahead of time before you go or book a rental * A food truck called Gorilla Quesadilla in Three Rivers and a restaurant in Visalia that is delicious and large portions that make everyone happy * Visalia is a great town because there are more restaurant options (there aren't any places inside of the parks) and you can also take an orange grove tour * There have been a number of forest fires in recent years so you may want to avoid August and possibly September, and follow the National Parks on social media to get updates about smoke or park closings * When you are visiting make sure to follow the Leave No Trace principles and bring in recyclable materials that you can easily pack back out because garbage is limited in the parks * There are a lot bears in the park (especially Sequoia) so make sure to make a lot of noise as you are hiking, but luckily they are generally not aggressive. Make sure to store all food in bear lockers * Bear spray is not allowed in the California National Parks * There is not good cell service in the park so you may want to invest in a GPS tracker like a Garmin Inreach device * Make sure you bring in enough water and food in case of an emergency * Karilyn loves wearing wool and has been wearing a Wool And dress every day for the last year

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This week we explore two regions of Portugal. One, the Algarve, is popular for its cliffs, beaches, and sea caves. The other, Alentejo, is lesser-known but serves as the breadbasket of Portugal and is a popular wine region. Our guest, Rachel Laidler, Head of Portugal for EPIC Travel, is an expert in both.

About Rachel Laidler Rachel Laidler is the Head of Portugal for EPIC Travel, a custom travel agency that designs bespoke itineraries in Portugal and Morocco. EPIC focuses on luxury adventure travel and maintains close relationships with suppliers to provide clients with unique cultural experiences. You can follow EPIC Travel on Instagram at @epicbemore.

Travel to Alentejo * Alentejo is the largest region in Portugal, making up approximately one-third of the country. This is the region that is the "breadbasket" of Portugal. It is also a popular wine-making region. * In Alentejo you can find some small fortified villages, vineyards, cork tree farms, and lots of open space. * When visiting Alentejo, EPIC Travel can help match you with the best hotel or accommodations to suit your travel style. Depending on how much time you have, you can either stay in one location for 3-4 days or split your time between hotels with 2-3 days at each. * Alentejo has some similarities with Tuscany in Italy, but it is more affordable and not a popular with tourists. * The Alentejo is where to go to relax and enjoy nature and the products of the land. It is a good place to connect with local culture. * Some of the popular towns to visit are: Evora, Monsaraz, and Estramoz * A few of the activities you can enjoy in Alentejo are: cork trekking, star gazing, horseback riding, picnics, farm tours, wine tasting, hiking, and biking. * Cork trekking is possible at Herdade da Maroteira * A few hotels to consider include: + Torre de Palma -- this hotel is family owned and run, each room is unique, you can watch the sunset from the top of the tower. Nearby you can visit Roman Ruins. On property there is one restaurant, a pool, stables for horse riding and carriage rides, and a full winery. The resort offers wine tasting, tours, classes, and blending workshops. + São Lourenço do Barrocal -- this is a luxury hotel that has been in the same family for hundreds of years. While it is luxurious, it is not in your face or over the top. The people are very welcoming and friendly and the resort is laidback and comfortable, with understated style. The hotel has a farm and organic garden, as well as a winery. There are two restaurants, one is seasonal and outside under the trees. Activities include on-site pools, biking, hiking, horseback riding, star gazing, farm tours, family treasure hunts, an on-site spa, and other activities. There are cottages with two to three bedrooms that are ideal for families. + Herdade da Malhadinha Nova -- this is a very large wine estate with three different styles of accommodations. One is adults-only and more contemporary, one is in the original farm house with smaller, more traditional rooms. The last is also arranged like a house with common spaces and set around a pool, but the rooms are larger and more contemporary with a minimalist style. The estate is spread out and has beautiful rolling hills and vineyards. On site you can enjoy horseback riding, wine tasting, 4x4 tours, picnics, yoga, and other daily activities. They can also arrange hot air ballooning.

Travel to the Algarve * The Algarve is the southern coast of the country and is famous for its cliffs, caves, and beaches. It is a very popular spot for British tourists, but there are plenty of spots to get away from the crowded tourist areas. * EPIC recommends visiting the far east or far west sections of the Algarve, or visiting the surrounding mountains. * Rachel recommends the towns of Lagos, Tavira, and Olhão. * Some popular activities include active adventures in and out of the water like kayaking, surfing, stand up paddleboarding, biking, and hiking * October is a great time to go to the Algarve because you still have the warmer weather but not the large crowds. Another great time to go in April (after Easter) through June. * It is fun to cycle from one town the next and explore local towns along the way or do local activities * Sagres is good for surfing * Burgau is a colorful town with houses painted multi-colors. * Morgado do Quintão is a great destination for families to stay away from the coast. There are villas on site with multiple bedrooms and private pools set on a vineyard. * Casa Mãe in Lagos is another recommended spot in town and close to all the attractions but also offering a pool * Casa Modesta is a family owned hotel that overlooks a natural park.

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It is a new year and time to start dreaming about planning an amazing family vacation to celebrate getting through the last two years. Since so many of us are in that dreaming stage right now, this week we talk to Tara Cannon, from Pint Size Pilot, to get her recommendations on some epic family vacation destinations and unique hotels for families to spark your wanderlust.

About Tara Cannon Tara Cannon runs the family travel adventure blog PintSizePilot.com. Her goal is to encourage families to travel a little further afield to enjoy truly unique and exceptional adventures, whether in their home country or abroad.

Epic Family Vacation Destinations * Panama - a great lower-cost alternative to Costa Rica for a jungle lodge vacation. Note that some jungle lodges have a minimum age requirement of about 5 or 6. Panama offers a good mix of jungle and beach within easy reach and distance of each other. Panama City also offers great hotels, restaurants, and culture. Also don't miss the Panama Canal observation center. The Guna Yala or Sand Bas Islands is another great spot to visit. + See Tara's recommendations for Panama with kids + And sailing the Sand Bas Islands with kids * Iceland - Iceland is very safe and fairly easy to get to from the U.S.. There is so much to offer in terms of excursions from whale watching, glacier hikes, geothermal pools, waterfalls, horseback riding, and more. It is easy to do a number of day trips from Reykjavik. + See Tara's Golden Circle self-drive guide + Things to do in Reykjavik with kids * France - A classic family trip that is easy to get to and you can be immediately immersed in another culture without being too far out of your comfort zone. It is nice to spend a few days in Paris but then spend time in Provence, the Dordogne, or South of France. + See Tara's recommendations on things to do in Paris with kids + Things to do in Provence with kids + And the Dordogne River Valley with kids * Peru - Go beyond Machu Picchu. Lima is an incredible city for culture and food. From Lima, fly to Cusco and then spend time in the Sacred Valley before Machu Picchu. From Cusco, fly to Lake Titicaca. It helps for kids to be a bit older to appreciate the culture and spend more time on guided tours. + See Tara's Peru family vacation tips * Barbados/Caribbean - see episode 113 with Tara about the Barbados.Tara also likes Anguilla, Saba, and islands off of Guadeloupe. * Galapagos - the Galapagos is another fantastic trip for families, but it is very expensive and takes a lot of years of saving. If you go, also spend some time in mainland Ecuador. It can cost an extra couple of thousand dollars for a family to fly to the Galapagos from the mainland.

Tips for Planning Epic Trips * Look for inspiration from articles in online newsletters and print magazines, following travel bloggers that have similar travel styles, and Instagram. * Sometimes you can find a hotel that you really want to visit and then build a trip around that hotel. * Coffee table books can also provide inspiration. * Create a loose family bucket list of places everyone would like to go. * Timing will often drive where to go based on weather, pricing, time to get there, seasonality, etc. * If you don't enjoy the research and planning process, it helps to work with an experienced travel advisor that really knows the destination. * If you want to do it yourself, read posts from bloggers who have been themselves and don't be afraid to reach out to those bloggers and ask for some advice. * Facebook Groups (such as our Travel with Teens group) can help a lot as other travelers will provide advice. * Travel forums such as TripAdvisor are also helpful to ask questions and get advice.

Epic Hotels for Families * Lapa Rios in Costa Rica - National Geographic Unique Hotels of the World, has individual casitas on the Oso Peninsula. This is a remote hotel that offers an all-inclusive package that includes guided excursions during the day. It borders a protected national park with incredible wildlife. * Hacienda Zuleta - this ranch estate in the highlands of Ecuador is a family-run ranch estate that has been converted to a hotel. Each room is different and you are treated like family. The ranch is on an organic farm and working dairy farm. You can fed the calves, watch the cheese being made, go horseback riding, visit a condor protection center, and gather with other guests in the evenings. * Adare Manor - provides the Irish manor house/castle experience without the high price of someplace like the Ashford Castle. * Fogo Island Inn - an architectural masterpiece of a hotel in Newfoundland, Canada, on an island called Fogo Island. The hotel was created to support the economy of the island and it uses locally-made products and has created jobs in that area. * Awasi Atacama - lodge in the Atacama Desert in Chile. You stay in a beautiful adobe casita and schedule tours with a guide in the desert each day. You can discuss and choose your excursions the night before. The hotel also has a great chef and wine program.

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Before we look ahead to 2022, we take some time to look back at 2021 and recap some of our favorite travel places and travel products.

Tamara's Favorite Things for 2021 This post contains affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, we may make a small commission. All opinions are our own.

Products:

1. Peak Design travel tripod https://amzn.to/3EUTXVz
2. Yoozon self-stick and tripod with Bluetooth remote https://amzn.to/3e6J4Vf
3. Bose Sleepbuds (new version) https://amzn.to/3s4fPKI
4. Delsey Paris Clavel https://www.delsey.com/us/en/p/clavel-30_-exp-spinner-upright-403845830.html

Places:

1. Vista Verde Ranch, Steamboat Springs, CO https://we3travel.com/vista-verde-ranch-review/
2. Terramor Outdoor Resort, Bar Harbor, ME https://we3travel.com/terramor-outdoor-resort-review-glamping-near-acadia/
3. Canaves Oia Epitome, Santorini, Greece https://yourtimetofly.com/where-to-stay-in-santorini-for-couples-canaves-oia-epitome-review/
4. Virtu Suites, Naxos, Greece https://yourtimetofly.com/virtu-suites-where-to-stay-on-naxos/
5. Torre de Palma, Alentejo, Portugal https://yourtimetofly.com/6-must-stay-at-wine-hotels-in-portugal/

Kim's Favorite Things for 2021 Products:

1. Kindle Unlimited (https://amzn.to/3q5Fv72) 6 mos for $30 or $9.99 / mo
2. Audible (https://amzn.to/3F4XYqP) free 30 days then $5.95 / mo first 3 premium plus - then $14.95 / mo
3. Knack Bag (https://knack-bags.pxf.io/ZdqLgR)
4. Aerie Offline Leggings with side pocket (https://rstyle.me/+dmgDhgr9GEdzOEd3DyhtSQ)

Places:

1. Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle (https://stuffedsuitcase.com/taste-washington/)
2. Safari West (https://stuffedsuitcase.com/safari-west-santa-rosa/)
3. Monterey CA / Hyatt Regency (https://stuffedsuitcase.com/things-to-do-in-monterey-with-kids/)
4. Manor Vail Lodge
5. Herdade da Malhadinha Nova

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What is green and blue and volcanic all over? This week on the podcast, Kim and Tamara are joined by Katja Gaskell from Globetotting.com to talk about their recent trip to the Azores in a continuation of our Portugal coverage. The Azores are an archipelago of nine Portuguese islands in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean and they are a unique blend of the landscapes of Hawaii, Ireland or Wales, and Iceland with the culture of the Portuguese mainland. Hear what makes these islands so special, and what you need to know before you plan a trip to the Azores.

Disclosure: Our trip was hosted by EPIC Travel, a boutique travel agency specializing in arranging custom itineraries in Portugal and Morocco. EPIC’s in-country travel planners have close relationships with hotels, guides, drivers and tour operators and can design the perfect trip for your travel style and interests. EPIC focuses on adventure and cultural experiences to allow you to have a deeper and more epic journey. If you book with EPIC Travel and mention that you heard about them on the Vacation Mavens podcast, you will receive a VIP Welcome Gift on arrival.

Tips for Visiting the Azores, Portugal * The Azores are nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that are part of Portugal * You can fly direct from Europe on Ryan Air and some other airlines, or you can go through Lisbon via Tap Airlines and utilize the free layover offering * From the USA you can fly direct from Boston on Azores Airlines/ SATA Airlines and starting May 2022 United will offer direct service from Newark * The largest island is São Miguel and the main city where the airport is is Ponta Delgada (PDL) * São Miguel is a unique mix of landscapes and the island is very well maintained and beautiful * The Azores are a real adventure destination for adventure tourism * There are currently not a lot of restaurants and hotels for tourists, so you really need to plan very far in advance and be flexible with your plans. It also helps to stay at a hotel with a restaurant * You should plan a trip six to nine months in advance * The weather can be volatile where you experience many seasons in a day, but the water stays warm thanks to the Gulf Stream and it doesn't get terribly cold in the winter * Summer is the ideal time to go, but also the busiest * Plan on spending at least three to four days in São Miguel, more if you want to take part in some more of the adventure activities * If you plan on visiting multiple islands with a full Azores trip, plan on 10 to 14 days in total * A trip to the Azores is a sightseeing and active vacation, and not a resort-based, relaxation island vacation * Other Azores islands to visit include Pico, Sao Jorge, Faial (which are very close to each other) and Terceira * If you are not comfortable driving through small towns with narrow streets or along cliffs then you may want to take a private tour with a driver/guide * Some roads get washed out due to rain or storms that cause mudslides * Guides will also be able to check apps and weather to see what conditions are like in different places and can adjust on the fly * Best places to see in Sao Miguel include: + Caloura (fishing village) + Sete Citades (blue and green lakes) + Furnas (thermal activity and hot springs) + Ribeira dos Caldeiroes (waterfalls) + Ponta da Ferraria (cliffs and lava beach) * There are many adventure activities on Sao Miguel, perfect for adventurous families and families with teens including: + Coasteering + Snorkeling + Cliff diving + Canyoning + Kayaking + Surfing + Dolphin and whale watching tours * Where to stay on Sao Miguel: + Azor Hotel in Ponta Delgada is convenient for access to the airport and town, with nice spacious rooms, nice views, and a great restaurant, but it is better to get outside of Ponta Delgada if possible + Furnas Boutique Hotel is in Furnas and has a nice spa, hot springs, and pools heated by geothermal activity. There are activities on site and the hotel staff is extremely friendly and personable, but the rooms are on the smaller side. + Santa Barbara Beach Resort is an eco-resort located above a nice swimming and surfing beach. There are different types of suites with kitchenettes, spread across different buildings, some of which have a shared infinity pool * To visit the Azores, we needed a separate negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure. You need to complete a locator form and upload your test results and these are checked upon arrival at PDL. Masks are also required indoors everywhere when we visited. * To get inspired for future travel, watch 14 Peaks on Netflix and read Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

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Tamara and Kim recently traded the northern cold and rain for Arizona's sunny skies on a "momcation" or girlfriend getaway to Tempe, Arizona. Find out what makes this college city a great option for either a family vacation or a girls' trip. With plenty of outdoor activities and great food, there is a lot about Tempe that may surprise you!

Note: This episode was created in partnership with Tempe Tourism. All opinions are our own and we thank them for supporting our work!

Planning a Trip to Tempe, AZ * Tempe is adjacent to Phoenix, Arizona, but really more of its own city than just a suburb. * Tempe is home to Arizona State University (ASU) so it has a college town feel, but there are also many large businesses with offices in Tempe and it is a growing city. * It is easy to get to Tempe. Phoenix Sky Harbor airport has many affordable, direct flights and it is only a 10-15 minute Uber ride from PHX to downtown Tempe. * You can also take the light rail directly from the airport station for only $2.00. * If you plan on staying in downtown Tempe, you don't need a car as it is easy to walk, bike, Uber, or take public transportation. However, if you want to explore more of the area or enjoy some of the attractions and restaurants outside of downtown Tempe, you will probably want to rent a car for your trip. * There are many things to do outdoors in Tempe including water-based activities on Tempe Town Lake, biking, relaxing at the pool, shopping, walking around downtown Tempe or the ASU campus, and enjoying outdoor dining. * Tempe hosts many large events including the Iron Man race, baseball spring training, and in 2023 the Super Bowl will be held nearby. * Tempe has recently expanded its hotel inventory to include the Westin Tempe, Canopy by Hilton, and soon the Omni Hotel and Vīb by Best Western. * We stayed at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel in downtown Tempe, which was a great location for exploring. The Junior Suites are very spacious and quiet. The hotel has a nice pool and hot tub with a view of "A" mountain. * Some fun things to do in Tempe include: + Hiking "A" Mountain / Hayden Butte at sunrise or sunset + Kayaking or paddle boarding on Tempe Town Lake with Boat Rentals of America + Renting bikes or e-bikes from North Shore Water Sports to bike through town or along the lake bike paths + Tempe has 218 miles of bike paths and bike lanes in Tempe, making it a great city for bikers and car-free living + You can also rent scooters to explore Tempe + Shopping and dining at the Tempe Marketplace, which has a great entertainment district with tons of great dining options + Take photos in front of some of Tempe's murals + Relaxing at the hotel pools. Some hotels like the Tempe Westin and Canopy by Hilton have great rooftop pools and lounges. These are also a great spot to see the sunset + See a baseball game during Spring Training season or watching the Sun Devils college sports at ASU * You can also rent a car and visit nearby Mesa or Scottsdale. Mesa is home to the Fresh Foodie Trail, which incorporates a number of farms, restaurants, and other unique stops. * Some things to do in Mesa include: + Enjoy BBQ or chips with homemade salsa at Jalapeno Bucks, which is set in a citrus grove. This is a popular spot with locals and visitors so expect long lines and outdoor picnic table dining + Queen Creek Olive Mill offers olive grove tours, outdoor dining, and shopping for olive oil and olive-oil based products + If you wanted to spend the night in Mesa, check out the Cozy Peach Glamping at Schnepf Farms, which has custom renovated Airstream trailers. Schnepf Farms also hosts many seasonal events + Downtown Mesa offers shopping, cideries, breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, and game/arcade spots + Cider Corps is a veteran-owned cidery that offers a wide-range of ciders and also incorporates other businesses to offer pizza and coffee + There are also some great murals in downtown Mesa * Tempe has many great food options, including: + Top of the Rock at the Buttes Marriott offers amazing views and great fine dining for special occasions. If the weather is cooler, try to book a table on the terrace for great nighttime views + For breakfast: - Snooze, an AM Eatery -- near the college, they have a great retro design and unique offerings - Morning Squeeze -- also has a fun retro diner vibe but with more traditional breakfast offerings - Daily Jam -- near the Tempe Mission Palms in downtown offers famous waffles in various flavors, including red velvet waffles + For lunch: - Postino Annex -- located near campus, they offer great outdoor dining and it is great for groups with many small plates and bruschetta boards, plus they offer $5 glasses of wine before 5pm - Barrio Queen -- located in Tempe Marketplace, they offered great Mexican / Southwest cuisine with amazing decor, outside dining, tableside guacamole, and delicious tacos + For dinner: - Culinary Drop Out -- great space for families or groups with ping pong tables, corn hole, and plenty of small plates to share. It is a large and lively space - Ghost Ranch -- located about 10 minutes from Downtown Tempe, Ghost Ranch is delicious southwest cuisine with great drinks - House of Tricks -- located near campus, this restaurant has a beautiful garden setting, making it a great spot for a romantic dinner or a special dinner with friends or parents taking out their college student * Tempe is a good spot for a girl's trip or family vacation and a more affordable alternative to the high-end resorts in Scottsdale.

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Cruising is making a comeback and this week we talk to couples travel and cruising experts Dan and Mikkel Woodruff to learn about their recent cruise experience.

About Dan and Mikkel Woodruff Dan and Mikkel are a husband and wife team who write about couples travel and cruising (with a focus on small format cruises) around the world. Their adventures take them as far away as Southeast Asia, to the Arctic Circle in Norway, around the United States and close to home in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can find their travel stories at SometimesSailing.com or SometimesHome.com.

What to Expect When Cruising in 2021 and Beyond * Norwegian Cruise Lines has announced that it plans to keep its 100 percent vaccination requirement indefinitely * The Center for Disease Control has announced that in January it will be lifting cruise requirements and after that the guidelines will be dependent on each cruise line's individual rules * During COVID, cruisers should expect to wear masks inside and for capacity to not be at 100 percent, giving a little more elbow room around the ship. Cruises may allow booking at 100 percent capacity, but they aren't yet fully booked. * Some countries in Europe may require N95 masks to be worn (and these may be provided by the cruise line.) * You will see even more hand sanitizing stations throughout the ship or more hand washing stations, especially on large ships * Most cruise lines currently require all adults to be vaccinated and children to be rapid tested prior to boarding. Now that younger children can be vaccinated, this may change. Vaccination is especially required for small ship cruising. * Once off the ship, you need to follow local rules. In many European countries you need to show your vaccination card to eat indoors or to enter shops/attractions. Some require both a photo ID and your vaccination card. * Make sure you carry your actual vaccination card, because in some places a photo of the card is not acceptable. * Cruising feels very safe right now when you know everyone on board is vaccinated and many ships have large scale testing capabilities or even do rapid testing in ports * Most cruise lines have plans in place on where you would be housed and quarantined portside if you tested positive while onboard * Travel insurance is always a good idea but make sure you understand what is offered through the cruise line and see if you need additional insurance to cover the flights or pre or post-cruise stays * The cruise lines have a health and safety tab that outlines exactly what to expect during the cruise * If you are departing from a foreign country, make sure you understand the entrance requirements for that country, which may include a negative test and a passenger locator form in addition to a vaccination card. You can also find this information on the embassy website * Before booking, make sure you understand the cancelation policies or what would happen if the cruise line had to reschedule your sailing. Many cruise lines are offering Future Travel Credits (FTCs) and some will offer 125% credit if they have to reschedule.

• When it comes to new ships and itineraries, Kontiki Expeditions is offering a new small ship cruise that will cruise along the coast of Ecuador (not the Galapagos), and will focus strongly on the people and the culture. This is a great cruise to take in the winter because of the location along the equator
• American Queen Voyages will be cruising the Great Lakes and some of the American rivers like the Snake River and the Mississippi. They are also coming out with expedition ships in Alaska and will be doing the Inside Passage and incorporating First Nations culture
• The Emerald Azzurra and Sakara super yacht will be sailing in the Red Sea and off the coast of Africa and the Seychelles
• The Disney Wish megaship is also launching in 2022
• The Celebrity Beyond is a new large ship launching in 2022
• Virgin Voyages is an adult-only cruise line launching soon
• Many cruise lines, including small ship cruises are looking to attract multigenerational travelers. A-Rosa is a UK-based small ship cruise line that offers European river cruises and a new ship coming in March 2022 is very focused on families.

For more information on small ship cruising, give episode 154 a listen.

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Our 200th episode kicks off a series of podcast episodes covering Kim and Tamara's recent EPIC trip to Portugal. This week we are joined by Kirsten Maxwell, from Kids Are a Trip and Multigenerational Vacations to talk about visiting Porto and the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal. Stay tuned for future episodes on the Alentejo, Algarve and Azores regions of Portugal!

Disclosure: Our trip was hosted by EPIC Travel, a boutique travel agency specializing in arranging custom itineraries in Portugal and Morocco. EPIC's in-country travel planners have close relationships with hotels, guides, drivers and tour operators and can design the perfect trip for your travel style and interests. EPIC focuses on adventure and cultural experiences to allow you to have a deeper and more epic journey.

Visiting Porto & the Douro Valley * Porto is similar to Lisbon but much smaller and more compact, easier to explore in just a couple of days. * Start off your visiting with a walking tour (we used Explore Sideways) to get a feel of the city. * Be sure to walk across one of the bridges, or take a water taxi, to Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river * World of Wine is an entertainment complex with multiple museums, restaurants, and bars in Vila Nova de Gaia -- offering so much to do for families, friends, and couples. * WOW offers a Chocolate Museum and experience where you can take workshops such as a chocolate and port pairing class. * There is also a museum about Porto and Portuguese history and even a Rosé museum! * You can learn a lot about Port wine with a tour and tasting at Taylor's, one of the major port producers, which is located right next to WOW. * We stayed at Vila Foz, a luxury boutique property in the Foz district of Porto, about 10 minutes from downtown. It is located right across from the coast, along a coastal pathway great for walking, running, or biking. * Vila Foz offers both a historic manor house and more modern rooms. The service and food are excellent and the hotel has a very nice spa, making it ideal for couples or a girlfriend getaway. * To visit the Douro Valley, you can either rent a car and self-drive, or take a day trip tour from Porto. Even if you are staying in the Valley, we would recommend that you hire a driver or take a wine tour (we worked with Lab Tours Portugal) when you want to go wine tasting. * Also keep in mind that driving in the cities is quite harrowing, as are the narrow streets you will find in many of the small towns in the countryside. So if you are not comfortable with that, be sure to hire a driver instead. * The Douro River Valley is a UNESCO Heritage site for its terraced vineyards. It is a popular river cruise destination but if you are visiting by land, you can get a good sense of it in just one to two days. If you want time to relax and enjoy activities at your hotel, then plan on staying longer. * The Douro River Valley is ideal for couples or friends because the main activity is wine tasting. However, if you are visiting with kids you can find other activities like hiking and kayaking. You can also take a Douro River boat cruise from the town of Pinhaõ on one of the historic boats used to transport barrels of port wine down the river to Porto. * If traveling with young kids, be sure to stay at a hotel that offers on-site activities and/or babysitting. * Douro 41 is located between Porto and the Douro Valley, but on the Douro River, and it is a great choice for families with young kids or teens. They offer many activities on site including picnics, boat cruises, kayaking, and paddleboards. The hotel also has a movie corner and game room with a snooker table and board games. * When going wine tasting, you will want to make reservations ahead of time and be sure to plan out your day as the quintas are all very spread out and there aren't a lot of restaurants and things around. It is best to work with a wine tour company like Lab Tours Portugal. * For a high-end, luxury stay, book a room at the Six Senses Douro Valley. The Six Senses offers a convenient location, great rooms, wonderful food, and tons of activities on site for adults as well as children from pickling classes to making your own bath products. Some are complimentary and some are additional. * The Vintage House in Pinhao is a more traditional British style hotel located right on the river in a convenient location for exploring the small town. There is a wonderful on-site restaurant, outdoor terrace, and lovely pool.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.190] - Kim Tate Discover why you should visit the second biggest city in Portugal.

[00:00:15.950] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We 3Travel.

[00:00:30.410] - Kim Tate So, Tamara, we are back from our massive epic trip to Portugal, and we are going to dive in on some coverage and talk about our trip over the next few episodes.

[00:00:41.990] - Tamara Gruber Actually, I know we have to apologize for having, like, an extra week break in there, but we were just too tired last week. Guys, we couldn't do it, I think.

[00:00:51.050] - Kim Tate My eight hour time zone change. I'm still not recovered one weekend. There was no way we were making it happen. So hopefully you guys forgiven us for our extra delay.

[00:01:03.530] - Tamara Gruber We had a very busy trip. And so when we were on the trip, we decided that the best way to do to cover it for our listeners would be to break it up into the different regions that we visited. Because as much as you may like us, you probably don't want to have us going on and on for about 4 hours trying to cover everything that we did in our trip, and then we probably still couldn't get to it.

[00:01:25.310] - Kim Tate Yeah. I think 17 days in one podcast episode is too much to ask of anyone. So I think we made the right choice. And I think that we learned about the variety of Portugal and how much more there is than just Lisbon. And that's what we're hoping to help share with you guys with these episodes. And having multiple episodes is that we can help you see that there is variety. It's not just pretty tiles and Rivers. So we're going to help share some of that.

[00:01:53.810] - Tamara Gruber So let's break down where we went and we're just going to probably cover things maybe not exactly chronologically the way that we did them, but breaking up into regions. But our trip started out in Porto, which is a Northern city of Portugal. And from there we explored the Douro River Valley, and those two areas are what we're going to talk about today, because a lot of that would be captured in one trip. But I think as we work our way through the different episodes, you'll kind of get a better sense of if you want to do this region in that region, like what things kind of go together.

[00:02:29.390] - Tamara Gruber But after Porto and Douro, what do we cover next?

[00:02:33.350] - Kim Tate I think we're going to move to the Alentejo region, which is the biggest region of Portugal. And it's kind of that whole middle section in between kind of the Northern section, which is Porto Douro, and then the Southern section, which is the Algarve. It was a real delight for me to discover. It's definitely a wine region, has some epic night skies and sunsets, and we're going to kind of get more information about that region.

[00:03:02.090] - Tamara Gruber I kind of think of it as if you like Southern Spain or if you like Tuscany, like you would probably really like Alentejo. It has a lot of that kind of rolling Hills. There's some small hillside, historic towns, big wine farms, I should say, big vineyards as well as wine, hotels and estates that are on those properties. So a lot to offer families, couples, really any type of travelers, especially those that like to get a little bit more off the beaten path. But then from Alentejo, we're going to go.

[00:03:37.070] - Tamara Gruber I don't know if we'll cover it this way, but on our trip, we went down to the Algarve, which is going from off the beaten path to probably very much the beaten path with many tourists. But it was some place I've never been to, and I've always wanted to go because I don't care how busy something is. Those gorgeous coastlines and the caves and the cliffs is just something that I needed to see for myself.

[00:03:59.090] - Kim Tate Agreed. It's quite beautiful. And again, another amazing place to find sunsets. And yeah, it was neat to see that. And then I think then we'll wrap up. We came back into Lisbon after the Algarve and flew over to the Azores, which is kind of I think that's probably the trendiest place that people seem to be most excited about hearing about based on social shares that I've seen all of us, the comments we've been getting.

[00:04:24.710] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I think not as many people have gone. It's on a lot of bucket lists. There's a lot of curiosity in terms of where do you go? How do you do it? There's a lot more information out there about Lisbon and Porto, so definitely look forward to sharing that. Of course, we only had a chance to visit one of the Islands, but we try to see as much of that island as we could, so definitely stay tuned, lots of content. But this week we're going to start off with Porto and Douro.

[00:04:52.490] - Tamara Gruber And since you probably don't want to hear just from us, we're going to try to bring in some other people on these episodes, too. That joined us on the trip or that helped us plan the trip.

[00:05:02.330] - Kim Tate So we're starting off today with Kirsten, who is with us for the first seven days. And so with her, we are going to talk all about Porto and Douro Valley.

[00:05:18.810] - Tamara Gruber So this week we're here with Kirsten Maxwell, who is founder of Kids Are A Trip. And you may remember her from previous episodes where we talked about what do we talk about? We've talked about kids with allergies I know. You've been on many times. Kirsten right.

[00:05:31.350] - Kirsten Maxwell That's right. I also did all inclusive Mexico resorts with you guys yes.

[00:05:36.270] - Tamara Gruber Such a good resource. So this time, we're having on to talk about Porto and the Douro Valley in Portugal because we were all just there together.

[00:05:44.190] - Kirsten Maxwell We're so fun. Yeah.

[00:05:46.230] - Tamara Gruber So before we get into talking about that particular region, I just wanted to kind of go through a Disclaimer and talk a little bit about how we did our trip. So for this trip, we worked with Epic Travel. Epic is a boutique travel agency that focuses exclusively on Portugal and Morocco, and they create custom itineraries for families and couples and others that are looking to explore a little deeper and add some adventure and culture into their journey through Portugal. And so we worked with them to try to get a sense of what type of experiences and things that they can arrange.

[00:06:23.430] - Tamara Gruber And so just as a Disclaimer, our trip was hosted by both Epic, and their travel partners, different hotels and activity providers. And our flights were provided by TAP Airlines. So big thank you to them. But in the meantime, if anyone is interested in planning a trip after you're inspired by our little discussion here today, then you can reach out it's Epic Travel and check out what they have to offer. But let's talk about it. So, Kirsten, you've been to Portugal before, but I think this was your first time in Porto or the Douro Valley.

[00:06:57.450] - Tamara Gruber What did you expect when we went? What were your overall thoughts about that part of the trip?

[00:07:03.630] - Kirsten Maxwell This was my first time to visit both those areas. And I think what I expected was a smaller version of Lisbon, which I kind of feel like Porto is and with the Douro Valley, I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I knew it was a wine region famous for its river cruises, but no idea what we would find there.

[00:07:24.750] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I've heard about it being very pretty and a UNESCO heritage site with the terraced river valleys. Also, I knew it was the birthplace of Port, but I was not thinking of it exclusively as Port. And then when we were in Porto, we learned so much about Port that I got worried. I know it's going to be only Port. I was relieved to find out that they actually do a lot of other wine there as well.

[00:07:49.650] - Kirsten Maxwell I think I probably have the same misconception as well.

[00:07:52.470] - Kim Tate Well, I was kind of excited to see how each of the Quintas as we soon learned what they call their farms and kind of wineries out there. They do wine differently than I think in the States that we're used to where it's like, oh, these are the Cab grapes, and this is our cab. Sov and this is our Merlot or whatever it is. And there they just kind of say, oh, we're just going to grab all the grapes, mix them together and see what we get.

[00:08:18.990] - Kirsten Maxwell That's true.

[00:08:20.790] - Tamara Gruber Mix and match different way of planting. Yes.

[00:08:25.110] - Kim Tate So we only had two days in Porto, but why don't you kind of highlight some of the things that stood out to you? And how long do you think people should maybe plan on spending in Porto?

[00:08:37.710] - Kirsten Maxwell We did pack in a lot in two days. I think I had mentioned maybe to Tamara while we were walking around through the city. I mean, that was my favorite part, just walking through the little back alleyways and seeing the historic buildings and seeing all the people outside enjoying dining and the restaurant terraces. I really thought that was part of the fun was just kind of going through the back alleyways and finding those hidden gems I still love.We went to this place called the World of Wine or WOW World of Wine and it is massive. I can call it like an entertainment complex with I think there's seven different museums, twelve restaurants. It has everything you could want to spend, like a fun day out with family, kids, husband, girlfriends, whatever. For as many days, I would say at least two days minimum in Porto. And you probably could go up to maybe four with, like, a day trip to the Door Valley.

[00:09:39.030] - Tamara Gruber Probably. Especially if you wanted to build in some of the workshops or experiences that they had. It. Well, like we did the chocolate and Port tasting, but even for kids and families, they have, like the chocolate pop cake, pop making and the whole chocolate Museum. I think my kid could spend a good amount of time in there, especially when they got to the tasting section.

[00:09:59.730] - Kirsten Maxwell Agree that and the Rose place. I can't remember what it was called, but I think a teenager that was of drinking age would really enjoy doing all the selfies that they had to offer. Yeah.

[00:10:11.430] - Kim Tate You can tell that that whole Museum district was definitely designed with kind of Instagram and very modern tourism take on stuff.

[00:10:20.910] - Kirsten Maxwell That's cool.

[00:10:23.610] - Kim Tate I think you made a good point, though. That one of the highlights for me was that they arranged that walking tour for us because I think Porto is definitely one of those cities, and I think this is like it. I mean, Tamara does food tours a lot, but just when you're new to an international city, getting a tour early on can really, I think help you know what you want to do on the other days as well and kind of give you more of a feel for the city and help you identify things that maybe you wouldn't have noticed before.

[00:10:55.110] - Kim Tate And so I love those local walking tours when you kind of get a feel for the city and being able to find where to eat and where to get stuff. I mean, that was huge. Yeah.

[00:11:05.850] - Tamara Gruber And I found it really interesting, too, to learn about some of the history of Porto as you're walking around, you see all these names that sound very English, like Taylors and Sandman. So you're like, what is that connection with Port and the English? And you learned about this, like, 500 year old history and this alliance and how they developed Port because the regular wine didn't make the journey up to England, and so they fortified it. And just so many interesting little facts that help you feel like you understand the place a bit more.

[00:11:34.530] - Tamara Gruber I mean, look, we learned all about these kind of winemaking families in the Douro Valley and competition or competitiveness, I guess, between some of them.

[00:11:44.190] - Kirsten Maxwell Yeah. And I would agree it was such a nice introduction to the city in the area to do a walking tour. And for us, that's one of the best places to start. Like you said, you do different classes and stuff when you travel for us. It's a tour because it gives you the instant layout of the city. And usually the tour guides are a great resource for where to eat or what not to miss or a special gem. So definitely recommend taking a tour.

[00:12:10.590] - Tamara Gruber So what did you think of Porto in general compared to Lisbon? I have a feeling I know what Kim is going to answer, but I want to hear what yours is first.

[00:12:18.090] - Kirsten Maxwell So it's such a hard thing to say because they're totally the same but different if you understand what I mean. Porto is smaller, but it's got the Atlantic Coast, it has surfing, it has rocky shorelines, it's much more compact. And I think that Lisbon is just humongous. I mean, it's just hard to explore in a day or two. You really have to set yourself there and make time to see everything. But now I want to know what Kim has to say.

[00:12:52.290] - Kim Tate It's so funny because I fell in love with Lisbon, but I really liked Porto, and I think it's for a little bit of the same reasons. They have much of the similar feel. I liked that Porto was kind of a little more compact. And then I really liked how they had, like, the two feels of the town, like Porto and then going across, I can't remember what it was called Gaia. And then it's called something like Novella Gaia or whatever. But I like that kind of how they had little sectors that they considered.

[00:13:24.030] - Kim Tate And I really liked Porto. I just thought it was a cool thing. I loved staying at where we stayed. I love being able to see the rocky shoreline and kind of walk around. And then all the bridges were just so amazing. And I remember we were on one of the bridges and looking out and seeing all these modernist type buildings and boats and everything. And then there's like this Castle wall right there as well. And I love that about Portugal, that it's just such a really unique blend of history and old with kind of modern life still and I just love that.

[00:13:54.810] - Kim Tate I think I liked Porto slightly more than Lisbon, but I love them both, so I'm not sure.

[00:14:00.330] - Tamara Gruber Visit them both, I guess.

[00:14:03.270] - Kim Tate I think it is really we can talk about this later. But I do think for people who are planning to go over there, I think it makes a lot of sense to fly into Porto and back out of Lisbon and do some stuff in between. I think that makes a lot of sense.

[00:14:17.250] - Tamara Gruber Well, Kim, you mentioned where we stayed, which was a little bit outside of the downtown historic center of Porto in this neighborhood called Foz with Foz. And we really all loved our stay at Villa Foz. I think it was one of our favorites of the trip. And so Kirsten, I guess maybe you could tell our listeners a little bit about this hotel. Like, why did we like it so much? And would you recommend that people stay there, or do you think it's better to be in town?

[00:14:45.330] - Kirsten Maxwell Yeah, sure. So like you mentioned, it's kind of on the outskirts of Porto, and it's a former Manor home and a newer building hotel building kind of attached to it, but attached to an underground. And the decor is phenomenal. I mean, it's just stunning when you walk in and you're just greeted by these high ceilings and wood and beautiful, deep, rich colors. And I will say the hospitality, I think we can all agree with second to none. You felt like wherever you turn, there was somebody there who could help you with anything you needed.

[00:15:20.910] - Kirsten Maxwell And I think that as far as who should stay there definitely families. Maybe if you're looking for a little bit somewhere close to the beaches, it has good beach access, but more maybe for couples because they had a great spa and the restaurant top notch, one of the best meals we had there.

[00:15:43.170] - Kim Tate Yeah, I agree with what you said. What do you think, Tamara? What did you think of Vila Foz?

[00:15:48.150] - Tamara Gruber I mean, I loved it. Definitely. Like you said the service, the breakfast was great. I mean, not many places have oysters and champagne for their breakfast buffet. Not that I was ever up for oysters and champagne after, like, late night chef's tasting dinner with wine courses. But it was nice that it was there if I wanted it true. But yeah, I definitely thought it was great. And I agree it would be good for couples.

[00:16:12.090] - Kim Tate And I think it was nice that they did have the set up where they did arrange transportation in and out of the city via Uber, but they kind of managed it themselves. So that is a little bit of a perk. It's maybe a little clunky right now how that works. But for people who are maybe looking to be not in the middle of the city necessarily. And like those lazy mornings and kind of being on site and eating, I think that's a good option, because you can then just get transportation into the city and then back home when you're ready or back to the hotel.

[00:16:43.050] - Kim Tate But building on that, why don't we talk about maybe getting from place to place? Because we got to explore a lot of Portugal, which was one of my favorite things that I kind of got outside of the cities and got to see more of what Portugal is like the countryside. So what do you think your recommendation is for families or couples, whoever. How should they get around Portugal? Because don't you agree that there's more to Portugal to see than just Lisbon and Porto?

[00:17:10.350] - Kirsten Maxwell Yes. Absolutely. And I think that was one of my favorite parts of this whole trip was getting outside of the major cities and seeing the countryside both in the Douro Valley and in Alentejo. And I think for families because usually have more than two, three, four people. I would recommend probably renting a car or hiring a driver, I think definitely hire a driver if you're going to do wine tasting. I highly recommend that I have had experiences many times with the transportation system, the public transport in Portugal, and it's not the most efficient.

[00:17:49.710] - Kirsten Maxwell So for me, it just kind of makes more sense to do it on your own or hire a driver or like you said, take a plane, fly into one, fly out of the other, rent a car in between the two. I think that would be a great idea. What did you guys think?

[00:18:04.890] - Kim Tate I definitely felt like the highways and everything are very easy to drive. It's normal, right sided driving. So for those who are used to driving in the States and everything, it's easy and things are well marked and all of that. The only thing is little towns. There are some tiny, tiny streets, and I would definitely not want to be doing that. So that's where if you're going to be touring little towns or like you're getting in and out of Lisbon or Porto, I would be a little hesitant to be driving in the city itself, but definitely small cars are going to be your friends there, which is going to be a little trickier for families with a lot of luggage.

[00:18:44.850] - Tamara Gruber I feel like with so many cities, the idea is if you have to have a car, drop it off, like outside of the city, right. We saw Kirsten, you weren't there, but driving in Lisbon is just impossible. There's no way I'd want to attempt that. And I definitely would also agree with certainly hiring a driver for the Douro Valley and having someone that is maybe not just a driver, but that can arrange a wine tour for you to visit different wineries, because like many places, it's something where you need to have an appointment.

[00:19:17.250] - Tamara Gruber But we saw, like, especially on I think it was the north side of the river. The roads aren't even as fully developed. So we were on some very narrow, gravely roads that were like Cliff right there, and there's no way you'd want to go wine tasting and beyond those roads. So 100% you need a driver then?

[00:19:35.850] - Kim Tate Yeah. Absolutely agree.

[00:19:37.770] - Tamara Gruber Since we're talking about the Douro Valley, we should talk to a little bit about kind of what it's like when we touched on it briefly. We know it's popular as a river cruise destination. So what are some of your overall thoughts about the region? Just what are the things to do outside of wine tasting? Or is this strictly something that you would recommend for people if they're looking for kind of beautiful scenery and wine?

[00:20:05.190] - Kirsten Maxwell That's an interesting question. I think that there probably is a lot to do. We didn't have a lot of time to explore outside the vineyards, but we had a conversation with our host at Douro 41 Hotel, and they were talking to us about going kayaking, that there's several national parks nearby that you can go and explore and do hiking and stuff like that. So I think you could make time out of it. A little bit of a city escape where you're sitting by the pool or you're going out and doing some hikes.

[00:20:39.090] - Kirsten Maxwell For the most part, though, I probably stick to couples, girls trips, single travel, even. I think that it really is all about the wine region for the most part there.

[00:20:51.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, we did do that boat tour on the river out of when we were in Pinhaõ, and I think that was quite fun and neat and would be great for families. And maybe we didn't spend enough time in that city specifically. But I agree 100%. I think that region the real gem of it is visiting the different Quintas and tasting Port and wine and having some lazy lunches and definitely can find some luxury and high end stuff there as well. So maybe not the best for families, depending on how much time you want or what your family's travel style is, I think.

[00:21:31.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I must feel like if you have little kids, you could stay at a place where there's a lot of very kid focused activities and do some relaxation and then just take a day trip, even if they had kind of the babysitting or kids club activities, maybe just the parents go off and do some wine tasting and come back. But you need to look at it as like this is the downtime, quieter time of the trip.

[00:21:54.390] - Kim Tate Or just like your hotel base type. It's the kind of destination where you're going to really enjoy your hotel activities. Yeah, that's fine.

[00:22:03.390] - Kim Tate So do you think, Tamara, you recommend the Douro, just like Kirsten said, you think it's good for mostly couples or girlfriend getaways type thing.

[00:22:11.010] - Tamara Gruber I think it would be ideal for that again. Like with little kids. I think you want to be at a hotel that has hotel based activities. And then for teens, maybe you want to be a little bit more like where we were at Douro 41, which is somewhere between Porto and the Douro Valley, where you can do a lot more adventure and active types of things.

[00:22:31.530] - Kim Tate I definitely think that was kind of a little gem there, with the Douro 41 being kind of on the Porto side of the Douro Valley, and it seemed like they did have more. They were saying they're pretty popular families and had, like, the movie nights and stuff. But then they had beaches and water activity on the riverfront, so definitely more of a fit for families there. So what do you think about any tips for visiting Douro? I feel like we kind of went through Porto pretty quickly, but maybe those together.

[00:23:01.410] - Kim Tate What do you think are the tips for visiting the Douro region? And what about anything to follow up with Porto either?

[00:23:08.130] - Kirsten Maxwell Yeah, I think we covered some of the small tidbits. But number one, Tamara talked about the roads. Definitely. If you're not comfortable driving small roads or winding roads or have a kid that gets car sick, you might want to make a mental note and consider an alternative option of exploring, which would be by a river cruise or just a day trip. Even from Porto, you could take a cruise up there might be easier and then making appointments at the different Quintas because they aren't like, I know a lot of places in the States you can just drop in.

[00:23:41.730] - Kirsten Maxwell It seemed like many of them were making appointments ahead of time. I'm sure maybe some of the bigger ones you can drop in, but I'm not even sure about that. Which is why it comes in helpful to have somebody do that for you.

[00:23:54.870] - Kirsten Maxwell I think that the hotels, restaurants, everything else seemed to be pretty spread out. So you want to have a clear plan going into things like have your itinerary sketched out of where you're going to go. What you're going to see what you're going to do ahead of time because it's not really let's wing it kind of a trip.

[00:24:15.210] - Kim Tate Yeah, I know. Let's get on the road. Oh, let's stop there. That looks good.

[00:24:19.170] - Kim Tate It's not really not that kind of part of your trip.

[00:24:22.350] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I found that, especially in the Douro Valley, that it wasn't like they were just restaurants all along. You had some that were tied into Quintas, which I think you pretty much needed the reservations for. There was that one. Was it called like, Doc, I think. Yeah, Doc or something? That was, I think, a Michelin star chef, but it's a very nice restaurant right on the river. And then there's only really a couple of little towns there's Pinhao that we stayed at that seemed pretty small in terms of restaurants and things.

[00:24:51.450] - Tamara Gruber And then there was one larger town gosh. I can't remember the name of it. I remember, it wasn't, like, super attractive.

[00:25:00.450] - Tamara Gruber You definitely need some planning. And we all enjoyed our experience with Lab Tours Portugal.

[00:25:08.310] - Kim Tate I was going to say I really think he did a great job, and I would recommend that way of doing it and even doing it from, like Kirsten said, a day trip from Porto kind of getting over there and getting picked up. That's really great.

[00:25:21.390] - Tamara Gruber Well, we talked a little bit about some of the hotels that we experienced. One of the things that as we get into more of our Portugal trip, we'll find that we moved around a lot. But the good news is we got to experience, like, a lot of different hotels, which some of them would appeal to different types of travelers. And so we can break down some of the ones that we experienced in the Douro Valley when we stayed at two and then we had lunch and took a tour of another.

[00:25:46.650] - Tamara Gruber So should we start at the top and just talk about six senses?

[00:25:50.730] - Kirsten Maxwell I mean, how do you not? I think it's one of the most popular accommodations in the Douro Valley. If I'm correct it's very high end luxury property and tons of activities for families, families, adults, friends. They've really kind of thought about everything when it comes to six senses. I think that's kind of what they're known for. I would definitely recommend that for families with young children because I believe they had a child care there. You guys can correct me if I'm wrong and definitely had activities. Teens might like it, but I could see them getting kind of bored.

[00:26:29.490] - Kirsten Maxwell You'd have to schedule some off property activities, which I'm sure they could schedule for you.

[00:26:34.470] - Kim Tate I did see they did have quite a few activities each day that some were complementary and some were extra. But there were things like four by four tours and things like that. So I think if you're splurging to stay at the Six Senses, you can probably afford a few of those activities, and you could keep teens entertained so that could work. But yeah, and I think when you talk about luxury, we all looked up kind of the pricing there, and it's definitely you're going to be paying for that.

[00:26:59.970] - Kim Tate But it's a very nice property. I loved how it was decorated and everything, and especially their little hotel dog Aqua.

[00:27:09.210] - Kirsten Maxwell So cute.

[00:27:10.950] - Tamara Gruber It's always nice to have a little friendly greeter like that. I feel like a lot of the programming that they had. I agree. It would definitely like that younger age group would be wonderful. We did something in the spa where we made a scrub. So they do those types of things for adults. But then they had that whole little workshop where they did types of things from the ground. So they would do things with herbs or pickle vegetables, or they seem like all types of different, very unique hands on types of things that I think some younger kids can really get into.

[00:27:44.070] - Tamara Gruber So definitely, if you can spring for six senses would be a great way to go. But then we had another stay at Vintage House, which was a very different vibe, but very nice in its own way. So can you describe that one Kirsten?

[00:27:58.050] - Kirsten Maxwell The Vintage house is. I call it traditionally British kind of hotel. It's very classical decor, something you'd expect to find in England almost was located right on the river, which was perfect. And you can kind of see the boats coming and going from your balcony in the room. They had lovely restaurant. We had really good dinner there, and it's located in the town of Pinhao. So if you wanted to walk into town and explore, you could do that. But it really was for them all about I think the location and their food. They had a great pool to be wonderful during the summer for kids and families, but there wasn't really much I felt going on for a family stay. Do you guys agree? Disagree.

[00:28:48.030] - Kim Tate I agree. That's where we took that river cruise and they offer longer river cruises. We did, like a 1 hour one. I think that was ideal. So for families or even couples, it gives you a good little taste, but it's not so long that you're like, okay. Yeah, I've seen this. There's another Quinta on the Hill, so I definitely think that that was really nice and its location right there on the river was great. I loved the decor and kind of the classicness.

[00:29:15.810] - Kim Tate They mentioned that it's going to be going through a remodel soon because you definitely had the it's very old and classic and kind of original. It's the original building. And so it's kind of got some really quaint and cool things like that. But I wish we would have had more time to kind of explore that city because I feel like if we knew more about Pinhao and what it was like, then maybe that would be more of a gem. So if you're thinking of kind of a little bit of a city stay in the Douro Valley region, you might look at Vintage House and Pinhao out and see what it kind of attracts.

[00:29:46.530] - Kim Tate But I think overall, as we kind of expressed, Douro is kind of a maybe one or two night stay type destination, depending on what type of vacation you're looking for.

[00:29:58.710] - Tamara Gruber Definitely central location. Good for that short stay. If somebody did want to stay longer in Douro, then stay at one of the other properties where they have much more going on on site. And it's more of a relaxation. This is kind of like a great place to lay your head while you're exploring the Douro Valley.

[00:30:15.450] - Tamara Gruber So we already talked a little bit about the other one that we see. That Douro 41. But, Kirsten, what are your thoughts about Douro 41?

[00:30:22.810] - Kirsten Maxwell I love six senses because it was super over the top and amazing. But Douro 41 is more of the reachable hotel for most families. What I loved about the rooms is you really felt like you walked in. Then you had floor to ceiling windows right overlooking the river. And it feels like you're almost on a river cruise. It seemed like that was kind of the feel that you got in the room. And then there were so many different little nooks and crannies around the hotel for families.

[00:30:53.910] - Kirsten Maxwell There was a game area, there was a snooker table, there was a movie night area. They had pizza making classes, so many different things they had to offer for families that I thought it would make a really good stay if you wanted to escape from the city. Yeah.

[00:31:11.370] - Tamara Gruber I was really impressed by some of the things they did from arranging picnics and doing the boat rides, doing the stand up paddle boards and kayaks. It just seemed like there was really such a great range for different age groups. And while it wasn't right there by anything, there were some restaurants. They said they were, like, 15 minutes away. Plus, they have two restaurants on site. One was like, I think a Michelin Star chef, and the other one was a casual, more of a casual pizzeria. So, like having those options around it.

[00:31:40.170] - Tamara Gruber So you're not in the middle of a certain region or town, but there's still plenty to do, especially if you're willing to drive a little bit. Yeah.

[00:31:48.330] - Kim Tate Agree. So any final thoughts about Porto and Douro Valley? Kirsten, you start then maybe Tamara you can kind of give your chime in about what you thought of those two areas. And just so people know, they're the north. They're on the north side of Portugal. So to give you a feel for the country, that's where we're talking.

[00:32:09.030] - Kirsten Maxwell I think they're definitely must visit places in Portugal. I think so many people get trapped into the Lisbon Algarve experience because that's what they hear.

[00:32:21.750] - Kirsten Maxwell But I think Porto is one of those. I mean, it's a huge city. Don't get me wrong, but there's still something about that seems a little bit hidden gem exploration kind of thing. Douro Valley. I really loved it, but I kind of feel like it's once you do it, then you can be. I don't know that I would go back to experience it's. Maybe with my husband. It just didn't give me that vibe of, like, hey, everything here is unique and felt very repetitive for me. The region.

[00:32:54.870] - Kim Tate I totally agree.

[00:32:57.270] - Tamara Gruber Before I went, I've heard so many people, especially young people, like, really raving about Porto, and I was never quite sure if it was just because it's like, the new thing versus Lisbon, like Lisbon being a little bit over touristed and trying to find that new thing. So it kind of had really high expectations of Porto. And with the Douro Valley. I've heard descriptions and I've seen some pictures and I kept thinking, oh, it would be a great place to do one of those week long river cruises, like a Viking cruise or something like that.

[00:33:29.010] - Tamara Gruber So my two impressions, like leaving are that I really love Porto, but I didn't love it like that much more than Lisbon. So I think it's maybe just if people went to Lisbon and it was a little too crowded that Porto would possibly be a better alternative. I think we were also there at a nice time in fall when it's maybe not high season, but those nice shoulder seasons. So I definitely enjoyed it. And then the Douro Valley, I am pretty sure I would not need to take a river cruise through there.

[00:33:59.790] - Tamara Gruber I think spending the two to three days there, it was definitely good. I think a week would feel kind of long. And then also, I guess there was our experience in the lounge of seeing all the people going on the Viking cruise, where we were kind of convinced that maybe we should pick a different one, right?

[00:34:17.010] - Kirsten Maxwell Yeah. Different demographic than us.

[00:34:19.770] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So I feel like if you want to go to Portugal for just a few days, like, maybe you have, like, a five day trip in mind. If you did just Porto and Douro, you could do that. And if you wanted to do a longer trip, then you want to add in those other things and do it. Kim said, which is like, go into one and out of the other. That would make a lot of sense. But it would be nice, like, as a pairing if you want to do just a five day trip or if you want to stretch it into a week and just have a little bit more downtime to relax.

[00:34:49.350] - Kim Tate Yeah. I think that's all good. Those are all good points.

[00:34:51.750] - Kirsten Maxwell I agree.

[00:34:52.170] - Kim Tate I think the one thing we're not giving enough credit to Douro Valley is that no, I think we're doing enough credit, but that's the thing to know. It's amazing to see. And I remember the first day when we drove into there. We're like, Can you please pull over the car and we're all taking pictures? It was just amazing.

[00:35:06.630] - Tamara Gruber It was so beautiful.

[00:35:07.650] - Kim Tate And so it's breathtaking like that. It's a very unique area, and you can see why it's UNESCO World Heritage Site. However you get that and then you've gotten it. So you're good. So that's the thing to know about it. We're a week long vacation. It's kind of like, okay. Well, I guess we're going to go this do this again. So I think that that's good points for people to know. And I think that if you do, like Port and you do like wine tasting. It is a fun destination to go like that.

[00:35:33.450] - Kim Tate However, it's also not like Napa, where you're able to just drive down the street and find another winery. I mean, they're spread out very far, and it's in a region that's not overly developed. So they were saying, like we were talking when we were on the river, like Kirsten said, one side, there's like no roads, barely. And the other side is where the main road is. And so if you're doing wine tasting and you work with a driver or a tour guide, they're going to help, you know, to stay on that other side of the river where you can visit a couple at a time.

[00:36:02.010] - Kim Tate Because if you go across and try and drive on those no road type places, you're going to spend your whole day getting to one quinta, and you're going to miss out on when you maybe would have been able to visit two or three on the other side.

[00:36:13.590] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Great points. Great point, Kirsten. We obviously worked with Epic to plan this trip, and they kind of took what we were interested in covering and developed an itinerary for us. When do you think it would make sense for a family to work with someone like Epic when they're planning a trip to Portugal?

[00:36:32.970] - Kirsten Maxwell Wow. There are so many good times, I think, to use a boutique travel agency like Epic, it was so nice to be able to tell them our interest and have them kind of figure out what would be a good itinerary to go along with that. I think too often if you book, like, one of the major group tour travel agencies, you're stuck with a big group of people and you're going to the places that they pick for you versus Epic. I mean, they're working with you to customize everything from the beginning of your day to the time your head hits the bed at night and to kind of relieve yourself of all that stress of planning.

[00:37:15.270] - Kirsten Maxwell There's just something to be said for that. And I think they did a phenomenal job of just hitting everything kind of right for us and what we were looking for.

[00:37:24.270] - Kim Tate I think one of the other things that was huge about them is they're able to arrange kind of these unique things that maybe you wouldn't necessarily know to ask for to look for. And I think that's where the fact that they're not just a general travel agency, they only focus on Morocco and Portugal, and they live in those countries, so they know the guides, they know the hotels, they have personal relationships. Like we were there. Tamara and I were on talking to one of the Epic girls that was traveling with us, and she was like, oh, yeah.

[00:37:50.670] - Kim Tate I'm just checking in with the hotel about some clients that are coming in next week, and I just want to make sure everything is set up for them. It's like a real personal experience. They're making sure everything is ready for you. And I think that's a huge thing. And little things, like, Tamara and I were going to the source, and we needed to have a negative PCR test. And so they arranged all of that in Lisbon for us. So we had the appointment, they got that all set up.

[00:38:19.110] - Kim Tate So that kind of having someone that just knows what to do and helps you set all that up is huge.

[00:38:25.290] - Tamara Gruber And the experiences that they can do, and they really focus on finding those unique things. I mean, it's easy enough nowadays to be like, oh, I want to do a food tour, walking tour, like, when you're in a city, fine. Like, you can find that. But then there's always, like, that next level of experiences. Like, I remember when we were taking the tram into downtown Porto, they were telling us about some things they did, like, they can arrange to do a private tram with a dinner on it with a great chef.

[00:38:52.710] - Tamara Gruber Where you're doing, like, a chef's tasting while you're on the tram, going around the city. And one of those bridges, they do this experience where you're I don't know what you'd call it, like bridge climbing, like, you're like cable. So if you're into adventure, I mean, I'm thinking some teens, especially, would love something like that. It just seemed like there were so many of these things that they can do throughout the country that were so unique. And, like you said, you wouldn't know to ask for it.

[00:39:20.550] - Tamara Gruber You many know I want to take a walking tour. I want to take a wine tour. Things like that. But these are things that you would never even come up with. But because they've spent so much time getting to know people personally, they have these relationships can do these types of things. So if you say, hey, I know I if I was working with them, I'd be like, hey, my daughter really loves stargazing, and we definitely would have been doing that. They can find those interests and things and then just make that next level experience and then having that hands on knowledge and even things when it comes to the hotel rooms, like, okay, this one is going to be better for, like, this room type is going to be better for you, like, knowing things to that level.

[00:40:01.470] - Kim Tate Well, even me, like you said, I mentioned, oh, when we're in Lisbon, I really want to see a great sunset. Can you help us figure out and arrange so at sunset, we were at some kind of lookout or really great sunset. And they ran with that. And they were like, we ended up on a private Chartered sailboat river cruise for sunset. Right. Tamara? And she said it was all because you mentioned that you wanted to have a great sunset in Lisbon. And that's what we ended up with.

[00:40:26.610] - Kim Tate So that's the kind of stuff that they do.

[00:40:29.310] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And that's the kind of thing where that's just the moment that you remember with the trip, right? Like, something like that is the best way to start a trip or end a trip. It's just so like, wow, special.

[00:40:42.210] - Kim Tate Well, Kirsten, we've probably already asked you what you like to wear when you travel since you've been a guest before. But what about anything new, any new travel products or apps or anything you've discovered recently that you want to share with our listeners. Okay.

[00:40:54.090] - Kirsten Maxwell I came up with two things that I thought. Okay, maybe you haven't discussed on here before, but number one, because of the whole thing with having to carry your vaccine card. Now I've invested in a passport wallet so that I can always keep the vaccine passport and vaccine card with my passport anywhere I go. So I found that carrying one of those kind of wallets has been super helpful for me, especially when I'm usually tasked with carrying everybody's passports in our family. So it's kind of nice to have them all in one place.

[00:41:26.970] - Kirsten Maxwell And then the other thing that I've found for individual traveling is a doorstop. And you guys maybe have seen these, but that you put underneath your hotel door and that if anybody tries to get into your room, it makes a big alarm, super blaring alarm to let you know somebody's trying to break into your room. But I feel like when you travel alone, you can never be too safe. So in addition to checking out your surroundings, like, I think it's a nice peace of mind to just stick it under the door at night, go to bed and then enjoy the rest of your trip.

[00:42:01.890] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that is a good idea. I feel like I've thought about those in the past, and I haven't invested in one. And I said I'm thinking about that time I forget where we were, which hotel. But I went to take a shower and I came out and they had made a delivery of, like, an Amenity or something. And I'm like, that wasn't fair when I went in the shower. Yeah.

[00:42:20.970] - Kim Tate I'm thinking even with being the mom of two teen girls as they start going off on their own travels or stuff, maybe with girlfriends or whatever by themselves, then that would be a good little.

[00:42:31.650] - Tamara Gruber Or you can have them in a separate room, right?

[00:42:33.930] - Kirsten Maxwell Yeah. Exactly.

[00:42:36.630] - Tamara Gruber Good suggestion, Kirsten.

[00:42:38.010] - Kirsten Maxwell Oh, thank you.

[00:42:39.090] - Tamara Gruber So can you remind our listeners where they can find you online? Absolutely.

[00:42:44.430] - Kirsten Maxwell You can find me at kidsratrip.Com.

[00:42:48.030] - Kirsten Maxwell That's A-R-E-A. Versus just the letter R. And then I'm at multigenerationalvacations.Com.

[00:42:55.530] - Kirsten Maxwell That's my site about multigenerationalfamily travel.

[00:42:58.830] - Tamara Gruber Awesome.

[00:42:59.370] - Kim Tate Well, thanks again for being a guest. And I'm so glad we all got to travel again. It was really fun, and there's nothing quite like taking a trip with your girlfriends so thank you.

[00:43:10.050] - Kirsten Maxwell Guys, thanks so much for having me. This was such a fun trip, and I would love to repeat it again with a different destination because there were so many good times that I'm like, oh, my God. That was really fun. Having a good time relaxing and enjoying life without the stresses of family.

[00:43:28.110] - Tamara Gruber 2022 Here we come. Thank you.

[00:43:32.250] - Kirsten Maxwell Thanks.

[00:43:32.610] - Tamara Gruber Bye.

[00:43:32.850] - Kirsten Maxwell Thanks, guys.

[00:43:37.690] - Tamara Gruber Well, thanks for listening to another episode of vacation mavens, I hope you enjoyed hearing about our first few days in Portugal, and we are going to take a little break from our Portuguese coverage.

[00:43:46.990] - Kim Tate So tune in next time because we are going to be talking about cruising and how cruising is coming back, which I know we just booked a spring break cruise. So I'm definitely interested in hearing about this. And maybe you are, too.

[00:43:57.610] - Tamara Gruber Yes, lots of new policies, new ships, things to talk about. So we're going to get a couple of cruise experts on to dive into some details. So see you next time. Talk to you soon. Bye.

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Is the weather starting to change where you live? Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and this week Kim and Tamara talk about where they have visited recently for fall travel and some other fall favorites.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate It's time to fall into fall travel.

[00:00:14.670] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:29.180] - Tamara Gruber So Kim, by the time this comes out, it's going to be less than a month from Halloween. Do your girls still do stuff for Halloween, or do they dress up or do they go on any haunted hay rides or any of those kind of things they have done?

[00:00:42.560] - Kim Tate We have haunted corn mazes and stuff down here, and they normally get together with friends. And there's some kind of youth event that happens at some of the local farms and pumpkin patches and stuff. And we've been known to go to the pumpkin patches and do some of the kiddish activities. But with Mia being 14 now, she's kind of at the cusp of that, and she's got a sweet heart, so she still likes it. But she's not quite into all the activities as much anymore.

[00:01:10.100] - Tamara Gruber No more trick or treating?

[00:01:11.930] - Kim Tate She actually mentioned because they didn't go last year, and she said, I think I'm going to go this year. It'll be with her best friend. She's like, it'll be our last year, and we're going to go for it. And I said, go do it. That's awesome.

[00:01:23.240] - Tamara Gruber So yeah, I'm waiting to see what Hannah will do. I know her friends have really been trying to convince her to do some kind of haunted house hayride kind of thing. To me, the whole idea of a haunted corn maze sounds absolutely terrifying. Something could just jump out of you. I don't like jump scares either. As a teen, I did do a haunted hayride, but at least then you know, the direction they're coming from. They only come outside, and I can kind of sit in the middle in a little safer, but right down the street for me, they have some kind of I don't even know I've never gone, but it's this whole horror thing in one of the parks that you kind of walk through.

[00:02:00.240] - Tamara Gruber So it's a little bit more of a walk through type of thing, but they've not convinced her. So I don't know about trick or treating, though, because last year obviously no trick or treating. The year before she was going to go with one friend, but then it ended up raining. So I think they decided just to stay home and hand out candy instead. I'm not sure if there'll be one last or she'll just stay home, and we usually try to do Apple picking or some kind of visit to a farm this year.

[00:02:27.240] - Tamara Gruber I've already gone and picked up Apple cider Donuts for her. I think she's just so busy she can't really see about it this year. I'm trying to still give all the fall treats. Here's some Apple cider and Apple cider Donuts. And I made pumpkin pie dip when we had some people over recently in our backyard. And so as she's getting the fall stuff without the scary stuff, that's cool.

[00:02:52.230] - Kim Tate I grew up in Kansas City, and when I was a teenager, there's this area. And I can't even think because I know it's something like all the Kansas City listeners are going to be laughing that I can't think of this. I want to say it's something like the flats or the bottoms, or I can't remember. But there's this area in Kansas City, and it's like, known for having some of the creepiest most amazing haunted houses. And because it's this old warehouse district, right. And they would dress them all up and everything.

[00:03:19.730] - Kim Tate And that was the thing that we always did as teens. And I'm kind of glad that my girls haven't gotten into that. I do know there's one up north, that's kind of a haunted house type thing in a warehouse. But other than the corn maze, there's not as much around here, but I remember as a kid those things that freak me out so mad.

[00:03:38.260] - Tamara Gruber I'm starting to wonder if it like, haunted or not haunted, but it's just general, like, really creepy lawn decorations are like the new holiday lights. You know, how people know, there's the houses that do a really good holiday lights, and they drive around and look at them. The other day, I was driving and a home from practice, and there's a house that is absolutely terrifying. I don't know what's wrong with the people that live there, but there's basically a 15 foot skeleton. Then there's a whole line of super creepy zombie dudes.

[00:04:09.280] - Tamara Gruber And then out of the corner of my eye, I see it's got to be like, ten foot tall pig with a giant knife and an apron on. And I'm like, Where do you even find this bizarre stuff? I really need to go buy the house and take a picture of it. But I'm scared that if I do, I don't know somebody who's a little disturbed in there.

[00:04:31.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think I saw something a while back that spending for spending for decorations and all that stuff on Halloween is second only to Christmas.

[00:04:42.320] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's so easy. And I were talking about all the houses that we used to never be able to go to when she was little. There was the house with the giant Spider. No, we had to skip that one. There was the one that had the little smoke tunnel you went through. We had to skip that one because she was scared of everything when she was little. So we were laughing about that. But not everything has changed because, yeah, I know, literally, we couldn't even go down certain aisles and target because if something started to move and make noise, she'd have a little breakdown.

[00:05:10.370] - Tamara Gruber Oh, man, she's not the haunted house type. That's for sure.

[00:05:14.760] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:05:15.470] - Tamara Gruber Well, there's lots of other fun things to do, though. You just went and did some haunted kind of stuff. I know I saw your picture when you're in Disneyland, and I'm like, Whoa, that looks kind of crazy for Disneyland. But tell me what you did when you were just down in California.

[00:05:29.370] - Kim Tate Yeah. So for those of you who know Disneyland, they actually do a lot of seasonal parties. And starting in September, they do a Halloween time at Disneyland Resort, and they go out. They kind of decorate the parks with beautiful Orange swags, and they have some hand carved pumpkins decorating Main Street. And then they do a few other things this year, they have quite a cool area back in one of the regions for Coco and Dia des Muertes. And then some celebrations around that as well. And then the bigger thing that you saw my picture of was they have parties called Oogie Boogie Bash, and it's kind of crazy how expensive it can be, especially for a family, because they sell these bash party tickets in addition to your park ticket.

[00:06:19.400] - Kim Tate But you don't have to have a park ticket for this party, which is kind of nice. So you can theoretically go to the parks with normal park ticket and then buy one of these. And you can get in 3 hours before your park before the party starts. You can get in at 03:00 p.m. When the party starts at six. And so some people choose to do that, but they are sold out. So if anyone's hearing this, you need to be looking ahead to 2022 if you're thinking of doing kind of a Disneyland and fall.

[00:06:45.290] - Kim Tate But you can still go to Disneyland and celebrate stuff during the Halloween time celebrations. They do a ride overlay for Haunted Mansion, which is called Haunted Mansion Holiday. And it's got Jack Skellington, and he kind of takes over the ride. And sorry for Disney people. I should say the attraction. But anyways, so he takes that over and that lasts all for Christmas because it's kind of like him like that spooky mixed with Christmas season. So it's kind of fun thing. And then they also do cars Land also gets a big makeover and becomes radiator screams, which is kind of funny. And they do a lot of fun, like car part themed, like spiders made out of engines. And, you know, Crow bar stuff. And then they've got these fun cones and tire eyes. And each of the two rides that are not the main radio racers. Each of the two rides get a makeover with fun music and theming around Halloween. So they do that. And then the last one is Guardians of the Galaxy, which used to be Tower of Terror.

[00:07:45.380] - Kim Tate It gets a makeover at night. So kind of later afternoon evenings, it becomes Guardians of the Galaxy, Monsters after dark. And so the theming of the ride, like the story that you see on the screens and the music changes, and it can be pretty intense and scary, I think, for some people. So anyway, that's kind of the thing at Disneyland, but the OG Boogie bash party is something different. And that's what I showed your picture of. Yeah.

[00:08:10.200] - Tamara Gruber Well, I mean, Tower of Terror or Guardians of the Galaxy. The attraction itself is scary to me with that one.

[00:08:18.930] - Kim Tate I know. I see that one I can't handle. My stomach can't handle it.

[00:08:23.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So how long do they keep that theming before they switch over to Christmas stuff?

[00:08:28.900] - Kim Tate so this actually is ending October 31 for the season. Sometimes it goes to the first day or two of November. I think it depends on how the week falls, but there's a chance you'll see some stuff. Still, if you're there on November 1 as they take it down. But they're pretty good about getting those holiday things up. And then right back down and then the Halloween decorations will be gone. And then you'll have until about the second week of November. I think this year it's November 12 is when the holiday overlay starts happening and kind of comes alive.

[00:09:02.960] - Kim Tate And then they'll have some festival, the holidays, events that celebrate not just Christmas. So they tried to bring in like Hannukkah and Kwanza and Three Kings Day, so they're trying to make it a little more open to everyone. And then they also just launched this brand new party thing. It's just kind of like the Oogie Boogie bash party called Merriest Nights, which is a ticketed event. There's still a couple of tickets for two days open for that one. So if you did want to do holidays in Disneyland, you could look into that.

[00:09:31.820] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:09:32.510] - Kim Tate So there's a little about ten to 14 days that you get the parks without anything. And then it goes from Halloween time to Christmas time. Or I guess I should say holiday time, out of time, festive season, winter festivities. Yeah.

[00:09:50.540] - Tamara Gruber And they do some similar things, but different at Walt Disney World, right?

[00:09:54.870] - Kim Tate Yeah. So the big news with Walt Disney World right now, they are doing like a boo bash thing. That's an after hour ticketed event. I haven't heard as much about it. I don't know how big of a hit it was. And then they normally do some kind of Christmas thing. They've announced a few things down there. But the big news for Disney World right now is that October 1 is the start of their 50th anniversary celebration, and they've kind of gone all in on decor and merchandise and special things around that.

[00:10:23.730] - Kim Tate So if you are headed to Florida and Walt Disney World this fall and winter, you'll be kind of looking at that 50th anniversary. Definitely. Check out the two Halloween and winter holiday activities that they have and parties.

[00:10:39.310] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. It's good to know, too, that you need to plan in advance for some of these, or at least you might get lucky with some tickets, but it makes sense to try to think ahead.

[00:10:48.730] - Kim Tate Yeah, especially since you have to make reservations for all the park. Still. So you still have to be making you buy your tickets and make your park day reservations and stuff. And park hopping is very limited. So you pick the park, you're going to start it, and then you can't go to another park until 01:00 p.m.. I'm not quite sure on the timing at Walt Disney World.

[00:11:08.590] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's even more complicated.

[00:11:11.280] - Kim Tate More exactly, even more planning than it already has been. But, yeah, that's just a little bit of fall holidays. But what about in your neck of the Woods, about fall seasonal stuff? What kind of things are you for? Travel wise? What do you know about what do you hear about?

[00:11:30.200] - Tamara Gruber Well, we're kind of in that time where everybody wants to go all type of fall here in New England, but I just got back from a trip to the Finger Lakes in New York, and that's definitely a great destination. We were there for the grape harvest. You know, it always varies a little bit on timing when that's going to be, but definitely a fun time. And we have a beautiful weekend. It was low 70s or high 60s, but sunny, and it was just such a perfect we I went with two of my College friends, and we had a blast because I've talked about the Finger Lakes before.

[00:12:06.840] - Tamara Gruber This time I stayed in Ithaca. I was actually hosted at Hotel Ithaca in downtown Ithaca, which is home to Cornell and Ithaca College. It has that College town vibe. In the past, I've stayed at on a different Lake. I've stayed Ithaca right near Cayuga Lake, and in the past I've stayed at Watkins Glen, which is on Seneca Lake. And then one time, I took Hannah to the Finger Lakes, and we stayed in Hammondsport or Corning, which is on Keuka Lake. So there's actually eleven Lakes in the Finger Lakes region, and there's over 100 wineries.

[00:12:39.510] - Tamara Gruber And there's also a ton of craft breweries. There's distilleries, there's tons of cideries, there's tons of farms. So we did a really nice mix of, like, some wine tasting. And we also went to a cider place. But we also did agritourism types of things because it's beautiful up there. It's kind of like a little bit hilly between the Lakes. So there's so many farms or wineries where you're looking down a gentle slope to the Lake in the distance. It just gives such a pretty backdrop. And the leaves there are just starting to change.

[00:13:12.610] - Tamara Gruber So I think in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be really nice. We started with a boat tour with Discover Cayuga Lake, and that was like a little sunset cruise. They do a whole bunch of different Eco cruises. And then the next day, we went to their farmers market in Ithaca, which is like amazing tons of food and beautiful produce. Wineries, cideries, honey, there's local apiaries, so many nice things. We picked up some breakfast there and sat at a picnic table by the Lake and just enjoyed that.

[00:13:45.400] - Tamara Gruber And then we did a couple of tastings at wineries like a pairing with everyone had a charcuterie board, too. And it was just like a really nicely paced, like, really good, relaxing, enjoyable pairing. And then we did a blind tasting somewhere, which is a lot of fun. And then we visited a goat farm. And then yesterday we went to an alpaca farm. I don't know if you got a chance to see my Instagram stories on that, but they're so cute.

[00:14:13.240] - Kim Tate Sweet. Did you buy some alpaca socks or Wolf?

[00:14:17.760] - Tamara Gruber I bought plenty. I had held back at the farmers market and all these other places, but then I was like, okay, I'm supporting the economy right here, which is nice because it's a family on farm. We had signed up to do a farm tour and to take the alpacas for a walk. And I can just say from a wellness perspective, getting to see and interact with really cute, adorable animals is just really nice. It gives such a good feeling, right? Yeah. But yes, I bought a hat, which maybe I'll bring with me to Portugal.

[00:14:51.940] - Tamara Gruber Maybe you'll get to see it. I bought a little scarf. I bought this adorable little fluff ball thing that looks like an alpaca for Hannah, because that was the one thing I always say these days. She's not very jealous of when I go away and do things like she still enjoys when we get to do things together. But she's so busy and stuff going on with her own life that she's not like, oh, I wish I could come with the one. I told her I was going to an Alpaca farm.

[00:15:16.990] - Tamara Gruber She's like, Can you send me pictures?

[00:15:20.020] - Kim Tate Well, I'm jealous. Definitely. I can't wait to see your hat. I hope you do bring it because is it like a felted wool hat?

[00:15:26.650] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's kind of. I don't know what kind of like a news boy hat.

[00:15:31.760] - Kim Tate Oh, yes. I don't know what that's called. The sweeper.

[00:15:37.760] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:15:38.430] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:15:39.450] - Tamara Gruber I'm not a fashion person, as you know, I'm not a fashion person.

[00:15:42.030] - Kim Tate But I know I should know what that's called, but I can't think of it right now. Okay, cool.

[00:15:46.230] - Tamara Gruber So that's definitely one great destination. And I can see just from the traffic on my website. Like, what the other popular things to do are. I think even back to last year, last year, we did some family glamping, and I did some glamping on my own, and I think that that's a really nice time to do it before it gets too cold. The nights are crisp and the days are nice. You're not, like sweating in the tent. It's kind of perfect camping or glamping.

[00:16:15.590] - Kim Tate Kind of want the fires at night and stuff.

[00:16:18.550] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. So I think that's a really fun thing to do now. And there's so many places to do that now. I have a whole post on my website about places to go glamping in New England and new ones keep cropping up, which is great. But I know Vermont and New Hampshire are super popular. I think some people come a little bit too late, so just keep track of every state puts out a fall foliage kind of tracker. I have a blog post on my website about following road trips in New England, and I have links to each of those state trackers, so you can see when they expect it to be peak and stuff like that.

[00:16:56.060] - Tamara Gruber But basically the further north you go, the early it's going to be. So things are starting to really pop right now in New Hampshire, in Vermont and Maine, and that's going to continue to kind of work its way south. So one of the things that we like to do is in New Hampshire, there's a scenic drive called the Kancamagus Highway, and I have a post about all the scenic spots to stop along there.

[00:17:23.560] Nice.

[00:17:24.040] - Tamara Gruber And that is now kind of doing really well on the website. And I have a post about New York road trips to take in the fall and Vermont. I know I've been getting a lot of messages from people like, what should I do in Vermont? All of how many people are open to and yeah, exactly. The thing to think about, though, is that it's total leaf peeping season, and it is hard to find hotels on certain weekends, especially the three day weekend in October can be really tough.

[00:17:55.110] - Tamara Gruber So you might need to, you know, try to search early. It's a little bit late for that, but try to look for maybe Airbnb or VRBO or the Glamping and things like that to try to find some alternatives cool or just plan for 220 and 22. What about by you? Do you have other I mean, I'm sure between, like, Apple season and wine harvest, you must have so many great places to go for fall by you as well.

[00:18:19.280] - Kim Tate I was going to say I think Washington State is definitely a big gem for October trips or fall seasonal trips, especially people think about New England, but if you look, it's latitude, right? Not longitude. Yeah. Latitudes. We're kind of similar. And even though we are like the evergreen state, there's a lot of aspens and poplars and Maple trees out here, and we get some beautiful fall colors mixed in with the green trees. So I definitely think that in Washington State, October is also just a really nice temperature.

[00:18:53.680] - Kim Tate If you want to do hiking or drives, you definitely do have to prepare for dreary weather. I'll call it because it's not necessarily always rainy. But dreary is definitely the right word. And fall is when we do get most of our wind storms. We don't have, like, thunderstorms like I grew up with in the Midwest. But we have these massive wind storms, and that normally is in the fall when that can be a problem. So that is something to keep in mind. But otherwise, it's just so nice here.

[00:19:24.150] - Kim Tate The temperatures are so mild, and it's like you said, with glamping and things. It's cool in the evenings, but can kind of get a little warm in the in the daytime, but not too much. It depends how much of the cloud cover Burns off. But I think kind of like with the Finger Lakes. The big thing out here is the fact that it's harvest season. And there are a lot of fall festivals and wine crushing events. And I know that Chelan, which is a very popular vacation destination for Seattle people.

[00:19:52.630] - Kim Tate It's kind of a Lake community destination out here. And they have a massive fall festival that lasts from October through Thanksgiving. And so you can find stuff happening all the time there with different vendors and activities and things like that. And they have, like, an evening. They have family events during the day, and then they have these evening haunted things as well. So it's kind of a big destination. So if you're in Washington state, Chelan is kind of a big thing. And then, of course, some people may have heard of the little town of Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village out here in Washington.

[00:20:26.820] - Kim Tate It's about, I'd say, about 2 hours from Seattle, probably it depends what traffic's like. And when you're going. And it is known for first, it's October Fest because of the fact that it's a Bavarian town. So it's very German inspired. And they do a big October festival. But then they also do a big holiday lights festival and that's very popular local. So those are kind of the main things I'm thinking about here, of course, like you said, with apples, there's a lot of cider events happening.

[00:20:56.800] - Kim Tate So if you like to drink cider, Washington State is a great place for that as well. And I think Oregon is pretty big in breweries and cideries and stuff as well. And of course, they have their whole Willamette Valley for wine. So they're pretty big as well in the fall embibing travel. Maybe that should be a term. But yeah. So those are kind of the big things that I can think of. I've heard also that I am not a fan of mushrooms, but supposedly Washington has a big mushroom festival as well.

[00:21:28.850] - Kim Tate I guess October is a good mushroom season. So if you know.

[00:21:32.620] - Tamara Gruber A and the Finger Lakes, there is a mushroom spirits distillery. Okay. I don't know much about distilleries. You know, obviously, they're they're made from many different things from vodkas.

[00:21:43.720] - Kim Tate Potatoes, but you never know exactly like.

[00:21:46.770] - Tamara Gruber I don't know what that would be like.

[00:21:49.050] - Kim Tate No idea.

[00:21:49.570] - Tamara Gruber I also saw that they were having an Apple Fest in Ithaca, like next weekend. Definitely. The Apple Fest is huge. Yeah.

[00:21:58.330] - Kim Tate We also have Washington state and even in Oregon and stuff. It's really, really big. I know you have this on the East Coast too, but pumpkin patches and corn mazes. It's just huge. Like I mentioned with when I was talking about what the kids do with the haunted corn maze and all that stuff. It's insane. In our little area. We have probably seven pumpkin patches and corn maze and stuff we could choose to go to. So, I mean, some are definitely bigger than others, but it's a huge thing out here in Washington are the at least at Western Washington is the pumpkin patches and all that stuff.

[00:22:31.820] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely big here, too. We have were small state, but we have quite a few in Rhode Island, and then in Massachusetts, there's some super massive ones. I remember taking Hannah to one in Rhode Island, one where the parents didn't go in. We kind of stood outside and chatted, and then we're like, it's been a really long time. Are they ever going to make their way out? But that wasn't haunted. It was just during the day, regular regular comes. But yeah, there's so many fun things to do.

[00:23:01.620] - Tamara Gruber It's outside and a lot of the farms by us. They'll bring in food trucks and live music and sometimes like, little kiddie rides. You definitely do the wagon rides into the pumpkin patch.

[00:23:14.380] - Kim Tate Hay rides, and there's normally some animal.

[00:23:18.700] - Tamara Gruber Some cows, petting Zoo kind of thing. And then there's all kinds of great baked goods. And I love this time of year. I will still always love summer more, and I try to really get out and appreciate fall when I can, because it's just so short for us. September through mid to late. October is beautiful. You still see blue skies. The weather is great. This year has been fantastic, but by November it's Brown and Gray, so it's over. It's done. So I try to take it in as much as I can.

[00:23:57.470] - Tamara Gruber Now, even I'm sitting here looking at my window, like, Why didn't I go for a walk out?

[00:24:02.190] - Kim Tate You can still go.

[00:24:03.970] - Tamara Gruber I know. I have to get work.

[00:24:06.440] - Kim Tate I can still go. I'm with you. I definitely prefer summer. And being in Seattle, we don't have that nice blue sky. Fall day in Seattle is celebrated as if it's the best thing in the world because it's when the cloud cover definitely moves in. So that is one kind of bummer, but we definitely keep our green. I mean, I love the fact that we have green trees all year round, so there's a payoff to it.

[00:24:35.080] - Tamara Gruber Well, I think for people that are looking for some fall color and stuff a little bit later in the season because I've had people reach out to me like, we're coming to Boston in November and where can we see the best? I'm like over one, but you think about a Great Smoky Mountain National Park and so many parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, the Northern Georgia mountains that gets it in Yosemite and stuff as well. That too.

[00:25:02.710] - Kim Tate It's absolutely gorgeous in the fall.

[00:25:04.880] - Tamara Gruber And I know you mentioned Aspens. I definitely see, like in Colorado, they are really popping right now.

[00:25:09.560] - Kim Tate Like, Vail is gorgeous right now.

[00:25:11.510] - Tamara Gruber Not everything is on our time schedule since we're up here further to the north.

[00:25:18.480] - Kim Tate Well, and then we headed in November will be heading down to Arizona. And so for those people who are looking to start escaping that dreary winter, moving in the south, especially Arizona in the fall can be amazing. I'm looking forward to spending a few hours by the pool with you.

[00:25:38.460] - Tamara Gruber I'm kind of hoping that this year we can go back to previous years where I can escape my drink Gray dreary winter with some Sunshine if you the winter. So, knock wood, because Arizona. And then we're supposed to, as I mentioned, go to Aruba, and then we'll see how it all goes. But I really look forward to those little bits of Sunshine in the middle of the cold is that we have well.

[00:26:05.800] - Kim Tate And for those people that are looking for that are into cruising. I know Thanksgiving cruises are very popular. I do feel like they're doing limited capacity on ships because it seems like prices are not really moving on cruises. You're not going to be getting a steal of a deal. And I think getting to choose your cabin, it's going to be limited as well. But I don't know how long that's going to be kept up, but cruising is always kind of a fun fall getaway because you normally head somewhere warm.

[00:26:34.980] - Kim Tate I know the fall is really popular for a lot of Seattle people. They go down to Cabo and that area of Mexico in the fall.

[00:26:41.980] - Tamara Gruber So here's to a good fall. I feel like I need to go pour myself some Apple cider right now.

[00:26:47.830] - Kim Tate I'm jealous of the Apple cider Donuts. Do you know that I've never had Apple cider?

[00:26:51.550] - Tamara Gruber Donuts?

[00:26:51.940] - Kim Tate I don't think I ever have, and I would love them. They sound amazing. I've had pumpkin spice Donuts and I've had lots of fresh Apple cider, but Apple cider Donuts. I don't think I've ever had one.

[00:27:01.480] - Tamara Gruber See, now I'm going to see you soon, and I would happily bring you some Apple cider Donuts. But I will say there are nothing like getting a hot, fresh, fresh one cider donut. So can you just come visit me next fall? Yes, I will have to.

[00:27:16.960] - Kim Tate That's a plan. Let's make it happen. 2022 New England or Bust. Yeah.

[00:27:22.400] - Tamara Gruber New England. You should see New England in the fall for sure.

[00:27:26.030] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely.

[00:27:26.990] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:27:27.530] - Kim Tate Well, you'll be my tour guide, so I think we can make that happen. It's always so busy. Like I just got back from a trip. And why is the fall always so busy with work?

[00:27:37.210] - Tamara Gruber Stuff. I know as excited as I am about Portugal. And I know that we're going to get a little taste of all there, too, because we're going to be there during their wine harvest. And we're going to get to in some of those wine events. And for those of you that are listening, pop over to Instagram and check out our Instagram accounts because we're going to be doing some really cool things, like hot air balloon and some very special wine events. And so staying at some really interesting, amazing hotels sounds like it's going to be awesome.

[00:28:09.740] - Kim Tate We're staying at some amazing places we are staying at. Now. This will give you guys a little idea, like work is work, and it's not always vacation. But we are staying at a new hotel almost every day. I think there's two times that we stay at a hotel two nights. Yeah. And we're there for 17 days. So just so you guys know, we are going to be sharing a lot. And we're not just in Lisbon, we're going to Porto and the sorts and Lisbon and and we're going to see a lot of the country.

[00:28:40.580] - Tamara Gruber And I think people are kind of used to seeing certain pictures from Lisbon in particular. And I no Porto is very popular as well. But we're going to get out into the countryside and show you and be able to help figure out what are the great itineraries to do. How can you organize it? So you're not visit our not a new hotel every night?

[00:29:01.640] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:29:02.180] - Tamara Gruber Exactly.

[00:29:02.740] - Kim Tate Well. And also knowing it to be a situation where it's like, what's worth? What are these gems that you're not realizing so that you're not just the standard tourists going to the Portugal is an amazing country. And so I'm so excited to get a feel for more of this country that I've already fallen in love with. And so I'm really excited about that and being able to share kind of the other because I think you and I have always said that there needs to be this balance with doing the standard touristy stuff.

[00:29:29.280] - Kim Tate It's a touristy thing for a reason. Most of the time it's worthwhile. And some you don't want to not see it. But you need to balance that with some more, not even off the beaten path, but more things that you wouldn't necessarily know about or think about. And that's why I'm so glad that we're working with the epic travel people because they're on the ground there, and they have all those little gems that they can help put us on that you and I I don't think we wouldn't necessarily have known to look for I'm really excited.

[00:29:56.480] - Tamara Gruber So of the regions we're on top of mind. Right. And then we're doing something like one of the big products in Portugal is cork. And so we're going to do a cork trekking hike. I can't wait where we're going to go and look and see how they would harvest it.

[00:30:16.380] - Tamara Gruber So there's so many interesting things, like digging deeper, traveling in a way that really gets to know the culture and totally up our alley. I'm super excited. So I know we were talking all about fall, and my whole point was as excited as I am about Portugal. I'm missing out on some of the best part of here in New England, but I'll take it. I agreed.

[00:30:39.170] - Kim Tate I mean, everything I'm looking at, it sounds like Portugal is going to be an amazing October destination. So if any of you are listening and thinking about October trips, definitely be following along Tamara again is @we3travel and I'm @stuffedsuitcase, and we will be sharing because from the research I'm doing, it seems seems like a great time to go.

[00:30:58.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Definitely follow along when we come back. Our next episode is going to be all about our Portugal trip. So hopefully you'll follow along and then you'll want to hear even more about it. So you'll tune in next time.

[00:31:13.160] - Kim Tate Well, thanks for joining us, as always, and we hope that you have some wonderful fall travels or local adventures planned ahead. Tchau.

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You know how you always hear people talking about getting free stays at hotels or status perks? How do they do that? Find out! This week on the podcast we talk road warrior Ed Pizza from the Miles to Go podcast about the best hotel loyalty programs for families and ways to earn status and free hotel stays.

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About Ed Pizza Ed Pizza is a road warrior and family traveler. When we're not in the middle of a pandemic he travels 100,000 miles a year for work. His family loves luxury travel, all things Disney and even bought an RV during the pandemic. You can check out his podcast, Miles to Go, the same places you catch Vacation Mavens and you can find him writing about travel at pizzainmotion.com.

Best Hotel Loyalty Programs for Families * Hyatt offers the best loyalty program for families as it is easier to earn and use points (you need fewer points to redeem for a free night than other programs) and they offer great family-friendly perks like free breakfast, guaranteed late check out, and, if you have status with them, the concierge is good at guaranteeing connecting rooms or confirming suite upgrades in advance. * The only challenge with Hyatt is that they don't have as large of a footprint as Hilton or Marriott, especially if you are traveling to smaller destinations. * Hyatt does have a number of family-friendly brands including Hyatt Place on the lower end and Hyatt House for suites. * A few terrific Hyatt properties in popular family travel destinations include: Hyatt Grand Cypress (outside of Disney), Ziva Resorts in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, the Hyatt Regency Sydney in Australia (which is more affordable than the Park Hyatt Sydney but still has amazing views), Grand Hyatt Bahia Mar in the Bahamas, and the Driscoll in Austin. * Wyndham also is an excellent choice for families. In addition to the hotels, you can use points at many of their vacation rental or timeshare properties, which offer so much more room for families. Wyndham also has a partnership with Vacasa for vacation home rentals. * Some great Wyndham properties include the Magic Villages in Orlando, ski lodges and log cabins in Montana, and great properties overseas. * Wyndham now has a credit card through Barclay's that helps you earn points and they have bonus points on things like utility bills, which you don't find elsewhere. * Hilton has some pros and cons for their loyalty programs. Hilton values treating folks well on award stays and they don't add resort fees, unlike some other programs that still charge fees on free stays. Hilton also gives away a lot of points for stays and through their credit card. The footprint isn't as big as Marriott but larger than Hyatt. Hilton Honors Gold members also receive little perks like free bottles of water at check in and free WiFi. * However, Hilton recently rolled back their free breakfast offer for members (at least temporarily). Instead there will be a credit per day to use as you want (drinks from the bar, meals, etc), however it wouldn't typically cover everything that you would get at a free breakfast. * Marriott has the largest footprint, but they do charge fees like resort fees and parking on award stays. * IHG (which includes Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Hotel Indigo, etc) doesn't offer as much as the other brands but can be good if you do a lot of road tripping and then redeeming points for stays overseas at classic, boutique hotels. * Unless you are a road warrior traveling frequently on business, the best way to earn points is through a credit card. Instead of using the brand specific credit card, it is better to use a credit card with programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards that you can transfer points to hotels to book award stays. Chase offers a bit more flexibility and value over Amex. * When you transfer points, it is often 1:1 transfer so you will get more bang for your points if you transfer to a program like Hyatt where your points go further. * If you are going to stay with a specific brand often, a hotel credit card can get you to the next status tier (and related perks) faster and you will often get one free hotel stay certificate per year. You need to make sure you are using the value of the cost of the annual fee. Generally it makes sense to pay for your hotel stays with that card but you will get more points per dollar for other types of stays from other types of cards.

Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate Which hotels deserve your loyalty? Stay tuned to find out.

[00:00:15.290] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:29.940] - Kim Tate Today's episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Room Steals. You guys may have already heard of it. Room Steals is a browser extension that you add to Chrome, so that when you're shopping for the next hotel for your vacation, you can see if you are really getting the best rate. You plug in your destination on one of the major booking engines, whether it's Expedia or Travelocity or booking.com or hotels.com, and a window will pop up, letting you know if they found a better deal for you.

[00:00:55.810] - Kim Tate The program is free to use, so you can always see and shop and figure out if the there is a better deal out there. And if you do spot a better deal, you can book it through the Room Steals site where there is an annual membership fee. But our listeners get to save on their annual membership fee with the code vacationmavens, they can save 20%.

[00:01:14.110] - Tamara Gruber So I was just researching some potential hotels in Dublin in Ireland because we're still trying to figure out where to take Hannah for her graduation trip. And that's one option. And I was going through some of these options because I really want it to be like, nice hotels, like special hotel in for this trip. But obviously I would always like to save some money. So I found one on Room Steals where I could save $142 and then another one where I could save $60. So it's like all these things could add up over the course of a big trip.

[00:01:46.570] - Tamara Gruber So it's like even just that one hotel stay would be saving more than the cost of the membership. So I definitely encourage everyone to go check out Room Steals. Like Kim said, it is a browser extension that you can download add to Chrome. And then when you're searching for hotels, you're able to see whether or not there's a deal that you'd like to take advantage of. And just remember, check out Room steals. Com. You can sign up using Code vacationmavens all one word, all lowercase and save 20%, and we thank them for their support.

[00:02:15.280] - Kim Tate So Tamara talking about hotels and getting deals through Room Steals. Today we are going to talk with a guest that we've had on before, and he's one of my favorite savvy travel guys. And that's Ed Pizza.

[00:02:27.960] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So he travels so so much every year, he knows all the hotels, all the programs, what the best deals are, what the best credit cards are, and he's going to share all of his knowledge. So I can't wait to jump into that interview.

[00:02:40.540] - Kim Tate Let's chat with him.

[00:02:49.470] - Tamara Gruber So today we're here with Ed Pizza. He's a road warrior, and family traveler. And when we're not in the middle of a pandemic, he travels 100,000 miles a year for work. His family loves luxury travel, all things Disney, and even bought an RV during the pandemic. You can check out his podcast Miles to go at the same places you can catch vacation, mavens. And you can also find him writing about traveling a pizza in motion dot com. So Ed, welcome back to the podcast.

[00:03:15.640] - Ed Pizza Hey, thanks for having me back, guys. It's been a while and I'm excited to be back on talking stuff.

[00:03:20.110] - Tamara Gruber I know you're back traveling a little bit for work, but how long did you go without being on an airplane?

[00:03:25.780] - Ed Pizza So I was actually in New Zealand helping a friend on the Tarmac when the US announced that they were closing arrivals to Europeans. And that was me coming back into the country. So that was called like, March 14 ish. And I didn't get back on a plane. That was March 14, 2020. Sorry, I didn't get back on a plane until early June 2021, but I have been ramping things up, and I think it's interesting that if you guys hadn't reached doubt to have me come podcast, I was almost going to reach out to you guys because we're following this parallel track and that I spent a couple of weeks in Maine, I think right before you did, Sarah and I just finished coming back across the Canadian border on the east side, Kim to your west.

[00:04:11.260] - Kim Tate Nice.

[00:04:13.150] - Ed Pizza So a little bit of family travel, mostly road warrior stuff.

[00:04:18.470] - Kim Tate Especially now that you have an RV that you were one of the many that jumped into that lifestyle. I've seen some of your things that's kind of funny how you're like, I'm embracing this for my family, but I am not embracing this. This is what I want to do with my life.

[00:04:33.000] - Ed Pizza Yeah. I mean, as I've said jokingly a number of times if it happened to burn to the ground and I got an insurance settlement, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But the kids and you guys know that your kids are older than mine. And so I think you probably have a better grasp of this than I do. You wake up at some point and you realize that they're going to College and you're like, Well, did I fill up the bucket enough? And our kids still love both of us.

[00:04:59.150] - Ed Pizza My wife and I, and they like being with us. And they really love the camping thing. And so as much as I grumble and say bad words, sometimes when things break, which is pretty much every time we roll it anywhere, the memories that they're creating with us, I hope, will be things that when they get to College, it's, wow. That's in the bucket of things that I love doing as a kid.

[00:05:21.850] - Tamara Gruber That's good. You speaking to my heart there.

[00:05:24.870] - Kim Tate I was going to say Tamara and I are both right there because we both have girls going off to College. As you've probably heard, we're definitely in that wondering how we can keep scraping some more trips in there and then hoping that the College schedules will allow us to keep traveling and that our kids will keep traveling with us through those four years as well, at least for me.

[00:05:47.390] - Ed Pizza And I know it's not what we're talking about today, but I think a really good point to make that I've obviously seen with the way that both of you guys travel with your family is that we all make memories in a variety of different ways. But we've all chosen travel as one of those primary ways to create those memories. And just like you, I'm hoping that the work that we put in for travel up until our daughter is a sophomore in high school. Now I'm hopeful that when she gets into College, it'll be, hey, I'd love to go take a Disney trip.

[00:06:18.940] - Ed Pizza Hey, dad, mom, do you want to go or, hey, I love Lisbon. Or can we go visit Peggy's Cove in Canada? Whatever that there's a powerful enough connection to a place that they've been. They're like, I want to go and I want to go with mom and dad.

[00:06:32.830] - Tamara Gruber I was just thinking mine is talking about the road trip that she wants to do with her friends post graduation, but I know she'll come back to our trips as well.

[00:06:41.510] - Kim Tate Definitely. I think we're in that same boat, Tamara. So if you're listening to this and like, do you have a few more years? Definitely. Don't worry about I spent so many summers not planning and stuff because I hated crowds and also because we have such nice summers here in Seattle. But I now kind of regret not using that summertime more efficiently. Although we did take a lot of family trips and visited family and had family here. So I guess it was well used, but definitely maximize your time off with your kids.

[00:07:13.940] - Tamara Gruber Well, speaking of traveling with kids and planning and thinking ahead and all of that, one of the ways that we've gotten to travel a little bit more or structure our budget a little bit more is using hotel loyalty programs and trying to maximize some free nights here and there. And I was thinking about which programs are really best for families. And I know a lot of programs have changed recently. And Ed, you came to mind because I know on your Miles to Go, you talk about this a lot, and I think I might know the answer.

[00:07:47.180] - Tamara Gruber But when it comes to hotel loyalty programs, what one do you really like for families? So not business travelers, but really for families.

[00:07:56.600] - Ed Pizza I'm going to give you my favorite. And then if we have time later, I'm going to give you my sleeper because I think there's someone coming up on the outside turn that maybe doesn't become my favorite, but it started to earn their keep above some of the other chains. But for me, it's it. And for many years it was starwood preferred guest before Marriott bought them because they understood that road warriors have husbands, wives, significant others, in a lot of cases, kids. And they want to take care of those other people because that makes that means the business traveler want to patronize them and high.

[00:08:29.570] - Ed Pizza It just where they really get this right, and they get it right in a number of different ways. But I think primarily it's in reducing friction for family travel. So when we think about a family of three or four, we don't all live in one room at home. We certainly don't share one bathroom, especially with a teenage daughter. So being able to have space when we travel, it is huge. And it has benefits like being able to request and confirm a suite upgrade at the time of booking, which is unique amongst the major hotel chains.

[00:09:00.780] - Ed Pizza And you say, well, if I know ahead of time where I can get that extra space for my family, that helps drive where we might choose to go on vacation. And there are a lot of other benefits to the world Hyatt program that I think make things easier for families, things like free breakfast, guaranteed late checkout, just things that make it easier for when family travel goes sideways, which the younger your kids are, the more frequently that happens.

[00:09:23.820] - Tamara Gruber 100% agree. My husband was ambassador level with Marriott for a while, and he had these five suite upgrades of a year or something to use. And we were looking to book a suite in Amsterdam. I think it was and we like you we want the space. It's all about having a little extra space, not being crammed into those two double beds in particular. And we wanted to book this week, but we're like, do we actually pay for it, or do we take the risk that we can use one of these upgrades and not being able to confirm that, you know, you have that upgrade.

[00:09:58.620] - Tamara Gruber It makes such a difference because you're making a totally different choice. And of course, we ended up just doing an Airbnb instead.

[00:10:03.840] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And especially when you talk about families in Europe in that the restrictions on the number of people in a room are very different from the US. There are plenty of rooms in Europe where two is the Max Occupancy and a flu or three same in Asia. So that's a complication. And I think one of the things you mentioned, Marriott Ambassador, and I had a Marriott ambassador for a long time. In the beginning, they were great at communicating with the properties and they could advocate on your behalf.

[00:10:31.470] - Ed Pizza But I'll be honest with you. For me, at least one of the biggest benefits that world of Hyatt provides for me. I have their equivalent. It's called my Hyatt concierge as part of their globalist status. It isn't even necessarily the suite upgrades. Those are great. And who doesn't love a big plus room with an awesome view and all that stuff? But for me, it can really be as simple as can you just guarantee me connecting rooms? My kids are younger, like we just want connecting rooms.

[00:10:56.420] - Ed Pizza I don't need something fancy, and my Hyatt concierge would always contact the property early on my behalf, and they would work with the property to block rooms. And I can say, honest to God, I very rarely use the words always or never. In the ten or so years I've been top tier status with Hyatt, I've never shown up at a property that promised me connecting rooms ahead of time and not gotten them. And as a family traveler, that's huge. I need just a few times a year, but when I need it, I need it and they always say yes, we're going to take care of you.

[00:11:29.720] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, Hyatt is not a property or a brand that I get to stay at a lot. There aren't quite as many. I think that's one of the problems that people run into. But when I've had an opportunity to stay at a Hyatt place just in terms of the lower tier, I was kind of amazed. I love this setup where it has kind of a partial dividing wall between the bed and the sitting area with the pullout couch. So when you have a younger child, you have that little bit of that separation of space without going for the larger suite or two rooms.

[00:11:59.390] - Tamara Gruber So another benefit to me are some of the Hyatt brands that people may not be familiar with.

[00:12:04.310] - Ed Pizza Yeah, no, I agree. And I think Hyatt House is another brand of there where they have multiple room suites. And I've had a reasonable amount of luck in contacting a property ahead of time through the concierge and asking even though it wasn't, isn't a published benefit to say, hey, can I use a suite upgrade certificate to just get a two bedroom unit instead of a one bedroom? And very rarely I've been told no for things like that. So I think it's the flexibility that they work with folks on.

[00:12:30.320] - Ed Pizza It's not that Marriott or Hilton or anything to change doesn't have fabulous, unbelievable properties. I think it's for family travelers and for specific needs. We just need a little bit more flexibility at times. And Hyatt works hard to give that that's nice.

[00:12:46.630] - Kim Tate I've heard a few other people that are kind of in the point space. They just love Hyatt. I'll admit, one of the things that's kept me from just going all in on them. I find I have a harder time finding properties where if you're doing like a road tripping type family or something like that, those Marriott properties, it seems like everywhere you go there's a Fairfield Inn. So that is one thing that I have noticed. Do you think there's any limitations on property availability with Hyatts? And then do you have any favorite property within that program that you think are great for families to check out if they're looking for a kind of hotel destination?

[00:13:23.000] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I think that's a fair criticism of Hyatt. If there is one is that they don't have the third tier city when you're going to visit friends and family when you're going to visit Grandma, if you're road tripping in the US, that's certainly an area where they're weaker than the other chains. They've expanded their footprint through really interesting partnerships. They have a big partnership with small luxury hotels of the world, which means that they now have over a dozen properties in Italy where they used to have one, and they things of that nature.

[00:13:54.090] - Ed Pizza But as you say, I always use Williamsburg, Virginia, sort of my textbook example of the comparison between Marriott Hyatt, and each person will choose what's most important to them. Williamsburg, Virginia, Colonial, Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, all that stuff. It's a family destination. Not far from my house. There are zero Hyatts. There are no limited service properties. There are five Marriotts. They're all kind of dingy, but there are five properties there. And so the choice I make when my family goes to Williamsburg is do we drive 45 minutes from a very new Hyatt place, or do we stay right there at one of the Marriotts?

[00:14:28.410] - Ed Pizza That's convenient, but not as nice as property, and I don't know that there's a right answer for that. I think every family makes that decision. But if you're going to make a compromise at times, that's the compromise you'd make with a road tripping in the US where I think they have some really specific fits, though, that work well for families. As you mentioned, what are some of my favorite properties? First and foremost, I think Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, just outside the gates at Disney World, is a big plus, and it didn't use to be as big a plus.

[00:14:57.680] - Ed Pizza But as Disney has reduced the benefits you get from staying on site, the Grand Cypress, it hasn't taken anything away. And beautiful property, tons of space, lots of pools, all that stuff right outside the gates of Disney, so it's easy to get to. I think again, when we think about family travel, Hyatt has a brand called Ziva, which is a family geared, all inclusive brand with properties mostly focused in Mexico and the Caribbean, which on points can be a really great way to go on vacation without spending money, because you could generally redeem points for extra guests in your room as well as the two base guests that are normally included in a reservation.

[00:15:36.710] - Ed Pizza So you can actually use points to pay for your meals at an all inclusive with Hyatt, which I think is interesting, and it might not be the best value for everyone. But again, if it's hey, how do we take an extra family vacation every year being able to use points to cover meals? It might mean that your family gets to go rent a catamaran for the day or swim with Dolphins or do some other activity that maybe you didn't have the cash for something like that.

[00:16:00.530] - Ed Pizza It's a great choice. And then we were really surprised to go further afield. Everybody, all the bloggers talk about the Park Hyatt Sydney is this unbelievably beautiful property that overlooks the opera house, and it's under the Harbor Bridge in Sydney. And I agree with all those things. I stayed there a few times. It's a wonderful hotel, but right down the road from it is the Hyatt Regency Sydney, which opened up a few years ago. And it's kind of a rooftop lounge up on one of the really high floors.

[00:16:26.870] - Ed Pizza And so we were there for a week right before the pandemic in 2019. And by the second day of our stay, everybody in the lounge had memorized not only our kids names but the drinks that they liked in the morning, in the evening and what they like for breakfast. And so my kids were doted on by the lounge grew all included with my room as part of our stay, and they never had to ask for anything. They were doted on. They loved it. And my wife and I could enjoy a cup of coffee or out on the terrace on our own and watch our kids through the glass and watch the staff take care of them.

[00:16:59.420] - Ed Pizza And it was a really great way to sort of sneak away for a few minutes as a husband wife while our kids were still with us on this epic trip.

[00:17:06.460] - Kim Tate That's important. I think that when you can find a good hotel, they kind of recognize your kids as guests as well. Kids love that. And they remember that for sure.

[00:17:15.240] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I might not get this exactly right because I didn't look it up on the charts before we hopped on to record. But I think it's half the points of the Park Hyatt, which again is a delightful hotel, but it's pricey. And then I think there's other fun things. Grand Hyatt Bahamas is a really huge resort property in the Bahamas. So if you're looking for a way to do something like in Atlantis style property, but using points, I think that's a great choice. And then I'm a sucker for old historical properties.

[00:17:43.390] - Ed Pizza So the Driscoll in Austin, Texas, is the Yellow Rose, as they call it, is one of my favorite old historic hotels. That's part of it as well.

[00:17:51.240] - Tamara Gruber Does it have a collection like that the way the autograph collection for Marriott or gosh, what's the Hilton one.

[00:17:58.350] - Ed Pizza There's so many of those different brand like the Marriott Hilton has spawned all these names for different things of all the brands. And the short answer is not only is the answer yes, but there's a ton of them, and some. Some of my fellow travel bloggers have almost criticized the hits and the merits of the world for having you have too many brands. Those things don't necessarily matter as much to me per se. I guess I understand it to some degree, but at the end the day, I think as travelers and especially family drivers, we're just looking for interesting, unique properties.

[00:18:29.110] - Ed Pizza And as long as they come up on the website, I'm all years yet they have their unbound collection. And that was where it started with some recent acquisitions. They sort of added a bunch of other brands, so they fall under a bunch of different names, and I won't list all of them out. But like unbound one destination hotels, Thompson Hotels, a bunch of collections that they've absorbed over the past few years and acquisitions. But I think one of the fun things that hit does is they have what's called a Brand Explorer program.

[00:18:57.870] - Ed Pizza I don't quote me on this, but I think there are 15 brands right now across the portfolio and in the boundless portfolio and the independent collections. For every five different brands you visit with it, you earn a free night, and so you can earn up to three free nights by staying at all the different brands. So it's a pretty cool unpublished benefit of it is that every time you chalk up one of these, you're closer to a free night at a high in the world.

[00:19:22.760] - Tamara Gruber That's interesting. So they really want you to explore the breath of those brands. I mean, I like those kind of collections because then, you know, you're having something that's maybe historic or at least has character and personality versus your standard Hyatt. Hilton, whatever the generic kind of business hotel cool. That's good to know. Well, I am very intrigued by your hinting at a dark horse. So before we jump into our other questions, what would be your number two?

[00:19:51.760] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So I'm not sure if this is my number two, but certainly they're right there in line with Hilton, because I think Hilton's maybe just a smidge ahead of them. But Wyndham redid their credit card portfolio late last year. And honestly, it was one of the things I wasn't paying a ton of attention to and through a mutual friend they had asked about sponsoring the podcast, and I'm generally not somebody who does that sort of thing unless it's a brand that I really support a lot of like, I really want to be into something.

[00:20:18.520] - Ed Pizza I was like, Wyndham, it's not my favorite. Could there are a lot of lower to your properties that weren't really my fit. The credit card is really geared up being able to maximize points for earning for families, which I think is a hard thing to do if you're not a road warrior. And where I think they really fit for family travel is they have a huge chunk of vacation rentals. So they have some of their own, quote, unquote vacation rental properties. And they have partnerships with brands like Vacasa.

[00:20:47.480] - Ed Pizza I never know if I say that correctly, but because of that, that we think of again, when we think of families, or at least for me, I think of space. And so there's a property in Orlando called Magic Villages, which is a Wyndham property, and you can use your points to redeem for up to a four bedroom luxury condo with pools and all that other stuff that are beautifully appointed, big barbecue grills outside at Zero fridges, all that stuff. And you can do that with points.

[00:21:18.200] - Ed Pizza And it's equidistant between Disney World and Universal. And then you've got ski lodges and log cabins in Montana and properties overseas. And so I think when I think about family travel and I think about space and Airbnb and the role it plays and how our family travel world has changed. Wyndham sort of forging this middle ground where they say like, yeah, sure. If you want a Wyndham hotel or one of our other limited service brands like, we got you covered. But if you need more space, you can turn those points into Airbnb ish type rental in hundreds of cities around the world.

[00:21:56.270] - Ed Pizza And I think that adds a lot of value for family travelers. Not as much for people who like to travel in a traditional way. But I think family Traveler specifically Wyndhams carving at a niche to say you could earn a bunch of points on our credit cards and you can use them for Airbnb ish type stays around the world.

[00:22:12.740] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that's good. I think about Smugglers Notch in Vermont, which is an amazing family ski resort. I used to be part of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, and I have to double check that it is. And I know I have a friends awesome that really love the property in Orlando and love that space option. Like you mentioned.

[00:22:33.490] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And the Smugglers Notch is still a Club Wyndham property. And again, people think of timeshares like, oh, I don't want to buy a Timeshare, and that's a whole other podcast for some other day. But I think Wyndham gives you the ability to stay at those properties and not be a timeshare owner. So I think that's what's unique about the them in Hyatt has a very small collection of those properties time shersh sort of residence club properties. In fact, one of my favorites is in Sedona. It's called the Hyatt Residence Club Pinon Point, not that far from the Grand Canyon, but they only have 15 or 20 of those where Wyndham literally has over 1000 with the Club Wyndham stuff, vacation rentals and the Vacasa partnership.

[00:23:14.530] - Ed Pizza So if you like that sort of travel where you're not staying in a hotel and you want a little bit more space, Wyndham is really carved that niche. And before when they didn't have a really robust credit card platform, it was harder to earn a lot of points with them. And now, especially if I'm a small business owner, and I understand that not everybody is that. But if you are a small business owner, some of the stuff that they have bonus categories on are very unique, like utility bills and stuff like that, that definitely aren't for everyone.

[00:23:47.230] - Ed Pizza But if you happen to be somebody who as a small business owner and you've got all that stuff, it's a great way. Wait a pile on a ton of points that you're not going to find somewhere else.

[00:23:54.620] - Kim Tate And do you know, if Wyndham is a transfer partner of either Chase or Amex it's one of the downsides is that they're not really have that kind of the credit card of their own to their credit cards are issued by Barkley's.

[00:24:08.960] - Ed Pizza And I think you guys know some of the Barclay cards they've had over time, but they don't really have a flexible currency. Okay, as you say, with Chase and American Express, and even sort of coming around the bend with City adding like, I a partner like American Airlines to their fold, that in doing the and the Capital One is really up their game. This is the area where I think Barclay's as weakest is that they just don't have that robust transfer network. So you'd have to invest in holding a Wyndham card to earn a bunch of Wyndham points.

[00:24:41.800] - Ed Pizza And I might be forgetting some other Wyndham transfer partner out there. And if they're out there, I apologize. I'm definitely not a credit card expert, like some other folks are in the space. I my interest has been peaked in a way that I wasn't expecting.

[00:24:55.860] - Kim Tate Well, definitely for families. I can see why that might be appealing. So let's quickly just finish up this little bit of a category and touch base about maybe Hilton, of course, Marriott. Maybe even if we have time, you could mention IHG do you see, what are the pros and cons for any of those three type brands for to show up on their loyalty train.

[00:25:20.870] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I'll try to cover all three quickly. I think they all represent slightly different things. One of the things that I think Hilton has in common with Hyatt is that they value treating folks well on award stays. So things like no resort fees on award stays is a really cool benefit of Hilton that it has as well. I think the benefit for Hilton is massive footprint, easy to earn lots of points. And so you sort of got this world where Marriott has really expensive properties that cost a ton of points, but they don't issue a lot of points you've hired as a smaller footprint, and their properties cost less points.

[00:25:57.480] - Ed Pizza And Hilton somewhere in the middle, and that they do have an award chart where the resort property can get pricey, but they give away a lot of points for hotel stays, they give away a lot of points for folks who happen to hold their credit cards. And as you mentioned earlier about road tripping, you can find a Hilton anywhere. Marriott is the same way in terms of footprint size, but they do charge things like resort fees and parking and stuff like that on awards stays, so they're not completely quote, unquote free.

[00:26:23.030] - Tamara Gruber Can you explain for our listeners what award stays are?

[00:26:26.040] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So if you spend on a credit card or you stay on a paid stay, you earn points in the loyalty program. So if you have a Hilton credit card, you're in Hilton points. If you have a Marriott credit card earning Marriott points, and then there's all the transferable partners, which maybe we find time to talk about today. But as Kim alluded to Chase and American Express, so you build up these points. And those points help get you a free room. And not all points are created equally.

[00:26:54.150] - Ed Pizza So we like to say that top tier property at Marriott is 100,000 points and a top tier property that is 30,000 points per night. And so it's a lot easier, cheaper in points to get a free room with it. But they don't quite give the same amount of points per dollar. That's where it gets a little bit like funny money math. But Hilton, like I said, sits in the middle where they give a lot of points for folks who stay on paid nights. And you can also earn a lot of points with bonus categories on their credit cards.

[00:27:25.740] - Ed Pizza So you you can build up a pretty big balance of Hilton points quickly if your goal is to save up for a family vacation.

[00:27:32.140] - Tamara Gruber Now, some of these programs have changed some things recently. Do you want to touch on that?

[00:27:37.280] - Ed Pizza Yeah. So again, we talk about family travel. Things like free breakfast is important, and Hilton rolled out some changes that they say are temporary. And I'm actually supposed to be recording with an executive from Hilton on my podcast in October. So hoping to get a more final answer on this. But they've temporarily removed to a benefit where instead of getting free breakfast, you get a credit per day that you can use for breakfast. If you wanted to use it for breakfast, which you can also use it for a drink in the bar in the evening, et cetera.

[00:28:08.660] - Ed Pizza It doesn't cover traditionally what a free breakfast used to cover. And sort of where this came from was during the pandemic. A lot of hotels eliminated free breakfast completely in the beginning. It was because we didn't really know how COVID was bread is now sort of become this thing of, well, gosh, we lost a lot of money during COVID, so we don't want to have breakfast out anymore. And I think it's a big question Mark right now on what the future will look like. I think hotel owners don't really want to give free breakfast.

[00:28:32.760] - Ed Pizza They've never really wanted to, but it's always been a benefit that's been there. And so there's this unique most moment where a chain like Hilton is trying to move away. It seems from that free breakfast benefit, and I'm going to be really interested to see how this rolls for, because as of right now, it is only listed as a temporary benefit. You guys have been in this business long enough to know that lots of things that are temporary become permanent. So that might be where we end up with us.

[00:28:57.450] - Ed Pizza But right now, the breakfast benefit, Hilton is nowhere near as good as it used to be in a vacuum. That being said in my travels, I've seen very few hotels that really have have a free breakfast out, as opposed to a Brown paper bag with a Nutri grain bar, an Apple and a bottle of water

[00:29:14.620] - Kim Tate for a while there when we took our spring break road trip, they weren't even stocked with that stuff because they couldn't get supply chains as like we have one almond milk and an Orange going to the first customer down.

[00:29:27.910] - Ed Pizza Yeah, it has been crazy and I didn't touch on IHG I think is sort of falls behind those others. I think at this point Wyndham has passed them in my mind and that it doesn't really have the vacation rental part of their platform. And for those that might not know IHG or brands like Holiday Inn, Holiday and Express Intercontinental, they have beautiful properties overseas, Europe and Asia, much more so than I'd say in the US where the I think they can play a role is definitely road tripping.

[00:30:00.260] - Ed Pizza And then also, if you happen to be somebody who has some travel for work in the US, I think earning points stand staying at US based IHG properties and then using them for some of the really cool properties overseas. They have some really eclectic older style properties in Europe that I think are a lot of fun. So that would be how I think about trying to use is it would be saying if your traveler road warrior staying at the Holiday Express throughout the year so you can redeem for a really cool Intercontental stay in Europe or Asia.

[00:30:34.620] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they have cool. The Hotel Indigo brand properties are pretty cool too for those boutique type of stays.

[00:30:43.570] - Ed Pizza And they are expanding. The Hotel Indigo brand obviously has a lot of change during the pandemic, but I do expect there to be more Hotel Indigo being built over the next handful of years.

[00:30:57.260] - Kim Tate A brand I always like the decor and stuff. It's very clean and modern feel and a little bit of the local vibe with local artists and some of that stuff. So that's cool.

[00:31:07.960] - Ed Pizza Yeah. Last I checked and don't quote me on this. There's probably about 100 or so Hotel Indigo in the pipeline and there's probably about 100 open right now, so they'll probably double the size of that brand over the next call, four or five years.

[00:31:23.220] - Kim Tate So now that you've given us a good layout of all the great programs, and maybe people are thinking of which property or which brand might work best for them. Do you have any tips or suggestions for how to build up points with some of these programs beyond just hotel stays? So you mentioned a little bit about the Wyndham credit cards, so I know credit cards are a huge part of it. So any other tips or what info do they need to know about earning and transferring hotel points?

[00:31:49.700] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I think you keyed right there on the last two words that you said are the two ways that we're thinking about this. Are we earning points or are we transferring them? And so I think there's two separate paths, and I'm going to take them backwards because I think the transferring path is the one that's going to work for more people. Then the best example I like to use for folks is for anybody out there that has a retirement account. I hope you don't have everything all in one individual stock or mutual fund.

[00:32:14.850] - Ed Pizza You're diversified. So Kim kind of alluded to this before where Chase and American Express both have their own flexible currencies. Chases is called Ultimate Rewards, and American Express is called membership rewards. And so you can spend on a credit card, a certain Chase branded credit cards and certain American Express branded credit cards. And you can then transfer those points to hotels. And for this, I specifically like Chase better than I like American Express, and that Chase has multiple hotel partners you can transfer to IG. But you can also transfer to Marriott and to High.

[00:32:49.820] - Ed Pizza So lots of flexibility there. And if you ultimately decide you didn't want to transfer hotels because you got a really super deal, like you found a super cheap hotel and you want to use your money on your hotels and then use your points for airline tickets. You'd have that flexibility. But this also goes back to what the value of points are. And if you transfer points from Chase Ultimate Reward, so let's say you had, like, a Chase Sapphire preferred card, and you earn points for dining out and groceries and all that stuff.

[00:33:17.670] - Ed Pizza And then you transfer those points. They're going to go a lot further with Hyatt, where the most expensive property costs 30,000 points a night versus Marriott, where the most expensive property will set you back about 100,000 points a night because you're still transferring on a one to one basis from Chase Ultimate Rewards to these different hotel programs. So for most folks, I think those sorts of cards offer great flexibility, which I think is what we want in travel, especially for family travelers. If hotels is really the thing that you're most focused on, then yes, absolutely.

[00:33:49.470] - Ed Pizza They're or hotel credit cards. And not just because of my bias towards Hyatt, but I also think they have a pretty strong offering for credit cards in that they offer bonus points for dining out airline tickets, gym memberships, which is a fairly unique category. Mass transit, tolls, taxis, just a whole bunch of different categories where you can earn points for the things that you do on an everyday basis and use those to turn into vacation points further down the road.

[00:34:19.360] - Tamara Gruber So would you ever recommend having a brand specific card as well?

[00:34:24.720] - Ed Pizza You know, I think if your main goal is that you're going to be a free agent from an air travel standpoint where you're never going to use points for that, then I think a hotel branded credit card can make more sense. I think the other thing, too, that's a really solid reason to pick up a hotel credit card is that some of the cards do offer some level of status along with holding the card. That's a benefit of some cards, and it's very different amongst the different cards people use Hyatt as an example is that you do get discovered status with them, which earns you a free late checkout and a bonus on points that you earn. But it also gives you sort of a head start to the next level of status as well. So those can be great ways to sort of bridge across. Marriott has a lot more credit cards than hit us, so you have the ability to sort of maximize that if you're willing to hold multiple credit cards, they also have credit cards from both Chase and American Express.

[00:35:23.520] - Ed Pizza But you really do have to sit down and think about as you start to get into multiple credit cards. Are you really getting the value for the annual fees for all these cards? Because some of them have gotten quite expensive for annual fees for five $600 a fee. And we just want to make sure that we're getting that value if we're going to keep that card in our wallet year in, year out. Whereas something like Chase Sapphire preferred annual fee is $95, and it's not hard to get $95 in value on a yearly basis.

[00:35:48.640] - Kim Tate Yeah, I was going to say one of the things I have the Marriott, and it is kind of nice when I choose that knowing that I'm earning six points or ten points or whatever it is now on those hotel stays, and I don't even have to think about that. And then it's kind of funny, though, because I get gold with them, which doesn't do anything with Marriott now and then I get gold with my Amex as well. So I'm paying all the stupid fees to get overlap that still doesn't do anything.

[00:36:13.730] - Kim Tate But I've been really looking at my Amex Platinum lately to see if I'm really getting my $700 worth or whatever they raise the annual fee to this year.

[00:36:23.030] - Ed Pizza Yeah, not to dig too deeply into the numbers of it but again, depending on which Marriott card you have, we talked about the one to one transfer from Chase to Marriott. And so for every day spend, you could still either category where you can earn three, four, five chase points per dollar and then transfer those to Marriott in a one to one basis. So you can definitely make an argument why a Marriott card might be really good for you to pay for your Marriott stays.

[00:36:53.350] - Ed Pizza The other bonus categories on those cards generally aren't as generous as some of these, like middle of the road flexible currency cards where you can come out of head.

[00:37:02.330] - Kim Tate Overall, I've been trying to figure that with dining. That's been my biggest dilemma lately is when I'm eating out because I don't have, like, a freedom or any of those things. So I feel like the Marriott actually recently looked like it was more. But then when you look at the points value, my Chase ink is probably the best way to go. So I was really torn about that one.

[00:37:21.960] - Ed Pizza Yeah, and dining is one of those things. It isn't necessarily a big strength of the Marriott card. The chase cards are pretty weak on those categories, and I don't remember all the American Express benefits off the top of my head. But when you think about the fact that you take a car like the American Express gold card that are in four points per one dollars on dining, that's a pretty sizable bonuses compared to the other cards. And don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that annual fee is 250 where you're obviously a lot higher with some of the premium cards.

[00:37:56.360] - Ed Pizza So you get three points per dollar on the Bonvoy brilliant. I was tell the names are confused.

[00:38:01.250] - Kim Tate I know they make it. Yeah, I have their business one. I don't know which one that is. I don't have a really expensive one.

[00:38:06.490] - Ed Pizza They all have B names, but that one only earns three points per dollar on dining where you're getting four on American Express gold. So again, it's a mixed bag of things. I think if you're going to have a lot of Marriott stays, those can be solid cards for you, but I think at the end of the day it's hey, sit down and make sure you're doing the math on what you're paying for annual fee to make sure you really are getting the value. Because on that one, like a big part of why that card should be in your wallet is because you're going to use that $300 credit that it comes with at a Marriott property, because if not, then you're paying $450 for a credit card on a yearly basis.

[00:38:44.060] - Ed Pizza And that's a pretty big chunk of change.

[00:38:45.950] - Kim Tate I have the size down one on that one. I don't have that expensive one. The other one boundless or busy. I don't know why they chose to make the full you'll never know makes them hard to say.

[00:38:58.580] - Ed Pizza Yes.

[00:38:59.470] - Tamara Gruber I will say that one time I got Marriott card for a while. And if anybody has an event coming up, it's a good thing to do. Right. So I hosted my daughter's, bat mitzvah party at a Marriott, and you basically got, I think, like, three times the points. If you're hosting an event there, there was some kind of calculation that I did where I was getting points for the rooms that were booked as part of my group as well as the event itself by putting it all on that Marriott card.

[00:39:29.840] - Tamara Gruber So that's how I tried to maximize that for a while.

[00:39:33.200] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And you can even triple up and that they have a meeting planner program. So when you're planning larger events like that, you can earn points on top of those points.

[00:39:41.940] - Tamara Gruber I think that's what I did. Yeah.

[00:39:45.020] - Ed Pizza That's a great way to triple up with you, as you say, when you have things like special family events that can really maximize your earnings.

[00:39:51.480] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, as you said, we can dive into credit cards for a very long time. And I suggest anyone that really wants to get into this should definitely be subscribed to Miles to go, because sometimes you guys get into conversations on there where I'm like, Whoa, too much vernacular, too much jargon going on here because you definitely have guests that really know what they're talking about. So I would definitely recommend that. But I'm just curious. As a road warrior in so many hotels, sometimes you always want to write a post about biggest hotel pet peeves.

[00:40:22.900] - Tamara Gruber But of course, who would care? But I want to hear what are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to hotels? And are they brand specific?

[00:40:29.860] - Ed Pizza Well, and first off, I would care. So if you ever do write that, so let me know what I'll read it for me. Honestly, the biggest pet peeve that's developed over the past couple of years, and I hate to think of just the pandemic, but I think that this was lasting effects after we're done is what I've started to affectionately refer to as what I call no notice. No housekeeping. A lot of chains made changes to their housekeeping rules during the pandemic. In some cases, they weren't coming into rooms at all.

[00:40:56.890] - Ed Pizza In other cases, like Hilton, they sort of moved away from the the standard of daily housekeeping. Two rules that make it sound like can't have housekeeping on a daily basis where in most cases, you could still ask for it. But I think the notice is the big part. We're all adults here. Let us make adult choices if you're not going to offer me housekeeping, which for the 40 plus years I've been on this planet has been a standard of pretty much every hotel in the country, minus some very limited narrow set of brands.

[00:41:26.170] - Ed Pizza Housekeeping is a thing. We expect it. And so if you if you don't have enough staff or there's not enough money to do it. All those things. Just be honest about it and tell me upfront that. Hey, you're going to be here for six days and we're never going to clean your room. As with anybody in the pandemic, I can understand that hotels have gone through a real tough time not to sound sarcastic. I'm in the restaurant industry. We serve burgers and fries. If a customer pays me the same price they paid for a burger last year, I can't tell them I'm not giving them a hamburger bun today.

[00:41:56.150] - Ed Pizza I still need to give them everything that they paid for. And housekeeping. I still just one of those things that I expect as part of hotel stay unless you tell me a time. And if you tell me out of time, hey, we're not going to here are the rules. At least I know the rules going into it. It's the changing of things and not telling customers clearly hear that we're not offering just like we talked about the free breakfast thing. Like, look, it's the published benefit than I expected.

[00:42:17.600] - Ed Pizza And if you tell me you're not going to deliver it because of XYZ, at least I can make the choice as to whether or not I come stay at your exactly.

[00:42:24.460] - Kim Tate I totally agree. They've been really lazy at notifying everyone even along on booking. I understand they can't always control third party booking sites, but on their own sites, they need to be saying if the breakfast is going to be a grab and grow bag, it should be right there on your reservation page. Or if they're not offering daily housekeeping or daily housekeeping can be added on to your even if they start saying, okay, you can get a prepay rate, you can get a regular refundable rate, or you can also book a rate that includes housekeeping.

[00:42:55.990] - Kim Tate Fine, start doing that. But I think the lack of, like, housekeepers has been a big impact, and but I'm with you. Just let us know in advance.

[00:43:06.360] - Ed Pizza Yeah, just be intellectually honest with your customers. We're smart enough to figure out that nobody came in and cleaned the room, and we're smart enough to remember we weren't told. So just get it out there ahead of time.

[00:43:15.100] - Kim Tate That's the most annoying thing to me is just not knowing and then coming home expecting, especially when you're a family.

[00:43:20.740] - Tamara Gruber Right.

[00:43:20.950] - Kim Tate And you've got all of your towels are all mixed up and the kids would put theirs all over the floor, beds or carpet. And you're like, who's that never happens. You. Well, your kids are perfect.

[00:43:31.790] - Tamara Gruber And not to mention there's that one tiny garbage can that fills up within a minute of arriving.

[00:43:37.800] - Kim Tate And then for a while, when you were eating all your meals, like in your room, that worked really well.

[00:43:43.740] - Ed Pizza Yeah, I think again, like, we're all adults, we can all cope with a new reality. If you tell me. I've got to put my trash can out by 08:00 at night, and sombody's going to pick it up.

[00:43:52.060] - Kim Tate Great.

[00:43:52.600] - Ed Pizza Then I know what the standard is. If we're never going to dump your trash can for five days, that's going to get ugly.

[00:43:57.390] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, and also back in the day, you were at least given the incentive of you get some points if you bypass housekeeping with kind of I always did not trust the greenness of that. I thought it was more of a way of getting out of housekeeping, but at least you got something for for it, right? Whereas now it's like, oh, no, you have to request it like you're being a diva to request it. It's like, no, if I'm going to say that, I'm not kidding it then give me something for that.

[00:44:25.090] - Ed Pizza And the height of the pandemic when hotel rates were like, 50 or $60 a night because nobody was staying, I think it was an understandable quid pro quo. As a business traveler, I paid $300 to stay in a regular old Marriott property a handful of weeks ago and was told that I couldn't get daily housekeeping. It's like I'm paying three hundred dollars a night. That rate should have enough baked into it that you can get somebody clean the room. And if you can't understand, staffing is a big issue, but you need to communicate that.

[00:44:51.910] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I told this story recently on the podcast where I paid 250 a night to stay at a really crappy town place suites that was dirty and they didn't even have a pillow for my daughter to use on the pull out bed. It's like those kinds of things, like, no, sorry, it's taking it too far. Yeah, I agree.

[00:45:09.430] - Kim Tate So now that we've talked about pet peeves and things that are driving us all nuts, what about some of the amenities or perks that you look for when you're debating between what hotel to choose? Yeah.

[00:45:20.830] - Ed Pizza Well, we obviously talked about one of my favorites before, which were those confirmable suite upgrades at time of booking for Hyatt. So I think that's a really big one, just because I can lay that shit down when I need to for that one or two vacations a year and say, here's my ticket. I want that special room and tell me now. So I think that's a big one for me and for our family. I also think we're Hyatt and Hilton have really focused on reducing fees for folks who are on award stays.

[00:45:50.310] - Ed Pizza So resort fees for Hyatt Hilton Hyatt went so far as to say we're not going to charge for parking on award stays. And it's not that parking costs a lot of money, but it's more like the nickeling and diming of stuff when you're on vacation, like, here's another fee and here's another fee and here's another fee. So I really like that those two who chains are really focusing on removing those fees when you have a, quote, unquote free room, it's actually closer to free. And that sounds funny for folks who maybe don't redeem points a lot.

[00:46:17.830] - Ed Pizza But at some brands, there are lots and lots of fees. I know there are a lot of people that love club lounges. As our kids have gotten a little bit older, we probably use them just a little bit less because we like to get out and sort of explore local cities, if you will. And eating breakfast at a small cafe, Paris or Amsterdam or Lisbon is more appealing than hitting the lounge. But I still think lounges have a tremendous amount of value for families with younger children.

[00:46:48.040] - Ed Pizza And so as our kids have gotten older, maybe that one's a little bit less important. But, boy, did we save a lot of money on properties that had free breakfast. And actually, I think the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress was a great example of that pre pandemic. Their lounge has been closed during the pandemic, but before going to Disney World every morning, we'd have breakfast in the lounge. And I would say that's probably worth at least 30 or $40 a day for a family of four to eat breakfast somewhere.

[00:47:12.660] - Tamara Gruber Well, I'm with you on the lounges, but also one of my things that I love is free water. So it's like the Hilton will give you the bottles of water. I remember checking in with my husband to a Courtyard Marriott in Portland, Maine, and he's Ambassador level. They didn't have us an upgrade available. And I was like, Can we get a couple of waters? And they're like, oh, we don't do that here. And I'm like, Seriously, you won't give us two bottles of water and the lounges.

[00:47:39.520] - Tamara Gruber I stayed recently at a Marriott in Buffalo and had access to the lounge. And I think I was wiping them out on the water because the stuff from the tap just wasn't doing it. And they didn't have any refill stations open. So those little things Kim, knows how much I need my water. So it saves me a lot.

[00:47:57.040] - Kim Tate It seems like they've gotten rid of those communal water fill, you know, for, like, some hotels have the little jug in the lobby, but because a COVID they got rid of that. And I have a feeling that's going to be another thing we never see see return.

[00:48:10.580] - Ed Pizza Yeah, it's a good point. And I think you're the same way I am Tamara that I drink a ton of water when I'm on the road, just trying to stay hydrated wherever I am. And so that's a huge benefit for us. And you're right, Hilton is very good about offering that every time I check in like, hey, do you need a couple of bottles of water? It's also something that IoT is very good at and not to pile on Marriott. Put your comment about we don't do that there.

[00:48:35.510] - Ed Pizza It's kind of sort of like an unwritten model of Marriott. That the property sort of do what they feel comfortable with. And some properties are really good about taking care of their guests. And a lot of the other ones are like, well, there's no financial justification for us to give you two bottles of water so you can buy them.

[00:48:50.330] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they're like, there's a little shop, little. I don't know what to call it, but it's like the main marketplace. Thank you.

[00:48:57.540] - Ed Pizza Where you can pay $4 for a bottle of Aquafina.

[00:49:01.840] - Tamara Gruber well, you've been on the program before, so you know that we always ask a question about what you wear. But since we've heard that, I thought maybe we would mix it up and ask if you have a favorite type of luggage or brand for a carry on bag or a rolling bag.

[00:49:16.240] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And I'm among the minority here. So my favorite brand is Briggs and Riley. They're not the prettiest suitcases. Sometimes my wife kind of looks sideways at them because not all the bags are like the sexiest and sleekest suitcases. But my main Briggs and Riley bag is now almost 20 years old. They've prepared at a time or two. A true lifetime warranty. It's got over a million miles rolled on it. They're just really, really durable, functional bags again, not as pretty as to me, but never had a zipper break on a Brigand rally bag in almost 20 years.

[00:49:51.190] - Tamara Gruber That's amazing.

[00:49:52.420] - Ed Pizza Yeah.

[00:49:52.760] - Kim Tate There's somebody else who really loves those that I'm trying to think of.

[00:49:56.000] - Tamara Gruber Is it Eric? Yeah. Okay.

[00:49:58.130] - Kim Tate Maybe I couldn't remember. I was like, who else do I know that's a real Briggs and Riley fan.

[00:50:02.340] - Ed Pizza Yeah. I mean, I've had really good luck with them. I think the brand stands behind their bags. And I've had so many people tell me about how they tried to send there to me, a bag away to get it repaired. And it was gone for weeks and weeks, and they had to pay for shipping and all this stuff. And I'm just a no nonsense guy. And the bags just work.

[00:50:24.330] - Kim Tate Well, you have given us so much great information, but as we've already shared before, you have a lot more out there. So why don't you tell our listeners where they can find you on the line and follow along with all your great travel tips?

[00:50:34.900] - Ed Pizza Yeah. And thanks again, guys, for having me on this was a lot of fun for me. I live vicariously through some of the travel that you guys have done over the summer, and I can't wait to get back to some of those fun places. So it's always great to be on the show with you. We do publish a podcast on a weekly basis, just like you guys find me at Miles to go on all the popular podcasting platform where you can find vacation mavens. And you can find me writing at PizzainMotion.com and all the Twitter, Facebook Instagram stuff is all @pizzainmotion as well.

[00:51:06.880] - Tamara Gruber Thanks so much, Ed.

[00:51:08.100] - Kim Tate Yeah, thanks. We love having you, and we will look forward to chatting with you again sometime soon.

[00:51:12.940] - Ed Pizza Thanks, guys.

[00:51:17.060] - Tamara Gruber And we forgot to mention at the beginning of the episode, but Kim and I do have an announcement to make, and that is something that we talked about a little bit on the last episode, but is now official. We're going to Portugal, although I'm totally knocking wood as I say that because, oh, my God, things can totally come up last minute. Now, I'm like, scared. Did I just drink this? Kim?

[00:51:37.290] - Kim Tate No, no, it's all good. We're good.

[00:51:39.300] - Tamara Gruber But we're going to be in Portugal. We're going to be exploring so much of this country. Kim and I have actually gone there together in the past, but now we're going to get to Do Porto and the Duoro and Alentejo hopefully that's how you pronounce it the Algarve. We're going to the Azores. It's going to be an amazing trip. I hope that you will follow us both on social media. So Tamara is @we3travel and Kim, is @stuffedsuitcase if I get a second, I'll try to put something up on the vacationvMavens Instagram too, but definitely follow. It's going to be a fun trip, and hopefully it'll get everyone excited about Portugal potential destination for 2022.

[00:52:16.160] - Kim Tate I think one of the things I'm most excited about is we were actually working with a tour guide, Epic Travel, and they are doing Portugal tours, and they are going to be the ones leading us around. So it's going to be kind of fun to have a local guide telling us and showing us all the secrets. So that's what we're looking forward to.

[00:52:32.900] - Tamara Gruber I actually worked with Epic when we planned our Morocco trip and they set us up with local guides. A wonderful driver guide helped find those things that I wouldn't have been able to do on my own. And they really focus on that kind of soft adventure, family, unique experiences, type of travel. And so, as you know, totally up my alley. So, yeah, excited about that? Can't wait.

[00:52:57.620] - Kim Tate I think we're going to have so much fun. So definitely, as Tamara said, tune into our social media channels to follow us around Portugal. We'll be there the beginning of October, and we will chat with you again soon.

[00:53:09.110] - Tamara Gruber And Tchau, which apparently is also how you say goodbye in portuguese. Tchau.

View Details

This week Kim and Tamara are catching up on their respective August travels. Kim shares what it is like to cross the land border between Canada and the USA right now, plus what you need to know before you go. Meanwhile, Tamara almost made it to the Canadian border on her Western New York road trip, but not quite. She tells us about her eating adventures along the Upstate Eats Trail in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, New York.

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR: ROOM STEALS Today’s episode is sponsored by Room Steals.

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Crossing the Canadian Border * The land border is still currently closed for Canadians looking to enter the USA, but US citizens are permitted to visit Canada. * To cross the border, US citizens need to show a negative COVID test result taken within 72 hours of crossing (note 72 hours NOT 3 days so test timing matters). Tests need to be PCR tests done through a lab (not an at-home test). * Anyone age-eligible needs to be fully vaccinated to enter Canada and be prepared to show your vaccination card. Children under 12 crossing with a vaccinated parent may need to be tested again at the border crossing. * You also need to have a quarantine plan (identify a hotel where you would stay if you needed to quarantine in Canada.) * Canada can also do random COVID testing at the border. * You currently do NOT need a negative COVID test to return from Canada to the United States if you are crossing via a land border (anyone arriving into the US by air still needs to have a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of boarding the plane.) * You can upload all your documents into the Arrive CAN app prior to travel. * Keep in mind that if you are driving through Western Canada you will want to pay close attention to any wildfires and road closures when planning your route. * Be sure to check the Canadian government website for the latest updates.

Upstate Eats Trail Road Trip Stops * The Upstate Eats Trail runs from Binghampton to Buffalo to Rochester to Syracuse, New York with local food stops along the way * This area also has a lot of history with the Erie Canal, suffrage movement, and Underground Railroad * See Tamara's full blog post about the Upstate Eats Trail * In Syracuse, Green Lakes State Park is home to a glacial lake with a beautiful blue color like you see in the some of the lakes up in Canada. * In Downtown Syracuse, Dinosaur BBQ is a popular restaurant with excellent barbecue. * Salt City Market is a food hall in Downtown Buffalo with many different types of cuisine from Burmese to Jamaican, Thai, and more. * The Marriott in Downtown Syracuse is a beautiful historic hotel and has a great location for exploring downtown. * On the way from Syracuse to Rochester, stop in Auburn, New York at the Harriet Tubman House National Historic Site and the New York State Equal Rights Center. * In Rochester, stop at Bill Gray's for their red and white hot dogs with meat sauce. One location is right on Lake Ontario. Nearby you can grab a soft serve frozen custard Abbott's. * Rochester is famous for the garbage plate, which was invented at Nick Tahou Hots. A garbage plate has potatoes (usually fries), macaroni salad, and is topped with either hamburgers or hot dogs and covered with meat sauce, onions, and other toppings. * If you are visiting Rochester with kids, be sure to visit the Strong Museum of Play. This interactive museum focuses on play and has areas with interactive play as well as a Toy Hall of Fame and toys from different decades. * High Falls is another spot to check out in Rochester, which is a 90' waterfall in the center of town. There is a nice bridge and viewing point overlooking the falls. * Genessee Brew House is located right near the falls. Famous for Genessee Cream Ale, they now have a craft brewery and restaurant. * Buffalo is known for a wide selection of food beyond wings, 35 craft breweries, 5 distilleries, street art, history and a revitalized waterfront. * Tamara stayed at the Downtown Marriott in Buffalo in the Canalside district, which is where the boat tours leave and where you can rent kayaks, paddleboards, and water bikes. * Buffalo River History Tours runs boat tours that explain the history of the river and the grain silos that line the banks. * River Works is another entertainment district along the river that is home to ice hockey/roller derby rinks, a ropes course, a brewery, restaurant, tiki bar, entertainment venue and soon a Ferris wheel and zip lining. * Silo City is home to a large number of grain silos and elevators that are being converted into lofts and commercial / exhibition space. Duende is a fun bar in Silo City that features live music on some evenings, outdoor space, and fun cocktails or local craft beers. * General Mills still has a plant in Buffalo that manufactures Cheerios and Lucky Charms, and the area around it smells like cereal. * There are many breweries in Buffalo and one favorite is Resurgence Brewing. * Ted's Hot Dogs is famous for its spicy meat sauce. * Anchor Bar is home to the original buffalo wings. * Other local Buffalo foods to try include beef on weck, sponge candy, and Buffalo-style pizza. * If you enjoy architecture, be sure to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House. * See more things to do on a Buffalo girls' trip.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate We're saying goodbye to summer. Here's the latest of what we've been up to.

[00:00:15.440] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:29.940] - Kim Tate Today's episode is brought to us by our continuing sponsor, Room Steals. Room Steals is an extension that you can add to your browser. And while you're shopping for your next hotel room, you can see if you're getting the very best rate.

[00:00:43.230] - Tamara Gruber I don't know if I had mentioned to you, but my family is planning on doing a Thanksgiving get away this year with all of Glenn's family. It is a multi generational trip, hopefully to Aruba. It was something that was supposed to happen a couple of years ago and was cancelled. I don't know if it's going to happen, but right now that's what our plan is. And so I was like, you know what? It's Thanksgiving week. I don't think that there would be any deals on Room Steals, but let me just give it a quick look.

[00:01:08.730] - Tamara Gruber So I looked and we were going to do the Ritz Carlton in Aruba, and it looks like we could save almost $900 if we use Room Steals because it depends on what room types. Some would be like $400. Some would be 600 or would be $800. So now I need to go and tell my father in law, but he's going to pay for quite a few rooms. So if you think about if that's like $800 per room, you know, when you're doing, like, five rooms, that's a lot of money.

[00:01:37.110] - Kim Tate That's a lot of money.

[00:01:37.930] - Tamara Gruber It's a lot of money. So anyway, if anyone is thinking of planning some travel, I definitely suggest checking out Room Steals. As we mentioned, it's a Chrome browser extension that works alongside all of these different booking sites, like hotels or Booking or Expedia or even Google. And the nice thing is, you can see what the rate would be for free. And then if you want to book that rate, that's when you can sign up for Room Steals membership. And they are offering our listeners 20% off the annual membership fee with the promotion code, vacationmavens. It is Vacation Mavens. All one word, all lower case. Go ahead and check it out at Room Steals dot com.

[00:02:18.200] - Tamara Gruber So, Kim, I was hoping to use this episode to talk about our big announcement of a big trip that we're doing that we're going to see each other on for the first time in how long? I know. I don't know. I don't think we have an announcement to make.

[00:02:33.330] - Kim Tate I don't think we can announce it yet, but I can at least say what we're crossing our fingers for. We are crossing our fingers that Tamara and I will be going to Portugal in October. So I'm still hoping I'm crossing my fingers and my heart.

[00:02:49.080] - Tamara Gruber I think anyone that's trying to plan any trips right now is very much in this state of is it happening? Is it not happening? Especially if it's international. We're all trying to make the best decisions and look at the most recent information. And just recently we've gone through, do we do this or not? And we're like, okay, Portugal has the second best vaccination rate in Europe. Their cases are flattening out. They've got all these great measures in place.

[00:03:18.380] - Tamara Gruber Everything was coming together, all getting organized. We're ready to go. And it's like one of those things where just when you're about to pull the trigger, it's like because Europe announces that they are taking the US off of their safe list of countries that they're accepting into the European Union. So at first that's like, what is that going to mean? You read into it a little bit more. It looks like it probably will be mostly targeted towards unvaccinated travelers, but it's really up to each individual country now to determine what they're going to decide to do.

[00:03:55.110] - Tamara Gruber And so I think probably a lot of them will do is that you need to be both vaccinated and have a negative test for arrival and then implementing that vaccine passport that they're using throughout Europe to be able to check into hotels and go to restaurants and things like that. So it is definitely something to keep your eye on very closely as it can change at anytime.

[00:04:18.380] - Kim Tate I mean, we're over a year into this, so hopefully we've all learned to keep things fluid, but it's definitely a a situation that's up in the air. And like Tamara said, we're just trying to really follow all the rules and regulations, make sure. And the thing is, you have to make sure you're doing the research yourself because I saw someone recently. They showed up to the airport and they had done their own research and knew that they had to get a test and all this stuff. But people were at the airport and being denied their flight because they didn't have a test to show the airport check in, and they were complaining.

[00:04:52.500] - Kim Tate Well, the airline never sent us this information. They never told us this was needed, so you can't rely on getting your information from one source. You have to really kind of do the leg work yourself.

[00:05:03.120] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I think there's a lot of that, like, just not understanding what needs to happen. And I think sometimes I pay a little too much attention to the news, but you need to definitely follow all that information. I just put up a little Instagram story the other day just with some steps to take, make sure that you register for the Smart Traveler enrollment program, the Step program through the State Department, make sure you are following and read through everything on the embassy page to understand what the rules are and following those kind of resources, especially on social media, is that probably gets updated more quickly.

[00:05:39.220] - Tamara Gruber So you definitely need to get some information. But things are always changing even here in the US, right. We were just kind of talking about how difficult it is even to plan a travel podcast, because some of the things that we wanted to talk to you guys about this fall. Now it's probably not the best time to visit those destinations. So between fires and storms and other things, travel is continued to be fluid. But road trips tend to still be good. And you and I both made a road trip recently, right.

[00:06:09.540] - Kim Tate We did.

[00:06:10.360] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:06:10.890] - Kim Tate I think it's hopefully still in our ability. However, there's some interesting stuff, even with road tripping, it we had experience when we were in Canada, but yeah, I think that things right now. I mean, just as we've always said, things, you have to really pack your patience and do your research and be flexible and fluid.

[00:06:29.340] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So you got to finally visit Paul's family, which I'm so glad you were able to do that. So what was it like driving across the border? I guess both ways, especially since we're a little bit unequal partners in that. We are now allowed into Canada. But Canadians are not allowed to cross our border. So there's all these different rules to sort out. We talked about it a little bit last time, but now that you've been through it, maybe you could just talk about that would like, yeah, definitely.

[00:06:53.880] - Kim Tate So it's probably good to let everyone know what the experience was. In actuality, we got up to the border. We made good time. We were the only car at the border crossing where we went, and we were using one of the border crossings. That's not as busy up here. We have three that we well, actually, there's four that we can use kind of across the Washington, our side of the border that we do when we're traveling up to Edmonton, we normally pick ones that are a little bit further east than the traditional Vancouver ones.

[00:07:22.280] - Kim Tate So we passed at a slower location, and it was we were the only people there. We got up there and they wanted to see our passports. And then I had put our vaccine cards in my passport and it dropped, of course. And he's like, I just want your passports now. So he didn't want to see my card, but he saw that we had it. I'm guessing. So he gave that to us and looked at our passport, scan them and everything. And then he wanted to see our negative COVID test.

[00:07:52.420] - Kim Tate And so I pulled mine up on my phone. But the girls, they don't have digital ones because they're minors, so they don't have the digital account. So we had gotten print outs in advance, and he looked because I know that mine. We actually we got tested separately and mine and Mia was exactly three days before. And whereas Paul and Lizzy there was two days before, but early in the morning and he looked at his watch because he was looking for the 72 hours. So I was curious how that would work if they really hold to the 72 hours or it would be just kind of like three days before.

[00:08:28.270] - Kim Tate But he looked at his watch because ours got processed at 05:00 p.m.. And he wanted to make sure that the time that you got the test or the time that the results came for us. It was the time that the test was administered. So what happened, though, is we collected. We gave our sample probably around 1:20, but the test results said sample process at 05:00 p.m.. So there was like a holding period before they actually ran our sample. But our results didn't come in for two days after that.

[00:08:58.220] - Kim Tate But it's not based on when you're basically, I would say, is have your sample collected no sooner than 72 hours before you think you're going to pass that, you know, that border. And I know there's different rulings on if you're originating in one place and then connecting somewhere. And I think there's some stuff with that as well.

[00:09:20.230] - Tamara Gruber Well, you really have to account for traffic there, too, just yet.

[00:09:23.610] - Kim Tate I know that's what I was saying. So that's where we were, because it's like, okay, well, we want to leave the house at this time, but knowing my family, we're probably going to know we give it that time. So I want to give myself an hour cushion. But then we had, like I said, we had quite a bit of a cushion from just when the processing was when the test was processed. It was a few hours after we'd given our samples.

[00:09:48.540] - Tamara Gruber Did you do that through like, a standard state testing site. We did pharmacy or anything.

[00:09:54.690] - Kim Tate We did it through our normal clinic site. So our hospital, like our doctor's clinic has a drive through clinic set up for all the patients. And so we were able to just drive through there and do our little swabs and stick and imagine it has to be PCR. It has to be PCR. And Canada does not allow those Abbott ones.

[00:10:19.370] - Tamara Gruber Unless they've started self administered one.

[00:10:21.800] - Kim Tate Yeah, it has to be through a lab and stuff in there. They have different rules. So you just need to really make sure you're doing it the right way and stuff. So we got them and no problem. So he checked that. Now we had used the app that was the arrive can app, and I had it pulled up and in there. And again, I wonder how much they noticed this and don't ask for it then, because he didn't ask us for vaccination cards, and he didn't ask to see the app.

[00:10:46.760] - Kim Tate But I had it already, like in the hand on my lap. So then we got through. It's kind of funny how we did this because we drove separately. So Paul and Mia were right behind us, and they got up there and he wanted to see their arrive can, and he wanted to see their vaccination cards in addition to everything else. So I don't know how that worked, but yeah, so we had everything in order. So we had the arrived can filled out. The tricky thing about the arrive can is they actually make you create a quarantine, not create, but tell them what your quarantine plan is because because they can spontaneously request a test at the border.

[00:11:24.150] - Kim Tate And I'm guessing this is done more when you're flying. But I did have a friend recently say that it happened to their kids because they weren't able to get vaccinated. But those tests don't come through for three days or can be three days. And so when they give you the results, they've already let you into the country. But when they give you the results, if you're positive, you have to go into quarantine immediately at that point, and you have to follow that plan that you input into this app.

[00:11:52.290] - Kim Tate So we just put that we would stay at a residence in that was near his family. So that's just something to be mindful of that you do have to know what your arrangements will be. And you can't just say, oh, we'll just stay with family because it has to be in a situation where you can not touch or be around anyone else. So you have to be able to get your own food. You have to be able to not be with anyone who is not part of your traveling party.

[00:12:18.500] - Tamara Gruber Well, that's challenging. But you didn't have to make a reservation just in case.

[00:12:23.220] - Kim Tate No, I did not have to make a reservation. They just wanted to know what you would do. And I thought for some people who were going to Vancouver, I wondered if you could just put your home address in there and say, hey, I just turn around and go right back home.

[00:12:35.540] - Tamara Gruber Right.

[00:12:36.050] - Kim Tate But I don't know if the US. So that was the other. So then we get to the other flip side of it, which was once. The reason we drove up separately is because we actually parked one car at the airport, and we were driving up to together to visit Paul's family. And then we were able to me and I flew back early on our own to at an airport and picked up the car and drove home because she had a camp that started the day. And normally we do that drive in two days.

[00:13:00.300] - Kim Tate It's a little long for a one day drive. So we had that experience when we were ready to cross back in the border, we went through the same again, very small border crossing, and it was closed off. And so I was a little worried because I was like, okay, I didn't check the hours. But it was like, 10:00 a.m.. I was like, sure, truly, it's open at 10:00 a.m.. Maybe it's a weekend. And there was a border patrol agent there and got out of his car and it was like, pull forward.

[00:13:25.670] - Kim Tate And I was like, okay. And I rolled down the line. I'm like, Is this crossing not open? And he's like, Well, the border has been closed since March of 2020. Don't you know that? And I was like, no we are Americans. And so he's like, sdo you have American passports? And I was like. Yes, here they are.

[00:13:42.030] - Kim Tate And so he looked at him and he took them. And I was like, we're just visiting my husband's family, my in laws. And we're just coming back home. And he's like, okay, and move the thing. And he's like, drive forward to the booth. So we drove forward. I went through the process. And that was so like, they didn't want to test. They didn't want anything. They were just like, welcome home. Then we went through.

[00:14:02.340] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I was listening to the Miles to Go podcast. And he also recently had gone up to Canada, I think, to visit family. And apparently you don't need a test to come back into the US when you are at a land crossing. Yes, you only do for a flight. Which seems so odd. I don't know why you wouldn't just have the same rule. But did you know that ahead of time, I had you gotten tested, just in case.

[00:14:27.690] - Kim Tate When I recorded the previous podcast, I had mentioned that we were going to buy those Abbott Binax and just do a testing. But then I had two friends who had both crossed recently. One had been crossing regularly to visit her family, and then the other one had just gone up to visit his family. But both of them said they've never been. There's nothing with testing required when you're crossing at the land border. So we did not buy those Abbott tests. And we just took it at words at the word.

[00:14:56.040] - Kim Tate And sure enough, they did not ask for any kind of test. So interesting. Yeah, it is kind of interesting. I don't know how that works, but we're thankfully lucky enough that we didn't have to do that extra step and expense.

[00:15:07.050] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Glad everything worked out and that you have a family.

[00:15:10.620] - Kim Tate It was so nice. I'm so glad we went. And it was good to be around my, you know, one niece, she had a new baby. So we were able to see him. And it was great.

[00:15:22.310] - Tamara Gruber It was nice.

[00:15:23.400] - Kim Tate We went to West Edmonton Mall. So for those people are curious, we didn't do it. We did mostly just hang out with family. But we did go out to eat a couple of times. They had some patio seating. And with it being summer, it was actually really nice to be in Edmonton and we went to West Edmonton mall, and the girls got some back to school shopping done. And we happened to be during a big hockey tournament. So there's a bunch of kids playing. They have a big ice rink in the middle of their West Edmonton wall.

[00:15:53.520] - Tamara Gruber As they do in Edmonton.

[00:15:54.990] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. It's like, is anyone surprised that they have a big hockey rink? If anyone doesn't know West Edmonton mall, I used to be kind of the largest mall in North America, and it and Mall of America, which is in Minnesota. I think they used to go back and forth. I don't know who's the current reigning champion because they would add on and do different things. But anyways, while the girls were shopping, we kind of stood and watched the kids play a hockey tournament. And it was a fun, very Canadian that.

[00:16:27.300] - Kim Tate Yeah, it was. And we got Tim Hortons coffee. So Tim Bits, it was a very Canadian esque situation. My sister in law is actually a pilot, a small plane pilot. She's working up her. She just got commercial pilots, but she's working up her hours and stuff. But she took Paul and the girls up in her little four seater plane up for a flight one day. So that was another fun thing they got to do. And they loved that. It's neat. Yeah. I stayed on the ground.

[00:16:56.350] - Kim Tate I did not go.

[00:16:57.540] - Tamara Gruber I'd be in after my one experience with the glider plane. I'm okay on small planes.

[00:17:04.130] - Kim Tate I remember when you and I have that chance to go on the helicopter in Ireland.

[00:17:09.170] - Tamara Gruber And we both were like.

[00:17:10.250] - Kim Tate No, maybe not a good idea.

[00:17:11.750] - Tamara Gruber See the helicopter for me is more about the motion sickness.

[00:17:15.560] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's what I was worried about.

[00:17:17.180] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I was little planes. I'm just not a fan of the little plane inside.

[00:17:20.680] - Kim Tate Yeah. For me, I was pretty sure that I just know I'm not a calm flyer. Like I have fear flying. I used to have it really bad. And then as I flew more, I've gotten over it. But turbulence and stuff is just a problem. But I also know on the smaller planes, the motion sickness would really get to me if I couldn't be looking out continually and stuff.

[00:17:42.110] - Tamara Gruber Especially when they're like, oh, let's Zoom in to see the scenery. I really enjoyed our float plane that we did in Alaska when we went to see the bears and stuff, but it was short. So I did get to the motion sickness wasn't too bad, but yeah, well, I was up right near the Canadian border. I thought of you.

[00:18:01.870] - Kim Tate Exactly. You didn't quite cross. Yeah. Had you considered it?

[00:18:04.910] Initially, I was tempted. But it's funny because a friend of mine met me in Buffalo, and I'll explain the trip in a minute. But she's from New Jersey, and she actually never had Tim Hortons, which here in New England. There are some Tim Hortons around okay. So it's not like a brand new thing, but she was like, oh, what is that? I've never heard of it. And we're like, what have you never heard? It's important. So anyway, we're very used to our Dunkin Donuts here.

[00:18:29.570] - Kim Tate And, yeah, that's something. I don't even know if I've ever had a Dunkin Donuts. I can't think if I ever have.

[00:18:37.360] - Tamara Gruber Well, you know, I'm not a coffee person, so I don't get into that hole to be all I can evaluate the Donuts.

[00:18:43.490] - Kim Tate Yeah, I have to say that Tim Hortons, I like Tim Hortons more than McDonald's, but that's about where the level is at. So for people who are wondering, it's not like, you know, in Seattle, I'm so spoiled because we have a coffee stand booth of, you know, like, small source coffees at every corner. So it's a little different. So it's definitely like, drive through coffee. So I don't know if I could compare honestly what Duncan ones versus McDonald's versus Tim Hortons. I don't know if I could do any justice to that in there.

[00:19:13.740] - Kim Tate Yeah, but, yeah, I want to hear all about because I know you went up to Buffalo to do a big foodie trail. So what was that like?

[00:19:20.150] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I had talked to the tourism board from Visit Buffalo back in January. So this is a trip that they hosted me on because what intrigued me about Buffalo is it kind of has some similarities to where I live here in Providence. They talked about a big revitalization of their waterfront, a good foodie scene, craft breweries, things like that. So I thought, you know what that sounds like a fun summer getaway summer or fall. I didn't really want to go up to Buffalo in the winter. And so they've put together this entire Upstate Eats trail.

[00:19:55.190] - Tamara Gruber So it's really more Western New York. You could hit Binghamton, which is down more like Upstate, but a little closer to where the Finger Lakes and then cut through the Finger Lakes up to Buffalo. What I did, though, since I'm coming from Rhode Island, is I went right across Interstate 90, and I stopped first in Syracuse and spent a night there, and then one night in Rochester and then three nights in Buffalo. So I got to experience three stops along the Upstate Eats Trail and kind of got to see the unique foods of that area, which I just have so much fun discovering what foods are really unique and special.

[00:20:34.050] - Tamara Gruber And sometimes it's just like a twist on something like a hot dog. But it's just the thing that they have up there. So I found that when I moved to Rhode Island, so many people that live in Rhode Island have lived there all their lives, and they may not recognize that these things are not everywhere. But when I moved to Rhode Island, I'm like, oh, there's so many very unique foods. And I remember writing a post about the must try foods in Rhode Island. So it's become my thing to really discover those unique foods that you only find in certain places.

[00:21:04.500] - Tamara Gruber And I found a lot of other things along the way because that area just has so much history between the suffrage movement, the Underground Railroad, just overall industrialism and stuff. There's just so much history to explore there, too. So there were a lot of places in between those cities that I wanted to stop at. That I didn't always have a chance to. So I did a few on the way back. I'm working on a whole blog post that I'll link to in our show notes when this comes out about the different stops along the way.

[00:21:35.150] - Tamara Gruber But, yeah, my first surprise was that when I got to Syracuse, they have a glacial Lake there. That is that beautiful color that you see, like in Canada. I'm like, wait, I didn't know that we had this in New York, but then Syracuse, downtown. Syracuse is big for the University, Syracuse University, but it has a good downtown. There's a lot of diversity there. I didn't have. I didn't get a chance to do some of the things I would have liked to have done because it was a Monday in museums and some other things were closed.

[00:22:08.220] - Tamara Gruber But it's also that area is because of the Great Lakes. You see so much distribution and things. So the Erie Canal was a huge deal in terms of getting goods from the Great Lakes down into other parts of the state. So they have an Erie Canal Museum. And there's also stops along the Underground Railroad. They're in Syracuse. So the thing that I got to do, of course, was eat. I asked people, where should I eat? And certain places always came up in Syracuse. It was dinosaur barbecue.

[00:22:44.720] - Tamara Gruber So it was just like a big, famous place for barbecue. Which is funny. I was actually in my grocery store yesterday, and I had to buy a barbecue sauce, and I saw that they have dinosaur barbecue sauce. I'm like, either I've never noticed that before or I just didn't know where it came from. Right.

[00:22:59.330] - Kim Tate Right. Yeah.

[00:23:00.260] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:23:01.080] - Kim Tate Like the sauce, right.

[00:23:02.610] - Tamara Gruber I didn't realize that that was a restaurant. So I did that. And then kind of just spent my time walking around town. And then in the evening, I went to they have a food hall.

[00:23:12.710] - Kim Tate I love those.

[00:23:13.800] - Tamara Gruber So this food Hall, Salt City Market, was right next to the hotel where I was staying at, which was like a Marriott, which was beautiful. It was an old historic hotel that had been renovated and changed into a Marriott. And the food hall had all kinds of different cuisine. I had, like, I think I got a Jamaican meat pie. And then they had another place they made, like, homemade, I think, a peach pie, different things. They had Vietnamese and Burmese and Cambodian. So tons of different cuisines that you could try and sample.

[00:23:44.870] - Tamara Gruber So that was the cool thing. I always like when I see these kind of interesting food experiences. Yeah. Definitely.

[00:23:51.200] - Kim Tate We were talking about that when I was in Irvine. It's neat because we get so stuck in kind of the standard stuff. And maybe when you're traveling far away, you think of it. But yeah, that's nice.

[00:24:00.980] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And then in Rochester, I went up. Well, first I stopped like an Auburn, and I stopped the Harriet Tubman house and did a tour there, just trying to take in a little bit more of the history. I've been through this area a couple of times and stopped at a few historic sites. And we're trying to put it all together at some point that I've seen a lot of it and also in Auburn, and they have an equal rights. It's like a New York State equal rights center.

[00:24:24.520] - Tamara Gruber So it deals with women's rights, civil rights and LGBTQ rights. So it's like this whole kind of all of the luminaries within New York who have fought for equal rights of some type. So that was an interesting little stop, too. Then in Rochester, I went to a place called Bill Grays, and they're famous for their red hots. So the red hot and their white hot. So apparently it's like you're talking about.

[00:24:52.000] - Kim Tate Like, the candy, right? No.

[00:24:53.610] - Tamara Gruber Exactly.

[00:24:54.210] - Kim Tate Oh, sorry.

[00:24:55.140] - Tamara Gruber I'm talking about hot dogs. Okay.

[00:24:57.600] - Kim Tate Sorry.

[00:24:58.410] - Tamara Gruber It's confusing, right?

[00:25:00.280] - Kim Tate That's what I thought.

[00:25:01.210] - Tamara Gruber Too, when I saw the red hots listed. So there's just all these different hot dog joints. They use specific hot dogs that are produced there. And this particular place, Bill Grays, has a white one. So it's like a white hot dog. Kind of looks like a sausage or something or what. But it's not those bright red hot dogs that you've seen. And sometimes in Maine, those are just kind of crazy from outer space. Hot dogs. There's kind of like a regular hot dog or a white hot dog.

[00:25:31.170] - Tamara Gruber But they put a meat sauce and onion and a bunch of other stuff on it. I'm kind of used to usually and onions. Yeah. But it's not chilly. It's kind of close. So that's kind of what makes it unique, like, where you go. And I know how there's always like, oh, I like this one because they do something in their particular style. I think everyone develops a style that they like. So anyway, I try to wait one just to see what it was like. And it's fine.

[00:25:59.910] - Tamara Gruber So I did that. And then I was right on Lake Ontario there. So I took a little to walk on the Lake. And every time I'm on the Great Lakes, I'm just amazed by, of course, how big they are. But you and the beach also felt like it was a nice, soft sand beach. And this is actually really nice.

[00:26:15.840] - Kim Tate You know, that's an area I've never been to or discovered. So that's nice. I think it's I'm sure it feels like it's overlooked by a lot of people. But I'm sure there's a lot of people who know about it. Probably it's probably got a great tourism industry.

[00:26:29.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. But I don't think when you think of New York, you think generally, of course, New York City, you think maybe the catskills, the other index, the finger likes things that we've talked about. And I think this section of Western New York isn't thought of as a tourist destination unless it's Niagara. But I will say Buffalo is only like half an hour from Niagara Falls, so it's easy to add in a few days there and expand what you can do in that area. It's also there's a lot of great ice cream stand.

[00:26:59.900] - Tamara Gruber It's a lot of this kind of, like, fast casual types of food. It definitely brought my tum along, but it was fun to explore the different styles. But one thing that they have in Rochester that is just so cool is the Museum of Play. And I've heard about this for a long time. Everyone always says it's something you have to do when you go to Rochester. So even though I wasn't going with a kid, I was by myself. I still went to the Strong. It's the National Museum of Play, and it has this whole reading area where it's focused on different genre or characters from books.

[00:27:38.710] - Tamara Gruber And it's like an amazing children's Museum, but with a real focus on play. So there's an area where it has toys from different generations. There's a Toy Hall of Fame. So it kind of reminds me of a place that you and I went to in Kansas City.

[00:27:55.550] - Kim Tate Where in Kansas City.

[00:27:57.130] - Tamara Gruber Where you look back and you're like, oh, I remember light bright. Remember that. Remember all this kind of different toys? So there's, like, the nostalgia factor. But then there's also an area where there's a whole Sesame Street thing or like a movement thing where you're building paper airplanes and learning, trying to see how far you can make them fly. There's a Wegman, which is like the big grocery store chain up there. So it's like the little like you would go to at a children's Museum where you're pretending to shop and pretending to check out.

[00:28:27.820] - Tamara Gruber And I imagine if I lived up there, I would have had a membership and been taking my kid there all the time. So much fun. They had a whole butterfly garden. There were, like a pinball arcade, like another type of arcade, just so much to do. That's very interactive. You could easily spend hours and hours. They are you're with kids. So if you do make it to that area with kids, definitely check out the Strong Museum of Play and also downtown. There's this area called High Falls.

[00:28:59.080] - Tamara Gruber That is basically I think it's like a 90 foot waterfall in the middle of town. It's like one of these surprising things that you're in the middle of what feels like not industrial city. But you have a strong presence there of Kodak and some other large commercial buildings. And there's really interesting architecture downtown. So you don't really expect to see this big waterfall in town. There's a great bridge that you can walk and get a good view of it. It's right by the genes. Have you heard of Genesee Cremale?

[00:29:33.210] - Tamara Gruber Jenny Cream ale? Is that just like an East Coast thing?

[00:29:36.130] - Kim Tate But I was like.

[00:29:36.780] - Tamara Gruber I haven't heard it very much. I think what people's grandfather's drink, it's like an old cream ale. So it's like one of the breweries that's been around for a long time. But now they still produce that. But they also have more of, like a craft brewery side as well. So I actually had dinner there because it's kind of like the next generation of these original breweries. And I did not try the cream ale, but I tried some others, and those were pretty good. And the other thing that Rochester is really famous for is called a garbage plate.

[00:30:06.930] - Tamara Gruber So it's one of their famous dishes that was created. And I was feeling exactly. It was so funny. I was talking to the tourism in person, and she was saying like, yeah, some people are like, why would you want to advertise your city with something with garbage in the name? But at the same time, so many people search for that because they know that that's the thing to eat there. So it's like, where are you going to get the best garbage plate. So I went to the place that invented the garbage plate, which is like a total little hole in the wall kind of place.

[00:30:35.970] - Tamara Gruber But now everywhere you go for dinner, if it's a casual place has their version of the garbage plate. So they might call it the everything plate or something like that. But it is basically like a pile of French fries, a bunch bunch of macaroni salad, which is like a strange combination to begin with, topped with either like burgers or cheeseburgers or hot dogs without buns. And then on top of that, just like this meat sauce and onions and ketchup and mustard. And who knows what else?

[00:31:07.910] - Tamara Gruber I'm not even sure. So it's just like this pile of carbs and meat I just presented to you on a plate. It's pretty funny. I think it's the kind of thing where if you are looking for something after a late night, it would hit the spot. I was really surprised at the place that I went to that originated it closed at, like, six. I'm like, is this more like a two in the morning kind of thing to eat?

[00:31:31.730] - Kim Tate Maybe they need to open up a thing in Colorado or Seattle? I'm just kidding.

[00:31:42.760] - Tamara Gruber But it was good to experience that because it was something that everyone's like, you got to try the garbage plate.

[00:31:47.830] - Kim Tate Yeah, it sounds. I don't know.

[00:31:50.500] - Tamara Gruber Oh, well, I like fries. So fries.

[00:31:53.420] - Kim Tate I like fries, but are you talking about macaroni salad, like the creamy potato salad thing?

[00:32:00.080] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I thought it was going to be like, Mac and cheese. Yeah. But it's like macaroni salad, like the mayonnaise based one. Yeah.I like macaroni salad, like on a picnic and stuff.

[00:32:13.160] - Tamara Gruber But, like, apart from the so it would not be good for the people that are like, I don't like my food touching.

[00:32:19.670] - Kim Tate Yeah. Exactly.

[00:32:20.800] - Tamara Gruber Definitely not good.

[00:32:21.680] - Kim Tate My husband is not one of those people. He would probably be if he ate meat. He would be all over it, I'm sure.

[00:32:29.170] - Tamara Gruber But it's something like if you go there, you have to try it. Try it.

[00:32:32.870] - Kim Tate No, that's awesome. I'm glad you tried it. So you could report back. I'm sure there's some people listening right now on this podcast. They're like, oh, yeah. I'm craving one right now.

[00:32:40.240] - Tamara Gruber And people were, like, telling me where to go to favorite was funny. Yeah. But then I drove from Rochester over to Buffalo, and Buffalo was definitely so fun. I mean, if you're looking for a place where there's a wide selection of food, it's not just Buffalo wings. There are 35 craft breweries, five distilleries. There's a ton of street art. They have all these different areas that they've developed along the river front that are being revitalized. There's history. So there's a lot to do there now pretty busy for our three days there.

[00:33:19.270] - Tamara Gruber So we had a great time. It's like a lot of what interests me. I think when you go to a place and luckily, the friend that met me, there was not somebody that travels a lot, but she was really happy to have discovered something that she would have never thought to go to. And I was like, That's what I love to do. And she's like, Well, I need to travel with you more often. I'm like, yeah, come along.

[00:33:40.060] - Tamara Gruber So it was fun. But a couple of things that I'll call out. So we stayed at the downtown Marriott in Buffalo, which is a rate in the Canal Side District. So this is an area that has different boat tours going out from. We took one called the Buffalo River History Tour, and there's also one that go out more onto Lake Erie. And you can also rent kayaks and paddle boards and even those water bikes if you just want to explore the river front on your own. So you can do all of that rate in this Canal Side district.

[00:34:14.370] - Tamara Gruber And there's also a naval or more of a military ships park there. So if you like to climb onto an old naval ships and submarine, that kind of thing. So that would be a fun thing to do, I think, with kids as well. And it's just an area where they have, like, a carousel. And there's a little beer garden, and they do a lot of outdoor events. So they would do music there. I know the day that we were checking out, I look down from our hotel room and you could see this big lawn.

[00:34:42.550] - Tamara Gruber And there was a big yoga class taking place out there because it's very community driven to have a lot of entertainment, like free entertainment available for people as well. So that's one area there's this other area called River Works, which was about a mile from where we were staying. But we walked because it was pretty easy. And there they actually they're building out more of a whole entertainment center or district. I should say they have a couple of ice or roller banks, so they will do curling, their ice hockey, roller Derby.

[00:35:18.610] - Tamara Gruber They have a ropes course. There's a couple of bars there's a brewery, there's a Tiki bar. There's one of those floating Tiki bars that leaves from there as well. And what they're building right now is like a Ferris wheel. And then they're going to have zip lining between grain silos and some other rides and entertainment there. So it's going to be like this whole district. There's quite a bit of it. They are already and you can tell that they do concerts because the inside of the one restaurant was huge and clearly had a stage where they would have live entertainment.

[00:35:52.540] - Tamara Gruber So definitely like a fun place there. And another section that's being developed. It's called Silo City. So one of the things that Buffalo is really famous for is all these green silos, because their position on the Great Lakes, like corn and wheat would come in from the Midwest. And then they would put it onto trains or into the canals or whatever. And they would also process some of it there. They're actually still a General Mills plant there. And so when you're going by, it smells like Cheerios.

[00:36:26.580] - Kim Tate That's funny.

[00:36:27.570] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So like Cheerios or I don't know, something very sweet, because what's the one with the little leprechun, Lucky Charms, because they have a mural right next to the plants with those two things on it. So I'm like, really, it makes you hungry when you're near there that they have the largest collection of green silos in one area in the world. But a lot of them are abandoned now. And so when you go along the river front, you learn about this history. You see all these big old structures, but they're like, prime real estate for developing into different kinds of things.

[00:37:01.820] - Tamara Gruber So some of them this area of Silo City, they're into, like, lofts. And so that will be like part residential, part commercial. And they have an entertainment space and some of them or they will do, like art exhibits or poetry readings or live music, something like that. And we went to one of the bar. Well, there's 1 bar that's there as well called Duende, and we went good cocktails, local craft beer. And they had live music playing outside or just like a very cool settings. So there's a lot of these cool little places, you know, when you're just walking somewhere and you're like, oh, this is neat.

[00:37:40.820] - Tamara Gruber This is cool. This is not chain restaurants or overly busy, overly commercial. It has this nice modern vibe to it. And so we took a walking tour one day, and we met at one of the breweries called Resurgence Brewery. And again, that was a really cool space that felt like it was probably an industrial building and that's been transformed into this brewery. And that's something that we see here in Providence a lot, too. And great beer. So it was a lot of fun. And we definitely did a range of things for the food scene.

[00:38:16.420] - Tamara Gruber We went to Ted's Hot Dogs, which is famous for their spicy meat sauce that they put on their hot dog, of course, went to Anchor Bar because Buffalo wings were invented there. Okay.

[00:38:28.330] - Kim Tate I never knew. I figured it's funny how that becomes such a thing. Are you a Buffalo Wings fan to start with?

[00:38:37.160] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I love buffalo wings but I like them crispy with a lot of sauce.

[00:38:44.110] - Kim Tate I don't like the skin to be kind of rubbery. No, I like it crispy. And I also like lots of sauce. It's tricky finding those, because so often I find that they're not fried enough.

[00:38:57.580] - Tamara Gruber I agree. And I actually will say I Anchor Bar not my favorite wings that I've ever had, but it's definitely a tourist attraction. It's the kind of thing where you can buy swag from the T shirts and all that. And it's like a food challenge.

[00:39:10.850] - Kim Tate Like you have to eat a plate of wings to earn a shirt or something.

[00:39:13.750] - Tamara Gruber All the locals are, like, the only people that go to Anchor Bar, the tourist.

[00:39:18.380] - Kim Tate But fine.

[00:39:19.130] - Tamara Gruber They have a good business for that. Everyone has their own favorites, and they also have Buffalo style pizza. They have something called sponge candy, which I remember when I was told about it. I expect it to be like those marshmallowy kind of candies that you get in a sampler box. But it's not. It's actually like the circus peanuts kind of. And I wonder if it was going to be like that, too, but it's actually more of like a coffee, like a square, like an inch square crunchy butter crunch or coffee type of candy.

[00:39:51.880] - Kim Tate So I'm near bubbles in it. That's where it's sponge.

[00:39:55.240] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And actually, what we found out was if you just leave it out when it's not sealed, then it I get spongy. It was not as crispy the second day. Yeah, it wasn't, again, my favorite, but it was interesting to seek it out. And it's just one of those things that you see everywhere, and people just don't understand that you don't know what sponge candy is.

[00:40:15.440] - Kim Tate Yeah. That's funny.

[00:40:16.850] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it was fun just exploring all of that. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy the kind of things that I talked about, then give it a shot. Actually, I was looking into flying there, and I think they have direct flights from 20 different cities across the country, so maybe easier to get to than you might expect.

[00:40:38.980] - Kim Tate That sounds cool. It sounds like you had a lot of good experiences.

[00:40:41.870] - Tamara Gruber We did, and I got to hang out with a friend of mine that I used to be very close to. That just don't get to see very much anymore. So that was nice as well. The other thing we did was we visited one of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses.

[00:40:53.960] - Kim Tate Oh, yeah. I saw that.

[00:40:55.130] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:40:55.630] - Kim Tate That's the one architect I knew. And you were like, which architect? Yes.

[00:41:00.260] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Exactly. I know it's pretty easy between his style and the fact that he is probably the most famous architect. It's an easy guess, right?

[00:41:08.980] - Kim Tate Exactly. Well, it sounds like we both had kind of a nice little end to our summer, and you got to eat some good food. I got some good family time. And now, as we mentioned earlier, cross our fingers that we will see each other in person in October.

[00:41:24.520] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. We will let you guys know so you can follow along. Yeah. Otherwise, good luck with back to school shall even mention that that are going back to school.

[00:41:33.890] - Kim Tate Should you even mention what?

[00:41:35.330] - Tamara Gruber That we both have seniors?

[00:41:38.320] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:41:38.540] - Tamara Gruber I know.

[00:41:40.330] - Kim Tate For those of you who know that we are in the stressful College application time frame of our lives right now, right?

[00:41:49.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, especially for me. It's like the last is the last that it's like.

[00:41:55.330] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:41:55.960] - Tamara Gruber The thing of having only one is that it's your first and last at the same time.

[00:42:00.130] - Kim Tate Right? I guess for me, it's also the first one. I feel kind of guilty because my first one's kind of mad that she didn't know more advance. And so she's telling her little sister everything and making me feel really bad. Why didn't you have me take more AP classes?

[00:42:15.740] - Tamara Gruber I'm like. I don't know. So anyways, well, I'm pretty sure if you were, like, take all of these AP classes, she would have said, I don't want to take all these AP classes.

[00:42:27.260] - Kim Tate Well, it's just weird. It's sad how competitive it's gotten because she doesn't love history and routine, so I would never push her into those APS. So she took all the APS she could with math and science. But when you're going against people who've had seven and ten APS, it's a little hard to show up before, but she's a great student, and I'm sure she's going to end up where she's supposed to end up and have a great College experience.

[00:42:54.170] - Tamara Gruber I and Hannah will tell her she's better off that she didn't take a push because it's not really fun class.

[00:43:01.900] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:43:02.200] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. Yeah. So anyway, best of luck to everyone out there this year, back to school because obviously continues to be challenging.

[00:43:12.660] - Kim Tate Those who are going back to school. Enjoy your travels. I'm on your time not having to manage it, but, yeah. Thanks for joining us again. And we will look forward to talking to you guys again.

[00:43:23.260] - Tamara Gruber Soon. Take care.

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We all know Cancun, and maybe even the Riviera Maya, Tulum, or Playa del Carmen...but did you know there is so much more to the Yucatan Peninsula? This week we chat with Rossana Wyatt from Life is Full of Adventures to learn more about the Yucatan state of Mexico, Mérida, Mayan ruins, and other things to see on the Yucatan peninsula.

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR: ROOM STEALS Today’s episode is sponsored by Room Steals.

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To learn more, visit roomsteals.com. That’s roomsteals.com and use promo code vacationmavens to save 20% off your membership to Room Steals, and we thank them for their support.

About Rossana Wyatt Rossana is a gluten-free lifestyle & travel writer specializing in family & solo travel, she loves discovering new foods & adventures on her journeys as she explores. Rossana tells the stories of the destinations she has visited, sharing her love of travel, her wanderlust and enticing her readers to explore these places on their own.

When she is not traveling, Rossana works as a social media strategist in the tourism industry. She brings people and brands together, creating campaigns that build awareness and community, while building influencer relationships.

Where to Go in the Yucatan, Mexico * Cancun is part of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean-facing side of the Yucatan Peninsula * At the moment, you don't need to quarantine or test to enter Mexico but that is subject to change. Keep in mind to that return to the U.S. or Canada you will need a test to return to your home country and many hotels do on-site testing. * Keep in mind that Mexican citizens are only about 27% vaccinated so you need to be aware of keeping the local community safe as well through masking and testing. * When you get beyond Cancun and into the state of Yucatan, there is so much history and culture to explore. * Instead of flying into Cancun, to explore the Yucatan, it actually makes more sense to connect through Mexico City and fly into Merida, since getting from the Cancun airport to Merida is a bit more challenging if you aren't driving. * Chichen Itza is about 2.5 hours from Merida and the beach is 30 minutes from the city center. * Las Coloradas has pink sand salt pond beaches is about 1.5 hours from Merida. * Unless you speak Spanish well or know the area, it is best to join tour groups or private tours from Merida.There are many beautiful haciendas just outside of the city that have their own pool or rooftop patios if you want more privacy, but there are also beautiful boutique hotels in the renovated haciendas within the city. * You could also split your time between Merida for the city vibe and Progresso on the beach. * Cenotes are fun to do with kids as you can swim through these ancient sinkholes. Be sure to shower first and don't wear sunscreen or creams. Just keep in mind that the water is from underground and is chilly. * Izamal is known as the Yellow City and was named one of Mexico's "Pueblos Mágicos" in 2002 that are recognized for their magical qualities. It is a beautiful city to explore and is built on an ancient Mayan city and the ruins are scattered throughout the city. The Convent of San Antonio de Padua is one of the most well-known buildings in the area and has the second largest atrium next to St. Peter's in the Vatican. You can still hear Mayan spoken in Izamal. * Izamal would be a great place to stay overnight to have more time to enjoy and soak in the magic of the city and enjoy the wonderful restaurants.Valladolid is another great town to visit, and it has a cenote in the middle of the town. * Plan to visit the Mayan temples and buildings in Chichen Itza and Uxmal. At Uxmal you can climb on the buildings. * Chichen Itza has an amazing evening light show that also covers a lot of history. * There is also a driving route that explores Ruta Puuc and ruins near Merida including: Kabah, Labna, and Sayil. * There are also plantation-style hacienda or farms to visit. * It is important to look up safety warnings for each specific city/state that you are visiting before you go. * It is recommended to drink bottled water or using water purification processes. * Carrying cash is best for small towns but don't carry large amounts, carry it in different spots, and be aware of pick pockets. * You may need to adjust your meal times to local customs. * Always wear sunscreen and dress according to the weather. * Hurricane season is usually late summer to early fall. Spring is an ideal time to go because it is very hot in the summer. * Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate Dive into Mayan culture this week as we talk about the Yucatan Peninsula.

[00:00:16.070] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.710] - Kim Tate This week's episode is again brought to us by Room Steals. Our listeners may remember that Room Steals talked to us in Episode 185, and it's all about using a Chrome browser called Room Steals that works alongside booking sites to make sure that you're getting a wholesale price for that room. And what you do is you install the extension and then you shop for a hotel like you normally would on your favorite booking site, whether that's something like Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia, or even Google.

[00:00:57.390] - Kim Tate And then once you've done your search and pick your hotel, Room Steals will show you a pop up to see if that room is available for a cheaper wholesale rate. When you click on that pop up, then you can book the room directly through Room Steals. Downloading and using Room Steals is totally free. You can just install the browser and be able to see if they can get you a better deal. If you want to book the discounted rate, you're going to have to pay an annual membership fee, and our listeners are going to be given 20% off their fee with the code Vacation Mavens Again, Vacation Mavens.

[00:01:28.260] - Kim Tate So if you travel more multiple times a year or even if you're shopping around, the nice thing is that you get to test it out before you pay. And it's possible that you'll make up the annual membership fee in savings with just one trip. So go ahead and check out Room Steals again. It's an extension. And then if you use the code Vacation Mavens, you'll save 20% off your membership, and we thank them for their support.

[00:01:50.680] - Tamara Gruber And if any of you guys have already signed up for Rooms Steams and had some savings, please let us know. We'd love to share what you've saved and what your experience has been. So, Kim, it sounds like you had some good news recently with the Canadian border opening and maybe you get a chance to go see Paul's family.

[00:02:09.490] - Kim Tate Yeah, we're really excited. I'm still crossing my fingers that it all works out, but we are planning to finally get to go see Paul's family. It'll be the first time we've seen them in two years since we haven't been able to travel either way. And so we're really looking forward to it. And Canada did come out and say that they would welcome vaccinated Americans and our family of four all qualifies as that. So we're excited to hopefully head up there and visit his family.

[00:02:38.670] - Kim Tate Finally.

[00:02:39.260] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. It's still a little complicated. From what I understand, but I know that you've dug into it a lot deeper, obviously, because you are going to have some Canadian family come stay with you. And now you're going to go stay with them. And so can you kind of walk our listeners through what are the things that people need to be aware of if they want to go visit Canada right now from the US?

[00:02:58.640] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. So I think that's the first thing to mention is that this is Canada has said that they will allow vaccinated US citizens to come up into Canada. There are testing protocols, which I'll talk about later, but the US recently said they are still keeping the borders closed to Canadians. So that was a big for non essential travel. So that was a big hindrance. So our family can't come see us, however we are able to go up to them. But like I said, there are a few things that have to be done in order to make that happen.

[00:03:30.860] - Kim Tate And I just want to specify right now the information is still very unknown a little bit. It's a little up in the air. And there's also how it's being handled if you're flying into Canada versus if you're driving across the border, it's a little unknown about how exactly things will be handled with that. But right now, the policies that I know of and that is currently being released is that in order to cross the border into Canada, you have to be vaccinated. And they have one of those apps.

[00:04:01.370] - Kim Tate It's called I think it's called ArriveCan. And you use that app to help upload and share your vaccination information on that app, as well as you have to have a PCR test done within 72 hours. Now, this is a tricky one where Canada has actually said they have not mentioned that they will allow those Binax that the US is allowing. They actually want it to be done at a laboratory type facility. So whether that will adjust and they'll start allowing those tests, I'm not sure.

[00:04:30.840] - Kim Tate So right now you would have to go get a test done at a lab. And so we'll be scheduling that. And again, it has to be 72 hours before your travel day and those results that are uploaded in your app as well, then you're allowed to cross the border. And when you cross the border, there are, this is where I say you have to keep checking because it's a little unsure of whether they will require you to test. Again. I think this might be a thing where they'll do spot checking if you're flying into an airport and maybe as well, if you're crossing at a land border, they might spot check and say, okay, you need to pull over and get tested.

[00:05:04.080] - Kim Tate Again. I'm not sure how that's going to actually work out once it opens on August 9. So that's how you're covered there, and you can get into Canada, and that basically you're exempt then from the quarantine, which being vaccinated to exempt you from that. So right now, Canada had been saying that you could come into Canada with all these tests, but then you would also have to quarantine for 14 days, and their quarantine was pretty strict. You had to have separate facility like you couldn't just go stay with your family.

[00:05:33.680] - Kim Tate You had to have completely separate facilities, which which was not doable for most Americans or US citizens wanting to visit into Canada.

[00:05:43.170] - Tamara Gruber Right. I don't really want to sit in a hotel room for not much to pay for a hotel.

[00:05:48.340] - Kim Tate Yeah. Exactly. So that's where that all comes down to. And then the other part of that, then is the US is still requiring Americans who are traveling back internationally to be tested 72 hours before they cross the border. And so what we're actually going to do is have those rapid test and take them up to Canada with us. And hopefully that will take care of it, because the tricky thing is, and this was part of the thing when we originally thought Canada was just going to require tests.

[00:06:17.210] - Kim Tate Our Canadian family was trying to figure out how they would get tested in the States without having to pay $150 per person. And there wasn't a good option at that time. Whereas, you know, for most US citizens, we can go and testing and vaccines are covered by the US government right now for easy to go. Yeah. But for a Canadian who doesn't have US insurance to be able to prove they would have to pay out of pocket. So that's one of the other. I think over time, as things work out, it'll maybe become a little more easier to navigate.

[00:06:52.940] - Kim Tate But then when the United States came out and said no, they're going to continue to extend the closures, it became an on issue because it was two whammies. They couldn't get around either.

[00:07:03.520] - Kim Tate So that's kind of the situation

[00:07:05.290] - Tamara Gruber and a couple of things that come to mind when I'm listening to you talk about that. Like, number one is I've noticed because every time I get basically anything, I go get tested if I feel like a little bit rundown. So I've noticed that a lot of the testing sites around me are closing end of July, something like that. So I think we've gotten used to as Americans having a lot of access to testing, thankfully. And I think that it's not that it's going to be more limited, but there's going to be fewer testing centers.

[00:07:36.440] - Tamara Gruber So you might have to plan a little bit more in advance. And to understand, you might have to drive a little further. Or you might have to book your appointment a little bit earlier to make sure you get the time slots that you want things like that to keep aware of. And then on the way back, I know we mentioned when we were talking in the episode we talked about in Greece, but the next text that you can buy, like a CVS aren't the ones that are valid for travel back to the US.

[00:08:00.980] - Tamara Gruber So just make sure for people that are considering it, to get the ones that are qualified for that.

[00:08:06.400] - Kim Tate And you have to buy those. I did some reading and research. I had an article which we can link to in the show notes, but I think it's through. I think it's Emed. It's kind of a random website where you can buy them and you buy them as a six pack for $150. And the other tip that they recommend is that they recommend, actually, if you're really relying on traveling, that you buy each person should have two, just in case there's an inconclusive or if there's any issues in administration, I don't think we're going to travel with eight.

[00:08:38.960] - Kim Tate I think we'll have the the six pack and hope that the two extras will cover our family of four if we have an inconclusive or if we need to redo one. But just a mind just for everyone to be mindful of. It's something to keep in mind.

[00:08:51.980] - Tamara Gruber We were debating that because we're planning on going to Aruba in November and who knows what the situation will be and if the world will change, whatever. But just thinking ahead, we're like, oh, if testing isn't available down there, maybe we would buy one six pack for the three of us. I'm like, I don't know. Maybe we should at least get two. Yeah. So it's definitely something to think about. I wonder you don't want to be stuck without anything?

[00:09:16.580] - Kim Tate Well, the Caribbean and Mexico have been so great about at least the tourist resorts. All inclusive resorts are really going out of their way to make sure that US citizens have access to testing. So that is kind of one benefit. And I'm sure I guarantee you, in Canada, it's probably not too hard to figure out a way. And once we were up there, I could be able to figure out a way to go get tested. And it would probably literally cost us $23 out of pocket or something knowing how they handle their medical right there.

[00:09:48.940] - Kim Tate But just we didn't want to risk that.

[00:09:51.850] - Tamara Gruber I'm actually heading to Buffalo, New York, and I will be up there right after the border opens. And part of me was like, oh, maybe it's really close to Niagara Falls. Maybe I should just swing by. I've been to Niagara Falls before, but just for kicks, when you're so close, you feel like you should just go. And I'm like, oh, and I can just walk across the border then. I'm like, yeah, but how am I going to get the get tested to think about usually something like that.

[00:10:19.530] - Tamara Gruber You could literally just walk across the border on the bridge, walk back an hour later, but more things to think about.

[00:10:26.130] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely.

[00:10:27.320] - Tamara Gruber I'm glad I'm happy for you that this is finally happening. I was very excited. Glad you'll get to see family. And hopefully this will be a positive sign for things moving forward. I know there's been movement in terms of visiting the UK as well, and we'll just see, obviously everything is constantly changing, so definitely everyone needs to stay vigilant and keep up with the news. But I guess it's a positive sign for now. Right.

[00:10:58.620] - Kim Tate Yeah. We're going to take it as that. And we also talked about just trying to be more mindful of watching our own exposure during the time we're up there. And then also leading up to the week two weeks before we leave because we don't want to make all these plans and then have everything fall through because one of us test positive. And so that's the other thing is you really don't want to test positive. If you're doing all these tests, what will happen if someone test positive?

[00:11:27.260] - Kim Tate So make sure that you guys are all thinking ahead of what is the worst case scenario. What do we do if that happens? Yeah.

[00:11:36.640] - Tamara Gruber We are about to talk to a Canadian and we're going to talk to her about our neighbor to the south. Yeah.

[00:11:43.790] - Kim Tate We're covering all of North America.

[00:11:45.380] - Tamara Gruber To stay tuned, we're going to talk about the Yucatan.

[00:11:58.320] So this week we're here with Rosanna Wyatt. And she is a gluten free lifestyle and travel writer specializing in family and solo travel. She loves discovering new foods and adventures on her journeys. As she explores, Rosanna tells the stories of the destination she has visited, sharing her love of travel, her wander last and enticing her readers to explore these places on their own. When she's not traveling, Rosanna works as a social media strategist in the tourism industry.

[00:12:23.550] - Tamara Gruber She brings people and brands together, creating campaigns that build awareness and community while building influence to relationships. So welcome to the Vacation Mavens.

[00:12:34.940] - Rossana Wyatt Thank you. So nice to be here.

[00:12:37.480] - Tamara Gruber And I guess we should specify that you're in Canada.

[00:12:44.720] - Rossana Wyatt I'm located just west of Toronto. We are in across the border.

[00:12:50.840] - Tamara Gruber Across the border that by the time this comes out be open once again.

[00:12:55.960] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah, it will.

[00:12:58.890] - Kim Tate At least one way I was going to say which way it'll be open.

[00:13:01.410] - Tamara Gruber That's true.

[00:13:02.030] - Rossana Wyatt A and then all that depends on what's happening with the variants as well.

[00:13:07.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, of course. Right. But we're hopeful. So before we dive into our topic, today is going to be about places in the Yucatan. And before we talk about that, I just figured as we're talking about changing guidelines and rules and all that kind of stuff, I know people are already thinking about winter break and spring break even. Do you have any insight that you can share for right now? Obviously, we know the situation is always changing, but for people that do want to visit Mexico from the North America, either the US or Canada.

[00:13:40.760] - Rossana Wyatt Well, I at the moment, there really aren't any rules about quarantine. They do like you to have tests, but then again, they're not strict about it. They do have protocols in some areas are more strict than others. So depending on where you're going to be heading, of course, all hotels will have access to the testing information for when you're coming back, because there are going to be different expectations where you're coming back across the border and restrictions. But there are going to be specific protocols according to where you are going to be going.

[00:14:16.260] - Rossana Wyatt But all hotels, most public places will have specific, I guess, disinfection and cleaning protocols in place, and many places will still have masking going on. But Mexico is just starting to ramp up on their vaccination schedule. So there are people that I know that won't be getting their vaccines until sometime in October. And that's the first one, whether it's Canadians, Americans when we're going over. And even though we're vaxxed, we still have to remember that we may have protection for ourselves, but we can be carrying that symptomatically, and we have to be careful where we're going and making sure that we're being safe for everyone else as well.

[00:14:59.330] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah.

[00:14:59.570] - Kim Tate That's a great, great insight. And I think people don't always see that that it's not just like you're safe. It's also about doing your part as a world citizen and making sure that you're keeping the communities that you're visiting, keeping those people safe as well. Exactly.

[00:15:14.270] - Rossana Wyatt And when you're heading into different areas that don't have the vaccination rates that we have here, we have to be extra careful because we can be annoyingly spreading it further. So although we keep ourselves safe, like you said, we need to make sure everyone is safe.

[00:15:33.290] - Kim Tate Yeah. And I think it's also just important that we all know how this has been such a fluid and quick changing time. And so the best thing to do is when you're researching whether you want to travel, is researching exactly where you're going and what the rules and regulations are for that there'll be rules. Like you said, the United States or Canada will have their own set of rules on getting back into the country. And then, of course, Mexico, depending on which state you go into, will have their own protocols depending on when you're visiting.

[00:16:02.570] - Kim Tate The best thing to do is to research that probably at that time.

[00:16:06.480] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah. And then, as I said, they do have most of the towns and cities within the States themselves will have different areas where you can have access to testing so that you can get it before you come back to your own home state or home province.

[00:16:21.740] - Kim Tate So I know a lot of all inclusives were doing that to try and get their tourists back because they will make it as easy as possible.

[00:16:27.740] - Rossana Wyatt Which makes it very nice because then you don't have to go finding right. Right there. Yeah.

[00:16:33.400] - Kim Tate Well, we will jump right in then. And obviously, Cancun is what most people think about when people start thinking about the Yucatan Peninsula, and it's considered popular, affordable destination, popular with families. But it's nice to know what else there is to do beyond that hotel strip and all inclusive and everything that so many people are used to. And so can you help maybe talk about some other areas of the Yucatan Peninsula that you're going to be talking about today and focusing on?

[00:17:02.620] - Rossana Wyatt Absolutely. Yes. And as you said, most people know about Cancun and the different areas around there. But there is so much more to the Yucatan peninsula itself it encompasses both UK and Quintana Roo. As you said, most people know Cancun is the beach destination, and it is a big hub that people fly into. But the Yucatan itself has so much history and so many areas to explore. The Mayans are there's so much culture in history in the Mayan civilization, and most of that was centered around the Yucatan itself, which is right next to Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located.

[00:17:45.260] - Rossana Wyatt The history, the beaches, the ancient ruins there are so many cenotes as well, I'll bet, are located all over the state. They are also located in Quintana Roo, but you'll find many more within Yucatan itself. But there are historic cities and haciendas to visit. So there's always so much more to explore. And the food is actually kind of cool because what they do is they do use a lot of their cultural and bring that back the history into the food. So you see them cooking with fire in pits in the ground as well, which is actually quite neat.

[00:18:17.970] - Rossana Wyatt And they have their special little spices that they use. So there's so much in the Yucatan area itself to explore.

[00:18:24.300] - Kim Tate It sounds like what you're describing also is just a much more culturally aware visit than just an all inclusive on the beach. It's nice that if people are actually wanting to understand a little bit about the history and the culture, it sounds like this is the kind of vacation that you might want to plan.

[00:18:40.440] - Rossana Wyatt Yes. Absolutely. And it's so great, especially if you have kids. There is so much history there. And it's really cool to see that be able to actually see the physical most of the pyramids within Yucatan. You can't climb because they want to make sure that they don't get ruined because they've been around for so many years. But there are a couple that they still allow the kids to climb on and to explore and to sort of climb into. And it's neat for them to even see they sort of step into history, because that's what you're doing.

[00:19:12.870] - Rossana Wyatt You're stepping into those historical sites and you're stepping into that history, which is really amazing. And then when you have some of the Mayan gods go through and they're telling you the retelling that whole history and what they're doing and what things were for, what buildings were used for. It's really quite cool.

[00:19:31.660] - Tamara Gruber Well, I remember my very first time that I flew. My very first time that I went out of the country was with a Spanish trip from high school. I think I was 16 and we flew to Mexico City and then to Merida. And can you maybe help our listeners understand if you wanted to visit Yucatan, the state of Yucatan, and see some of these ruins and things like that, where would you fly into? Where would you base yourself? And then maybe if you moved around a bit like, where are some of the top places that they should look at staying?

[00:20:06.560] - Rossana Wyatt Well, actually, you did it perfectly because you go into Mexico City and you can fly into Merida from there and then you can base into Media. Then everything is located fairly close to there, Chichen Itza, which is one of the main ruin sites, is about two and a half hours from Merida. You have the beach, which is like 30 minutes from Merida. Then you have La Coloradas, which are about, I believe, an hour and a half from Merida. But then there are smaller ruins as well.

[00:20:40.250] - Rossana Wyatt Within an hour drive an hour and a half drive from Merida. So everything is pretty central to Merida, so that's probably one of the better places to fly into. If you were to go to fly into Cancun, it can be a little bit more difficult to get to that area if you're not driving.

[00:20:56.520] - Tamara Gruber So it's not as easy to get a connecting flight there.

[00:20:59.350] - Rossana Wyatt No, not from Cancun. But Mexico City has many flights into Media throughout the day so that it is easier to do that. But if you wanted to to drive, you could fly into Cancun and then drive into it's about 3 hours. If you're going from Cancun to Merida it is about a three hour drive.

[00:21:20.280] - Kim Tate So are you recommending then would you say people should rent a car and have their own car? Or do you think it's better done as kind of like tour group or day trips or hiring a driver? What would you say is the best way to if you are basing yourself out of Merida.

[00:21:38.080] - Rossana Wyatt if you're basing yourself in merida, tour groups are probably one of the better ways to go unless you can speak the language and you can hire a driver. So that would probably be the other option is to do some of the the tour. They have many tour groups that will go out to different destinations or you can hire to me honestly, if you don't know the area and you don't speak the language quite well, I think it's probably best that you stay with a tour group itself that will go out that has different time schedules and things that will be going out through the day as I said many of these things can be done on day trips.

[00:22:17.080] - Tamara Gruber And do you find would it be good to rent a Hacienda if you are a family or better to stay at a hotel? Do you have any places that you would recommend?

[00:22:26.990] - Rossana Wyatt There are some incredible haciendas within some of the cities. The Hacienda themselves are absolutely beautiful. Sometimes they have their own little pool and some of them have some rooftop patio that you can take a look at and see the rest of the city. And they're really well taken care of. But they're also the one hotel that we stayed at a a beautiful and closed courtyard with a pool. So some of the buildings are they're all a colonial architecture and they're just absolutely stunning. And they take all that in and work it in with upgrading some of the interior of the buildings.

[00:23:02.150] - Rossana Wyatt But I would stay in a smaller boutique hotel, which they've sort of taken some of the Asian doesn't turn them into these but hotels. Or if you wanted to go out of town for a little bit and rent Hacienda itself, that would be another option, depending on the size of your but I think one of the smaller boutique hotels within the city is probably a great place to start.

[00:23:30.500] - Kim Tate So I have a quick question. I say family is going to spend a week down there. How do you recommend maybe like what are some of the beaches or cities or something they should check out? Or do you recommend they split their trip between two destinations? So how would you recommend, like what are the must see kind of in that region? If they had one week? And how would you time that?

[00:23:53.160] - Rossana Wyatt Well, Progresso. Like I said, Progresso is only a 30 minutes drive from Merida, the beach there. So you could certainly either if you wanted to base in progress or you could even do that and then stay away from some of the business of the city. Not that it is that busy compared to some, but Progresso would help get the feel of the beach area. And you could relax, have a few days relaxing there, and then also go into the city when you wanted to be able to do that.

[00:24:20.800] - Rossana Wyatt But then again, you probably they do have a great transportation as well, so that you could go back and forth. But the cenotes is probably a fun sort of thing for would be a fun thing for the kids, because they're the ancient sink holes that the Mayans used to use for a groundwater and depending on some of the rituals and things like that, and also they're great for swimming for the kids because it's a different experience and they're absolutely stunning. The no two sites are like either, and some of them are quite small and some of them are quite open.

[00:24:59.630] - Rossana Wyatt They would be fun for kids to explore. But the other thing is you have to make sure that when you're swimming in the cenotes that you shower, most areas will have shower facilities before because they don't want you going in with any kind of creams or anything on you, because that can hurt whatever plant life is within the site itself.

[00:25:17.890] - Tamara Gruber Is it like the one in Riviera Maya, where there's some organized where you to tube through, or is it more like go on your own?

[00:25:27.810] - Rossana Wyatt Well, they do have some where you can go, but you don't tube through any of them. Some of them you can go down through stairs. They're actually just like a hole. You go to specific areas you drive up, and there's like a little area where you shower and stuff. And then there's a staircase that's taken down, and some of them are not that deep, but they are not in the same they're not the same as you see the ones that they show through Cancun with that you're going through in these different little boats to different little caves and things like that.

[00:26:02.410] - Rossana Wyatt But they're not like that at all.

[00:26:03.640] - Tamara Gruber The water still very cold.

[00:26:05.610] - Rossana Wyatt It is it is, but it's just they have this I had this huge way of sunlight coming in, and it's just absolutely spectacular. It's so magical just to see it. And as I said, no two are alike because they're different sizes. There's different vegetation growing. They're different depths. But it's a cool experience for kids to sort of be able to jump in. And some of them, they have these ropes that you just sort of swing and you jump in and others you can sort of walk in, but not all of them.

[00:26:40.330] - Rossana Wyatt So they're all different.

[00:26:42.130] - Tamara Gruber So you never get going to get the same feeling from are there certain ones that are more famous or ones that you would really recommend? Or is it really just you kind of ask the hotel where to go?

[00:26:51.040] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah. And then actually, one of the cities has a note in the middle of the city, but you just kind of have to go with the tour group that will take you there because you can just rent a car with a driver and they'll take you out there and you can go out for the day or even take a side trip out there's. Also, aside from the Cenotes themselves, just some of the cities as wonderful historic city. Izamal is known as the Yellow City, and it was named Pueblos Magicos in 2002 by the Mexican government.

[00:27:28.140] - Rossana Wyatt They're basically towns are recognized for the quote, their magical qualities, whether it's their incredible beauty, the rich history, or some extraordinary Legends that they're known for. But this city is when you look at all the yellow, it's this beautiful, rich goldish yellow. And it truly is magical seeing it everywhere with the colonial architecture and this hue of yellow. But it gives the city kind of an energy. And this city is actually built upon ancient Mayan city and you can see some of the ancient Mayan ruins here and there.

[00:28:08.210] - Rossana Wyatt And the convent of San Antonio de Padua is one of the most well known buildings in the area. And apparently it is the second largest, quote atrium after St Peter's, the square in the Vatican. And it's a big cultural significance as part of the homage for Catholics as well. So that's another big draw for many people. It's a very small town. And as I said, you can actually hear the Mayan language spoken because it's still spoken a lot of the homes there so that they retain a lot of their cultural qualities.

[00:28:42.200] - Rossana Wyatt And it's a beautiful city. Like I said, the energy and the light just seen that all the Arc protector just in viewed with this incredible color.

[00:28:52.600] - Tamara Gruber Is that one that you would maybe stay out overnight or still just visit on a day trip?

[00:28:57.290] - Rossana Wyatt I would stay overnight only because actually there are a couple of different little areas there, and they have a lot of, I guess, what you would call sandos, but they're all little homes that you can rent, and they have their own little sort of courtyard, and they're just absolutely stunning. The city itself just walking around. And the people are so warm. It's really quite beautiful. And of course, they have many wonderful restaurants as well. And with the food. So it's always nice to be able to integrate that because that's part of their culture.

[00:29:31.300] - Kim Tate So I know you mentioned some of the cenotes and you said Progresso is a great beach to go to. And then, of course, you just talked about a Izamal that sounds like a wonderful little town. What are some of the other highlights that you think if people are spending time in that region, where are some other places they should check out or plan to visit?

[00:29:50.620] - Rossana Wyatt Well, Valladolid is another city. It's a very colonial town. It has a lot of historic buildings and plazas. And this one also has the Cenote in the middle of the town, the one that I mentioned. But along with Chichen Itza, there is another one about an hour and a half from Merida Uxmal U-X-M-A-L, and this is the one that I was mentioning that they let people sort of climb all over and actually go through. And it is larger or an area in ground area, then Chichen Itza is, even though Chichen Itza is more well known to people.

[00:30:28.540] - Rossana Wyatt So there is also a driving route if you wanted to take hire a car. And it explores different Mayan ruins near Merida itself. It's called Ruta Puuc. And it goes across the hilly forest and train, and it passes up three different Mayan ruins. They are the Tie Pac and Lana, which I know that you probably didn't get all of it, but I can install them out if you want.

[00:30:59.500] - Tamara Gruber If you can give them to us, we can put it in the show notes. So anyone can look it up there.

[00:31:04.760] - Rossana Wyatt And they lead all those if you're following that route along, they will actually lead to their Mayan ruins at Kabah. So there's that. And there's also outside of Merida itself, there are lots of haciendas that are known. The people in Yucatan know as Hacienda are these big plantations very similar to the plantations in the US. So they were big, sprawling manufacturing and farming States at the time, especially around the turn of the century, when they did a lot of the crop is the Hannekin or Sisal. So they were very popular back then.

[00:31:45.290] - Rossana Wyatt And then once all the synthetic fibers came to be, they sort of started to fall back and unfortunately lost a lot of the work because of the synthetic fibers. So right now, a lot of those haciendas are being restored and they're being used as big event venues. But there are also some of them also have a lot of the manufactured area sort of still there. And so they do some of the tours through some of those areas. So many are turned into luxury accommodations, but they still retain a lot of those production areas.

[00:32:19.350] - Rossana Wyatt So you can actually tour them and learn what the unique history and the Hannekin production itself, because it was huge. The production from the Yucatan was sent out all over the world, and these cases became quite wealthy until, as I said, the synthetic fibers came to be small.

[00:32:40.640] - Tamara Gruber Uxmal, If I'm pronouncing it correctly, that was the first place that I went on my little trip with my Spanish class, and I have a picture of me climbing the pyramids so that you can still do that, although I remember being very steep and very little scary coming back down.

[00:32:55.590] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah. Ok. Uxmal, unfortunately, because of the erosion and everything else, they really want to try and keep as much as many people off of it as possible. Yeah. The one thing I have to say is the fact that we can to have an evening light show, which is really quite cool because they go through a lot of the history and they explore why they moved to certain areas and how they did certain things and stuff. But then we also did the sunrise tour, where we were the only group out there.

[00:33:30.830] - Rossana Wyatt And you could just watch the sunrise over the ruins, which are still just incredible. And you could see how they would see it first thing in the morning. And it was really quite spectacular. So I would recommend that if they can.

[00:33:43.210] - Tamara Gruber There's so much emphasis on early mythology and things that I always go back to the Rick Riordan books that brought so much interest to Percy Jackson, the Greek and the Romans, and then they be Egyptian. But my daughter has always been very fascinated by Mayan culture. And also it's just absolutely amazing when you are there and you realize the knowledge and how much was learned. I remember I think it was Chichen Itza where it's like on the Solstice, it looks like the way that the light hits, it almost looks like a giant snake is coming down the side.

[00:34:14.380] - Tamara Gruber It's mind blowing. And so I think for kids that are interested in some of these, like, I don't want to say just mythology, because these are ancient cultures, but the beliefs of ancient civilizations and things, it really is a great place to absolutely.

[00:34:31.580] - Rossana Wyatt And the best thing is when you're talking to one of the guides, the Mayan guys, they had it handed down to them. And there are really only a handful that know the actual cultural aspects of the historical aspects, because even though some of the languages carried on, not everything is passed along. So it's neat to hear how everything, how it's been down and so much of the history itself. But yeah, it's absolutely incredible. And it really boggles your mind how much they knew and how much what word I'm looking for, how progressive they were, I guess, because of everything they knew, they were such they were so lightened for the time that they were in.

[00:35:15.270] - Rossana Wyatt Does that make sense? Yeah.

[00:35:17.390] - Tamara Gruber Until you talk about the sacrificial well.

[00:35:21.230] - Rossana Wyatt I wasn't talking to it. Yes. Absolutely. Yes.

[00:35:24.920] - Tamara Gruber I know exactly what you mean. Well, I know one of the concerns that people have when traveling in Mexico, especially in a region that is not dominated by resorts and all inclusive and things is just around safety. It sounds like you're mostly talking about doing some guided tours, which obviously you don't have to worry about wandering off on your own there. But do you have any thoughts just about safety in this particular area?

[00:35:50.280] - Rossana Wyatt Well, actually, I found it very safe because even though I was part of the group itself, I was staying somewhere separate from them. So I would walk back and forth on my own. And then I actually had some time on my own. So I went to explore in and around Merida on my own so that I had no worries about trying to explain that area. Izamal was the same because I ended up walking back and forth from where the others were staying. And like I said, it was just walking in another.

[00:36:22.910] - Rossana Wyatt I felt just a safer than walking here in my area here because people they were just regular people from the town. And I didn't have to worry about anything. And even in Merida, which is much larger and they're much more people, I had no worries about safety. Obviously, you don't want to be going and doing something silly and standing out like a sore thumb. But my daughter says that I look over that could fit into the different crowds and stuff. So I don't know it's with anything else.

[00:37:00.360] - Rossana Wyatt Don't do anything that you wouldn't do at home and don't stick out like a sore thumb.

[00:37:04.990] - Tamara Gruber Well, and I think it's important to you here in the US, at least. I'm sure Canada has something similar. But you can look up safety warnings and things about places that you're going to visit. And I think it is important to dig down into the particular state or city that you're visiting and not just look at kind of country level or something.

[00:37:22.010] - Rossana Wyatt Yeah. And every state is going to be different. There are some States within Mexico that have a little bit more crime, and what you do is you stay away from them. Even areas within Quintana Roo that people don't know about, they're more well known are the ones that people know about the crime that are going on because Quintana Roo more popular areas. So crime there is more well known, I guess, in a sense. And people tend to just sort of stick to their resort areas. But within the Yucatan itself, you can certainly go out and go on to different tours and not really worry about them so much.

[00:38:03.920] - Rossana Wyatt So because it is one of the safer areas in Mexico.

[00:38:07.500] - Kim Tate It's good to know and have your insight on that. So do you have any final tips to wrap up about traveling to the Yucatan that you think people should keep in mind those trusty travel tips, somebody who's been there?

[00:38:22.470] - Rossana Wyatt Well, the water is purified most within the Merida, the city is getting most of the purification done. But the thing that you had to remember some of the tanks because a lot of those buildings have big tanks that they used to hold. This is cisterns where they used to hold the water. And because they have been all upgraded, even though the water itself may be purified, it isn't always what comes out. Does that make sense? Yeah. So it is always good to make sure that you're wary of that.

[00:38:56.930] - Rossana Wyatt So you're either drinking bottled water or you have something that may help disinfect your water itself. Like I have one of those water bottles that actually it's called the crazy cap that actually purifies water itself. And that helps a lot because it just sort of cleans the water. I can put in water from wherever it'll purify it and clean it. And that way I have water on demand all the time. I but the other thing is maybe carrying cash is best instead of credit, because not every place if you go, especially if you're going into a small town, everyone has the credit capability.

[00:39:34.010] - Rossana Wyatt You'll also be able to barter a little bit more when you're carrying cash and don't carry large amounts. And as always, just be weary because I mean, they're pick pockets everywhere and people the flight bump you never know in carrying in different spots. But the same thing with pretty much anywhere you go, don't carry a lot of cash. If you do carry can make sure you carry it in different places. And you'll also find that if you're looking, especially with families, because you tend to eat at a certain time.

[00:40:02.750] - Rossana Wyatt You also have to remember that in certain villages you won't find or towns cities you won't always find everything open. So you kind of have to accommodate meal times to according to when they're going to be open. Restaurants and cafes will be open. I think that's it for one, but always wear sunscreen as always, because it's very hot. It is very hot there and try and dress cool because it can get quite humid and the heat you don't always depending on where you're from in certain areas, but you feel heat a lot more.

[00:40:34.200] - Tamara Gruber What about when it comes to when to travel? Is there a rainy season? Is it often hit by Hurricanes or the times to avoid or better times to go?

[00:40:42.850] - Rossana Wyatt Well, Hurricane seasons are always the early fall is usually more of a Hurricane season, but I think I've been in October and it was fine. But with anything, things change really quickly, so it's just a matter of just keeping an eye out when things are going to be happening. It gets very hot in the summer months down there. So spring is probably a good time to go and really fall.

[00:41:17.560] - Kim Tate Perfect. So we will wrap up with our question that we ask all of our guests and that is what do you wear when you travel? Do you have any favorite go to that you like?

[00:41:26.830] - Rossana Wyatt I don't have any favorite. It goes. I prefer wearing dresses because they tend to keep me cooler on scores when I can't when you're hiking or whatever. But I guess more than anything is just sandals and shoes that give me extra support, like Keens and Clarks. I tend to go to those more than anything else because then I can have a pair of shoes that doesn't look so horrible and I can wear them with a dress. And then I can also wear them hiking and they keep my feet cool and support it.

[00:41:57.100] - Tamara Gruber Well, before we close out, if you can remind our guest where they can find you online and sell your travels once Canadians can start traveling again.

[00:42:07.180] - Rossana Wyatt Well, I'm Rosanna Wyatt on all social platforms at Ross A-N-A-W-Y-A-T-T, pretty much most of those social platforms. And then you can also check out my rating and life is full of adventures com, but those are mainly the places that you can find me.

[00:42:27.760] - Kim Tate Great. Thanks so much for for joining us and giving us this insight into the area beyond Cancun. We appreciate your time. I look forward to sharing more about this area.

[00:42:38.180] - Rossana Wyatt Well, thank you very much for having me and for allowing me to share. As I said, the area around Yucatan is just amazing. We can certainly learn so much more about the Mayan culture and there is more to that Peninsula then just at the Cancun and the Riviera Maya and Playa Del Carmen. .

[00:43:00.940] - Tamara Gruber Sounds good.

[00:43:01.910] - Rossana Wyatt Thank you. Bye.

[00:43:06.460] - Tamara Gruber Well, that wraps up another week on Vacation Mavens, and we think Room Steals for their support. Please go check out their Chrome browser extension and see what kind of money you can save on your upcoming travels. And I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. Next time we'll talk to you. I guess we'll be in that whole back to school time.

[00:43:24.470] - Kim Tate Yeah, thanks for joining you guys. Talk to you later. Bye.

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Wondering what it is like to visit Disneyland now that California is reopened? Want to hear about a fun place to stay near Disneyland that makes a great family vacation? Tune in this week while Kim shares her family's experience in Disneyland and Irvine, California.

About Our Sponsor: Room Steals Today’s episode is sponsored by Room Steals.

Listeners may remember Room Steals from our discussion on finding hotel deals in Episode 185, but Room Steals is a Chrome browser extension that works alongside existing booking sites to show you what the wholesale price is for that room.

Just install the browser extension and search for a hotel as you usually would on Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia, or Google. Once you’ve done your initial search, Room Steals will show you in a pop-up if that same room is available for less. If it is, you can click on that pop-up and book it directly through Room Steals.

Downloading and using Room Steals is free; however, if you want to book a discounted room you have to pay an annual membership fee. Listeners can save 20% off the annual membership fee with promo code vacationmavens.

If you travel multiple times in a year, the subscription will quickly pay for itself. One listener already saved $400 using Room Steals on her first booking!

To learn more, visit roomsteals.com. That’s roomsteals.com and use promo code vacationmavens to save 20% off your membership to Room Steals, and we thank them for their support.

Tips for Visiting Disneyland (Summer 2021) * Disneyland reopened this spring and is now allowing out-of-state visitors, and has been steadily increasing capacity. * The parks are crowded and they have not yet restarted Max Pass so you have no choice but to wait in long lines. * The rides have also been breaking down frequently this summer, making it harder to ride all the rides that you want to get to. * At the time, they were no longer offering annual passes, although there was a special for California residents. A new annual pass plan has recently been announced. * When you purchase tickets, you need to make a reservation for a specific day to visit and which park you want to visit. * Park reservations can be booked 120 days in advance of your visit. * If you are visiting in less than 120 days, make sure you look at the availability calendar before booking your trip. * If you purchase a Park Hopper ticket, you can hop to the other park after 1 pm. * Two rides require boarding group reservations on top of your ticket reservation. You can try to claim a boarding group beginning at 7 am, and they are usually gone within seconds. Another opportunity will begin at noon, but only if you have already used your first boarding group or if you didn't have success in the morning. * Those two rides are Rise of the Resistance in California Adventure Park and the new Avenger's Web Slingers. * You need a Park Hopper ticket to be able to get two boarding groups/virtual queues within the same day. * To get prepared for how to snag a spot in the virtual queue for Web Slingers, check out this post on Trips with Tykes. * Mobile ordering for food is getting better but still a little spotty. * It is best to plan on eating off hours and bringing snacks to tide you over. * Kim stayed at the Hotel Lulu, which is nearby Disneyland and newly renovated. There are pharmacies on the corner, which are great for stocking up on snacks and drinks. There is also a Starbucks nearby. * Hotel Lulu, which was recently taken over by Red Lion, is a good budget option. * They are often allowing guests to go through security and the turnstiles before the opening time so for a 8 am opening, it pays to arrive around 7 or 7:10. * It pays to stay in the Grand Californian hotel for easy access to the parks but the hotel pricing is $800+ right now so finding a nearby alternative helps the budget. * If you stay at one of the Harbor hotels you can still take a break in the middle of the day. * Just keep in mind that the hotels around Disneyland are suffering from major staff shortages this summer. * Also keep in mind that car rental shortages and pricing continues to be an issue as well, especially with the smaller, non-airport locations. Auto Slash is a good option for finding deals on rental cars.

Tips for a Family Vacation to Irvine, California * Irvine is where the John Wayne / Orange County airport is located, which is the closest Disneyland * Kim stayed at the Marriott Irvine Spectrum hotel, which was a nice way to decompress after a few days in Disneyland. * The hotel has a nice pool and a rooftop bar on the 16th floor that is popular with locals and guests. * There is also a Club floor that provides access to a lounge with snacks and drinks. * Boomers is a cool family fun park with go karts, putt putt golf, laser tag, an arcade, and all kinds of games. * Irvine has one of the lowest hotel occupancy taxes in California. * Tanaka Farms in Irvine is family-owned and is a non-profit that donates food to people in the area. You can do a U-pick tour on a wagon tour and you can pick the produce that are in season. * Irvine is also known for its outdoor hiking paths. * Irvine Spectrum Center is a large outdoor mall with a ton of restaurants and the Great Wheel ferris wheel. There is a lawn with a stage and they have live music. * Irvine is also home to the Orange County Soccer Club, which is fun to watch and is near the Great Park Balloon. * Diamond Jamboree is a great spot to find authentic Asian cuisine.

Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.060] - Kim Tate It's summertime at Disneyland, listen to find out what it's like right now.

[00:00:15.900] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.690] - Kim Tate Today's episode is sponsored by Room Steals. Listeners may remember Room Steals from our discussion on finding hotel deals in Episode 185, but Room Steals is a Chrome browser extension that works alongside your existing booking sites. To show you what the wholesale price is for that room, just install the browser extension and search for a hotel, as you normally would on Hotels.com. Booking.com, Expedia or Google. Once you've done your initial search, Roo Steals will show you in a pop up if that same room is available for cheaper.

[00:00:57.210] - Kim Tate If it is, you can click on that pop up and book directly through Room Steals instead. Downloading and using Room Steals is free. However, if you want to book a discounted room, you will have to pay an annual membership fee. Listeners can save 20 percent of the annual membership fee with promo code vacationmavens. If you travel multiple times a year, the subscription will quickly pay for itself. One listener has already saved four hundred dollars using Room Steals on her first booking to learn more visit RoomSteals.com, that's roomsteals.com and use promo code vacationmavens to save 20 percent off your membership to Room Steals, and we thank them for their support.

[00:01:30.790] - Tamara Gruber So, Kim, last week we talked all about my trip to Greece and this week, we get to talk all about your return trip to California. You're really doing a lot of California these days, huh?

[00:01:41.620] - Kim Tate Yeah, it's so funny because we had family and friends say, you're going to Disneyland again. And it's tough because I know that in some ways we'd like to do other vacations. But the girls had missed getting to Disneyland. And I feel like they really liked it and that's what they wanted to do. And it's a pretty easy trip in a lot of ways. So we headed back to Disneyland for family vacation.

[00:02:05.650] - Tamara Gruber And it's a really nice, I'm sure, a change of scenery to go to from pine trees to palm trees, right?

[00:02:11.680] - Kim Tate Yes, exactly. It's so different. It's kind of funny how the atmosphere is so different there. And we experience that, especially because we did Disneyland for a few days and then we spent three days in Irvine, California, which is actually a city. It's kind of the neighboring city to Disneyland. A lot of people will know if you fly in and out of Disneyland. The closest airport is called in a also known as John Wayne or Orange County Airport.

[00:02:36.040] - Kim Tate And that airport is located in Irvine. So it's kind of a neighboring city. And we thought it would be a good time to kind of get that Disneyland trip for the girls, but then also be in a hotel and kind of have a more relaxed end to our vacation so that Paul could be happy and have, you know, time to sleep in and kick up his feet a little.

[00:02:54.360] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that's good. I mean, plus like you've been to Disneyland, but it's probably been a couple of years or more since the girls have been. Right.

[00:03:02.110] - Kim Tate Right. Yeah. So in February 2020 we actually went to a conference in Disney World and then I was in Disneyland for a conference in March of 2020. Well it was end of February when I flew home March 1st before everything shut down. But yeah, the girls have not been to Disneyland in a little while and so that's what they were really excited about. And it was our home park that we kind of know the best. And I think for the girls, they feel really confident in how to manage it and touring it.

[00:03:30.440] - Kim Tate And so that was kind of a for them. It's a trip that they they feel, I think, empowered and excited about.

[00:03:37.970] - Tamara Gruber And it all worked out because they just reopened for out-of-state visitors in June.

[00:03:42.640] - Kim Tate That was one of the big reasons. When they got that news, they're like, that's what I want to do. I want to go back to Disneyland. And I figure, you know this, too. With the girls getting older and especially with Lizzy going into her senior year, it's getting tougher and tougher. Once they get into high school and even late middle school, it gets tough to pull them out of school. And so you kind of need to do those summer trips.

[00:04:04.070] - Kim Tate And that's where they wanted to go. I thought, well, you know, I guess that's what we'll do. And I was hearing these reports that everyone was saying, oh, it's the perfect time to be in Disneyland. You know, there's no crowds and it's really easy and it's really nice. And then they had the new Avengers campus that was going to open. So we thought it was going to be a great trip and we had a lot of fun.

[00:04:21.850] - Kim Tate But it's definitely not the it's not the low, low crowds that people were expecting, I think, for summer in Disneyland. You if you if you've been to summer to Disneyland in the summer and you know what those ride wait times were like, then, yes, it's going to be a real delight for you. But if you go normally in off-seasons or other times and you kind of are used to being able to really own the park and kind of fly through lines, especially with the fact that there's no Fastpass or Max pass, which we are very confident using, you are faced with just plain waiting in lines and that's something my girls were not very excited about.

[00:05:02.020] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I was going to say. And just the fact that it's been so long since people have been around a lot of people and had to do these kind of things were waiting in line. It must have like probably gets to maybe even a little bit more.

[00:05:15.490] - Kim Tate Yeah, it is interesting, especially also because we some of the rides I felt like the rides were going down more often. Also it seemed like or they had limited capacity, not on, not for social distancing, but just you know, for example, Lizzy's favorite ride is the Guardians of the Galaxy, which used to be Tower of Terror. And on we were there for three days. And the first day she rode it twice, thinking she would write it the other days as well.

[00:05:40.390] - Kim Tate And they had two of their elevators break down. So they were only using one one elevator of. So basically they had to have six loading zones and, you know, park opening would happen and you would see it go from like a zero 15 minute wait all sudden in one hundred and twenty five minute wait, 90 minute wait throughout the day. And so that was real disappointing. They finally got it fixed, but she wasn't able to go on it again the whole trip.

[00:06:07.210] - Kim Tate So she was kind of bummed about that. So there are those little things where when you're used to doing that and then I don't know if it's just staffing or if the maintenance I mean, I don't know if Disneyland has been able to get all their workers back. But you can see that, you know, when something went awry that you love does go down, it can be tough. And then, you know, it's weird because Space Mountain is normally one of the top rides with long wait times.

[00:06:30.510] - Kim Tate And, you know, you're used to seeing it with those kind of wait times, normally 70 to 90 minutes is what I see a lot of times, and it was regularly 40 to 60 minutes throughout the day. So that was a real win. But like the railroad was 30 to 40 minutes. It's just unacceptable to me. So it was really weird how the the numbers kind of flowed. So I don't know what to think. And they had opened up a Disneyland California resident ticket offer shortly before our trip.

[00:06:59.340] - Kim Tate And I'm wondering how much of that special affected people, because, you know, they don't have annual passes anymore. And I think a lot of locals are craving their Disney fix, but buying tickets each time has gotten expensive. And I think this ticket coming out probably made a lot of locals who really understand the park flocked to the park. So I think it affected certain certain rides and things more maybe.

[00:07:24.810] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I mean, that all makes sense. It seems like it's just in that transition kind of phase. Now, what you said that there's no max pass. So that obviously is a big change. What are some of the other things like do you need a reservation for that day in advance and that kind of thing?

[00:07:40.290] - Kim Tate Yeah. So you still need reservations so you can buy your tickets and then you have to reserve the day you want to visit and it's automatically linked to your ticket when you reserve the day through your, you know, like Disneyland, my Disney account. And so that's one nice thing, is that it's all linked. So as long as you have a reservation for that day, you have no issue booking, not Max, but the boarding groups for two other rides, which I'll explain in a minute.

[00:08:07.770] - Kim Tate And so there is that it's it's very fluid, like going through the turnstiles. It's all linked. You just show your ticket. It's it's good to go, but you do have to do a little bit of advance planning and definitely make sure before you plan a trip that there's the availability. So they are opening up the park reservations for you to book one hundred and twenty days out. So if you're, you know, planning a trip that's more than that, it's no problem.

[00:08:33.090] - Kim Tate Just decide what they want to do it and then you book it as those days open up on the calendar. And then if you are within the 120 days, you definitely want to make sure you check the availability calendar and make sure however, it's the calendar is pretty open. It seems like the capacity has definitely been increased. I know our week that we were there, they had it looked like the Disneyland park, because that's the other thing that I'll explain in a minute, because you book a specific park.

[00:08:58.290] - Kim Tate It looked like Disneyland had locked up and was closed and there weren't any more reservations. But then all of a sudden, I know they opened up more reservations. So it's kind of an interesting I don't know if people are releasing reservations and that's why it looks open or if they're strictly just adjusting capacity limits as they want, I'm not sure. So something to know about the reservation system is it is so Disneyland has the two parks, they have Disneyland Park and then they have Disney, California Adventure.

[00:09:24.990] - Kim Tate And the reservation works for one of the parks. And that's the park you start in. Now, if you buy a park hopper ticket, you can hop to the other park after 1:00 p.m., but you have to start in that starting park. And if you don't buy a park hopper ticket, then you're only in that park for the day, if that makes sense. So that's kind of an extra little level that you have to think about. And then it gets even further planning because there's two major rides have to have boarding group passes, which is a huge ordeal in itself.

[00:10:01.080] - Kim Tate And you try and get into a boarding group, which is basically the chance to ride. You still go stand in the line, although the line is very short, but you have to win one of those boarding groups and these things are gone in seconds, like not even minutes. These are gone in seconds. And your chances at seven a.m. and then at noon. And so whichever park you're starting in is the one you can get the seven a.m. for and then at noon you can get it for the other part.

[00:10:27.360] - Kim Tate So in Disneyland, it's rise of the resistance. That's that Star Wars in California adventure, the other is the new Avengers Web slingers ride. So that's another level that we had all four of us logging in trying to get these boarding passes. And it was it was stressful, but we were successful every time. So but that's part of it because I knew I, I knew this was a thing.

[00:10:54.420] - Kim Tate And I've been reading articles like our friend Leslie from Trips with Tikes has an article about it. And then I actually watched like a video on YouTube to show Paul and the girls, like, here's what you need to do. And it's sad, though, because I think people who are wanting to experience those, the fact that you have to know all of that and be, you know, like 6:58 we're there on our phones, like, OK, stop everything we're doing and get ready to get these tickets and then setting alarms for eleven fifty eight so we can get the noon one and it's it can be stressful.

[00:11:25.470] - Kim Tate So it's kind of an interesting and and if you don't have hoppers you only have the one. You do have it at 7:00 a.m. and noon, so so if you're booked at Disneyland and you miss out at the seven a.m. one, you can try again for the noon one. Either park, you can try again, but you can't go on the same ride twice. So if we were in Disney, California adventure, we couldn't go to Web slingers if we got a boarding group at seven a.m. and then try and get another boarding group for Web slingers at noon.

[00:11:52.100] - Kim Tate But we can. And then this is another level of it. Sorry, you guys. This is getting a lot of information, but you have to have already used your first boarding pass before you can get the noon one. So if you have a late boarding group that hasn't been able to ride yet and you haven't used your boarding pass yet, by noon, you won't get to try for the noon pass for the ride. Right.

[00:12:14.240] - Tamara Gruber But if you had like a one o'clock boarding, I'm sure by one o'clock they're all gone for the rest.

[00:12:18.740] - Kim Tate Oh, definitely. Yeah, in seconds. I mean, literally it's seven to one. There's nothing available like for people who sit there and they don't know the system and they think, oh, it's seven, I'm going to open my app and try and get a boarding group. Nope. They're already gone like you. There's some tricks. You have to have the like, we were rebooting our phone. Everything was closed. We had the app already open and then there's like refresh, refresh, refresh, and then you have to know exactly where to hit.

[00:12:42.230] - Kim Tate Like you hit here and then you hit start hitting here and you just get lucky you're not. And it's crazy.

[00:12:47.930] - Tamara Gruber I heard Leslie talking about that on her Disney deciphered podcast. It was yes. It was very intense. I know. And when Hannah and I were in Los Angeles, we had a free day and Glenn was like, oh, you should go to Disneyland so you can finally ride. You know, the the you know, Rise of the resistance. And I was like, no, it's like, first of all, like, I'm just not it would have been like the day after they opened to out-of-state people.

[00:13:10.370] - Tamara Gruber And I was like, I just can't deal with that stress. Like, I, I want to go when I know that I can ride that ride because that's why I would go, you know. Yeah.

[00:13:20.330] - Kim Tate We were talking about that as a family. We're just saying how, you know, hard and it's nice that we knew what to do and that we were able to do it. But then the other thing is it's kind of bad, like, OK, well, we got to ride the rides multiple times. What about like, we felt kind of bad. What if there's people out there like this little kid who really wanted to go on Spider-Man loves Spider-Man and we wish there was a way we could be like, here, just use our pass, you know, for this kid to be able to go, you know, because it's it feels bad because you.

[00:13:47.960] - Kim Tate Yeah, and I saw people on Twitter, you know, they're like, oh, I didn't get it, you know, and I just want to ride this ride. I'd wait three hours for it because and I think that's what they're trying to do, is prevent, you know, when Disney World opened Avatar, Pandora flight of passage. Right. And people were like parking out in the parking lot at three a.m. so that they could get out of their car and go wait at the gates and be the first people to the rope line and then be the first people in that line because the line would grow to like three hundred and twenty minutes.

[00:14:16.070] - Kim Tate It was just insane. Like, I don't even know how you spend your entire day there. It's just crazy.

[00:14:20.360] - Tamara Gruber So I could just say, like, I'm sure there's nothing in the world that I want to do that much.

[00:14:25.070] - Kim Tate I do. It's kind of crazy. I mean, you want to wait six hours for a ride. It's just insane. But yeah. So I think they're trying to avoid that because that's it's not a positive park experience. But unfortunately, right now and then the other issue you have is just these rides have a lot of working mechanisms and go down a lot. I mean, we got we were on ride of the resistance, and it went down and we got had to leave the line and then come back later.

[00:14:51.740] - Kim Tate And thankfully, they do have a fastpass working for that now. They didn't originally, I think, but they have that working again. So they were able to program that for our ticket. So we were able to come back when it was open and go back through. So it's interesting. It's it's definitely another level. So I would say if you're planning a visit and you're not wanting or willing to be obsessive about getting those passes, definitely maybe take those two rides off your agenda and just pretend you never heard of those rides and be happy with all the other things that are.

[00:15:24.440] - Kim Tate Yeah, right.

[00:15:25.820] - Tamara Gruber So this helps to be like Disney ignorant in a way. That just going to be like happy with what you get, I don't know.

[00:15:32.810] - Kim Tate Well, and there is certainly some great I mean the wait times can certainly be great. So in a lot of ways certain rides, if you're not trying to go for these certain rides, the wait times can be great, like Toy Story mania. We almost ride that only once because normally the family is not used to it and it normally has a long wait and nobody's willing to wait with me because it's one of my favorite rides. And this time, I mean, we went on it twice because the wait time was kind of low.

[00:15:56.390] - Kim Tate And but then you looked at Mickey's fun wheel, which you would normally. It's not too crazy, but it was easily fifty to sixty minutes. It seemed like there in the middle of the day every time we were there. So it's just weird. It was a really weird. That's why I think there was a lot of California people maybe who just kind of wanted to go for, I don't know how to read the visitors because it was just an odd, odd feel.

[00:16:19.580] - Kim Tate Yeah, the numbers didn't line up everywhere we wanted and dining was a little tough. Still, they've definitely they've got the mobile ordering down a little bit better, I think, at Disneyland. Where. You can place your mail order. We didn't really have an issue getting our order, we found we have one place that we love called bingo barbecue, and we had no real issue with finding an open time slot that fit with what we wanted. And it was almost always available right away.

[00:16:45.020] - Kim Tate And then it's like a half an hour time slot. So then you go and you're like, I'm here. And then once you say I'm here to pick up your food, it's normally a it can be, you know, a minute to ten minutes before they have your food ready. But it was pretty quick. Well, that's good. A little, yes.

[00:17:00.110] - Tamara Gruber But with that, it sounds like you guys had a good time, though. I mean, luckily, it all worked out for you with the with those particular rides, because I'm sure the girls, you know, really wanted to. Yes.

[00:17:10.970] - Kim Tate Yeah. Web slingers, we all kind of thought it was ho hum. In all honesty, we did it again. And once you do it a second time, you kind of understand it a little better. And so maybe it becomes a little more fun. But I think for people who are waiting and then we also we waited 60 minutes. Well, it was we got in line at like ten, I think it was ten or two or something.

[00:17:30.410] - Kim Tate And we left at eleven o four after the ride. And that was the ride had gone down while we were in line and it was probably down for 15 minutes. So I mean, even when you get there, it's you might still have a long wait to get on the rise of the resistance. We didn't have quite that at any other times. We rode that. So but just, you know, Web slingers is a you kind of put on these 3D goggles and you it's a bit like Toy Story in a way, but you use your hands to shoot webs and you're trying to attack these, you know, little bots on the screen.

[00:18:02.570] - Kim Tate And so your webs are shooting them and you earn points. And so at the end of the ride, you have accumulated a certain amount of points.

[00:18:09.260] - Tamara Gruber So instead of like shooting a little laser gun thing.

[00:18:13.280] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:14.630] - Tamara Gruber The next generation more interactive, I guess.

[00:18:17.060] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah. But you're just moving like it's I thought it would be more like I don't know how to explain it like spinning or like, you know, universal Orlando. That's the Harry Potter, the forbidden journey. I know how you go in front of the screens and you watch stuff happen, but going between the screens you're like, oh it's roller coaster.

[00:18:37.760] - Kim Tate OK, yeah, but I kind of wanted that kind of experience. And this you're just on a car like Toy Story mania and you just kind of get like moved over to this next screen and then you move to this next screen and it opens. And so there's no real there's it's it's literally like, yeah, Lightyear, not Buzz Lightyear, but like Toy Story with the screen. And instead of using a little gun thing that's in front of you, you're using your hands and then, yeah, you earn points and people want to do it because they want to get better at their points.

[00:19:07.700] - Kim Tate And that's it.

[00:19:09.380] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:19:10.070] - Kim Tate Rise, on the other hand, is amazing. We really liked it, although it it's funny because we were so excited for Paul to finally get to ride it because he was a he's a Star Wars guy like Star Wars. He's not a Star Wars freak, but he I don't mean to say freak if he runs into Star Wars fans. I know. No, I didn't mean like that. But he's he likes Star Wars, you know, like.

[00:19:27.890] - Kim Tate Yes. Age. He grew up with it and like, I know Star Wars, but yeah. So we are really excited for him to do rise. And then we took him to Millennium Falcon. He's like, oh, that was way better than it was so funny because we live opposite. We were like a Millennium Falcon is not that great. And then he just loved it and he thought it was so fun and he liked it. He liked Millennium Falcon and rides better than Web slingers so.

[00:19:49.580] - Tamara Gruber Well, it's just something about like when you're so invested in a franchise, like to have like the that more immersive kind of experience is so exciting. I mean, that's why I know, like, the first time we went to Universal and all the Harry Potter stuff, it was just like a dream come true, I think like to be like walking through Hogwarts and all this kind of stuff. So I think that type of response, you know, it doesn't surprise me too much because it's not just about the ride, it's about everything else.

[00:20:16.790] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:20:17.000] - Kim Tate The characters and all that. Yeah. The big thing we dining just eating off hours is a big thing because seating seems to be a little limited again. And so just I recommend I always say like take a granola bar so that they can tide you over and just try and plan to eat off hours. We actually saw the first day the girls did the full day in the park and we got there. We did rope drop every morning, which they're back to rope drop.

[00:20:42.410] - Kim Tate So I was kind of bummed because they had done with rope drop because they didn't want to have everybody congregating together. And so people were getting there early and they were opening the turnstiles early and people were able to go just on rides like an hour before the park officially opened. Wow.

[00:20:56.570] - Tamara Gruber Because it used to be like even if you could get through the turnstiles, like the rides weren't operating, but you could least get in line.

[00:21:02.210] - Kim Tate Yeah. And so that's what they're back to. So you can get through the turns, you can get through security, you can get through the turnstiles and then you go wait at this rope. Were these, you know, cast members are holding and a big group mob of people just line up there and it's kind of depending on where you're at, but the ropes are leading into the main main areas. So you kind of held back and you can get there early.

[00:21:25.160] - Kim Tate So that's what we did. So we aimed. So we kind of aim to be on our way. Walking, we got we stayed at a new renovated hotel, it's newly branded through a best western is called Hotel Lulu and it's nearby. It's kind of in walking distance a little longer. But the cool thing about it is it is near a Walgreens and a CVS. So we stopped in there and we're able to get like Gatorade's and water for much cheaper.

[00:21:49.440] - Kim Tate Kind of, you know, that was nice for stocking up on little snacks and drinks. And definitely, even though it's a pharmacy, you know, pricing it still way cheaper than in the park. And it was nice to have that. It was so convenient that it was next door and the walking distances, I would still call it walking distance. It was maybe a ten minute walk. And there was also a Starbucks next to it. They had mobile ordering most days, but they seem to close that down on our last day.

[00:22:14.100] - Kim Tate We're not sure why. So I don't know if they're just over staffed with mobile ordering, but that's something to check. And it made it easier for us to get coffee in the morning on our way. And so we try and get coffees and then be on our way. And then we'd be slightly outside of the park and at the six fifty nine, when we'd try and get those boarding groups, we'd walk or, you know, pull over to the side of the sidewalk and get it and then go get in line.

[00:22:34.080] - Kim Tate So we were showing up. It was an eight a.m. opening time. So we were getting to the security line up right around seven to seven tennish, you know, and it worked pretty well for us. We we got in there, so we went through the security line. Then we got through security fast and then we waited in the line for the turnstiles. They open the turnstiles a half an hour before the park opened. And then once you got through the turnstiles, you walked and waited again at the rope drop where you wait, you know, where you waited for the eight a.m. opening and then you quickly walked, don't run.

[00:23:05.070] - Kim Tate Even though people ran down to the whatever ride you wanted to go for. So that was it. It was fun. It was it's a lot to manage. I think Disneyland is one of those things where if you just want to show up in the middle of the day and go on some rides, you should probably allow for more time, because there are people who I mean, we know the ins and outs. And if you're not willing to learn all those ins and outs of tricks, then you're going to just have to wait in lines, be OK with that.

[00:23:31.080] - Tamara Gruber So I'm ready to go back after the fast passes are back and after the special like after hours events and all the kind of stuff.

[00:23:42.570] - Tamara Gruber I was just going to say I just really I don't love rides except some of the special ones like Flight of Passage and I'm sure I will love the Star Wars ones. And so just being able to do it without the lines, you know, that would be the way I prefer to go.

[00:23:58.260] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah. I think that's where our girls are at because they really liked the rides. And so it's funny because Paul he wants to just like oh I want to watch that show or I just want to sit on this bench and people watch and I and there was like, no, we're going to go get this right and we're going to get this right. And this was the trip, though. It's nice when you're a little older and the kids can be left alone.

[00:24:17.280] - Kim Tate Like like I said, the first day, the girls stayed the full time the park. And then Paul and I left towards the afternoon evening. We took a little break in the room and then we went and got dinner again. This hotel where we stayed down the road, it's near, you know, like tourist restaurants. So it's like Cheesecake Factory and Bubba Gump Shrimp and I don't know what else there was, but opening. So we went out there and it was nice to have that little break.

[00:24:42.270] - Kim Tate And then the next two days we left after we did the rope drop, the numbers were just going insane. And the girls, like I said, they're all about the ride. So when those rides, the wait times were more than they wanted to wait. We just left and went back and took a midday break in the hotel and then went back later in the day to do more stuff. And so I think those it's that's one of the benefits.

[00:25:02.010] - Kim Tate Where does that is if you stay on property, it's great because you're in kind of the bubble of Disney. And if you stay at the Grand Californian, it's got the private access into Disney California Adventure Park. But those rooms are going for like eight hundred bucks a night right now. And you don't get the early entry with it, which normally one of the benefits of staying on site is that you get into the parks an hour early. So it's definitely a tradeoff.

[00:25:26.580] - Kim Tate So if you stay off site on one of the harbor hotels, you can, you know, kind of take those midday breaks still and walk to and from the park. But you're faced with that extra, you know, a little bit extra going through more people and a few extra waits. But it is nice to have the midday breaks.

[00:25:43.820] - Tamara Gruber I'm telling you, if I ever come to Disneyland, I'm going to go with you. Yeah. You and Leslie. Oh, yeah. I follow you guys because, I mean, I feel like, you know, I had gone to Disney World a long time ago and then recently I've gone a few times in recent years. And so now I feel like comfortable with Disney World, you know, but I've never been to Disneyland. So whole new thing.

[00:26:03.870] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, well, I'm excited to take you and show you all the ins and outs, but I will say for anybody who's thinking of taking a trip, there's a couple of things I want to mention. First is hotels. So our hotel that we stayed at, Hotel Lulu, they, you know, mentioned that they're in a real staff shortage right now. And of course, there was no housekeeping. You can request your towels when you want them and if you need garbage taken out.

[00:26:26.550] - Tamara Gruber So we definitely did that and they took care of it right away and. But it's something to keep in mind, and the Hotel Lulu, like I said, it's the best Western property recently got taken over by a Red Lion. And so it's definitely a budget friendly park property. So if people are looking to save money, that would be a good option, especially since, like I said, it's near the Walgreens and there's a CVS right across the street.

[00:26:45.840] - Tamara Gruber They both have like Disney souvenir stuff at less price than what you're going to pay in the park. So if you want to surprise your kids with something, you could always go in there and grab it. They also have, you know, of course, sunscreens and anything. You might forget that it's just a little bit different than buying them in the park. So that's convenient from a budget standpoint. The rooms themselves, I, I think there they go for around, you know, depending on the season, around 150 a night.

[00:27:10.440] - Tamara Gruber So comparing that to some of the other hotels that are a little closer, it's definitely a budget savings. And then again, even with going down the street, you have those you know, there was a California pizza kitchen, P.F. Chang's, and Cheesecake Factory. So you've got some major restaurants there. If you're trying to save a little money and take a midday break and get lunch there, get an early dinner before you go back in the parks or something, that might be an option, but definitely something with all of the hotels around Disneyland right now is that they are all dealing with a severe staff shortage.

[00:27:42.240] - Tamara Gruber They went, you know, the hotels where I talked to the people at the hotel where we stayed and they went from having like 17 rooms booked to all of a sudden having over one hundred. And they just don't they haven't been able to hire the staff. They've increased their pay rate and they still can't get staff in. And so managers are going up to clean rooms. And it's just I mean, we've heard this everywhere. But in Disneyland, it's really obvious this summer is that hotels are hurting with staff.

[00:28:08.460] - Tamara Gruber I know one of the hotels that's a popular kind of mom and pop called candy cane inn. They are not even open again yet because of staff.

[00:28:16.720] - Tamara Gruber Wow. So, yeah, it's it continues to be a problem. I hope that by far maybe things will, you know, sort themselves out. I'm seeing even like restaurants around here like closing because they're not able to have the staff and service that they want. And it's yeah, I'm sure they'll be back, but it'll just take us some time.

[00:28:35.730] - Kim Tate Yeah. And so I think you just have to be, you know, little things to just be aware of and be a little more. I mean, we've talked about this be patient, but just understanding that like maybe the cleanliness level in hotels and what you're expecting or what you're used to is not perhaps going to be what you are thinking you're going to get. So just be aware of that. And then the other thing would be the car rentals. We had our own little issue with car rentals, which everyone knows the car rental shortage issue.

[00:29:01.860] - Kim Tate We rented a car from the airport to drive and go to Disneyland and do it. We visited USC and Cal Tech for Lizzy and we had no problem. The car was there. We rented it. I was like, phew, I think it is no issue. We are fine. We dropped it off after ours, dropped our keys and we dropped it off at this Alamo that was right near where we were staying at Disneyland. And we were supposed to pick up another car on Thursday, so we dropped it off on Sunday.

[00:29:28.650] - Kim Tate We're supposed to pick up a different car on Thursday because we didn't need a car for those three days when we were at the parks because we were just going to go to the parks. And we got called Wednesday night like five minutes before they closed, telling us they wouldn't have a car for us. That was it. And then they never returned my phone call. So I reached out to them on Twitter, gotten a reply, and finally just used auto slash, which we've I think we've mentioned that before, and a rental car episode.

[00:29:54.840] - Kim Tate But I've never used it before. But I used auto slash to just find a rate and they found me a great Hertz rate that was actually cheaper than what I walked through. Alamo maybe last minute, you know, they had some availability and I was able to go down there the next day and we got the car rental and had no issue. So thank goodness it all worked out. But just beware some of the smaller like I think this was part of it because it was a smaller location.

[00:30:17.160] - Kim Tate They're not managing their inventory well. And so beware.

[00:30:20.940] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, if there's problems at airports, I can certainly imagine that there's even more problems at these, like off, you know, airport kind of locations. Yes, it's it's sad. I mean, I definitely see as places are increasing, you know, we've talked about Hawaii before. I saw someone that just got back from Iceland posting that things were like five hundred to a thousand dollars a day. And then I saw someone in my Iceland planning group just saying, like, I can't find a rental, like, what am I going to do?

[00:30:48.450] - Tamara Gruber And so I was just advising my aunt to try to book something like in advance, you know, as far as you can. But it's just hard because like you did that and then they canceled that. What do you do? You know exactly.

[00:31:00.690] - Kim Tate And I know I have another blogging friend who had the exact same thing happen to her with the exact same Alamo's site there in Disneyland about a week or two before I did. I have that problem.

[00:31:11.010] - Kim Tate So definitely something to be aware of. You can do the booking and know that you have your your reservation made. But whether they actually have a car for you when you show up for that reservation and they what I experienced, they did nothing to help us. So you just I think when you you have to be ready to backpedal and hope for the best and. So we were ready to just, you know, use Uber, find another one available, and thankfully it all worked out and we were able to get another kind of wonder if that's a case where, you know, maybe it helps if you, like, pay more like Hertz is always usually the most expensive.

[00:31:45.940] - Tamara Gruber Right. But it's like if you pay more or if if you're part of a like a loyalty club versus. Yeah, you're going to save more if you use, like auto slash or Costco or something like that. But I wonder if booking direct helps at all, like if the first people they cancel are the third parties, like who knows. But it does. I have no idea. I even booked a premium car hoping that they like it would give us more as opposed to an economy.

[00:32:09.500] - Kim Tate I booked the premium because it was only two dollars more. And so I thought that would help. But no. So it was nothing help. So I don't know now.

[00:32:18.010] - Tamara Gruber I'm glad it worked out for you. Yeah. And then you guys had some time to chill out and. Yeah.

[00:32:21.960] - Kim Tate So that was the other part of it. Yeah. So we you know, Paul's not a huge Disneyland person. Even I like Disneyland, but I'm not crazy crazy. And I can you know, I enjoy taking the breaks. And so we booked our final three nights in Irvine, which was nearby and near the John Wayne Airport that we were flying home from. And they we stayed at a brand new hotel called the Marriott Irvine Spectrum. And we loved it.

[00:32:47.540] - Kim Tate We had such a good time is the perfect way to end our vacation, because we I worked with Irvine. They gave us a couple of ideas and helped us set up a couple of things. And then we got to our hotel, kind of had a lazy day that day and just had it. It was nice. We just had I don't know what the term and what I'm trying to think of, but we just didn't have a lot on our calendar, so it kind of worked out well.

[00:33:09.030] - Kim Tate So the first day that we were checking in, we got in there and then we went to this kind of family park fun center called Boomers, and it was where they had a huge arcade with the arcade. But we did putt putt golf and then we did laser tag game, which surprisingly enough, we were all super competitive. I was completely out of breath after that. It was brutal. The girls beat both the parents. Paul actually was very sad to find out he was last, which is kind of sad.

[00:33:36.890] - Kim Tate Doesn't surprise me at all that you would be competitive.

[00:33:41.150] - Kim Tate Yeah. Evidently I rubbed it off on my kids too. So but yeah. So it was kind of fun and we we had a great time there and then playing it was a lot of fun and it was a great, you know, like, that's like a vacation. Right. I mean that was so nice. Like we did the Disneyland thing, but then we had this break in Irvine so close we didn't need to do that much traveling on the crazy interstate's of, you know, Sokal and.

[00:34:05.420] - Kim Tate Yeah, so Boomers was fun. It was just kind of one of those family park fun centers. We didn't do any of the arcade. We just did the laser tag. And oh, they did have go karts, which Paul got. You talk about competitive. He got super competitive. I got taken out by like a twelve year old boy. It made me really mad because you're like you're not allowed to bump.

[00:34:22.670] - Kim Tate But they evidently care about the rules. And so and he was just going and going and going and he'd figured out that I think he was with a friend and they figured out which cars are the fastest. So they just kept going and going. And they would always like he would specifically skip cars and go to a specific car where the rest of us just got in the car where that was next in line and it was brutal. So that was one one negative.

[00:34:43.520] - Kim Tate Is the teenage boy or not? I guess tween boy, but we still had fun and it was nice. So that was, you know, kind of a relaxed day. And then, like, we just hung out at the pool and the hotel was really nice. They, you know, it was a new Marriott. It had trying to think of how many flaws there were. Now I think it was sixteen floors. And on the sixteenth floor, they have like a rooftop bar that's supposed to be really, really popular.

[00:35:09.170] - Kim Tate They actually were able to get in on our last night and kind of go up there and look. And it's absolutely gorgeous. And I talked to the manager of the bar and he was saying that it's like seventy percent locals and visitors and only thirty percent for the hotel. So it's got its own, like, vibe and social standing. Not that's not even linked to the hotel, if that makes sense.

[00:35:29.120] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's a place to go.

[00:35:31.130] - Kim Tate So, yes, the hotel itself is a gorgeous Marriott property. Knew the rooms were nice and everything was good. It had a view our room had like a view of the freeway, but it had mountains in the background. So it was really kind of cool. And Irvine, I think, is unknown. I'm trying to think of I thought it was something I'm trying to think of what I know them for. But they had a whole bunch of office buildings, so they must have.

[00:35:50.000] - Kim Tate I know they have really they're one of the lowest hotel occupancy taxes in California. So you know how you always get those, you know, 15 to 18 percent charges. There's just like ten percent. So if you're staying in a nice hotel for a while, that little bit of savings can be nice. So but they have a lot of businesses around there and we were staying right across from the Taco Bell headquarters. So we laughed. And I wonder if they have a drive through.

[00:36:15.920] - Kim Tate So the hotel is nice. They had a club lounge which we were able to get into. And you know that with Glenn's, you know, status, it's always nice because lots of water. I mean, we went there for so much water, it was nice. And the girls would go there to get all the. Free chips and stuff, and then, of course, we had breakfast in the morning there, which was a nice little perk.

[00:36:33.600] - Tamara Gruber Oh, that's surprising. Like the actual hotel perks, really, when we were seated that that nice Athens hotel, that's a Marriott and we were on the what did they call it like the the butler or concierge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we walk by like the little you know, usually the the lounge room and it was locked and I was like, oh well good thing we're only here one day and it included breakfast early. So it was actually a wonderful breakfast that included.

[00:37:02.730] - Tamara Gruber That's nice. Yeah. But we were like oh can we get a little extra perk.

[00:37:06.660] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah. This is nice because they had, you know, like the coffee machine there and then they had like three hot dishes so and a meat and potatoes and then they had like porridge and cinnamon rolls. But it was great. I mean it was really nice. And they have this little patio. I mean, the hotel itself, it's a really nice property is one of those. It's a it's like weird. It's kind of resource. We feel it's not huge, though, but it's a resource we feel in this, you know, city of California.

[00:37:33.180] - Kim Tate So it was nice. But the pool lounge and then the restaurant and bar area is just beautiful. It's absolutely gorgeous. Like downstairs restaurant of our not even the rooftop bar is just really, really nice. And we we enjoyed dinner there and it was great.

[00:37:47.760] - Tamara Gruber Nice properties. Sounds like you wanted to have that pool time and stuff.

[00:37:53.190] - Kim Tate Exactly. And we actually were able to get so we went down two times to middle of the day, like to lounge and everything, get drinks at the pool and we were able to get loungers each time and there's not tons loungers. So I think we definitely noticed in the weekend because we we were there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and we flew home Sunday. And we definitely noticed Saturday was much busier. Whereas when we were there Thursday and Friday, the pool was not as busy.

[00:38:18.910] - Kim Tate So definitely kind of well. And a sports team came in for a competition. And so there was a lot of kids there in sports uniforms and stuff, which was kind of funny because it doesn't strike me as a I mean, it's definitely a business Marriott property. So it kind of struck me as funny that. But I don't know. There must I mean, there's a big sports complex that we went and saw a soccer game at. So it's possible that that's why they pick there, because it's close to that kind of one of the most popular hotels near that sports complex.

[00:38:48.200] - Tamara Gruber Makes sense. Yeah.

[00:38:49.680] - Kim Tate So one of the I'll just mention a couple of the other things we did was in Irvine, we went to a place called Tanaka Farms, which was really cool. It's like this family owned, you know, farm it actually they told us the story that I don't and I didn't I haven't checked this. But it's a Japanese family who they said that in when the war was going on and they were doing the internment camps in the U.S., that if you opened a farmer, were running a farm, you were able to not go to an internment camp.

[00:39:19.800] - Kim Tate And so this family opened this farm. And that's sort of how it's how it stayed and it's family owned. And then it's also a nonprofit. They have volunteers who worked there and they donate part of their produce and everything to local people in need in the area. So it was pretty cool. And so we did this. It's called a you pick tour. So it's like a wagon tour and they give you these little, you know, cardboard basket things and you go around to different parts in the field.

[00:39:47.940] - Kim Tate They're like, today we're going to be picking tomatoes and Sushmita peppers and melon. And so they drove us. I mean, OK, we're going to go here and you're going to pick from these plans on the tomatoes and you got your little cardboard basket and you could just fill it up with whatever you want to. And they drove you on the wagon to the next spot and they're like, OK, now we're picking Chido Peppers. And we picked those and then moved on.

[00:40:06.450] - Kim Tate OK, here's our melon. So we've already picked some but pick which ones you want. So it's kind of cool is a really neat experience and then they hand you it or. Yeah, we kept it so we ate it on our trip. We actually brought the peppers home with us in our suitcase and they were fine because we TSA says fruit and vegetables are allowed. Paul actually carried on some of the melons, but they were getting super ripe.

[00:40:25.350] - Kim Tate It was funny because we were on the plane and I was like, OK, those melons are starting to smell too, right? Like I can. I'm starting to smell them. So, like, they weren't soft. Yeah, but, you know, they just start putting off the strong scent. People are like smelling it. I'm like, don't put it at your feet. Definitely put it up. I was so embarrassed. I was like, no, I have such a sensitive nose.

[00:40:44.390] - Tamara Gruber I would have been like, you have melon like like hand cream or whatever was that

[00:40:50.220] - Kim Tate It was so embarrassing. I was like, oh my gosh. So anyways, but yeah. So we you got to keep the food and everything and it's just neat. And they had animals there. So we got to see some, you know, sheep and chickens and all that. But it was just a cool, you know, neat little thing to see this big farm and agriculture and then to get a pick food that you couldn't eat.

[00:41:08.430] - Kim Tate So we thought that was a neat thing. And then we like I said, we did. We went to UC Irvine, which they told you that. But Lizzy's college shop in and UC Irvine was kind of on her list of interested campuses. And so we drove there and got out and she actually really liked it. It was kind of funny because she it seems like she's drawn to more of the city college campuses, but this one's more suburb, and she really liked it, she thought it was really nice.

[00:41:34.710] - Kim Tate So who knows if she becomes an anteater that's still there, the anteaters. It's an interesting, interesting mascot.

[00:41:41.430] - Tamara Gruber But I've been watching, like, never have I ever. Is that what it is? Yeah. Netflix, have you watched that.

[00:41:48.030] - Kim Tate I haven't. But the girls I know, the girls were like, oh, there's a new season or there's new something.

[00:41:51.680] - Tamara Gruber It's so cute. It's like, I don't know. It's a teen comedy. Yeah. Yeah, I, I know. I love it. I thought it was so cute. But their mascot is a cricket like so terrible. Exactly.

[00:42:03.900] - Kim Tate I think anteater is slightly better than cricket. Yeah. How funny. So we did that and we, we drove by. So Irvine is known for their outdoor like they have so many bike paths, hiking trails and stuff. So it's really interesting. So if you're an outdoorsy person and looking to do something like that remains a great destination. So we they had a wild, wild wilderness access to this place called Bomber Canyon, and it's near the campus.

[00:42:29.670] - Kim Tate So we drove over there and it was basically they give you this access to this deeper part of the woods, the deeper part of the park that normally isn't open. And we didn't pack for hiking. So we just kind of looked at it and got a feel for it. It's definitely of course, not Pacific Northwest hiking. It's definitely like Southern California, more arid hiking. So we but it was just it was neat. So it's kind of a thing.

[00:42:52.200] - Kim Tate So if you're into outdoor stuff, Irvine is a destination for that. I don't remember all the facts, but I know they have a huge number of miles of bike and hiking trails. It's crazy.

[00:43:02.470] - Tamara Gruber So definitely interesting because my perception as an east coaster, Irvine has just been. Yeah, like the John Wayne Airport. I used to work with a guy that lived in Irvine and he would talk about like some kind of giant shopping mall that's out there. Like, I have very different view of Irvine. I think of it as very like Orange County upscale. Like, I do not think about outdoor activities.

[00:43:28.260] - Tamara Gruber So that's cool to know that it has that side, too.

[00:43:30.870] - Kim Tate It's really cool. It actually is a neat little city. I think. I think people would be surprised if they gave it a chance. It feels very spread out. So it's not total. OASDI like Huntington Beach, Newport. It's not one of those tiny it's not one of those. It's more spread out open a little more open area. But there's got some really cute little houses, lots of businesses. And then, yeah, the shopping mall, which I'll talk about in a minute, is a big part of Irvine, which is a huge aspect, but it was actually a lot of fun.

[00:43:57.960] - Kim Tate So but yeah. So that was kind of that aspect of it. But the big thing that you're talking about is the Irvine Spectrum Center, which is basically a large outdoor mall that has tons of restaurants. And then they have this thing called the Great Wheel, which is kind of a Ferris wheel. And so it's not really like it's not an enclosed wheel like some of the, you know, other cities have like. Yeah, like it a lot.

[00:44:22.920] - Kim Tate And I and I not as big as that and not even like the Seattle one. That's kind of like gondola Sized seating. This is more like Ferris wheel chair lift or not chair lift. It's that's the weird thing. So it's almost like a ride where it's got kind of bench seating around. So our family of four, we sat like in a circle and there's a center thing that you hang on. But it was really cute and they had live music there when we went and we just sat on this.

[00:44:47.670] - Kim Tate They have kind of Astroturf lawn in front of the stage that's right in front of the wheel. And I showed on my Instagram stories people might have seen it, but it was just so pretty and it was fun. And the girls, whenever they had a Hello Kitty cafe and then of course, they had Brandy Melville. And I don't know what other stores the girls went to, but they did a little shopping. I went early to a place called the Yard House, which we actually have in Seattle, but it's a big sports bar with lots of beers on tap.

[00:45:11.610] - Kim Tate And so I said, oh, Paul's never been to Yard house and he would love that. So we went there and kind of watch TV while the girls finish shopping. And then we got some, you know, ordered dinner and they joined us and then we headed home. But it was fun. So it is a it is a big shopping mall, but it's it's got a neat vibe and a good feel. And it was busy on the weekend, that's for sure.

[00:45:31.350] - Kim Tate Definitely the the Irvine teen hangout spot.

[00:45:34.830] - Tamara Gruber Well, then teens should fit right in.

[00:45:36.810] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. So I mean they, I mean they were happy, they loved it so and it's got a lot of name brand stores in Barnes and Noble. So Lizzie was excited about that. Yeah. It was good, good place. And one other cool little thing that we did was we went to a soccer match. So they have a it's called the Orange County Soccer Club. And so it's a, I think, level for soccer. So it's not MLS like level one.

[00:46:01.260] - Kim Tate So it's level four. And so some young kids, but some people who just love playing the sport, some are paid, I think in some aren't. I think some are just walk on. But it was a really cool kind of outdoor venue. And it's in this area, I think it's called Great Park, but they have this famous, like balloon thing called the Great Park Balloon. It's this giant orange because destination Irvine, their logo's and orange.

[00:46:25.110] - Kim Tate I never found out if they have a bunch of orange fields or Richard. Nearby or something, but it's this kind of I know that you've seen it from it's very similar to Walt Disney World, what they have that downtown Disney, the Disney Springs balloon that kind of goes up and people get in the basket. Yeah. So that's basically what it is. And it's supposedly free, but there can be long waits and of course, it's dependent on wind and all that.

[00:46:47.390] - Kim Tate And so we didn't we didn't have time and go up it, but we saw it when we went to the soccer match and we were able to see that it, you know, looks like a fun little thing, gives you an overview of the whole area. But in that that complex was where it was staying so that we watched the soccer match and then there's that balloon. And then there's also like baseball fields and soccer fields and softball fields. So I think it's a big little sports center for probably local teams to play it cool.

[00:47:13.760] - Tamara Gruber So does that wrap up your trip?

[00:47:16.040] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think I want it. I'll mention one of the things we did, and that's just about food, because we didn't you know, we did eat at the hotel and then we ate at the Irvine Spectrum Center, like I mentioned. But one thing that's interesting about Irvine that I learned is that they have a over 40 percent demographic Asian demographic for their in their citizenship. And so international, like Asian cuisines, have been a big part of their make up of their dining industry.

[00:47:41.210] - Kim Tate And they have this area called Diamond Jamboree, which is basically a strip mall, but it's filled full of, you know, like different Asian cuisine restaurants. And it was is they recommended that we go there. And so we went and it looked like a really popular place. And so it's funny because you think, oh, it's just a standard strip mall, but it's just neat. They have all these different places you can eat. And they'd given us a recommendation, like one of the places they had it was called Tim Huan, which is a Michelin star, like he's a Hong Kong based chef.

[00:48:10.640] - Kim Tate And I guess there was something about like, oh, it's a best paper place at Michelin Star meal. You can get her the cheapest Michelin star meal you can get. So I don't know what he is, but it's supposed to be pretty cool. So we were thinking about going there, but we ended up going to another one. They said it was called Pepper Lunch, which is like a DIY tepid restaurant. But it's more like kind of we did teriyaki, but basically you're served your food on a really hot, hot cast iron dish.

[00:48:37.220] - Kim Tate So you don't touch it. And they'll put like if you get a certain meat dish, they'll actually have the meat is raw and you kind of move it around and mix it with the rice to cook it because it's that boiling hot on that cast iron still. And it was it was a neat experience. And it was again, it was so fast. I mean, it's just order and it's there. So it's a popular lunch place for, I think, a lot of those businesses and working people in Irvine.

[00:48:59.570] - Kim Tate But it was a really neat place. It's called the Diamond Jamboree. And if you you know, it's a great little stop and a very affordable too. So that was nice. Double bonus. That kind of wraps it up.

[00:49:11.810] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that sounds good. It's like I love being able to try different cuisines when you're traveling. I mean, here in Rhode Island, we don't have like I mean, I don't know, it's getting better, but there's not like as many different kind of ethnicities when it comes to cuisine. And so when I go other places, I'm like, oh yeah, I try that so well.

[00:49:32.610] - Kim Tate And I think, yeah, I think the cool thing about this is that you get so I mean, being Americans like us, sometimes we get so pigeonholed like, oh it's Asian cuisine, OK, like that must be Chinese or Japanese or and it's neat to think no, there's all Cambodian. Ah. There's, you know, there's a lot of types like, you know, different, you know, Hong Kong and different cuisine styles. And so that was kind of an interesting concept to consider.

[00:49:56.930] - Kim Tate And keep in mind,

[00:49:57.830] - Tamara Gruber when we were in Berkeley the first night, we're exhausted. Hannah could barely stay awake. And I walked out to get something to eat. And, you know, it's like a lot of just like more casual pickup places right near the school. Yeah. So I found, you know, like a good Korean place. And that was I think it was like kimchi garden or something. But I'm like, yeah, this is great, you know?

[00:50:15.950] - Kim Tate And it's like you said, sometimes those places are also very affordable because it's not all about like the fancy atmosphere. It's about just, you know, good food and more known to locals for like takeout and things like that.

[00:50:29.210] - Kim Tate Yeah. We did also notice it was kind of interesting, like we were going to eat there and like there was a la it was like everyone was wearing masks. So we started feeling uncomfortable, like, oh, I guess we should go get our masks because we had been so confident, comfortable, like not wearing masks and or so. But we are kind of getting the vibe of the area and just kind of doing what they did. But yeah, when we were at the Diamond Jamboree, we definitely noticed that there was a very large percentage of people still wearing masks.

[00:50:54.110] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, it's good to just like adapt to kind of what's around you because then you're going to put more of those people out is probably exactly.

[00:51:01.440] - Kim Tate Yeah. So when I went to order, I started realizing I was like, oh, like I didn't see a sign like her. And she's like, no, I. And I was like, we're vaccinated. But we'll put on our masks. I'm sorry. And, you know, I didn't want to say sorry. I'm not trying. And she's like, no, it's fine. So I felt better because I was worried I'd missed a sign or something that I seen it when I noticed it.

[00:51:19.460] - Kim Tate But yeah, but we had a great time. So I definitely I think that that's like if people are not like, huge Disney like doing it all. But your kids want to go to Disney. If you can make it a one week trip and do like Disney for a couple or three days and then go somewhere else to end your trip, I think that is a really exciting a good way to do it because you get to sleep in and you don't have a lot on your agenda.

[00:51:40.890] - Kim Tate You can hang out a pool. And we were really impressed with Irvine. And it's certainly nice when you're so close to the airport. And so we checked out of the hotel and 10 minutes later we're dropping the car off. So it's it's nice that you guys had such a good trip. I'm glad you had, you know, had a chance to have a summer vacation. And it was a destination that the girls wanted to do and they were happy with and change of scenery and all that.

[00:52:06.090] - Kim Tate And now do you have any more travel plans this summer?

[00:52:09.990] - Kim Tate Yeah. So now that we just got the news, I know if everyone listening has heard this, but Canada is reopening their borders to vaccinated Americans on August 9th. And so we're excited that we are going to plan a trip up to visit Paul's family finally. And we're going to take a little road trip up there in late August and then come back just in time for the kids to have, Mia is going to have two camps and Lizzy is going to get some more work done before she's going to get some work savings built up before she starts back to school because they start back.

[00:52:40.410] - Kim Tate Normally we start the Wednesday after Labor Day, but this year we start September 1st. So it's kind of an earlier start than we're used to.

[00:52:48.360] - Tamara Gruber I think we're doing the same starting early. Part of it is that the Jewish holidays, like about Labor Day, I think when they would have started. So they're starting in those couple of days early. But yeah. Yeah. So seem like we have I guess I have the month of August still open. I have a couple of things planned. Like I thought Hannah was maybe going to come with me on one and but she ended up she's staying up in Maine at camp for a little bit longer.

[00:53:13.860] - Tamara Gruber So I'm going to go do actually want to go to Maine and do a little hotel review of a hotel that's based on an island off of Portland, Maine. And I'm going to do that. And then I'm going to do a little road trip. I might have a friend that joins me, but I can to do a little road trip through New York State and hit some of their kind of food hot spots. And I'm going to go out to Buffalo, New York.

[00:53:36.960] - Tamara Gruber So, oh, original Buffalo wings. And, you know, some of those other kind of things they have. Yeah. Like food trail kind of. And so I'm going to hit a few cities along the way. So it should be totally up my alley. I join you. I want somebody to come eat one. I know, like I want somebody to come join me because you know, when you're doing all this food stuff, you can't eat it all, but you want to try it.

[00:53:59.070] - Kim Tate I'll need someone who wants to try it with you.

[00:54:00.870] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly.

[00:54:01.680] - Kim Tate Well, we'll have to compare dates because maybe if it doesn't work out, I was like, maybe I'll fly over there, give me some air miles. I got to got to retain my my status with Alaska. So I need to do a few more cross-country flights, I'm low.

[00:54:14.290] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Come visit. Well sounds good but yeah. So hopefully we'll talk about that soon and then we're going to get back into a schedule of having some other guests as well. I know it's been a lot of us sharing our travels, which I think is usually pretty usually popular as for listeners. But we will get back to having some interviews, too.

[00:54:33.390] - Kim Tate Thanks for joining us and we'll talk to you again soon.

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Tamara is just back from a trip to Greece and she tells us all about this dream vacation. Find out what it is like to travel to Greece right now -- plus what to do and where to stay in Santorini and Naxos!

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR – ATLAS OCEAN VOYAGES Today’s podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages.

If you have ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book! Atlas Ocean Voyages just introduced its expedition ship World Navigator. This small ship, luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable, energy-efficient manner.

Perfect for adventurous families or multi-generational groups, its compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers, means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.

From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail 7 separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt. And its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships in port!

Bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions. The ship’s facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance. With stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew with pre-boarding and pre-embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers. Social distancing will be maintained with small group shore excursions.

Atlas welcomes travelers to ‘come back to something brand new’ To learn more, please visit www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com and we thank them for their support.

2021 Trip to Greece Tips * Greece reopened to USA citizens this springs. Visitors need to either be fully vaccinated (all shots + 14 days) and have a vaccination card OR show a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of boarding the plane. These are reviewed at check in for your flight. * Visitors also need to fill out a Passenger Locator Form more than 24 hours before arrival. The Greece government will then send you a QR code after midnight on the day of your arrival that you need to show at Customs on your arrival. You need to show the receipt of submission or QR code when you check in to your flight. * Masks are required in airports, planes, trains, ferries, ferry ports, busses, and taxis, as well as indoors. * You also need to complete health forms before going on ferries or boats and either be vaccinated or take a test before going on a ferry. * Vaccination cards will also be checked when you check into hotels. * To return to the USA, you need to take a PCR test within 72 hours of your flight departure. There are public clinics available to get tested but appointments may be required and hours are limited. Tamara's tests on Naxos were 60 euro per person. * You can also order Binax Now tests from Abbott Laboratories online. Just make sure they are the ones approved for travel and include online monitoring of the test as that is what is needed for re-entry into the USA. * On Santorini, Tamara stayed at the Canaves Oia Epitome, which is a new property from the Canaves brand, and it is a luxury hotel located about 10 minutes walk from Oia and Ammoudi Bay. They booked the honeymoon suite with private plunge pool. * Elements Restaurant at the Canaves Oia Epitome offers an amazing Degustation Menu and it was a top dining experience. * Santorini is a very popular destination and Oia is the most famous town. When you visit, be sure to go into town early in the morning to avoid crowds. * Tamara also had a chef's tasting dinner at Lycabettus in Oia but felt it wasn't worth the price. * Santorini Wine Trails does half or full-day wine tours in Santorini. All tours are private right now. * Ammoudi Fish Tavern is a fun restaurant right on the water in Ammoudi Bay with great views and fresh fish. * Tamara also did a photo shoot with Nikola from Flytographer and got some great photos. * Book ferry tickets in advance of your trip * Note that you should arrive at the ferry port early to figure out where to queue up. * Boarding the ferry can be chaotic so listen closely for when they call your boat and note that the same ferry makes multiple stops at different islands so it isn't like there is a separate boat for each island. * It helps to arrange transportation for airport and ferry pick ups so you don't have to wait in a long line when you arrive. We used Welcome Pickups on Santorini and Athens. * On Naxos, Tamara stayed at the Virtu Suites boutique hotel on the beach in Agios Prokopios. * Naxos is a much more affordable than Santorini -- dinner for two costs only about 40 euro at many local tavernas. * Tamara booked a full day private boat tour and snorkeling with Naxos Sailing. They also offer small group trips and have a variety of itineraries. * The boat tour stopped in Paros and Tamara took a cab to Naoussa, the main town, which is really beautiful and filled with shops and restaurants. * Tamara and Glenn also took a full day wine, cheese and island tour with Eleni from Philema Food Tours. * In Naxos Town many people visit Apollo's Temple or the Portara for sunset but you need to get there early to get a prime photo spot. * In Athens, Tamara stayed at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, which she was able to book using Marriott points. The rooftop restaurant, where breakfast is also served, has beautiful views of the Acropolis.

Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.060] - Kim Tate Today, we're taking a European journey to the Greek islands.

[00:00:15.900] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.870] - Tamara Gruber Today's podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages. If you've ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book. Atlas Ocean Voyages just introduced its new expedition ship, The World Navigator. This small ship luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable but energy efficient manner. It's perfect for adventurous families or multigenerational groups. Its compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.

[00:01:00.750] - Tamara Gruber From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail seven separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt, and its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships, and port bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions.

[00:01:22.590] - Tamara Gruber The ship's facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance, with stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew. With preboarding and pre embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers, social distancing will be maintained with small groups shore excursions. Atlas welcomes travelers to come back to something brand new. To learn more, please visit AtlasOceanVoyages.com, and we thank them for their support.

[00:01:48.330] - Tamara Gruber Kim, I have to say after just coming back from Greece, now is such a good time to go that if people could still book a cruise for later this summer or the, you know, the fall, it would really be a great time to go.

[00:02:01.560] - Kim Tate I can see that I was following along on your stories. I think a lot of people are just unsure about all the you know, I guess in some ways you'd say loopholes and things you have to think about when you're traveling. And so it might be the perfect time for summer in Europe.

[00:02:16.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely not as crowded. And people are very eager to welcome you back. And, you know, luckily, especially with Greece, the emphasis that they've put on vaccinating people in hospitality and on the islands and plus the fact that everything is outside it makes you feel so much more comfortable. So definitely a good time to go. But otherwise, if you can't go this year and you've dreamed about a cruise either to Egypt or the Greek islands, then check out Atlas Ocean Voyages for small ship luxury cruising.

[00:02:48.060] - Tamara Gruber Sounds like a great way to go because it includes all your excursions and everything else. At least you know exactly what it's going to cost you.

[00:02:54.660] - Kim Tate Yeah. And as we've already said, the small ships are really the way to get a more intimate experience with the destination. So you're not being dropped off on huge piers.

[00:03:03.390] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. When we took our ferry back, I saw maybe one or two cruise ships that a couple of the islands that we stopped out on the ferry back to Athens. But those were mostly like small ships as well.

[00:03:14.070] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, cruising is coming back. We saw on our flight back to JFK, like one whole section in the back seemed to have those little celebrity bags. So it's nice. Yeah, well, that's exciting. And I think it's great if people want to look at kind of that new journey. And like you said, there's still a whole month of August left for the summer. So if you've got some free time to make an impromptu vacation plans, then the Atlas Ocean Voyages might have a good deal for you to jump on.

[00:03:43.800] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, and if you want to explore Greece by land or at least to the islands, then I can give you some tips, because that's what we're going to be talking about this episode.

[00:03:53.460] - Kim Tate I cannot wait to hear about your trip. It seems like you guys really enjoyed your time together. And, you know, for an anniversary trip, it seems like it it just checked all the boxes for you guys. So I'm looking forward to sharing with our listeners everything that you guys did and what you learned. And we should just get right into it.

[00:04:11.580] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, definitely. It was one of those trips where I was prepping myself as we were driving down because we had to drive to New York and we flew from there just so that we could get a direct flight to Athens.

[00:04:23.550] - Tamara Gruber So since our other flight was canceled, we wanted to not have to worry about transiting through another European country and worrying about what their entrance requirements were and such. And so we're driving down and I said to Glennn, like, look like something is going to happen, like not everything is going to go smoothly.

[00:04:41.010] - Tamara Gruber You know, that's always the case, but especially right now, like, we need to prep ourselves like I've had in my mind, like this dream trip for two years now. Right. And that's like dangerous, you know, when you are putting so much like, you know, hope and everything into this trip that you've thought about for so long and especially, you know, as we're used to traveling. But, you know, after two years of not a lot of travel, it's like it gets even more focus, you know, for you.

[00:05:04.510] - Tamara Gruber I'm like, something's going to go wrong. And it just ended up like, you know, OK, there are a couple, like, little bumps, but thankfully, like, nothing huge happened. And it was just it was just so nice. Still be in a different place, you know what I had said, like, I need a change of scenery. If we can't go to Greece, like we're going somewhere that has palm trees or something, like I needed a change of scenery and then it just it was beautiful, but it was everything is outdoors and we just.

[00:05:33.430] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, you had to put on a mask when you were in, like, you know, a cab or something like that. But we just didn't worry.

[00:05:38.770] - Tamara Gruber And it was really amazing.

[00:05:40.450] - Tamara Gruber And I think it was like the combination of those couple of things of like feeling really normal and being in a new place and just having this amazing time.

[00:05:50.260] - Tamara Gruber And and we you know, it was a splurge trip for us. So I booked, you know, some luxury hotels. And just like being that back in that experience. And you think about like what we talked about in our last episode about how like for the services and the hotels and stuff right now, you know, because of staffing, I like to be back in like what felt like a very normal travel experience was it was just amazing. It really is awesome.

[00:06:13.570] - Tamara Gruber It really was so good. And I look yeah, I look at the pictures and I'm like, you can just tell, like, our smiles, like we're just happy.

[00:06:21.670] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. That's what I got that sense from. Just everything that I was watching and following and seeing. It was just seemed like you guys had had a really great time. So why don't you start us, you know, for the people who are wondering, why don't you explain what you did before to be able to get to Greece, you know, so they just know what the requirements are maybe. And then walk us through your itinerary if you want or however you want to present it.

[00:06:45.960] - Tamara Gruber Definitely. So, yeah, there's definitely a few things to know about going to Greece right now. I mean, they were one of the first European countries to open up. So what they require is you either need to be vaccinated, fully vaccinated, which includes the two weeks after your second dose or your one dose if your one dose person like I was. And you also need you know, if you don't have that, then you need to show a negative test PCR test within the last 72 hours.

[00:07:14.110] - Tamara Gruber And you show that when you arrive at the airport, when you're checking in in the U.S. and the other thing that you need to do is complete a passenger locator form and you need to do that. You can probably would be emailed it from your airline carrier, but otherwise you can find it on like the Greek website.

[00:07:32.710] - Tamara Gruber You need to fill that out before 24 hours before you leave. So, you know, at least a day before you leave, you fill that out and it has all your information, your passport information, all that kind of stuff. But also look where you're going to be staying.

[00:07:44.950] - Tamara Gruber You know what places you're visiting, all of that. It's an online form. You you submit it and then you get a receipt that it's been submitted and that's what you show when you get to the airport to check in.

[00:07:59.020] - Tamara Gruber Then when you arrive in Greece, it's kind of weird because they email you a QR code, but they only email it to you like after midnight the day of your arrival. So we were doing like an overnight flight. So it's like we couldn't show it at the airport when we arrived because we don't have it yet. But we showed it at the airport I'm sorry, when we arrived in New York. But when we arrived in Athens, luckily they have free Wi-Fi in the airport.

[00:08:23.800] - Tamara Gruber Just connect and then you get the QR code and you show them as you're coming into the customs area for Athens.

[00:08:30.550] - Tamara Gruber So that's really it. It's pretty simple, really. There are some other things to think about just in terms of, you know, traveling right now. Like if you're going on a ferry, you need to show your vaccination card or your test, but you also need to complete like a health form, you know, like one of those like you haven't had these symptoms, you know, that kind of stuff. And they give you a QR code for that.

[00:08:56.200] - Tamara Gruber Of course, I can talk later about like the whole ferry boarding process. And it's such like a madhouse. They don't actually check that.

[00:09:02.110] - Tamara Gruber But, you know, technically, you need to do those kind of things, too. So there are some things.

[00:09:07.900] - Tamara Gruber And when we checked into each of our hotels, they checked our vaccination cards.

[00:09:11.620] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, you keep that information handy. We had to do one for a boat that we went out on for the day. We had to show the vaccination card and fill out a health form for that as well. So I guess either a vaccination card or a negative test. Yeah, but then within three days, does it have to be within three days so we can keep repeatedly testing while you're there if you're not, you know, because we're vaccinated. That's something that you would look into if you have younger children that couldn't be vaccinated or something like that. Yeah. Something to ask. And then, of course, to come back to the US, everyone right now needs to have a negative PCR test.

[00:09:48.940] - Tamara Gruber So when we arrived, I had already figured out what we were going to do to make sure that it was possible. Otherwise I would have bought those Abbot Binax Now test to bring with us.

[00:10:04.990] - Tamara Gruber So they have two different Abbott ones. This is I guess good to know. Like there's one that you can buy just in like a CVS or something. That that does not qualify for overseas travel.

[00:10:15.310] - Tamara Gruber Because it needs to be monitored, but they have another one that you can order online, I think it's one hundred and fifty dollars that includes like multiple tests.

[00:10:24.220] - Tamara Gruber And what you do is you self administer it, but you do it like you get in an appointment with a doctor, like over Zoom. Right. And watch, you know, that you're doing it so that they can verify, you know that to you.

[00:10:36.700] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, that's a separate one. You have to order online and that's actually an option. But luckily for us, we were able to get to our second island of Naxos. We our hotel helped us arrange an appointment at a clinic there. We just it could take up to 24 hours before we were getting our results. So we did on Friday for a Sunday morning departure. And we had our results by Friday evening. And it cost us only 60 euro per person.

[00:11:03.400] - Tamara Gruber If they came to the hotel and did it for us, it was going to be like a hundred and twenty euro per person. So that's what we did.

[00:11:08.950] - Tamara Gruber But just one thing to note about when you are traveling and you're looking to go to a local clinic for your way back, the hours are very limited. Still, like the one that we went to is closed on Saturdays. So, you know, you needed to plan that into your time window. But then some of them will be open, like for a few hours in the morning or a couple hours in the afternoon. But it's not like all day or, you know, you know, 24 hours.

[00:11:31.600] - Tamara Gruber So you need to definitely plan ahead with that. But overall, like, it was pretty easy. I definitely think the the most challenging part is, you know, just the long flight, you know, frankly, like, I've never had a mask on for 16 hours before. And that is true. You know, that was a really long time because we had to deal with our long flight. You know, you have your time in the airport, the long flight on the way there.

[00:11:54.490] - Tamara Gruber We then had like a three hour layover in the Athens airport and then another flight to Santorini, because our itinerary was to have three nights in Santorini, five nights on Naxos, and then one night in Athens for our return. So when we arrived, we wanted to not have to spend time in Athens, but get right to our destination just because we didn't have we just didn't have a lot of time. If I had two weeks, I would definitely spend more time like in Athens.

[00:12:19.900] - Tamara Gruber So we had that flight, you know, and then the cab ride from the airport to our hotel. So, you know, that's that's a long time, you know, to be in your mask. I definitely switched up my mask like midway. Yeah. About getting this thing kind of stinks after a while, you know. Yeah.

[00:12:36.490] - Kim Tate Are they not doing food either? So do you have to kind of make sure you're packing your own food and then are you able to eat it.

[00:12:41.620] - Tamara Gruber They do do food, yeah.

[00:12:42.770] - Tamara Gruber So we had our flight was Delta from JFK to Athens. We did have a bit of a scare that we weren't going to make our flight because we gave ourselves five hours to get to New York and it should take three hours. But it ended up taking like five and a half. And we parked in like an economy pre booked online. So then we had to take an air train over to the airport. And we were so nervous that, you know, we started off so relaxed, like we have plenty of time. Then we were so nervous that we weren't going to make it, but we got there. It was kind of chaos in the JFK Airport because it's just super busy. And, of course, you know, everyone, not everyone had all the information they were supposed to have right now.

[00:13:25.360] - Tamara Gruber And then that takes a little bit of a longer time. But we got triggered as we were boarding.

[00:13:29.920] - Tamara Gruber We got on luckily, they were serving food because we our plan was to go to a lounge and have a meal and, you know, take some, you know, some time. We didn't have that. So we were getting on to the plane with a bag of chips and some trail mix for like a ten hour flight. So, yeah, luckily they serve food and basically, you know, they make announcements, of course, when you board just the same way they would in the US.

[00:13:53.560] - Tamara Gruber And while you're eating, you can lower your mask. And then it's kind of like after they do their meal service, they're going around being like mask up, like making sure everyone was still lingering, you know, that they're lifting the mask. But I will say, and I've said this before, like with us travel, that if I was not vaccinated, I would not be comfortable going because there are a lot of people that, you know, it's an overnight flight, it's dark.

[00:14:20.080] - Tamara Gruber People are kind of lowering their masks as they're sleeping. And on those kind of overnight flights, the flight attendants aren't up and down the aisles as much checking. So I think, yeah, you definitely see some like if they saw someone, they would say something, but they weren't being super proactive with. Checking often is I say, you know.

[00:14:40.840] - Tamara Gruber But that's not the case in the ferries and in the, you know, Athens airport, it seemed like, you know, much more strict. And on the ferry, someone went around regularly like, you know, talking to people and even having a little confrontations with people. So if that's something that's worried, I know I've gotten a lot of messages. I don't want to linger on this too much because there's a lot of really good stuff to talk about.

[00:15:01.900] - Tamara Gruber But, you know, I've gotten a lot of messages from people, like asking how comfortable I was. And I want to say, like when I was in Greece, I felt extremely comfortable. I really, really did.

[00:15:10.900] - Tamara Gruber You know, we had masks on in the cabs, but everything else. Is really outside, you know, like it's it's amazing how much everything is outside, I came back and I'm like, oh, right, restaurants have indoor dining, but we don't want to do that, you know? So it's it's very comfortable in that way.

[00:15:28.320] - Kim Tate Great. So you made it to Santorini. That was your first stop. So what sort of things did you do there?

[00:15:34.440] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So in Santorini, Santorini is a very crowded like over tourist island. It's really expensive, but it is very, very beautiful.

[00:15:44.820] - Tamara Gruber And so I knew that we wanted to only spend a few nights there because they didn't have the budget to spend a long time. And I have to say that this year is such a great time to go because it still seemed a little crowded at times and it was picking up like throughout our stay seem to increase. But they were telling me, all the locals are telling me that it was only about 20 percent of the 2019 numbers. So it's definitely like an over tourist destination.

[00:16:12.600] - Tamara Gruber And I had an opportunity to visit when there weren't that many people there, which made it like absolutely amazing.

[00:16:18.460] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we stayed like one of the main towns is called Oia. And it is it's an essential that everybody sees in the pictures. Exactly.

[00:16:30.130] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Yeah. So I really wanted to stay there again. This was our milestone anniversary, a birthday trip. So it was a splurge, something that we'd saved up for for a while.

[00:16:40.620] - Tamara Gruber So I had booked us three nights at a luxury hotel that called the Canaves Oia Epitome. So this brand, the Canaves, they have, I think three or four properties that are well known, luxury properties, most of them are right in the town. This one is brand new and it is just about a ten minute walk outside of town, kind of like down the hill. But we love the location and I loved the property. It was gorgeous.

[00:17:07.740] - Tamara Gruber I had booked us a honeymoon suite with a plunge pool. So big splurge on the suite. We've never spent this much on a hotel. I will admit, you know, definitely like a huge privilege here.

[00:17:17.580] - Tamara Gruber But we walked in and so it was like you kind of opened this one door. You go up some steps and there's like our patio with our plunge pool to loungers, picnic table, a little bench. And then you go into the room from there.

[00:17:32.340] - Tamara Gruber And we walked in and we were just like, wow, like this. It's just so nice to go back to, like a luxury hotel and have this beautiful place and beautiful, you know, setting. And it was just it was so nice. Like, I'm so glad that we had that splurge. They do have other they have some other spaces for families. And there actually I saw a number of families, both with teens and with like toddlers are smaller, like elementary school age.

[00:18:01.770] - Tamara Gruber So there are other types of rooms, some larger, some smaller. So that was my big splurge. At one point, Glennn was like, how much was this place? And I'm like, I'm not going to tell you. This was one where I was like, I want to book this, you know, and surprise you. And so we we really, really enjoyed that, like, kind of sitting out by the our little plunge pool.

[00:18:22.500] - Tamara Gruber But then they also have, you know, the property has like a really nice infinity pool and it overlooks the water. And you get really beautiful sunset views there, which, you know, in this part of Greece, like some some of the views, some of the places will face a caldera. So you'll get really pretty hues and color, but you don't see the actual sunset. So this is the sunset and it's like ten minute walk up to town or they can shuttle you and like a ten minute walk down to Ammoudi bay, which is where are the sunset catamarans go out.

[00:18:55.620] - Tamara Gruber And it's just like there's a lot of cool fish restaurants. So I thought the location was fabulous.

[00:19:01.110] - Tamara Gruber The service was amazing, the food was great, the breakfast is included. And it's one of those things where you can order as much off the menu as you want. You know, like you order a la carte and then they're like, oh, do you want fruit? Do you want this? Like the one day that I had breakfast, I like pineapple juice. And so on their menu, they had grapefruit and orange juice. And I was like, oh, do you have pineapple juice?

[00:19:22.440] - Tamara Gruber And they're like, we can do that for you. And they came out, they had like blended a fresh pineapple for me.

[00:19:28.770] - Tamara Gruber And the the food was just it was fantastic. Like everything was so good. And our first night there, like we were exhausted.

[00:19:35.280] - Tamara Gruber Right, because we had this five hour drive. Then we had, you know, a ten hour flight, three hour layover, half hour flight, you know, so we got there and I saw those lounge chairs by our plunge pool. And I'm like, I am taking a nap right there. And so we kind of just like napped in the sun for like an hour or two was somehow like it. Just something about the excitement of the first day of your trip where you just like kind of have the adrenaline to keep going, right?

[00:20:01.320] - Tamara Gruber So that little nap was like all I needed. I usually plan for something like this for our first day to just have dinner close to the hotel where we're staying. So I had booked dinner at the hotel. The hotel has two restaurants, one is like fine dining, one is casual. I had booked us at the fine dining restaurant and so we ended up having like a degustation menu, like a chef's tasting menu, seven courses. And so you would think we would be like way to jet lag to like appreciate it.

[00:20:31.580] - Tamara Gruber But I will tell you, this is one of the best dining experiences of our lives. And we still go back and we're like, is it because we were just so happy to be there? Or is it just like that first night? You have nothing to compare it to.

[00:20:44.120] - Tamara Gruber But it was really just wonderful because the service was so it was just so perfect.

[00:20:49.160] - Tamara Gruber It wasn't crowded because it was primarily just people at the hotel. So, you know, we were outside. We are overlooking this beautiful infinity pool and the sunset and, you know, our tables were all spaced and our server was just so sweet. Like every time I was, like, really enjoying a dish. And I would compliment her and compliment the dish. She would get almost like a giggly, you know, like she was so pleased with how much we liked it.

[00:21:17.480] - Tamara Gruber And it just like that shows like how much like it means to them to, like, present and prepare like something that someone's really enjoying, you know, like that kind of hospitality where it's not just like a you know, like a process, like a routine. You know, it was just like a lot of it added a lot of enjoyment. And the the food was just it was fantastic. It was so, so good. So, you know, another huge splurge for us.

[00:21:41.090] - Tamara Gruber But like, if you stay there and I actually had like three people, I think like or more messaged me on Instagram saying that they had either already booked it or they were booking it for the fall, like that particular hotel and asking about the restaurant. So I definitely think it's the it's a luxury hotel. And the price point is just slightly below the places that are in town. So it made it you know, it made it fit with my budget.

[00:22:07.400] - Tamara Gruber You know, it was already a splurge budget, but. Yeah. So anyway, that's what we did the first day. And then the next day, again, I didn't want to like over because I really wanted to make sure that this trip was like some exploration, but a lot of time for like relaxation and doubt and just time to enjoy it and soak it in. You know, I didn't want us to be like, go, go, go.

[00:22:26.300] - Tamara Gruber And we also didn't want to be around a lot of other groups or people. So we did things, you know, like more on our own or privately.

[00:22:33.560] - Tamara Gruber So the next day we decided to walk into town and I thought we're just going to maybe, like, wander around for a little bit. But it was so charming. And so we were just like going down all these side streets and I'm taking like a million pictures and we just loved it.

[00:22:47.810] - Tamara Gruber And it was so quiet at first. Like in the beginning, the streets were like empty when we got there, probably like ten thirty.

[00:22:54.500] - Tamara Gruber And the streets were so empty. And everyone says, like, go super early in the morning, but I'm like my first day. I'm not getting out there like 6:00 a.m. you know, that's not my idea of a vacation. And then it got like a little busier, like closer to noon. But I think if you're going on a regular year, you probably really have to get there early to avoid the crowds. That's why it's kind of nice to stay right in that area, because if you're traveling from another part of the island, of course, you're not going to get there, you know, quite that early.

[00:23:19.820] - Tamara Gruber Right. But it got really hot, definitely. People ask me about the weather, too. It was probably in the high eighties, like maybe low 90s the entire time we were there. I mean, I loved it.

[00:23:30.470] - Tamara Gruber Like it was it was the kind of weather where I could go out every night in a sundress and not have to bring a sweater, you know, just like, wonderful. And it was, you know, the sun was strong.

[00:23:40.940] - Tamara Gruber So you would like a little break from it or take a swim. But it wasn't I didn't find it oppressive. Apparently earlier in that week, there was you kind of what's been typical Europe right now is the end of June, early July for the last few years has had like an extremely high heat wave. So they had temperatures well above one hundred for a few days. But then, like I said, when we were there, it was kind of more normal summer.

[00:24:03.300] - Tamara Gruber But still, we needed a place. We needed a little break. And their lunches are a little bit later. They're still like at one point we stopped and we just Glennn had, I think, like a beer and I had a smoothie and we just sat at a place where we're having this beautiful view. And then we walked around some more and then we had this amazing lunch. I like this salad with grilled shrimp and like, everything was like so wonderful.

[00:24:24.050] - Tamara Gruber And all I could think was like years ago when I was a picky eater, I was like, oh, I could never do I could never go to Greece because I don't like and I like this like at the time I didn't like feta, now I love feta.

[00:24:34.970] - Tamara Gruber I still don't like olives. And I didn't eat as much fish. But it is like the food was amazing. All the food that I had was really, really good and I did not have a problem with that at all because I for a long time ago I was like, I'm gonna have to do it on a cruise so that I like the food, but I've expanded my palate. So we had a wonderful lunch. Like there's just so many places that have beautiful views or cute courtyards.

[00:24:58.520] - Tamara Gruber And it's just we had a lovely time and it reminded me a lot of the Amalfi Coast in Italy and in Capri, except the shops there aren't like the big designer shops. It's more like, you know, there's there's a lot of touristy kind. You know, now knickknacks and T-shirt kind of things, but then there's some more local shops, and so I liked that. You know, sometimes when you go to places and you see all these, like really upscale designer shops and like, well, first of all, I can't afford to shop there wherever I see them.

[00:25:30.650] - Tamara Gruber And like, if you can get that at a city, like, near you, like, why do you need it like on vacation? You know, I'd rather find, like, more of the local kind of authentic things. Like we stopped into a gallery and I totally was ready to buy art until I realized we missed a zero on the on the painting price. But yeah, we just had a really lovely time. We went back and we sat by the pool and then we went back into town that night and we did another tasting menu at this place called Lycabettus, I'm sure mispronouncing it.

[00:25:59.150] - Tamara Gruber But it's named that after a place in Athens that also has a beautiful viewpoint. But it basically is a restaurant like on a cliff side. So you pay more to sit on this like promontory that sticks out into the caldera. And you have this great view. Of course, Glennn was like, so where it is like, am I going to be nervous? And we had to go down all these steps to get to it.

[00:26:24.500] - Tamara Gruber He was like slowly going down the steps and the the hostess kept turning and looking back. And I'm like, we're OK, you know? But I will say, like, that place was crazy expensive, which we knew it was going to be, because it's definitely very like this is one of the most beautiful places to have a meal or whatever. But I didn't think it was worth it. So I wouldn't say to do it like the food was good, but it was much more like it came out very quickly and it was like everybody near us was getting the same thing at the same time.

[00:26:54.950] - Tamara Gruber And it just didn't have that personal feel to it. And for like a gas station menu was a lot of like phone this and, you know, like very I don't know, kind of it was inventive, but it also felt very like it's probably been done a lot, you know. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, but it was still we had a beautiful view. We wandered around town afterwards and it's just so nice.

[00:27:13.550] - Tamara Gruber We sit as we're sitting there because we probably had like an eight thirty reservation, like, you know, the sunsets. And then so things start to have that beautiful glow and then the lights start to come on. And then by the time you leave, it's like all lit up and it's just, you know, like really, really gorgeous. I really fell in love with, like, that part of Santorini. But, you know, someone asked me, like, how long should you stay in Santorini?

[00:27:35.750] - Tamara Gruber And I said, well, I think at least three nights, you know, maybe two nights if you've already, you know, been in Greece. But really, it depends on your budget. Like, how long can you afford to stay there because the food's expensive, like everything is definitely pricey.

[00:27:49.700] - Tamara Gruber So our last day on Sunday, we ended up we had booked a half day wine tour with Santorini wine trails, and we did that. All the tours that they're doing right now are private. So, you know, we basically visited a vineyard and then Santorini is probably most well known for their wine, their white wine. And so we went to, I think, three wineries and did different tastings and tasting. We had like some local cheese or one thing I totally fell in love with was the tomato paste, because like Santorini is known for tomatoes, too.

[00:28:25.520] - Tamara Gruber And you think about tomato paste like that, you would buy at the store, come to where the little can and you just like your lasagna or something like that. Like this was it was like you just want to spread it on bread. It was amazing. You know, I definitely had a great time on that tour. We learned a lot. You know, it's just the kind of thing that we like to do. Again, this trip was very oriented towards couples, you know, as I apologize, or people like looking for family, you know, kids, things to do because we were very focused on things that we love to do.

[00:28:56.390] - Kim Tate Well, that still sounds awesome. Sounds like a gorgeous splurge. And I'm sure there's plenty of people listening that don't have kids are looking for an anniversary trip or, you know, some kind of luxury luxury time. So I think it's good.

[00:29:08.840] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:29:09.800] - Tamara Gruber And then our last night, we walked down to Ammoudi bay and we watched other sunset catamarans go out and man, those things were packed. Those were crowded.

[00:29:17.900] - Tamara Gruber And then we had dinner down there at a Ammoudi Fish Tavern, which was it was just a great you know, it's very touristy feeling, but it's just it was like such fresh fish. The guy was like, no, no, come over to that, because I was asking, like, what is this type of fish like? And he's like, come look. And I'm like looking at it is not going to help me know how it tastes like, you know, he kept trying to like, you know, like, look at this one and we'll cut it this way.

[00:29:44.810] - Tamara Gruber He'll do this. But, you know, it's very fresh.

[00:29:47.390] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, that was that was a lot of fun. And I didn't mention. But if you follow on Instagram, you've probably seen.

[00:29:52.730] - Tamara Gruber But we did a Flytographer photography shoot that morning before we did the wine tour. So that was a lot of fun to

[00:30:00.770] - Kim Tate those turned out so well. And I'm happy with the dress you chose. It looked perfect.

[00:30:05.240] - Tamara Gruber Thank you. And thank you. Yes. For your advice. I was going back and forth, but I'm like, you know, I just feel comfortable in this one. And I think, like, you know, Glennn is a pink shirt. It'll kind of go together and yeah, we worked with Nikola and he did a fantastic job. And he did so many different, like locations. We're like really fast, which is good because, like, I didn't think about poor Glenn because it was a lot of like edges. Edges.

[00:30:33.540] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. I did at one point he was just like, I need a break. I, I'm sitting this one out, take some pictures of her on her own. But, you know, we had fun. It was it was really nice. So it's just something that it's just such a good memory. Like I know I will look back at those photos and like always smile, you know, I was they'll bring back such happiness.

[00:30:56.520] - Tamara Gruber It's nice to have photos of the two of us because frankly, I don't know. We have some from our wedding, like, yeah, I have a lot of that.

[00:31:03.210] - Kim Tate So he did a great job also of posing you guys. I mean, they were definitely nice anniversary shots. And I think that was part of it is some of the looks and the poses were great. So it wasn't just being in a beautiful area. I mean, they really were engaging of the two of you and good, good representative representation of your relationship.

[00:31:22.210] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, no, I agree.

[00:31:23.970] - Tamara Gruber It was it was really it was very nice. And so I'm happy to do that and tip for anyone that wants to do something like that for a future trip. What I do for photographer is every Black Friday they have a sale and I buy a gift certificate like gift card for that sale and then I'll just use it whenever I book for a trip. So little money saving tip there.

[00:31:47.270] - Kim Tate If it's that smart, is it? So it's like a gift card or whatever. And then you can. Yeah.

[00:31:51.840] - Tamara Gruber And then I get a code or whatever you apply.

[00:31:53.670] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:55.320] - Tamara Gruber So and that one I had a credit from, we had booked for Paris and twenty twenty that we didn't do and so I wanted to use it. I didn't know how long they were going to keep that credit valid and I didn't know when our next family trip would be. So my kids do this so.

[00:32:09.600] - Tamara Gruber Yeah but so that kind of wraps up Santorini. And then the next day we were taking a ferry over to Naxos, which is one of the largest of the Cyclades Islands. And it's you know, but it's quieter and it is a lot less expensive. I know that our friend Eric from Travel Babo has gone there a lot with his family. And, you know, so I decided to do that as our second island.

[00:32:32.860] - Tamara Gruber It would have been nice if we had a little more time to maybe squeeze in one other island. But, you know, that one was good. We did five nights. I think a lot of people will do like Santorini. Well, maybe they'll do Mykonos, but Mykonos is very much like a young party island. I'm like, yeah, I'm too old for that. And it's super expensive. Or they'll do Crete, but Crete is huge. And so you could do like your whole vacation.

[00:32:54.150] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Just on Crete. Yeah. So yeah, this felt like a good mix for us to have like one more of the famous ones and one of the slightly less visited ones. So we took the ferry and I'll just like a few words about taking the ferries in Greece just because it was new to me. And now I know. And if I had known what to expect, I may not have been so stressed out.

[00:33:12.420] - Tamara Gruber But we got to the very port early. But it's just open. There's no like docks that have names of where to go. So we went into like the siege at office, which was the ferry that I had booked.

[00:33:24.000] - Tamara Gruber We had filled out our forms and also done our mobile boarding passes. We had all that like on our phones, but we weren't quite sure where to go when we got there. So I went to the office. They're like, oh, just go to like this building like Terminal four. So, OK, so we go in there and we're sitting there and I hear different people talking around me and they're like, oh, we're going to make a noise, we're going to Athens.

[00:33:43.740] - Tamara Gruber So I'm like, OK, so there's multiple boats. So we have to like, really listen for like when our boat is coming right. And the time is getting closer and closer and closer and the place is really filling up and everyone's talking and it's just like loud and you can't hear a thing. And then I hear some guy like all the way at the end of the hall, like coming in and shouting like anyone going to want, you know, and you're like, what was that?

[00:34:06.870] - Tamara Gruber So there's like nothing on the loudspeaker to like. No. You know, which boat are they announcing? Should I go out? Do I not go out like what's going on? And then finally I hear them say, like Paros and I hear them say things.

[00:34:20.280] - Tamara Gruber And so I'm like, oh, OK, that's not us. That's not us. And then finally, it seems like everyone is just walking and going. So I'm like, we should just go. Like, I was going, yeah. So as we get out there, the boat is coming in and I realize it's a huge boat. This boat is going to all those islands. It's not like there's one boat to meagerness, one boat to Paris, one boat to Athens.

[00:34:43.320] - Tamara Gruber So I'm like, oh, OK, I get it now. But so you're in this giant, like heard and then they are running a few minutes late, which they often are. And so like the boat is not even like docked yet and you know, the gangplank is down, people are ready to walk off and they're like hurting us. They're like, go, go, go, go, go down. You, you know? And I'm like, you know, I have my you know, we have our luggage.

[00:35:07.230] - Tamara Gruber Of course, I have my phone out to show, like the boarding pass. And I think I'm have to show like my health form and my boarding pass and like all this stuff. And the people are streaming off the boat and and, you know, we're like streaming on at the same time and the people are in the back almost with, like, cattle prods, like, go, go, go. And I hear the captain go in like, we got to go.

[00:35:26.710] - Tamara Gruber We got to leave. We got to leave my. Oh, my God. Like, what are they going to do, like leave people, you know, we're barely on the boat. And the thing is coming up and they're pulling away and we're it's just like you're in the hold of the boat with, like, the cars. And there's like these racks where you can put your luggage and some of them are labeled with certain islands. But, you know, people are just throwing their luggage up on racks and like you're running out of space.

[00:35:51.910] - Tamara Gruber So Glenn's like putting it up on the top thing. And then there's this huge, like line to get up the stairs, you know, but it's like very bouncy at this point. So you're, like trying to keep your balance, but there's like a catch point because that's where you then have to show, like, your boarding pass. They never checked the health forms, you know, and then we get up there and then finally they're like, OK, these are your seats.

[00:36:11.650] - Tamara Gruber And we sit down.

[00:36:12.160] - Tamara Gruber We're like, oh, OK.

[00:36:14.200] - Kim Tate Like, that was very stressful. How long ago, right? Was it?

[00:36:17.560] - Tamara Gruber It was. I think I was like about an hour and a half to go from Santorini to Naxos.

[00:36:22.900] - Kim Tate What do they do with the people who don't have their boarding?

[00:36:25.120] - Tamara Gruber I know. Exactly. And they start from like they stopped at another island like Ios, I think first, you know, and so I don't know. I don't know. Do they like I have no idea what you put your kind of don't want to put your bag in first either because like how do you get your bag out then these racks of everybody and throwing their bags on top. And I believe that they wait there for a while. They'll let you get your bag.

[00:36:50.590] - Tamara Gruber so then we're sitting there and you hear and it's, you know, how things are. At least they had a loudspeaker on the on the ferry. And the ferry is very much like, do you actually hear it, though? It's probably like what you're used to with your ferries where, you know, you have assigned seating. It's more like airplane seating, like, you know, like you have seats.

[00:37:07.330] - Kim Tate We don't run out here in Seattle. It's open seating.

[00:37:10.790] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah. So we had assigned seating and I was like, there's a concession bar. So it's more like, you know, it's, it's a big, you know, it's a big boat.

[00:37:17.410] - Tamara Gruber There's multiple tiers.

[00:37:18.790] - Tamara Gruber So there is a loudspeaker, there's like TVs playing but they're in Greek. I don't know what's going on in them. And they're making the announcement first in Greek, but then in English. But I tell them, you you cannot understand it. It's just Charlie Brown. Yeah. And so we're just like, what?

[00:37:33.010] - Tamara Gruber You know, what was that?

[00:37:34.000] - Tamara Gruber What was that? And like, luckily we had seen as the boat was coming in, there was like one of those leg things where it was like Ios, Naxos, Paros, and it gave like the order. It seems like we're going to be the second one. Just remember where the second one, you know, but they're like, oh my, please report to whatever.

[00:37:50.770] - Tamara Gruber So basically, like before you get to your island, they're calling you to go down to the hold and that's where you grab your luggage. Yeah. So then we grab our bag.

[00:37:59.920] - Tamara Gruber But even then, like, it got stuck on, like there was like a net up there and like the wheel was stuck and we're like, oh, I got to get it out, you know. And then we're, you know, standing there and again, like it's like the thing is barely coming down. Stop, drop and roll.

[00:38:12.280] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, like, go, go, go, go.

[00:38:15.040] - Tamara Gruber And then the cars are coming off and they're like, get out of the way. And I'm like, oh my God. Like, what am I supposed to do? This is crazy. But one thing I will say is when you arrive at an island by ferry or by plane, it's really helpful if you have your transportation already arranged because there are not a ton of taxis on these islands. So we saw people like waiting a really long time for a taxi.

[00:38:37.510] - Tamara Gruber So I had used I read about it online somewhere, but it's called Welcome Pickup's. It's like a little bit like an Uber, but you arrange it ahead of time and it worked seamlessly. They weren't on Naxos, but it worked in Athens and it worked in Santorini, you know, where we walked out of the plane in Santorini. And there's a guy holding a sign, you know, Gruber, and we get right in and go. And that's how it was when we arrived in Naxos.

[00:39:00.730] - Tamara Gruber Although I didn't use that service, it was like through the hotel. But it was just so nice to be like, oh, here's a guy. You know, we do that we like just super long line to try to find a taxi. And, you know, so that was really great. I would definitely recommend using the welcome pick ups because the hotel in Santorini was going to arrange something. I think they were going to charge us maybe like seventy five euro.

[00:39:21.580] - Tamara Gruber And then I booked through this and it was like less than 50 euro. So I'm sure it's even cheaper if you got a taxi. Sometimes it's like you're already spending that much money. It's like, do you really need to save twenty five bucks or whatever?

[00:39:38.170] - Tamara Gruber Then that's how a lot of like when we were in Naxos, we the main town is called Naxos Town or Chora, I guess like what I've learned is that on the islands there's one town and all the others are villages, you know, so you have to like get to a certain size. And then all the main town is called like or something like that. And but it's also just called Naxos.

[00:39:56.620] - Tamara Gruber So so we were about fifteen minutes south of there, like on a beach called Agios Prokopios. I always like switch the key in the P and so you could take a bus like back and forth. But we were like, yeah, I'll just take a taxi. But, you know, like, it's it is a little bit more so I can see why people would like to stay in town, but I really loved our location. So we stayed at a place called the Virtu Suites.

[00:40:30.980] - Tamara Gruber Maybe they have a dozen rooms or so. They have different ones. We didn't we didn't go with the top of the line there. I just looked like a Seaview suite. So it was just like basically you walked out of our room and the pool was right there. But I love this hotel again. It was really new. Like they opened, I think late 2019.

[00:40:51.880] - Tamara Gruber So then they were closed most of last year.

[00:40:55.090] - Tamara Gruber And so there, you know, they are back and they were like, please leave us a review. Or if you like, we need, you know, we need to get the word out and like don't you worry. Yeah. I'm going to like let them know. So we, I loved it. Like everything was all these natural materials. It was like rope and wood. And, you know, it's just like a very, very nice style, very comfortable style.

[00:41:16.990] - Tamara Gruber The service was wonderful. It wasn't I don't even know if all the rooms were filled. Definitely not when we got there, because we got there on a Monday, I felt like at first. We might have been like one of the only ones in the place. The room was pretty large, you know, it was just it was just so nice like you.

[00:41:32.230] - Tamara Gruber We walked out of our room, you know, two steps.

[00:41:34.930] - Tamara Gruber There is the pool, you know, ten steps. We're at the restaurant, which is like open area, restaurant, bar facing the street. And then you go across the street and there's the beach and the beach is gorgeous.

[00:41:46.840] - Tamara Gruber And they have you know, they have loungers with umbrellas. And all you have to do is a hotel guest just have them reserve it. They give you a form the night before and the reserve you loungers down in the front. And then if those don't fill up, then like people can come and pay to stay at the other ones, you know, and they can bring you drinks and food and stuff. And so it was the and the beach was beautiful.

[00:42:09.850] - Tamara Gruber The water was like fairly calm, whereas up by town, like there were a lot more waves. It was rougher. Like that's where people like surf and windsurf.

[00:42:17.260] - Tamara Gruber So I thought it was great even for families, you know, like it. And it was it was fun because someone had said like, oh the yeah, the because the beaches in Santorini are like rock.

[00:42:28.990] - Tamara Gruber So they're like, oh no. Naxos has really good beaches there. It's like silk. And I'm like, OK, they haven't seen, you know, some beaches because that was not like Florida. Well, it was it was not rock. It was more like, you know, what I'd have here in the in the Northeast, like, you know, coarse sand and then, you know, maybe some rock, like as you are getting into the water.

[00:42:51.400] - Tamara Gruber And then it kind of drops off fairly quickly. And then it's super, super soft, like there is no seaweed, no shells.

[00:42:57.130] - Tamara Gruber Like it was just really beautiful.

[00:42:59.470] - Tamara Gruber You could go out, you know, and just kind of float or swim. And you had a pretty good current. Glenn tried to swim a little bit and it was it was tough.

[00:43:06.700] - Tamara Gruber But, you know, you can just float and just like, you know, enjoy and relax. And the water was clear and, you know, a couple of fish swimming around. It was just it was really, really beautiful. Like, I was like, why am I in the Caribbean like this water? It was so turquoise. It was really beautiful and quiet. there were families. They would play like beach games and, you know, kids around. But it was it did not feel super crowded at all, like especially if you were out there in the morning. I think I posted some pictures and you can see there was like no one in the water. It was just it was beautiful, really, really beautiful. So I loved where we stayed.

[00:43:40.720] - Tamara Gruber The town right where we were staying was smaller. So it was basically like a couple of beach shops with like beach bags and bathing suits and stuff like that.

[00:43:50.200] - Tamara Gruber Maybe one boutique shop where I actually bought something and a few restaurants, you know, there were there were a few like attached to hotels. There were a few like right on that beachfront road and then a couple of others, but like very, you know, authentic and good food.

[00:44:07.000] - Tamara Gruber You know, like we had our two dinners that we did. There were forty euro total and we had an appetizer to like giant entrees that we couldn't finish, I think. Well, the one place they brought us a free dessert, two drinks, like I was like forty euro versus Santorini. So it was it was really very affordable there. Even the hotel restaurant, which was really good, was not overpriced, you know, for anything. A hotel restaurant is always going to be a bit more.

[00:44:35.380] - Tamara Gruber So we loved it there. I would definitely recommend looking at staying there. Like I said, it was very comfortable, great service.

[00:44:42.520] - Tamara Gruber And, you know, the distance from town was a little bit of a challenge, like we did take a taxi back and forth a few times. But it depends like if you're planning on renting a car or if you're going to, you know, just spend time on the beach, like you don't necessarily need to be going back and forth every day. Yes, I really enjoyed it. And then our first sounds nice.

[00:45:03.010] - Kim Tate You know, first full day there, I had arranged for us to charter a private sailing on a sailboat. It was something that we had done. When we were in Italy one time and it was like one of my best travel days ever, so like, I really want to do this and we just didn't want to do like we wanted. I felt like we're in the islands, like, how do you not get out on the water and see it from the water?

[00:45:25.360] - Kim Tate And like that felt like part of the experience. But I didn't want to do like a big group thing. Like, it just wasn't comfortable with that.

[00:45:31.900] - Tamara Gruber So, yes, I had booked it through Naxos Sailing and the guy, the Captain George was like he was such a character, so funny.

[00:45:40.960] - Tamara Gruber So I don't know, like, sarcastic, like just he was great. But he also like, you know, he really took care of us and he had like another guy that was kind of like apprenticing for him, helping out too. But we went out for the whole day and we went first to it. So basically, like from Naxos, you can see the island of Paros. So we went over to Paros and then there's some small, like a smaller island off of Paros called Antiparos And so there was an area there where we were snorkeling or is like definitely popular. You could see like a number of boats coming out to do snorkeling there. There are a couple like yachts sitting there. It was a little bit rough. It reminded me a little bit of when you and I were in Key Largo and we went, oh, yeah, yeah. So not as seasick, but like, remember when we got in there and we're like, really bobbing around like the water bobbing like this.

[00:46:37.390] Like I went in and I'm going to I'm you know, I'm just not comfortable in the water. It's, I've never like the water, I don't enjoy swimming. I don't like going under the water. Snorkeling is fine because I can stay on top. But then when you're like bobbing around and then like a wave is coming and like water went down my snorkel. So then I'm like coughing and they're like, just blow it out. And I'm like, no, I'm done.

[00:46:55.000] - Tamara Gruber I'm out of here. So, Glenn, you know, he did a little bit more and I just, like, hung out in the boat. But, you know, the water is beautiful, is great.

[00:47:02.680] - Tamara Gruber Then we went over on Paros.

[00:47:04.930] - Tamara Gruber There's like a sea cave that you can snorkel into, but the top of the cave has a big hole in it. So you had, like, the stream of light, like coming into this cave. So it's like a really neat experience. So we pulled up to there. But because it's like a fairly big sailboat, he couldn't get super close.

[00:47:20.200] - Tamara Gruber So you'd have to, like, swim over and he gives you like a noodle and stuff, you know, because, like, I'm not a super strong swimmer, but I, I was like climbing down to get into the water and I just looked at it and I'm like, no, I'm not doing it. I'm sorry. Like, I'm just not I don't because I, I remember when we were in Italy, we I swam through this like grotto and like on the other side I had Hannah and stupidly, we didn't have like life jackets or noodles with us.

[00:47:45.010] - Tamara Gruber And we were both getting tired. And I pulled her up on to some rocks and some guy had to like, help me get her back to the boat. So I'm like, no, I just don't think I can swim that far. Like, I don't think I'm that, you know, I'm comfortable. So Glenn went with, like, the other guy on the boat and I just hung out on the boat and he loved it. He thought it was great, but it just wasn't something like like, again, I'm just not a very good swimmer.

[00:48:06.370] - Tamara Gruber So then from there went to like a small fishing village on Paros and we could stay in, like, hang out and have lunch there and go to a beach there. We're going to be there for like three hours. So it gives you time to like explore Paros. That's the reason I booked this particular tour, because I felt like, oh, this gives us a way to, like, see another island without having to, like, worry about the ferry schedule.

[00:48:29.860] - Tamara Gruber So we decided to go and take a cab to the main town and I always mispronounce this one too. But it's like Naoussa. We had to wait a really long time for a cab. So again, like if we had arranged it ahead of time, it would have worked much better because by the time we finally got there, we only had like a little over an hour and we needed to eat some lunch too.

[00:48:59.380] - Tamara Gruber Like I would have I would have had lunch while I was waiting if I had known it was going to take that long. And they're like, oh, it's going to be ten minutes and it was going to be half an hour. And then suddenly, like an hour later, we're still like waiting for the cab. But that town was gorgeous.

[00:49:12.490] - Tamara Gruber It was so charming. I know again, Eric has posted some pictures from there in the past, but it was I fell in love with that town and I'm like, we have to come back and we have to stay on Pario so that we can explore more of this town.

[00:49:24.430] - Tamara Gruber It just felt like there were just so many shops. There's so many, like in the old town, like so many little alleyways and restaurants and things to explore. Just looks so cute. But we had kind of a quick lunch quick, a little walk through, and then we had to take the cab back.

[00:49:37.990] - Tamara Gruber And then from there we sailed back to Naxos and I just kind of like chilled out. And it was it was a great day.

[00:49:46.420] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, again, a really fun thing to do, whether you do it private or they do, you know, small groups, you know, and he has a bunch of different tours he does on sunset catamarans. So actually, he gives you a DVD with the photos because he has like an underwater camera. So he takes photos all throughout the trip. Then he gives you a DVD.

[00:50:04.990] - Tamara Gruber So the next day when we were in town, we stopped by the boat to get the DVD and he was like, oh, someone like already reached out to me that said that, you know, they heard. About it from you, and they booked a trip with us. I'm like, oh, that's amazing. You know, so because I don't think he I mean, we paid for everything on this trip like nothing was sponsored or comped. So I didn't even always even mention that to people.

[00:50:25.670] - Tamara Gruber So I don't even know if I don't think he's very savvy when it comes to Instagram. I don't think he knew that I tagged, you know.

[00:50:32.000] - Tamara Gruber Oh, yeah. He was probably just like, wow, this is great, you know? Yeah. So that was a great day. I'm sorry. I'm just like going on.

[00:50:41.600] - Kim Tate What do you have one more day, though?We have one more days because for five days there. Yeah I do. I was thinking three days but three days with was Santorini and then. Yeah.

[00:50:49.820] - Tamara Gruber OK, so if you guys want to stick with me I will tell you a couple other things to do in Naxos, which we just had such a great time with one of them.

[00:50:57.260] - Tamara Gruber The next day we did a full day tour with Philema Food Tours. They do a lot more too and so it's run by Eleni and she has a driver as well. So she does like Half-Day tours and Full-day tours. But it's not like your typical walk around a town and do a food tour. This was very much like a full island experience, which is what I wanted.

[00:51:25.820] - Tamara Gruber Like, we we decided not to rent a car and drive around. And so I thought, well, why not do a tour that kind of combines seeing some of the island with some of the other things that we love. So we booked it was a cheese, food, wine, an island tour. So the first thing we did was we went to do someone's home that their cheesemakers. So it was and a couple that, you know, this is what they do.

[00:51:50.930] - Tamara Gruber They make cheese in their kitchen. So Naxos is really well known for like a couple of different kinds of cheeses. So cheese is definitely something that you'll hear a lot about in Naxos. And so it was like a hands on thing. Like first we met them, we saw the goats where they get their milk. You know, I like the whole thing. We went into their kitchen. They had this amazing spread of homemade food. So one thing, if you do this tour, do not have breakfast first.

[00:52:15.020] - Tamara Gruber We made that mistake because she made all of these like homemade like zucchini things and tomato things and just fed and like, no, not feta. It would have been their cheese. So just so much food.

[00:52:26.960] - Tamara Gruber And then we helped them make cheese. So they showed us how they make cheese. I helped stir it. I helped need it, you know, like put it through the thing like it was such a fun experience to get to do that, to get to like, learn about their cheeses, but then actually get hands on and do it and just meet this couple like, you know, they've you know, they're kind of living out there with not a lot of people around.

[00:52:50.600] - Tamara Gruber They were so excited to have us and host us.

[00:52:53.180] - Tamara Gruber And it was just a really, really lovely experience.

[00:52:57.170] - Kim Tate And then, yeah, I think it's so cool how you you do a great job at finding these, you know, kind of unique experiences and figuring out what to book. So you're not just going somewhere and then wandering in the town, which can be good too. But I mean, it's nice that you kind of search for these unique things. Yeah.

[00:53:14.690] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's definitely what we love.

[00:53:16.670] - Tamara Gruber And so then after that, we went to a little village. There's apparently only seven people that live in this village full time. But there's a potter there that's like, I don't know, fifth generation Potter or something like that. So we had a little demonstration from him of, you know, making some pottery look through his shop. He showed us all these different pieces. Of course, we ended up buying some. You didn't have to, but, you know, but it was nice.

[00:53:39.590] - Tamara Gruber And those are the kind of things, too, though, that, like, I do kind of love to buy because it's like you're really supporting this person, you know, like you're supporting like that local economy. So much like it's not just in a store. It's like, you know, I'm going to remember the person that made this and the story behind it and all of that.

[00:53:57.560] - Tamara Gruber So we did that. And then we went to a town where they're famous for making these. There's a distillery there for this alcohol that's made from cetron leaves. So I thought it was going to taste a little bit like Limoncello. Yeah, but it is it is so strong and I am not like a spirits or alcohol person. So, like, we did a little Citron tasting there. And then I was I chose the one that was like the mild one, you know, the less strong.

[00:54:25.670] - Tamara Gruber And then she's like, do you want the other? I'm like, no, that's OK. But in this town it's called like Chalki. Ah, it's, it's everything also is spelled like so many different ways. And eventually I'll get a blog post up with all of this and then I can link to that in the show notes.

[00:54:39.710] - Tamara Gruber But it is known it was like a very it was like a lot of aristocrats, like way back in the day in the now has a lot of artisans. And so one thing I did buy, there was some place mats because I met this woman that she showed me like her loom where she and weaves everything. And so I bought these ones and like traditional Naxos colors for our kitchen. Oh, yeah. And they were only like ten euros. So it was good.

[00:55:03.260] - Tamara Gruber But that town was just so lovely and cute. And then we went to this other town. I'm not going to pronounce it right either. It's like Aperinthos or something like that. And it is all marble. So like all. The streets are like white stone marble because it's Naxos is known for its marble quarries, and so this town is, you know, has that history and we had an amazing meal there. And our guide introduced us to a couple of the very local to that particular village dishes.

[00:55:32.890] - Tamara Gruber And it's interesting because like we learned, you know, it's kind of like most countries when you travel around, like one region is known for this kind of food, that kind of food. And so here you have like a microcosm of that, because it's like this one island has like different villages that are known for different things. And then we're looking at a menu and Naxos town, we're like, oh, that's that dish that comes from this village, you know?

[00:55:54.550] - Tamara Gruber So it was like it was just so nice, I think, to have that experience with the full day, like with a local guide. And she just told us so much about, like local culture and just, you know, it was just really great to kind of have that experience. And I will also say, like, so it can be kind of mountainous and we traveled around, you know, around the island. And so you're going on a lot of, like, curvy kind of roads.

[00:56:19.870] - Tamara Gruber Traditionally, I would get very carsick. So I was worried about that. And because even just going from our place to the ferry in Santorini, I got like super sick feeling so that on the whole way on the ferry, I was feeling like motion sickness because I already started that way.

[00:56:35.040] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, but she uses a driver. She has this nice van and she uses a driver that used to drive like big busses. And she knew that Glenn was scared of heights and she knows that I get motion sick. And so she asked him to, like, drive accordingly. And so he took like all those switchbacks and things like nice and slow.

[00:56:52.900] - Tamara Gruber And it made such a huge difference on my because my brain wasn't constantly being like, you know, bounced around in a way.

[00:57:00.400] - Tamara Gruber So it it made it so much better. It was really like I was I was kind of amazed because I thought, oh, boy, what am I going to do? Like I have to take Dramamine and then I'm going to be, you know, knocked out.

[00:57:10.600] - Tamara Gruber But we had then some time to kind of wander around this village and then we kept driving. We did a couple of like a little photo stops at different points, you know, like viewpoints and things. And then we finished at a vineyard. So it's really funny because, like, Naxos has this history that goes up back like literally millennia, you know, of these vines that have been around for so long. But there's no actually actual wineries on Naxos.

[00:57:38.680] - Tamara Gruber So they tend to like take all of their grapes and combine it and then almost like let it ferment a little too long. And so they're the wine they serve is like their house wine, like in their whole like people tend to use like their own little vineyards just for wine that they make for themselves and for friends. And then the restaurants have like their little house wine.

[00:57:58.510] - Tamara Gruber And it it's really strong.

[00:58:00.550] - Tamara Gruber It tastes like almost like an alcohol, you know, like I mean. Yeah, I mean, it's like maybe like a port or something like.

[00:58:06.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:58:06.760] - Tamara Gruber You know, it's a little more and that's definitely a high percentage alcohol and stuff. So it's not the kind of wine that I would usually drink, but this one vineyard he's trying to use like all these local grapes, but actually make like a refined, you know, nice wines from it.

[00:58:22.750] - Tamara Gruber So we were able to do like but he takes all of his grapes, like in a refrigerator truck over to Santorini and uses one of their, like, wineries to make the wine. But he we did a vineyard tour and then a tasting with him.

[00:58:35.710] - Tamara Gruber And it was just so great. Like, what a great way to end the day. Right. Like, we had this really fun, wonderful day. And then we're ending, you know, in the vineyard, we're having wine. We're just getting into, like, the great conversations. And he owns a wine bar in town that we ended up like going to the next day. And he really focuses on these like small Greek wines. And so it's just like one of these experiences where you just you're learning a lot.

[00:58:58.660] - Tamara Gruber We built on what we learned about Greek wine when we were in Santorini. You know, it was really nice. And then at the end, you know, then we come back and we're like, ready for a nap. But it was such a great day. So I would really, really recommend, if you go to Naxos, like try to book her.She's not like having multiple guides. And so I know our friend Kirsten had mentioned that when she went to Naxos, she had tried to book with them, but they were already full. So it's something definitely to plan ahead if you are interested in doing that. But I'm happy for them like that. Tourism is coming back. She had kind of said like last year, you know, our last year is a bust. Obviously, this year she thought things are going to be bad.

[00:59:38.110] - Tamara Gruber But then, like over the last couple of weeks, things had really picked up a lot.

[00:59:41.800] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, it's good to see that they're making it. But she's you know, everyone is also like, very thankful for us like that. Were there that when you book them, you know, so so it was it was really good. And then honestly, the next day, the next couple of days, we hung out at the beach, we walked around town, we went to get our covid tests.

[01:00:01.480] - Tamara Gruber And then we, you know, explored town a bit. And I will say, like Naxos, town is not as charming as the main town on Paros, but it is fun to explore. It's very easy to get lost in. This labyrinth of the old old town kind of streets and Glenn was like, we saw this before. It's like, what kind of things? Or like, how do we find our way out? We felt like little, you know, like mice, you know, finding our way out.

[01:00:25.120] - Tamara Gruber But it was nice. You know, we had another wonderful meal for our last meal. And one night we did walk out to one of the things that Naxos is known for is they have you see it right when you come into a port, it's like a big it looks like a big doorway. It's Apollo Temple or Portara.

[01:00:42.750] - Tamara Gruber So it's very well known that people go there. You know, you can go there for sunrise, you can go there for sunset. It's really, really busy at sunset. But after a full day at the beach, I was actually having major issues with my eyes because they have such sensitive eyes and even they had like sunglasses and a hat on, like just the sun exposure and the wind and everything. Like, my eyes were terrible. Like I had to lie down for like an hour with my eyes closed.

[01:01:10.050] - Tamara Gruber I use like half a bottle of drops, like it was just so much like pain in my eyes that I'm like, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to go out tonight, you know? So we finally we ended up going out, Glenn, and I'm like, you have to kind of like lead me by hand. And then by the time we went to that wine bar and by the time we finished there, I was feeling like a little bit better.

[01:01:28.740] - Tamara Gruber So we decided like last minute to walk over and see sunset there. So it's not like there are people that get there early and set up with a great location and all that. We kind of like just walked up and I'm like holding my phone or camera, like above people's heads to kind of take a picture. But it was it was beautiful and like, you know, yeah, it was crowded, but it was outside and honestly, like, the wind was going so strong.

[01:01:52.170] - Tamara Gruber I'm like, well, it's just blowing everything right past me, you know, like I'm not going to worry about about it being crowded or anything and and even like that kind of crowd, it's it's still it was manageable. Like there's places to walk around and walk away, you know, it wasn't it wasn't like a crazy like packed in kind of crowd. And then we had dinner. So yeah, we had a wonderful stay.

[01:02:14.280] - Tamara Gruber And then the last day we had we didn't have to go to our ferry until like one thirty and our hotel agreed to let us do a late checkout. So we went to the beach in the morning. We hung out, came back, we took a shower.

[01:02:27.360] - Tamara Gruber Then we get to the port, you know, like an hour early because they told us, oh, you don't get there like fifteen minutes early. I'm like, oh, that makes me nervous, you know?

[01:02:34.320] - Tamara Gruber So we got there, I think maybe like forty five minutes early. And as we're going, the taxi driver, they have this really cool app where they're able to look up like where the different ships are and they're like, oh you're your ship is is running about like forty five minutes late because it had been getting windier all throughout the week so that the Greek islands are known for this, the melting army winds and so that pushes back the ferries can't go as fast, you know, things like that.

[01:03:00.030] - Tamara Gruber So it definitely affects things.

[01:03:01.980] - Tamara Gruber And that's why we had to switch our sailing day to like the very first day that we arrived, because that was going to be the best day, you know, from a wind perspective. Like we didn't want to be out there when it's super, you know, choppy.

[01:03:14.040] - Tamara Gruber So we get to the port and we're like, OK, well, we're already here. So we just like when we had a quick lunch, then we get over to the to line up for our ferry and we're like the last ones in line, at least like this one was marked. So it was a little bit and we knew what to expect. So we're like, OK, we're just going to stand in this line and but we're out there in the sun, you know, and we ended up standing there for an hour and a half because our ferry was so late.

[01:03:38.160] - Tamara Gruber But we didn't have that app to be able to look up and be like, when is it coming? And ferries come and go. So much so you see one on the horizon. You're like, is that us? We're like, no, it's not us that's going somewhere else, you know? So by the time we finally got to Athens, it was late. And my plan was to try to go to the Acropolis and see the end, like just not with a tour, but just like quickly it'd be like, hey, I saw it.

[01:03:59.790] - Tamara Gruber But it was it was going to be close by the time I got there. But luckily, we stayed at a hotel called the Hotel Grand Bretagne.

[01:04:11.430] - Tamara Gruber It is a Marriott property, though. Oh, nice. So it's a luxury properties part of the luxury collection, but so we used points to book it. So we're very happy about that. We had a little balcony where we could overlook the parliament building. We saw the changing of the guard that happens there and then their rooftop, which is where they do their breakfast.

[01:04:31.260] - Tamara Gruber That's included.

[01:04:32.940] - Tamara Gruber You can see the the Acropolis Hill in the pantheon and things from the rooftop. And so I had booked us dinner there at the rooftop hotel. Just figured that would be a nice view, like Sunset View. And also we did that and it was you know, it was great view. But then I decided like afterwards, like, hey, let's a little take a little walk through the Plaka neighborhood, which is like this bustling, like, you know, restaurants, bars, you kind of area.

[01:04:58.530] - Tamara Gruber So we when we did a little like walk around that and then came back, you know, around midnight and the next day we flew home. And that was such a long flight because it's like ten hours and forty five minutes, I think, on the way home.

[01:05:11.280] - Tamara Gruber And it's actually the longest flight I. I've ever been on, and then we got to New York and we had a quick dinner at this place that we love near JFK, but then we had to drive home. Yeah. And, you know, so by the time we got home, it was what was for us five o'clock in the morning. Yeah. So we had been up, you know, like almost twenty four hours. And I was like I, I was OK, but I just couldn't sit still.

[01:05:38.620] - Tamara Gruber Like I'm glad Glenn was driving home and I'm like twisting and turning in my seat. I'm like I just can't sit it any longer.

[01:05:44.740] - Tamara Gruber Like it was, it was a long travel day, but I think it was kind of good that we got home at like ten thirty at night or so because then, you know, we're able to go to bed and go to bed and kind of get up and be on that regular schedule. Yeah. So, yes, the jet lag on the way back was about it. It wasn't too bad. And actually I found myself for like the first time in my life being tired at like 10 p.m..

[01:06:06.030] - Kim Tate So nice.

[01:06:07.210] - Tamara Gruber So yeah, that only lasted a week. Now I'm back to my normal but yeah.

[01:06:11.520] - Kim Tate Yeah. So it's it's a great trip. That sounds like you guys had such a good time. And like I said, I had some really unique experiences that kind of let you get a real feel for Greece and what those islands are known for. So that's exciting. Yeah, you can definitely see how people keep going back and back and back to other islands and stuff because, like, there's so much so many islands. And even like on Naxos, there are some Greek temples or ruins or things that I would have liked to go see.

[01:06:37.470] - Tamara Gruber But if we had one more day, like I would have either rented a car or gotten a guide to do that kind of stuff. But like I said, we didn't want to be going, going, going so. Right. I know a lot of people will write like things to do. And I'm like, well, I can't really write the things to do. But I, I feel like what we did was a really nice balance of of things.

[01:06:56.340] - Kim Tate I think that's important. I you know, we'll talk about my recent trip and I purposely booked it to not be go, go, go. Because Paul does not enjoy those kind of vacations. And it really starts to get, you know, when we're doing a job as a blogger and we have to get the things to do. And, you know, we've been on press trips that you go, oh, you're here for an hour, and then you go somewhere else for an hour and you visit like four things during the day and you can't really get a solid feel for anything, but you've got a long list of things to do.

[01:07:25.830] - Kim Tate So, yeah, it's it's interesting. Like vacationing versus just getting information is different. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[01:07:35.250] - Tamara Gruber Well I guess if everyone stays tuned the next time we will get to talk about your trip. Yeah, definitely. And I know that you will be putting out articles so people can always go check We3travel.

[01:07:46.770] - Kim Tate And of course the vacation mavens dotcom show notes for Tamara's information about all about her trip and those some of those unique experiences I'm sure she'll be sharing about and all those things that I couldn't pronounce next time.

View Details

Kim is back to traveling and this week she fills us in on her recent Seattle staycation and her mother-daughters trip to Vail, Colorado.

About Our Sponsor - Atlas Ocean Voyages

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages.

If you have ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book! Atlas Ocean Voyages just introduced its expedition ship World Navigator. This small ship, luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable, energy-efficient manner.

Perfect for adventurous families or multi-generational groups, its compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers, means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.

From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail 7 separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt. And its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships in port!

Bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions. The ship’s facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance. With stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew with pre-boarding and pre-embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers. Social distancing will be maintained with small group shore excursions.

Atlas welcomes travelers to ‘come back to something brand new’ To learn more, please visit www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com and we thank them for their support.

Seattle Staycation * There are two many tourist districts in Seattle, one is downtown not far from Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and the waterfront, and the other is at Seattle Center, where the Space Needle, MoPop, the Science Center, and the Chihuly Garden and Glass is located. * You can use the monorail to get between these two main areas. * Kim and her girls stayed at the newly remodeled Fairmont Olympic Hotel downtown. * You can have afternoon tea in the newly redecorated lobby and lobby bar -- and they are very good about food allergies. * A great way to explore the city is with CityPASS. For the Seattle CityPASS you can go to three of the following five attractions: Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Harbor Cruise, MoPop, and Woodland Park Zoo. The Pacific Science Center is usually included as an option but it is currently closed and scheduled to reopen in late 2021. * Many attractions currently require reservations but the CityPASS system makes this easy to do online -- although it pays to do it a week or more in advance. * If you can, try to plan your days to visit the Aquarium and Pike Place on the same day (and do a harbor cruise if that is your choice). Then visit the Space Needle, Chihuly, and MoPop on the same day since they are all very close to each other. You can then visit the zoo on the third day of your trip. * However, you should consider the weather forecast and try to pick a clear day to visit the Space Needle. * Right now MoPop has a special Disney Villians and Heroes Exhibit (not included in the CityPASS) * Pike Place Chowder in the waterfront area is a great place for lunch. * Woodland Park Zoo currently has a very cute baby gorilla.

Summer Trip to Vail Note: Kim and her family were hosted by Vail Resorts. All opinions are her own.

• If you fly into Denver, you can take the Epic Mountain Express shuttle to Vail, which is about a 2.5 hour trip depending on traffic (Denver is known for bad traffic)
• Kim stayed in the Manor Vail condos, about a 10 minute walk from Vail Village (there are also shuttles).
• Manor Vail is next to the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens
• In Vail Village there are many restaurants and shops, an indoor bowling alley, and outdoor cornhole, which is a lot of fun
• Give yourself time to adjust to altitude but rest, drinking a lot of water, and an oxygen shot can help.
• You can go horseback riding in Vail with a two hour trail ride through a magical forest.
• Alpen Rose is a great spot in town for dinner.
• From Lion's Head you can take the Eagle Bahn Gondola
• At the top of the mountain there is an Epic Discovery park with ziplines, a mountain coaster, trampolines, a rock wall, and a lawn slide.
• Eating at the top of the mountain is expensive so be prepared or eat before you go.
• The ziplines and ropes course is currently closed for the summer.
• Picnic Vail will arrange a picnic for you at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, including set up and clean up, complete with food and interactive games to play together.
• If you can visit during the week it will be less crowded in Vail Village and at the activities
• If you decide to rent a car, rent in advance and be prepared for long lines and high rates this summer.
• There are also more flight cancellations this summer as travel gets back into gear and airlines struggle to bring employees back on board.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.060] - Kim Tate Staycation and vacations. Find out what Kim's been up to this summer.

[00:00:16.530] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.620] - Tamara Gruber Today's podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages. If you've ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book Atlas. Ocean Voyages just introduced its new expedition ship, The World Navigator. This small ship luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable but energy efficient manner. It's perfect for adventurous families or multigenerational groups. It's compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.

[00:01:01.500] - Tamara Gruber From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail seven separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt, and its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships in port bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions. The ship's facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance, with stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew.

[00:01:30.390] - Tamara Gruber With preboarding and pre embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers, social distancing will be maintained with small groups shore excursions. Atlas welcomes travelers to come back to something brand new. To learn more, please visit www.AtlasOcean Voyages.com, and we thank them for their support. So Kim, I'm sure you're like melting over there in Seattle in this heat wave. Are you ready to hop on a cruise ship to Greece?

[00:01:56.760] - Kim Tate Yes. That sounded pleasant when you were saying it. I was thinking it'd be so nice to stand out on a cruise deck with the ocean. And, you know, that cool ocean breeze sounds so amazing right now.

[00:02:08.310] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And, you know, I love the small ship concept. Sounds like really good to me. And the fact that it can go into the smaller ports and the more authentic kind of places and not have any other cruise ships and ports. You're not fighting with all those other gazillion passengers.

[00:02:22.710] - Kim Tate You know, that's huge, I think, because we all I mean, those of us who have cruised on mega ships, which is everything I've done, you definitely get that sense of kind of being the herd at the end of the dock as you all come off and everybody's trying to sell you stuff and it's just chaos.

[00:02:40.800] - Kim Tate So I like the idea that it's just a small ship and kind of sounds like it's more of an intimate feel and you probably get more, you know, like you think when you step off and there's not a bunch of people you can kind of enjoy taking in the scenery a little more. You're not worried about all the hustle and bustle and hurrying somewhere, right?

[00:02:57.630] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. Yeah. Well, I'm by the time this comes out, I'm actually going to be back from my trip from Greece, assuming all goes well. But you've had a few little trips of your own recently and I would love to hear more about them. So do you want to tell us a little bit about your staycation first?

[00:03:15.690] - Kim Tate Of course, yeah. I'm so excited to get a chat a little because you've been so busy traveling. So finally, I got to dip my toes back in the summer travels and our first trip was more of just a staycation and it was with Seattle. And what happened is basically it was that CityPASS had reached out and said, hey, are you still in Seattle? Do you want to, you know, use some CityPASSes and enjoy some of the sights now that they're opening back up?

[00:03:39.060] - Kim Tate And I said, absolutely, let's do it. And so I actually arranged with the Fairmont in Seattle, the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, which I've never stayed at before. And it's kind of considered one of those classic original hotels in Seattle that people will actually come in to kind of tour and get a look around. And they have a brand new lobby design and a brand new lobby bar that they just opened. So I reached out to them and they hosted us for two nights.

[00:04:07.260] - Kim Tate And one thing I'll say is for people who are planning a trip to Seattle, I don't know much about Seattle. I consider, of course, Seattle's spread out and has tons of neighborhoods and each neighborhood has some benefits and nice parts to it. But if you're going to do like the traditional touristy things, there's kind of a downtown district that's more of the business district and it's just up from kind of Pike Place Market and the wharf and the aquarium and all the all the cruise sports kind of are nearby there. And then a little further up is Seattle Center. And that's where I mean, I know, you know this that's where they have MoPop and the Space Needle and Chiluly is there as well as the science center. So there's two main kind of tourist sectors. And I personally love staying in the more the downtown corridor that's near Pike Place, that's just I like that area better.

[00:05:01.530] - Kim Tate It just has kind of a vibe that I like. So that's where Fairmont is. It's kind of in that area. And we really liked our stay there. I stayed in a King executive suite and then they gave us a connecting room for the girls, which was a double and. Again, it's just so nice I mean, the rooms are nice, very clean, you know, fresh linens and all of that, the lobby is just amazing there.

[00:05:25.170] - Kim Tate And we actually had afternoon tea at the Fairmont, which is something they're well known for. All Fairmont's are known for.

[00:05:30.990] - Tamara Gruber I was going to say, yes, I always think I mean, I love Fairmont Hotels. They're just wonderful. I've stayed in that area a couple of times, but it's always been the Westin. But the Fairmont's definitely are known for the tea, so you got to do that.

[00:05:44.370] - Kim Tate So we did do that one day and it was so nice. The girls and I both liked it and I thought, they were so helpful with Mia's allergies. So we had said, you know, nuts and eggs are an issue. And they actually brought her out her own little tray of food and then and our own tray that Lizzy and I could eat off of. And so it's just things like, you know, we had chicken salad.

[00:06:08.220] - Kim Tate Some of our sandwiches were like chicken salad on little piece of lettuce, whereas they just gave her little bits of chicken without the mayo for the salad part. And then the all the sweet treats they provided were vegan. So no eggs and then didn't have nuts. So she was very happy. And it was nice that they recognize that. And then, of course, the tea aspect, it's so fun for them. They really enjoy that because we each you know, each of us got to choose our own type of tea.

[00:06:34.950] - Kim Tate And then they bring the pot and you have your glass and your little strainer and you can pour it. And they just it was just nice. And the other thing is the seating areas they have they're in the lobby for it are all cozy seating, you know, which has become so popular, I think, with hotels now. But, you know, we had like a couch and two armchairs and that was to kind of whatever you call poufs, which, of course, we didn't use because there was just three of us.

[00:06:59.760] - Kim Tate But it's just a really it's kind of a fun seating area where you can relax a little bit. And so we talked and we spent, I would say, about an hour and 15 minutes just kind of enjoying our experience there. So that was a lot of fun. And I was glad that we got to experience one of the Fairmont Classic things to do.

[00:07:16.410] - Tamara Gruber Did you guys get dressed up for it too?

[00:07:18.510] - Kim Tate We did. Yeah, we did. I had each of the girls and I was kind of nice. So then we went back up to our room, changed into more, you know, normal everyday clothes. And we we used, which is something I did with you. We use the monorail a lot and it is under construction. Now, the Westlake Center is under construction right now, but they're still operating the monorail, which is such a convenient way, like I said, to get between those two areas.

[00:07:44.070] - Kim Tate And that was the funny thing about the monorail is built with the 62 World's Fair when the Space Needle was built. And so it's got this futuristic feel, but it is just like a monorail, kind of like it Disney or, you know, anything like that. The thing that throws most people off, because I heard tourists on the train, they didn't get that. There's literally one stop. It's just a back and forth shuttle of sorts. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

[00:08:08.310] - Kim Tate It's not like this really long. You're not going throughout the city in it.

[00:08:12.270] - Kim Tate Yeah. You're not getting a tour. Exactly. Yeah, that's a great way of saying it. So but we use that a lot just to get up there, because like I said, with the CityPASS, which is one of the reasons we're there, your admission if you buy a CityPASS ticket, you automatically get admission to the Space Needle and the aquarium, which, like I said, are in the two different sectors. And then you also get to choose three attractions from a list of five.

[00:08:35.850] - Kim Tate So it's you can either take a little harbor tour with Argosy Cruises. You can go to the Museum of Pop Culture, also known as Mo Pop, used to be called Experience Music Project. And then you can go to the Woodland Park Zoo, you can go to Chihuly garden of glass or you can go to the Pacific Science Center. The Pacific Science Center is still closed right now and isn't set to reopen until the end of this year. Late this year or so, that one wasn't an issue for us.

[00:09:02.310] - Kim Tate So we chose to do the Space Needle. The aquarium, MoPop, the zoo, and Chilhuly. And the thing to think, the thing that we did on that, that is something you have to keep in mind right now. A CityPASS is the fact that you have to make reservations in advance for a lot of these places because they're still just doing limited capacity. And so I was a little worried about how that would work. However, the CityPASS system is really just works great.

[00:09:28.140] - Kim Tate They have everything streamlined and it's all done electronically. You know, through a website, you just click on, say, make a reservation. The hardest reservation to make was the aquarium. They had the most limitations. And like I said, because of the location of things, I tried to pair the aquarium up on a different day, whereas I compared, like the Space Needle and Chihuly and MoPop, I wanted to pair them together since they're all in one area and then the zoo is a little further north.

[00:09:55.470] - Kim Tate So when we checked out of the hotel, we just drove up to the zoo and did that before we drove home. So, yeah, it was a fun day. You know, they're just such classic things to do in Seattle, the Space Needle, it was a beautiful, clear day. It was very busy. So we once we turned it, you know, scanned our tickets for entrance. It was probably about a half an hour. Till we got to the elevator, so they have kind of a queue line that wraps around the gift shop of all places, but you stand in that line and then you you don't actually get to shop.

[00:10:27.370] - Kim Tate It's kind of an overlook over the gift shop. But you then get to the elevators and they have a couple of different elevators that they start taking people up. There's actually four elevators on different sides. And I didn't even realize that. It's so funny. I've been up the Space Needle a few times and I've never really considered that it does make a difference which elevator you get your view. I mean, obviously. So the four elevators that face different directions give you a very different view.

[00:10:53.020] - Kim Tate So we are lucky enough to get the which I consider one of the best elevators, which is more of the south facing elevator. So you can see Rainier as you're going up and you also see the Puget Sound a bit. And whereas if you're on the north side, you see like the Lake Union, Lake Washington, University of Washington, kind of that angle. So it's an interesting thing to keep in mind is just that depending on what elevator you get, your view up is a little different.

[00:11:16.900] - Kim Tate But once you get in, you know, I walk around when you're like, yes, yes, that's I was going to say, of course, once I get to top, it doesn't matter what the view is, it's strictly just when you're in the elevator, they have to it's got kind of the window view. But, yeah, once you're at the top, they've got the interesting thing is they've got it open. However, they've started doing something.

[00:11:35.410] - Kim Tate I think this might have just been I'm curious if this will stick around. I saw that they did close it for the summer. And so I'm wondering if this is going to be an off season thing or how this works. But they did close sections of the viewpoints and they had put private tables there and they sold packages to people where you could go do like wine tasting and appetizers up on the needle. And it was a table for two. And I think they had maybe some for four as well.

[00:12:02.270] - Kim Tate So if you did it with another couple, but it is something to keep in mind so you don't get quite the wide open look as you used to. However, when I was doing the research, I noticed they closed. There was no more tickets for that. So I'm wondering if during peak summer they're getting rid of that. And that's more of an off season thing to help fill dollar bills that say, you know what, I'm trying to.

[00:12:23.890] - Tamara Gruber So, I mean, the Space Needle, they just redid that, like not that many years ago. So I remember when you and I met up there. Yes. It after we did the cruise. Right like that. It was recently done and it looked, you know, looked things looked really nice. Yeah, it is really nice. They have a few they have kind of that the you know, they've got the glass walls now and then they have these glass benches or maybe it's not glass, plastic or whatever it is, but basically it's clear.

[00:12:51.130] - Kim Tate So you can get the sensation, like you can sit on the bench and lean back, you know, so slightly angled out on the glass if you feel brave enough. And so there's a couple of things where they try make it interactive like that and then you can go down. So that's the upper level. And then you go down one level and that's where they have the rotating floor. That's the glass. And so you can stand on the floor and kind of see yourself rotate over the Seattle center area.

[00:13:15.370] - Kim Tate And then, of course, you still have the windows to look out, but it's not the open air like on the upper level. And so there are two levels that you can explore. And then they have a little, you know, bar up there. So some people choose to you know, I don't know how the reservations work for that. But, you know, it's just something to keep in mind. But they are it's a fun thing to do, especially if it's a clear day, which since you have to make reservations, it's a little more, you know, to make sure you time that right.

[00:13:42.850] - Kim Tate So I did definitely look on for a weekend. I looked on the weather forecast and I chose the day there was seemed, you know, it was like partly cloudy and sort of cloudy. We had a beautiful, beautiful view of Mt. Rainier in the city skyline. So it was gorgeous.

[00:14:00.790] - Tamara Gruber And so it's nice and it works out, especially with your Seattle weather, right?

[00:14:04.840] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Our Seattle weather man, it's like you already said, we're dying now. So it's crazy, our weather. So that's the one thing we did. And then we actually had worked it. We actually did that on the first day. And like I said, how I tried to pair everything up. But the aquarium we did that evening. So we finished up the needle, went and got lunch and then came back and then walked down and did the aquarium, which is, you know, it's it's renowned and people love it.

[00:14:32.530] - Kim Tate It's my girls really wanted to go there. That was the number one thing they wanted to do. I think it's a fine aquarium. It's not like Monterey Bay Aquarium or it's not, you know, like some of these massive aquariums that you hear about the Seattle aquariums. Not like that. The cool thing about the Seattle Aquarium is that it's really focused around, like the fact that it sits over Puget Sound and they actually funnel water from the sound through some of their exhibits.

[00:14:55.660] - Kim Tate You get a real sense that these are the animals, this is the climate, this is the habitat that you're looking at right out here. And I think that's the neat the neat part of it is that it is so tangibly linked to the Puget Sound. So that's one cool thing. They they're little. They my girls love their little otters and they were not out and visible. So we were kind of bummed on that. But it's neat to be down there.

[00:15:20.860] - Kim Tate And like I said, it's on the waterfront, which is always a fun, fun place to walk around and see.

[00:15:28.000] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I remember when I was there just to hanging out at the otters for quite a while because they are so cute is a bummer that they're not that they weren't swimming. They are there are a lot of fun to watch. And I do have to say something really quickly about if you're the type that likes to buy souvenirs, all these Seattle attractions do an amazing job with their gift shops. I don't know who curates them or whatever, but we end up always browsing and walking through the gift shops and they they just somehow find the cutest little things that they procure. And so allow time for that and money for that.

[00:16:03.340] - Kim Tate If you like buying souvenirs, because the gift shops at the Space Needle, especially, we bought actually a puzzle for my mom. That was from the sixty two World's Fair. That was really cool. And the girls got Lizzy got two sweatshirts. But anyways, the Seattle Aquarium was great. We went back then we went we went and got dinner and then kind of called it a night. And then the next day we did Chihuly and Mo Pop.

[00:16:30.370] - Kim Tate I'm sure a lot of people have heard of Dave Chihuly. He's a major glass artist that he actually studied in the Seattle area for a while. And that's why there's such a tie to him there. I can't remember where he's originally from. I'm blanking right now. But he helped found some of the glass school stuff in Seattle. So he's a big name for the Seattle Glass art community. But that usually garden and glass exhibit is just beautiful. It's not if you've been there once, it doesn't really change.

[00:16:57.700] - Kim Tate It's but it's got the most amazing artistry when you can really look at the artistry of the pieces instead of just like, oh, cool. It's a big piece of art sculpture that's cool. And you kind of get past it. But then when you actually start diving in and looking at the unique striations or little bumps here and you think of how that was done with hot molten glass, it really is quite, quite amazing artistry.

[00:17:23.080] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, his work is is amazing. I've I mean, I think everyone's seen it even if they don't know that they've seen it. You know, there's so many pieces and so many places from like know casinos to airports and all that, that that museum is really spectacular.

[00:17:37.780] - Kim Tate Yeah, it's quite beautiful. And they have a nice little, you know, cafe near there that we actually ate at on this trip. And I love that cafe because it's kind of fun. They have these it's a really eclectic it's like collectors. They have they have like a whole bunch of old accordions hanging from the ceiling. And then they have these old radios on the wall. And I don't know, it's kind of fun on our our table.

[00:18:01.570] - Kim Tate There was a hollowed out section. So under the glass top table, there were, I think, old radios. It's just cute.

[00:18:08.140] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I remember the food is good. It wasn't just like, you know, some places would have a like a restaurant cafe and it would be like, you know, burgers and fries and stuff like.

[00:18:17.210] - Kim Tate Yes, this one. Nice. Yeah, this was flatbread. Pizzas is what they had going on right now and definitely pricey. But the the pizzas were delicious. We each got one and yeah, it was well done. And you can see them cook in the pizzas, you know, nearby. So it was great. So that was a nice little stop. And again, it's right next to the Space Needle, but we had done that the previous day and then we went over to Mo Pop, which I actually upgraded from our CityPASS.

[00:18:44.500] - Kim Tate Right now they have a Disney Heroes and Villains costume exhibit, which was six dollars more per person. So I actually paid that and upgraded our CityPASS. The CityPASS covers the the museum itself and then the extra exhibit cost more. But we've been. To MoPop before, and it's it's just kind of a fun, fun thing. It was funny because I was just there in March with Mia when it was still kind of, you know, things were still kind of locked down and they had just recently reopened and there was nobody in there.

[00:19:13.870] - Kim Tate And they had a Minecraft exhibit that she was really wanting to go see. And so we had gone and done that and there was nobody in there. And, you know, you get there and they gave us these little styluses to use. And now when we when we went there and it was, you know, June, everything's open again. And they still have the timed entry. But there was so many people. And, you know, Lizzy was kind of sad because she didn't get to see the Minecraft exhibit because they got rid of that, of course, to bring in the Disney exhibit.

[00:19:40.030] - Kim Tate And there was just it was there was a lot of people visiting. And so tourism is definitely back in Seattle. We had one of our favorite places that Mia loves is called Pike Place Chowder, and they are down this kind of back alley is what it's called near Pike Place Market. And we thought, oh, yeah, we'll just hop over there and get you some food. And that was our first experience, like our first day down there.

[00:20:02.860] - Kim Tate We went down there to go get lunch there. And I was like, wow, OK, tourism's definitely back because the line was all the way to the street. And, you know, it's just it was just kind of funny. It was it was great. It's great to see that people are back and visiting the city and spending money. And so we were you're like, oh, I have to wait in line.

[00:20:20.690] - Kim Tate Exactly. Especially when it's a staycation. Right? You're like, oh, this this is my town. I want to just be able to do whatever I want. And why didn't I take advantage of this before everyone came back? So, yeah, it's but it was good. So we didn't get the chowder there. But I don't remember where I was going with this when I went off on that.

[00:20:41.950] - Tamara Gruber I've been to MoPop twice and I do love that they always change those exhibits because, you know, it makes it very fresh. But I do I think the first time I visited, I didn't realize that I was in a temporary exhibit. So I came back and I told Glenn all about this whole Star Trek exhibit. So when we were there for the cruise, we're like, we got to go, we got to go.

[00:20:57.610] - Tamara Gruber And we went there and he's like, there's no Star Trek exhibit. But then I think it was like Marvel, which, you know, he loved, you know, having that thing, all the Marvel costumes. Right.

[00:21:06.380] - Kim Tate But yeah, that was good. That's always that up upper level is the one that they use. And they do I think I think sometimes the visiting exhibits are just amazing. We there's another one that we always like. That's the fairy tale which is down. There's the floor of horrors, which is kind of freaky. And then there's the, you know, fairy tale exhibit, which is kind of fun. But we it's funny because things must be getting busy again, like I said, because there is a few things when me and I were there in March that she wanted to show Lizzy, like one of it was I'm trying to think is a crown from some I can't think of which show now.

[00:21:44.530] - Kim Tate And it was on loan somewhere. And then another piece that was in the Harry Potter memorabilia was on loan and they had put something else instead. And we're like, oh, man. You know, I was just kind of funny how sometimes the rotate to you, so but they have a few like inset places and of course, Nirvanas huge there. And that's a big part that people a lot of people do pilgrimages to Seattle to do the whole nirvana and grunge movement thing.

[00:22:13.690] - Kim Tate So that's a big part of it there. Sound lab, which they normally have, which our kids love, and it's very hands on thing that is still closed. So they don't have the sound lab open. But the Heroes and Villains exhibit with Disney was amazing. It was so neat, especially because I like Disney and just the costuming. It makes you realize how much costumes make characters really stand out. And I think it's just it's really cool to see that.

[00:22:42.260] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, those are really neat, especially for like fantasy kind of shows like that, like where you said it's it is so much about the costume. Like I'm thinking of you and I were in Belfast and we went to the Game of Thrones exhibit all the you know, the different costumes for them.

[00:22:58.000] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the Belfast one was cute or cool with the Game of Thrones because they had a lot of the accessories and props as well. This one didn't have as much like the props. It was definitely the costumes. So but anyway, so that was kind of cool. And then, like I said, our last day we went to Woodland Park Zoo, which is kind of just normal zoo. They do have a baby gorilla, which was born in January and it still looks so small.

[00:23:25.540] - Kim Tate And we were seen and the mom was just holding it. And it was funny just the way seeing her hold it and just the way she would like pat his head, like just, you know, and this kind of maternal way. It was so sweet. And yeah.

[00:23:39.670] - Tamara Gruber So I remember seeing your story about that and just how cute and sweet it is.

[00:23:43.990] - Kim Tate It's so adorable. Yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of our little Seattle staycation. It was great. There was just you know, it was I really do think that when you're going to do the traditional tourist things and even being locals, we still like to do some of these tourist things. The CityPASS really is a great way to do it, and especially if I think I did the math and basically you have to do three things.

[00:24:07.350] - Kim Tate You can do four and already save money. And then, of course, you get an extra bonus item as well. So if you're if you're planning to visit for it depends on how the math works. But most of it is if you're planning to do four of the things, then yes, makes a lot of sense.

[00:24:22.020] - Tamara Gruber And I like the way, you know, in Seattle, they're so clustered able to do like if you could get the timed entry tickets. And, you know, when this science center opens, like, you know, the way then the Space Needle and the Chihuly and the Science Center, it's like you can just so easily walk to all the three.

[00:24:38.040] - Kim Tate All those. Yeah. Same at the Science Center. It's right there as well. So. Yeah. Yeah. And then the crew. Yeah, yeah. It's all together. And then the Argosy Cruises is down by the aquarium, so that's very easy to get in the right place anyway.

[00:24:50.790] - Tamara Gruber So it's exciting to be there. So it's like you can really fit it into a weekend or definitely a three day weekend, but even a two day weekend because sometimes you feel like I'm never going to be able to fit all this in if I'm just visiting for a weekend. But I think. Yeah, yeah, CityPASS is great. And like, not only I mean, it may not be the case now, but there are some times when you can skip the line to you.

[00:25:12.570] - Tamara Gruber And I did that in New York when I went to the Empire State Building. And that saves you I mean, I could save you a couple of hours sometimes.

[00:25:19.590] - Kim Tate I agree. Yeah. It can be really useful to be able to do that. I didn't have that at the Space Needle. They used to a long time ago. So I don't know if they'll ever bring that back. But it's not a not a thing they're right now. But yeah, when you can skip the line, they normally promote or publish that. And that's very helpful. Yeah. So, yeah, that's right. I agree. Yeah, it was good.

[00:25:40.590] - Kim Tate And I think a weekend, it works for a weekend. It depends how busy you want to be because if you want to it's definitely that. But we're going to be doing attractions all weekend long and not having a lot of downtime when you get you eat and just kind of wander between the two things. So we'll see how long the advance reservations last. And that just requires a little bit of advance planning. But like I said, we were able to get reservations.

[00:26:02.670] - Kim Tate No problem. I booked, I believe, the day before. So like I said, the aquarium was the hardest one. That one was one where it would have made more sense to book it a week out and book that one first. So just a heads up on that. But yeah.

[00:26:15.450] So from that, we just got home from Vail, which was very different. But I'm excited to share all about that trip. And we so from Seattle, we flew into Denver and then we took the epic Mountain Express shuttle from Denver to Vail.

[00:26:33.030] - Kim Tate And we've taken a shuttle system like that to Keystone as well before. And so all those from Denver to all of those kind of mountain resorts, it's about a two to two and a half hour trip. But traffic is definitely the the asterisk on that.

[00:26:50.340] - Tamara Gruber Yes.

[00:26:50.880] - Kim Tate Yeah, yeah. I mean, you've been in the area, too, but Denver traffic can really throw a kink into things. There's construction a lot of times, especially with the summer and then just a lot of people coming in and out of Denver in all directions to go to the suburbs. And so that's just something to keep in mind, is that traffic can be an issue. Hopefully it's not, especially in the summer. It's less of an issue in the winter.

[00:27:14.400] - Kim Tate Sometimes there's avalanches or, you know, roads are closed down for a few hours. And so that can be an issue. But it is standard. I've done like I said, we've done it twice and both times it's been about two to two and a half hours. And they do allow they have us a middle midway spot that they will actually say, does anybody need to use the restroom or get something to drink? And they have like it's kind of funny because it's a privately owned store and Starbucks that's actually owned by the by Epic Ski, you know, Vail Resorts that does the epic.

[00:27:46.800] - Kim Tate So it's kind of funny. So they they stop there and they have, you know, front curb parking for the shuttles and you can go in and go to the restroom. And then of course, seems like all all of us bought Starbucks as well. So it's a smart little a very contained system. You get all the.

[00:28:05.600] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, they've got it figured out. So anyways, that's but that's good. So we headed to Vail and we actually stayed at this condo resort type community called Manor Vail. And it is just I want to say east, but I don't know my map perfectly for Vail. So it could be us, but it's just about ten minutes walking distance like outside of Vail Village, but really connected availability, if that makes sense to you just kind of wandering in to get to the main center.

[00:28:34.620] - Kim Tate It might not even be ten minutes, but about ten minutes would be the safe thing to say. So we walked. So you have so many different accommodations, things. So, you know, always going to be like directly in the village.

[00:28:47.730] - Tamara Gruber But I mean, I remember when we a couple of summers ago stayed in Copper Mountain and we were right in the village. There's downsides to that, too, because like the music playing and stuff like that. So it's sometimes it's not too bad to have, like, a little bit of a walk.

[00:29:00.450] - Kim Tate Yeah, we actually really liked it and there is a free metro shuttle system and we chose to walk because it was not bad. We did get rained on once and we just dealt with it. The girls were give me a hard time. They're like, we're from Seattle, Mom, like, chill out, it's fine. And I was like, don't you want to take the bus? But yeah. So it was it was great.

[00:29:22.080] - Kim Tate And so they do have a bus that, you know, operates regularly, like every I think they say like five, eight minutes, you know, a bus is coming around and takes you and then so on. The other end is Lionhead, which is where another one of the big gondolas is and between where we stayed in Manor Vail and Lion's Head is about one mile, but it's about a 30 minute walk just because of curves and in and out of streets.

[00:29:42.750] - Kim Tate And we did that walk, we know one day and it is a little longer, but it's totally doable. And so I you know, we really liked it. We fell in love with Vale Village. It was it was so nice. And just what you expect of those kind of, you know, European folsky villages, it was just nice. And I think that's a hidden those are hidden destinations in the summer, although it's certainly definitely it certainly seemed busy.

[00:30:06.680] - Kim Tate I'll say that, you know, which is great to see.

[00:30:09.480] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, I've only experienced it a little bit, but I really love mountain resorts in the summer and I have not been Vail. But when I whenever I see anyone's pictures, it just looks like a little Swiss town. And I'm like, oh yeah. It just it looks so cute. And I just I would love to do this today. It's just so it's just nice to be, you know, in the mountains because they have so many activities like those those resorts are so good about, you know, like you don't have to leave that resort.

[00:30:35.040] - Tamara Gruber There's so much to do. Right.

[00:30:36.840] - Kim Tate Right. Well, it's so nice to be able I mean, there's so much to eat. I just there's so much. And so we're we're out Manor Vail. It's actually right next to this Betty Ford Alpine Gardens area and park. And so we had this beautiful view of the water and people were, you know, go over there and they sometimes have little festivals and there's an amphitheater over there. And it's just really neat. And like you said, there's just there's stuff to do.

[00:31:00.930] - Kim Tate And even if, you know, like in the center of town, there's this big Solaris, which is a kind of luxury condo, I think, resort. And they have a big space. They have like the lower level are all restaurants and shops. And then upper levels are the rooms. And on the lower level, they have this place called Bowl, which is an indoor bowling alley. And then outside they have cornhole in kind of an open green space that kids were playing soccer while we were playing cornhole.

[00:31:26.580] - Kim Tate And there's just they can sell you drinks and there is seating and you can just hang out and chat. And so it's a really it's kind of one of those villages where you could easily just go find a place to people watch and sit and drink and eat and chat. And so I think it's a really good social town, if that makes sense, like it's a good place to go, be social as a family or with friends for sure. Yeah.

[00:31:48.840] - Kim Tate So yeah, our first so we flew in and the first day we arrived we just took it easy and we had dinner at our, you know, after a long travel day, we just had dinner at our hotel which they have like a little restaurant there. And then the next day we got up to go horseback riding. And one thing is, Lizzy, she got up and she was going to go. She was like, oh, I'm not feeling good.

[00:32:08.910] - Kim Tate And it took her a while to get out of the room. We were a little late because we were just buying her. We bought her some oxygen shot and she got there and there was a booking issue. They only had two of us and they were going to add a third. But she's like, you know, honestly, I don't feel good anyways. And we didn't want her to, like, pass out on top of her horse or be uncomfortable.

[00:32:27.810] - Kim Tate Yeah. So the we had gotten, you know, driven there by the hotel. And so they we called and they were going to come back and get her and take her back to the room. And we told her just to drink lots of water, eat food, rest, take some of the more of the oxygen shot. And then so me and I went on the horseback ride and I was we made the right choice because we actually went up quite a bit like took a bit of an elevation because we wanted to out to our to her, to our to her anyways, changing ours there, but headed up the mountain.

[00:32:56.790] - Kim Tate And it was just beautiful. It's nice to go horseback riding. We did it through Vail Stables, which was right across from where we were staying at at Manor Vail. So it was an easy, really easy get to thankfully they drove us. It's oh, it's across the main interstate. So you can't, like, walk there and it's quite up the hill a little. So but it was it was fun. We had our little horseback ride and it was the nice thing.

[00:33:20.550] - Kim Tate Like one of the one of the parts was they called it magical forest and it was where it was a really narrow path. And of course, it was a trail ride. So single single-file line, but it was just through these aspen trees and just the green and the white bark of the aspen trees and just like little birds chirping. And we actually heard they were like, that's a moment that was talking, you know, like to make these funny noises.

[00:33:44.280] - Kim Tate And so it was just it was really nice. It's a great way to kind of get that mountain, you know, Aspen feel. And then, of course, we got on a couple little meadow outlooks where you could look down and see Vail Village in the distance. So that was pretty cool. But yeah. So we did that. Yeah, and then once we came back and got to the room, Lizzy was feeling much better and was ready to go out to lunch.

[00:34:05.810] - Kim Tate And so thankfully, she had adjusted with the rest and water and oxygen. We had gone into the village and did a little bit of shopping, like souvenir shopping for some sweatshirts and just getting a feel for the village a little. And then we went back to our room and we were thinking about going swimming, but it looked like there was rain moving in. So we decided to just that we wouldn't do that. And then we ended up going to dinner that night at a really famous place in the village called Alpen Rose, which when you're talking about like Suess, this is total Bavarian, I think, a little restaurant in the heart of the village.

[00:34:42.410] - Kim Tate And it was so perfect. It's kind of one of those things where, you know, we had a busy day and then there was some rain and we just were looking for a good evening meal. And this place was just amazing. It's a very it's I wouldn't call it very limited menu, but it's a small menu because what they do, they do really well. If that makes sense and they put us in this front little it's kind of a house is what it feels like, maybe like a chalet, because it's kind of open, like not tons of little rooms, but the lower floor definitely felt kind of like a house.

[00:35:15.020] - Kim Tate And they put us at the front, a front window bench seating table, which was just so cute. And you could totally they have an outdoor patio as well. And it was just amazing. We loved it. And it was kind of one of those things we had. We all three of us got hot chocolates which were served in these kind of enamel mugs that just looked really cute with the whipped cream. It was just it felt like we were like you said, it felt like we were at a European ski village and just enjoying some great pasta, Mia got salmon, and it was it was awesome.

[00:35:49.670] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I was going to ask if you had, like, schnitzel or something like that because it seemed like it would the kind of place.

[00:35:54.390] - Kim Tate That's exactly. They had it on the menu. There is schnitzel on the menu. But yeah, we were we realized we got a few because there was a big pretzel. I don't know if you saw the picture that, you know, they had a massive pretzel. And then we also got this. I can't even think of the name of it, but there is kind of like fried potato bites of sorts. And we got so full we realized that Lizzy and I should have just shared because we both ordered the pasta carbonara, which featured grandma's pasta, which was like fresh made pasta.

[00:36:23.930] - Kim Tate And we realized we should just shared it because after the appetizers and, you know, the hot chocolate and everything, we we both didn't finish our our plates of pasta.

[00:36:32.240] - Tamara Gruber I feel like there's always so many times when Hannah and I are traveling and we're like, when are we going to learn that we need to just share?

[00:36:37.730] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think you should we should know that, like when you order appetizers, but you order the appetizer and then you're like, OK, well, what are you going to order for your main dish? Then you just kind of forget that there's going to be this other food that's about ready to arrive, right?

[00:36:49.160] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And, you know, sometimes menus are exciting and you're like, well, that sounds good. And that sounds good.

[00:36:54.920] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, we that was our we ended our day on that one and the next day we like I said, we walked over to Lion's Head, which is such a fun walk. I mean it really is like I said, and I don't know how to say this enough, but part of the appeal was just wandering and kind of going into shops. And there's so many little patio seating areas where you could just go, OK, let's go get a drink here.

[00:37:17.060] - Kim Tate We'll have an appetizer here. I think it would be really fun to do that is where you just kind of visit one place and get something here and then go to another place, get another drink and eat something there and just kind of wander around, I think would be a real fun way to enjoy that village. So we wandered and walked over to Lion's Head and we ended up going up the Eagle Bahn Gondola because we were headed up to the top of the mountain to be able to go on there.

[00:37:41.840] - Kim Tate They have it's called Epic Discovery, and it's basically kind of like an adventure park at the top, OK? And they've got, you know, zip lines and ropes courses and a big giant lawn slide. And they've got this little roller coaster, mountain coaster thing. And then they also had little kids. They've got like kids bouncy like trampolines, and they got a kid zip line. And then they have like a rock climbing wall and a kid's lawn slide as well.

[00:38:06.170] - Kim Tate So it works well, like there's some little kid things as well. And we were there and then lightning moved in in the area. And so they had to shut everything down. So they shut the gondola down. So we did a couple of passes on the slide. And then unfortunately, we weren't able to do any more of the activities. And we actually kind of just waited up there. They had a food place, so we grabbed some food.

[00:38:26.090] - Kim Tate I'll be honest that the food was extremely pricey at the top of the mountain. So once they it's kind of like once they have you there, they know you don't have an option.

[00:38:36.800] - Kim Tate So we did get some we got some fries and some drinks because we weren't sure how long we'd be waiting. And then we they opened back the gondola and we thought, well, instead of waiting on the line, we'll go wait and hope that they open the coaster back. They opened both gondolas, but they didn't open the epic discovery things and the zip lines and the ropes courses were both already closed for the summer, I don't know if they're going to do a renovation, but to me it looked like it was probably just staffing because those things, I think, require a lot of staff for getting in and out at a higher level of training, probably also just for insurance and security. So those were not open. And so we went back down the gondola and just kind of again explored the village a little bit and hung out. We got lunch and then we headed back to our room to get ready because we were doing something really cool, which was called Picnic Vail, which like I said, remember how I said Manor Vail is right next to the Betty Ford Gardens.

[00:39:36.060] - Kim Tate Actually it's this company. I think it's a lady like she started up this business called Picnic Vail. And she basically comes and sets up a little one of those outdoor picnic, the charming outdoor picnics for you outdoors. And she found for us because she was like, well, we don't know if it's going to sprinkle again because it had rain. Like we said, that we got stranded up on the mountain because rain and we got back down.

[00:39:58.020] - Kim Tate It wasn't raining anymore. So we went over to the gardens and it was sunny and gorgeous. And she had set us up in this little picnic underneath the bow of an evergreen tree, like it was kind of open and it was so cute. She had a table set up and it was just like this gorgeous charcuterie board. And then we had water. And then she also had a table of games, which was really fun.

[00:40:19.530] - Kim Tate I didn't realize that would be part of it. So when we were thinking, I was like, oh, it's probably going to be about an hour, you know, just eat and chat and then we'll go. But we got there and she had, like, ladder ball set up, you know, the little ladder ball we have. Those are fun. Yeah. And so we had ladder ball and then there was also like this conversation starters.

[00:40:37.590] - Kim Tate It's the, you know, that Scandinavian word for like cozy home. h y y g y e.

[00:40:46.990] - Tamara Gruber Yeah.

[00:40:47.460] - Kim Tate Anyways that was like a conversation starter game and we had a lot of fun doing that. We kept just passing around the cards and we draw and ask questions for the other people and it was just fun. It was a great conversation thing and and then yeah. Ladder ball and there was something else. I'm blanking out what it was, but we had just a great time. We really enjoyed it. So and again, she was able to make sure that there was no nuts or eggs on the board.

[00:41:11.490] - Kim Tate So that worked out well as well and really good with that.

[00:41:15.810] - Tamara Gruber So that was a nice change from being just always restaurants to have something like that. And when I saw pictures of you doing like a lot of guys assume that that was like where the cornhole was and like other games, like in the village.

[00:41:27.840] - Kim Tate So that's, you know, yeah, it was our own private little experience, you know. So it was great. It was I mean, it was fun. The funny thing was they were also doing a festival of sorts.

[00:41:39.900] - Kim Tate It looked really small. It wasn't massive, but they had live music. So we had heard the live music the night before. And then when that happened on that was Friday night, they had live music again. So she was like, I didn't realize you'd get live music with your, you know, with your picnic. So we sat there. Is this kind of funny because the festival is like right there and we get to hear the live music while we enjoy things.

[00:42:00.870] - Kim Tate So it was great. It was a fun little experience. And and the nice thing is she you know, she leaves like her name and her phone number. So you get two hours and then she's like, if you want to leave early or just give her, you know, 20 to 30 minute heads up because she cleans everything up for you. And the food, of course, since it's in a park, she doesn't want there to be attract animals.

[00:42:20.850] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, that's really neat, because when I saw it again, I just assumed that, like, you picked up a picnic from a place that does picnics, but you picked up a picnic and there they are and they included games. But I didn't realize, like, they set it up for you. They set it up for you. Is you like. That's exactly it was it was a nice service. Yeah.

[00:42:37.590] - Kim Tate Yeah, it was great. Yeah. You do nothing. So and there was even take home containers. She's like, oh there's containers if you want to take home any leftovers. And we're like, well we've been eating well and we leave tomorrow so there's no time for us to eat it. So thank you though. But yeah, you, you don't have to do any of the cleanup. She acts like there's a bag there for garbage if you do open stuff, wrap garbage and things.

[00:42:57.210] - Kim Tate But yeah, it's all done for you. And that was what was so nice. And I think for families it's it would be so nice for moms. I mean, it was so nice for me to just show up and the kids fix their own food and all of that. And then we had games that they played and we're having fun with. And then I just called her and I'm like, OK, we're ready to wrap up. And then she showed back up and it was I mean, and you don't have to do that.

[00:43:19.200] - Kim Tate If you go the two hours, which we could have, it was just the girls were getting a little tired. So I was like, go ahead. You know, we just did fifteen minutes earlier. So we said, you know, meet us at some fifteen and yeah, it was just awesome. So I think it was it was cool. Like I tried to start folding the blanket because we as she left to really cozy blankets as well in case it got chilly and I had pulled one out and she's like, don't, don't do that.

[00:43:41.340] - Kim Tate Stop being a mom. I get it. I clean up everything.

[00:43:43.800] - Kim Tate You know, it was awesome. So I think for for being on vacation, it was a really fun way to, you know, just relax. And it was unique for the girls as well. So they were engaged more on playing and, you know, just kind of the game, you know, varied the games. She had like four different games. There, so you definitely have enough where kids get bored with one thing, you can move to something else.

[00:44:04.780] - Kim Tate So it was great.

[00:44:05.550] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, and you're not like waiting for the server to come over to order and then waiting for your food. And then we had another check and all that kind of stuff. So.

[00:44:13.650] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly.

[00:44:14.760] - Tamara Gruber Yes. Sounds like a great getaway. Now I'm like, OK, Colorado next year.

[00:44:19.500] - Kim Tate Yes, I loved it. I you know, the girls were saying, like, because I asked them, I say, what is this some place you would want to come back to? You know, what did you think? And they were like, yes, they absolutely loved it. And like I said, the Vail Village was really cool. I definitely I would give I mean, I think it depends on what you're looking for. But I did notice, you know, we arrived Wednesday and even like coming in and seeing what we saw Wednesday and then Thursday, the difference between Friday and then when we left on Saturday is quite remarkable.

[00:44:47.880] - Kim Tate So it definitely, I think, attracts weekend visitors. And so if you can visit during the weekday, you might have more of a a little more laid back. But then again, if you're looking for like the live music and a lot of the if you like that vibe of the socialization and stuff, the weekends are great for that. So that's just something to keep in mind.

[00:45:08.610] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, no surprise, I guess. But I think the other thing is, like you mentioned, just kind of planning for that traffic and stuff, right?

[00:45:16.740] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And I asked them, I said, is it tied to like rush hour, like you should get into the airport during a certain time and not during, you know? And they said, well, that's some of it. But a lot of it, they said, is just the construction. You can't always be sure. But like our return trip, he said, like, he brought us some wide way instead of going, like closer to the city.

[00:45:38.130] - Kim Tate He took a different route because he said, you know, he was looking at traffic and he's like, oh, you know, 70s really bad. So we're going to do 70. What? I don't remember it. It was so just something to keep in mind that you can probably ask if you are getting a shuttle. And they do know kind of the if you're not renting a car, the shuttle people kind of know the tricks to try and avoid some of it.

[00:45:59.310] - Kim Tate So but definitely I would think you just try and avoid that standard rush hour ideas of, you know, into the city and out of the city, I'm guessing.

[00:46:07.200] - Tamara Gruber And was your shuttle like one of the big charter busses or more of like a sprinter and yet more sprinter than the first one? When we arrived, we were the only ones. So I don't know how this. Yeah. So I don't know how they time the I don't know how they manage the pickups. Like, I don't know if we just got lucky randomly. I don't think they booked it as a private, you know, private experience. So but on the way home there were two other, we were the third and we're the last pick up.

[00:46:36.690] - Kim Tate And but thankfully there was a nice couple on because Mia and I both have motion sickness issues and they were sitting in the front and I was like, oh, I didn't even realize because we were the only ones on the way there. I hadn't realized it wasn't going to be a private thing. And so I asked the driver and he's like, well, you should have made a request for, you know, that you needed to sit in the front.

[00:46:53.970] - Kim Tate And he's like, we have this one front seat. And the next would be right next to the two people for two hour trip because it was like a three seat, like the front seat, three seats. Does that make sense? And so I just spoke up and asked the couple. I was like, you know, do you guys need to sit in the front by any chance? I was like, my daughter has bad motions. And they were like, oh, no problem.

[00:47:12.840] - Kim Tate And they move back one. So thank goodness it wasn't an issue.

[00:47:15.870] - Tamara Gruber That's good, because the one time that I took one of those shuttles, I thought we were all set because they picked us up and like the village where where we were and we were like the first ones on. So we sat right in the front. And then it's like and now we're going over here where you're getting on like the real shuttle, you know? And so they brought us to another meeting place and then we were the last ones. And so we were literally like against the back wall.

[00:47:40.140] - Tamara Gruber And and we were jammed in, like the whole thing was full. And we're Hannah and I were just we felt terrible the whole time.

[00:47:46.170] - Kim Tate Yeah. I have a feeling that it you know, you could get the bad luck of the draw and be could get sixteen passengers, I'm thinking. But we didn't have that experience. So that wasn't one of the big, big ones. It definitely was a sprinter van, but still it's for sprinter. So you know, and didn't think about the option of is always renting a car but yeah. You don't really need it when you're there say probably especially these days when you're paying so much for cars.

[00:48:13.230] - Kim Tate And can I just mention, like, the whole car rental thing, because I know we've talked about it off and on like one hand and I just flew to California, we waited in line to pick up our rental car because there was remember how we've talked about how, like, you know, if you're Emerald Club or whatever, like you, you don't have to you can, like, bypass the line. There was no there was no bypass.

[00:48:31.290] - Tamara Gruber It was like the desks were closed and it was like go to the garage. And then there's just like one line in front of, like a little not even a kiosk, but like a podium in the garage. And there was shows they were so short staffed. So it's again, it's another thing we're like a lot of people got laid off and it's taken a while to like hire people back and train them up and everything. And so we waited in that line for definitely over an hour.

[00:48:53.850] - Tamara Gruber And I talked to a friend of mine that rented a car in Savannah. She flew down, I think it was either Savannah or Charleston. And she waited in line for over two hours. Oh, my goodness, to pick up the car.

[00:49:05.160] - Kim Tate That's horrible. Yeah, that's what I'm hearing. So just something to build in your stomach. Exactly. Yeah. Is be prepared for that.

[00:49:13.170] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I, I'm really glad I decided to drive from like San Francisco to L.A., L.A. to California to Arizona, renting a car each time.

[00:49:22.140] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Originally I was thinking, oh I'll just fly, fly. But I'm like, oh it's going to be such a pain. And what if they don't have car, you know, like just I want to deal with all the hassles. And then I was so relieved.

[00:49:31.320] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that sounds dreadful. I'm you know, I'm wondering what we'll have because that was one of the reasons I was looking forward to our our rental was oh it's you know, I don't know if we're alema inside or whichever one it is. And you can get the skip the line if you do the advance check. And so be interesting to see at LAX if they have it staffed that way better, I don't know.

[00:49:53.860] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah. I mean it's hopefully better, but everything you know kind of has this.

[00:49:59.520] - Kim Tate Yeah. Well we've seen what's happening also with flights and everything. I know one of our mutual friends, Leslie, she's stuck in Connecticut for an extra two days because Southwest just canceled a bunch of flights, including the one they were supposed to be on south of the flight on me like I was before the flight. And I spent my entire tour of University of Arizona walking around in like 110 degree heat, trying to figure out how I was going to get from Arizona to Houston in that afternoon.

[00:50:27.750] - Kim Tate So, yeah, super stressful, like it's in Southwest has been doing this a lot.

[00:50:32.580] - Kim Tate I think this is definitely a summer where everyone the demand is just higher than what the capacity the work capacity is right now. So if you do not already have vacation plans, I would definitely recommend a road trip, you know, near you in your own car.

[00:50:49.860] - Tamara Gruber Well, it's funny. I read an article recently that American was having people volunteer to work in the in the airport. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, who wants to do that? You know, like to be the one that's maybe like getting yelled at or something. But I think they're more like directing people to different places. But yeah, they're like asking office workers to come volunteer to work for jobs and like, that's that's a that's a huge ask.

[00:51:16.140] - Tamara Gruber Like, why are you not paying that? They're not. I don't know. I understand. Like, I know. And they got bailed out. So it's like they don't have the funds. Yeah. And then I've also seen and hear I've heard a lot of people complaining about cleanliness in hotel rooms. I don't know what your experience has been, but they're saying that, you know, everyone's saying they're up to the standard, but the housekeeping staff are all short staffed as well.

[00:51:36.420] - Tamara Gruber And so they're running through and rushing through these, you know, cleaning's of these rooms and not doing a thorough job. And people are definitely seeing that.

[00:51:45.900] - Tamara Gruber So I definitely think it's not like what it was if you traveled like the height of the pandemic, like the rooms then where like really pristine. But now it's definitely not. Actually, I stayed we just went down to New Jersey to see my family over the weekend and we stayed at a hotel just because it's a little too much for my mom right now. And so we got there. Lake's in New York City, traffic and everything. So we got there around eleven thirty, but I checked it online.

[00:52:11.310] - Tamara Gruber I come in. It was a Town Suites, you know, just like a nothing traveler kind of hotel. Yeah. And there's no one at the front desk but I see like her purse is sitting there so clearly someone's not too far away. So we stand there, we wait and we wait because there wasn't a digital key. So I had to wait to check in. So we wait to check in. She comes out, she like checks me in and I'm like, OK, I had booked like a it's a queen bed with a pull out in the living room because it's a town place. suites,s like a one bedroom suite kind of thing. So I said, is the bedding in the room? Because, you know, they took a lot of that out during covid. And so she was like, well, I don't know. They've started to put some of it back in. Some they haven't. So soon as I got into the room, you know, I open up the bed and I would look through all the closets and there's nothing, you know, so I I'm like, I'm not even going to call.

[00:52:56.430] - Tamara Gruber I'm just going to go back downstairs because I'm sure there's no one to, like, bring it to me. So go back downstairs. She's not at the desk again. So, like, wait and wait. And then finally she comes back and I'm like, know, I'm trying to be really friendly. I'm like, oh, it turns out I need the bedding. So, yeah, you know, so she just like doesn't even say anything.

[00:53:12.100] - Tamara Gruber She goes around the corner into like some, you know, supply closet room, whatever. Five minutes later she comes out like, hands me. We know one of those plastic, like dust, you know, cover things, you know, with bedding, comforter. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, is there a pillow in here? And she's like, no, we don't have any pillows. And I just looked at her and I'm like, So I'm paying for a bed without a pillow.

[00:53:32.160] - Tamara Gruber And she's like, I don't know what to tell you. There's probably extra pillows on the bed in the other room, but I don't have any pillows. And I was like, man, all right, you know, so I walk in and like in the elevator there was like plates there. It was really crowded there. I think people were like having parties. Like, it just was not I won't be going back there. But yeah, you know, there were like like wet towels in the in the hallway was like trash in the hallway.

[00:53:56.670] - Tamara Gruber And so clearly, like housekeeping was not on it. This girl is probably the only employee in the hotel at the time, you know, and so we get back, you know, come back to the room and start pulling the stuff out. There's a mattress cover. There is one flat sheet and a comforter. So there wasn't even like two sheets know. So like, hopefully this comforter is clean that you have to, like, pulled over.

[00:54:17.720] - Tamara Gruber I mean, and we ended up like in the main bedroom, there were only three pillows, you know, so at least there wasn't one extra, you know, that we could give to her. But of course, they're so flat like you would prefer to have to yourself. But, you know, and they looked look at the bill and I'm like, I just spent two hundred and forty dollars to stay at this, like, dirty, crappy place that doesn't even have like a pillow for the bed like and they're acting as if like I'm asking for a favor to have bedding for like I bought something for three people.

[00:54:46.160] - Tamara Gruber And of course there were only two towels in the bathroom bathrooms. They had to go back down to get another towel. And it's like I booked it for three people. It's not like I didn't fill out the form, whatever.

[00:54:55.560] - Kim Tate So, so annoying.

[00:54:57.680] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So it's definitely a mix of that stuff.

[00:55:00.660] - Kim Tate Yeah. That was like when I had that one experience in Northern California and it was like, sorry, we're out of bar soaps so we don't have any coffee. And then the next morning all they had was like almond milk and oatmeal. It's like, well, that doesn't work for my nut allergy kids. So thanks for the free breakfast that we're supposed to be getting free. It's just crazy. But they did give me a bunch of bonus points.

[00:55:19.700] - Kim Tate They couldn't give me a refund because I was like, this is how much I spent on breakfast that I should have been able to get from you guys that I spent at the, you know, gas station down the road. So they they were like, well, we can't give you, you know, the money, the refund, because the way our system set up. But I can give you X number of points. I remember what they gave me and I'm just like, I'm not going to deal with it at this point, but I'm just asking me, like, you know, do you think that having status with a hotel like matters now?

[00:55:45.510] - Kim Tate And I'm like, no, I don't think it does because, you know, like, you're not getting some of the amenities that you usually get. And the service is poor, you know, in so many places anyway.

[00:55:55.880] - Kim Tate I don't know. Well, you know, I just did away with their free breakfast. Now, people, their top members are getting a food and beverage credit for each day so they don't even get free breakfast anymore.

[00:56:06.920] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it stinks. So I was at aloft hotel when we were in Tucson. And you know how also they're trying to put people, like, on the same floor. So it's like easier for housekeeping. So there's hardly anyone there. But you still have somebody, like, right next to you. Yeah. So we went out to dinner and we came back and I had a really stressful day. We just like drove from L.A. to Tucson in one hundred and twenty two degree heat.

[00:56:28.670] - Tamara Gruber And, you know, I thought I was so worried about like breaking down in the desert, you know, I was just exhausted. Right. So I came back from dinner and there's just like music pounding in the room next door. And you can hear people talking really loud. And I smell something, and it's supposed to be smoke free, facilitate. And I'm like, right. That does not smell even just like regular smoke, you know?

[00:56:46.590] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I was like and I was in the shower. She came out, I'm like, pack up your stuff. Like I am going downstairs. I went downstairs, I talked to the person and and I was like, and she's like, I'll go up there and I'm like, can you just do it after I leave? Because I don't want to be any part of this conversation. I just want to I just want a new room, like on a new floor.

[00:57:06.560] - Tamara Gruber So I go back up to the room. She gives me like the new key. And it turns out like there's a cluster of people, like in the hallway right outside the room to that door, but also my door, you know. So I have to be like, oh, excuse me, you know, like to get through. And then, you know, so they move and then like, we come out with our suitcases and I'm like, oh, God, you know, yeah, I felt really bad because, like, the girl downstairs, you know.

[00:57:28.370] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I told her what was happening and I'm like, I and she's like, oh, I'll go up there and, you know, kick some butt kind of thing. Yeah, I'd feel bad. We have to do it. She's like, oh no. I've been sitting here all day. I'm ready to it. OK, good for you. And then when I was at a Westin in Houston, the water wasn't working like in the shower.

[00:57:46.670] - Tamara Gruber Like I put the water on and it came out like a little trickle, you know, and then like five minutes later, all of a sudden the light came on, you know, and then the next day I was like in the middle of my shower and all of a sudden the water goes. I could barely rinse out my hair. And I'm like, oh, is weird. Yeah. So I don't want to discourage people like, yeah, I hope you have wonderful travels, but it is not good genes.

[00:58:07.370] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. There's, there's definitely pack your patience.

[00:58:10.140] - Kim Tate Yeah I agree.

[00:58:11.360] - Tamara Gruber I think sadly you're not, it's not like you're getting a bargain.

[00:58:14.240] - Kim Tate That's what's going to say you're not getting the deal either. That's totally right. I mean it's it's good. It's you know, like we all say, it's a good problem to have, like I'm all glad that we're back to travel. But definitely you have to pack your smiles along with you this summer, I think, because and just be ready to roll with the punches because stuff's going to happen. Probably you're going to be you're going to be dealing with stuff.

[00:58:33.650] - Kim Tate So.

[00:58:34.490] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, well well, good things will go from well for my next trip. And so this will be out in early July and then we'll talk about that trip after. So sounds anyway. Safe travels and happy travels to everyone. I hope everyone gets out and is able to enjoy things this summer. And if you have some horror stories, go ahead and send them in to us. And, you know, we'll we'll share your Sharam.

[00:58:57.390] - Kim Tate Yeah. Awesome, thanks, everyone, for joining us. We will chat with you again soon.

[00:59:01.870] - Tamara Gruber Take care.

View Details

This week we dive into Tamara's recent Maine road trip and explore how to get off-the-beaten path in the Downeast Acadia and Maine Highlands regions.

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• 10 individually wrapped sanitising wipes; and
• One surgical face mask.

How to Get Off-the-Beaten Path in Maine * Read Tamara's post on 7 must-try adventures in the Maine Highlands * Read Tamara's post on things to do near Acadia National Park * Read Tamara's Maine road trip itinerary * When visiting Acadia National Park, visit the Schoodic Peninsula and the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park. You will not find the crowds that are on Mount Desert Island. * If you do stay in Bar Harbor and visit Acadia National Park to see Cadillac Mountain, you do need reservations to drive up the mountain at sunrise. * Tamara stayed in Winter Harbor, which is very close to the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park and you can take a ferry to Bar Harbor. * Visiting Schoodic Point is nice at high tide when the waves crash against the rocks. * When visiting less touristy towns, be prepared to be flexible and patient when eating out and recognize that many restaurants close by 8pm. * Fogtown Brewing in Ellsworth is a great stop at the beginning of the trip. * Drive the Schoodic National Scenic Byway east of Ellsworth and stop for KidsQuest interactive learning activities along the way. * Renting a cottage or vacation home is a good option for families. * Tamara stayed at MainStay Cottages & RV Park in Winter Harbor. * You can take a puffin boat tour from Winter Harbor or Milbridge. * Many trails in Schoodic are family friendly including the Alder Trail. * Make sure to have lunch at Lunch on the Wharf in Corea. * The oldest winery in Maine is Bartlett Maine Estate Winery, which is also a distillery. * You can take a puffin tour from Milbridge with Robertson's Sea Tours and Adventures. * Have a picnic at McClellan Park in Milbridge with great water views. * Hazel with Maine Outdoor School leads guided hikes and paddles to help you find new places and learn more about the area. * Be prepared for flies, mosquitos and ticks when you are hiking or spending a lot of time outside. * You can spray your clothing and gear/shoes before you go outside. * Lubec is the easternmost town in the USA and people like to visit West Quoddy head Lighthouse for sunrise. * When the border is open you can visit Campobello island where the Roosevelt's summer home was and they have fun events like Tea with Eleanor. * You must stop at Monica's Chocolates when in Lubec. * Bangor is a nice small city with a vibrant downtown and great history and architecture. * The Bangor Historical Society offers walking tours to learn more about the history of the town and the region. * The Hollywood Casino Hotel is a good place to stay in Bangor even if you aren't interested in gambling. * The Hirundo Wildlife Refuge is located close to Bangor and has good walking and hiking trails, many of which are wheelchair or stroller accessible. You can also borrow canoes or kayaks for free. * The Orono Bog Boardwalk is also a nice and easy trail for families * Tamara stayed at the New England Outdoor Center (NEOC) on Millinocket Lake, which offers cabins and lodges to rent. * At NEOC you can borrow canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards as well as rent fat tire bikes or take a wildlife tour. * From Millinocket Lake, drive the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Scenic Byway to the town of Patten. * Tamara stayed at Shin Pond Village near Patten, which also offers both cabins and camp or RV sites. * Shin Pond Village rents out Polaris side-by-side vehicles and there are hundreds of miles of trails to explore nearby. * Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument is a new national monument that is also a Dark Sky Sanctuary. There are not any facilities like a visitor's center or bathrooms, but it is perfect for backcountry camping, hiking, and star gazing. * For more information on star parties and events, visit Dark Sky Maine and Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters. * Baxter State Park is very popular, especially in the southern entrance. Parking reservations are required for trails that lead to Mt. Katahdin. * Sandy Stream pond is very popular early in the morning for moose and wildlife viewing. * Driving all the way through the park is on a gravel road and it could take 3-4 hours to drive through the entire park. * Shin Pond Village is close to the northern entrance to Baxter State Park. From there, the South Branch Pond area offers many hiking trails and you can also rent canoes.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Tate From Rocky Coasts to Mountain Lakes, today, we're talking about Maine.

[00:00:16.460] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.700] - Tamara Gruber Today's episode is brought to us by Safe Travels, Kit, Safe Travels Kit is a travel and airline bedding kit that helps travelers create a more sanitary, comfortable travel experience. Now, when travelers set off on a vacation or business trip, instead of worrying about encountering unsanitary surroundings, they can journey in comfort and serenity, resting on the safe travels, super safe seat covers and pillowcases made from high-tech fabric that prevents germs from penetrating. You can purchase one for your upcoming travel safetravels.com or on Amazon or at many airport Brookstone locations.

[00:01:02.750] - Tamara Gruber So, Kim, we've been talking about Safe Travels Kit for a little bit now. And, you know, I was just on this road trip that we're going to talk about on this episode, and it made me think about the number of times that I've rented cars and maybe from, like, budget kind of places. and I've gotten in and be like kind of smells in here, like what's been going on in here. And so I was thinking you could put the seat cover on your rental car probably as well.

[00:01:28.730] - Kim Tate Yeah, of course. I'll never forget that time that we rented a car. And I remember it was pretty stinky, smelly. I don't remember where we were, but for some reason it stayed in my head.

[00:01:38.640] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we had that. I feel like we took out the like they had they had one of those that room fresheners, like a car freshener, air fresheners. Oh, that's in there. And we took it out and then we realized why it was in there.

[00:01:50.810] - Kim Tate Like, OK, it needs to be here. Yeah. Especially now, you know, I, I saw somebody who's a frequent traveler sharing that he was rented a 2018 vehicle recently at the rental car lot. The rental cars are not many left. So there's getting whatever they can. So now what am I going to get when I go to California?

[00:02:14.750] Yeah, well, I'm bringing I'm packing my Safe Travels Kit, so I will have it for the plane and I'll have another rental car, so and I'll have an extra pillowcase.

[00:02:26.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's a long flight for you. You guys might try to, you know, use the time on the plane wisely and

[00:02:32.600] Yeah, I think actually my time on the plane is going to be writing about Maine.

[00:02:37.280] - Kim Tate Oh nice. That's good. Well we will jump right in then and get talking about your trip to Maine, because I was I have to admit, I was so jealous and wished I was there with you, especially because it was a solo trip for you. And I was thinking, man, I could have just flown out there and, you know, spent some time. We could have had our our fun little hiking and, you know, Maine time together.

[00:02:57.380] - Kim Tate But it seems like you had a lot of fun. You were definitely ready to get back to your family, but you were gone for a while. So we're going to jump right in and talk all about your your time exploring, you know, all the rocky coasts and lighthouses all the way to the lakes. And I know you saw a few moose, so we'll talk about that.

[00:03:13.190] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, definitely. I was thinking about you, too, especially since, you know, two summers ago we went to some of these areas, not the same exact area, but similar. And so I was definitely I was missing you and thinking of you. But, yeah, I spent I think it was about twelve days in Maine, which is such a long trip. But the state is so huge, you know, like people tend to think of more of the the Maine beaches, which is kind of like the southern coast.

[00:03:39.620] - Tamara Gruber And then there's the Portland, of course, and then like the mid coast. And then they kind of look at Acadia National Park is super popular. But to go beyond that is, you know, much more off the beaten path. And so I made my way up the Maine coast and maybe we'll talk about that actually in a different episode, because I think if I covered all twelve days, it would be like way too much.

[00:04:01.160] - Tamara Gruber But I was working with two different tourism boards. They had hired me to do a campaign with them because they're trying to say, hey, there is so much more to Maine than just, you know, these parts that people tend to gravitate towards. And so I was working with Downeast Acadia Regional Tourism, which is kind of the region from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, all the way to the the Canadian border along the coast and then the Maine Highlands, which is Bangor, and then up into kind of that Moosehead Lake area that we've been before and Baxter State Park and that, you know, mountains and lakes type of area.

[00:04:38.540] - Tamara Gruber So it's a lot to cover. When I was driving along and meeting and talking to different people, I mean, one thing about traveling by yourself is I become a little bit more extroverted. I mean, there's no one else to talk to you. Right. And it's really nice because you get to, like, make more conversation with locals. And and there were hardly any visitors at the time, which is great. So I was really able to kind of get a sense of the real thing.

[00:05:02.180] - Tamara Gruber But somebody was saying, like just one county in Maine is bigger than Connecticut, I'm sorry, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. So it's like people just don't understand the scale. Like they get calls like, you know, places to stay and things like that. They get called. They're like, well, we're going to do like a day trip to, you know, they'll name a place I like, you realize it's like a five hour drive away, you know?

[00:05:22.230] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah. So it is a really big state. There's a lot to cover. But I think what I did with this road trip was kind of a little bit like the best of both worlds, because everyone loves that quintessential rocky coast with the lighthouses and the lobster and all that. But then, you know, the idea of seeing moose and getting out and hiking and seeing the lakes and the rivers like, you know, that is really appealing too.

[00:05:48.240] - Tamara Gruber And so I feel like for especially for this summer, it's going to be a great trip for people to do because you are trying to be outside still, but you're also trying to get away from people. And we've talked about before the summer is going to be really, you know, it's going to be really busy. Yeah, especially in national parks. And I saw a headline when I was there saying that Acadia is expecting record breaking numbers this summer.

[00:06:12.780] - Tamara Gruber I think that record breaking last summer and they expect to break that again this summer and they are requiring reservations. If you want to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and see the sunrise there, which is a very popular thing to do. So it's something you where again, like you really have to plan ahead. You don't really expect that as much on the East Coast as much as you might. And like Zion and, you know, some of the other parks where it's a little bit more known that you might need to take like shuttles and reservations and things.

[00:06:40.510] - Tamara Gruber So I really focused on areas outside of that. So I guess I'll just kind of start off with talking about what I what I did on the trip. And I did stay one night in Bar Harbor and that was at a glamping resort that I've just wanted to check out on my own. And that was like before I started this campaign portion of the trip. And so, you know, if you do want to start in Bar Harbor, that's fine.

[00:07:03.840] - Tamara Gruber And I think what Acadia National Park is most well known for is like the town of Bar Harbor and then the part of the park that is on this island called Mount Desert Island. And so that's where you're going to find the popular Cadillac Mountain and Jordan Pond and the Beehive Trail, things like that. But there are actually two other parts of the park in different locations and no one really goes to those. So you can still see some of the really beautiful parts of like why this is a national park without all of those crowds.

[00:07:33.610] - Tamara Gruber And so I stayed in a town called Winter Harbor, which is kind of just across the the bay or, you know, as you would imagine, like, you know, different harbors. And I was maybe five minutes outside of a section of the park that's called this Schoodic section of Acadia National Park, because it's on the Schoodic Peninsula, because if you think about the coast of Maine, it's kind of like all these fingers coming down. There's all these peninsulas coming off of the coast, which is why you have all that great coastline.

[00:08:01.290] - Tamara Gruber And so this is just, you know, right across there is actually right next to where I stayed. You could take a ferry that would bring you over to Bar Harbor, but the area, the Schoodic section of the park was empty. I went on a Friday night, my first time there, a Friday night for sunset. And you think, oh, it's going to be busier. There is no one on the right like the whole time.

[00:08:21.870] - Tamara Gruber I think it's of maybe a 14 mile loop. You know, I should probably look that up, but it's a one way loop through the park with different viewpoints and different trails and things that you can stop at. And the end point is called Schoodic Point. And that's where, especially at high tide, the waves are crashing on the rocky shoreline and the sunset is like, you know, going down right over there. So it's a popular spot to go for sunset.

[00:08:46.530] - Tamara Gruber And I saw, I think, to other people when I was there. Wow. Yeah, it was amazing and great. It's early June, but still it was like Friday. It was a weekend, you know. Yeah. So it was really it was it was quiet. So if you want to kind of get all of that national park ness with your. Yeah. Beautiful coastline and hikes and mountains and all that, without the crowds, you just have to go across over to this peninsula part of it.

[00:09:13.390] - Kim Tate So that's a great tip. I think that's what people need to be looking for, especially I think this is the last year that we'll have a lot of because there's even though international is coming back, people I think are still staying domestic. And so all those people who are eager to travel are all looking. And I've seen Maine coming up quite a bit. It's kind of it's kind of been funny.

[00:09:32.010] - Tamara Gruber So I have to yeah. I think it's you know, maybe people are thinking about alternatives to like the Southwest, knowing it's going to be high and. Yeah, maybe alternatives for some of the the other Western. Well, I think yeah.

[00:09:44.970] - Kim Tate I think people forget that Maine is up there and it offers I mean, it's kind of like they think of New England and they forget about everything else. That's like even upper state New York and, you know, all of that. They kind of forget that there's all that beautiful nature up there.

[00:09:59.130] - Tamara Gruber And yeah. Yeah. And I will say, like, last summer I went to the Adirondacks and granted it was in the middle of summer, but it was you know, things are really crowded like there. You really have to get to trailheads by six a.m. and, you know, expect like you might have trouble parking and all that and. I just don't see that in this part of these parts of Maine that I'm going to talk about, it is, you know, it is further, but if you're flying, you can fly into Bangor and then everything like from Bangor to Acadia is like an hour and 15 minutes.

[00:10:31.880] - Tamara Gruber And then from Bangor up to like where I was on Millinocket Lake. And like some of the Highlands area is, again, like an hour and a half, you know. So it's really. Yeah, you can even use that as a, you know, like a home base and do like a hub and spoke kind of trips you wanted to as well. So it's really and from it is it is up there. But even from Boston, like if you drove highway and not coast, you can get up there in like five hours.

[00:10:59.540] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, it's really not too bad. But again, I will say, though, the one thing to think about is that it is a little bit further out. And so you're not going to find all of the same tourist infrastructure that you find like a little bit further south or in some of the towns like Kennebunkport or Portland or whatever. And just I think everywhere is kind of experiencing a bit of a labor shortage right now.

[00:11:23.480] - Tamara Gruber But they're definitely seeing that in Maine, too, and places trying to get staffed up. And so you see more of, you know, there's, you know, maybe going to be a slower service at some of the restaurants or shorter hours or just the fact that when you're in some of these towns, there might only be two or three options. And what I found is that some of them close early, actually, most of them close early because it's just it's more of a you get up early and go to bed early kind of place than me, which is a night owl.

[00:11:53.360] - Tamara Gruber You know, I think when I was working with the person, the tourism board, I was like, yeah, dinner at around 7:00, you know, sounds good. And she's like, oh, I could tell you're not a morning person. Oh really? I thought that was still kind of early, but I found out, like, I would go, like, try to take sunset pictures and then go have dinner afterwards and no, no, no places close at 8.

[00:12:12.440] - Kim Tate So it's like that's that's surprisingly enough.

[00:12:15.260] - Kim Tate When we were in Rocky Mountain National Park, which is Estes Park is right there, they were the same thing. It was this small mountain town and everything closed to eat. It was so weird. You know, we had trouble sometimes, I mean, because it was the middle peak, July, middle of summer and. Right.

[00:12:29.790] - Tamara Gruber You have a lot of sunlight. You want to be out. Yeah. Stuff.

[00:12:32.060] - Kim Tate Right, exactly. Yeah.

[00:12:33.740] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Well, let me I'll get into my trip a little bit and kind of give some details for people that want to plan some of their own. So my first stop was in the town of Ellsworth, which is kind of right above Bar Harbor, and it's a little downtown that has like some different brewing places. And I went mean, is like big with their craft beer scene. They're known for lobster, but they're also big blueberries. There's certain things you got to try.

[00:12:57.530] - Tamara Gruber So I went to this place called Town Brewing and that they had like an outdoor like food truck and beer garden kind of place. So, you know, it was really cool. And then I drove it was a lot of scenic byway. So I drove this Greek National Scenic Byway down. Like I said, this peninsula to this town of Winter Harbor. And again, you're not going to find the same like hotels and things they're going to find.

[00:13:21.380] - Tamara Gruber And Bar Harbor, there is a couple of inns, there's a couple bed and breakfasts. But if you're going as a family, you're probably better off trying to look for like a cottage rental of some sort. And I definitely saw lots of signs for those. And some of them are gorgeous. So I think that that's probably a better choice. I stayed at a place called Mainstay Cottages and RV Park, and I thought it was going to be kind of like your traditional RV park.

[00:13:46.130] - Tamara Gruber It was not. It was so nice. It was this piece of land right on the water. So your RV sites are like really overlooking the water. But there's only like 10 RV sites. And they were kind of to one side and the other side where cottages and I stayed in what was the original building there, which is a boat house. So it's like, you know, I walked down to the water, up a little ramp to my boat house.

[00:14:07.970] - Tamara Gruber That's like sitting over the water. So amazing, like sunset views. It was just a little like one bedroom cottage, but it had this back deck, the where you could just sit and watch the boats and watch the sunset.

[00:14:21.050] - Kim Tate And yeah, it was I would say that I remember that about Maine having the most amazing sunsets and the stuff you were sharing, it just reinforced that, that it's just amazing the colors that their skies get.

[00:14:34.640] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Especially because a lot of it was kind of dreary when I was there during the day. And then it would surprise me at night. I'm like, yes, thank you. You know, so that was a really nice place to stay, like as a home base, because you literally could walk to the to the ferry that would go to Bar Harbor right there. There was also a little boat tour that went out that did a puffin tour, I think it was called Acadian Puffins.

[00:14:57.560] - Tamara Gruber So you could take a boat tour to go to an island off of a wildlife refuge where they've brought back the North Atlantic puffins. And so I was supposed to do that actually in a different town. And it got canceled because of high seas, but luckily earlier in my trip when I was in Booth Bay Harbor, I was able to do a similar trip.

[00:15:22.500] - Tamara Gruber But the thing about like Booth Bay is a bigger boat, more like a whale watching boat, like multi-tier. And so I have a feeling they don't get quite as close. Like maybe these boats were smaller. But the other thing to worry about is like if it is rough seas and you're on a small boat, you're going to feel it a lot more, you know. So but, you know, that's definitely a neat thing to do because, I mean, I've been fortunate enough to see them in Iceland, but it's a very unique thing to get to do and see.

[00:15:49.890] - Tamara Gruber And I think most people don't realize that puffins are actually really small. They're smaller than seabirds.

[00:15:55.050] - Kim Tate So they're very tiny.

[00:15:56.740] - Tamara Gruber Yes. You really it's hard to get a good view of them. I think people really expect you see the pictures and you're like, oh, that's what I'm going to see. I'm like, no, I had this amazing zoom camera and I could still only get so close. So, you need to bring binoculars.

[00:16:12.420] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. I agree with that. We went whale watching in, you know, on the Pacific Coast, surprisingly, and there's a wildlife refuge and they have some puffins and we actually got to see puffins out here. And it was it was kind of crazy because they seem so bright and like when you see them on rocks and in people's photos because they do zoom in, you don't realize how small they are. And you'd have to be really close to be able to even get that clear vision of their beak and all that beautiful coloring they have.

[00:16:40.260] - Kim Tate And so, yeah, I know what you mean by that, but they're so cute. They are. They're adorable.

[00:16:45.150] - Tamara Gruber And we mostly saw them like on the water when I took that trip. But there is a place in this downeast region that you have to book it in advance, but it's like a small boat. And so it depends on the weather. But they'll take some people out to the island and you can stay there and like, stand in the bird blind, you know, like the box where you are kind of covered. You just watch them. So there are if you're really into it, there are things to do like.

[00:17:12.590] - Tamara Gruber But where I stayed, like as I said, I was like five minutes from the entrance to that section of Acadia National Park, there was a place where you could rent kayaks there. There was a place where you could rent bikes because a lot of people just bike into the park and loop that way, which is a great option. So it's definitely a place where you could stay for a few days and just do there's so many different like hiking trails and things to do.

[00:17:36.150] - Tamara Gruber So like, you know, there's some in the park, but then there's all these different, like preserves and the national wildlife preserves, other types of preserves like around. And a lot of them have kids activities like there's this thing called Kids Quest where they're like each place has like different like learning opportunities for kids, like a train station. So this is where we you learn about seaweed, this is where you learn about tides, you know, so there's things like that that you can do if you have younger kids.

[00:18:02.020] - Tamara Gruber Also, you know, I spent pretty much like my first day really exploring the park. And I did a hike, like up to the top of a mountain. And the hikes there are not super long. I mean, you can do kind of a longer ridge, not real ridge, but, you know, you could do like a longer one. But most of the hikes are not too long and not too steep. I did come down one that was like a little bit steeper and not as clearly marked.

[00:18:28.140] - Tamara Gruber But I think for families, if you could do like this Alder Trail and I will put this all in the post that will be published by the time this episode comes out. So, like, everybody can see the details. But I also somebody told me that at low tide you can walk out to this little island that's off the coast of the park and sometimes the harbor seals will hang out there. So I checked to see like what time low tide was going to be.

[00:18:52.530] - Tamara Gruber And I made sure I went before, like, the actual low tide, you know, so I would have time to be there and get back before, you know, the water would start coming back in. Unfortunately, I didn't see any seals, but like that, you know, that was a neat kind of thing. Like you're walking on the ocean floor kind of thing. Yeah. And then just you did the loop, went out to see the waves crashing and, you know, so it's just it's pretty.

[00:19:15.390] - Tamara Gruber If you like a rocky coast, you will definitely get your fill.

[00:19:20.130] - Kim Tate Yeah, that sounds amazing. I'm impressed with Maine even from my one trip. I think it's really a place if you're if you're looking for like a relaxing, outdoorsy, just kind of laid back vacation. I think Maine is definitely a good place to look for that.

[00:19:34.410] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And like I said, there's a lot of, like, little charming things like one of the I think that day I left the park and I went to have a late lunch that someone told me about. Again, some of these things like you need like a local will tell you that because they're not very well promoted or, you know, talked about even within the park, there's a place that was called like Ravens Nest. And it's not even on the list, like it's not even on the park map.

[00:20:01.320] - Tamara Gruber But like all the locals will tell you, oh, you got to go to these cliffs, you know, so stuff like that. So I talked to actually the person that was she owned the the property where I was staying. And she recommended going to this little fishing village of Corea or. Actually, I think it's Korea, but with a C and there is like a food truck kind of thing there, but lunch on the wharf and it's only open in the summer and it's only open like from 11:00 to three and not open on Sundays.

[00:20:28.550] - Tamara Gruber So that kind of thing, like where you kind of have to know about it to go, but they have lobster rolls and all that, and you're right on the water. And, you know, there are places like that and like further south in Maine that people will line up for for like an hour, you know, but they're like it was just so nice, you know, like I sat just looking at the boats, because I can't even tell you how many harbors there are, because all these little coves and, you know, they're just filled with lobstering boats and fishing boats and they're just bobbing there.

[00:20:57.440] - Tamara Gruber And all along the the pier, as you just see, you know, all the lobster traps and you see the bouys and the ropes. And it's just it's so classic. It's so classic, like Maine and New England. So it's like, I don't know, it just kind of, you know that expression like fills your bucket, just kind of like your bucket with like all these, like, good sites that you wanted to see when you came to Maine.

[00:21:18.470] - Tamara Gruber And it's like everywhere you turn is there there's another lighthouse, you know, like it's just it's so quaint.

[00:21:24.440] - Kim Tate Yeah. Well, I was definitely jealous of all the lobster rolls and stuff you were having, so I definitely think that's something people think about. So the food sounds like it's it's definitely not to be missed when you're on a trip there.

[00:21:37.080] - Tamara Gruber I came home and Glenn was like, what would you want for dinner? And I'm like, I think pasta, a chicken, I had a lot of seafood. And then when I was like further north, you know, it was like much more casual. So like I had a lot of fried stuff there. So I kind of just want, good. You know, like, give me salad, you know, that kind of stuff.

[00:21:56.360] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. But yeah, there's a lot of other things, like there's some cute farms like organic farms you can stop at. There's a couple of wineries surprisingly, but they specialize in fruit wine. But I did visit the one that was the oldest in Maine. It's called Bartlett Maine Estate Winery. So it's a distillery too. So I guess, you know, you can maybe find your your drink in one of those, too. So, you know, there's other things that you can do.

[00:22:20.210] - Tamara Gruber It's not just about like hiking and stuff like that, but yeah, there's just so many good places. So after I stayed in Winter Harbor, I went over, I kind of made my way east to the town of Machias. But first I stopped in this town called Milbridge. And there were a couple of things that I think of note there that I would want to mention. And one is that you can do a puffin tour from there with Robertson seatours and Adventures.

[00:22:48.740] - Tamara Gruber That's the one that I was supposed to do, but unfortunately got canceled. But there's some really nice parks around there, too. So I went to this park called McClellan Park. It's a state I don't actually I don't know if it's State Park. I think it's just a local town park. So you're driving, like, down this peninsula and you're like, oh, is this going to be worth it? And then you turn into this park and it's just, you know, you're driving through the woods, really bumpy little road.

[00:23:13.580] - Tamara Gruber Follow the sign to the picnic area. I get out of the car at the picnic area and it's like one table in the middle of like a grassy kind of field surrounded by trees. And I'm like, why am I here? You know? And then I realized then I realized there was like this little path. And so I follow this path. And then you're on these gorgeous, like rock. I wouldn't call them cliffs, but like, you know, these big boulders along the coast with picnic tables there.

[00:23:37.640] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, OK, I get it now. It's gorgeous. And if this was at home, there would be so many other people there, you know, you'd have to stake out your spot. All that there was I saw, like in the distance one other person, you know, so you could just go and have this amazing picnic with a wonderful view. And I feel like, you know, that's that's what it was about. It was just about like amazing views and stuff like that.

[00:24:00.680] - Tamara Gruber But without the people, I'm going to sound like very like people adverse. But, you know, like it can get crowded in places. And it's just so nice to find those places that are still so great that are undiscovered somewhat, you know.

[00:24:13.130] - Kim Tate Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I think it's it's kind of interesting that, like you said, that there are those spaces still and it's hard to know, like, as you know, people like you and I who shared travel destinations. And I think we need to all be mindful of looking for those little more. I mean, beautiful places certainly don't just end at the border of a national park, although sometimes they can. But, you know, it can be quite beautiful anywhere you go.

[00:24:41.890] - Kim Tate Yeah. And in talking to the locals, they're kind of like, well, we know we want people to come in, don't have to change. So it's still in that little bit of, you know, back and forth thing. But apparently, like during the pandemic, people have been buying land up there, like sight unseen, paying cash, just like grabbing up land. So they're kind of like what is going to happen after they have a winter to up here, because that is a very different experience.

[00:25:10.760] - Tamara Gruber So we'll see. They're a little worried about, like, you know, driving up the cost of land and rent. And things like that, but we'll see, you know, like it might really transform, you know, so that there becomes a bit more of an infrastructure. But I will say, like, you know, you do have to go with expectations, like I ate at this one place called Saltbox in Winter Harbor that was, you know, a very nice restaurant, you know, wonderful food.

[00:25:33.670] - Tamara Gruber Like, you know, what you would expect from, like a fine dining type of experience. But mostly it is like a family home cooking kind of places, you know, so you just have the right expectations. It's not like there's anything wrong with that. But, you know, you're not going just a lot of heavy, rich food over time.

[00:25:51.500] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah. Lots of fresh fish and stuff, though. The other thing that I would really recommend, especially for families, I think is I did a guided hike with Hazel from Maine Outdoor School, and she's like an outdoor educator. She's, you know, she's from Maine. She's very passionate about it. But she knows so much like about the area, but also about like the, you know, all of the plants and all the trees and all the the birds and, you know, like everything that you're going through.

[00:26:22.600] - Tamara Gruber So I feel like she could do something that would really engage kids. She's used to doing like kids programs, too. So she knows how to be very engaging with kids and, you know, teach you a lot, but then maybe bring you places that you may not have found on your own. And, you know, one of the things she offered to me was to do like an evening paddle, like where you could see wildlife and stuff.

[00:26:43.030] - Tamara Gruber And we didn't do that just because of my schedule. But that would be something other. I'll just make sure you bring, like, proper bug gear if you're going to do that. Yeah, I should I should mention that, like, yeah, May and June are usually like black fly season in Maine but I got really lucky and I did not get bothered by them at all. And even the mosquitoes, which they're always there's like t shirts that are like the state bird is, you know, mosquito.

[00:27:08.410] - Kim Tate Yeah. I remember having to fight with mosquitoes when we were there.

[00:27:12.160] - Tamara Gruber So I didn't have too much of a problem with that either. I mean obviously I put on bug spray the things that drove me a little bit crazy a couple times were like those no see ums.

[00:27:20.110] - Kim Tate Oh yeah. Those little gnat biters.

[00:27:22.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Because they're the ones that just drive you insane. Yeah. But it was only a couple of times and like usually if you're moving it was fine. And they say like after like mid-July somebody said that's like the third thunderstorm in July is when the flies go. I love these like old time.

[00:27:39.820] - Kim Tate Like the Farmer's Almanac type. Yeah that's right. Yeah. What about I mean another thing does just mention that, you know, we don't deal with as much out here, but pretty soon the whole US is going to have to deal with it. Just being aware of ticks and Lyme disease when you're out hiking and checking yourself for that. Right.

[00:27:54.550] - Tamara Gruber Ticks are a huge problem. And I actually I'm a little bit worried that they're going to be worse this year just because, like some people that I know that are spending a lot of time outdoors are finding them already. I actually when I did the glamping at Terramor in Bar Harbor, I sat outside by the fire for a while and then it started to rain. I had a blanket wrapped around me because it was kind of cold. And when I came in, I, like put the blanket out just to look at it.

[00:28:16.570] - Tamara Gruber And I found a tick on it and I was like freaking out. You know, I flushed it like it wasn't on me. I did it had a decent mirror. I did like a good tick check, but I definitely think, like, yes, spray your gear. There's some stuff I can link to it on our show. Notes that you can spray like your backpack and your shoes and things with before you like, not, you know, like spray it, not when you're in it.

[00:28:38.350] - Tamara Gruber And then just, you know, use some good bug spray and do good checks and wear it and all that kind of stuff. But Hannah's going back to camp this summer in Maine, and I've already told her, like, OK, you really have to be good about this.

[00:28:49.270] - Kim Tate You know, I think wearing the hats, the big one is just getting in. Your hair is the other.

[00:28:52.960] - Tamara Gruber Apparently, they climb up, you see, like a lot of times because it's like you're going through the tall grasses and they grab on your leg, they grab on to like your shoes and your legs. And that's why some people will tuck their socks, like, in to their socks and then, you know, so then they crawl up and they look for like warm areas, like armpits and stuff like that. So, yeah, I mean, there's plenty of stuff online to tell you, like what to do about it.

[00:29:17.470] - Kim Tate Yeah. I don't want it to discourage people. I mean, everyone is dealing with that, but it's just something like for me, I'm not so used to it out here in the West Coast. So it's definitely something to be mindful about. I think Kansas I remember my mom checking me when I were I would play in the woods.

[00:29:32.200] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, when I grew up, we we would get them a lot. And it didn't figure out the same way because there wasn't that disease associated with it, you know. Yeah. So yeah. So it is definitely, you know, something to stay aware of. But luckily that was my only encounter with that, you know. And I did keep checking all throughout.

[00:29:51.910] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah. Just something to be mindful of for people I don't want. Sorry to go off on that side tangent, but I think it's important to just know since we are talking about it as a destination.

[00:30:01.720] - Tamara Gruber Definitely. So from there I made my way to this town of Machias, which is like a little bit larger of a town. And there's some other things you can do if you did want to like kind of base there for a little bit. There's Roque Bluffs. State Park has a nice sand beach, and I think nearby there's like Jenkins' Beach, which is more like ground, colorful pebbles, but there aren't as many like beach type of places, you know in Maine, because it's at least in that section, because it's more rocky coast.

[00:30:27.500] - Tamara Gruber So it's nice when you can find, you know, a real beach to, like, hang out on or sabayon. In the town of Machias, there's a nice, like waterfall in the center of town. But I will say, like, there's not again, there's not a lot when it comes to restaurants. And I think there's two or three more motel kind of places. I think a couple of them have been renovated, you know, so that they look, you know, newer.

[00:30:52.130] - Tamara Gruber But it is still that kind of accommodation unless you would want to rent a cabin. But I actually stayed at a gorgeous place. It was called the Inn at Schoppee Farm. So it was a farmhouse that they've converted into an inn. And I stayed in the river room, which was on the first floor. I think the other rooms are on the second floor. And it was gorgeous, like the person the people that run.

[00:31:18.190] - Tamara Gruber It's like a young couple clearly have such nice design style because it felt like it felt like it was from like a magazine or a decor show because it was just very simple, like farmhouse kind of, you know, like white linens, like the wide plank floors, the exposed beams in the ceiling. There's like old little table, but just with a like a vase of like these simple yellow flowers. So it's just like wood and white and a little splash of yellow.

[00:31:45.140] - Tamara Gruber And it was just it was beautiful and it's right on the river. It's accessible to like this path that's used for like biking or running or ATVs or stuff like that. So and it's just really great outside of town. So that was really like a wonderful farm. I don't know if you'd call it like a farm stay because there weren't like animals and things around, but it was it had that feel. But I think, you know, unless you're going to take a couple of rooms, it's going to be better for like a couple than a family.

[00:32:12.010] - Kim Tate Makes sense.

[00:32:13.640] - Tamara Gruber And then the next day, I decided I was going to drive all the way out to the Canadian border, the town of Lubec, because it is everyone kept telling me, you got to go. It's such a cute town. And I realized I was only like forty-five minutes away. And I'm like, how do I come this far and not make it go all the way, you know? So I was like, you know, I'm just going to get up early one day and do it.

[00:32:36.710] - Tamara Gruber Although I will say I did not get up as early as some people do, because the thing to do in Lubec is there's this really cute, like red and white striped light House called the West Quoddy head light. And it is the, you know, the easternmost town in the U.S. And so it is where, like the first sunrise, you know, first hits the U.S. So it's like a lot it's a thing for people to go and see sunrise there.

[00:33:02.240] - Kim Tate New Year's Day. I've seen pictures of that.

[00:33:05.510] - Tamara Gruber But you know me, I'm not a morning person. Sunrise right now is like four something, you know. So I was not going to get up at like three thirty to drive out there wasn't happening. But still I went out there and again handful of people were there while I was there. So I, I set up shop, I had my tripod, I was taking pictures, you know, I was like hanging out there. And I am so self-conscious about stuff like that, like I feel so uncomfortable, like taking up anyone else's space or time or whatever.

[00:33:35.990] - Tamara Gruber So I tend to not do those things when there's people around. I just feel really uncomfortable. But because there was no one around, I'm like, oh, cool, I can take some pictures with me in it. I'm going to set up my tripod. And so it was it was nice. It was really cute. And then the town itself, I mean, it's quiet now because obviously the border is closed, but it's really cute. There's a place called Cohills inn & Pub which supposedly makes like great cocktails.

[00:33:58.970] - Tamara Gruber There's a brewing place there. There's all kinds of trails and things. If you did decide to stay. And what most people do when the border is open is there's this island that kind of shares the border and it's called Campobello. And it's where the Roosevelts had like a summer home. So you can go out there and visit like this, you know, historic home. Sometimes they'll do like tea with Eleanor, you know, and the those things to do.

[00:34:23.540] - Tamara Gruber But, like, that's a really popular thing to do. But it's it's closed right now because of the the border is closed. But if you go in the future, when the Canadian border is open, like, definitely check that out. But it was well worth it. And there's also if you go, you have to stop at this place called Monika's Chocolates. She will walk you through every bit of her shop. She makes everything by hand.

[00:34:44.660] - Tamara Gruber So not just the chocolate, but she makes her own peanut butter. She makes her own caramel. Like everything that's going into this stuff, she's making by hand also. And the chocolates are amazing. So I was like, OK, they're going to melt in the car, but I have to get some. And so I was like trying to keep them cold by putting, like, water bottles around it and stuff. So that was kind of wrapping up my time in the Downeast region.

[00:35:10.250] - Tamara Gruber And then I went up to the Maine highlands.

[00:35:12.740] - Kim Tate Yeah. And so that's the Maine highlands. It's kind of like what you and I that's more of the lake and mountain interior, is that correct? Yeah.

[00:35:19.400] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I spent one night in Bangor kind of as a layover and I visited like I drove by the Stephen King's house. He does still live there, but I guess they're turning it into a writer's retreat. And actually, I was able to get a lot of history because I took a walk, actually were supposed to be walking tour, but it because it was like 95 degrees, they nicely drove me around with the Bangor Historical Society.

[00:35:42.620] - Kim Tate But they have a whole bunch of different tours that you can do because it at one point had the most millionaires. And I don't know if it was New England or the U.S., but because it was a logging town, there was like just a lot of wealth there at one time. So the town itself has these beautiful Victorian mansions, like the architecture's really beautiful. A lot of downtown was destroyed in a fire at one point. And obviously it's not a big lumber town today, but it's still cute like downtown.

[00:36:12.470] - Kim Tate I mean, it's a little bit hard to judge sometimes right now some of the towns, because they're like coming back. But it was much more vibrant than I would have expected given this past year, you know, and everything that's happened. Yeah, but it was you know, there are a lot of cafes. There are tons of like outdoor dining kind of options. It was cute. You know, it was definitely a cute little town. And then they have like a good concert arena there that apparently bands love to play at.

[00:36:38.090] - Kim Tate It's like you're on a river. And so, you know, people will come from far away to go see a show there and then stay overnight. So I stayed surprisingly. This one really surprised me. There's a casino hotel like I didn't expect that. They say this place called like the Hollywood Casino Hotel. But like, luckily, like, I was not interested in going to the casino, but like, the hotel part is separate. So, like, you didn't have to encounter any of that other stuff at all.

[00:37:06.770] - Tamara Gruber Like even I came in a different entrance thinking I could cut through to get to the hotel because I'd walked across the street for dinner. And that was completely sectioned off, so it's like you, I did not have to walk through it at all, so that was like if you're not into gambling, then you don't worry about it

[00:37:25.430] - Kim Tate We have a casino hotel out here like that, that's very separate that you can get to him through a lobby, but you don't it's not like a Vegas hotel where you walk through the casino to get to the elevators or something.

[00:37:34.690] - Tamara Gruber Right. And where they don't want you to find your way out.

[00:37:36.890] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. You know, you actually can't find your room.

[00:37:40.790] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So from there, like the next morning I drove up to where I was staying in Millinocket Lake. But first I stopped at a place called the Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, and I did like a guided paddle, was with a naturalist there. And this is like a it's a really nice like if you are staying in Bangor and you want to get out and do some, like, walks and hikes without driving an hour and a half, it was you know, it's only like maybe 25 minutes or so out there.

[00:38:09.830] - Tamara Gruber And they've tried to make it really accessible and affordable for families. So it's free. They do take donations. You can even borrow canoes or kayaks for free. I mean, they hope that you make a donation. So that's really nice. And a lot of their trails are wheelchair or stroller accessible, which is a lot of hiking trails in Maine are what they call rocks and routes. So it's a very uneven surface. So anyone that has any mobility issues, it's it's a bit of a struggle to get out in nature.

[00:38:40.500] - Tamara Gruber And so the fact that these are like, you know, nicely done trails, there's also another one called the, I don't know, Orono bog boardwalk that I did. So it's like a boardwalk, you know, out like overlooking a bog back in. So it's nice to see that, like, again, for families that don't want to have, like, something too strenuous but want to get out nature, there's something for them to do.

[00:38:59.870] - Tamara Gruber Then I drove up to it's called the New England Outdoors Center. And remember how you and I did like the Appalachian Mountain Club Lodge and we did that. Yeah. So it's you know, they have a large and then they have cabins. They don't do the same kind of family style dinners, communal dining.

[00:39:17.710] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:39:18.200] - Tamara Gruber So it is different in that way, but it's on a lake and it's a lodge. They run activities, they have a restaurant there. It was closed when I was there just for that day. They try to balance it with other restaurants in the area so that everybody has a day off, you know, especially being short staffed right now. But they put me up in an amazing cabin like this, especially when I walked in there, I was like, OK, to three bedroom, two bath cabin with like this gorgeous kitchen.

[00:39:44.690] - Tamara Gruber I can't believe, you know, like this is what I wish I had people with me.

[00:39:47.720] - Kim Tate Yeah, of course. I remember you sharing your stories. I was like, oh, man. And it's like always happens with us when we find a great place, it's like, oh, you're here for ten hours.

[00:39:56.420] - Tamara Gruber I was there for one night and I'm like, oh man. But they have a mix of cabins like they have smaller, like, you know, kind of more basic cabins. They're premium cabins. I think this was like a premium lodge, you know, kind of thing. But they have some that sleep up to fourteen. So great for like family groups, you know, extended families, friends, that kind of thing. And the waterfront there is beautiful.

[00:40:18.380] - Tamara Gruber So they had their on Millinocket Lake looking across the lake to Mount Katahdin, which is the tallest mountain in Maine, and that's the end point of the Appalachian Trail. So it's like where it's famous because a lot of people will finish their hikes there and so people will go and meet them and greet them. So it's a great view. They have, like, I guess a tiny little beach front area, but they have like a picnic area, you know, like along the waterfront.

[00:40:44.210] - Tamara Gruber And you can borrow canoes and kayaks or stand up paddleboards to go out. They also rent mountain bikes and they're building out like mountain bike trails there. But the thing that I did that was exciting was I did one of their wildlife tours. So when you and I did a moose tour, we went out like early morning and we're in a van. And then we did a canoe. This one they have in the evening or the early morning. But you go out on a pontoon boat, so you go across the lake and then you go into all these little streams and inlets because that's where the moose come down, like

[00:41:17.630] - Kim Tate where the almost like the airboat tours in Florida.

[00:41:20.660] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:41:23.090] - Tamara Gruber So we did that and we were like looking around and it was like, you know, that point where you're just about to give up. And then he's like, I think I see something. And it was really far in the distance, but you could really see there's the moose. And as we were coming back, we saw another one like a little bit closer to shore. So I still have not seen one with, like, the I've still haven't seen a male with the antlers

[00:41:43.940] - Kim Tate Still. I know I was watching all year. I was watching all your pictures and I'm like, oh, another. And whatever the female ones are called.

[00:41:50.690] - Tamara Gruber Cows. Yeah. Yeah. So and they're still big because they're still like they are because.

[00:41:56.870] - Kim Tate Yeah. You don't want to get, you know, next to one of those.

[00:41:59.630] - Tamara Gruber But yeah I was super excited though because I saw a lot of beaver and beaver was one thing that it's just I don't know, I've always wanted to see one in the wild because I see the beaver dams a lot.

[00:42:10.970] - Tamara Gruber But you never actually see the beaver. And so as we were going, you know, you would see the Beaver Dam and then you would see like a head swimming through the water. And when I did my paddle at the wildlife refuge, like earlier in the day, she was talking about Beaver and, you know, you mostly would see them at night and that they slap their tail to scare you away. And she kind of demonstrated with the paddle how loud the slap was.

[00:42:35.410] - Tamara Gruber Well, I got they slapped their tail at us a lot, you know, so I have a picture of like this huge splash from them. So, like, I have some pictures of their head in the water, but it's like a distance. It's nothing. It's nothing that like. Yeah, yeah. Nothing great. But definitely saw them. Definitely heard them that really get away from here. Oh yes. That was cool.

[00:42:56.540] - Kim Tate Awesome. So lots of wildlife and getting out into nature. What else did you do when you were in that area.

[00:43:02.830] - Tamara Gruber So I did do some kayaking on the lake, but it was a little bit choppy. So I didn't go. I kind of just stuck to shore and, you know, just kind of explored a little bit because then I was driving the next day, I drove up a little bit further north, but I took another scenic road. It's Route 11 and it's called the Katahdin Woods scenic byway up to a town of Patten, like there's a lumberjack museum there.

[00:43:29.650] - Tamara Gruber So it's big, big, big lumber town. And I stayed at a place called Shin Pond Village. And this is they also have a bunch of cabins. So they have camping sites, RV sites. And then I think about a dozen different cabins, again, like a two bedroom cabin. It was you know, it was nice. It was it was not fancy, but it was it was spacious and, you know, nice.

[00:43:54.950] - Tamara Gruber And so I liked it a lot. And, you know, it had kind of a nice view over like a meadow. But the thing that they do there is they rent side by side like ATVs. But the Polaris like side by side here, because there's just like tons of trails out there. So it's kind of like one of the big things to do in that area is to go, you know, ride these trails. And so there's different ATV clubs that have built them out and maintain them.

[00:44:22.600] - Tamara Gruber And so someone from Shin Pond Village took me out on a little guided tour. They don't usually do the guided excursions, but each of the vehicles has like a GPS built in and a tracker built in. So it's kind of easy. They give you a map, they kind of talk to you about where to go. But I was surprised that even as we're driving, like I would get lost in a second, you would think. But she was easily following GPS.

[00:44:43.600] - Tamara Gruber But there were also times when you come across like a trail map and they'd be like, you are here. And it was so different things. So that's good.

[00:44:49.750] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they really maintain them nicely.

[00:44:51.610] - Kim Tate It sounds kind of funny, but there's some show on TV and I don't even know what it is, but it's like the I don't know what they would be called, but they're like the police officers that take care of nature, OK, or whatever. Yeah. Some kind. And they have the show. I remember it being in Maine and they were talking about it was there was a bunch of ATV drivers and they were talking about all the trails and like their speed limits on the trails and yeah.

[00:45:14.710] - Kim Tate Like a whole trail system. And it was kind of it seems like it's a major it's almost like it seems like it's like cross-country ski trails during the winter and then in the summer. Snowmobiling. Yeah. Or snowmobiles. Yeah. So they turn out that's what it probably is, a snowmobiles and they turn on ATVs in the summer. So it's kind of cool how they it's such a big part of their life out there.

[00:45:35.860] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I was talking to Riley from Shrimpton village and she was saying that it's actually winter was always there big season for snowmobiling, but summer is now becoming like just as big or even bigger. And it's longer season, obviously, you know, for ATV and Hannah and I did something similar to this, like a couple of years ago up in northern New Hampshire. We went up and we did a little cabin in a place, you know, did kind of guided tours, you know, and we actually crossed over into Vermont for the day and had lunch and came back.

[00:46:03.400] - Tamara Gruber And, you know, it was really neat. So it's definitely some of these towns, like there's just not a lot of other stuff there, you know, so like this has become both their recreation and a way to bring in tourism. . And I think of like my nephew loves ATVing, you know, like he would love to go up there and do that, kind of like for me, you know, an hour or two of bumping around and I'm OK.

[00:46:25.780] - Tamara Gruber But, you know, some people are like, really love it. And I also like, how fast can we go? How much, how dirty can we get that stuff. Yeah, but like like they brought me up to the top of I think it was called Robert's Mountain and, you know, really beautiful view. She's like, we love to watch sunset here. But then on the way back we encounter a lot of moose. And again, that that's OK.

[00:46:45.130] - Tamara Gruber I do not want to be on the ATV trails at night, but she said those things I like really good lights and all that. So I'm like, OK, I mean, you know, so if you're into that, it's definitely a great place to go for it. But there's also like plenty of other hiking and stuff to do nearby, of course.

[00:47:00.250] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:47:00.730] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So because it's so there's this new national monument called Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. So if you think about like the national park system, like National Park is like the most well known. But then there's all these other types of public land, right, the historical monuments and, you know,

[00:47:17.480] - Kim Tate That's like that white sands, I always got thrown that it was a national monument, but now it's a national park.

[00:47:23.670] - Tamara Gruber Now it's a national park. Exactly. Yeah. So it is. They told me it's very rough and I didn't know exactly what that meant. But basically it means that there's really not like facilities there.

[00:47:33.810] - Kim Tate So I mean infrastructure. Yeah, there's no visitor center and bathrooms and stuff like that.

[00:47:37.230] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. It's more about I mean it's it's newly designated. So I'm sure some of that will develop over time. But it's also an international dark sky preserve and newly has that designation too. And that's like actually I think it might be a sanctuary. So there's levels there's like a sanctuary preserve community. There's like different designations for dark sky, but it is known for its dark skies. So I don't think they want to develop it too too much. But it's good for like if you want to do backcountry camping and stargazing or if you did want to do some like a real back country, like hiking.

[00:48:14.340] - Tamara Gruber But I will say, like I so the first night that I was up there, I drove in and I was meeting an astronomer from Dark Sky Maine to do some stargazing because I was a little nervous to just like wander out there on my own, like, where do I go? What do I do? And so I started driving into the park and it has like a 17 mile loop, I think 14 or 17. And they told me it would take like two hours to do the whole loop.

[00:48:39.030] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, OK, you know, and wondering. But as I didn't realize, it's like ten miles, like just to get to the loop it felt like. And so and it's really rough. So there are a number of places where you would go, you know, up in this section of Maine and you and I experienced this to where it's really logging roads.

[00:48:57.240] - Kim Tate Yeah. You don't even know if it's a road. Yeah.

[00:48:59.460] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So it is, you know, it's gravel but there's like there's different grades of gravel, like it is, you know, like there are big potholes, big chunks of rock, you know, like where if you, if you have a low clearance car like forget about it, like it's it's not happening for you. And so I'm bumping along this and I right before I went, I had my car serviced. I'm like, OK, we just did a whole lot of driving, going to make sure my car's like in good shape.

[00:49:24.780] - Tamara Gruber And they said like, oh, I think you need tires. And I'm like, really? Because I got tires right before you and I went to Maine two years ago. But I well, I didn't drive like 5000 miles, you know. Yeah. For one road trip. And then I've done all these other we drove to Florida, you know, like we have put on a lot of miles. And so I could think was what if I pop a tire out here?

[00:49:43.230] - Tamara Gruber There's no cell service. There's no one coming. I just have to walk, like, through the wilderness back. So I'm like, you know, I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to wait over here, you know, for the person I'm meeting and he's going to drive me in. So that's what I did. So I would say, like, it is a place to go, like if that is what you're looking for.

[00:50:01.860] - Tamara Gruber But just be aware, you know, when it comes to services that that's what it is. I actually totally because I was reading a blog post recently and it said you could see lots of monuments there like you were there.

[00:50:18.570] - Tamara Gruber Yes. Because it's called the National Monument. Does not mean there are monuments there.

[00:50:22.470] - Kim Tate Exactly. It's not like Washington, D.C.. Yeah, that's crazy.

[00:50:26.610] - Tamara Gruber So I'm like, OK, blogger, start to make sure you've actually been there.

[00:50:30.390] - Kim Tate But anyway. Don't write for SEO, write for helping people.

[00:50:33.420] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. So at least our listeners know that we're going to give it straight. Right. You know. Yeah, I really feel. But we went out there and we saw a beautiful sunset over the mountain because we stopped this overlook overlooking Mt Katahdin and then they clouded it up. So I was like, I am such a bad.

[00:50:53.430] - Kim Tate You have such bad luck with it.

[00:50:59.250] - Tamara Gruber I mean, at least we got this. I got to see the northern lights. Normally every time I've done stargazing, you know, it rains or it clouds up. So we hung out for a while. I mean, he was a great guy. We had a great conversation. They do do star parties there. And there is like a festival that takes place in October. So if it's something that people are interested in, I would definitely look up like Dark Sky Maine or Friends of Katahdin, Woods and Waters and they'll have some information about, like the events that they run.

[00:51:28.440] - Tamara Gruber They've been doing a lot of virtual zoom kind of things now that people have been enjoying. But they'll go back to like the in person kind of star parties this year. And he I mean, the guy was wonderful. He set up telescopes, you know, for me. And he was already with the laser pointer and all of that. Yeah. So big shout out to John. But, you know, unfortunately, the weather did not work for us.

[00:51:50.490] - Tamara Gruber And eventually we just we just kind of called it a day and we went back. And as we're driving again, local maner, he's used to this kind of driving and I'm like kind of nervous about what I'm going to see. I see a moose on the road like before he does and before I can even get the words out. I'm like bracing for impact kind of. And I'm like pointing at that. But there's this like moose like, you know, right in the road and.

[00:52:12.840] - Tamara Gruber And you just like, I guess, moose, and so that was like my upclose one of my upclose moose. Yes. And then we got back to where I parked my car, but I still had to drive like a good distance on Gravel Road and I was following him. But, like, it blows up so much dust. Like so I was kind of like, I have zero visibility, like, so slow. And then, you know, then he goes one way and I have to go the other way.

[00:52:37.980] - Tamara Gruber And it's now like almost midnight, it's dark and there's still no cell service. And I'm just like, oh, God, what happens if I find like there's a. So I'm driving like very slow, like very white knuckle, you know? And I get back. I'm like, oh, I just need to unwind for a little bit. You know, I think I didn't go to bed to like 1:00 in the morning because I was like just like all tense from, like driving back.

[00:53:00.090] - Tamara Gruber So I would say, like, that's one thing that if you are going to do that, like just think about like your drive back and like maybe if you are into camping, like just camp there, that way you can just look up and see and I'm sure there are I'm sure everywhere. Like the next night I was going to go out and just try to stargaze from my cabin, but like the weather was still iffy. So I was like, I'm so tired, I'm not going to bother.

[00:53:21.180] - Tamara Gruber But, you know, I'm sure everywhere in the area is nice. But then my last day, I will finally wrap up because I am going on and on. But my last day I went into Baxter State Park. And again, this is what I'm going to tell you about Baxter State Park that I learned. So Baxter State Park is very popular in Maine. It is one of those state parks that's like a national park in so many ways as it does have Mount Katahdin.

[00:53:43.980] - Tamara Gruber And so it is super popular. So they actually require parking reservations for any of the trails that lead to Mount Katahdin and those, you know, fill up by 6:00 a.m. If you don't show up for your reservation by 7:00 a.m., then they may give it away. But I wouldn't want to like basically where I was staying to that south entrance where you would get in for that for that part of the park was like an hour and a half drive or something like that, or at least like forty five minutes.

[00:54:11.220] - Tamara Gruber It was long enough that I'm like, I'm not going to chance that I can get a parking spot. And then there's also some areas like Sandy, Stream, Brook or Pond and some other ponds that are super popular for moose watching. So especially in the early morning. So again, like you have to get there super early and they give you like a three hour moose pass, you know, like parking pass. Then you have to, like, get out of there.

[00:54:34.980] - Tamara Gruber So you it is it takes some planning ahead if you want to do that. And also it's a very large park and there is a road that connects the southern part with the northern part of the park. But again, it's a gravel road. And so they're like, be prepared that if you want to drive through the whole park, it's going to take you three or four hours. So it just something to think about. And there are lots of hikes to do, but people are like, oh, let's hike Mount Katahdin.

[00:55:01.260] - Tamara Gruber Like, you don't just go and hike Katahdin. It's like, you know, I'm not going to say it's not like hiking Everest, but it's something that you need to be prepared for. Like you need to be an experienced hiker. They you need to start out. It's like a ten plus hour hike. So, like, you need to start out very early. You need to have those parking reservations. And they are like really emphasize that you need to carry a lot of water.

[00:55:23.340] - Tamara Gruber And actually, remember, our friend Amy from Pitstops for kids. She did it with her her boys a few years ago because her son goes to college out there and she is a very experienced hiker. And I remember her writing about it and saying how like they weren't even as prepared as they should have been. And she was like scared a little bit, you know, like I am. So it is something that you really have to prepare for.

[00:55:46.320] - Tamara Gruber And then, you know, there's there's like this knife edge trail that kind of goes along the ridge line. And the locals tell me there are points where it's maybe only like five, six feet wide, you know, and then you have these big drop offs and either sides, you know, it'll be closed when it's high winds, but it's definitely not for people with fear of heights, you know, so there's just a lot that you should be aware of before you do that.

[00:56:08.100] - Tamara Gruber So I wasn't ready for any of that. So where I was staying and Shin Pond Village was actually only a half hour from the northern entrance of Baxter State Park. And again, it's just like any other state park or national park that's busy. If you go to the less busy part, you can still have a great a great experience. Like you may not see those like, you know, most famous sites, but you can still have a great experience.

[00:56:32.910] - Tamara Gruber So I went in that north entrance and I did a couple of hikes, like one to a waterfall, one to the site called The Ledges, which was just beautiful overlooking. And then I walked down to a pond. And you can do like a loop like there and another waterfall like. So there's there's plenty to do in that area. And there's a campground there. And you can actually there's a ranger station there and you can rent canoes to go out on the lake or the pond for like a dollar I think.

[00:56:58.350] - Tamara Gruber And there is no one else there, like no one. I didn't see anyone on the trails actually. You sign in at the trailer register. Baxter State Park does a really good job of keeping track of their visitors. So when you go in the gate, they ask you what your plans are, where you're going to go. They'll help you find something if you need to, and they give you like a pass that you need to drop off on your way back out of the park so they keep track of everyone going in and everyone going out.

[00:57:23.360] - Tamara Gruber And so with the trail registers that, you know, they really want you to fill that in when you're there and coming out. And so I could see there is no one else on the trail that day. Like, it's just it's so quiet. And that, I think was I guess it was during the week, but it was a Thursday. So it's, you know, like you would think a Thursday in June would still be fairly popular, right?

[00:57:43.910] - Kim Tate Yeah.

[00:57:44.240] - Kim Tate I think it's like you said, you know, it's just when you're able to find those spots because it seems like everyone flocks to the same, you know, five sites inside of a park and they miss these other things. And still, it's got the beautiful nature like the rest of the park, but it's just not picked up as the thing to see. Right.

[00:58:01.760] - Tamara Gruber Exactly. So I would say, like, if you're doing like what I did and you want to go in the Northern Gate, this whole it's the Northern Gate, but it's the area called South Branch. So it's like South Branch Pond Campground. And there's like all these different hikes and things around there and the Rangers can help you out. So it was lovely. It was it was really nice. On my way into the park, I did come across another moose in the road, which was exciting because it was not dark.

[00:58:28.040] - Tamara Gruber And so I saw it in advance and I was able to kind of quickly pull out my phone. Of course, my good camera was in the back, but I knew that it wouldn't it wouldn't stay in front of me for long. But it just kind of stood there in the road, turned and looked at me, and then it would walk a little bit and I would like inch up a little bit, you know, thinking it's going to go in the woods.

[00:58:45.170] - Tamara Gruber And it kept walking along the road and looking back at me and then it just like wandered off into the woods. So it was neat. It was cool.

[00:58:52.220] - Kim Tate Well, it sounds like you had a great time and spent a lot of time getting to know that state.

[00:58:56.210] - Tamara Gruber Well, yeah, it was really fun. I love I just I do love the state. There is just a lot of gorgeous outdoors there. But then you have the quaintness, like I said, of like the lighthouses and that kind of side of things too. So, yeah, I highly recommend it. And again, if you want to get out of the very busy areas, go to these regions. There's tons to offer, have the right expectations when it comes to, you know, accommodations and restaurants and roads, you know, things like.

[00:59:30.010] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah. And cell service. Oh, my goodness. Even by the coast, I had like I have Verizon, like, no cell service, even like further south in Maine. They're like, now you need to have like U.S. Cellular, I'm like who has us cellular, I didn't even know that existed still. But so definitely be prepared when it comes to like a communication standpoint that you need to research like it helps if you have like a non phone based GPS and you can't just search by point of interest because some of these places where it might show on Google Maps is not really where you should go, you know, so it helps if you can research in advance and have your exact street address or coordinates.

[01:00:13.400] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, there are a couple of times where I just clicked on the coordinates to do that. And if you only have a few days like even and you want to get out into like more that wilderness area, either basing at that New England outdoor center that was more, maybe more tourist friendly and that, you know, the things that they had to do and to borrow and the restaurant and then Shin Pond Village, you know, a little bit more rustic, but not rustic.

[01:00:38.630] - Tamara Gruber Rustic, you know. So either of those could be a good choice as well. So I don't I would love I would love if anyone goes and experiences some of these things or has been like, let us know what you think.

[01:00:50.840] - Kim Tate Well, as you said, you'll be sharing a lot of this information on your site so you guys can always go to We3Travel.com and check it out or just check check the show notes at VacationMavens.com and Tamara will have all the info there.

[01:01:03.470] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, definitely. And next time I can shut up and you'll talk about some of your travel.

[01:01:08.420] - Kim Tate Sounds good. Yeah, I'm excited. We're about ready to head out and do a couple of fun trips, so be chatting about that next time. Cool. Thanks for joining us bye.

View Details

This week we are catching up on Tamara's recent travels around New England -- from a girlfriend getaway in Vermont to glamping in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

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New England Trip Tips * Many state tourism boards have put together different trails that make it easy to plan a trip. Vermont has a cheese trail, beer trail, covered bridges trail, and more. * The visitor center or the visitor's board website can provide a lot of information and sometimes coupons. * Tamara has a good post on We3Travel with her itinerary for planning a Vermont road trip and read more about her weekend getaway on YourTimetoFly.com. * Brattleboro, Vermont is a hip artsy town. * Bennington, Vermont is a historic town in Southern Vermont. * Manchester, Vermont has a lot to do in town and nearby and Tamara has a post about things to do in Manchester. * Lye Brook Falls is a great hike just outside of Manchester. * The Mountain Inn in Killington was perfect for a girls' trip. They have a restaurant and distillery on-site and have renovated the rooms to be trendy. In the winter they have a dining experience to eat in a gondola. * Cold Hollow Cider Mill has great apple cider donuts and hard cider tastings. * Bring along a cooler or cooler bag with ice packs to be able to bring home cheese and other goodies. * Morse Farm near Montpelier does a maple syrup tasting. * Auto Camp is a glamping resort that offers airstream camping, safari tents, and X Suites. There are locations in Sonoma, Yosemite, Zion, and now Cape Cod. * You can read Tamara's full review of Auto Camp Cape Cod on YourTimetoFly. * See other places to go glamping in New England. * You can read about Tamara's trip to the Tuxbury Tiny House Village in New Hampshire on We3Travel, which is not far from Newburyport, Massachusetts and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. * The Kimpton Hotel Monaco has a great location in Old City Philadelphia. It is a great hotel right next to all the historic sites like Independence Hall. * Stay tuned next week to hear more about Tamara's trip to Maine!

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.240] - Kim Tate Today, we're checking in with Tamara about her recent travels to New England.

[00:00:16.710] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:32.040] - Kim Tate Today's episode is sponsored by Safe Travels Kit. And as some of you may know, we are a family that deals with food allergies and the Safe Travels kit is perfect for those who are trying to protect themselves when they travel normally. I have to board the airplane in advance and wipe down our whole seat. And trust me, all the crevices around seats are not always the cleanest things. And the Safe Travels kit comes with an adjustable seat cover that covers the seat.

[00:00:57.100] - Kim Tate So I don't have to worry about all the germs and any food particles that may be there, as well as a super soft pillowcase and 10 sanitizing wipes that are perfect for helping me wipe down the tray table. And it even comes with one face mask. So if you guys are looking for a safe way to travel, you might want to check out the safe travels kit.

[00:01:14.960] - Tamara Gruber You know, I think about so many other kinds of germs, but I luckily don't have to deal with those allergens. So I never even thought of it for that reason. But really, I would love the security of knowing that those things are being kept away.

[00:01:27.570] - Kim Tate Definitely. Especially the spaces between chairs that can just get gross. So nice to know that this is an option for us. Great.

[00:01:33.570] - Tamara Gruber Well, everyone can check out Safe TravelsKit.com or check it out on Amazon.

[00:01:39.560] - Kim Tate So, Tamara, I, of course, follow you all over social media, and I've been very sad and feeling left out because you are just jet setting around New England and I have been stuck at home in Seattle. And so why don't you tell us all about some of the adventures you've been on lately?

[00:01:56.000] - Tamara Gruber I know I feel a little bit like a champagne. That was shook and then the cork was popped you know?

[00:02:01.130] - Kim Tate Well, exactly. It's like party vaccination rocks.

[00:02:05.720] - Tamara Gruber Totally.

[00:02:06.560] - Tamara Gruber I mean, it's just like it just has come about in that way. But there's definitely, I'm sure for everyone, like a lot of pent up demand for travel. And it just worked out like luckily Glenn is still not traveling for work. And so he's here to help out, you know, bring Hannah to and from school. So I've been able to go out and do some things on my own. But our first one was actually a Mother's Day thing.

[00:02:27.170] - Tamara Gruber So one night Glenn was asking, like, you know, what would you want to do for Mother's Day? Do you want to go for brunch or, you know, these things? And I kind of looked at him and I'm like, how do I tell them I just want to go away, like, without them? So I did. Yeah. So I was like, you know, I really just want to go somewhere. And Vermont had recently reopened to people that were vaccinated.

[00:02:49.970] - Tamara Gruber And I have wanted to go to Vermont like all last summer, but I couldn't because of the travel restrictions. So I asked a friend of mine who had also said, like, hey, when we're vaccinated, like, we should do something. So she's a teacher and she's had, of course, like a really very stressful year. So I was like, would you want to go to Vermont? She's like, absolutely. And so I planned it.

[00:03:12.740] - Tamara Gruber And I was like, Do you want to know anything that we're doing or should I just surprise you? And she was like, I have so much to deal with. I would be happy with whatever you do. And I know she's like she's someone that she likes to travel. She loves checking out new things. She's kind of like up for anything type of person anyway. So I just, like, went crazy. And I was like going through all these like, oh, like Vermont has a cheese trail and they have a beer trail and they have a, you know, like covered bridges trail.

[00:03:38.600] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, how can I, like, fit a whole bunch in to, you know, like a long three day weekend.

[00:03:43.790] - Kim Tate So that's I like states do that when they do. I mean, that's become a thing. I remember remember that long time ago you and I did that press trip to Jefferson Parish. Louisiana. And they had like an oyster trail. And I just think it's it's really cool how, you know, states do that. It kind of gives you a cohesive theme and very organized literature to help you learn how to kind of explore.

[00:04:09.360] - Tamara Gruber It does. You know, and I think a lot of times, like a lot of people really don't have time to plan things. And so you see something like that, you're like, oh, yeah, that sounds interesting. Like, let's go do it. And it's fun. Like, I know my sister and my brother, actually, both of them, they're part of this group of couples through their church where they always travel together like twice a year.

[00:04:26.960] - Tamara Gruber And my brother is the organizer. Imagine that one of the things that they do is like this chocolate. I don't know if it's like a scavenger hunt, but it's like one of these things, like the town hall sets up like different kind of chocolate related death by chocolate, I think it's called, and then makes you go visit like each of the businesses that are participating to get your little piece of chocolate at or whatever. So it's just a fun thing and like and now it's something that they look forward to.

[00:04:53.780] - Tamara Gruber Like we go and we do this together and it's our tradition.

[00:04:56.870] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's awesome. I think also a heads up to people just when you are planning to explore a new region, don't forget about the visitors bureaus and visitor centers of the city or town or state that you're planning to visit because they are there for visitors specifically and they have a lot of great information and can really help you make the most out of your trip. So a lot of it's online, but sometimes I find that going into their little visitor centers can be extremely useful.

[00:05:26.180] - Kim Tate Yeah, and that's done some great coupons.

[00:05:29.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, that's what I really want to do with Vermont, which I think is Vermont vacation dotcom. But we were coming up from Rhode Island, so it was kind of doing a lot of southern and central Vermont. But they have a lot of scenic byways, as you can imagine, because it's just a very it's just such a pretty state. It's one of my favorites in New England. It just has that very classic feel, you know, like these towns with the church, with the big steeple and, you know, like just exactly what you think of when you think classic Americana.

[00:05:58.430] - Tamara Gruber Totally. So we started out in Brattleboro, which I hadn't really spent a lot of time in, and that is kind of like a artsy kind of hip little town. So we just kind of walked around town and did like a cheese shop there. And then we drove across like a scenic byway over to the town of Bennington, which is like a little bit more of a historic town. We started a bunch of covered bridges and different sites, and then we went up and we spent our first night in Manchester.

[00:06:27.950] - Tamara Gruber And if anyone hasn't been to Vermont, like Manchester is definitely one of my favorite towns. It's just it's really pretty. It's really quaint. There's a lot to do nearby. There's, you know, a number of ski resorts that aren't that to. Too far away, really good food scene, there's outlet shopping like a high end outlet shopping, if you enjoy that. But then there's also like the Orvis. Yeah, flyfishing company, their headquarters is there.

[00:06:51.340] - Tamara Gruber They have a resort there that has like a Land Rover experience. And then there's, of course, fly-Fishing, you know, there's Norman Rockwell stuff. So tons to do in that area. But we we stayed overnight there and we the next day went and did a waterfall because I was like, OK, we're going to see a lot of covered bridges. We're going to see a lot of waterfalls that we're going to eat like a lot of cheese and maple sirup kind of stuff.

[00:07:11.900] - Tamara Gruber So we did this hike, which I think you would have enjoyed, too. It was like five miles round trip, but it was up to a waterfall. And when we got up there, it was pretty much empty, like there was no one there for quite a while. And then after I was taking some pictures, like a bunch of people came and then there was like a whole flood of people coming up. We're like, well, we made it here just in time.

[00:07:30.370] - Tamara Gruber But it was like one of those good, you know, like uphill climbs that you felt like you worked hard for it, but you weren't, like, totally exhausted afterwards, you know, and you had a good reward, you know, when I got there.

[00:07:41.590] - Kim Tate So that was sometimes something. Yeah.

[00:07:43.150] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And then we went we did a historic home that Robert Lincoln, who's Abraham Lincoln's son, had built a summer home up there when he was like president of the Pullman like the Pullman cars and trains like that company that like, you know, a little self guided tour of that home. And then we drove from there. We made a couple other stops at like Maple sirup places up to Killington, which is one of the major ski resorts in in Vermont.

[00:08:12.280] - Tamara Gruber And we at this place called the Mountain In. And it was kind of like you could tell it was probably like an old like not so great hotel that they have renovated to make it look like cool and retro. You know, sometimes they take anything like motels or different hotels and they add like this, you know, kind of cool element to it.

[00:08:31.330] - Kim Tate We stayed in one like that in Santa Rosa. I remember we. Yeah, that it was kind of a motel, but it had such cute, like, retro theming.

[00:08:38.110] - Tamara Gruber Right. Right. Yes.

[00:08:39.560] - Kim Tate This one was. I think it was anyway. Sorry. Go ahead.

[00:08:42.300] - Tamara Gruber This one has a distillery there. So it's like distillery and in and then they have like a restaurant there. So it's like cool. And I thought it was really good for like a girls trip because, you know, like they have the little tasting room where you can taste the different spirits. And like I was like a cool, trendy thing. And then they had little balconies off the room where you can overlook the the slopes at Killington, which still had some snow on them, you know, so it was really neat.

[00:09:06.610] - Tamara Gruber And then I booked us a special experience, like something that I've wanted to do all winter here. But the places that do it are so darn expensive that I haven't done it. But is eating in a ski gondola. Oh, yeah. Yes. Have you seen those? Do you have.

[00:09:20.410] - Kim Tate Yeah, I don't think we have a gondola, but we have the little the Globes like the glass triangle globe things in Seattle. But yeah, I've seen the gondolas. I know they have them in Colorado.

[00:09:31.390] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. It's just something that I've wanted to do and like yeah there's a place here called Ocean House which does it and it's like a fondue experience, but it's like five hundred dollars and you get basically like crudite and fondue and like not even wine or anything. So I'm like I want to do that. Looks so cool. It's like so cool Instagram ish kind of thing. But anyway they had it there, you did have to pay a little extra, but then the food was just like normal and they're heated and they had actually like built it out so that it had like little curtains and pillows and like it was like designed inside.

[00:10:04.870] - Tamara Gruber So it was really neat. And they had music piped in so, so fun because it was definitely cold that night, you know. So they're like the waitress would come in, like open the doors and give us the food. And it was just it was such a fun experience. It was very too, because they brought out like a I think a like maple aged bourbon or something like maple barrel bourbon was like their thing and they brought it out.

[00:10:26.920] - Tamara Gruber And I don't really drink like spirits that much. And so it came out, you know, you know, like an amuse bouche. When they're serving you like dinner, they'll bring a little thing from the chef. So I'm like, is this like the alcohol amuse bouche? But like, I I'm not a bourbon fan. So I was like sipping it. And then I'm like, OK, I'm just going to dump the rest and the rest of my drink and.

[00:10:48.850] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, but I'm like, is it really bad if I just switch to wine when I'm at a distillery?

[00:10:54.280] - Kim Tate Yeah, I'm not a spirits person but it sounds good. I wonder how many restaurants are going to have a whole new monetization like as bad as and hard as the you know, pandemic was on them being able to have this new revenue stream that maybe some of them have found and developed is going to be exciting like the outdoor dining.

[00:11:13.340] - Tamara Gruber I mean, Glenn and I were just talking about that this weekend because we're in Philadelphia. And I was saying, like, there's so many things that I hope stick around. You know, like so much outdoor dining, I really hope stays. But yeah. So we did that. We stayed. So that was our second night. We stayed in Killington and then the next day we drove up the scenic route one hundred to a few more like waterfalls and different sites.

[00:11:34.930] - Tamara Gruber And we hit we're going to hit that Ben and Jerry's factory store, but we've both already done. So we went to this other, like apple cider place that I've gone to called Cold Hollow Cider Mill, and since I last been there, they actually added hard cider, too. So you would like this because they do like a cider tasting. Like hard cider tasting.

[00:11:53.690] - Kim Tate That's right up my alley. Yeah, I like regular cider and hard ciders.

[00:11:57.680] - Tamara Gruber Well, and the good thing about this was, although you may not like it as much as I did, but when you do the hard cider tasting, they give you a coupon for six free apple cider donuts across the street.

[00:12:06.920] - Kim Tate Oh, I would love that. Love it.

[00:12:09.860] - Kim Tate Yeah. I have to come do fall with you in New England because the Apple Cider Donuts, we have one place out here that does, um, and I've heard of people getting them out here, but I've never gone around to it. But that's, you know, sounds like a dream dessert for me.

[00:12:24.890] - Tamara Gruber They're so good. They're so, so good. There's a place that I like to go to. Sometimes they'll have like an hour waiting in line to get them. It'll be worth it if we'll just chat for an hour. We can record a podcast while we wait for apple cider. Well, I will say definitely the thing to do is if you're going to do one of these road trips to Vermont is bring a cooler because I brought like a cooler like a small cooler bag.

[00:12:45.170] - Tamara Gruber But it was not big enough because, of course, like, there's all these cheese places, like we went to like two or three artisan cheese places. So we bought cheese and then we would stop at the maple syrup, you know, the maple sugar shacks. And so you'd get like maple syrup and, you know, just like different maple goods, you know, and then you have the craft beer, you know, like there's so many things that you want to, like, pop into that cooler.

[00:13:07.280] - Kim Tate We'll have to go back to that travel tech episode. I'm sure that he has some advice on the best coolers. I remember him talking about that.

[00:13:14.810] - Tamara Gruber I was like, well, good thing it's still cold out. You know, we did bring it in for, like a fridge one day, but the next night it was going to be 32 degrees and like, it can just be fine. So we had a lot of fun. And we in the last place we went to, I think it was called Morse Farm, and they did a syrup tasting.

[00:13:31.520] - Tamara Gruber So a lot of places like you kind of have to know, do you like like a rich robust or do you like a lighter amber? But there they didn't and even did it with covid. They had a Plexiglas shield. They gave you a little spoon each time and then you just kind of lowered your mask and popped it in. But it was really neat, you know, to do that kind of sirup tasting. And of course, everybody, one of the things that's big there are maple cremees.

[00:13:52.880] - Tamara Gruber So it's like a soft ice cream, but it's maple flavored soft ice cream.

[00:13:57.710] - Kim Tate That's so that sounds good. I like maple sirup. I'm not I'm not like in the maple candies that much, but I don't.Yeah, I like caramel so maybe I don't know, I'm not big on like the maple stuff. Like the sugar candy.

[00:14:09.650] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I was never big on that but I love syrup definitely. I round my pancakes and syrup and like all of these country stores are just they're so cute, you know, they have like all the pancake mix and you know, just like all the locally made products kind of stuff.

[00:14:26.150] - Tamara Gruber So I anyway I have a whole itinerary that I just put up on We3Travel just with the three days in Vermont if you want to see all of our stops. But it was just so much fun. It was just a very it was a good girls trip, right. Yeah. I don't know if, like, everyone would have wanted to do the stops that we made, you know, like I probably would have been like, OK, enough of cheese shops or enough covered bridges.

[00:14:49.550] - Tamara Gruber Now, like, they all kind of start to look alike, you know, like things like that. But the waterfalls are beautiful, too. And it was a good time of year to be out there, you know, because the water is in this. Yeah, the water. I will say, though, the only the struggle still was finding a bathroom because so many of the visitors centers and I think because Vermont had just reopened. Oh, yeah.

[00:15:09.560] - Tamara Gruber Like a lot of places that had closed down, maybe they open during ski season, but then closed again. And we're going to open like after Memorial Day. So we had a little bit of trouble sometimes, like finding restaurants that were open or like one day we just we took some of our cheese and crackers and we made ourselves a little picnic, you know, and that's what we did for lunch.

[00:15:29.270] - Kim Tate Yeah. I definitely think that, like, the travel sector is changing fast. And I think after Memorial Day, it'll be interesting to see how quickly destinations are able to adjust. And because, you know, I think it's also finding workers again and getting back on board.

[00:15:45.950] - Tamara Gruber And so I was going to say definitely the challenge is staffing because know here, like quite a few states have lifted restrictions entirely. So it's like, yeah, wide open, which is kind of crazy and takes getting used to.

[00:15:58.520] - Tamara Gruber But definitely the challenge is still like staffing. You know, we went to a restaurant the other day and we're looking to like move our reservation to be a little bit earlier. And there didn't seem like there's anything available. And we walked up and like the whole like half the patio is empty. We're like, what do you mean it wasn't available? Like, that part was closed off. I'm sure they just didn't have, you know, staffing for it.

[00:16:20.750] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, definitely an issue. But it was it was such a nice trip. My friend loved it. It was just like one of those things where it was like the first, you know, getaway like without the family, the first getaway, like, you know, and so long. And it was just it was just so nice. It was just kind of strange. Like we got to be around someone that we didn't live with and stayed in the room with her and you still negotiate some of that, like, mask.

[00:16:49.300] - Tamara Gruber It was interesting. I mean, I definitely think that's going to be everyone has to come to like different comfort levels. And it's like the more you kind of get yourself out there, the more comfortable you might feel. It's also nice to know that, like, Vermont is like 70 percent vaccinated. So you're going to a fairly safe, you know, destination where everyone around you is kind of in a similar boat. So it makes you good.

[00:17:12.370] - Kim Tate But that's awesome. So that's trip one. I know there's like two or three other ones. Was what's next that you're going to dish about?

[00:17:21.790] - Tamara Gruber So the next thing I did, I did on my own and it was glamping things. So I went to this place called Auto Camp Cape Cod. So Auto Camp is like a upscale glamping resort that uses Airstream like retrofitted like new Airstream trailers. And they also have some like camping tents and some what they call X Suites, which are tiny houses, really, but they have locations. There's one in Russian River and Sonoma. There's one outside of Zion, one outside of Yosemite.

[00:17:54.760] - Tamara Gruber This one in Cape Cod just opened, I think, in April. And then there is a few others that are opening this year. So it's definitely like one of the it's kind of like under canvas, you know, it's like dedicated glamping, but upscale lots of amenities, you know, kind of feels like you're on a hotel resort, except your accommodations are are very different. And I will say I loved it. So this one I went by myself because I just wanted to check this out.

[00:18:20.350] - Tamara Gruber I've written about glamping in New England in the past. In the fall, I have an article about like 20 different places that you can go camping in New England. But I wanted to do more of a deep dove into this one. And I just I was really happy to be away by myself. It was so fun, but it was such a unique experience. It was like the first of all, the clubhouse that they have, like the main kind of lobby.

[00:18:45.010] - Tamara Gruber You could say it was just gorgeous. It was very like they call it mid century modern, but it felt like they had like an eco lodge type of feel to it, too, because it was very like inside. Outside. So you, like, walked in this big door. There's a desk, there's like a little shop with all the kind of curated gift shop kind of stuff, but then also like food and things like that that you could buy.

[00:19:05.830] - Tamara Gruber And then they had this huge, like, lobby area with all these different types of like lounge seating, a little area where they would you can purchase breakfast or coffee or they do all day dining. Then there were these long, like work tables that you would sometimes find in like a Courtyard Marriott type of lobby where there's like a workstations like long tables that have like outlets and things so people can do work there. But then it opened straight into a patio with more different types of lounge seating.

[00:19:31.420] - Tamara Gruber And then like a view across the lawn and in the distance, you could see like the ocean and they had like a fire pit, you know, set up outside. And then there was like a really neat looking fireplace inside as well. So it was like a just a beautiful property. Like, you step in right away and you're like, OK, this is not like a campground. You know, this is something.

[00:19:53.140] - Tamara Gruber I love how more hotels and resorts are getting kind of this lobby focus where they're creating a lot of sitting areas in the lobbies, because I think a lot of people want to do that. They don't want to just be in your room the whole time. So that's cool that I think that's a trend that I've been noticing more and more.

[00:20:12.340] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's nice, especially if you're traveling with somebody to right to have a place to, like, hang out. And I definitely saw that with, you know, whether it was like family groups or, you know, like friend groups that these kind of places, you know, tend to attract that kind of thing where you can have your individual accommodations, but then you're kind of hanging out around the campfire together, something like, yeah, I definitely feel like this was a really good spot for a romantic getaway, because the way that the trailers are set up, they have a queen bed in a bedroom and then they do have a couch that could fold out into a futon.

[00:20:46.090] - Tamara Gruber But it's really like one adult or two little kids. Like there's no way like a family of four, like teen, you know, with teens, like there's no way you could do it with them. Yeah. And even that like even the family, like I saw a lot of families are like toddler age. They're like, OK, so they put the kids on the pull out, but like the bathrooms on one side and the bedrooms on the other side and the kids are in the middle, you know, so it's like a little bit like where do you go, where do you hang out?

[00:21:13.330] - Tamara Gruber And I know you have that in a hotel room, too, and you can certainly hang out, you know, outside by the fire and such. But, you know, I definitely felt like it would be really nice as a romantic getaway for something just very different.

[00:21:25.960] - Kim Tate I think that sounds nice. I mean, I yeah, I think it's it varies based on what people are looking for. It's so it's good to consider spacing. I mean, you talked about that even when we talked about the road trip, the massive road trip. You. Like, sometimes families need space, and so you have to remember that when you're booking your accommodations, right?

[00:21:45.680] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Just because it says it can sleep four.

[00:21:48.440] - Kim Tate Exactly.

[00:21:48.970] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, well, it was sleep, the four of you comfortably. Yes. But the Airstreams itself, they were really nice. So you went in and there was like this, you know, lounge living area with the couch that converts to a bed and then there's a kitchen area. The kitchen had like a mini fridge and a microwave and a sink and just like a coffeemaker with, like, fresh ground coffee from like a local roaster. And the bathroom was super nice.

[00:22:19.130] - Tamara Gruber And they had all of the products that you would need, again, like, you know, local organic kind of products, really soft towels. They provided robes the bedroom, like little things that you don't even always find in a hotel like next to the bed either side. There is a little mini nightstand that had USB plugs as well as like the lighting controls and stuff. And in the whole Airstream, you could actually pair your, like, phone or something to their Bluetooth and then play music through the speakers like throughout the Airstream I saw, which was really neat, like when I was just hanging out by myself, I was doing some work and I was like playing some music and just doing some work using the Wi-Fi.

[00:22:59.930] - Tamara Gruber You know, it's just little things like that that were good. And then I had like air conditioning and and heating and I had like a skylight. And even in the bathroom, I had like a little you could pop the skylight and then the fan to kind of get the steam out of there. So I was really impressed. I just I really liked it. They all come with, like a picnic table and two chairs, not like folding chairs, but like, you know, two chairs next to a little fire.

[00:23:26.240] - Tamara Gruber The only thing is that you can't burn firewood there. You have to, like, buy the stuff called Goodwood, which is kind of like, look, I kind of compressed sawdust like made into like a log kind of thing. So I think it's like for environmental purposes, just not to be burning like wood. But it was also like it was right on this bikeway that goes through one section of the cape. It's like an 11 mile bike path and it's backs right up on the on the bike path.

[00:23:51.080] - Tamara Gruber And they have a little bike shed where you can borrow bikes to use. So the next day I, I rode all the way down to Woods Hole, which is where the ferry will go out to go over to Martha's Vineyard, you know, one of the islands off of the Cape. And, you know, it's just a cute little town with shops and restaurants and stuff. So you can ride down there. You go past a beach, you can hang out at the beach, you can go.

[00:24:14.210] - Tamara Gruber This other direction was through like a swampy. Sounds terrible, but like a nice, you know, like a marsh area where there's like seabirds and things like that. So it was just, you know, it was really it was really very, very nice getaway. And I had fun. It was nice. I would definitely check out one of their destinations. If you're going to be, you know, in some of the national parks, and especially as they start to open up more, I think they're opening up one in the Catskills, which we did an episode on that.

[00:24:39.780] - Tamara Gruber So another option for you.

[00:24:43.130] - Kim Tate Well, that definitely sounds like a great solo getaway, but I know that you have even more coming up. You've been so busy. So what's next on your New England adventures?

[00:24:53.510] - Tamara Gruber You know, it's funny because I was just thinking about it, too. It's like one of each kind of trip. I did a girls trip. I did a solo trip. I did a family trip, and I did a couples trip. Yeah, that's where all the kind of that you like to enjoy. It's nice that you had that. That's awesome.

[00:25:06.930] - Kim Tate So what's what's up next? Now, what's the family trip?

[00:25:09.650] - Tamara Gruber Well, so the family trip was a weekend away and another type of glamping situation. It was a tiny house. So I think everyone's kind of heard of these little tiny houses. It's definitely a trend like some people are moving to, like, let's get rid of the house and live in, like, these tiny house living type of thing. But it also can be used for camping. And so there's a place called Tuxbury tiny house village, and it is part of the Tuxbury Pond RV resort, which is right on the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

[00:25:41.420] - Tamara Gruber So I think the address is officially New Hampshire, but it was only about an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes away for us to go up. And I've written about them, you know, in my little glamping round up, but I hadn't had a chance to go and do it. So they were like, hey, you know, do you have a chance this year? So I was like, sure, I'll come up.

[00:25:59.300] - Tamara Gruber So they hosted us. And luckily Hannah agreed it was like between her exams. So she was able to get away for the weekend because sometimes she's like, no, I'm too busy. So it was like the one weekend that we didn't have anything going on. So I basically came home from Cape Cod and then repacked and we drove up to New Hampshire. But it was a similar type of thing. But instead of it being an Airstream, it was a tiny house.

[00:26:23.000] - Tamara Gruber So you guys can go on to We3Travel. And I have a post that'll be up by the time this comes out. So you can see a little bit more. If you can't understand what I'm describing, you know, from the pictures, you'll you'll be able to get it. But this was like this was like a real rV campground, so like when you pulled in the office, it was already closed, but they left keys for us.

[00:26:44.210] - Tamara Gruber So it's like, you know, your typical, like RV campground where there's just tons of RVs everywhere. Like, some peoples are clearly like permanently there. You know, some people have porch decorations.

[00:26:58.820] - Tamara Gruber And it's also every time I've been to one of these, like when I've done a KOA kind of thing, I'm always taken by, like, how it's such a community, like everyone seems to know each other. Right. And so like the next day.

[00:27:13.610] - Kim Tate I was just going to say, you have hosts like there's like RV campground hosts that welcome you or, you know, is family a very community respect.

[00:27:20.960] - Tamara Gruber We late for that, I guess. But yeah, they have all kinds of activities. But you would just see, like, neighbors talking to each other. A lot of them, I think, because it's a really big campground, have these golf carts that they store there. So they're like zooming around in their golf carts and waving to people and talking to people. And, you know, just, you know, it's like being in a neighborhood.

[00:27:38.900] - Tamara Gruber So sometimes when you go into that, you're like, oh, I feel like a little like I'm missing something here. Like I'm not part of that. Yeah, but we just kind of did our own thing and they had all of the little tiny houses off to like one side. And ours was called Emerson because they'll have names and it was right on the pond. So we had like a really nice view sitting in our Adirondack chairs looking at the like where a fire pit was like looking out on the pond, you know.

[00:28:04.640] - Tamara Gruber So that was it was nice. And they definitely have activities there, like they had horseshoes and basketball and volleyball and they have a pool and they have a playground. And they had like a calendar of activities. And like, Hannah, do you want to go to the hypnotist show? And she's like, yeah, no, I'll pass on that, you know, but they have stuff that you can do, you know, on site.

[00:28:23.210] - Tamara Gruber And otherwise it's like so accessible to so many things there. We went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire one day, which is like a really nice historic downtown, kind of like a Portland, Maine, that you've been to cobblestone streets like, you know, little downtown, like lots of great restaurants and shops and things. So we did that one day. And then the next day when we were leaving, we went to Newbury Port in Massachusetts, which similar kind of on the water, cute town harbor, cobblestone streets, shops and things like that, which I had promised Hannah I would take her to a bookstore.

[00:28:56.000] - Tamara Gruber And so she was like, be lining for that bookstore. But she was happy because she came back with a bag full of books. But, you know, it was just like a nice little getaway. And we have not done very much of that, you know, even beyond covid, just like in the school year during high school. So it was really nice and it was nice that Hanna was like chill and relaxed about it. And, you know, we went to lunch one day, actually both days we went out to lunch.

[00:29:23.170] - Tamara Gruber I will tell you, it was funny story, though. So when we got up there, we were running a little bit late. And I'm like, we have to get there before it turns dark because I need to take pictures, you know? You know what that's like.

[00:29:32.720] - Kim Tate I know that I planned vacations with knowing and I need to get to an area. If I could tell you our safari west spring break, I'd understand anyways.

[00:29:42.710] - Tamara Gruber So, of course, like Glenn's on phone calls and he has like every day he has like a five thirty phone call or whatever. So I'm like, you know, driving. And he's like on the phone in the car and I'm like racing up the highway trying to get there. And so then we get there and the office is closed and I'm like, oh my God, we can't even get any cell phone coverage. Like who do I call what I do.

[00:30:02.000] - Tamara Gruber Luckily there was like the keys were left in a mailbox. It just took a minute to figure that out. So we get there and I'm like, OK, we need to start dinner right away because we had these burgers. So I figured, OK, that night when we get there, we're just going to make dinner there. And then the next night we'll go out to dinner because I don't like to cook every night when we're like on vacation because, yeah, of course you want to chill out, but I'm like, I don't know what's going to be around.

[00:30:25.130] - Tamara Gruber Let's like bring stuff to cook like that night. So I saw it was a charcoal grill. We have a gas grill at home, so I don't really know how to cook on charcoal. But like I did it when I was at auto camp, I just bought charcoal from them and I lit it with a match and it lit and it was fine and it was all good. So we get down there and we had this old bag of charcoal.

[00:30:45.320] - Tamara Gruber I put it in there. So I'm like, OK, you guys like, start the fire, I'm going to take the pictures. And then I come out and like, Glenn could not get this fire going. Like he's like trying everything to get this charcoal. And of course, we can't go buy charcoal like lighter fluid because the store is closed and we have no idea where, like, the closest whatever is, you know, and it's already like getting dark.

[00:31:04.850] - Tamara Gruber And I forgot to bring, like, the headlamp, you know, I'm like, oh, we can't even see what we're doing out here. So, you know, he's trying he's trying to get it going and it and we were already late, like, we didn't get there until almost eight o'clock. And so we're like, is there even going to be a place to get food that's still open? And, you know, so he's like trying to get on the wi fi to try to find, you know, and he was like, pick up some food.

[00:31:26.540] - Tamara Gruber So that just we're not, like, starving that night. I mean, I brought, like, snacks, but we were hungry.

[00:31:30.480] - Kim Tate Right.

[00:31:31.430] - Tamara Gruber And so then I'm like, OK, there's a stovetop here, there's a frying pan. I'm just going to cook the burgers on the stove top like. Granted, it's going to take a while to the frying pan fits like one burger at a time, but I'm going to go ahead and do this. So I start cooking it and the whole place, like, fills with smoke. And I'm like, I don't know how that smoke detector didn't go off.

[00:31:51.560] - Tamara Gruber So I'm like opening every window in the place and trying to, you know, when you're like the smoke alarms going off and you're like when you're fanning it.

[00:31:58.250] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah. So I'm like trying to push the smoke out the window and I'm trying to find is there an exhaust fan? And I'm turning on the fan from like the bathroom trying to get anything to suck the smoke out of there. And so Glenn is like, that's it. I'm just going to like get a pizza. He's like, just turn it off. And I'm like, well, now these burgers are like like half. What do I do?

[00:32:16.820] - Tamara Gruber And so he calls and he's like, I'm just going to go get a pizza. So he goes and he leaves because he's like, I have to get there. They close at 9:00, I have to get there. So I'm like, OK, go, go, go. And then I like come out and I see Hannah still trying to work on the charcoal she's got and she has like the coals kind of going. So I'm like good job honey.

[00:32:34.640] - Tamara Gruber I'm like, OK, I'm gonna bring these burgers that I'm like half cooked in the pan will put the other half over the charcoal. So, you know, but we can't see what we're doing. It's like pitch black. I like did Dad even clean the great or am I putting like my burger on some like disgusting, like dirty thing, you know, and so we start cooking the burgers out there and the first two are like, OK, those are done.

[00:32:56.570] - Tamara Gruber So I'm unwrapping the other two to bring out and have them start to cook. And so meanwhile, like Hannah and I are sharing a burger while Glenn's like sitting waiting for pizza, because then the pizza place is like really backed up. He ends up not getting back until almost 10:00 at night with the pizza. Meanwhile, we've already had like a burger and a half to try to cook these other two burgers. And the coals just will not keep they're just dying.

[00:33:21.380] - Tamara Gruber They're dying. We cannot get them going. So then I have like, these gray pretty much raw burgers and I'm like, what am I going to do with it? And it's grossing me out. And I'm like, you know, like raw meat, like whatever. So like, I have nothing to even wrap it in. Glenn's like, well, don't just throw them out. Those were like good burgers. I'm like, well what are we going to do it.

[00:33:39.410] - Tamara Gruber Like what, where are we cooking these things? You know, so they cover them up and put them in the fridge. I'm like, OK, fine. So I had them on a plate and I put like a bowl on top of it and put it in the fridge. And then the next one we're finally leaving because we never cooked the burgers. I'm like, now you're going to have, like, stinky rotting meat, like in the garbage. So we were like tying it up in bags so it wouldn't smell and wasn't disgusting. But anyway, that's my terrible story about trying to cook while we're at the tiny house.

[00:34:06.860] - Kim Tate Oh my goodness, that is so funny. It's just this is family travel.

[00:34:12.470] - Kim Tate Like I feel like all of us who have traveled with kids have been in a situation like that where your food is such a stressor. There's all these like different levels. And if something can go wrong on a family vacation, you know, there's a good chance it will.

[00:34:26.870] - Tamara Gruber So I thought I had it figured out. I was like, yeah, like, you can eat well.

[00:34:31.300] - Kim Tate I mean, well, we all have so much experience on this, but inevitably something still is like, oh, I hadn't planned for that. Like, OK, now, you know, you need to pack coals and lighter fluid.

[00:34:41.210] - Tamara Gruber Right.

[00:34:41.930] - Kim Tate And flashlights. Although did you use your phone flashlight you could have used. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were using it. So funny. Oh my. OK, so well you know after any other parts of that stay that you want to mention, was it a nice it looked like a cute little place and a nice getaway.

[00:34:57.320] - Tamara Gruber It was like I definitely you know, I would recommend it. It was so much more affordable too than some of the other glamping kind of things that are out there, because it starts, I think, around one hundred and forty five or a hundred and fifty dollars a night, you know, for this space, which, you know, I thought was pretty good. So it slept. I think that one could sleep up to six, but that would be really tight.

[00:35:18.200] - Tamara Gruber So basically, like downstairs, it had a couch that could fold open. It had a table with three chairs. It had the kitchen, tiny little bathroom. And then you went up a flight of stairs to the sleeping loft. But the thing is, like the loft, it's not like full size. You can't stand up up there. Right. So basically, like, you walked up the stairs and then kind of crawled onto the bed and fell asleep.

[00:35:38.660] - Tamara Gruber And there was a queen and a double, just like on the, you know, on the ground, like the mattresses on the ground. But it was fine, like it was comfortable and we enjoyed it. It was very different. You know, we had fun. It was just nice to be away. We like sat and like, you know, looked and watched the pond, like we took a little walk and then we went and did those excursions, you know, on those days.

[00:36:00.140] - Tamara Gruber So it's just like a chill, you know, getaway. It wasn't about like we're doing a lot of stuff.

[00:36:05.570] - Kim Tate Awesome. So then the final trip of your, you know, massive travel reopening, you know, it was a couple's getaway. So tell us all about that.

[00:36:16.280] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So my nephew was getting married down outside of Philadelphia. And, you know, we were all invited, but Hannah had to study for exams and she also wasn't fully vaccinated, so she wasn't really comfortable to go and do that quite yet. And so then I decided that we were going to go and we actually left her alone for the first. Oh, nice. Which is like big and that week was actually the first time that she drove on her own because like we you know, she got her license a month ago, but she's still like only driven with me in the car, you know, like she hasn't gone to see her friends or anything like that.

[00:36:52.770] - Tamara Gruber It's just like the way it's a little bit hard because, you know, she lives a half hour away from school, half hour away from her friends. So, you know, anything that she's going to go do is like, you know, getting on the highway. It's like a bigger thing, like she does it with me. But just to do it on her own, you know, she hasn't had the opportunity. She hasn't asked for it.

[00:37:11.360] - Tamara Gruber And then she's not the type to be like, oh, I want to go to Dunkin Donuts. Like, it's funny because sometimes I've been like, hey, why don't you go do this? And she's like, but then I have to buy something. Then I have to talk to someone. And she's like, well, how do I do it? Like, I'm like, well, you have a debit card. And she's like, Yeah, what do I do?

[00:37:30.740] - Tamara Gruber Put a pin in? And I'm like, I don't know, like I don't use a debit card like cash. So it's just really funny. But it's one of those things I think. I'm sure you've experienced this with your teens, but it seems like a big deal until it's done. And so, you know, there was all this like I don't know if I'm ready to drive on my own. I don't know. I don't know. And so earlier that week, she had something out at there, like the schools, like farm campus, which is a little bit easier to get to.

[00:37:56.720] - Tamara Gruber And it's you don't have to parallel park on a very small city street. There's a parking lot. So I'm like, hey, why don't you drive yourself? And she's like, what? It's like, drive yourself. So she did it. And it was like, you know, this major milestone. And she came back. She's like, Yeah, it's fine.

[00:38:11.720] - Kim Tate Nice!

[00:38:15.980] - Tamara Gruber and then they did it and they're like, What are you talking about? I just never worried about that.

[00:38:19.770] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[00:38:21.290] - Tamara Gruber You're all you're making it all up, you know. So we went away and she did have to drive herself to go to her friends, the school play there in the school play. So she did that and she cooked herself dinner and cleaned up after herself. So she had her first little independence.

[00:38:36.140] - Kim Tate That's good. Yeah, it's kind of yeah. It's been nice with Lizzie. She has a job now and stuff and she has a lot of her own money and she, you know, is responsible now. She books her own hair appointments and she's totally done shopping on her own. She buys stuff online. She's fully it's nice. It's been really it's definitely a step in independence when they have their own money and they learn to start making choices with that money.

[00:39:00.230] - Kim Tate And it's cool. So, yeah.

[00:39:02.700] - Tamara Gruber I guess it's yeah, we're at the beginning of that road. I know it'll probably snowball and go quickly like once it starts. But it's kind of neat to watch. But it was good. I mean we were nervous but she's such a she's a good kid. I mean when we were leaving Glenn's like we're still through any house parties and she's like, Dad, I have to study.

[00:39:22.160] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So it was also your anniversary.

[00:39:28.790] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So it was our twenty first anniversary and obviously we didn't really do much last year. And so I was like, look, you know, we can stay at like the best western near the place where the where the wedding is taking place. Or we can just stay in downtown Philadelphia. Nice hotel and make a weekend of it. So we're like, yeah, let's make a weekend of it. So we went down and we stayed at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, which I've stayed at before when I was in Philadelphia.

[00:39:52.160] - Tamara Gruber And it's such a great location. Like, I just I love Philadelphia. I know you haven't been, but it's like it's just, you know,

[00:39:57.770] - Kim Tate I was there with you once! We went for a one day conference. We took the train from New York. It was my first, like, East Coast train experience. Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't really see much of Philadelphia, so yeah. I've been there.

[00:40:12.440] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I think where we stayed was more like Center City and this was more like Old City. So it's right, right across from like Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell. So you just have like some cobblestone streets, you have all this history right there. There's a lot of green space around like a lot of parks. It's just a nice part of town. I really like staying there. And I just feel like Philadelphia in general, it's just it's cleaner.

[00:40:35.000] - Tamara Gruber It's like not as busy, but there's still like a good vibe to it. You know, it's still an energy. And this was our first experience, like kind of being in a city post, vaccination, you know, feel like it's nice out and just feeling kind of normal ish. And it was it's actually really cool. So we we arrived again. We're like racing, you know, because Glenn's phone calls and all that stuff, you know.

[00:40:58.220] - Tamara Gruber So racing into town, I had made a nine thirty dinner reservation for us because I'm like, look, we can either stop an eat like whatever crap on the New Jersey Turnpike or we can get into town and just eat late but have a good dinner. And there's this place called Buddakan that I've always wanted to try, and it's like a three minute walk from our hotel. So I'm like, let's just go there. So I thought for sure we weren't going to make it because Friday night traffic and everything like that.

[00:41:22.130] - Tamara Gruber But we kind of like skidded in just in time. And I'm like, Glenn, go check the valet and I'm going to go like walk down and make sure that our table's kept. So we we were doing like outdoor dining, but the way that they've done it is they've built like almost like little individual booths. So it's like a protected kind of space, but there was like a barrier in between each table, so it was really, really cool.

[00:41:43.330] - Tamara Gruber The dinner was fantastic. And then, you know, when it comes to good dinner stories, OK, I, I shared this on my Instagram story, but this story is still kind of blows me away. But we were having dinner and the table next to us, they were celebrating a fiftieth birthday. It was like a group of women friends and you know, so when they were singing Happy Birthday to her, we clapped and we were just like wishing them happy birthday.

[00:42:06.190] - Tamara Gruber And then someone came along the street and he was like looking for money. And, you know, first Glenn was kind of trying not to pay attention because we were having our dinner. But then we you know, the guy I don't know if his story was true or not, but he's like, I served the country for 20 years was that, you know, I'm a vet and like all this stuff and I'm down on my luck and have four year old daughter.

[00:42:26.020] - Tamara Gruber And we're like, oh, you know, like it just it was we were in a tough spot. So, Glenn, I gave him some money and he left. And then, like, the people next to us were like, oh, that was so nice that you did that. Like, I'm so glad you didn't come to our table because we wouldn't have done that or whatever. And so at the end of the meal, you know, Glenn, I just like we're just really enjoying, like, being out the two of us having a great dinner, great experience, just like a nice energy around.

[00:42:48.580] - Tamara Gruber But we felt like super safe because, I mean, first of all, we're outside we're vaccinated. It's all like, you know, distanced and everything. And and then the woman from the table next to us comes over. She puts a receipt on her table and she was like, your dinner is taken care of. And she walked away. And we're like, what? Because this was like our anniversary dinner. We were not like holding back, like it was not a budget dinner.

[00:43:13.240] - Tamara Gruber And she paid for our dinner.

[00:43:15.490] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's also it was unbelievable. Like, I was like, oh, cool.

[00:43:19.240] - Tamara Gruber This is a time when I feel like so much distrust over other people and fear and like, you're just getting used to being around other people again. And here is this woman comes over and just like pays for our dinner just because she thought Glenn did something nice. And I'm like, wow.

[00:43:37.120] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's amazing. That's awesome. Yeah.

[00:43:39.520] - Tamara Gruber So it kind of started our a weekend off great. But we had a wonderful weekend, just like exploring, you know, like walking around Philadelphia was like ninety degrees. So it was like boiling. We were it was just great. We were outside and just enjoying it. We stopped on Saturday that this independence beer garden near the hotel. So it's just all this outdoor space really cutely designed, you know, some of it shaded just a beer garden.

[00:44:04.600] - Tamara Gruber So we hung out there for a while, had had some lunch, and then we went, you know, got dressed and we went to the wedding. And then on Sunday, we just had brunch. And then we drove back home, which that was a nightmare, but it was just nice. Yes. I've had a little bit of every kind of travel, which is really nice. I really. What is that? Is it. Yeah, I think that sounds so great.

[00:44:25.720] - Kim Tate I'm so excited about travel reopening and I think the biggest thing is now I'm it seems like everybody wants to travel again now. And so I feel like things are more busier than ever, and especially if some places are still not fully staffed and or have capacity limitations. I just I still wonder if we're quite there yet where it's normal. I feel like there's people are ready to travel, but whether the industry can handle it right now is where am I, where my worry is.

[00:44:53.950] - Tamara Gruber I agree. And I do think that there's going to be some both disappointment and frustration this summer because of that. I think people are going to find they're going to be very eager to have the perfect experience, but they need it, you know, after everything. And then they're going to get there and it's going to be crowded or service may be what they're expecting. And so I definitely think that if you can set your expectations, you know, a little bit lower, it would be good, because I just find, yeah, everything is going to be crowded and you are off the beaten path as you can get, you know, like the better.

[00:45:27.160] - Kim Tate But avoiding national parks. Yeah, I agree too. Yeah. We so we jumped on because the girls really wanted to go to they miss Disney when we went down for spring break. Like I don't mean to be one of these crazy Disney families, but we do like Disney and the girls had really wanted to go to Disneyland again. And so I thought, well, you know, kind of the same situation with you. The summer right now is definitely the only time we can really travel, because Lizzy, going into our senior year and with college applications, everything, it's just not a lot of flexible time.

[00:45:56.860] - Kim Tate And she has a job. And so we booked a trip for mid-July for Disneyland. I thought this is going to be a great time to go. We're hoping that it's opened out of staters. I mean, they're saying that they think it's going to happen in June. And they but now with the worry over if they're going to reopen everything at one hundred percent, which is what California is going to do starting June 15th, we're just worried, like, are we going to end up in the summer at Disneyland with eight million crowds?

[00:46:23.530] - Kim Tate Like, I don't know what their capacity is. So, yeah, I think it's people we're all I mean, I was hopeful. I was so excited like twenty five. Thirty five percent capacity. That sounds awesome. Like, OK, let's use our hard earned money to buy this communication and now I'm kind of regretting it and. Yeah, I think everybody just going to have to really keep in mind what I don't even know what I'm trying to say, but just have a little bit of ability to be relaxed and, yeah, expect crowds and maybe slower service than you might think.

[00:46:54.720] - Tamara Gruber It's going to be tough as things continue to to change. And I you know, I feel bad for the people. Like I know some of the people that I follow on Instagram now had booked a trip to Disney World and was super excited about it. But then, like before they got there, they dropped the mask mandate. And, you know, and so her experience there is not at all what she expected it to be.

[00:47:20.460] - Tamara Gruber And that changed on a dime. Know. So it's.

[00:47:22.710] - Kim Tate Yeah, they made that decision quickly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, we are lucky that all four of our family will be vaccinated, and that's a huge relief.

[00:47:34.150] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I feel actually as of today, Hannah is fully vaccinated. So I've said that many times. Like I feel today when we're recording this, I feel very fortunate, you know, that we're in that position. I definitely you know, I feel for the families that are dealing with having younger kids and then feeling, you know, maybe not as safe because of the some of the restrictions have been lifted. And, you know, but they're still vulnerable.

[00:48:03.030] - Tamara Gruber So it's it's a challenging time to continue to navigate and hopefully have a little bit of, like you said, patience. But also just share a little love, I guess. Yeah, I'm still feeling it from my experience.

[00:48:15.450] - Kim Tate Well, that should teach everyone be kind to your neighbor. Yeah, well, it's been great to chat with you and hear about all those trips. And I'm sure that if anybody has any questions for you, they can always reach out to you on your social media @we3travel. So I know our next episode is going to be about another one of your travel adventures in the Northeast. So why don't you give everyone a teaser about where we'll be talking about next?

[00:48:38.040] - Tamara Gruber Yes, my next trip is to Maine, which you and I have been to, and I'm going back to some of that region, but I'm first going to do a trip along the coast and so hitting a lot of the coastal towns of Maine. And then I will be up in what they call down east, which is the area around Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. But I'm going to be doing exactly what I'm recommending everyone else do, which is do the stuff outside of the national park, you know, the bit off the beaten path kind of stuff.

[00:49:09.000] - Tamara Gruber And then I'm going to head up into the Maine Highlands, which is around Bangor, and then like Baxter State Park and some of the kind of lakes and mountains area, a little bit, you know, close to where you and I were when we had our girls trip up there. And so definitely getting like a little off the grid, you know, off the the beaten path. And so I can't wait to share that because I think it's going to be a good option for families, at least those in driving distance to the northeast or flying this summer.

[00:49:38.730] - Tamara Gruber I think it'll be a good option. So, yeah. So stay tuned for that one. And then I guess after that, we're going to be talking about your travel and my travel. And we've got other topics coming up. So definitely stay tuned.

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This week Kim gives us the download about her West Coast road trip from Seattle to Los Angeles, California.

Planning a West Coast Road Trip * Driving from Seattle to Southern California takes about three days if you want to take the scenic routes and make stops along the way. * Ideally you will take 10-14 days for this trip. However, if you have less time you can drive from Seattle to Southern California and then fly home. * The best way to take the trip is from north to south (Seattle to LA) versus south to north because you will have better views and the scenic pullouts will be on your side of the road. * Try to plan no more than four hours of driving time a day to leave plenty of time for stops and attractions. * There are three main routes that you can take once you are in California. The fastest route is on Interstate 5. Highway 1 is the coastal route which is the slowest but most scenic. Highway 101 will still take you through vineyards and farms with some scenic attractions but it is faster than Highway 1. * You can start in Seattle or Portland, Oregon. If you start in Seattle, cut over to the Olympic Peninsula where you can see the Hoh Rainforest, Rialto Beach, Ruby Beach, and the famous tree of life before hitting some of Washington's small beach towns like Long Beach and Ocean Shores. * On Kim's trip they drove straight to the Oregon border and stayed the first night in Astoria, which is a neat little town where the Goonies was filmed. You can also visit the Naval Maritime Museum. * If you are traveling in the summer of 2021, keep in mind that many restaurants are still understaffed or not fully open so plan accordingly as these small towns get very crowded and overwhelmed with tourists, especially on the weekend. * A few other stops in Oregon should include: Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock, Tillamook Creamery, Devil's Punchbowl, and the Oregon Dunes Recreation Area, and Agate Beach. * Kim stayed her second night in Klamath on the Oregon/California border (be aware that there is major road construction going on in this area.) * On the Oregon coast, check the tide charts to know when the high and low tides are because it can make a big difference in the experience. * Try to avoid weekends in the small touristy town as much as possible. * Google will also sometimes give predictions on when the busiest times are for attractions, which can help plan your itinerary. * In Northern California, Kim stopped at the drive through tree in Klamath, Trees of Mystery, and Avenue of the Giants in the Redwoods. * On the third night, Kim stayed in Ukiah, CA. * The next day, Kim and the girls stayed in a glamping tent at Safari West and got to do the drive through safari. * Kim then spent two nights in Monterey (read all about things to do in Monterey) and did an e-bike tour with Mad Dogs and Englishmen and visited Pacific Grove, staying at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. * In Monterey, Kim recommends eating at Rio Grill, Alta Bakery, and Lucy's on Lighthouse, which is a hot dog stand with a skateboard theme. * Keep in mind that highway 1 is often closed by Big Sur because of landslides so always check ahead to see what is open and take Highway 101 as an alternate. * You can drive as far south as Bixby Bridge, but be careful and stay within the boundaries when taking a picture. * Lily Valley is another great stop where wild calla lillies grow. * If you are going to hike to the Hollywood sign, look for options for a four-mile hike, versus the six-mile hike from the Griffith Observatory, and go mid-week if you can. * There is then so much more to do in Southern California but what Kim did would be at least a 7-8 day trip. * Read Kim's Olympic National Park itinerary * Read all about Kim's West Coast Road Trip itinerary and tips * Read Tamara's tips for driving from San Francisco to Cambria on Highway 1

[00:00:00.060] - Kim Tate Today, we're winding down the West Coast.

[00:00:14.880] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:29.820] - Tamara Gruber Today's episode is brought to us by Safe Travels Kit, which does exactly what it sounds like and it helps keep you safe when you're traveling, whether it's on an airplane, a train or even in the car, it is all in one little pouch that includes a seat cover and a pillowcase and sanitizing wipes and a face mask. What I love about it is that it's super soft. So, Kim, the material, you know how sensitive my skin is, but if I'm going to put my face on a pillow case, I want it to be like super soft and comfortable.

[00:00:57.660] - Kim Tate And I love that part. And if there's anything that we've learned in this last years that there's a lot of germs out there and now I'm even more like not wanting them to touch me, definitely.

[00:01:07.950] - Kim Tate I can't even imagine using one of those airplane pillows at this point where you're never quite sure if they actually changed that white little non soft cover that they put over them.

[00:01:18.450] - Tamara Gruber Definitely. So this is very easy to pack in your carry on. It's actually sold on Amazon as well as you'll find it in many of the Brookstone airport stores or in Bloomingdale's. But you can find it on Safe Travels, Kit.Com, and we thank them for their support.

[00:01:35.360] - Tamara Gruber So, Kim, I know that your West Coast road trip feels like probably ancient history by now, but I know that we wanted to come back to it and really do a deep dive because so many of our listeners have planned on doing some type of California or West Coast road trip.

[00:01:52.010] - Tamara Gruber So I thought it'd be really helpful if we could, you know, talk about what you've done. And I know that you've done this trip quite a few times. You have a lot of knowledge to share. But can you fill us in, I know you did, what, two weeks down back in April from Washington down to California. But give us an idea of what was your overall itinerary like?

[00:02:14.890] - Kim Tate So in this trip, yeah, we had two weeks, but part of that was because we were going to hang out with friends at the end of our trip and then spent three days getting home. So I would say for this trip, we just focused on mainly driving along the Oregon coast and California coast a bit and then headed over and near Santa Barbara where we stopped, which is kind of the southern central. It maybe is considered like the northern tip of, I consider central California.

[00:02:44.140] - Kim Tate But some people might think it's kind of So Cal because it's near L.A. But I think of L.A. is kind of the northern part of SoCal. So anyways, that was a long ramble. So I would say we spent 14 days, but of that, we took about a five day, five to seven days to drive down. That's the timeline. I think that there's a few options. Like you said, we've done this trip quite a bit.

[00:03:07.850] - Kim Tate When we were going to Disneyland and spent a few days in Disneyland and we actually did a one way car rental and we drove from Seattle down and just did kind of the California coast and then stayed in Disneyland for a couple of days and then flew home to help save as much time as possible. So I definitely think that's an option for people. This trip, we actually did some of the Oregon coast and then California coast, which again is adds time and all of these things.

[00:03:34.360] - Kim Tate You just have to think about how much time you have. And then another option, if we had a lot of extra time and didn't want to spend as much time like in California being a tourist in California, if that makes sense, if you're just in it for the road trip, then adding the or The Washington Post, which is basically Olympic National Park, the Olympic Peninsula and a few of the Washington Southern Washington coastal beach towns, that's another option as well.

[00:03:59.020] - Kim Tate So I think if people are looking at a timeline, then it's going to depend on how much time you have on how much you can do.

[00:04:07.120] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, like what things you need to skip or whether you're taking the highway or the coastal route. And I mean, obviously the point of this is to see as much of the scenic parts as you can. So nobody wants to spend all of their time on the interstate. And I definitely think if people are from not from that area. So if you're coming from the East Coast, like us you would want to fly in and then just do it one way.

[00:04:29.530] - Tamara Gruber And if you did that, do you think which do you like better? Do you like the north to south or the south to north?

[00:04:34.510] - Kim Tate This is a huge, huge tip I have. And this I actually wrote this in my West Coast road trip post. I think north to south is the only way to go. Absolutely. And the reason I say that is for two reasons. One, the driver's most always going to be focused on the road and for safety reasons. I think that's good. So I think it's good that the passenger gets to look out and can have a phone and take pictures if they want.

[00:04:56.260] - Kim Tate But the bigger point that I think north to South works is because all the turnouts are on the, you know, far west side of the highway. And so if you're headed on the right side of the road, you are easily you have easy access to enter and exit the pull out into the lane of traffic as opposed to trying to cross traffic, which on busy you know, travel day is not a busy route like that. It actually can make a huge difference and kind of be a safety hindrance.

[00:05:22.780] - Kim Tate So I think north to south is the way to go.

[00:05:25.990] - Tamara Gruber Absolutely. I've only done, you know, a piece of it, you know, from basically San Francisco down to Central Coast. And I would totally agree. Definitely the better option, you know, from a driver and a passenger standpoint.

[00:05:41.200] - Kim Tate Yeah. And I think a few other tips for just planning when people are thinking about this is this is the kind of route where you really need to allow a lot of spontaneity and stopping time. And so our first time we did this and I mentioned this before, we way over packed our drive times and we were looking at, you know, five hour days and stuff and then with stops and getting started and going in the morning and then traffic and winding roads.

[00:06:08.080] - Kim Tate We we were getting into our next stop like at 7:00 or 8:00 at night sometimes. And it was just brutal. And so this trip, I tried to make sure that no day was longer than four hours and my target time for drive time each day was around three hours. So that's something to keep in mind that really, I think makes a difference in planning. It's not your typical, you know, open highway type road trip planning. It's a very I mean, you want to take it slow and easy.

[00:06:35.080] - Kim Tate I'm sure some people would even want to do, you know, a couple of days in one place and then an hour and another day and, you know, take it really slow. But for us, I found the three hour mark, kind of the sweet spot.

[00:06:46.270] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I mean, if you have the ability to do slow travel and you can take, you know, the summer. Yeah. And that's wonderful. But otherwise, yeah, you have to have some trade offs. But it's good that you gave yourself that extra time this time, especially since you were the only driver to. But it well I guess Lizzy could have driven, but it gives you, you know, a nice little break and it makes it much more relaxed.

[00:07:07.720] - Tamara Gruber I hate that feeling of like I'm usually the one that wants to stop so the other people don't like mind skipping as much, but I hate that. Feeling of like missing out, you know, is something I really want to do, like how many times am I doing this trip? And so I hate like having to skip things that I wanted to do. But I also hate that feeling of like stress, like, are we going to get they're going to get there is going to be too late.

[00:07:29.530] - Tamara Gruber Everyone's going to be so hungry, you know.

[00:07:31.990] - Kim Tate Yeah, it can be horrible. And I'll just mention, like for people planning who are and pretend that people that maybe are not aware at all, even with all the extra time I had and trying to allow all this time, I still made some choices to shorten the trip. And so this is I'll give this little tip and information. I think people need to know that there's three main north south routes along, mainly along the California section. But this sort of applies to the Oregon and Washington, a little Oregon and Washington, the one and one on one, are kind of the same through a lot of it.

[00:08:04.780] - Kim Tate So it's not as noticeable. But once you get past the redwood forests of Northern California, you kind of start having this choice of Highway one is what hugs the coast. That is the one that, you know, is right there on the coast. And it's extremely slow going, but it's extremely beautiful. And then you have the 101 that kind of juts over. And that's when you start to get into like wine country and some of the agriculture area.

[00:08:31.180] - Kim Tate And you'll notice that the 1 and the 101 kind of travel together until you hit San Francisco and they kind of merge in a little bit together again. And then they split off again. And you're you're left with that same choice of the coastal routes versus the a little more. It's still coastal and not coastal, but it's still close to the coast in a way. But anyways, that's two things to know, that there are those two routes and they do separate.

[00:08:54.040] - Kim Tate And it's a very different driving experience over time as well as visual like what you're going to see. And then, of course, Interstate five is the main interstate that runs north and south all the way up to the California border, to the I mean, the Canada border to the Mexico border. So for us, we went down along, you know, the one and then we actually cut over to the 101 because between like Santa Rosa and San Francisco, the one, it's beautiful.

[00:09:20.410] - Kim Tate And there's some cool things to see. And like just north of San Francisco, you have Muir Woods, which is, you know, I've still never spent a lot of time on that side of the route. But it does add, you know, probably a couple of hours to what you would plan if you just went the 101, which is a little bit faster and more heavily trafficked. And then on our way home, we just drove by five the whole way because at that point we were just hurrying to get home.

[00:09:48.850] - Kim Tate So when people. Yeah. So I just wanted to give you a heads up that there's three main routes that people need to think of. One's going to be your slowest. So if you want to do the one the whole way, you really need to allow a lot of time.

[00:10:00.700] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we've done part of the one. And I know what when we moved back up to San Francisco, we did the five and it was like, how did we just do that? And what, like an hour or two while the other took all day. And even that was kind of scenic because you go through so many like agricultural, like giant farms. And we realized like we're so much produce comes from. But yeah. So let's dig into your trip a little bit.

[00:10:23.650] - Tamara Gruber So what like what was your first day like, where did you stop along the way. Like if you can walk us through some of your itinerary would be great.

[00:10:31.240] - Kim Tate Yeah. So I think that like I said, if people are wanting to do this and they're not they don't live on the West Coast, Seattle is a great starting point. You could also do Portland, Oregon. That would be if you don't care about the Washington section of it. If you do want to do Seattle, you can do Seattle and then cross over onto the Olympic Peninsula and do your Washington side of the road trip, which is where you're going to see like the HOH Rain Forest.

[00:10:54.130] - Kim Tate You're going to see some of the beautiful, like beaches like Rialto Beach, Ruby Beach, a few things on the Olympic Peninsula. You'll see that famous tree of life that some people maybe have seen. And then you'll come into a few of the popular little Washington State beach cities. I think Long Beach and Ocean Shores are two of the main ones right there, the the border. And then you can also cross there's a really cool bridge that you can cross into.

[00:11:19.300] - Kim Tate But our first day we just drove I5 straight down to the Oregon border and then crossed over. And we stayed overnight in Astoria, Oregon, which we've been to before. It's kind of a neat little town. People may be familiar with it because of its famous for being the place where they filmed a lot of The Goonies.

[00:11:37.690] - Tamara Gruber That's what I thought.

[00:11:38.860] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. And they definitely have a kind of a seaside. They have a beautiful naval, kind of a fun Naval Maritime Museum. That's cool. So if you have a kid that is really into ships or even an adult that's really in the ships, that's a neat place. And the actual it's really neat to think because Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, which is a major, major, you know, like through route. And they have these pilot boat captains.

[00:12:05.410] - Kim Tate And it's one of the most rigorous piloting, I don't know what you would call it, like waters. There's a lot of sandbars and a lot of heavy. Tides and currents, and so it's a very you know, it's you have to have a lot of skill and experience to be able to pilot a boat and help get the barges in and out of that that little Columbia River mouth. So it's kind of cool to learn about that history. So I think a story is that is cool that way.

[00:12:31.440] - Kim Tate It's definitely a little bit of a grungy, you know, small northwest town. It's got some limited dining experiences, especially, you know, like we've talked about on our episodes. We hit there on a Saturday night and our dining experience was a headache. So just a heads up, if you are planning summertime trips around some of these smaller coastal towns, you really need to think ahead of your dinner time planning shows early. No, it's mostly just because there's only a few restaurants and then they have all these tourists that come in.

[00:13:05.490] - Kim Tate And so you have, you know, to wait for an hour to order or they're a small little restaurant and so they have five tables. And so people are waiting to just get takeout, even if there's just a long line, because you only have if you don't want fast food, you only have like three restaurants to choose from to find food. So it's just kind of a tricky situation with that. So just a heads up on some of those.

[00:13:27.360] - Kim Tate You know, the weekends, summer weekends we were traveling during spring break can just be a bit of a headache. We waited about an hour, just under an hour to order our food. And then it was another 40 minutes to actually get the food to take back to our hotel room. So, yeah.

[00:13:43.250] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So some angry people at that point.

[00:13:46.440] - Kim Tate Yeah. And we had that same experience in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula when we did our Olympic National Park trip in August of 2020, we had the same thing where those smaller coastal towns are just not used to it. And so on the weekends when you have a bunch of tourists that come in, they just really flood the few restaurants that are available and they just are so small they don't have a lot of seating area. And then their take out program gets really bogged down.

[00:14:11.460] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, and we should mention that we did do an episode on your Olympic National Park, a trip last year, so people can look that up. And I'm sure you have a post on your website about it too. I do too.

[00:14:22.170] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So our first night was in Astoria, but we just basically got in there at night and that was probably the longest little stretch of our our drive, you know, of our trip. And then the next morning we set out and I had all these great. This is where you have to be, you know, fluid with a road trip. I had all these great plans. And of course, we're on the Oregon coast.

[00:14:42.270] - Kim Tate It's going to be awesome. We were going to go to Cannon Beach and see the famous Haystack Rock, which, you know, we had never really seen. And it was disgusting whether it was blowing blowing winds like, you know, you're holding white knuckling the steering wheel. So when the you know, the winds, the rain is blowing sideways and it's just gross. So my day for that day was a little ruined because I had all these plans.

[00:15:04.380] - Kim Tate So we were going to see Haystack Rock. We skipped we drove over there and kind of looked at it. But no, we didn't get out and hang out on the beach at all. And then we also were planning to go to the Tillamook Creamery, which is we've been to before. And it's really it's so funny because we went to years and years ago, it was actually when me we were headed down to California on this road trip for Mia's fifth birthday.

[00:15:25.080] - Kim Tate So that gives you an idea. It's almost, you know, ten years, nine years and it's gone through. Evidently, everyone figured out that it's an awesome destination because they have fully made a whole tourist attraction museum tour system. And on a Sunday, it was jam packed with wall to wall, people waiting outside to get in because they had limited entrance. So we skipped the Tillamook Creamery because we didn't want to stand in line for hours outside.

[00:15:55.170] - Kim Tate There's also a famous stop along the way called Devil's Punchbowl, which we skipped because of the weather. And then we finally we're going to end right around the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. And again, because of the weather, we skipped that. So we got in really early to our, you know, best Western basic hotel in Reidsport. Oregon was where I kind of picked because it was near those dunes. And I thought it would be a fun a fun stopover, but it did not happen.

[00:16:22.380] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I it's so hard. Like we talked about, like, you know, letting go of things. I think, you know, you're a photographer. Like we both, you know, do this for work. It's it's sometimes it's not even just about missing seeing something, but it's like, oh, we had these dreams of like the pictures that you're going to get and, you know, how are you going to use them and you know all of that.

[00:16:41.340] - Tamara Gruber And then you're like, yeah, now this does not cooperate at all. I've had so many of those experiences where it's like, oh, I'm going to get these epic photos. And you're like, yep, nope, that's not happening. Yeah, but I think I find it interesting, like what you're saying about Tillamook, because I feel like in general, like agritourism has become so much more popular. You know, it's just something that is, you know, of a lot more interest.

[00:17:02.670] - Tamara Gruber And I really I think it's smart the way a lot of these farms and, you know, other makers have turned it into, you know, another revenue stream for them. You know, so it's interesting, I remember one time we were staying for a week on Cape Cod and it was pouring rain, so it's like opening the summer, like what are you going to do? You look like indoor stuff. And we're like, oh, let's go to the Cape Cod potato chip factory.

[00:17:25.940] - Tamara Gruber And we stood outside in line, you know, with an umbrella overhead for like an hour. Yes. Get into like this potato chip factory where basically all we did was like shuffle down a hallway and like, look at the machines working. Yes, we know. Yeah, they went to the gift shop. But I'm like, you could have gone to the grocery store and bought like five different flavors, like, why did we do this?

[00:17:44.070] - Kim Tate Yeah, yeah. That's what I was thinking. That's why we skipped Tillamook, because we kind of know already. I mean, it had been improved. So we thought, oh, it'll be neat to see it. And but you do you kind of just walk and you get to see the factory and, you know, the machines working. But it you know, it was a Sunday, too. So I was like, well, it's probably not really in operation right now because most of those factories also are just, you know, the the next day.

[00:18:06.740] - Kim Tate Yeah. So anyways, we skipped it and. Yeah. Just kept going. But yeah, I think that's, that was our, that was our idea is like, oh it'll be nice, go inside and have those inside things since it's such a gross day. But everyone had that same idea here. But the next the fun thing was this was where I talked about once we got to our hotel, since we're there early, I kind of started looking the next day to see if there were any, you know, like dunes on that stretch on our next day out.

[00:18:31.490] - Kim Tate And that was where I found that one random all trails where it was like some weird trailhead that held ten cars. And we went and it turned out to be this awesome, cool sand dune that we spent an hour at. So I think that, you know, it is fun when you can have those kind of things.

[00:18:47.120] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's nice. You can find, you know, find something that you didn't plan on that makes up for the things that you missed.

[00:18:53.690] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. And I think that's cool. You know, that would be something for people to know about, like the Oregon coast that I know California has it as well. There's you know, Pismo Beach is known and famous for their dunes. But that is something to just be known that Oregon is known for. And then as we made our way sort of south, we did, like I said, that scenic. It was like this scenic corridor that I saw from road trippers.

[00:19:14.930] - Kim Tate And again, it's just on the road, basically. And you just turned off. We just turned off and parked and did a little hike. And it's where you start getting that feel a little more of the California, you know, rocky coastal feel of stuff. But it's cool because in Oregon, it was still very Pacific Northwest with lots of, you know, evergreen trees. And so it was kind of a neat feeling as you move south and just see a little bit how things start different, differing, a little.

[00:19:42.650] - Kim Tate It's cool.

[00:19:44.000] - Tamara Gruber It makes me kind of want to see that landscape. But, yeah, one of the things about the summer is like, Glen, no matter what we do, like, I need a different landscape. I'm super excited about the trips that I have coming up around New England. And, you know, really, I can't wait for it, but I really want just a different landscape. And I remember years ago when Hannah and I were driving through central Oregon and we landed in Portland, we did a little bit of the Columbia River Gorge.

[00:20:07.130] - Tamara Gruber And then we started driving down to Bend and just driving through those forests, the pine forests of those towering trees. It's like we just don't have that here. And so, yeah, I'm picturing that as you're talking. Yeah. Like the redwoods and everything. Just kind of it's exciting to be in one of those types of forest. They're just so. Like magnificent.

[00:20:25.910] - Kim Tate You know, it is it's a really it's a cool part of nature and it's fun.

[00:20:30.170] - Kim Tate And when you do the whole coast, like, you know, Washington, Oregon, and then you make your way down into California, it's neat just to see, you know, when you're doing it on one trip like that, it's fun to go, wow, you know, things really start changing and feeling different. And it's cool. It's neat and fun. So, yeah, but then we so we kind of stayed overnight, right at the.

[00:20:51.140] - Kim Tate It's kind of funny how this happened too, because we ended up staying overnight in Northern California, a place called Klamath, California. And the cool thing about that, that you know, how you everyone's mind you get lucky on something is there was major road construction. And this is something to keep in mind, you know, on these smaller routes. And it's where it's, you know, the piloted car allowance. Do you know where they it's only one lane open.

[00:21:15.470] - Kim Tate And so they'll have like a truck that guides the, you know, northbound through and then the truck running right around three.

[00:21:21.530] - Tamara Gruber So I've experienced that before.

[00:21:22.930] - Kim Tate Yeah. So you know what I'm talking about. Well, we were crossing and it was right along the Oregon to California border and we were crossing and we didn't have any weight at all. We were like the fifth car and we got picked up on the next pilot and it was fine and didn't think anything of it. And then the next morning, like where we we're when we were getting out of the we were checking out of our hotel that we stayed at, they had notices all about like Oregon border, you know, construction and two hour delays.

[00:21:51.470] - Kim Tate And so I was like, oh, my goodness. So that's something to keep in mind also is that when you're on those two lane highway routes, you have to really be mindful of construction and stuff because they that route, Highway One is so susceptible to landslides and, you know, erosion where they have to close the road down because they're doing major repairs. So it's just something to keep in mind and. We lucked out being, you know, kind of at the end of the day and doing that crossover.

[00:22:18.210] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, well, it's funny, we were just talking, you know, on a recent episode about how bad the roads are and how much they need them fixed. I was thinking that today as I was driving Hannah home from school and there was road construction, two places that I had to, like, detour around. And I was like, you know, our roads are terrible, but why do they have to fix these?

[00:22:37.360] - Kim Tate We get all mad. Really, right? Can it just happen magically? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:43.380] - Tamara Gruber Well it sounds like that good that you avoided that. At least you got a good start.

[00:22:47.730] - Kim Tate Yeah. So I do think that, you know, something to keep in mind is like weekends right now in this season of local road trip travel that I feel like people are doing weekends. If you can avoid weekends as much as possible, it's definitely the thing to know, especially on those small, like touristy coastal towns. It seems like a lot of locals are going to them as well and are doing things on the weekends so that you're getting tourists as well as locals that are just getting out of their house and trying to do something.

[00:23:16.020] - Kim Tate And so just a heads up to people if you're planning a vacation at all, that's involving like smaller towns are road tripping, trying to avoid the weekends because that's something I noticed, not the most surprising.

[00:23:27.720] - Tamara Gruber Everyone is so excited to do anything and everything. Yeah. I mean, I found any little thing that we try to do is, you know, it's busy. Everyone is excited to be out of the house.

[00:23:38.680] - Kim Tate Exactly. Yeah. We have that experience. A couple places that I can mention, but definitely something I noticed. So as I said, we moved into Northern California and we were susceptible to billboard advertising, which how many people can actually say that? I didn't even know they worked anymore. But evidently when you have a 14 year old kid in your car, they can still work because my daughter saw this trees of mystery mentioned on the billboard as we were getting ready to cross into California.

[00:24:06.160] - Kim Tate And she's like, I really want to do that. You know, I always see that. And I you know, I never let them stop because I've always got the schedule planned. I'm like, no, we don't have time. And so this time, since I did try and allow more flexibility, I called them and they the last entrance was like four or something. And they said we probably wouldn't make it in time. And so I told me I was like, well, let's go do we'll do the drive thru tree, which I had planned for in the morning, and then we'll do the trees of mystery thing in the morning.

[00:24:32.310] - Kim Tate We'll just drive back up because it was about a ten minute is about ten minutes away from the hotel. So we backtracked a little, but it wasn't a big deal at all and that worked out perfect. So I would say try and have some flexibility with your planning, if you can at all. But it actually paid off because and here's another tip for people. We if you do like Google, if you do a search for Google, like for the destination.

[00:24:56.310] - Kim Tate So, for instance, I did the tour through Tree in Klamath, California, and I had navigated to it or something. And sometimes you'll see Google will give you like it's busier than normal or they'll have you seen that where they give you a little line graphs and tell you how busy it is? Well, I noticed that on the daytime, like in the mornings, it's very busy, but in the evenings it's not busy at all. And I was like, well, this will actually work perfect.

[00:25:21.870] - Kim Tate We'll go in on that Monday evening, get the pictures and do it because it's still fairly light out, you know, until 7:00 p.m. or so and do that. And then the next morning, it gave us time to go to Trees of Mystery. And we drove up and had no wait. And while we were there taking pictures, only one other car showed up. So that's the other thing to think about are some of these things. If you can actually, you know, eat somehow and then really use that, I would say it's the final two minutes, kind of it's like the five p.m. to seven, eight, especially in the summers.

[00:25:50.610] - Kim Tate You can really push it to eight or nine with the longer daylight. I think that's a sweet spot of like avoiding a lot of crowds if you if the places are operational and open.

[00:26:01.320] - Tamara Gruber So. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's like typical dinnertime. Yeah, no. So if you can either eat earlier or eat late, but just make sure that places are open, especially in small places like that. But that's good.

[00:26:12.780] - Kim Tate Well it's funny, the road trip routes, people kind of get to their hotels by four or five p.m. and they're kind of done for the day they go eat. And I mean, that's sort of what we would do. So then if you add something in during that time or go back out from your hotel, which is what you know, we did it, it really can pay off.

[00:26:28.590] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. It's funny that you mention, though, the the roadside like advertising, because I actually like that part of road trips where it's advertising a an attraction, you know, and not just, you know, whatever business or lawyer, you know, fill up at Shell. Yeah. Yeah. So when we were driving to Steamboat Springs, I was probably about two hours on this like smaller road. And I can't even tell you how many signs it had to be like one hundred signs, just like every, you know, whatever number of feet advertising this one, like cowboy hat and cowboy boots off.

[00:27:06.450] - Tamara Gruber So when we were in Steamboat Springs, we we had lunch there and then we walked around a little bit before we went to the ranch. I'm like, we have to go into this. Or I mean, they put so much effort into it, like not and we walked in and Glenn was like I'll be next door, I was like, OK, but I had to at least check it out. Yeah, exactly. Kind of like the wall drugs or, you know, of those sort of tourist attraction kind of places.

[00:27:29.170] - Tamara Gruber I don't know. Yeah. It kind of makes me happy to see those kind of things.

[00:27:32.050] - Kim Tate Yeah. There was another one in like southern Oregon that we kept passing signs for. That was like a wildlife drive through park thing. And the girls were like, oh, that's cool. And, you know, so, you know, it seems like that's the thing to do for some of those those attractions is probably how they get a lot of people. But again, that's where I say having some flexibility and not over scheduling your drive times allow you those a little bit of ability to be a little more spontaneous, which I think makes a road trip because and we've talked about this on our road trip thing where you needed to decide if the road trip is going to be just about getting to a destination or if the road trip is going to be a the the trip of itself.

[00:28:11.770] - Kim Tate Right.

[00:28:12.370] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So so I'm getting from you, though, that the trees of mystery is worth skipping, whatever that mystery is.

[00:28:20.290] - Kim Tate I think it depends. It was definitely like it's a little pricey. It's like 20 dollars a person. So but if you we had fun. It's like rope walks and then you take like a little gondola way high on a hill. And the look from the hill isn't anything fun. But the girls had fun riding in the gondola and I mean, walking through the bridges, through the trees is fun.

[00:28:44.530] - Kim Tate And the girls liked that. But it's short. And I mean, I think I'd be more comfortable at the ten dollars per person mark. However, you know, I don't regret going. And the girls enjoyed it. And it was a good way to stretch your legs and stuff. And it's kind of a fun way to it's a quirky roadside attraction. It was the one thing where we saw it definitely was attract a lot of out-of-state tourists. We saw a lot of out-of-state plates in the parking lot.

[00:29:09.550] - Kim Tate We did see a lower mask compliance, just like passing people because it's outdoors and stuff. And this is where the outdoor like if you're vaccinated. So it I think it just attracts like it's an outdoorsy type place. So I could see that it could get really crowded on a weekend. Yeah. We definitely by the time we left, so it was good because we got up early because we are and like I say, we were only ten minutes away from our hotel.

[00:29:31.990] - Kim Tate We got up early, went there and it was it was great. I mean, we weren't like maybe it seemed like there was five other people there same night we were. But when we came out, it was just packed. And so we probably were leaving around eleven ish and we got there around nine thirty and. Yeah. Yeah. So that gives you an idea of just earlier the better for that thing. Right. Yeah. So then we entered into the redwoods as always that we've been to before.

[00:30:00.190] - Kim Tate We did notice something weird, like the main exit I normally take because I wanted to drive along like the Prairie Creek Road. They had that closed for some reason. So I went south and I could have come back in from the north route. But I don't know why they had it closed for any reason. But we decided to skip that little leg of it and just kept going. But here's something to think about. If you are doing a coastal trip and this is something that I mentioned in my Olympic National Park Post, and it also matters.

[00:30:28.360] - Kim Tate On the Oregon coast you really need to become familiar with tide charts when you're on the West Coast. And I'm sure the East Coast is the same thing. But it it makes a difference when you're expecting these great like things. One of the things we looked at that I wanted to do is called Agate Beach, and it's supposed to be a really popular place where you go and you can walk along a pretty beach and find these really cool Agate rocks and kind of collect some if you want.

[00:30:54.370] - Kim Tate And we found out, though, as we were coming through and looked at the tide schedule, that we are going to be there basically smack dab at high tide. It seems like it's not finding any rocks. Yeah. So we wouldn't and so I pulled in and it was a ten dollar. I thought, well, we'll still go look and see, but it was ten dollar, you know, park admission. And so I asked the they had a actually they had a park ranger on site there.

[00:31:17.560] - Kim Tate And so I asked if they had a you know, if it was even worth going down there. And he was like not really, not during high tide. So just something to keep in mind that if you're doing any like beach visits and things like that, that it can really make a difference depending on the tide charts.

[00:31:31.810] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I feel like I saw that recently. Someone had posted something somewhere about the sea glass beach that you had gone to in the past, much in the past.

[00:31:40.270] - Tamara Gruber And they were super disappointed with it. And I was like, oh, that's interesting because someone else, you know, really liked it. So clearly it's a different experience, depending on if you're there, you can actually collect sea glass or not.

[00:31:51.430] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that makes a difference. You know, we had the same thing, like with tide pools, like when the tide pool, when things are really high, the tide pools aren't as cool, you know, because sure, you can't walk out and see all the pools. And so you want to visit during low tide. And then something to keep in mind is it's always good when you look at the charts, you always kind of want the tide to be leaving as opposed to the tide come.

[00:32:13.520] - Kim Tate And because if you happen to go around like a jut that seems like it's dry at the time, but the tides coming in, suddenly you turn around to go back to where you parked or whatever, and it used to be a beach and now it's, you know, two feet underwater. And so that's just something to keep in mind when you're doing an app for that or just just the weather app that shows you the the tides as well. I just do Google searches and I click on one of the websites that does the tides.

[00:32:39.530] - Kim Tate I don't use just a general weather one. I definitely do like a specific, but I don't have an app. I'm sure you could install an app. I just do a Google search for it and I just search for the destination. So if I'm like I beach or it was called some park, you know, tide schedule and you can normally find a few different ones and I'll show you. And there's, you know, it'll show you like low tide times.

[00:32:59.030] - Kim Tate And based on the chart they give you, you can easily figure out if the tides leaving or the tides coming in. And then we kind of the big thing we did was the Avenue of the Giants, which is one of my favorite parts of the Redwood Forest. And so we still did that. And even though we've done the redwoods a lot in, the girls are just kind of like your mom. I don't need to do any hikes. And I accepted that.

[00:33:20.330] - Kim Tate I was like, yeah, we've done a lot of like walking in the redwoods. We still pulled over. There's a lot of little turnouts and we still pulled over and tried to get kind of some fun, you know, like tree road drive shots, like tree road pictures. That's a tip is you know, that would be another thing that if you're there at night, like between five to seven, it would look so much better because with the sunlight dappling through the trees, it looks pretty.

[00:33:42.170] - Kim Tate And it seems like it would be really pretty on like in photos. But it's not it doesn't look right at all. You definitely want the darker, moodier shot for those kind of shots. But sorry, that's a little photography talk. But we did have one little stop where we went and kind of explored a little. And there is this awesome big tree that the girls climbed on. And I got a fun picture on that, that you guys might have seen.

[00:34:02.120] - Kim Tate Those of you who follow me on Instagram. Yeah.

[00:34:04.340] - Tamara Gruber And reminded me of a shot that you and I had when we were in Santa Rosa.

[00:34:08.450] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It was even bigger than that tree at the Armstrong Woods in Santa Rosa. So it was kind of cool, but it was pretty epic. It was funny because I was taking these pictures with Lizzy and all of a sudden I'm like, Mia, where are you? And then she's like, I'm up here like thirty feet in the sky. It was crazy. But yeah. So we did the Avenue, the Giants, and then we went and stayed at a hotel just for the night to prepare for our two little kind of partnership things.

[00:34:35.120] - Kim Tate So we the next day we headed into Santa Rosa. This was a funny I'll just share with people our little tip, because this is something fun that I want to share. We so the weather in Seattle is normally pretty moderate. I mean, we don't even have an air conditioner at our house that I think, you know. You know, that summer we hadn't had major harsh hot weather yet from this road trip. Mm. Especially being on the coast.

[00:34:59.450] - Kim Tate Well, we stayed overnight in a place called Ukiah, and that was where we had kind of moved away from the redwoods in the coast. And we started moving inland at that point. And we woke up the next morning and we slept in it was asleep and day and got in the car and started driving. And it was boiling hot. I think by the I think when we left just before noon, the it was about seventy two or seventy three and then the temperature was going to hit like 81 or 82 that day.

[00:35:26.780] - Kim Tate And we started driving and we're all like sweating and the air conditioner is not working. Like I'm literally like my shirt sticking to my back and we're like, oh my goodness. And I'm trying to get a hold of Paul. I'm driving or trying to call Paul. And he's in meetings all day. And he's normally my I'll be I'll admit, like he's definitely the car guy for us and the fix it guy. And we then decided, like, what am I going to do?

[00:35:50.060] - Kim Tate And so I asked me to help look up a Honda dealership because thankfully this was a really short drive into Santa Rosa and there was a Honda dealership there. So I called them and said, here's the situation. We have a busy road trip. Like, I don't have any time, do you have any time to get in and look at it and maybe be able to fix it if it's something easy and they're like, yeah, go ahead, bring it on in.

[00:36:09.410] - Kim Tate And I said, OK, we'll be there in forty minutes. We're on the road. And so then we pull into this Honda dealership and they tell us that it's a five hundred dollar diagnosis fee, like just to diagnose. I'm not even to fix it. And Lizzie jumps on because she's learned from her dad, she jumps on YouTube and she types in like a Honda Odyssey air conditioner not working. And she finds this YouTube video that she starts to watch.

[00:36:34.850] - Kim Tate And in it, the guy talks about a Fuse, you know, they call it a Fuse. It's actually called a relay, I guess, or something. But she learned she's like, Mom, I watched this video. And there's just you take the you open the hood and you take off this lid on this thing and you use some pliers and pull out this thing. And I'm going, oh, great. You know, OK. And so we've sure enough find an auto autozone.

[00:36:54.860] - Kim Tate I get a hold of Paul. Finally, he has a short break and he's like, yeah, just go ahead and try it. And, you know, I've got another Mini I can't talk. And so I'm like, OK, great. So I'm going to the AutoZone and Lizzy and I just are watching this YouTube video. And so we talk to the AutoZone. They don't have any pliers or anything we can use. They try and sell us a fuse puller, because of that point, Lizzy keeps calling it a Fuse, and so we buy this Fuse puller, we go out there and open it all up and are like, this doesn't fit. This is not what it is. And so we go back in and return that and ask the guy like, can we just borrow some pliers? Because Lizzie said that's what the guy used on YouTube. And we buy the had to buy pliers for ten dollars.

[00:37:30.710] - Kim Tate And sure enough, we pull the piece, the part out that the guy recommended and take it into AutoZone. Do you guys sell this part? Nope, they don't sell it. So then we call Lizzy actually gets on the phone calls the Honda dealership that just told us they'd charge us five hundred dollars to diagnose it and asks if they have this part. Sure enough, they have the part for thirty four dollars. So we all hop in the car and drive back over to the Honda dealership, going to the parts department, buy the part in the parking lot.

[00:37:56.240] - Kim Tate We swap out this little Fuse relay and put it all back together, turn on the car. We have air conditioning. So instead of spending five hundred dollars plus, you know, they probably would have charged us seventy dollars for the part and another hundred dollars for to install it. We came out of there having Lizzy empowered about fixing her own car, our own car problem, and then also only spending thirty four dollars.

[00:38:20.780] - Tamara Gruber Yeah I think that's amazing. When you shared that story I even told Glenn and Hannah and we were all like, wow, we were so impressed with, with Lizzy and you guys are figuring that out. So awesome job. So Paul should be very proud of you.

[00:38:33.740] - Kim Tate He was, he was so excited. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. And he was a little, you know, worried, like, did you keep the did you put it all back together? You sure? You know, like a little a little concern, but we're like, no. And so it Lizzy is very proud of herself to which I think was was a lot of fun. But just a heads up for you guys. YouTube can teach a lot.

[00:38:52.910] - Kim Tate I feel bad sometimes for the parts departments, but my goodness. Or I mean not part the service departments of car places.

[00:38:59.360] - Tamara Gruber But it's helped me with my washing machine when I've had.

[00:39:02.010] - Kim Tate Yes, yeah. We fix so many things on YouTube. And I was so happy that Lizzy, you know, learn from her dad to look it up. And yeah, that was her thinking.

[00:39:09.230] - Tamara Gruber So empowering.

[00:39:10.340] - Kim Tate Yeah. So sorry guys. That was a little side note, but we did make it to Santa Rosa finally. And then, you know, we had air conditioning and we headed over to Safari West, which you and I have been to. And I think we talked about it on the podcast whenever we talked about our little getaway to Santa Rosa. But Safari West is a it's an accredited zoo association. It's part of the ACA and it's a wildlife park that, you know, is works towards conservation and education about primarily African animals.

[00:39:41.360] - Kim Tate And it's pretty cool because you can camp there overnight and they have these amazing, you know, like really luxury Botswana camping tents. And Tamara, you and I have stayed in one and we got to stay with the girls and had a great time.

[00:39:56.270] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, they're really nice tents, too. It's gorgeous. Yeah. I was always I was very impressed. I mean, I've now done a few different glamping tents and I would say that they were the best. I was. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Better than under canvas even which I would put maybe second. Yeah. Yeah. Really. Like although I did do a really nice one at KOA that had electricity and he and a bathroom with like a rain shower kind of thing, but not a super, super nice because where else in the U.S. can you stay in that tent and then step out onto your porch and look at giraffes.

[00:40:29.600] - Kim Tate Yeah. And that's where, you know, you you and I, we had a different they were like fully booked when they hooked us up for our stay. And so we were in a different location. We were up on a hillside. And I definitely like you and I had the better cabin and it's worth it. I think they cost probably about fifty more dollars to stay at that lower location. But for reasons of sound and just accessibility to the main lobby areas and then the view of the giraffes, I think the Antelope Valley is what those ones were called and it was well worth a little bit of extra, but they're definitely the premium.

[00:41:00.380] - Kim Tate I love all the linens they have, like you said, like the heating blankets. And it's you don't and they've got the space heater, whereas, you know, under canvas you're kind of dumping you have to manage your own fire to make heat. And then I also like that it's got two plugs in the bathroom. So you do have some electricity and then you can also turn on the shower like a normal shower with under canvas. It's a pull chain shower.

[00:41:22.160] - Kim Tate So. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it was it was so nice. And I love it there because you can truly do, you know, like a getaway where they've got the restaurant, they serve you breakfast and then you can have dinner there as well. You can even arrange lunch if you want it. And then you get to do this, you can do this wildlife tour, which is about two and a half to three hours, and they drive you around and you get to see see all the different animals.

[00:41:44.540] - Kim Tate So it's really fun.

[00:41:46.460] - Tamara Gruber Do the girls really love it? I mean, they haven't been before, so now they haven't.

[00:41:50.630] - Kim Tate They loved it. Yeah, they thought it was cool. And they're excited about the they of course, really loved the giraffes and then they just had fun. Once we moved to the top, we weren't on the top in the giraffe section, but once we moved up to the top later on, they had a lot of fun. And when we were lower on, the ostriches came over in like we're really close to me.

[00:42:06.860] - Kim Tate And she thought it was so fun. And we just sat there and kind of looked at them up close and personal and it was pretty cool. So I think it's great and the food there is really good I mean, we had a great time and with it being covered right now, they've got it where you get to order your breakfast in advance and they have, like kind of your tent. You have a section you can set out for dinner and everything is just spaced well and you're eating outdoors.

[00:42:28.380] - Kim Tate And it just felt really nice. And relaxing, I think is the big thing is it's just a really relaxing type of trip, I will say, which you and I experienced. Mara, you do have to look at the temperature, especially the overnight temps, because when you go to bed at night, it can get cold fast. And then when you wake up in the morning to go into that bathroom, you keep the door to the bathroom close because they keep it kind of airflow for smells, I think, or something.

[00:42:51.540] - Kim Tate But it's really cold. So when you if you choose to take a shower in the morning, it's icy, the water's warm, but the room is just really cold.

[00:43:00.600] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I had that when I did my glamping stay in New Hampshire and I think it was early October, but I was freezing, absolutely freezing. And I had like a little space heater in the bathroom and the warm shower. But it's still like it was harsh stepping out of it. Yeah, well, it sounds like a neat and fun, very different thing for California. So, yeah. So now you're like, you know, heading like out of Northern California to central California.

[00:43:27.810] - Tamara Gruber What was your next, you know, day?

[00:43:29.340] - Kim Tate So the next stop after Santa Rosa is passing through San Francisco and we almost always have driven across the Golden Gate Bridge. But on this trip, this was where we wanted to go swing by and just see the UC Berkeley campus. And so we actually went across the other bridge, which I don't know if it's the Oakland Bridge or if it's just some other bridge. I'm not sure which bridge it's called, but it was a pretty nice bridge as well.

[00:43:50.490] - Kim Tate And it just passed is kind of a little more east than the Golden Gate Bridge. And we drove through the Berkeley campus and then got back on the road and we were going to go to Santa Cruz near Santa Cruz place called Watsonville. There's the Martinelli's cider. And we've done that cider tasting there and we were so excited to do it again. But before we left, I made sure to check and I realized they're not even doing the tastings because of covid.

[00:44:16.620] - Kim Tate And so we didn't stop, you know, because it's all closed down. So thankfully, we figured that out before. We actually because it was a little out of the way, but not too bad. But we determined that. And we just made our way to Monterey, where we spent two nights in Monterey, and that was kind of the last part of our trip. So I think you've done more of the central coast, like from Monterey down you go through Big Sur and all of that.

[00:44:39.690] - Kim Tate Cambria, there's a lot of beautiful stuff that as you get ready to come in, like Ventura and Santa Barbara and stay along the coast there, the highway one was closed at Big Sur. So Monterey was kind of sort of the most the main the southernmost, most section that was still open. And so we headed over after Monterey, back over to the 101 and then headed down to stay with our friends.

[00:45:05.700] - Tamara Gruber So what do you do in Monterey? Did you go to the aquarium?

[00:45:08.160] - Kim Tate We did not. The aquarium was still closed, so they had not opened yet. But we actually did a couple of things. So we did a bike tour. So we kind of did an E bike tour, which was fun with a company called Mad Dogs and Englishmen. And so we headed out in the morning, met them, and they actually have a new little spot right there in Monterey on Cannery Row. And so you can park at the hotel.

[00:45:32.910] - Kim Tate They do free valet parking for the tour guests, which was a huge perk. And you can then get on your little E bikes. And they took us around like part of seventeen mile, seventeen mile, you know, Pebble Beach. Yeah. And only part of it though. And then we headed back around and came through some of the town and they just would stop occasionally. And of course Pacific Grove where they had the beautiful purple flowers just along the coast and just gave us some little tips and had some pretty stops along the way.

[00:46:00.930] - Kim Tate And it was E bikes, which is yeah, it's gorgeous. And it was kind of a cold morning. So I actually ended up buying like seventy dollar hoodies for the girls because both of them somehow managed to not get the message to wear coat because I guess it had been so hot, you know, at their other things. So we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa, which is just kind of remodeled, I think, not remodeled.

[00:46:24.240] - Kim Tate The the rooms have been upgraded. So more of a soft linens upgrade and kind of refashion. And it looked really nice. And so we we stayed there. They are like fully open and have a couple pools open and then they also have a golf course there. So they at night they do these fire pits, kind of communal fire pits. But if one group's already there, you're not you're not supposed to go into it, if that makes sense.

[00:46:46.660] - Kim Tate So it was kind of a central it was a good jumping off point because we stayed there and then went around and did a few things. So that was good. We did drive down to the famous Bixby Bridge, which we just wanted to take a look at that.

[00:46:59.550] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, but I saw you guys there.

[00:47:01.920] - Kim Tate Yeah. And they're really they're trying to, like, not encourage travel there. People are just insane. So it's really limited parking, of course, but then they have these big, big rocks to try and. Encourage people to stay in, like right along the parking area and just look at the bridge and the coast, but I mean, these people are insane. They're like climbing over the rocks and climbing, like off the ledge, a little bit of the you know, because it's a it goes to the ocean and people have gotten hurt there and people are not caring.

[00:47:32.630] - Kim Tate So they're not necessarily encouraging that. But I just encourage you, if you're going to go to Bixby Bridge, make sure you stay safe on the ground. That's next. The parking area. And don't try and go get that perfect Instagram shot, which is what I saw. All the crazy people that were doing it were kind of going past that section. But sorry, I'm doing a so it's really a shame. Like how many things have turned into that?

[00:47:54.980] - Kim Tate Like, because of Instagram, I was going to get like this shot and it's it's definitely not worth taking your life in your hands.

[00:48:04.280] - Kim Tate So right near that is a place called Garrapata State Park.

[00:48:09.920] - Tamara Gruber I stopped there. That's beautiful.

[00:48:13.310] - Kim Tate It's beautiful. Beautiful. And they actually have a beautiful you can go, they have a white sandy beach area that you can hike down to and they also have not too far from there are really famous spot called Lily Valley which is where all these wild calla lilies grow. Wow. And it's kind of along a stream that empties over into the ocean and along this little streamy valley is this calla lilly Valley. It's just insane of all these wild calla lilies. So it's kind of a popular little tourist spot.

[00:48:41.030] - Kim Tate And we hiked around there and all the wildflowers and just kind of the it's like a cliff beach of a sort. So you're you're up a little higher and then you kind of look down on the white sand beach and the waves, it just seemed like a really nice place to hang out. And I think the parking lot is very the parking is limited. And you could see that it's probably really popular and can get busy.

[00:49:03.440] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, when we stayed in Carmel, we we stopped there like on our way down towards Big Sur. But then we had also done like a day hike or, you know, like a spent part of a day at Point Lobos State Park, which is another gorgeous spot right now.

[00:49:19.130] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's that's a really popular spot. We didn't go there, but yeah, I could tell that was popular. There was people like hiking out to the highway from the from the park entrance. They marked it closed because there was no parking. I mean the park was open but you couldn't drive in there.

[00:49:32.460] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I was full. I love that part of the coast. It's really beautiful. And it's so especially if you can if you can. I know some other people do like kayaking tours are where you can see otters and things like that. So there is definitely a lot to do if you, you know, for people that want to spend. Yeah. A couple or a few days in that area.

[00:49:49.040] - Kim Tate Well, in the Monterey Bay Aquarium is amazing and really cool. But like I said, that was it was closed, but it was opening. It was opening in May. So it will be reopen soon. And I have to say, I'll give a couple shout outs to food places in Monterey just because this is one place I know we're getting a little long, but one place that I really had some good experiences, one place we ate at was called Rio Grill, which it's kind of cool.

[00:50:09.530] - Kim Tate You can tell that they have kind of made their sidewalk and outdoor seating area and it was quaint. They had, you know, heating the heaters going and they had created kind of a wall of sorts from the parking lot with plants and. Yeah, fence. And it just looked great. So they did a good job at that. And the food was delicious and they were so helpful. Mia had ordered something and felt like she was like she started eating it.

[00:50:34.490] - Kim Tate They thought it was safe. But she's like, no, and it's normally eggs will do this. It wasn't nothing. But she's like, no, it doesn't seem right. And so they were like, oh, no problem, let's get you something. And so she took a Benadryl and then they got her something different. And it was so awesome. And the food was delicious and they were so friendly and so helpful. And then there's also a really famous bakery in Monterey called Alta Bakery.

[00:50:58.280] - Kim Tate And we stop there for breakfast the next morning before our bike ride. And I have to say they had some amazing things. There's a huge line normally waiting outside to place your order and stuff. So you do have to allow a little bit of time. And finding parking can be a little tricky, but it was an awesome little spot. And then lastly, I want to give a shout out to a place called Lucie's on Lighthouse, which was a hot dog joint that's got like kind of a skateboard theme.

[00:51:22.460] - Kim Tate And basically they have all these crazy hot dogs that you can get all these different, whatever it's called, you know, like toppings and stuff. So a little bit about that. It was really awesome. Sound fun. Yeah. And so for Monterey, we went, like I said, to our friend's house and that was kind of it, and that was in Ojai. And so we didn't really do much else. We did some day trips.

[00:51:45.950] - Kim Tate We hiked the Hollywood sign, which was a pretty epic fun thing to do. And that was about a I think it was just over four mile hike, round trip and, you know, some great views of L.A. It was not too smoggy and pretty clear day. So it was a fun and fun way to get outside and something epic that, you know, you hear about. But we've never really done so.

[00:52:07.130] - Tamara Gruber And I was really surprised you said that that wasn't crowded. Are there different like approaches of different? Or is it just like there is one hike to the top of the, you know, by the Hollywood sign?

[00:52:17.800] - Kim Tate I think there's different approaches, like some people hike it from over at the. Is it the Griffith Observatory? Yeah, yeah. Some people hike it from over there. But I think that's like a six or so mile hike. This one is a little more like you'll see tons of signs as we approach. We saw in like funny enough, we found it in a blog, but is you approached through the neighborhoods as you're driving. It's like no parking for Hollywood sign, no parking for Hollywood sign.

[00:52:39.430] - Kim Tate And there's all these warnings and we're like, OK, but then once you kind of get to the end into this neighborhood, there's no more signs and it's street parking and stuff. So we just parked on a street like in this neighborhood, and then you can enter at this little trailhead. So there's not there's a trailhead, kind of an entrance, but there's not really parking like a trailhead. So that makes sense. But they're definitely trying to discourage people, I think, from because it was an extremely tight, windy, hilly, rich neighborhood, if that makes sense.

[00:53:08.830] - Kim Tate Yeah, but that's so that was the Four mile approach. So there was definitely cars there and some people. But we went on a weekday, too. And again, I think the more you can do stuff during the daytime, it's good. And and I think it you know, it is a bit of a hike and it's got some elevation climb for sure. So it probably scares off some people.

[00:53:30.230] - Tamara Gruber Must have been fun for the girls. They'll be up there. It was you know, everyone has seen the Hollywood sign.

[00:53:34.480] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah. And it's I mean, the approach that we took also is, you know, you got a really good, like little outlook view of the Hollywood sign from the front. So from the back, it's it's neat. You can kind of have a good overlook of the L.A. area. But, you know, the actual Hollywood sign itself, you don't see very well, because it's kind of there's a big radio tower and cell phone tower that's all gated off.

[00:53:54.850] - Kim Tate And the the back of the Hollywood sign, there's a big fence along it. So you can't actually go near any of the letters if that makes sense. So you're taking pictures behind a fence. Yeah, but it's cool. So, yeah, that's kind of it. And I mean, we could keep going on because you've said everything about, you know, once you go to Central, keep along the coast. I mean, there's so much more like from Monterey down into Southern California than a coast of Southern California is a whole other journey.

[00:54:20.680] - Kim Tate But this gives you guys an idea of just that, you know, a little bit of portion. So I would say, you know, it would definitely be about an eight to nine day trip. So because like we said, we had 14 days, but we stayed five days with our friends. So that gives you gives you an idea.

[00:54:38.710] - Tamara Gruber Well, we will link to your post in our show notes. And I do have an old post about our, like, Carmel to Cambria section. So I'll link to that as well, because that goes into some of the more detailed stops. But I think definitely just keep in mind that people do need to pay attention to the the road closures and conditions because there have been numerous times that I know and I'm on the East Coast, so I don't hear the news as much where that section by Big Sur is closed because of, you know, mudslides or, you know, rockslides or something.

[00:55:08.770] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, it can really ruin a vacation if that's the if that's where you're staying or if that's I remember there was one time where it's closed for quite a while. And like the resort there, I do like helicopter people in.

[00:55:20.620] - Kim Tate Yes, yeah, yeah. They try and reroute. So the businesses that are, you know, affected by it aren't that affected, but there's just no way around it if it closes down. And yeah, it's normally like if it closes down it's like for a year normally when it, when it happens. So I think it just reopened. So it wasn't open for us when we went at the end of March, beginning of April. But it I heard it just reopened.

[00:55:44.050] - Kim Tate So if anyone has any questions. Yeah. We had a great time. It was it's so amazing to just I love my kids and being with them like really made me appreciate them even more. And I think it's amazing just how much we bonded and talked and laughed. And there was just the other thing that's nice about not being in a hurry and planning really slow days is that you can say yes more often. You can be you know, if they're interested in something or if you're it's just nice.

[00:56:11.710] - Kim Tate It's great. And they learned so many skills along the way, you know, about I would have Mia she sat up front with me because she gets motion sickness. That's another thing. If you are motion sickness, you need to be driving or you need to be in the front and you have to take motion sickness meds like she it's very rough for a motion car, sick people. So just a heads up on that. But she was my little navigator and we'd be, you know, we'd start getting hungry.

[00:56:36.800] - Kim Tate And I'm like, OK, we're getting ready to come into this town, you know, start looking like, what would we want to eat around here, you guys? What, you know, find a place. And she kind of took control of figuring that out. And so it's cool how they learned some travel planning and kind of how it works on a road trip.

[00:56:54.670] - Tamara Gruber Life Skills. And it's kind of nice just to do with you and your girls, too, because, you know, maybe that role would have been taken by you or Paul, you know. You know, then suddenly they're in the copilot seat.

[00:57:07.090] - Kim Tate Yeah, like, she loved helping me. I mean, she had a lot of fun with it and she was just talk to me and. You know, normally should be on her phone or watching something and with her up in the front with me, she would just talk a lot and see stuff and it was awesome.

[00:57:20.730] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it makes a big difference, if you like, in the back. It's easy for them, just like pop in their earbuds, their headphones and just tune out. And then when you're trying to ask something, I don't know how many times we're like Hannah, Hannah.

[00:57:33.960] - Kim Tate Yeah, that was me. I'm like Lizzy. And then me, I would turn around, like, waving at her. Right.

[00:57:39.510] - Tamara Gruber But when they're in the front seat, they at least feel a little bit more guilty to do that. And and you can have the conversation more. And yeah, it's just it is really nice. And you think about all the time that you've been in the same house together in the last year. But there's something still special about having those family trips together. So it really is. Yeah. Yeah. It's just I've always said it. I always will say it's, you know, whether it's family or even just anyone like that, change of scenery makes a huge difference.

[00:58:07.720] - Kim Tate Absolutely agree. Yeah. So that's all I have. So like you, this episode went long and I rambled a lot, but it was a lot of fun to share all about.

[00:58:14.790] - Tamara Gruber Well, at least now we know that, you know, our listeners like it, so it's good. Yeah, exactly. And you have some good tips because I know that many people will be, you know, the one to visit these places and plan, you know, that kind of road trip, if they haven't already and there are so many options know there's so many different ways to do that. Itinerary, different places or priorities you want to stop at.

[00:58:33.690] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. So it's you know, it's been nice that you've gotten to do it so many times that you've been able to pick and choose, you know, the things that you either return to or the new ones that you want to discover.

[00:58:43.240] - Kim Tate Yeah, yeah. It's always fun. And I find that it seems good with your kids, like there's a little bit of like the legacy they like kind of doing some of the same stuff again. But it's fun to discover something new on a trip that they feel really comfortable with. And having a blend of that is is fun. It was fun. .

[00:58:58.890] - Tamara Gruber So yeah, I could see that for sure. You know, it's not doing the same trip. You know, this is going to you know, I think of like, you know, my sister's family, like they just always went to the same beach every year. That was their vacation, you know. Yeah. And there's, you know, there's nice there's comfort in it. Look, my nephew ended up proposing to his wife on that, you know, like, yeah, there's a real there's something that, you know, is wonderful about that.

[00:59:21.450] - Tamara Gruber But I do I agree with you. I like being able to blend that mix of, you know, the things that you love with. Still getting to see something new is like kind of nice, especially for a family where maybe some somebody likes, you know, not doing new things and someone else is doing maybe. Yeah, definitely. Cool. Well, I think next time we're all a little bit I have some road trips of my own coming up or some little trips coming up and going to be doing a lot more exploring in the next month or so of our home region here in New England, especially now that things are, you know, opened up and, you know, at least, you know, if you're vaccinated and or if you're from this area.

[00:59:59.460] - Tamara Gruber So it's exciting for me where, you know, we've talked about many times, like just kind of felt a little trapped. And so now it's like I can go to Vermont, I can go to Maine. Yeah. Yeah. We're so excited about, you know, sharing some of those trips coming up. So sound excited.

[01:00:15.690] - Kim Tate And don't forget, everyone, send us a note about your travel. You know, if you're looking for some travel advice, send us a note.

[01:00:22.630] - Tamara Gruber Talk to you next time.

View Details

This week we tackle on of this year's most popular road trips -- the Grand Circle road trip in the Southwest USA. And we have the perfect guest! Anne Howard from Honeytrek shares her insights and tips after having spent weeks in this region over multiple trips.

About Anne Howard Anne is the co-founder of the couples adventure travel blog HoneyTrek and co-author of the books Comfortably Wild: The Best Glamping Destinations in North America and National Geographic's Ultimate Journeys for Two. Since 2012, Anne and her husband Mike have been traveling full-time across the seven continents and have road tripped from Baja to The Arctic Circle and 50 US States in between.

Mike & Anne Howard left on their honeymoon in January 2012...and never came home. They created HoneyTrek.com to chronicle their journey across all seven continents and help people mobilize their travel dreams. Their story of the World's Longest Honeymoon, savvy tips, and blog have been featured in hundreds of international media outlets—from USA Today to Lonely Planet.

Firm believers that love and travel make the world a better place, they authored Ultimate Journeys for Two—National Geographic's bestselling couples travel guide. To write their newest book, Comfortably Wild, they bought a vintage RV (aka Buddy the Camper) and traveled 73,000 miles across 9 countries to find the best glamping experiences in North America. Along the way, they fell in love with RVing and have made Buddy their full-time adventure mobile.

They've taken their 1985 Toyota Sunrader from the tip of Baja Mexico to the Arctic Circle of Canada and 50 US states in between. As full-time nomads and travel journalists, the Howards are always on the hunt for off-the-track destinations, uncommon adventures, and the human stories that make each place so special.

Follow their adventures at www.HoneyTrek.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also see a gallery of photos from their Grand Circle Road Trip on Facebook.

Tips for Planning a Grand Circle Road Trip * The Grand Circle road trip is the loop of national parks and monuments in the Southwest including the Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, the Grand Canyon and many other national monuments, tribal lands, and state parks along the way. * Trying to hit the six big National Parks, you need at least two weeks to adequately cover the Grand Circle road trip. * You want to leave time to stop at roadside shops, restaurants, photo opportunities, etc along the way. * Utah has such amazing landscapes but also has many dinosaur fossils. * To start the road trip, fly into Las Vegas. * Sometimes camping or RVing in the parks sounds ideal, but it can get hard to find campsites in the national parks so sometimes staying in hotels or other lodging can actually be better. * Keep in mind that big RVs aren't able to go in some areas of the national parks and driving a large RV on the small roads or fitting into parking lots can be a big challenge. * If you are renting an RV to do the Grand Circle road trip, stick to an RV that is 27' or smaller. The ideal size is probably 22 feet. * From Las Vegas, it is only a three hour drive to Zion National Park (versus four hours from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.) * From Zion you will go to Bryce along Highway 12, which is a gorgeous scenic drive. * You will also pass by Escalante National Monument, which is massive and you want to leave some time to explore. * You will then go to Capitol Reef, then Arches National Park, before heading down to the Grand Canyon. * Don't just follow Google Maps, which will just route you the fastest way. * After Canyonlands, leave time to go to Bears Ears National Monument, which is underrated but is a sacred destination for various Native American nations and you will have an opportunity to see cliff dwellings and petroglyphs and it is not crowded at all. * You will also want to leave time on your trip down to the Grand Canyon to swing through Monument Valley and the Navajo nation's lands and tribal parks. * Just 15 minutes or so away from Monument Valley is Goosenecks State Park. It has a double loop in the river, which is a much better photo opportunity than the popular Horseshoe Bend and it is inexpensive and not crowded. It is a true hidden gem! * Beyond the national parks, look for other types of public lands -- national forests, Bureau of Land Management land, etc. * To find public lands and campsites, you can use iOverlander and UCPublic CG Ultimate Campgrounds app. But please leave reviews and share useful information to grow these communities. * Don't miss hiking the slot canyons of Spooky and Peekaboo Canyons in Escalante National Monument. It is a tough road to get there and one is a more technical hike, but doable for kids and well worth the effort. They can get very narrow at points, sometimes no wider than a foot. * A more family friendly hike between Bryce and Escalante is Willis Creek Slot canyon. Keep in mind that this could be icy in the winter. This is also much easier to get to. * Escalante Yurts is a great spot to glamp when you are in this area. * Make sure you hike a slot canyon while in Utah. * You can also plan other adventures, like canyoneering in Orderville Slot Canyon near Zion or off-roading in Moab, where there is some of the best off-roading in the world, or do a scenic flight over Canyonland and Arches. * Bryce also has astronomy rangers and you can do full moon hikes twice a month. * Some big adventures need permits, such as hiking the Narrows. * Try to do the national parks midweek and state parks on the weekend to try to avoid some crowds. * This can also be a good winter road trip when it isn't as crowded and it can be beautiful in the snow, but not everything may be available. * Spring is another great time because there is more water running, more flowers, and it isn't as hot as summer. * These areas are warmer during the day and can get colder at night, so be prepared. * In Arches, if you can't do the whole park because you are pressed for time, make sure you hike Devil's Garden with the largest concentration of arches. * Zion isn't that large and doesn't take too long to do. * Canyonlands is huge, and there are also two separate entrances, which makes it almost like two separate parks. The Island in the Sky in the north end near Moab is actually hours aways from the Needle section. The Needle section is actually less traveled and very lovely. * Make sure you spend time understanding the Native American history for all of these places. When you are traveling in the Needles section of Canyonlands, Newspaper Rock is a quick stop but it has two thousand years of history in petroglyphs. (Note: this was recently horribly and thoughtlessly defaced.) * The Butler Wash Ruins in Bears Ears is another great place to see amazing cliff dwellings from the 1200s (similar to Mesa Verde in Colorado.) * Glamping is a great way to experience the outdoors and this area including Under Canvas, which is usually just outside of the national parks, and Wunder Camp, which has a series of camps near national parks but at a lower price point. Be sure to buy Anne's book, Comfortably Wild: The Best Glamping Destinations in North America , for more glamping suggestions. * If you need to skip something, you can miss the full 18-mile scenic drive in Bryce as the best parts are at the beginning and it is an out and back drive and not a loop. * Be careful about hiking down the Grand Canyon as you have to hike back up and it is a tough hike and plan accordingly with time, water, and energy. * This is a good trip to buy a National Parks Pass. * It would also be useful to buy the Secrets to the National Parks and Scenic Highways and Byways books for the trip. * Anne also covers a lot of the southwest, including Moab and a southwest road trip section, in her book Ultimate Journeys for Two. * When visiting this area, make sure you pack a good wide brim sunhat to block the strong sun and layers to deal with the changing temperatures. * Anne recommends Asolo hiking boots for women and men, as well as Kyodan leggings with pockets.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.060] - Kim Tate Stay tuned, because today we're circling around the southwest.

[00:00:16.090] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.000] - Tamara Gruber Hey, Kim, I've missed talking to you.

[00:00:33.580] - Kim Tate I know it's crazy. I feel like we just got done saying, like, we're back and now we are. We had another break.

[00:00:39.430] - Tamara Gruber So it's you know, we've gone to these every other week episodes for a while because we weren't traveling. And now I think we're going to start traveling, which makes it hard find time to record. But in the meantime, we've gotten some feedback from our listeners. And I thought we should maybe take a little bit of time before our interview today just to share a little bit of the feedback, because I always love it when our listeners come back with some advice and some recommendations of their own.

[00:01:08.060] - Tamara Gruber So I thought it would be great to share.

[00:01:09.700] - Kim Tate Yeah, definitely. I love knowing that people are actually listening to us because I really like you and I just love talking to each other and it's kind of fun. But to actually know that people actually care and like us, it's awesome.

[00:01:21.400] - Tamara Gruber I know we say it all the time, but we really, really do get a big smile on our face every time we get, you know, one of these kind of comments or emails or messages. And it just, you know, definitely makes us happy to know we aren't just talking into the void. But I wanted to share about our episode, probably a month or two now ago, we talked about some of our favorite hotels in Florida with Joella.

[00:01:43.330] - Tamara Gruber And I got a message from David and Karen from family boarding pass, and they had some to recommend also. So I thought I would share those because I feel like it is prime vacation planning time right now. And I know that hotels, especially in Florida, getting really booked up. So they had recommended the Pink Shell Hotel, which is in Fort Myers Beach and also the Hilton in Clearwater. And there's lots to do around there. You can walk to beach locations and they also have additional activities like kayaks and bike rentals.

[00:02:12.610] - Tamara Gruber And I know that they gave one other recommendation for old Key West, but unfortunately, that part of the message got cut off. And so, you know, thanks, guys, for sending that in. I always love finding new hotels that people that are like me have tried and liked. So check those out if you're looking for a stay on the west coast of Florida, the summer.

[00:02:32.860] - Kim Tate Yeah, I definitely feel like hotels are kind of people seem to be really into resort vacations right now, and I think it's just they're starting to get ready to branch out a little more. But organizing tours and with some things being closed down, hotels are definitely getting some good travel. I am going to share something because speaking of hotels, we recently had Episode one eight five and we talked to Nate from Room Steals and we actually had a listener, pint sized mommy who left us a message on our Instagram post about it, saying that she used her Room Steals to book a hotel and she saved four hundred and forty five dollars.

[00:03:08.980] - Kim Tate And so she thanked us for that episode. And I think that's cool like we were talking about. It's fun to know that we're actually helping our listeners, too.

[00:03:16.360] - Tamara Gruber So it's a reminder to go back and use that too because, you know, I, of course, like added the extension and then said, I'm not always using chrome. A lot of times I do my searches either on my phone or in Safari. And so I need to go back and try to use that because I am trying to book some things, you know, in the next couple of weeks. So maybe I can get a deal, too, because.

[00:03:36.850] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, Elisa, that's amazing. I mean, 440 dollars. That's that's substantial.

[00:03:42.400] - Kim Tate Yeah, it is. And you know, one of the cool things, you know, we had originally when we were talking to Nate, I wondered about if it defaults to a specific room taken, families might be stuck. But I actually tried it out myself when I was looking at some hotels for a trip that we're planning coming up. And you can actually click through and then you can see different room types and the pricing that they found for those different room types.

[00:04:03.220] - Kim Tate Even so, it's not like you're just buying one room or one price and you just get stuck with whatever room. So they still have the ability to choose a specific room, which was cool. But just so everyone knows, it only works on like aggregator sites like Expedia and stuff like that. It doesn't work if you just go to like Marriott Dotcom. So the idea is that it's it uses those aggregate bulk pricing sites.

[00:04:27.730] - Tamara Gruber Interesting. Yeah, it's good to know. Yeah. And I also wanted to give a shout out to Patty from following the magic on Instagram. She has been a follower for a bit and she gave us some feedback that she really loved the episode that we were talking about my road trip because remember how I went on and on and I felt like it was so long. And so she was like, no, no, I love listening to you guys, you know, share about your travels.

[00:04:48.310] - Tamara Gruber And so I just want to say thank you. I definitely appreciate that. And I know that those always tend to get a little bit even higher downloads than some of the other episodes. And so we are traveling again. And so you'll hear more of those coming up. But that Patti, thanks for that feedback.

[00:05:04.420] - Kim Tate Yeah, we loved hearing that. And it's so funny to actually have her message that because it made Tamara and I both look and we're like, yeah, when you look at download numbers, which with podcasting, you don't get a lot of statistics, but you can definitely see download numbers and then listening time and Tamara and I have both have noticed that you guys seem to like when it's just us rambling on like nonsense. So that's good to know. But we also wanted to take a moment to reach out to you guys and tell you that we're thinking about doing a mailbag episode.

[00:05:33.520] - Kim Tate And if you're a podcast, avid podcast listener, you probably have heard of this where the episode will just be filled with questions from our, you know, listeners. If you guys have a question about maybe you're planning a trip, you need advice, maybe you want Tamara and I to look at a specific destination and help you pick a hotel, maybe you need help with an itinerary or destination ideas, any of that. We would love to hear from you and help you do some travel planning or give you some travel tips.

[00:06:00.160] - Kim Tate So if you have any thoughts or questions for us, send us an email at podcast@VacationMavens.com, or you can always reach out to us on social media @stuffedsuitcase or @we3travel or even @vacationmavens and send us a message. So just let us know and we would love to hear from you and be able to do an episode all about our, you know, our listeners questions.

[00:06:23.860] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And if we don't have the answer, we may know someone that does or will read it in. One of our listeners may tune in for the next episode to try to give us some answers. So it's the great thing about the community. But in the meantime, we're going to be talking about a really popular road trip. I feel like especially this year, I feel like everyone that I know seems to be planning a trip out here. But a lot of our listeners have also asked for an episode for us to talk about the grand circle through a lot of the Southwest, the Utah parks and some of Arizona.

[00:06:54.190] - Tamara Gruber So we're going to be chatting with Anne Howard, who has spent so much time in this area. And this was an interview that I absolutely loved because she just had so many great tips to share. So definitely stay tuned.

[00:07:05.770] - Kim Tate Yeah, we already love Anne and her enthusiasm about this subject will come through in this episode. So I hope you guys enjoy.

[00:07:21.840] - Tamara Gruber So this week, we're here with Anne Howard and is the co-founder of the couples adventure travel blog, Honey Trek, and also the coauthor of books Comfortably Wild The Best Glamping Destinations in North America and National Geographic's Ultimate Journeys for Two. Since 2012, Anne her husband, Mike, has been traveling full time across the seven continents and have a road trip from Baja to the Arctic Circle and 50 United States in between. So Anne, you've been everywhere. Where are you right now?

[00:07:48.870] - Anne Howard We are in San Miguel de Allende Mexico.

[00:07:51.660] - Tamara Gruber Oh, I've heard such good things about that area.

[00:07:54.170] - Anne Howard Yeah, it's always hard to leave. The camper waits and long term storage somewhere randomly outside of Sacramento, but I'm sure it'll be fine because you got to mix up your adventures domestically, internationally. So we'll be back to the camper in about two months.

[00:08:07.500] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. What is the campers name, Buddy?

[00:08:09.450] - Anne Howard His name is Buddy. Yeah, buddy. The camper. Good old buddy.

[00:08:13.980] - Tamara Gruber Well, you took our you took Buddy on a big road trip. I mean, you've taken Buddy on many, many road trips. But one that I know a lot of our listeners have been asking about is the grand circle road trip is kind of a I'm not exactly sure where and when it got that name, but I've been hearing it kind of pop up in all kinds of chat groups and Facebook groups and things. It seems to be on everybody's radar this year.

[00:08:36.690] - Tamara Gruber So I was hoping maybe you could tell us a little bit about what exactly is a grand circle type of Southwest road trip? What does it include?

[00:08:45.570] - Anne Howard Yeah, the grand circle. I mean, conveniently, many of the most amazing national parks of the Southwest are in a sort of natural loop. Zion, Bryce Canyon lands arches and the Grand Canyon all connect. But what makes it even grander is that there are many national monuments, state parks, Navajo tribal parks that that actually follow this route as well. So it's as grand as you want it to be. And in reality, we've actually done it over the course of two years, really many years.

[00:09:20.340] - Anne Howard We've done many of these parks many times. And then a certain point we're like, wait a second, we just did the Grand Circle Road trip. And because it doesn't need to follow such a linear path, but in its classic sense, it's hitting those big five national parks. But we really encourage people to take as long as they can. And rather than really rush and think about it is like a bucket list thing, like I must do it all in one loop.

[00:09:43.500] - Anne Howard It might be two different trips for you. And that's OK. I'd actually prefer people break it up into two trips because I'd hate to see race by all these other fabulous things just to have it be a check on your bucket list.

[00:09:57.110] - Kim Tate Yeah, totally, I know we talked to I can't remember who our guest was, I want to say, Alison, it was perhaps a while back like it was one of our first episodes. So we'll have to link in the show notes to that episode. But she had mentioned, like, how amazing many of the Utah state parks are and that they can have a lot less of the crowds and offer some of the same amazing scenery. So I agree with what you're saying.

[00:10:19.920] - Kim Tate Like this type of thing isn't maybe to be rushed through and split it up a little and decide, you know, take it in parts maybe. But it is a lot of ground. Yeah, definitely. It's a lot of ground to cover.

[00:10:37.550] - Anne Howard I missed one. So it's Zion, Bryce Capital, Reef, Canyonlands, Arches and Grand Canyon. So six are technically on there. But like I said, there's so many more wonderful national mountains, the state parks along the way.

[00:10:48.710] - Kim Tate Yeah, of course. I think Grand Canyon throwing it in there throws off the big five. That is Utah's big thing. Yeah, it is. It really is. All you tell you.

[00:10:56.150] - Kim Tate Yeah. So do you think how many days, you know, if they are going to try and do it as the grand circle, you know, how many days do you think they. I'm I'm sure you guys are going to say two months, but somebody is going to try and do it with a standard vacation allotment. How many days do you think they need to adequately make the grand circle trip?

[00:11:15.110] - Anne Howard I would say really two week minimum if you could. But every anything is possible, right? You could do all the parts and just, you know, one day I think it's nicer to be at them two days each. There are some sometimes was more significant travel days. You have to realize you're not going to do all of Zion one day and then all of the other because you're going to be you need to actually get between those places, those you happen to be closer than the others, but it's hard to get from Canyonlands to Grand Canyon.

[00:11:43.640] - Anne Howard So that's you have to buffer in a little bit of extra time. And you just you know, that is always the serendipity of a road trip, is you never know what you're going to find along the way so that having those those stops and when you see them incredible photo stop, a fun rock shop, a neat roadside restaurant, you don't want to squander those things.

[00:12:00.590] - Kim Tate Mm hmm. Yeah. There's nothing worse than being on a road trip. And, you know, like because I've experienced this, unfortunately, where you're like, sorry, we don't have time to stop. And like, you actually start skipping like turnouts. Yeah, no, we're not going to get a snack there because we have to get to this hotel and it's almost dark. And, you know, the office closes at ten and that's just miserable.

[00:12:20.090] - Kim Tate You don't you don't want that life.

[00:12:21.890] - Anne Howard Yeah, totally.

[00:12:23.390] - Tamara Gruber I feel like especially that part of the country, you know, for many of us, it's just such a different landscape. It's such a unique place that you do want to stop. Like, would I usually want to stop at a rock shop? No, probably not. But I don't know if I've really seen a rock shop, so maybe I do want to stop.

[00:12:39.740] - Anne Howard You do want to stop at at rock shop. Utah particularly has incredible history and not just geologically, but also dinosaurs. I mean, you'd stop at a rock shot. You're like, I'm pretty sure that's a Tyrannosaurus Rex femur in this guy's backyard. Like, are you serious right now? Like, there's some crazy roadside things to see, especially when it comes to rocks and bones and probably a lot of crafts, too, right?

[00:13:06.080] - Anne Howard For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:13:08.300] - Tamara Gruber So I guess the point is, like, where do you start? Do you typically would you fly into Phoenix, would you fly into Vegas. Like what is if you're not driving buddy, you know, where do you usually start?

[00:13:20.510] - Anne Howard And even though it seems like we have an advantage because we do have a camper, we actually have have done this road trip in many ways. So while we love RV and can sing those praises, we've also done it as traditional road trips where we stayed in camping camps and some of the historic park lodges. So I think it's actually just as cool a trip either way. So don't feel bad if you don't have an RV if you wanted to try it.

[00:13:43.220] - Anne Howard I think it's an awesome way to do it. But it's also really tricky to camp in national parks. They fill up fast. They're crowded, like sometimes camping in RV and national parks is not the way to go. So I think you could do it whichever way makes you happy, because there are so many charming lodging options and they're not massive distances. So you it's you're going to get to your destination before sunset and check into a into a camp or a hotel.

[00:14:11.030] - Anne Howard So it doesn't have to be that way, even though I am a fan of RV. But I would say if you are going to fly in and rent a car or rent an RV, flying into Vegas just makes a lot of sense. If you from from Vegas, it's like under three hours to Zion and there's plenty of cool things. One, there's Vegas is its own phenomenon. So if you want to spend the night there just for fun, it's it's a great kid friendly place as well.

[00:14:33.860] - Anne Howard But then you to get to Zion in under three hours versus if you came from Phoenix is more like four hours the Grand Canyon. And it's just kind of a slog and it's like Vegas ready for that road trip and you know, people are coming for it. So I that would be my recommendation.

[00:14:49.010] - Kim Tate That's some great advice. And I think, you know, one other tidbit about that is I'll never forget being in Yellowstone and seeing the campers and even though they. Parking for RVs. You know, it seems like sometimes the stress for those guys getting in and out of some of those turnouts, especially when you're looking at the bison further, you know, in Lamar Valley, there was times where you just couldn't get in there. And that's kind of disappointing.

[00:15:12.640] - Kim Tate So I see what you mean about maybe RV's aren't the best for national parks.

[00:15:16.170] - Anne Howard Also that also small, big RV's are not the best for national parks. There are length restrictions on many of these like wonderful winding roads that you want to be on. So if you are going to rent an RV, like keep it under twenty seven feet, we think the smaller the better. We think the perfect size of twenty two because yeah. You'll get boxed out of certain opportunities because of your length.

[00:15:36.750] - Kim Tate Well so we talked about flying into Vegas. You think that that's a good one. So does that mean then you're like there's a certain direction that you take the loop or a certain order that you hit the hit the six parks.

[00:15:46.480] - Anne Howard Yeah. I mean, from there you're going to go to to Zion and then you're going to then is Bryce one of the Highway 12 is absolutely gorgeous, like going along that way. But then as you're going to also be passing through Escalante National Monument, which is massive. So you want to give that some extra time, if you can, before heading into Capitol Reef, then Canyonlands. And then I had my map up and then my computer crashed.

[00:16:12.270] - Anne Howard And I don't have my map in front of me right now.

[00:16:14.230] - Kim Tate And I think it's Arches.

[00:16:16.020] - Anne Howard Then Arches, then Canylonlands. And then down to Grand Canyon. But then once again, you're going to pass through if you're going to go just the straight Google map, fastest way they're going to have you skip major things. You also have an opportunity from Canyonlands to go through Bears Ears National Monument, which is totally underrated. It is an incredible sacred destination for various Native American tribes. So incredible opportunities to see cliff dwellings and petroglyphs.

[00:16:43.110] - Anne Howard And it's not traveled at all. So that's a gem. We actually lived in that area of Utah for two months doing a house that taking care of lots of turkeys and chickens. So and we lived we actually took care of a house for two park rangers. So they knew all the best places. And we had an incredible time. And then once again, they might want to speed you just to get to take the fastest highway. No, you should certainly take the very slight detour to go through Monument Valley, which is the Navajo Nation.

[00:17:10.740] - Anne Howard So, no, that's not a national park. But the equivalent of a Navajo national park is their tribal parks for Monument Valley. The highly recommend that before just racing down the Grand Canyon.

[00:17:22.140] - Tamara Gruber I once drove through Monument Valley at sunset. And it was so magical. I mean, this area is not an area that I've had a chance to explore very much. But I did once, as I've told I think on the podcast before, I had to drive from San Diego to New York City after 9/11, and we were like, it was me and my boss, because we were stranded there.

[00:17:42.990] - Tamara Gruber And we were like, if we're going to drive this way, we're going to see one thing. And so we decided to stop at the Grand Canyon and we basically had lunch, took a couple of pictures and then drove through Monument Valley up to Moab that night. But it was I think it was also that time that I was there that to see nature so beautifully and then the sun, it just it was kind of like a healing type of moment.

[00:18:03.690] - Tamara Gruber But that area, I think a lot of people do kind of skip over and it's yes, definitely beautiful.

[00:18:09.030] - Anne Howard And then actually one of our favorite, totally underrated state parks. I swear no one goes there. It is. And it's right next to to Monument Valley with like a 15 minute detour is called Gooseneck State Park. So everybody knows what Horseshoe Bend looks like. Right. It's probably the screensaver on your Windows PC right now. It's like that look like it's an arch with a river going around this peninsula. And it's stunning. Well, gooseneck is that Horseshoe Bend Times, too.

[00:18:36.990] - Anne Howard So it's a double loop around two peninsulas with this snaking river, Red Rock, turquoise water. It is absolutely stunning. And it's five bucks to go and a million dollar photo op and you can camp there and no one's there that night and they barbecue pits and the whole thing. So that's that's a fun extra that I feel like I wouldn't have known without the help of my Utah Park Ranger friends.

[00:19:00.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And I feel like especially now, like this year, I think is going to be a little bit insane when it comes to going to a lot of these national parks. I mean, I've already seen arches tweeting almost every day that by like ten, eleven they're full. You know, it's something that people are going to get to really plan in advance and hopefully really look for those other kind of opportunities. But I feel like between the desire for everyone to be outside but still travel this year domestically and then Instagram, you know, the fact that, like now I see so many people are talking about, like, I want to go to Goblin or I want to like these different places that I had never heard of until Instagram.

[00:19:37.170] - Tamara Gruber Right. So everyone's trying to get that photo op. Everyone's there at sunset or sunrise or, you know, the craziness of it. And I just, you know, I couldn't stand crowds before. So now I'm probably going to have, like, what's the phobia for crowds? I don't know.

[00:19:49.110] - Anne Howard But that's why I also because that's I feel similarily about national parks and that's why we discovered public lands. For every national park, it's that's like the most protected designation of public lands, but then it it definitely eases up and opens up from there. So I highly encourage people instead of thinking I have to stay at the the National Park campground, look at the surrounding public lands. That means National Forests, Bureau of Land Management, land, and that's all wide open and it's usually free.

[00:20:20.500] - Anne Howard So and there are no crowds and there are some some wonderful apps to find that kind of thing. I Overlander is a great app to find public lands, one of our favorite, which I will share, even though Mike is sort of territorial over it. But I do. I will share it if that you are one a good steward of the land and two, you leave a review because that's what this app lacks, is the community element of like people saying, hey, watch out for the pothole on the right or o sounds.

[00:20:49.240] - Anne Howard That is even better over here. I Overlander has that. But the app and I'm, I tell you, UCPublic CG, which is Ultimate Campgrounds app, is an incredible, incredible resource to discover public lands and camping opportunities. It's like five dollars for the app and it's so worth that. So that is a great way to kind of get out of the fray of summer like the the national park traffic.

[00:21:13.690] - Tamara Gruber So I know you don't want to give up all of your secrets, but since we're talking about these more off the beaten path parks and things that we should see, do you have a few others that you would recommend? That would be if you are looking for alternatives to some of the national parks or even if you can do a longer trip to add in there?

[00:21:32.440] - Anne Howard Yeah, I mean, Escalante, national monument is massive and one of the coolest hikes ever. It's a challenging road to get out there and it's a kind of a typical hike. But I also did it with some friends and they had their little kids with them and they were having the best time ever. So I've seen, like, kids age seven do it. I've seen dogs do it. But please don't bring your dog. It's way too complicated for that.

[00:21:53.290] - Anne Howard But Utah has amazing slot canyon. So no matter what, you can't leave Utah without hiking a slot canyon to the technical one I was describing. It's actually two that come together called spooky and peekaboo canyons. And it's sometimes it's only as wide as a foot. It's crazy. So a slot canyon, basically these sort of sheer walls that have been carved by a river or an erosion over time. And they kind of create this magical play of light and it's like a little bit of rock scrambling.

[00:22:23.410] - Anne Howard And and it really is a full body experience. And it's totally magic for those. That's a more challenging version, another one that is super cool and very easy and family friendly. And just kind of on your way between Bryce and Escalante is called Willis Creek Canyon. Funny enough, we did it with my mom and we were staying at Escalante. It's a great camping camp. That's a really wonderful base for your trip. She's like, oh, do definitely do Willis Creek.

[00:22:54.070] - Anne Howard And she didn't she didn't really mention that it might be frozen. So we were like ice skating there and well, still kind of through the river at one point. But it's only no matter what, it's only like four inches deep. So in the summer, that's going to feel really good. It's a waiting. You're wading through the water at very, very shallow levels. You're not going to worry. That swept away. And then it's maybe like a mile and a half and then, oh, it's like amazing.

[00:23:19.180] - Anne Howard Slot Canyon appears at the end and it's not very crowded and it's it's really special. And that's like an easy detour, peekaboo and spooky or like a life experience and a drive and of itself, but very cool. So do slot canyon no matter what in Utah. Also like this is the land of true adventure. Do a do something big. Don't you see, I love hiking, but you have opportunities to try new things. So maybe it's doing canyoneering in Orderville slot Canyon near Zion or maybe it's doing a four by four trip in Moab because they have some of the best rock off roading in the world.

[00:23:57.700] - Anne Howard Maybe it's doing the scenic flight to kind of get a sense of the geology from above what you can do for many places. But there's a great one that kind of loops over both canyons and arches that you could do another fun things if you can time your trip or with the full moon. Bryce does they have their astronomy rangers and you can do full moon hikes two nights of the month. So and that's a totally unique way to see the park.

[00:24:25.420] - Anne Howard So, yeah, mix it up, try new adventures, be it hiking, getting a boat at some point, strapping yourself in for some canyoneering or hopping in four by four and challenge yourself to do something new.

[00:24:38.400] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's great tips and kind of fun to think beyond, just, you know, like let's look for some fun hikes. You know, it is the adventure and there are soft adventures, you know. You know that you don't have to be, you know, jumping out of an airplane to have some adventures. Yeah.

[00:24:53.880] - Tamara Gruber It's perfect for our teens too right Kim?

[00:24:56.190] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I could see it being much better to kind of having teenagers if you have. They always like to have something unique that's cool and that they can brag about with friends. It's not just we went on a hike so. Yeah. Any other, you know, a must see attractions or experiences you think. I mean we've talked a lot in the past about, you know, we've talked about the Grand Canyon, the big five, house boating even on Lake Powell.

[00:25:20.610] - Kim Tate But do you think there's any highlights that are certainly not to be missed? You've talked, of course, about, you know, getting beyond the beyond the standard, but what do you think are some of the must dos for that area?

[00:25:31.600] - Anne Howard It was good to know that some of these truly iconic things like, say, for example, hiking the narrows, which is up around the Virgin River, is an amazing experience. But it needs a permit. So it's not a big deal is you need to know that certain big adventures need permits, not too many. But like, that's one of the most Instagramable things ever. Why? Because it's that popular. And as a result, you now need a permit.

[00:25:54.450] - Anne Howard So don't let that deter you. But at the same time, like not, everything's always going to be available to you. I think to avoid some of this rush in general, though, is to know what days of the week you're going to like, maybe get your your national parks midweek and your state parks on the weekend and also your time of year. I think we chat about season later, but time of year is going to make a big difference about what things are available to you.

[00:26:19.650] - Anne Howard We actually loved doing these this road trip in the winter when, like, no one's around and you know it like seeing like the red hoodies embrace of the blanket of snow or the layers of the Grand Canyon like feathered with white. It's an unbelievable. So I wouldn't rule out I don't want my neck to rush to do it this summer when it's the hottest. Like you can hurry up. Actually, spring is a great time to do it. And spring and winter, our favorite times to go to beat some of the crowds and actually see some more unique things.

[00:26:47.880] - Anne Howard More water runs in the spring. More flowers come out in spring.

[00:26:51.780] - Tamara Gruber I'm really glad to hear you say that about winter because there's been so many times where we've talked about doing it as like our we have a spring break in March. That's two weeks. And we're always like, is it going to be too cold or not? And dances are usually we'll head off somewhere internationally, but obviously not now. But is that what we were actually thinking, like, well, hey, maybe next year we can try to do it for March break.

[00:27:15.660] - Tamara Gruber So if it if it's going to be nice in mid-March, it's still pleasant, you know, where you can still access everything. That sounds ideal to me.

[00:27:24.360] - Anne Howard Yeah. And most of these areas like heat up during the day, they might drop in the morning at night, but it's usually pretty much always hiking weather. You disappear, maybe dress a little. And we actually saw the Grand Canyon in a blizzard, a straight blizzard. And but we had we actually had booked a room at the Bright Angel Lodge on the rim. Actually, that not that was luck. That happened to be one room left. And we took it and we woke up to just the sunniest Grand Canyon, all fluffy white.

[00:27:49.980] - Anne Howard It was absolutely unreal. So I was like, what a benefit. We had seen the Grand Canyon the summer. I was like, wow, you can't beat winter. This is unreal. So, yeah, don't let nature deter you all year round is actually quite good. I'd say summer is probably the least desirable time to go. But hey, if that's what your schedule allows for kids, vacations, whatever, if you can make it work.

[00:28:09.400] - Kim Tate Are there any do you think there's any, you know of the hikes of I mean I'm thinking about of course, Big five a little bit, but were there any hikes that you feel like you have to get there early or do you have to make time for this one? Because the the views are just epic? Or do you or do you feel like maybe there's a hike in, say, because I've seen like Bryce, it looks very different than arches, you know?

[00:28:32.610] - Kim Tate So do you are there any that you're like, yeah, take your time, make sure you do get out and see this or anything like that.

[00:28:39.960] - Anne Howard I see. Well, I mean, say in arches like hiking the devil's garden, if you can't do the whole park, what you know, if you're really crunched for time. Well, Devil's Garden has the largest concentration of natural arches in the world. So, like, that's some place to prioritize. But, you know, all of these parks, like our like Zion isn't that big a place. Arches isn't that big a place. Canyonlands is a massive place.

[00:29:04.200] - Anne Howard And actually, Canyonlands is good to know that it's not one entrance. You actually it's almost two totally separate parks. So know that in your planning that the island in the sky in the north end near Moab is like hours away actually from the other end. The needle section, the needle section is actually less traveled and a really lovely and actually I'd say in general and needles is a good place to do this, but throughout is make sure you spend some time understanding, like the Native American history that goes with all of these places, because, of course, the geology says.

[00:29:38.220] - Anne Howard Eye popping, but really there's there's incredible narratives from various, you know, from ancestral Pueblo ones to the more contemporary Navajo who are who hold these places as sacred and who left their mark in their own way. So like, say, for example, when you're driving the the long road needles to get to the section of Canyonlands newspaper Rock is a quick little stop. But you could certainly miss it if you're not paying attention. And it shows petroglyphs dating back two thousand years and starting with ancestral lines.

[00:30:11.910] - Anne Howard But then, like other groups have layered on and layered on so called newspaper because like literally like kind of putting the news as time goes on on this rock. So it was incredible concentration of petroglyphs that actually are go pretty close to print. So it's very interesting the how different groups, you know, what they're what their symbols were and and spending some time learning about that also on the ancestral puebloan and sort of Native American history of the area.

[00:30:42.180] - Anne Howard Bear Ears there's one place called there's many places, but the Butler Wash ruins is very easily accessible just off the road. And that's where you get to see amazing cliff dwellings from like the twelve hundreds. So it's so cool to see almost like a city in the rocks and in Mesa Verde National Park is an example of that in Colorado, the canyon all the way to Colorado on this trip. We'll know that you can also do it in Utah.

[00:31:05.730] - Kim Tate That's fabulous tips. I think that's good. And I think that's what more people need to be willing to do to help with the overcrowding that we're experiencing in our national parks is you know, I appreciate you guys being such a great voice for that of recognizing, like you said, the heritage of these lands and then also, you know, getting beyond just the borders and the national park entrance and looking for the stories that are around those areas, too.

[00:31:28.110] - Anne Howard Yeah, absolutely. And one thing another way to kind of beat the crowds. And I will shamelessly plug that. We we wrote a book about camping and but it's because we're really passionate about this way to experience the outdoors. And I think particularly when it comes to this sort of everyone checking the same camp or the national parks or trying to be at the historic lodge, they offer great opportunities to places to look into. Under canvas is the most known, but they've kind of built their model about finding the public lands and building their beautiful safari tents just outside the national park.

[00:32:05.050] - Anne Howard So you can get that serenity again. They are more they are higher end or I'd say a higher price point, rather. But another really amazing company who's doing something similar at a more at a lower price point. Equally awesome is called Wunder Camp. And they have a series of camps that are around some of these national parks to where they're setting up tents and helping you kind of set up so that you could be they had various programing. So it could be you're doing the cooking or they're doing the cooking.

[00:32:35.460] - Anne Howard But that's that's a great way to be outdoors. And, yeah, I think I just think life is such a cool way to get in touch with nature and have that serenity and meet the crowds and try something different.

[00:32:46.650] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I agree. Kim and I have both stated under canvas what can you've been outside a glacier and Yellowstone and I was outside of Mt. Rushmore. And I love that experience. I mean, I've never been drawn to camping as much because I love my bathrooms and things like that. So I really like this kind of in-between world of camping. And it it's just such a unique experience that even if you don't do it for the your entire trip, just to do it for a few nights and have that experience, it really it makes things stand out.

[00:33:14.850] - Tamara Gruber It's very memorable, certainly much more memorable than, you know, staying at the Holiday Inn or whatever. So. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we've talked a lot about some of the off the beaten path things. And I feel like one of the things that I know I struggle with and I think a lot of people do is letting go of something like, you know, everyone does this and you feel like this pressure like this.

[00:33:38.580] - Tamara Gruber Well, I have to get that picture, too. How can I come back from this trip and not have a picture of Horseshoe Bend or, you know, like some of these things, like you feel this pressure of like, I must do all the things and I'm just wondering, like, what are some of the ones that people feel are so like, you have to do this. You have to do the narrows or, you know, something else that you would say, you know what?

[00:33:58.950] - Tamara Gruber You really don't have to like you're not going to be missing anything. It's OK if you let that one go. Are there any that you think maybe are worth leaving off the list and to be able to fit in some of these other great experiences that you've talked about?

[00:34:12.430] - Anne Howard You know, like, say, for example, we were we showed my mom part of the Grand Circle, actually, we did the complete grand circle with her over the course of two trips and then we wanted to pack and that a lot that day and went to Bryce. And I really need to do the full 18 miles. It's in it's an in and out, so it's not a loop. So you're making the choice to go all the way out that way and turn around like the best of us, really on the front end.

[00:34:37.060] - Anne Howard So not just because it's not fabulous and you have all day go for it and you're going to it's going to get less crowded as you go. There is a benefit to completing, but that's one small example of like, you know, you don't need to do the full thing to feel like you've achieved the goal. And also knowing that when you hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you need to hike back up. So be very aware of how that it's going to make your body feel because you probably haven't hike straight down and then straight up to that degree ever in your life and you are going to feel it.

[00:35:08.980] - Anne Howard So not to say you can't do it, but know that you might just be really sore. And once whatever you do, it's hot and it's you need to be packing your own water and to plan for life pretty extreme. So it's it's more than a mile deep, but it's a mile like you've never experienced before switchbacks. So it's more than a mile. So. Yeah. So really weigh in your mind if you need to go to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and plan accordingly, because it's going to take you all day and you might with kids, you don't want to be stuck in the dark and not make it back in time.

[00:35:41.230] - Anne Howard So take that with a real cautionary tale.

[00:35:45.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's a great tip, so we will wrap up and just ask if there's any final tips that you think people should consider. I was just thinking, you know, when you were talking that maybe this is a perfect kind of trip to make sure that you look into maybe buying a annual national parks pass, but maybe also Utah State Parks pass as well. I don't know if they offer it, but might be kind of a good idea. But do you have any tips for families that are thinking of planning this Southwest Grand Circle Road trip?

[00:36:12.120] - Anne Howard Yeah, mean, I think it's just so great the national parks pass with 80 dollars. And if it just inspires any other trip in your year, it's certainly worth buying because it encompasses like hundreds of sites that gets you in for free. And it's just 100 percent do that. And it spurs our park system, which I think is great. Utah State Park Pass is actually a really good tip. I can't tell you specifics on that, but probably worth it.

[00:36:35.190] - Anne Howard And we are big fans of the book, two National Geographic Books, one that's called Secrets to the National Parks and another one that is the scenic Highways and Byways book, which covers the Southwest in great detail, much less the entire country. We reference that book every time we take a big drive. It's fantastic. And then actually we wrote two books, so Ultimate Journeys four two that's published by National Geographic as well. We we love the Southwest and we have various sections.

[00:37:06.930] - Anne Howard We go in super detail on MOAB, which is the home of of Arches and Canyonlands, and then we have a different Southwest road trip. Sections of that could be a great resource for you and also supports us. And it's a really great book. And and then, as we said comfortably, while others are glad book, which has got a lot of SWS options to.

[00:37:24.590] - Kim Tate Perfect. We'll definitely link to those in the show notes. Thanks, guys.

[00:37:28.850] - Tamara Gruber So now for maybe an easier question, I don't know. But it's a question that we ask all of our guests, and that is, what do you wear when you travel? It's hard for you because you guys are always traveling. But so maybe we should focus it on the Southwest. What would you recommend? What is your go to gear when you're doing one of these kind of road trips?

[00:37:47.000] - Anne Howard Oh, my God, you need good hat. You need some strong sun, some incredibly strong sun. You need that, like wide brim, full ball caps. Not going to cut it like you need a proper sun hat. And yeah, knowing that the temperature swing is massive from morning to night. So, yes, layers being key. And I'm not a close person really. It's hard for me. I like, you know, since I literally drive with my closet, I have all things with me at all times.

[00:38:15.860] - Anne Howard So like I've become a terrible packer because like I always have everything with me. But yes, it's a hot place and, you know, hydrating and some coverage and all that is like more important than ever.

[00:38:26.780] - Kim Tate Do you have any favorite, like, shoes that you guys like to wear that works well for various rock shopping and hiking?

[00:38:35.090] - Anne Howard Yeah, I mean, these are a little heavier, but I think they look cool without looking. They don't. They are they're heavy duty. Then they look and they're kind of like Mike, even worse is like jeans and it still looks good. A solo makes a really great, sturdy hiking boot that's actually like not so clunky and aesthetically pleasing. So that's that's great. They have women's and men's. So in the market for any boots I'm probably will get well is the next round.

[00:38:58.370] - Anne Howard And I have these leggings that I swear by because now I'm discovered leggings can have pockets and I really just want like carry all my stuff, like to put a phone in my pocket, a little bit of money as needed. And even your car keys like without having to feel like you're jingling, jangling and things are being knocked around. Is this brand called Kyodan? And they are so soft and they have deep pockets. So I kind of tend to wear those when I hike.

[00:39:30.450] - Kim Tate Great, that sounds awesome, thanks so much for joining us and why don't you let our listeners know where they can find you guys online and follow along on your adventures?

[00:39:39.090] - Anne Howard Yeah, thanks so much. Has been really, really nice to you podcast. So we are we are we I say we my husband Mike and I with our couples travel blog is called Honey Trek. So Trek, like a long walk around the world and we are all over the place, but it's at Honey Trek across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, wherever you like to hang out. And Honey Trek is also sort of the hub of our our nine years on the road and glamping tips and road trip.

[00:40:07.080] - Anne Howard We have a lot of road trip content in general, and it's also where you can get signed copies of our books for gifts or for your own collection.

[00:40:15.600] - Tamara Gruber That's perfect. Thank you so much. We'll link to those in the show notes and you know where you're going to be after Mexico.

[00:40:22.110] - Anne Howard We bought a one way ticket. I don't want to be in Mexico where the camper is parked in Northern California. So, yeah, I mean, the trajectory. Might we kind of follow the seasons to we are going to probably head more north. Check out the far reaches of Northern California, which I think most people don't get to. Maybe check out Lassen Volcanic National Park, and the sort of the wild north of California and maybe into Idaho.

[00:40:47.070] - Tamara Gruber Good. Well, have safe travels and thank you again.

[00:40:50.580] - Anne Howard Yeah. Thanks so much.

[00:40:55.800] - Tamara Gruber We are back and thanks again for listening. And if you do have any questions for us or, you know, travel advice that you need, just a reminder to send in a message, a podcast@vacationmavens.com or talk to us on social media.

[00:41:09.390] - Kim Tate And in the meantime, tune in in another two weeks, because I'm going to be sharing all about my Oregon to California coast road trip and sharing kind of some of the things we did along the way. So stay tuned for that. Can't wait.

View Details

Sometimes we want to avoid technology when we travel, but other times tech can actually make travel easier and more enjoyable. Stay tuned this week as we chat with Scott Tharler, The Family CTO, to get his recommendations for family travel.

About Scott Tharler Married with three children, Scott Tharler is a gadget expert with over 20 years of experience writing consumer technology columns for Club Life Magazine, Gear Patrol, Maxim, Fodor's Travel, American Airlines and many others. He’s performed live gadget demonstrations on TV and radio, as well as for public schools and libraries, and at private companies and retreats. And this past fall, Scott launched The Family CTO, a new kind of gadget site to help you enhance your digital lifestyle with fun, practical gadgets.

To hear the latest episode of The Family CTO podcast, just ask your smart speaker to “play The Family CTO podcast.” Or find and stream the show on your preferred podcast platform. If you’d like to see all sorts of helpful tech solution roundups, reviews and buying guides—or ask Scott a gadget-related question—head over to TheFamilyCTO.com.

You can also follow Scott on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Travel Tech Recommendations This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission.

• RoadTrippers is great for discovering roadside attractions and local recommendations.
• AllTrails is helpful to find hiking trails and read reviews and see pictures from real people.
• GasBuddy is helpful for finding gas stations, especially those that have cheaper prices.
• Scosche FrescheAir portable HEPA air filter is great for getting rid of odors on long road trips.
• The Calm App is helpful for providing sleep sounds or helping you get to sleep at night when in a new place (or at home)
• For road trips, it helps to have a reliable stand for your phone, especially if you are using it for GPS. Scott recommends the GoDonut, which is a little round phone or tablet stand.
• Iottie is a dash or windshield phone mount with Amazon Alexa built in.
• Wilson Electronics WeBoost is a cell signal booster for cars.
• Eggtronic Power Bar is a battery that allows you to wirelessly recharges two phones and a watch at once.
• QuietOn Sleep Earbuds offer active noise canceling to drown out noise when trying to sleep in a hotel room.
• Loop Earplugs are not electronic, but they naturally attenuates concerts and loud noises and are also good for sleeping.
• Bringing along a Roku Streaming Stick+ or an Amazon Fire stick will help provide entertainment in the hotel room if the TV has a port that you can plug into.
• Nomatic accessories such as the wallet and Navigator Tech Organizer are useful for storing cords and accessories.
• Twelve South AirFly Pro is a 2-way Bluetooth headphones adapter for connecting two headphones / AirPods to one device.
• Puro Sound Labs has volume limiting Bluetooth kids’ headphones.
• Pictar Pro Grip is a smartphone grip, charger, and remote shutter which is great for using your phone as a camera.
• Insta360 Go 2 is a tiny action cam
• Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD is a small wireless drive for storing extra photos. You can put the SD card from your camera into it and it will automatically back up your photos. And because it is wireless you can share it with others.
• SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C is a good back up for Android phones and the SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Go is good for backing up iPhones.
• Inrix Driving App is a good traffic monitoring app that if you plan ahead, you it will tell you the best time to go and during your trip, it shows you the best route.
• ScottEVest offers great tech-oriented travel clothes with lots of pockets.
• SkyHour lets you donate or save money toward flight time.
• ACBC offers zip travel shoes for men that lets you change out the top of the shoe.
• Link Flip-shoes is a topless, no thong flip flop.

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Tate Gadgets and gizmos galore today, we're talking about family travel tech.

[00:00:16.760] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.640] - Tamara Gruber So Kim we're both back from our road trips.

[00:00:34.100] - Kim Tate And I don't know why I'm cheering that. I kind of want to be back on it.

[00:00:39.020] - Tamara Gruber Don't tell your husband that. But I'm wondering, we were going a long time. You were gone a long time. Did you find any, like tech or apps or things that you found really useful on this trip?

[00:00:51.620] - Kim Tate Yes, I actually have some good things to mention. And so this is perfect timing. I think I'll start with the app thing because there are two apps that I use tons.

[00:01:01.010] - Kim Tate And the first one was called Road Trippers. And we've talked I think we've talked about road trippers in the past. And I know you and I did a giveaway of a road trippers plus membership, which I think is pretty affordable. It's I want to say twenty four dollars a year, if that sounds right. I don't know if that sounds right to you.

[00:01:18.380] - Kim Tate So they actually gave me a complimentary one to try out. And so I thought, OK, I'm planning this massive trip. And we went basically from the Oregon coast all the way down the coast of Northern California and then kind of ducked inland and went down to stay at a friend's guest house for a while. And so I planned the whole trip with this road trippers plus.

[00:01:37.310] - Kim Tate And I absolutely loved it. It was cool. I think using the app is better. At first I started just using it on my desktop, like on through a Web browser, and once I installed the app, using on your phone is way easier, but it just helps you, you know, map your route and find little that kind of like roadside attractions.

[00:01:57.230] - Kim Tate But there's some really cool stuff on there. And like there was this one part where it was like a scenic byway. And I thought, oh, that's cool. So I added it to my itinerary. And then I looked on alltrails and found a hike to go with it. So that's the other app I used was on this trip. A lot that I recommend is all trails, but yeah. So Road Trippers Plus was just cool because it people can also add photos.

[00:02:18.230] - Kim Tate And so you really get a sense of like because one was like the largest totem pole and I thought, well that's pretty cool, like my girls might like that. But then when I looked at the photos I was like, yeah, it seems kind of like a cheesy tourist stop.

[00:02:29.330] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Like you've been to Vancouver.

[00:02:31.520] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Like so so we skipped that, you know. So that's the idea is that it has some of those things. But also, you know, I finally decided on this trip, I wanted to do a drive thru tree and so I went and I got to see like what the drive through. There was three of them that are kind of the main ones that I know about. And I looked at the pictures and then also read the reviews and what people said. And it helped me decide that, like, OK, we're going to do this one that's in Klamath.

[00:02:55.940] - Kim Tate And so I really liked it for that sort of stuff because it is user generated content. So I loved that there's reviews about the spots and, you know, sometimes there's good photos and you really get a feel for it.

[00:03:07.160] - Tamara Gruber So that is what I like about all trails. You know that you can really get a sense of what you're going to see and how hard it is and things. And then, yeah. So it's nice to see it has that kind of community because I haven't done the plus a pro version, but I did look at it on my desktop when I was planning my trip, but then I ran out like the free version only has like so many stops or something.

[00:03:26.150] - Kim Tate Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:26.840] - Tamara Gruber But I did see like we were going to drive past the what's it called. The Oh gosh. What's that movie. The baseball movie with Kevin Costner. Field Dreams. we're going to drive past that site. So I was like, oh Glenn. Like what else are we going to be in this corner of Iowa to, like, drive past that? Would you want to go? But then it turns out they were closed in March.

[00:03:44.540] - Kim Tate Oh, no, that happened to us. We wanted to go to the Martinelli cider tasting that we've done before, actually. And I was like, oh, I'm going to add that on there. But yeah, they were closed. They're not doing it right now. So I was like, oh, bummer.

[00:03:56.060] - Kim Tate But anyways, yeah. So I definitely if you're looking for new app, I think road trippers and paying for the plus, like Tamara said, you get to have as many stops as you want and so you can use it if you just want five stops and so you can get a feel for it and then you can really decide.

[00:04:12.110] - Kim Tate But using the app, like if you're doing planning on your iPad or your iPhone is the key. So that was the one thing.

[00:04:17.960] - Kim Tate And then, like you already said, all trails is huge. And I actually use that. It was so cool because we found we were driving through Oregon and I realized kind of the timing. It was a nasty, nasty day. And so the day I was going to do this big and didn't stop, it was gross. It was so windy and gross.

[00:04:35.270] - Kim Tate And I said, well, there's no point in us going because we're just going to be cold and miserable. And so then the next day, I was looking that night on trails and trying to find hikes, you know, along this stretch we were going to be doing and I found a dune, you know, a dune hike. And it was this random, like I never would have known where it was. It was like John P. Duganhim trailhead or something like that.

[00:04:58.940] - Kim Tate And I wouldn't have known to go there. And sure enough, it was a tiny parking lot, probably ten cars. And we parked and we we hiked maybe a quarter of a mile in.

[00:05:07.520] - Kim Tate And then all of a sudden we came out to this amazing, huge, like massive felt like the Arabian desert sand dunes. So awesome. Yeah, and if it wouldn't have been for all trails and just kind of looking and like you said, you know, being able to see the photos that people have submitted and really getting a feel like I like all trails because it shows you like the actual route and it gives you the distance.

[00:05:29.490] - Kim Tate So you can see like, oh, it's a loop, it's not back and it's just it works really well. And then it has a really cool, like getting there section for most of the trails, not all of them. And it helps you.

[00:05:39.870] - Kim Tate Like I said, it helped me go OK, right after the city. I need to kind of be looking because there's this campground. It's the turns right after that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:48.360] - Tamara Gruber So that sounds fun. So any other tech or apps that you used?

[00:05:52.560] - Kim Tate Yeah. So another app, one more app. And then I have one tech thing. So another app that I loved was called Gas Buddy and I've heard of that before and I know I used it in the olden days like when it first came out, but I actually got it again and I found it really useful on a road trip because I actually ended up using Costco gas stations a lot.

[00:06:10.140] - Kim Tate And same with Fred Meyer because we're Costco members. And like at one place, we saved 30 cents per gallon by just driving a mile down the road and going to a Costco instead. And so, you know, I mean, it's not always worth it, but at 30 cents a gallon, it saved us about five or six bucks. So it was worth the little one mile down the road type thing.

[00:06:28.440] - Kim Tate But I think gas buddy's just great because you can really see that, oh, in this city, should I fill up now where our hotel is or should we get on the road for an hour and then fill up? Because I'm I kind of like to keep my gas really full, especially when I'm traveling on my own. Yeah. I'm like, once it gets below a half a tank, I'm like, okay, keep my eyes open, you know, where's where's the next gas fill up?

[00:06:48.000] - Kim Tate I'm going to do so anyways. But yes, a gas buddy was good. And then the one piece of tech that I absolutely loved and like full disclosure, these guys sent me this item by skosh and I got it from CES, which took place virtually in January.

[00:07:02.340] - Kim Tate It's called The Fresh Air HEPA Air Purifier. It's an air purifier that's like a cylinder. So it almost is like a coffee tumbler type thing. And it actually fits perfectly like in a cup holder in a car.

[00:07:14.190] - Kim Tate And I was wondering, I'm like, OK, how much use are my going to get on this? But we're going on a road trip. So I said, sure, send it to me, I'll try it out.

[00:07:20.820] - Kim Tate And it was so useful for these days of like eating in the car, because I will admit we ate McDonald's a couple of times and then one time we actually got like fish in the car, like fish and chips and coleslaw, and we're eating it in the car. And even though you throw the garbage away, your car still kind of stinks. And I turn this thing on after we would eat. And it really worked like it was amazing. And then the next morning, because almost every day for me, I have a really sensitive nose.

[00:07:46.140] - Kim Tate And so. Yeah. So you know how you park in the hotel and like, you don't really notice it because you've been in the car the whole day.

[00:07:51.750] - Kim Tate But then you go sleep in the hotel and then you come out the next morning, you open your car and you're like, OK, yeah, it smells like fish or McDonald's or whatever. I did not experience that on this trip at all. And so I think this thing really helps. So anyway, that's my one piece of advice

[00:08:05.220] - Tamara Gruber We ate in the car a ton also because it was just safer and I told Hannah, she's going to turn into a chicken nugget because they're going to start, like, calling her Nugget. I think we had more fast food in those two weeks than we've had like the last two years. It was crazy, but it's just easier and honestly, like it felt safer, like some of those kind of things. So, yeah, usually I would love to do all the local stuff, but we didn't this time, so I could have used that for sure.

[00:08:30.540] - Kim Tate Yeah, it's and I mean it is, I think it's, I think it's ninety nine dollars so it's not cheap, cheap. But if you do spend a lot of time in the car, I was, I was impressed with it. I felt like it worked. So I'm just thinking also like after picking up kids from athletic practice might be good.

[00:08:46.080] - Tamara Gruber Definitely. Yeah, for sure. So I remember even when we were we were talking a couple of years ago about that road trip that you took out West with like a bunch of teenagers near like.

[00:08:56.910] - Kim Tate Yes. Their feet. Yes. Yes, I remember that. Yeah. Perfect timing for, like, you know, summer road trips with teens.

[00:09:05.130] - Tamara Gruber Well, those are definitely good recommendations. I would feel like we didn't use nearly as much, although I will say that I lived with the Calm App because I needed that to for background noise, for sleeping.

[00:09:18.510] - Tamara Gruber And I also tried I think we're going to talk about this when we get into our interview. But I did just get some air pod pros and they're supposed to be noise canceling. But let me tell you, it's not quite enough to block out my husband's snoring. And the other thing is I didn't realize how short their time frame was because I used to have, like, the Bose sleep buds and they would last night. So these like go, they stop, they run out of battery at like six hours or so.

[00:09:44.220] - Tamara Gruber And so I would find myself like waking up and then I would take them out and I would like put them in the, you know, in the charger and like just like kind of like doze a little bit, hold it in my hand for a while. Then when, like, it always seemed the time of morning when Glenn got really loud.

[00:09:58.440] - Tamara Gruber So then I would put him back in for like another hour or so, like I need to charge these things. But the calm app at least, you know, like, well, it does do some calming. I actually enjoy it for sleeping, but I like the this kind of the sounds that they have.

[00:10:12.120] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, that was really my only thing, although I definitely need. Those little tinier, you know, earplug things that go in the ear, yes, these things definitely still hurt as a side sleeper.

[00:10:23.400] - Kim Tate So, yeah, I, I couldn't handle that because like you said, I'm a side sleeper, so.

[00:10:28.950] - Tamara Gruber Well, I know that Scott has a lot of other recommendations for us, so why don't we jump over and start chatting with him and find out what other tech he has to recommend.

[00:10:45.960] - Tamara Gruber So today we're here with Scott Tharler, and he's a gadget expert with over 20 years of experience writing consumer technology columns for Club Life magazine gear patrol Maxim, Fodor's Travel, American Airlines and others. He's also performed live gadget demonstrations on TV and radio, as well as for public schools and libraries.

[00:11:03.900] - Tamara Gruber And this past fall, Scott also launched the Family CTO, which is a new kind of gadget site which helps you enhance your digital lifestyle with fun and practical gadgets. So welcome, Scott.

[00:11:14.340] - Scott Tharler Hey, thanks for having me here.

[00:11:16.110] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's nice to talk to a gadget guy because I think, you know, I know Kim has reviewed quite a bit of gear in the past, you know, on her website. And I come from a tech background. So I think we both have that in our brains, which is probably why we started podcasting together, too.

[00:11:32.820] - Kim Tate Yeah, I'm excited. I've always kind of been an early adopter, too, which my husband hates because he he never buys the first iteration of something. He always waits a little longer. And I'm sort of getting into his line of thinking, but I still like having the brand new gadget.

[00:11:46.860] - Scott Tharler Well, there's something nice about having something that helps you out when you need it most. And I'm so into travel tech because that's it's the whole reason I got into gadgets. It's when you want something to help you enjoy stuff more or you want to make sure that you're connected and whatever that means to you, tech can help you on your trip.

[00:12:07.980] - Tamara Gruber So before we jump into some specific tech recommendations, can you tell us a little bit about, like, your family and how did you get into tech as a career?

[00:12:17.740] - Scott Tharler Sure, well, I'm married with three kids, they are 10, eight and four, which is they are interesting ages. I think every age is an interesting age, but those are interesting as they're starting to get to those preteen and teen years.

[00:12:32.410] - Scott Tharler I got into gadgets, I guess I was always into watches. I first started getting into watches, probably when I was about my kids' age. I was like eight or ten and I had a fancy watch that could not only digitally tell you the time, but the seconds. And it had an alarm like that's what passed for fancy back then. And from there that was like my gateway drug to gadgets. I had watches that could tell you the temperature, that had a calculator that played games that could dial the phone.

[00:13:04.540] - Scott Tharler And it's very funny now because I don't even wear a watch now. But watches were kind of how I got into it because I just love the idea of always having some tech with me.

[00:13:13.960] - Kim Tate That's cool. I was always jealous. I was not a Swatch kid. I wanted a Swatch, but my family couldn't afford one. So when you speak of watches, I kind of have these flashbacks to my nervousness of people who own the Swatch watches. And I remember playing Snake on a couple watch I had at some point.

[00:13:34.300] - Scott Tharler Yeah, there's definitely some Swatch envy out there, but I, I still look at watches. I'm jealous of my kids because now their watches have cameras and stuff built in and apps and they're listening to music from them and stuff like I literally couldn't have even dreamed of back then.

[00:13:51.940] - Kim Tate So we know that Tamara and I, we love tech and we're definitely into it. And so we're definitely excited about this and helping our listeners learn a little more about maybe some cool travel tech.

[00:14:02.650] - Kim Tate So outside of your phone, what do you think is the best tech gadget that somebody could bring with them when they're traveling?

[00:14:10.500] - Scott Tharler You know, it's a tough one because there's so many, you know, on some level, I'm I'm almost disappointed if I don't get stopped going through TSA because it's like, dude, I have so many things with me, I'm going to say something disappointing. My most favorite gadget is just my brain, because I am always thinking, like, OK, what am I going to be doing?

[00:14:31.380] - Scott Tharler How am I going to be using this? And so what winds up happening is there's not just one special gadget, but I take a lot of time to pack cords and adapters and accessories to make sure that I have what I need so that if I'm in the car, you know, OK, we're going to be renting a car. So I'm going to want to bring a car adapter so I can charge my stuff in the car or I want an audio, Jack, so I can make sure that if I want to play something from the TV in this place that we're staying at, that I can play it on this.

[00:15:06.060] - Scott Tharler So it tends to be more functional stuff. And I start packing. My wife will say, like, oh, are you packed already? I'm like, yeah, yeah. I just need to throw some clothes in a bag. Like I always have trousers.

[00:15:20.910] - Scott Tharler It's always electronics first because I really it's like when you pack you think, what am I going to be doing? I'm going to be going hiking. So I need comfortable shoes, comfortable socks and a water bottle and a hat. I do the same thing, but I think I want to make sure that my water bottle has a sensor on it to tell me that I'm drinking enough water. And given that we're going to be hiking, I'll probably want to bring a three hundred and sixty degree camera so that I can take pictures of everything around me and really get some great panoramic shots.

[00:15:50.820] - Tamara Gruber So you're not a minimalist, I think is what you're saying when it comes to to travel?

[00:15:55.980] - Scott Tharler I, I try to be I'm in theory. Well, when I'm packing, I'm not a minimalist. I have all sorts of redundancy when I'm packing. But when I actually go out. Yeah. I don't want to be schlepping around. You know, if we're at a waterfall in a state park, I want to be enjoying the waterfall. I don't want to be fumbling through my bag looking for just the right stand or just the right camera, just the right anything. It's important to know when to put your gadgets down and actually just enjoy where you are.

[00:16:25.730] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's a great point.

[00:16:26.930] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, and there's only so much you can fit in your bag, I always find, like I finally ended up selling my drone because I found I was always trying to bring, like, a tripod, my camera, the drone, all the cords, your laptop, you know, like ever your GoPro for the actual shots and too much stuff.

[00:16:45.090] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. But anyway, I thought it would be helpful if we kind of break it down into different kinds of travel when we're talking about family travel and see, you know, maybe some of your recommendations for that type of environment, you know, what will help us in, you know, different types of travel environments. So maybe we can start with road trips since a lot of people are doing those right now. Do you have any tech gadgets that you would really recommend for people going on a road trip?

[00:17:08.120] - Tamara Gruber And I say this, Kim and I are both, you know, have big road trips coming up, so.

[00:17:12.720] - Scott Tharler So the first one I mentioned is a car adapter. There are plenty of ones where there are very small ones that can charge to a USB like a regular if you have your charging cord with you and they can do a USB, see if you have that kind of a device. So I would look for something small that can charge multiple devices at once.

[00:17:34.020] - Scott Tharler And then also I think stands are important things that hold your phone or your tablet in place. I just got this really interesting one called a go donut, and I do not like the name of it, but it is actually it's like four inches across. I'm actually holding one right now and it's like the size of a donut. And then it has these slits in there that allow you to put your phone or tablet at different angles. And so you could put this on, say, the armrest and then everybody in the back seat is watching something.

[00:18:05.640] - Scott Tharler So that's cool. There are other ones out there that are more they would keep it more secure. So if you're bouncing all over the place, you don't have to worry about it going. This is I mean, it's pretty steady, but there are other things that I bring along that are more like a clamp that clamps on to one end and then it clamps your phone into place.

[00:18:24.180] - Kim Tate Yeah, I've seen those that, like, clamp onto the headrest and then lock in the phone. And I've always felt like those were a little safe, you know, nice. A little bit of a safety in case there was an accident or something. You don't have this projectile flying around.

[00:18:35.580] - Scott Tharler Yeah, you don't. You want as a rule, you want like the fewest number of things flying around the cabin. So there's actually one there's a company called Iotti and I'll send you a link and we can put it in the show notes. But they have this it looks sort of like a charging stand, but it's a suction cup that goes to an arm and holds your phone in place. And it actually has Alexa built in. And so you have your Amazon smart assistant with you in the phone, in the car, and then you basically just tell in the app, the Alexa app, that you want this to work.

[00:19:12.060] - Scott Tharler So I know that whenever we go someplace, we go to an Airbnb or a hotel or whatever, the kids feel like they're more at home. If Alexa is there and I'm not going to bring the Alexa speaker everywhere we go, but it's nice to know if you're in the car, you can say, hey, Alexa, how far are we from the nearest restaurant or whatever? And it's a it's a hands free thing. So you don't have to worry about, you know, fumbling with your phone or your tablet while you're driving.

[00:19:40.140] - Tamara Gruber I wish I had something like that when my daughter was little and she would just ask so many questions when we were driving. And I was always like, why don't you write that down in your notebook and we'll look that up when we get home because mommy didn't know the answers.

[00:19:53.610] - Scott Tharler Yeah, there are so many ways of passing the time. And I think, you know, I think gadgets are one way, but I like the fact that my kids are getting old enough that we can do all sorts of fun word games and math games and more of like the kind of things that I would do as a kid to pass the time when I wasn't we didn't have phones or anything like we didn't even read in the car. It was just sort of playing games.

[00:20:17.910] - Scott Tharler And so there's part of that. But for people who do use their phones and tablets a lot, it's good to have something like we boost, which is basically it boosts your cellular. So if you're going to be driving and getting, you know, a change of scenery, you could be going through some parts that you're only getting one or two bars. And so it's good to know that you have connectivity. And so there are things that are it's either a stand that you put your phone in or it could be something that boosts several devices, like whatever devices are in the car so that you always have cellular service.

[00:20:53.700] - Scott Tharler And I think that's a good one for people who are thinking about road trips. That's really cool.

[00:20:58.680] - Kim Tate Yeah. Especially as since so many of us rely on our phone GPS and you have those little moments where it's like, I can't find you any longer and you're driving along hoping that you're not going to miss a turn. Yeah, yeah.

[00:21:09.810] - Tamara Gruber It looks like you're driving through outer space or you're off the road.

[00:21:14.640] - Kim Tate Anything else about road trips?

[00:21:17.130] - Scott Tharler Road trips are interesting because it's not like when you're flying, you think I want to bring the fewest number of things possible and things need to be light. When you're bringing stuff on a road trip, then that's when I would think about bringing a drone instead of, you know, a different camera. So there are drones that sometimes I'll bring a drone along.

[00:21:39.390] - Scott Tharler It's not like an always thing. But I do think that there's some things that you think like, oh, I'll I'll just put this in the back and then if I use it, it's OK. Coolers are a good example. Actually, it's funny because they're not really super techie, but I started to write a piece about Cooler's because I love the the family CTO is all about the lifestyle and like, what are you doing? What problem are you solving?

[00:22:02.760] - Scott Tharler And there are a lot of different colors. And I didn't know until I did the research that in this article I'm going over like ten different kinds of cooler's. So, for instance, you might have a backpack cooler if you're going hiking, you might have something where it's more about the kind that you put when you're rolling onto the beach. So you want to make sure it has good wheels that go in the sand or there might be a different kind that does better for ice retention if you're going out camping.

[00:22:29.900] - Scott Tharler And so it really depends on the kind of trip. And so for all of these gadgets, it's thinking about what are you going to do and how can the technology serve you rather than how do I get 100 gadgets into my car? It's really thinking about the the purpose of the gadgets.

[00:22:47.780] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think you have to think also quickly about Coolers. We have like a little mini fridge for cars. That's supposed to be like a cooler. But we've realized it's really a pain in a way because it's really hard to open the door unless you keep a cushion kind of around it. So you can't pack the car as tight as you'd want, whereas if you have one that opens from the top, you could just open it and grab something out of it.

[00:23:08.090] - Kim Tate And then when they started inventing the car light, I don't know, I'm so old. I just noticed a cigarette light adapter. But whatever that's called and the 120 volt or something in the back, those worked so well because he could plug those fridges right in the back. But we still have older cars and so we don't have one of those. But when we've rented cars on a trip, it's been nice to be able to plug directly in back there instead of having a big cord going all the way up to the front.

[00:23:33.380] - Scott Tharler Yeah, and they have some now. There's a company called Go Son that has essentially the ice list cooler and it's solar powered. So you can not even have to worry about that. You can charge it up beforehand and then use solar to just keep it going if you're especially if you're out camping and stuff like that and you have some sunshine.

[00:23:52.250] - Kim Tate That's awesome. Oh, well, what about for hotel rooms and vacation rentals, you know? And I have a few of those coming up. So any products that you think, you know, we mentioned the Alexa, but anything else you think maybe makes it feel a little more comfortable tech wise?

[00:24:08.820] - Scott Tharler Yeah, I mean, tech wise, the first two things I always think of are basically power and audio or power and entertainment.

[00:24:17.520] - Scott Tharler So for power, I have this thing here called the Egg Tronic Power Bar, and you can't see it because we're on a podcast. But it's essentially like it looks like a bar that's about the size of a maybe a thicker version of like a big remote control. And then there are three spots on it. And it's essentially a battery that you can wirelessly charge like two phones and a smartwatch on at the same time. And I love that because I don't want to have to start worrying about where am I digging for outlets.

[00:24:48.360] - Scott Tharler And I'm not going to bring the same dock that I have by the side of my bed. You know, I don't want to start worrying about that. And so it's nice and portable and it's a big battery. So it is going to charge like three things and and be good. What's another one? I think for entertainment stuff, you could bring a streaming stick. So like a Roku or an Amazon fire stick. Those are fun to bring because it's little.

[00:25:14.220] - Scott Tharler And if you're someplace where either they don't have a lot of TV or you get stuck on a rainy day, you can sort of plug in your streaming stick, whatever it is, into the HDMI port of the back of the TV and then give it power. You do have to remember to bring your remote. I've done that where I forgot to bring the remote. But if you do that, then essentially it's like you're bringing your entire collection of entertainment like you never, never in the old days would you have brought like a DVD player and a remote and three hundred DVDs.

[00:25:46.440] - Scott Tharler But this you're just bringing bringing something that's like the size of a USB drive and you basically have all your movies. So I like the idea of doing that. It just has to connect to whatever the the Wi-Fi is.

[00:25:59.250] - Kim Tate And my girls actually we've forgotten remotes before, but they'll use their phones. So I guess at least with the Amazon fire, it has an app that you can use as a remote on your phone.

[00:26:07.980] - Scott Tharler So, yeah, and that's a great backup. I've actually had to do that with the Roku before. So as long as as long as your phone is on the same Wi-Fi network as the streaming stick, then that's a great workaround.

[00:26:20.400] - Tamara Gruber It's funny, my daughter just asked me the other day, I think the Grammys are going to be on on a certain night or some awards show that she went to watch while we were traveling.

[00:26:28.560] - Tamara Gruber And she's like, do you think the hotel will have CBS? They are so used, like only doing streaming kind of stuff they don't even know, like regular TV?

[00:26:38.700] - Scott Tharler Yeah, yeah. I my kids are growing up in a very interesting world where, like, if they can't listen to the exact song that they want or watch the exact movie that they want. Right. Then, then they're just befuddled. Like, why can't we? Because in the olden days we had to wait for things like we had to wait for a commercial.

[00:26:57.450] - Scott Tharler And then when The Wizard of Oz comes on once a year, you see it. You don't just say, like, you know, play Wizard of Oz and then it just shows up.

[00:27:04.200] - Kim Tate Yeah, we actually just had that last night where we were going to watch a movie and, you know, they were ready to just rent it for three bucks. And I was like, well, let me just check and see if it's on anything, because we have all these services and then we also pay for Comcast. And sure enough, it was free on Comcast through like Fox Channel or whatever. And they were like, oh, but it has ads and commercials, mom. I'm like, too bad we're going to take advantage of this like free streaming and not pay three bucks for it.

[00:27:33.990] - Kim Tate But they're just so like they just expect that they can just get it. And it's kind of funny. And we also happen to pay for Spotify, even though we already pay for YouTube music because they like Spotify and all their friends are on Spotify. And so I don't know. This tech tech world is when you have teenagers, it becomes a another level.

[00:27:54.180] - Scott Tharler Yeah, I mean, you were talking about swatches, I remember there was a thing when I was in junior high school of that people would have these jackets that could pack into themselves and it was like fold up jacket and everybody had it.

[00:28:08.160] - Scott Tharler And so, you know, that's one thing if you're buying like a 30 dollar jacket, but then there's like headphones and laptops and phones and there's so much stuff that teenagers are going to want to have that that seems overwhelming to me. So that's sort of what I'm bracing for. So you mentioned if you go to a vacation house or a rental or something like that, one of the things you might not be used to are the sounds that are going on.

[00:28:32.160] - Scott Tharler And so I like to bring they're either passive or active noise canceling earbuds. And by passive, I mean it literally is just an earplug. And there's a particular brand called Loop that I like. And then for active, that's more of what you're used to for noise canceling. But these are tiny. There's a company out of Finland called Quiet On and they're so small that they fit into your ears and you can actually sleep with them on and they will last the whole night.

[00:28:58.950] - Scott Tharler And it makes a big difference if it is canceled out snoring and other environmental sounds that I just didn't want to hear that help me sleep better on vacation because you want to be you want to be actually awake to enjoy your vacation. So it's nice to to be fully rested.

[00:29:14.450] - Tamara Gruber I'm gonna have to look those up because I think I've talked about on the podcast before, I used to use the Bose sleep buds and then the battery stopped working and then the company recalled them actually because they couldn't get the battery to work and actually refunded me, even though it was I had had the product for a year. And I've been wanting them to come out with a new one. I think they did just come out with a new one. But then I also just recently finally gave in and got the Apple AirPods that are noise canceling.

[00:29:39.870] - Tamara Gruber So they're not as small. So obviously not as comfortable, but they at least are multipurpose. But those sound those aren't great because that is always my issue is snoring and definitely any hall noise. When you're in a hotel like I can't stand when people walk by, like late at night making lots of noise or you're near the elevator or the ice machine, you know, something like that. Yeah.

[00:29:59.460] - Scott Tharler Or people that don't realize that, like after 10:00 p.m., maybe just don't stand in the hallway talking. They're actually other people who are families who might want to get to sleep. I always feel like such an old person saying that. But, you know, we just paid to come down here, stayed at Disney Resort and we're going to be going before the park opens. So maybe get back into your room and have that conversation.

[00:30:19.900] - Tamara Gruber That's why I hate when you either know that there's a wedding there because, you know, there's going to be the drunk people coming back late or when there's some kind of sports sports team tournament, it's those kids are going to be like, we're running up and down the hallways.

[00:30:31.180] - Tamara Gruber Yep, yep. So we talked about kind of in the hotel room where vacation rental. We talked about in the car. I know it's been a long time since we've flown. We're probably a lot of us, maybe not everybody. But, you know, what are some things that you would recommend to use on a flight to make it more comfortable or more enjoyable?

[00:30:50.040] - Scott Tharler Well, you know, I said that I am very much into the adapters and the cables and everything, but I don't want to be reaching into my bag until like a rat's nest of stuff to try to get at whatever I'm getting at.

[00:31:03.420] - Scott Tharler So I like having an organizer that's just four cables and little accessories like that. There's a great company you probably know about them called Nomatic. And it's that the last part of it is spelled like automatic. So Nomatic has great suitcases and bags. And I just discovered that they have some other sort of everyday carriers, like a wallet, a very minimalist wallet that just carries your cash and cards in with this little material, as you can imagine. And then they have this thing that they just call their travel organizer.

[00:31:35.220] - Scott Tharler That's exactly for what I just said. So it carries spare batteries and earbuds and memory cards and all your wires and things so that when you you know that you want to take something from that out, you can just pull out one thing, open it up, and there you have it. So I like that. You know, the old thing used to be, like you said, Bose, like everybody, you would walk down the aisle and you could just see like 20 different people wearing Bose headphones.

[00:32:01.140] - Scott Tharler And those are great. But it's not it's not the first thing I think of. I think of like, are my kids going to be set? And I'm not necessarily going to get them three hundred dollar headphones. So I like the idea of getting them their own headphones. There's a company called Puro that makes great kids' headphones that are actually stylish and they are a volume limiting so they can't crank it up over eighty five decibels, which can cause hearing damage.

[00:32:29.250] - Scott Tharler So I love Puro headphones for that.

[00:32:32.190] - Scott Tharler And then the most important little accessory you can have sometimes, especially if you have two kids, is a splitter, but they actually make them. Now there's a company called 12 s that make something called the Air Fly Pro and it's basically a Bluetooth adapter. And so it works both ways. So way number one is that if you plug this into the armrest or sometimes they have like an audio jack in the back of the headrest, you plug this in and then you can have two different sets of Bluetooth earphones listening to that same audio, whatever that is. So that's a great thing to stop fights for 90 minutes.

[00:33:13.830] - Kim Tate But it actually works important because I can't tell you how many times I've seen people bring Bluetooth headphones on a flight without their, you know, the cord that all the Bluetooth come with. But they forget the cord because they're just used to using Bluetooth and then they have the seatback entertainment for like a long international flight and they can't do anything that they have to ask for.

[00:33:32.250] - Kim Tate One of the pay five dollars for the cheap, you know, dollar store earbuds from the airline.

[00:33:37.770] - Tamara Gruber I still have like a JetBlue survey in my little travel kit, because for Hannah, I've had to do that a few times.

[00:33:43.090] - Scott Tharler Yeah, yeah. It's awful. And these actually this 12 South product I just mentioned, there's another kind of Bluetooth adapter, which is it can take wird headphones and make them Bluetooth so it works the other way. So if you have your favorite wired headphones or earbuds or whatever, you can plug those into this and then it can be Bluetooth to whatever your phone or whatever is the source of playing the music. Cool, and I'll give one shout out of something that happened to me is, you know, wireless earbuds are so popular and like air pods, they actually have like little and this is not techie, but I don't know what you would call it.

[00:34:23.460] - Kim Tate It reminds me of like glasses holders like that. You would keep on a pair of glasses to be able to hang there. But I had an earbud in and I was kind of falling asleep and it popped out of my ear. And then I'm like looking all over the floor for this earbud that just fell down. And, you know, it's not a good you don't want to be digging around for a earbud on the floor of an airplane.

[00:34:42.660] - Kim Tate So just a heads up that if you are using earbuds, it might, you know, see if you can look into any that have a some kind of like especially it works with the airports. I know where you can keep them together. So if one pops out, you don't. It's attached to the other one.

[00:34:56.910] - Tamara Gruber Still, I feel like that's why they make the announcement now. Like if you lose something, don't you know, like call your flight attendant or something. Yeah.

[00:35:05.430] - Scott Tharler Yeah. I don't want to be digging around on the floor for anything that's I don't know. Everybody has their own thing with germs in most places like around my house, if something falls on the floor, I will pick it up and eat it. That's fine. But there's certain floors where I just go like I don't even like walking around. Hotel room floor is like without socks on. So I don't know.

[00:35:28.650] - Kim Tate I hear you there. Well, why don't we move on and just quickly chat about photography? Because a huge part of travel is taking photos. So I know this can go down a huge you know, it could be an episode on its own, but just, you know, kind of top level. Do you have any favorite gear that you like to bring on family vacations for photography? Yeah, definitely, there are a bunch of different factors, I won't go into drones because we talked about that.

[00:35:54.430] - Scott Tharler I think one thing is most people don't even think about bringing a traditional camera, you know, like the old school camera. And so if you're going to be using your smartphone, then there are a couple of things that you can do to make it even better. There's a company called Pictou that has something called the they're pro grip, that it does a few things. First of all, it looks like sort of half of a camera. And so it looks and feels like you're holding a camera.

[00:36:23.770] - Scott Tharler So it's not you don't have to do that weird thing where you're like scissoring your your pinky and your pointer to try to hold your camera when you're taking pictures. But it actually will charge your phone while it's in there and it has some actual real life buttons on there. So you can do things like bring up a different mode or zoom in or actually take the picture by clicking a button, which is nice because then you don't have to, like, look away and fumble and touch your screen.

[00:36:50.770] - Scott Tharler So having something like that is fun. Another thing if you're going to be using your phone is a gimble. Have you guys ever used a gimble when shooting photos or videos? Yeah, we've. Yeah, yeah.

[00:37:03.280] - Kim Tate I own the Osmo pockets but and then the Osmo mobile too so.

[00:37:11.290] - Scott Tharler Yeah. So like that's the DJI product. A lot of these drone companies realize they're making things that allow the drones to be steady and take great pictures. Hey, why don't we make everybody's picture study. So I would recommend having a gimble with you.

[00:37:26.090] - Kim Tate I think for video mainly like if you're shooting video is what I've noticed on that. So, yeah, kind of my go to for that.

[00:37:32.890] - Scott Tharler There's sort of something nostalgic like when you picture, if you picture like your parents, your grandparents like, oh, remember those pictures we took from Bermuda in the fifties? You picture it being kind of shaky. So there's something nice about it. But if you plan on watching something for more than like two minutes, like you really don't want shaky video. So it's nice to just get rid of that. Another thing that's good to have is if you're going to be taking a lot of pictures and videos, that's going to take up a lot of memory.

[00:37:57.160] - Scott Tharler And so it's good to have a back up of memory. And so Western Digital makes a product that's basically like a wireless drive. It's about let's say I have it here. It's like about six inches by six inches and maybe an inch thick. And you can take if you do have a camera that you're shooting off of, you can take the memory card from that, put it in, and it will automatically back up your pictures. And it's a wireless drive, meaning that you can then everybody on their own phones can load up the app and see whatever pictures or video you shot from that.

[00:38:34.180] - Scott Tharler So you could actually have a bunch of videos that are just on there. And then if you're waiting at the airport, you could be everybody could be looking at pictures and watching them and talking about them on their phones and stuff.

[00:38:45.580] - Scott Tharler So I like having a way of backing up stuff so that I don't lose pictures that I've taken. I guess another one would be there's a company called Insta 360. And I actually just talked about this product called the Go on my podcast, and it's like the size of your pinky. And they just came out with the go to just this week. And it's so small that I read somewhere that it weighs the same as six pieces of paper. Like, it's super duper small and this is the kind of thing that you could wear and you can program it to just take pictures like every 30 seconds or every whatever.

[00:39:26.620] - Scott Tharler And so it's a great action cam because it actually does it uses some software to do some stabilization optically. And then it's just also good because there are a lot of fun effects.

[00:39:40.360] - Scott Tharler You can do slow motion, you can do time lapse. So like if you want to see, you know, it's kind of pretty to see a time lapse picture of, like the clouds going by along the beach in Hawaii or seeing a sunset or just seeing the rush of people in a city. So there are a lot of different fun effects that you can do and they make it really easy to edit stuff. And so it's a great little camera.

[00:40:01.540] - Scott Tharler But really, the secret sauce is the editing. It's so easy to make really fun effects and it's just a new way. Instead of like, you know, in the old days, you take a picture, you print it out, you look at it like that's all there is to do with it. This there's so many different ways of sort of making your memories into a more of a multimedia experience. So I like their stuff. So what does that look like?

[00:40:24.850] - Tamara Gruber I'm just trying to, like, picture how small it is. Is it you like clips on?

[00:40:30.320] - Scott Tharler Yeah, so they have different mounts and clips, the one that I have, the original one is it has a magnetic back. So you would put like the magnetic back one little piece of it under your shirt and then this on your shirt on their website. They show people literally like it's on a sweatband or on a hat. You can clip it on there.

[00:40:48.410] - Scott Tharler So it's more of like your eyes, your perspective, but it is tiny. And so there is sort of a conundrum with with having tiny tech. Like you just said, the last thing you want is to have a couple hundred dollar action cam falling on the floor of your airplane and then you don't know where it is or that you lose it in your Airbnb or wherever you are. So they have some some really good accessories that help you mount it to different places because they want you to be mounting onto your bike or your car or whatever so that you can take some interesting shots.

[00:41:22.060] - Tamara Gruber Kim, all I can think about is how many how much photo editing you're doing to, like, straighten the horizon.

[00:41:27.140] - Kim Tate Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It sounds like it's like stitching together and so

[00:41:35.210] - Scott Tharler yeah, it'll stitch it together and then it's all this artificial intelligence stuff that you basically upload this stuff and it says, OK, I will tell you what your best shots were or I will put together a montage of like all the coolest video that you did. So that's that's what makes it really cool, I think. Yeah.

[00:41:56.180] - Tamara Gruber But otherwise it sounds a little bit overwhelming. I'm just thinking back to back in the day when we would all come back from a trip and make like a photo book, you know, like how many of those photo books did we actually do? And, you know, like kind of I know I gave up on them in about twenty fifteen or something like that.

[00:42:13.010] - Tamara Gruber But so that's we've certainly covered a lot so far. I'm just curious. We've talked a lot about hardware, but do you have any favorite travel apps that you like to use when you're planning?

[00:42:23.990] - Scott Tharler You know, I'm so boring when it comes to that. I really just use Kayak to to look at what the best flights are because I just love the granularity of being able to say, you know, I want under this price range with no red eyes going through these airports. But for these dates, I tend to book hotels on Priceline. And because I do, I've become like a VIP gold. And so I just like the express deals. And if I what I like about Priceline is that you can get a good rate, but it it really rewards flexibility, which most travel does like.

[00:42:59.780] - Scott Tharler And so if you don't have to stay in an exact place at an exact time, you just know, I want to be somewhere near Charlottesville because we're going to go on the Skyline Drive. And so, you know, within twenty miles you can find something that is a good deal. So I like those you know, there actually some apps I've used. You're talking about road trips. There's one called INRIX. That is a it's basically a traffic monitoring.

[00:43:26.960] - Scott Tharler And I know other people use Waze or just Google Maps. It's sort of built in. But INRIX, I found if you say I'm going from here to here, it's the most accurate way of doing real time updates to say actually based on traffic, we think it would be best if you went this way. And then it has another interesting thing where you can slide the timeline. So it would say like, OK, it's three thirty, but what if we left at four and it will use whatever fancy eye is out there thinking of what's going to happen with the traffic to say, you know, if you go at three thirty, it's going to take you an hour. But if you go at four, it's only going to take you thirty five minutes.

[00:44:04.580] - Scott Tharler So I kind of like that. Other than that, I think there's there actually some interesting things that are more like programs that I found. My daughter is currently in the fourth grade and apparently that's a magical age because there's a program that the government has called every kid outdoors where they get like a free pass to every state park or every national park. Every national park. Yeah.

[00:44:27.920] - Kim Tate And so and they actually expand it to fifth graders this year as well because of the shutdown last year.

[00:44:33.410] - Scott Tharler Yeah, and that's great. And there was another thing here I happened to be in in New York. And they have there's a program called Ski in New York where fourth graders can ski for free. So it's a golden time to be nine or ten years old. Like, there's all sorts of fun things, but I think it's just a matter of sort of looking out there and seeing what cool programs happen to be out there. The the only thing that I don't know if you've heard of, there's a site out there called Sky Hour.

[00:44:58.250] - Scott Tharler Have you heard of that one? Sky Hour our is an interesting one.

[00:45:02.210] - Kim Tate I know you can imagine what it does, but.

[00:45:04.010] - Scott Tharler Yeah, yeah. No, it's like you when you recently had I think her name is Danielle from the the thought card, she was talking about saving up for trips. It's actually something to help you save up for trips, but it's something where people can help out. And the basis of it is that you pay for hours of flight, you're not paying for distance. You're not paying for like this is how much it is.

[00:45:25.790] - Scott Tharler You literally I think it's something like, you know, it's sixty dollars. For an hour of flight and so you can start to do the math and realize, like if you're going to Florida or California, that might not make sense, but actually going to Europe, that's not that crazy. Like, it's not that crazy that you would pay for, you know, five or six hours to certain places in Europe. And so if I know you're going on a trip, I could say, hey, Kim, I'm going to donate an hour to your trip and then either other people add more hours to that or you just pay whatever the differences.

[00:45:58.930] - Scott Tharler But it's basically good on any airlines. You're just paying for something that then gets instead of transferring points into a flight, it's if you have the right number of hours that turns into a flight. So I just thought that was an interesting spin on things I hadn't seen before. That's really cool.

[00:46:15.430] - Kim Tate Yeah, I was thinking it was going to be I know there's websites that'll show you like the Sunrise and Sunset Times for specific locations so that you can do it. So I was thinking when you said Skaara, that was what I was doing. It was. But that sounds way cooler. And I think that would be really good. I was thinking to my graduation trips type thing where, you know, you can say, hey, donate an hour of flight time or something.

[00:46:36.010] - Tamara Gruber That's pretty cool.

[00:46:37.010] - Scott Tharler Yeah, but it's also that factor, like you're saying with your other guest, where you get to see it building up. So you get to see, oh, cool, I have this much towards my trip and it's not just like maybe I'll get to go on the trip or maybe I won't. Right.

[00:46:51.280] - Tamara Gruber Right. You know, that's really neat. It makes you think of like when people get married and they register where you can kind of donate towards their honeymoon or something like that, it'd be another neat way to use it.

[00:47:01.720] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. Well, we've certainly have talked about a lot of things, but we have a question for you that we ask all of our guests. And I imagine that you're is still going to have some kind of tech angle to it since you talked about water bottles of sensors and all these kind of things. But do you have any favorite brand of clothing or, you know, what do you wear when you travel?

[00:47:23.800] - Scott Tharler I definitely do. And I think the first one is called Scotte Vest. And I am I am not the Scott and Scotte Vest. It's actually a friend of mine, Scott Jordan, that I've known for 20 years. And I love his stuff because it started off as just being literally like a fishing vest with a bunch of pockets in it. But it's grown to be shirts. I'm actually wearing a what they call their camping shirt now. It's it's like a nice short sleeved button down shirt.

[00:47:49.210] - Scott Tharler They have pants and shorts and dresses. They even have a mask nowadays. But all of their stuff is based on not just having a lot of pockets, but bringing your tech with you. And I know when I'm going on a business trip, if I have the blazer, they have like a sport jacket with a lot of stuff. It literally saves me like a carry ons worth of stuff that I can put in there. And so I have cords and batteries and a lot of the stuff that I talked about, I will have in specific pockets in that.

[00:48:19.390] - Scott Tharler So I'm a big fan of Scotty.

[00:48:21.280] - Tamara Gruber Best you can tell your friend Scott that I also own two of the long cardigans that they have for women with those big, deep pockets.

[00:48:29.650] - Scott Tharler Cool. Yeah. I mean, they they really have expanded. They have I guess they never got into shoes, but they have underwear. There's all sorts of stuff like if you want to for some reason, if you want to be walking around your hotel room and your underwear, but you also want your phone with you, then they've got you covered.

[00:48:46.370] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I'm really picturing the pocket, you said.

[00:48:50.210] - Scott Tharler Yeah, there's there's all sorts of fun ways that could go. But but basically I, I always have something. I always have like one or two things with me that are like it's usually like a polo shirt and a t shirt or, you know, like a camping shirt and a t shirt that have these pockets built in. And it's just it's nice. And it's also I think people nowadays are more accepting of the fact that you're going to have tech with you, but you still don't want to look like you're schlepping around a bunch of stuff.

[00:49:18.610] - Scott Tharler So it's good at hiding the fact that you have definitely.

[00:49:22.150] - Kim Tate I agree. Yeah.

[00:49:23.380] - Scott Tharler The other one that I tend to bring with me, it's an Italian shoe company called ACBC and it stands for anything can be changed. And basically these are these you might have heard of these. They're like zip up shoes. And what I mean by that is that you bring along like one pair of soles and then you zip the tops off like and right here I'm actually holding them in my hand. And so if you're hiking during the day and you're walking around another part of the day and then at night you're going to be going to some nicer event or just going out to a nice dinner, then you could basically have just three sets of the tops that you zip on to the bottom and it takes up way less space.

[00:50:04.480] - Scott Tharler You know, like when I go to the annual Consumer Electronics Show, I could have five pairs of shoes, but it takes up not that much more than just one or two pairs of shoes in my bag.

[00:50:15.550] - Tamara Gruber Oh, that's really neat to look into, though, because I've not heard of it, I am familiar with, like the women's flip flop brand that has where you switch out like the top, you know, the thong part, but interesting.

[00:50:26.840] - Scott Tharler Oh, it's funny you mention that actually, because there's a new company that I just I know you guys are fans of Oofos, but there's one that I just found out that they're based out of Israel and it's called Link. And they have what they call flip shoes. And they're like flip flops, except for they don't have the top part, just like the bottom part only. And so the bottom part goes like around your foot and hugs your foot and then you don't your front two toes don't have to grip on to the thong for dear life that like your foot, you walk out of your shoes.

[00:50:59.630] - Scott Tharler So those look really cool. I haven't tried them yet, but they look really amazing.

[00:51:04.090] - Tamara Gruber Sounds like modernistic space agey.

[00:51:06.910] - Scott Tharler Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[00:51:09.100] - Kim Tate Well, Scott, why don't you tell our listeners where they can find you online? Because I know a lot of this tech they're going to want to kind of see and you probably have a lot of reviews and pictures. So where can they find you?

[00:51:19.570] - Scott Tharler So the company is called the Family CTO. And of course, we have channels on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. There's a podcast you can look up wherever you listen to podcast, you can look up the family CTO. But really, the website is the great launching pad. So if you just go to TheFamilyCTO.com, then there are links to all of that stuff.

[00:51:41.960] - Tamara Gruber Well, we will link to all of that in our show notes, as well as a lot of the products that you mentioned today. And so I know I'm going to be Googling a lot of things after this interview and looking things up. So I hope that our listeners found it very helpful. And I really appreciate you coming on and sharing all your knowledge. You have gone much deeper than either Kim and I think I've ever done into a dove into this, you know, family travel tech.

[00:52:06.350] - Scott Tharler Oh, it's my pleasure. I love talking about it. And thanks for having me on the show.

[00:52:14.030] - Tamara Gruber So we're back. And I just wanted to give a shout out to one of our listeners, Lee. He wrote in because he was listening to the episode that we did with Nate from Room Steals about tips for finding hotel deals. And I know that Nate was asking us recommendations for comfortable men shoes, and we didn't really have a lot to tell him. So anyway, Lee recommends Cole Hahn. He really loves those. And he said that their souls were actually made by Nike, which I did not realize.

[00:52:37.530] - Tamara Gruber So that explains why they're a little more comfortable. So guys that we've been ignoring, sorry about that. And we have some more recommendations for you. So thanks, Lee, for giving us an email and and giving us your tip.

[00:52:50.300] Yeah, that's a good tip. I actually, you know, my husband has a very Cole Hahn working shoes that, you know, are kind of like loafer style.

[00:52:55.940] - Kim Tate So I should have thought of that. But anyways, well, we appreciate you guys joining us and you will want to tune in again in two weeks because we are going to be talking about a really popular destination that a lot of people are thinking about, and that is the Grand Circle Road trip through the big five of Utah and the Grand Canyon. So join us then.

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This week we check in with Tamara about her family's spring break road trip to look at colleges. Find out how the trip went and why her visit to the Vista Verde Ranch in Colorado was the perfect spring break retreat.

College Road Trip Stops * The first stop was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to visit Lehigh University. This historic town is popular at Christmas time and offers a cute downtown with lots of restaurants. The historic Hotel Bethlehem is nice but in need of renovation. If you visit, try the Social Still for dinner and the Flying Egg for breakfast. * The second stop was in Cleveland to visit Case Western Reserve University. Located in the University Circle neighborhood near the Cleveland Clinic, this is a nice area to explore the city's museums such as the Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, and Botanical Gardens. * The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is offering timed-entry tickets, temperature checks, one-way traffic, and social distancing. It was not crowded at all, making it a good time to visit. * The third stop was in Ann Arbor to visit the University of Michigan. The Graduate Ann Arbor is a perfect spot to stay to visit the college and offers one-bedroom king suites for families. If you are staying in town, have lunch at Zingerman's Deli, dinner at the Slurping Turtle, and breakfast, lunch or dinner at Sava's. * Next up was the University of Madison - Wisconsin. Again, The Graduate Madison is a good spot to stay just off State Street and close to campus. * If you are traveling through Nebraska, the Old Haymarket District of Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the University of Nebraska, is a cool neighborhood to visit. * The next college stop was at the University of Colorado - Boulder. The Embassy Suites in Boulder offers beautiful views, one-bedroom suites, and modern decor within walking distance to campus. When in Boulder, plan to spend time in the Pearl Street Mall area. Two great dinner stops are Oak at Fourteenth and Santo Boulder. * If you are visiting Colorado Springs, you will probably want to visit the Garden of the Gods park, but be prepared for crowds in addition to beautiful red rock formations. * Tamara's family then spent a few days relaxing at the Vista Verde Ranch. This all-inclusive luxury ranch was an ideal spring break retreat offering snow tubing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, ice fishing, snow mobiling, horse back riding and other indoor and outdoor options. The food is amazing and plentiful and there are a number of cabin options on property ranging from one to four bedrooms. * On their way back, Tamara stopped in Topeka, Kansas, St. Louis, Missouri, and outside of Pittsburg, PA. * In St. Louis, the Hotel St. Louis, an Autograph Collection property by Marriott, is a great place to stay with gorgeous large suites and a convenient location. If you are planning on visiting the Gateway Arch, be sure to by timed-entry tickets in advance. The social distancing protocols make for a pleasant, uncrowded stay with designated tram cars and viewing windows. * See Tamara's tips for road trip mistakes to avoid.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Tate We're back. Stay tuned to hear about our latest adventures.

[00:00:16.230] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.260] - Kim Tate Tamara, we have just had, you know, a couple of awesome road trips. So I'm sure our listeners are dying to hear all about it. Everything that we've done, everything we learned or discovered. So this is our episode to kind of dish and just tell them about our latest.

[00:00:46.920] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I was thinking as I was driving, I'm like, hmm, this is what I want to say about Nebraska. This is what I want to say. Well, you know, just kind of and I was like, I really should make notes, but I was driving for half the time, so I didn't actually make notes.

[00:00:59.400] - Tamara Gruber But I'm excited to chat with you. It's been so long and I know we're going to go into more detail about your California road trip in a couple of episodes, because I know that that's a trip that probably a lot of people want to make.

[00:01:11.370] - Kim Tate But we should definitely talk about your epic one, because how many miles and how many states did you hit?

[00:01:15.990] - Tamara Gruber Oh, my God, 5000 miles. I didn't realize it was going to be quite that far. And I think I think because of the way we came back, we actually hit 16 states.

[00:01:26.970] - Kim Tate Yeah. My goodness. Yeah.

[00:01:28.260] - Tamara Gruber And I mean, a lot of those actually, for me, I had been to all of them before. But for Hannah, there were some new ones. For Glenn, there are some new ones. We saw, you know, a lot of ground, I will say, because we went in mid-March. I remember before we went, you were sending me pictures like it'll be pretty and you're sending me pictures of, like fields of wheat in the sun, sunset and like. Yeah, no, it is just brown.

[00:01:50.940] - Tamara Gruber It's brown, brown, brown. So it was not a scenic road trip at all. I think a lot of our listeners know that we were going to look at colleges. We did have a really beautiful part of Colorado, you know, where we were in Colorado and we stayed at a ranch. And, you know, I could talk about that a little bit, but it did convince me, too, that I really should consider moving to Colorado at some point. But it was most of the trip was, you know, a little bit boring when it came to the scenery.

[00:02:21.990] - Tamara Gruber But we did get to see quite a few colleges. And you know what? There's something about driving through huge parts of this country that it just stirs me. You know, like I just I it's so important to me to feel like connected. And I feel like I can visualize, like, what it is like to live in other parts of the country, you know, get a little bit more sense of like where people coming from, what their, you know, regular life is like, you know, because I'm just I've lived all my life in the Northeast and the Northeast we know is like, you know, it's crowded.

[00:02:55.050] - Tamara Gruber It's just, you know, like one city blurs into the other, you know, in our rural areas are, you know, like you can't drive for miles and miles without finding, you know, a place to get gas or, you know, like any of these things.

[00:03:08.490] - Tamara Gruber It's just very different. And so I really appreciate every time I'm able to, like, drive through a lot of this country. And I really I really hope that more people, you know, can do that kind of thing. You know, like even if it wasn't pretty, there was just something to it.

[00:03:21.810] - Kim Tate It's just something to like the vastness and the diversity and everything to it. Yeah, I think that it's good for the coastal people to realize and experience the breadbasket of America like they term it because it is so different. And, you know, I grew up in the Midwest, of course, and knew nothing really about toll roads and all that stuff. And so that's always something. When I go to the coast, I'm always like, oh, there's there's toll roads in these places.

[00:03:47.310] - Tamara Gruber So I just wrote a post about like road trip mistakes that people make because I feel like tolls is definitely one that people don't always pay attention to.

[00:03:56.130] - Tamara Gruber And nowadays there's not always a man toll booth like it's often like electronic billing. And if you're not from that area, you don't have that system. And so then you have to try to figure it out. I can't even tell you how many hours I spent trying to figure out where I was supposed to pay the Illinois tollway, you know, and I don't I'm not sure I'm expecting I mean, like eight tickets in the mail.

[00:04:16.530] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, I registered for your site. I filled out everything. But I'm not seeing, like, where I actually I we took pictures of every single, like, gate kind of thing. Like the time and the number, you know, because Glenn's been there before and I'm like, I can't figure this out. So some of the systems are not so easy to figure out. Come to the northeast and they're like what do you mean it's fifteen dollars across the bridge. I'm like yeah.

[00:04:44.040] - Kim Tate Yeah. And it's you know, well we have on the West Coast like HOV lanes. Right. So we had where we couldn't even use the lane near San Francisco because we didn't have you there. And we have that in Seattle as well. Like you can use the HOV lane for a fee for a fee.

[00:05:00.150] - Kim Tate But if you want to use it as a high occupancy vehicle, you have to have the, you know, Washington tag that's in your windshield and is registered to your vehicle on your plate. And so, yeah, it was kind of frustrating. I was like, oh, because we got hit in a major traffic. And like, I was like, oh, I want to be in that carpool lane, but I couldn't. I didn't want to pay whatever the fee was because, you know, in Washington, if you don't have the past, you have to pay three dollars to pay it by mail. They charge you a three dollar surcharge. So anyways, it's crazy.

[00:05:32.830] - Tamara Gruber Well, I will say, I have a lot of overall observations of driving 5000 miles. Number one, our roads are crap. They are terrible.

[00:05:42.130] - Tamara Gruber Like I know they're trying to pass an infrastructure bill and I can't even say how much we need it. Like I always comment on that around, like where I live. But I feel like I live in such a busy area, like it's get so much traffic. Well, you know what, we're driving i 80, i 70, i 90 like.

[00:05:59.500] - Tamara Gruber And it's all trucks, there's so many trucks and it was you know, I don't know if it's more now or not, but like it was the point where it's not relaxing at all, even though it's just a straight highway. It's like because you're constantly passing trucks like we had had to drive. She just has a permit. Knock wood. By the time you hear that, she'll have her license. But she drove for like three hours in Nebraska and three hours in Kansas. And the speed limit is like seventy five. And she's like constantly like trucks are passing her, she's passing trucks. And it was she's like, I'm exhausted. I don't know if you see that on the West Coast, but it was terrible.

[00:06:44.740] - Kim Tate Yeah, well, we went through Oregon and I guess in Oregon, it's one of the few states that allows three semi links. And I think you probably passed some, but I we don't have it in California or Washington. Oh, but it's semi trucks allow three, you know, the back seat and it says long load.

[00:07:07.660] - Tamara Gruber I even said it like those trucks drive like they rule the world and like who cares about you. I had one literally drive me off the road like I'm so glad that I was driving and not Hannah because I managed to keep us like in the like in not a shoulder. I had to go into the grass but like straight without like like she probably would have with the car. It's like they I was next to it and not like far back, like next to its cab.

[00:07:38.740] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And it started, you know, it put its turn signal on and it started coming and I'm like laying on the horn and it just kept coming. And so I had to go into the median and again, you know, you're like you're driving through grass and you're like seventy five miles an hour, you know?

[00:07:52.790] - Tamara Gruber And then I was able to like, you know, safely get us back up, you know, on the road. And that almost happened to me multiple times. So I will say, like, it's not you know, it was not always pleasant driving. I would have loved to have gotten off on just some of the smaller roads, like when we were in like Wisconsin and Colorado, we were in some smaller roads that were like much more pleasant. Although let me tell you the other thing that I observed about Wisconsin.

[00:08:21.730] - Tamara Gruber I felt like I was in another country. We have you ever seen this where the instead of, you know, how you have interstate, you know, we have Interstate 95, we have high U.S. Highway One, we have state route two. There are like state highways or, you know, it was like exit for Highway X, Y or an X.

[00:08:42.070] - Tamara Gruber It was the letter letters I've never seen. I know we're going to have listeners that are like, what's wrong with you? But like, I had never I never seen that either.

[00:08:52.570] - Kim Tate I didn't know that either. I are. We're just inspiring people to take road trips with all these. I'm just kidding.

[00:08:59.050] - Tamara Gruber Sorry. anyways, these are the things you learn, right?

[00:09:02.830] - Kim Tate Yeah, these are the things you learn. But I always think it's cool how the states have different highways. They have the little symbols. And I've never seen anything fun like in California or Oregon or Washington. But I know once we were in like I think Utah and they have like a beehive. Is there like have you seen.

[00:09:18.400] - Kim Tate Oh yeah. It's like different shape. So, yeah, different states have fun little shapes and stuff, but I don't think we have anything fun. So I was wondering if you saw any fun shaped state highways.

[00:09:28.510] - Tamara Gruber Not that I recognize, but I can kind of picture that. I'm pretty sure in New Hampshire there's looks like one of the mountain faces. I did learn that Nebraska. Oh, what's that? What was the town?

[00:09:40.410] - Tamara Gruber Kearney, Nebraska is the sandhill Crane, capital of the world. As we're driving, this is the time that Hannah was driving. So I was sitting in the back because I'm like, you know, I need a break. And if I'm in the front, like, somebody needs to, like, be paying attention to her. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm just going to sit in the back for a little bit. I can't do it long because I get carsick, but I'm like, I'm going to go back there.

[00:10:01.450] - Tamara Gruber So I'm just like looking out the window and I just see all these birds that I'm like they kind of look like Osprey, like they look like water birds, but they're all in these open fields, you know, because it's just like plowed fields now. And I'm like, this is so I. And I'm like, did you guys see that, did you guys see that and they're like, what? What's, you know, like I have nothing else to look at back here. You can't, like, look ahead of me, you know?

[00:10:22.150] - Tamara Gruber So anyway, then we would drive past the sign that says the sandhill crane capital of the world. I'm like, oh, that's fascinating. Yeah, that's cool.

[00:10:29.380] - Kim Tate I was going to mention with bathrooms when you're talking about stops and stuff is surprisingly I forgot about travel centers like for when you know about travel centers.

[00:10:43.450] - Kim Tate They normally have like a food place in them, but I find they're the restrooms at most of those travel centers, like the big ones, like the TravelCenters of America, like the big T and A..

[00:10:52.750] - Kim Tate Yeah. Although it's funny, like growing up in the Midwest, we always laughed about the T and the giant T&A. But anyways, you know, it's normally a pretty good one. And so we stopped at that a couple of times. And I think that the other thing we had done was because she was looking for like a cheesy California keychain for a friend. And I was like, oh, we need to find a travel center, because that's the kind of stuff they have there.

[00:11:16.480] - Tamara Gruber And yeah, like, that's that kind of thing is very common here in the East Coast. It's not like they're not always the labeled ones like like they're just like like if you're driving like I-95, it's like, you know, here's this rest area and it's there's gas and there's inside there's bathrooms, there's, you know, food court. And there's the little shop and the bathrooms there.

[00:11:36.790] - Tamara Gruber Like I actually they're usually pretty clean, like they weren't when I worked at one back on the New Jersey Turnpike when I was 16.

[00:11:43.630] - Tamara Gruber But it's pretty clean and you don't have to touch any doors, you know, like everything touchless, you know. So that is and it's very open like versus going into like a gas station that has like a one.

[00:11:56.020] - Kim Tate Yeah, yeah. Or they've got like the paddle key you have to get. Yeah. That people have touched in the last fifty.

[00:12:00.250] - Tamara Gruber But even and even if they have like one that has multiple stalls, it's like two or three styles and people might be waiting in a line and it's very close, whereas those are like so open, you know, that like the circulation is much better.

[00:12:11.090] - Kim Tate Exactly. And there's normally find parking and certainly easy to get on and off and back on the highway. Yeah. So I really like those. And then we used rest stops a lot actually. And I was really impressed.

[00:12:20.860] - Kim Tate I think rest stops are like the gift to road trips because for us, especially with teenagers and when they were little kids, we discovered this.

[00:12:28.900] - Kim Tate Inevitably somebody is waiting for a bathroom, are looking for and they end up wandering down the aisles and wanting to get this chip in this drink. And you spend another hundred and fifty dollars on snacks that day because of all the stops for bathrooms that you ended up buying junk food. And I noticed at least on the West Coast, I think it was practically 100 percent mask wearing on all the rest stops. And I even noticed one point because I kind of I think it was partially me, because I noticed this older couple was walking towards me like walking their dog and they didn't have my son.

[00:13:02.530] - Kim Tate And I, like, gave them a wide berth. Like I walked in the grass to go around them. And as soon as I passed, I heard the woman go, Oh, honey, we have our mask. Let's see, I'm going to go to the car and get our mask. Like she hadn't thought of it because she was thinking they were just going to walk our dog. But then she realized, you know, there's a lot of foot traffic.

[00:13:17.050] - Tamara Gruber Right. Right. I've had that experience, too. Yeah. So for you, like when you say, like, rest stop, So that's like the building off of the highway where like, yeah, people walk the dog and there's bathrooms and sometimes there's like a brochure's or something but that's like yeah ok. Yeah.

[00:13:31.810] - Tamara Gruber Great. Yeah. Yeah we have been, we have like the big ones kind of too.

[00:13:36.460] - Kim Tate So yeah these are, I'm talking about the ones that are just like literally on and off the highway, I-95 there almost every twenty five miles ish most of the time. So but yeah. And there's definitely different qualities in some of them are nice and have lots of stalls and others are not great.

[00:13:52.660] - Kim Tate But everyone we all went to always had toilet paper, had seat covers, running water, all that. So it was a good, good thing for us.

[00:14:00.670] - Tamara Gruber It shows you our priorities that we're spending like five minutes talking about bathroom. I'm so sorry, everyone.

[00:14:06.280] - Kim Tate They're like, OK, yeah, I'm bored. Yeah, we're like twenty minutes. And we haven't even started talking about your road trip. So let's jump to that.

[00:14:18.220] - Kim Tate Let's talk about your specific road trip. We've talked about the mileage and the states, but what were the highlights?

[00:14:23.980] - Tamara Gruber Let's see. I'll just run through an order because it's easiest for me to remember, like, in that way. But we our first stop was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is known for its like Christmas things, because, as you can imagine. So we visited Lehigh University there and that was good. It was actually a very cute little downtown. It was good.

[00:14:43.600] - Tamara Gruber I liked the university was beautiful, but it was not Hannah's favorite just because she wants something a little more integrated, even though it was like a very cute town, she's like it's more like town adjacent than town, like into like, OK, so that was our first stop.

[00:14:56.440] - Tamara Gruber And then we headed off to Cleveland and we stayed in the university circle neighborhood of Cleveland. So we didn't see a lot of downtown, but I really explored that area. It's so it's case Western Reserve University is the school that we're visiting and it's right next to like all the hospitals and Cleveland Clinic, but it's also near there. Museum. So they have like this really nice green area, you know, with like parks and it's like the Wade oval and around it there's a botanical gardens, a museum of natural history, an art museum.

[00:15:28.080] - Tamara Gruber And then also just a few minutes away, kind of right next to campus, too, is a contemporary art museum. So there's a lot of museums around there to explore. There's like a Little Italy neighborhood, you know, and of course, we spent time, like walking around campus.

[00:15:42.210] - Tamara Gruber But then one of the things that we got to do was to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because I'm like, if we're going to go to Cleveland, like, we have to do this, like we all love music.

[00:15:52.230] - Tamara Gruber You know, Glenn, you know, especially like is such a classic rock guy. But I was really surprised by, like, how up to date it was, you know, they had like outfits from Billy Eilish, you know, like it was it was very like all the like Harry Styles to like all the way up to date.

[00:16:08.280] - Tamara Gruber And here's going to be my plug in my learning for this. It's like I know that everyone's going to head to the outdoors in the national parks this summer. I know in a couple weeks we're going to be talking about one of those kind of road trips. But I will say, if you want to be counterintuitive, it's actually really cheap to be in cities right now.

[00:16:27.870] - Tamara Gruber And the indoor attractions are very quiet.

[00:16:31.470] - Tamara Gruber And it's so well managed that I we felt so much safer in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame than we did when we went to the Outdoor Garden of the Gods in a park in Colorado Springs because you had to get timed entry tickets.

[00:16:47.100] - Tamara Gruber Everybody has temperatures taken. It's one way traffic. It's all sanitized like everything. Like I really felt we were obviously were there on a Monday afternoon. So it wasn't like primetime.

[00:16:57.090] - Tamara Gruber But I was like, could there even have been 50 people in this entire building of like three or four floors? Like, it didn't it was not crowded at all. Some of the interactive types of things were closed. So I'm sure it would have been more fun if we could have done more of that, like listening kind of things.

[00:17:13.140] - Tamara Gruber But we still like, you know, we really enjoyed it. We got a lot out of it. So I feel like maybe it's not too bad to do some of these indoor things or things that are usually crowded when there's not the crowds. So I can throw that out there as an idea.

[00:17:26.520] - Kim Tate You know, I totally sorry. I was going to say I totally agree. I was just talking to Carolyn, our friend Carolyn, about that, because I went to the mop up museum in Seattle and it was the same thing. It was like a timed entry ticket that you bought online, got temperature checked. Everything's one way.

[00:17:39.510] - Kim Tate And there is it felt like nobody felt like we had the exhibits to ourselves. And of course, like you said, we went in the weekday. But I definitely think you're right that that's the place to, like, really take advantage of your, like, staycation local cities. If there's some museums you avoid or I think now's the time to.

[00:17:56.100] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, because and like I said, the the days I mean, for the most part, almost all of the hotels we were in, we it was not like they they are kind of concentrating people on certain floors, I think probably for housekeeping reasons.

[00:18:08.010] - Tamara Gruber So it's not like we're the only one on the floor, but only in I think one place did we sometimes encounter people like on the elevator and we'd have to wait for the next elevator. But for the most part, there was like no one around and it was cheap, you know, so that all worked out well.

[00:18:23.010] - Tamara Gruber So we moved from Cleveland and I actually really like that school, too. So so maybe we'll be back and explore more in Cleveland. We'll see. But from then, we drove like about two and a half hours to Ann Arbor, Michigan. And I will say, like, I know Michigan is a huge school, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and they have the largest stadium football stadium in the Western Hemisphere, the big house.

[00:18:43.680] - Tamara Gruber And so I thought the school is going to feel immense and like really just spread out and like not manageable and confusing. And it really didn't like first of all, Ann Arbor is the cutest town. You know, like there's great, like restaurants and like just little districts. And, you know, walking around was great. And the campus felt like there's like a north campus that you definitely have to drive to. But then the rest of it felt like pretty compact. And there's just so much school spirit there.

[00:19:10.110] - Tamara Gruber Like everyone that you walk by is wearing like Michigan or something, you know, like sweatpants, sweatshirt, you know, like it just you could tell, like, they're super into it. So and we had a couple we brought in.

[00:19:21.630] - Tamara Gruber Well, one time we eat outside at a deli. Zingerman's Deli is like really famous there. So we had to check that out. And then we brought in from like an Asian place called Slurping Turtle, which was delicious.

[00:19:33.300] - Tamara Gruber We stayed at the graduate there, which again, I love graduate hotels for college towns because they have so much personality. And there it was, you know, not crowded at all. And it was adjacent to campus, like adjacent to State Street, like everything was convenient. So if you go in to Ann Arbor, like, I would definitely look at a stay there. It was you know, it was a really nice property.

[00:19:55.680] - Tamara Gruber We I had booked a suite, so it wasn't quite as big of a separate little room as I thought, but it had like this little living room area, you know, I usually like the suite would be like the main room is like you walk into, like the living area and then the bedroom would be off here. You walked into the bedroom and then off the bedroom there was a. A little like I would call it a den, you know, like it had a little tiny couch and a little like a TV and a chair.

[00:20:20.810] - Tamara Gruber So we put Hannah in there and like you, you could extend the bed, but you couldn't then walk around it, like, crawl across.

[00:20:28.400] - Tamara Gruber So it's very small, but it was perfect because, you know, she had at least her own little space. And then the next morning before we left, we had this amazing brunch.

[00:20:37.920] - Tamara Gruber I have to, like, look up where it was. But we had this, you know, amazing brunch of this beautiful place. We actually had to knock on the door, like to have them open for us.

[00:20:46.790] - Tamara Gruber So we were the only people in there for a while. And I think that was one of the like, you know, eating inside still makes us nervous. So we're like, OK, it's like a two story place. We're the only people in here, so we're good. So if you go to Ann Arbor, the place is called Savas. And it was it was delicious. I'm sure it would be amazing for lunch or dinner, too.

[00:21:03.350] - Tamara Gruber But from there, we moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and I've been to Madison before, as you know, and I really liked it a lot when we got there.

[00:21:11.780] - Tamara Gruber It was pretty like rainy, but like an icy cold, you know, windy kind of rain. So it wasn't like ideal conditions for exploring. But luckily, like a friend of ours, their daughter goes to University of Wisconsin, Madison. So she was able to walk us around, I think, which definitely made an impression on Hannah because the other places we were just exploring on our own because tours weren't open right at the time. So, you know, so that was good.

[00:21:36.320] - Tamara Gruber And we that day was actually St. Patrick's Day. So I was like, I am not going out on St. Patrick's Day in a college town. Like, there's no way. Not a pandemic, no way. So we brought in some food there. And we also stated a graduate there and actually the graduate there, we stayed at we again booked a suite. It was called like the Camp Wanda Wenga Suite or something. But it's set up like very camp style.

[00:21:58.190] - Tamara Gruber And the separate little room had bunk beds and it had like an Atari and like, you know, a little gaming system and stuff. So it was really cute. And I was like, oh, my. Like, top bunk is going to be for this and I'm going to be in the bottom bunk. And I know she she had fun that she had bunk beds. That's cute. So that was good.

[00:22:13.250] - Tamara Gruber And then we drove. That's the day that we then drove and we stayed in Nebraska. So that was just like we had a driving day and then we had another driving day and we got to Boulder, Colorado, and we definitely loved our stay in Boulder.

[00:22:25.250] - Tamara Gruber It's such a cute it's a cute city. Has is like this Pearl Street district where it's just like an open pedestrian mall with tons of like restaurants and shops and stuff off of it.

[00:22:35.570] - Tamara Gruber And we stayed at an Embassy Suites. And I will say, like Glenn and I were, we used points for a lot of these. And so Glenn and I were kind of expecting, you know, a lot of embassy suites are kind of old, right?

[00:22:46.910] - Kim Tate You know, like, yeah, they have this in the nineties. Like this big center foyer. Pyramid or whatever.

[00:22:54.500] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was like a brand new Embassy Suites. It was the nicest Embassy Suites or looked brand new that I've ever seen.

[00:23:02.240] - Kim Tate And we had a nice we had an Embassy Suites in Seattle.

[00:23:07.220] - Tamara Gruber Really nice. Yeah. It's just. Yeah yeah I agree because you get that stuck in your head about certain brands. Right. You kind of have like what your expectations are. So I was like, well you know, we're using points like whatever, it's an embassy suites and I got there, I'm like, oh this is really nice. And again had a suite again. We were on the road a lot, very close together. So a few times I wanted to splurge and have a suite and have like a little more space, you know, to be in.

[00:23:32.150] - Tamara Gruber But it overlooked the you could see the campus, which is kind of up on a hill, then behind it, the Flatiron Mountains. And it was stunning. It's like, you know, to to open up the window and see, that was amazing.

[00:23:45.530] - Tamara Gruber And just the campus was beautiful. We love you know, she loved the campus. She loved Boulder. I just loved, you know, they had just gotten like two feet of snow a week before. So I thought it was going to be crazy. And, yeah, there was some snow on the ground, but it just doesn't stick. I think, like, you and I are both come from like wet climb, you know, colder like wet climates.

[00:24:02.660] - Tamara Gruber And so we'll get ice, you know, it sticks around. But there I think because it's dry, like the snow just melts and evaporates right away.

[00:24:10.970] - Tamara Gruber But yeah. So one day we drove down, we were going to go to Rocky Mountain National Park, but then I was reading about it and it looked like a lot of the trails, like I would need snow shoes. And then I'm like, well, you know, you can only drive so much of it because the main road is closed in the winter. You know, you can't go all the way across the park.

[00:24:28.520] - Tamara Gruber And so I was just debating, do we bother to go up there? We're going to have we're going to do snowshoeing and stuff when we go on our next stop. So I didn't really want to rent equipment to do that. So instead, we it was a beautiful day. It was like seventy degrees, which is crazy. So we drove down to Colorado Springs and we went to the Garden of the Gods, which I think everyone has seen pictures of.

[00:24:48.800] - Tamara Gruber And I just oh, it looks so beautiful. Like let's go down there.

[00:24:51.830] - Tamara Gruber First of all, we got stuck in all this traffic, which was crazy. And then, you know, so that was stressful. And then we got there and it was insane. It was it was a Saturday afternoon. It was seventy degrees, but it was insanely crowded. So I had and I got there. I had to use the bathroom speaking bathrooms. So I did wait in line like outside, because everyone that came in to the visitors center had to like sign in and provide your.

[00:25:14.170] - Tamara Gruber Contact information for contact tracing, which was a joke because it's interesting that they're still doing that. Yeah, like everyone else, like tons of people didn't even go inside. And so we're walking, you know, then into the park and like, no one had masks, hardly anybody had masks on.

[00:25:30.550] - Tamara Gruber And these are like jammed walkways, like you cannot avoid being within six feet of people. And it says, like, you know, mask is required even outside for when you can't be. It wasn't like it required all the time, but it's like when you can't be with, you know, more than six feet away. But it's like you clearly no one can be.

[00:25:50.440] - Tamara Gruber So we were wearing a mask and we're like trying to like, you know, get through it really quickly in a way. But it was it was definitely stressful.

[00:25:57.370] - Tamara Gruber It was like it was really like all of us were feeling it were a super stressful, you know, like trying to, like, look away when somebody, like, walked by you and like, you know, like just I don't know, like just protect yourself.

[00:26:07.860] - Tamara Gruber And I know what's outside. And you generally passing people like within seconds. And there's probably very little danger, but it's still kind of freaked us out, you know, like it's been a long time since we've been around a lot of people.

[00:26:19.090] - Tamara Gruber And it was not really fun. And I wanted it to be fun and I felt bad. So that's just my feeling is that granted, if I was in that situation and I had been vaccinated already, I wouldn't feel quite as worried. But I do really worry about being in crowded places like this summer and like what that's going to be like in some of the parks. And I know some people will feel like very comfortable because they're vaccinated. But like, if things are still circulating a lot, you know, like we still have to take certain precautions.

[00:26:47.890] - Tamara Gruber And, you know, I don't know. It does make me a little bit worried about being in, like I said, crowded places in the summer.

[00:26:54.370] - Kim Tate But was it pretty, though?

[00:26:56.110] - Tamara Gruber It was beautiful. It was. It was. But it probably was a little more crowded than I would have liked anyway. I just have to get used to that.

[00:27:04.900] - Tamara Gruber So after Boulder, we ended up going to a ranch for a couple of days, which was like definitely the highlight of our trip. And, you know, you know that when we went to the ranch in Montana a few years ago, it was still like one of our top trips. We just kind of love that experience. But I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be like in the winter, spring, you know, kind of season, like what activities there would be and what it would be like.

[00:27:30.400] - Tamara Gruber But it was exactly what we needed. You know, it was like time outside. We had, you know, time. It was just such a relaxed environment, I think. So we went to the Vista Verde Ranch, which is just a little bit north of Steamboat Springs, and it is a luxury ranch. So they definitely have more amenities and, you know, service than the ranch that we went to before. And I think both can be great.

[00:27:56.950] - Tamara Gruber But I felt like for this, especially for this season, it was nice to have the kind of that extra level of of amenities and activities and things. But there max capacity is something like 50 people, you know. So I think it's like a dozen cabins. They have cabins that go from one bedroom up to four bedroom. And you have you know, you have your own space because you have a cabin.

[00:28:17.500] - Tamara Gruber So it felt like a very covid friendly type of vacation. And I wasn't sure because everything that we did before was so like community oriented.

[00:28:26.590] - Tamara Gruber And I think that that does it is sad that you don't have some of that now, because that is like one of the really cool things about a ranch environment. Right. But it's still like they did it in such a way. That was it was just really nice. So I just can't like I don't know, I was so happy. Like, I wish we could have stayed longer. It's definitely pricey, but it is, you know, just a very unique experience.

[00:28:47.980] - Tamara Gruber I mean, we did activities they have like you can sign up for activities like the day before. They have a calendar out. There's morning activities and afternoon activities, and sometimes there's a night activity. And so we did snowshoeing one day, which was just fabulous. And the way that they do it, you know, they have all the equipment on site, they have guides. And what they're doing now is like if you're with a family or small group, they're sending you out with like a private guide.

[00:29:17.470] - Tamara Gruber So you're not even in a group of people, you know, it's just you and your family, which is kind of nice because I think I've told a story about like one other time when I went snowshoeing and I showed up and like all my ski gear, like thinking I was going to be freezing and I showed up and there were this there was like the guide in this other couple and they were in, I don't know, like a sweatshirt and like winter pants kind of thing.

[00:29:40.480] - Tamara Gruber And they were like, I hope we're going to really get our hearts going now. And I'm like, oh, crap. I did it myself into and the whole time I'm like huffing and puffing because there it was like climbing in, like trying to keep up with them and sweating and ripping off layers of clothes. And then I would catch up to them and then they'd be like and then they would keep going, you know what I'm like. I didn't get a chance to have a rest. And so I feel like to go by yourself. And the other time I did it was in Idaho and it was just me and a guide. But she was like twenty three. She was out there on the mountain every day, you know, and I was like my foot hurt from. For the last few days and, you know, it's just like you're at altitude and you're climbing up and I remember being like, I'm going to stop and take a picture.

[00:30:21.760] - Tamara Gruber I'm going to stop stopping and taking pictures because I needed a little break. But this one was like, you know, he kept stopping and he was just like, how are you guys doing? We're like, no, we're good. Like, let's keep going and let's let's climb up there. And, you know, we climbed up to this point. We had a beautiful view and know. So they really can match your peace. And like he says, like, you know, with a family, like your patient, with each other, you know, it's not like a group that, you know, someone's left behind or annoyed or, you know, all that.

[00:30:48.020] - Tamara Gruber So so that was, you know, really worked out well. And then I think that afternoon, Hannah and I did a trail ride. I forget what Glenn did. Maybe he just decided to skip it. But we did a trail ride. And so, you know, typical, like, you know, line up my horse.

[00:31:06.100] - Tamara Gruber My horse was a little nasty, though. Apparently, it was like the I don't know, what's the queen bee of horses, you know, like it has like seniority. So I kept trying to bite all the other horses. I would like to try to walk by. And so, yeah, like then the other horses were like, given it the side. I'm like, hold onto it like really tight. So stop trying to like bite the other horse. I have a little like a little bully over here.

[00:31:43.810] - Tamara Gruber I was talking to one of the ranch hands afterwards about it and she was like, oh yeah, he's got a little attitude, you know, but they're so used to some of it that I don't know, like I just I felt like like it was a personal reflection on me.

[00:31:55.360] - Tamara Gruber One of my horses tried to, you know, be nasty to another was like I wasn't controlling it well. But he was just like an hour, you know, ride like through a trail. But it's, you know, everything was still snow covered. So it was really it was just pretty. And I can't even tell you how much we enjoyed the weather because it was like sunny skies, blue skies, which I'm leaving looking at my window now in April.

[00:32:17.440] - Tamara Gruber And I'm just seeing gray, you know, and it's just it makes me feel like so much more alive when the sun is out.

[00:32:24.310] - Tamara Gruber And even though it was like twenty, thirty degrees when we were doing these things, like we went snowshoeing and I just had a base layer. And like a zip up fleece and that's it. And like my snow pants and I was totally fine and like that's kind of it felt like thirty degrees warmer than it actually the temperature was.

[00:32:46.150] - Tamara Gruber So we had a good time with that. And then afterwards they let you go into the paddock for this thing they call a spring shed. And so basically the horses are shedding their winter coat and so you can go and help like brush them and you can just like, you know, go up to any horse.

[00:33:01.840] - Tamara Gruber And so I was like, do we need to be careful around there? Like, no, just kind of like them. No, like, talk to them, let them know that you're coming.

[00:33:08.380] - Tamara Gruber And so we're brushing them and of course, like it was starting to be mud season. So it's like a little icky out there, like with the poop.

[00:33:16.900] - Tamara Gruber And and so I'm like, OK, I really wish I brought my rain boots that I could just, like, spray off. Yeah. So my tip would be to bring like a plastic bag or anything that is coming back from there. But it was, you know, it was just fun. Like Hannah loves horses.

[00:33:32.650] - Tamara Gruber So it was like, you know, fun for her to just be able to to do that for a while and then, oh, the food was crazy good, like so, so good and so much food like the first night we got there and it was barbecue night.

[00:33:47.590] - Tamara Gruber So you think it's going to be, I don't know, like family style. First of all, it's all like table service. And what they've done is they did used to have like community tables, but now because of covid, you can choose to have your own table. And so they've spread things out. So they have like them spread out in the dining room.

[00:34:04.030] - Tamara Gruber And ours was actually in the main lobby, which is like towering ceilings, like beautiful lodge. And we were by a window. So we had this amazing view. There was no table anywhere near us. So it was like so comfortable, you know, for like indoor dining. And they would know. So you had a printed menu every time, like beautiful place sitting. Everything was like a starter, an entree and a dessert. And the first night it was like brisket, ribs or Alaskan king crab legs.

[00:34:33.400] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, I didn't even get Alaskan king crab legs when I went on an Alaskan cruise and I went to the seafood restaurant, you know, like so Glen was like, well, I can't decide, like, can I get everything? And the girl was like, sure. And he was like, what? Like, you don't expect people to do that, you know? And she's like, yeah, like if you want like whatever you want, like I can bring you a little bit of this, little bit of that. And in the next morning scene with like breakfast, I was like, OK, well can I have like a pancake and an egg and some bacon. She's like, sure. So they it was so much food and it was really. Yeah, it was delicious, you know. And the next night was a formal night. So the kids have an option of doing like grab and go. Dining where it's more like a kid's meal, you know, that they can just take and they can eat it in the cabin and or go do a kid activity, but it's a little bit more of a formal meal. But it wasn't like you had to get dressed up. But these chefs came out and like presented and then they had like a wine pairing to go with it. So that one was I think we had like a salmon over like a lemon truffle, cauliflower risotto and Brussels sprout leaves. And, you know, it was like really it was it was fine dining.

[00:35:43.710] - Tamara Gruber And every meal was great, like, you know, you had lunch. And I was like, OK, let's start with like a giant salad and then a burger and then dessert. And I'm like, I can't do this. Like, I can't keep eating.

[00:35:54.360] - Tamara Gruber It's like it's so much food. But it was all so good. So definitely like a food is food is like a major highlight there.

[00:36:06.780] So you go at happy hour at like five thirty and they have a selection of wines and beer. I don't even know if they had cocktails. I think it's wine and beer and then like a little like aperitif, you know, you had at one night was like a prosciutto wrapped date.

[00:36:21.760] - Tamara Gruber And one night was like a deviled eggs, you know. So you had these little like snacks with your drinks. And that's the time where people can socialize if, you know, if they want to. So like there was oh, we just sat at our table because we were already in, like, that large area with our reserved table. So we would just sit there. But then there was this one group, like a big family group that would gather by the fireplace.

[00:36:40.890] - Tamara Gruber And sometimes they were a little forgetful when it came to like putting on their mask, when they stood up to walk to back to the bar or whatever. But luckily, like, we're like, OK, we're over here. You stay over there. Yeah, but it felt weird to, like, not be super friendly, you know, like it's the kind of thing where usually you'd have more interaction with people. But then what do we do? The next day we went and we did cross country skiing because Glenn really wanted to try that. And all I can say. Have you done cross-country before?

[00:37:07.860] - Kim Tate I have once. Paul is really into cross-country skiing and something they did in Edmonton a lot.

[00:37:12.180] - Tamara Gruber But yeah, I could see that because he's like the triathlon kind of guy. Yeah, yeah. It's not my thing. That's all I'll really say we were doing.

[00:37:20.820] - Tamara Gruber It was funny because we were gearing up and they said, like, it's not really great conditions for it because it's a little too icy, because that day it was like a little bit snowy, a little bit, it was still pretty cold in the morning there. It's like it's better in the afternoon. But we wanted to do something else in the afternoon and we're only there for a couple of days. So we didn't have like a ton of choice.

[00:37:39.330] - Tamara Gruber And so we're like, you know what, it's included. This is our chance to try it. Let's just go and do it. And they kept saying, like, oh, like when you fall, this is what you do.

[00:37:47.460] - Tamara Gruber And I'm like, fall. Like, isn't this just like walking? Like, when are we going to fall on cross country? And they do have like groomed trails, but they took us into like backcountry. And so then we were going like up a hill and then we had to go downhill. And I, I had no idea how different the skis are, you know. So, like, there's just I'm used to being able to, like, dig in or like control.

[00:38:09.750] - Kim Tate And it's just, you know, was your heel is free.

[00:38:12.430] - Tamara Gruber So, yeah, I'm like walking and the edges, there's just not like the edges that you have in downhill.

[00:38:16.710] - Kim Tate No, not at all. Yeah. So you stay, the whole idea is like, I mean I guess some people like plow but when I that time I went cross-country skiing. You're kind of in a rut of already done.

[00:38:28.530] - Tamara Gruber So you kind of I think it would have been cool if we did like the groomed trail but. But they're groomed trail was more like almost like a track, like an overall kind of thing. And then they it's more used to get people comfortable with it and then they go out to backcountry. Yeah. So like that part, I mean we made it fine. It was fine. Hannah actually really liked it and she liked like going ahead and laughing at us a bit.

[00:38:51.120] - Tamara Gruber But I just, I definitely love snowshoeing. So I'm like I don't think I would choose like cross country over snowshoeing. You know, I just I, you know, me and my control, like, I like to be in control and like, it's so easy to be in control.

[00:39:06.720] - Kim Tate Snowshoeing is better for that with than cross country. Yeah. I took out, yeah. I took out my father in law because I didn't know anything about it or how to stop and he had stopped to like look at something.I just kept going. I don't know what to do. So it's kind of funny. I mean it we were fine but yeah.

[00:39:25.260] - Tamara Gruber Yeah that was cool to get to try that, you know, and then the next thing we did didn't end up quite as well, but we went snow tubing and again, it's like a little bit icy. And so they have, you know, there this is just all on their property.

[00:39:40.710] - Tamara Gruber So they have a hill where they have kind of, you know, trails. But it's not like this. Quite the same grooming that you would have, you know, if you went to a ski resort type of of snow tubing. But they pull you up in a snowmobile, so they take you up there up to the hill on the snowmobile, you tube down, then they snowmobile you back up, you know, so that's kind of cool. And it was a lot of fun.

[00:40:00.450] - Tamara Gruber Like, we were definitely having a ton of fun, like Glenn and Hannah were going down, like in Hannah. And I did it, too, like together together, you know, and like, go down. But when you went down, you were going really fast.

[00:40:10.680] - Tamara Gruber They're like it's really slick, just so you know. So if you. Want to slow down like you use your foot to, like, kind of slow you down, like it's better if you went on your belly. We're usually like sit in the tube, you know, go on your belly and then you can, like, control it a little bit more.

[00:40:23.870] - Tamara Gruber And then at the bottom, they had some, like, barriers. And it's like you don't really want to go past the barrier because you're not going to go off a cliff. But it's it's not going to be great if you keep going, you know.

[00:40:32.150] - Tamara Gruber So I would always, you know, slow myself down, but it definitely was getting sicker and sicker. And then Glenn and Hannah, which we're almost it was almost going to be like the end anyway, like we're almost at the end of the day. But he went and then I saw, like, the two of them went like because there's two runs and I was waiting at the top. And then I went down. I kind of saw Glenn go like, oh, you know.

[00:40:52.790] - Tamara Gruber And then I was like, oh, what happens? I get down to the bottom and he can't stand because he he was using his foot to slow down and he felt something. And then when he went to stand up afterwards, the snow is like really deep, but it was just a little bit crusty on top. So then you kind of fall through and you might you know, you might be like a couple feet deep and snow and you have to, like, lift your foot out.

[00:41:13.970] - Tamara Gruber And so he kind of fell in to someone's like hole and then his foot, like he just felt something so like a few to three years, two years ago, he fractured his foot doing, you know, like he was doing a half marathon.

[00:41:27.650] - Tamara Gruber He was running a lot and he had like a stress fracture. So he says that this is what it felt like. So that was not the ideal end to our little trip. Yeah, it's a bummer because it sounds like you guys were having such a good time.

[00:41:40.610] - Kim Tate And then now it's a, you know, kind of like the end as calmly as you want it.

[00:41:46.160] - Tamara Gruber And then, yeah, it was especially great that while at least I was like, OK, let's like put ice on it and wrap it and like, put it up and just like, relax for a while and like see how you feel. But then he called a friend and the friend was like, you really should get x rays before you go, like all the way home, because we're leaving the next morning to start at 10, 12 hour drive to Kansas.

[00:42:07.160] - Tamara Gruber And so then I was like, I really think I have to go get x rays. And by this point it's like five o'clock. And I'm like, well, by the time I get you to Steamboat Springs, like we're missing dinner here. And then we're driving back here at night after dark, which not like great roads for driving after dark when you're not familiar with them.

[00:42:26.510] - Tamara Gruber And then we're just getting up and leaving the next morning and we're we'll have to drive back, pass through Steamboat Springs, you know, like we were north and we needed to go south. So I was like, OK, I think what we should do is just pack up and check out early and I should take it as Steamboat Springs and then like, let's just stay down there and then start our drive from there in the morning. It just, you know, it just wasn't worth it to come back, like just for breakfast and so sad, like we only really had to two nights there, but it worked out like we drove down.

[00:42:56.810] - Tamara Gruber I got us all packed up and checked out and we drove down to Steamboat Springs and dropped them off at the hospital for X-rays. I'm like, well, I can't come in anyway. So like, let me go take care of, like, getting gas in the car and finding where we can get some food to pick up and, you know, researching where to stay. And so, like, we could have stayed in Steamboat Springs, but we were kind of like, you know what, let's just drive down to 70, Interstate 70, so that in the morning, like, we definitely have less of a big drive tomorrow.

[00:43:22.340] - Tamara Gruber And so we we thought it was all going to be good. And we he was finally done at like eight o'clock. So it's like, you know, maybe before eight o'clock is like just turning dark and we start driving and we have to go up like over a mountain pass.

[00:43:36.950] - Tamara Gruber And I'm driving, of course, because he has like a boot and crutches and it starts snowing like swirling white out snow, like I can barely see. So I'm driving this mountain pass like I don't know how easy it is, you know what I mean? Like, is it is it really slick? Like, it was terrifying. I will tell you, like even like everyone in the car just like was quiet. So I could like, just very much focus on my drive.

[00:44:04.100] - Tamara Gruber And I was like gripping that wheel and going like twenty five miles an hour and just trying to be so careful because, you know, like it's a mountain pass in Colorado, like.

[00:44:14.180] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. And all I could think was if I pull over, are we going to end up one of those people that like died on the side of the road because they froze overnight. And, you know, like, what if it gets worse, you know, versus better?

[00:44:25.220] - Tamara Gruber And so I just, like, pushed through. And when we finally started coming back down, at least it stopped snowing. But then I was like, still so tense, like the rest of the drive. It was like a two hour drive to get like south to Interstate 70 because, you know, it's just dark and small mountain road. And then we had to look out for deer. There's all these signs for Deer Crossing. And they even I saw a couple bridges.

[00:44:48.500] - Tamara Gruber So I think it's where they've made those like wildlife. Yeah. Crossing thing. Crossing things. Yeah. Yeah. So and and the people at the hospital had warned Glen, like, if you're driving that way, like watch out for deer. So, you know, we finally made it to our hotel and it was good that we were plant we had booked ahead because when we got there the hotel parking lot was jammed. And so I dropped Glenn and he ran off up front, you know, because he has crutches and they went in to check in and like I.

[00:45:12.700] - Tamara Gruber To go park so far away and as I got out of the car, I realized a lot of people were actually sleeping in the car and their cars were running. And I'm like, what's going on? And then I realized that, like, they had closed Interstate 70 because of snow. And people were just, like, waiting it out there, I think.

[00:45:30.520] - Tamara Gruber So I'm like, oh, I'm really glad that I had booked the hotel room and I'm glad that we didn't plan to go any further. But I was so exhausted. We got there and I was like, I just need a minute. Like, I just I need to decompress. Like it was I was at the point that stressful. Yeah, I felt like breaking down in tears. I was just like, I need to like, let out all the stress, like I was so like I just really needed to breathe for a little bit.

[00:46:01.570] - Tamara Gruber I really, really enjoyed the ranch part and then from there we just, you know, we headed home and we, we stayed. I will give a lot of credit to Marriott because we booked a lot of our hotels with points and we ended up on the way back, like having to adjust.

[00:46:16.720] - Tamara Gruber Like, I just like to have our hotels booked on a road trip because I don't know, like I'm just worried. Like, what about the thing like with, you know, Interstate 70 and like the hotel gets sold out or, you know, something like that. So we're planning on stopping in. You will know. Is it Seleena or Salina? Salina, yeah.

[00:46:34.180] - Tamara Gruber So we were planning on stopping there, but because we had started from, you know, like an earlier like because we had already gone south and we were starting it was going to be not as long a drive. We're like, let's just push on and go a little further. And so we decided to push on. I don't even remember where we stopped, but it was like closer to Kansas City. I think it was still in Kansas, like, I seriously can't even remember. But we called, you know, on at least it brought us like another hour or two, you know, like, yeah, further east.

[00:47:03.310] - Tamara Gruber And so Glen called and he had you know, he's so big into his like, I got the email the day before, you know, because I'm like, whatever status does in already. So, yeah, we want to change it. But he's already checked in like .

[00:47:15.700] - Tamara Gruber And so I was like, well you need to call because like if y'all like maybe they'll say something, you know, they'll let you. So they were like, OK, we're canceling it. But, you know, you booked this with a certificate, so you're going to have to call like Marriott to get it, like reinstated. So then luckily I'm driving because Glenns. But, you know, so he's calling. He gets them to, like, give him back his points and then immediately, like, we rebooked somewhere else, like with the points.

[00:47:41.770] - Tamara Gruber So it was all like very seamless. Yeah, it was great.

[00:47:44.680] - Tamara Gruber So we did that and then. Oh I think it was Topeka. Oh I think that's where we stopped.There was a very good coffee shop across the street. That's all I know. Which I don't, you know, I don't even drink coffee but it was really cool.

[00:48:07.150] - Kim Tate I saw people become coffee drinkers just because like when the craze of the coffee shop aspect and then, like, working at home, I think people it's kind of funny to think that way, but I'm convinced.

[00:48:18.700] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it was. And then. Yeah. So the next day we just had to drive to St. Louis and so we got there and you know, you and I had talked about on a previous episode like that, we were going to go to the arch and so I had bought tickets in advance. And it's another thing, just like the Rock Hall of Fame, where it was such a better experience because there were hardly any people, you know.

[00:48:38.800] - Tamara Gruber So I bought the tickets in advance, which is good. When we showed up, there was a big sign that was like we're sold out for the day, but we had something at the end of the day anyway. So we got there. We didn't have time to do the museum downstairs first because we were a little like five minutes late for our tram, you know, up to the top. You did that, which definitely it is.

[00:48:58.540] - Tamara Gruber If you've not done it is not good for claustrophobic people. So it's like these little pods. I don't know if you remember from when you went, but it's like this little round pod that, like, you get in. But they've done it.

[00:49:09.310] - Tamara Gruber It's kind of like a Disney ride now. So like you get a boarding pass and you stand on like Circle five and then you're going to be in pod five. And somehow in normal times, they could fit like five or six people in these pods. And I have no idea, like a gondola pod.

[00:49:28.810] - Tamara Gruber But then you're going up. I mean, it's kind of fascinating technology because first we're like, how do they do this? Like how do you go up on an angle.

[00:49:36.010] - Tamara Gruber So you have to like read about how they do it. But it's like because it's like a you know, like a round pod, they can like, rotate it like you don't feel it. But anyway, it's it's interesting, but it does have like a glass door. So then you can like, look down. So that's also not so great for some people. Even Hannah was like, I don't really like this, but it's like I think three minutes up or like maybe four minutes up, three minutes down or something like that.

[00:49:59.710] - Tamara Gruber But then when you get to the top, you have an assigned viewing window. So like we were window five and one on both sides.

[00:50:07.150] - Tamara Gruber So no one, you know, like you're not fighting with anyone for like a photo. No one's leaning into your. Like, you have your own little window again, and I didn't love it because you had to, she's getting like a little bit nervous with some heights you had to, like, lean just like you said, like you have to lean to look out the window.

[00:50:24.540] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, but and also it had been raining and so it was pretty foggy, but it was still is a pretty view. I'm glad we did it. We went downstairs. There was a really cool museum, which, you know, a lot of things.

[00:50:35.130] - Tamara Gruber She's like, oh, that's in our AP history class. And, you know, like all the, you know, things that she had learned recently. So it's a nice museum. Then they were closing. So we left and we had to leave the building. But it's pouring torrential rain when we walk out and we have to walk like ten minutes back to the hotel. And so we were like, well, like we just have to walk. Like, I hadn't brought an umbrella and I had a coat that's at least like water-Resistant, but hers was not really. And luckily it wasn't freezing, freezing cold, but it was so torrential, like we were laughing, like we were just so completely soaked, like to our skin that we were just laughing. And we got there.We walked in and Glen was like, oh, my God. Like, look at you guys. And like, the front of our pants were like a completely different color than, like the back of our pants.

[00:51:28.710] - Tamara Gruber Are you sure that I could feel the water like running down my leg inside my pants, like into my shoe. It was so bad but it was like funny. So we immediately were like, OK, we're like stripping out of this. I think we yeah.

[00:51:41.160] - Tamara Gruber We did like a room service, like drop off thing for dinner and we got into like the robes and stuff. Oh. And this was the place it's called Hotel St. Louis. It's an autograph collection of Marriott. And it is it was great. Like it was a beautiful, historic kind of property. And are we again got a suite like Glen did the upgrade thing with his points. And it was a huge, beautiful suite. And it had this big bathroom with like this nice shower stall and a tub. But it had something I've never seen before. And it had a heated toilet seat with like a built in bidet. But like when I pulled off those wet pants and I sat on that toilet seat and it kind of like, OK, I could stay here. So I don't know how I always get back to bathrooms.

[00:52:25.830] - Kim Tate There's a theme, but I would change our concept of our podcast. It's like the bathroom by the bathrooms. When you talk, when you travel, I don't know.

[00:52:33.060] - Tamara Gruber But it was definitely like if you go to St. Louis, I would stay there. It was in a nice location. It was, you know, really nice. I really liked it. I mean, I guess the highway is like right next to the arch, but I really liked it a lot. And I mean, the only downside was like, you know, there's no valet and so they don't have their own garage. So I had to drop them off and, like, go, you know, park like around the corner or whatever, so that it got a little tedious, the kind of. I drop you off and I have to go do all, you know, like it's nice when you can share some of those responsibilities.

[00:53:05.520] - Tamara Gruber But then the next morning Glen and Hannah went to have breakfast and I was like, I'm going to it's a nice day now. So I want to walk down and take some pictures of the arch when it's not, you know, like pouring rain. So we did that and then we drove and then our plan, you'll get a kick out of this. I don't know if I told you the story yet, but our plan was that we were driving to Columbus, Ohio, and the whole point of stopping in Columbus was that we have a nephew at Ohio State. And so we were going to see him and we were going to take him out to dinner and it was going to be so nice to see family.

[00:53:36.750] - Tamara Gruber And we had contacted him like a month ago and then like a week before. And he confirmed with us this was Friday night. He confirmed with us on Wednesday. And so we had actually reached out to his mom, Glen sister, to ask for recommendations and where to take them for dinner. And she sent that to us. And then Friday morning, Glen had made the reservation on Thursday for dinner. So Friday morning we're driving. And Glen texted him to say, hey, like, here's where we made the reservation will pick you up at this time, like where should we pick you up?

[00:54:06.390] - Tamara Gruber And he writes back, I'm in Florida. Right. And we're like, what? And so apparently a little bit after he confirmed with us on Wednesday, he decided his grandparents, Glenn's parents, offered to buy him a ticket to come home for Passover and he decided to go down to Florida and forgot to let you guys forgot to let us know. And along with everyone else in the family that knew we were supposed to visit him.

[00:54:36.300] - Kim Tate Oh, my goodness. College kids. Yeah, I just. Yeah, that's frustrating. Yeah.

[00:54:43.890] - Tamara Gruber So it was another time where we decided that we are going to change our plan because like we were going to have like and I don't know, like a six hour drive that day and then like a twelve hour drive the next day. So we're like, why stop in Columbus now?

[00:54:59.040] - Tamara Gruber Like that's the only reason we were stopping in Columbus. Let's just go further. So again, we called and we got it canceled. Luckily, he hadn't checked in yet. You know, we canceled it. We rebooked for this place just in, like Western. Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, right off the highway, like, you know, just one of those times where you just like looking at the map and looking at the, like, Marriot up, like trying to figure out like where to you know, where to look.

[00:55:22.840] - Tamara Gruber You know, we're like, well, there's no need to go into downtown Pittsburgh. We don't have time to, like, really check it out. Like, let's just stay close to the highway and hurry on the next morning to finally get home. So we check in and it was a courtyard. And I will say it's the only time I've not been very happy with the courtyard, but we you know, the room was fine.

[00:55:41.830] - Tamara Gruber And it's like Glen has titanium level points and status or whatever, and I can't tell in these hotels were not full, but every single time we're like, is an upgrade available? Because I know that they have one bedroom King Suites because they're on their website, but they're not available to book with points. So when you get there, we're like, is an upgrade available? No, it's not available. Like, really, really, really.

[00:56:04.910] - Tamara Gruber Somebody booked it. Right, exactly. And then sometimes Glenn would be like, oh, he likes to play dumb because you know how Hilton gives you water like bottles of water if you're on. Yes. So like Marriott doesn't do that.

[00:56:16.300] - Tamara Gruber And so he'll be like, oh, do you guys give water? So, you know, like I'm titanium. And then I was just like, no, you can buy it at the marketplace. Like, whatever he's likely seriously. Like, I'm in a Courtyard Marriott. You're not upgrading me. I'm getting nothing.

[00:56:30.220] - Kim Tate There's no knock down right now, like, come on, you know, so they don't even give you an option now because you can like now I ask and they're just like, oh yeah, you'll be getting your two hundred and fifty bonus points or whatever, like that's your welcome gift or something like crazy.

[00:56:44.860] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Sorry. No, it's just it's a little disappointing. So we go up and the room is like fine and we're just tired. There's really no place nearby to get anything but like fast food. And I'm like, maybe we should go down and see, like, you know, sometimes that marketplace has like frozen meals. You can heat up, you know, and stuff.

[00:57:06.970] - Tamara Gruber So they had, you know, a couple of things, but they have like, you know, how the courtyards have like the like a bar like bistro like sometimes I've never done it except for breakfast. Like we'll get it like a breakfast sandwich and a Starbucks coffee and go or something. Yeah.

[00:57:21.490] - Tamara Gruber So they were still open because it was like eight thirty at night, nine o'clock at night and they would do like a flatbread pizza or whatever. So Hannah and I went down and we got that and we brought it up to the room to eat in the room and we had gotten like a king bed and a pull out because I just sleep better if it's a king bed versus like two queens.

[00:57:38.200] - Tamara Gruber And so I went to pull out the couch for Hannah. Yeah. And there is you know, they they never give you sheets now because I understand, like, you don't want like you want fresh sheets, so you always have to ask for it now.

[00:57:53.290] - Tamara Gruber So when I was down getting the food, I asked, you know, can we have bedding for the pullout? Yes. And then she came back. She's like, we only have one pillow and I can't find another blanket and always gets cold. So I like to get her two blankets and we're like, OK. And then I pull out the bed and it just looks, yeah.

[00:58:11.860] - Kim Tate Dirty not that's why I do two queens because those sofa beds are. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, sorry. Go ahead.

[00:58:19.040] - Tamara Gruber So I went to make it up and I like lifted you know, you looked like the mattress to tuck it in and there is a condom like it's in the wrapper, it's unused. OK, but it was one of those things so I was like yeah no, no. And like I know it's a hotel. I'm sure there's been plenty, you know, of action happening on different beds, but like, I don't know about it.

[00:58:43.090] - Kim Tate And maybe you didn't have any I don't see any results from it. Exactly. And like, maybe it didn't happen. It didn't happen because it was unwrapped. Right.

[00:58:51.640] - Tamara Gruber Oh, but I was kind of like, yeah. And then Glen was like, what? And I like sort of he's like, fold it back up right now is really funny. He's like, I'm sleeping on the couch. So we're like, no, I just sleep on the couch. He's like, I'm fine. I could fall asleep in a chair. I'm going to sleep on the couch and like, put my foot up in you. And Hannah can be in the the king bed is was like, OK, this is so funny.

[00:59:11.680] - Kim Tate Sweet Dad. Yeah.

[00:59:13.690] - Tamara Gruber And then I we drove home and we finally got home and we were very happy.

[00:59:17.950] - Tamara Gruber So, you know, anyway, long I don't know if anybody still gets this and I know I'm so sorry. Like rambling, rambling. It's just like you can tell that I've missed talking to Kim too. Yeah.

[00:59:27.910] - Kim Tate But I hear your listeners hopefully love hearing it.

[00:59:30.670] - Tamara Gruber I'd fill you in on all those little stories because, you know, honestly, I feel like with family road trips, a lot of it is about those little it is stories, you know, that's how the memories are made, those little quirks that happen.

[00:59:42.400] - Kim Tate Exactly. I mean, Hannah and I will not forget, like being soaking wet, you know.

[00:59:47.200] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. Things. So I'm sure no one is going to do this exact trip, but maybe you've at least gotten some recommendations like, you know, I would definitely recommend the Vista Verde ranch.

[00:59:56.140] - Kim Tate Yeah, I like different places to go see like, well, an even opening up the idea of spring breaks like a winter ranch type thing, because you think of it so often is summer. So it's interesting to know that it would be a spring break option

[01:00:08.650] - Tamara Gruber And actually at this ranch for the last two weeks of March, it's only they do close for April, so it's only if you have, you know, a February or March kind of break because it's like then really their mud season. But for the last two weeks of March, they give, I think, a 15 percent discount. So it is actually a good time to go again.

[01:00:27.010] - Kim Tate Is there do they do they have a minimum stay?

[01:00:34.630] - Tamara Gruber It's a three night stay in the summer. They do the traditional Saturday to Saturday.

[01:00:43.240] - Kim Tate And I think, you know, even that long, a lot of people have that long President's Day weekend in February. So that might be a good, good destination for the year. That's sometimes like a whole week even.

[01:00:52.570] - Kim Tate Yeah, cool. Well, it's great to hear all those little I think it was fun. So even though we had a long episode, it was fun to hear everything and feel like we were along on the trip. And I think our listeners like that. So, yeah. Any any little final tips or anything you want to say before we wrap up?

[01:01:11.140] - Tamara Gruber No, but hopefully in a few weeks we'll hear a little bit more about your trip. I know a lot of people might want to actually do what you did, so so stay tuned for that.

[01:01:19.060] But in two weeks, we're going to have an episode with a very popular road trip and the grand circle in the Southwest covering a lot of the national parks and state parks. So definitely stay tuned. Take care. Bye.

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Dreaming of sunny skies and palm trees? Us too. Before you plan your next vacation to the Sunshine State, be sure to listen to this week's episode with Joella Doobrow from RovingJo. We break down the best Florida hotels and resorts up and down both coasts (and a few in the middle) for families, girls' trips, and romantic getaways.

About Joella Doobrow Joella was born in Venezuela and currently lives in Florida. She moved to the USA alone when she was 18 and is now married with two teenage girls. Together they enjoy outdoor adventures mixed in with a few great city escapes. Travel has been a part of her life since she was a few months old and it has undoubtedly shaped it. Joella now shares her travel experiences through RovingJo.com to help inspire others to find their own adventures and create memories that will shape their lives in a positive way.

She believes that no matter how busy life gets, there is always time to travel and discover something new. Even if that something new is just a few miles away from home. You can follow Joella on Instagram.

Best Florida Hotels and Resorts * If you are looking for a bucket list resort in Florida and budget isn't an issue, look at Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys. * Hawk's Cay in the Florida Keys is an excellent choice for families, with villas with kitchens, lots of activities, and even dolphin encounters. While in the Keys you could potentially take a day trip to Dry Tortugas National Park. * Margaritaville in Hollywood, Florida is also great for families. They have a Florider surfing simulator, a rooftop pool, and a Parakeets kids club. Just outside the hotel you can walk or bike along the boardwalk or go to the beach. The Margaritaville Orlando is also a great pick for families. * In Palm Beach, The Breakers is old world luxury but has a kids and teens club and activities. They also offer activities like golf, kayaking, snorkeling, and complimentary bicycles. * The Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne and Amelia Island both offer great properties and kids programs. * On the Gulf Coast of Florida, the beaches are softer with white, sugary sand and the water is calmer with a beautiful blue-green color. * Marco Island and Naples are favorite family travel destinations on the Gulf Coast. The JW Marriott in Marco Island is perfect for families. They have a beautiful beach, golf nearby, multiple restaurants, kids clubs, and even an arcade/brewery. You can also take Dolphin watching tours and other watersports, or tours out to the Ten Thousand Islands. * Twin Rivers Island Resort in Captiva allows locals and visitors to pay a day rate to use the resort. Captiva is a great spot for shelling and watching manatees. * In Naples, the Naples Grande or Ritz Carlton are good options for families. * The Inn on Fifth in Naples is great for a girlfriend getaway or romantic getaway as it is right in the heart of town. * Tradewinds in the St. Pete/ Clearwater area is great for families. They have a large ocean waterpark, five pools, plenty of restaurants and bars, as well as a kids club. It isn't luxury but is great for pure family fun. * We also like the Wyndham or Hyatt in Clearwater. * Anna Maria Island is a great destination to rent a vacation home, but you could also try the boutique Rod and Reel Resort. They offers suites for families and they offer paddleboards, bikes, and other amenities. * In the Panhandle, Port St. Joe, Rosemary Beach, and Seaside are all great communities, but they are better for vacation rental homes. Watercolor is one beautiful resort in that area. * For Disney hotels, Animal Kingdom Lodge is a favorite for families because of the pools, playground, food, and, of course, the animals. The new Riviera is also very nice and it is on the Skyliner for easy transportation to the parks. * The Swan or The Dolphin are also convenient if you are going to one of the festivals at Epcot, plus you can sometimes use Marriott points. * If you want to stay outside of Disney, the Four Seasons Orlando can't be beat. * For a girl's trip, head to Palm Beach and stay at either the Eau Palm Beach or The Colony. * If you like a spa setting and want to be closer to the Miami action, the Acqualina Resort and Spa is perfect for a girls trip. * For a romantic getaway, try the Bungalows Key Largo. It is an adults-only all-inclusive property. Cheeca Lodge is another option but they are remodeling right now. * Amelia Island is another great spot for a romantic getaway, but you may want to rent a condo or stay at a bed and breakfast. * When looking for deals, you can find good options in the summer when it is hot or during hurricane season in the fall.

Read the Full Show Transcript [00:00:00.090] - Kim Tate Craving some sunshine and palm trees today, we're talking about Florida hotels.

[00:00:17.120] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:32.120] - Kim Tate So, Tamara, before we get chatting with our guest all about Florida hotels, I thought since we've been talking a lot about vacation planning and we talked recently about finding hotel deals, I thought maybe you and I could chime in a little bit on some of the tricks or things that we do when we're booking hotels, because you and I both just booked a whole bunch of hotels for our road trips. So did you want to start us off and share maybe a tip that you utilized or thought about with your booking?

[00:00:59.480] - Tamara Gruber Sure, yeah. I think both of us with our road trips recently, we had to choose some destinations based on where we're going. But then some of our in-between destinations were maybe based on where we might have a hotel that we had a connection with, whether it's a loyalty program or, something through the credit card. So I feel like understanding where you are from a point perspective or if there are any certain deals like with your credit card or any certain like rewards points.

[00:01:31.550] - Tamara Gruber You know, one of those like get the extra night free or, you know, double points or something like that. A lot of times I tend to ignore those. It's not very good as a a travel blogger, but sometimes I ignore them because I'm very focused on the destination. I like what I want to experience and not necessarily like chasing a particular hotel but I did for this trip try to look at that a little bit more. Some of it was like we also wanted to be like right in the heart of the town where campus was.

[00:02:01.820] - Tamara Gruber So that's why in a couple of places I chose a Graduate hotel, because I'm like, OK, I know that this is going to give me like a very close to campus experience, but also a very local, authentic kind of experience because the Graduate hotels are awesome, bringing in local artists and local like culture and themes and things that you almost question. I know when we were in Madison, Wisconsin, and they have like Pink Flamingos and like, what's the deal with Pink Flamingos in Madison, Wisconsin, you know, and you you learn about it. And so I like that element. So we did that. But then we were more in between, you know, we're traveling, we just need a place to stop. I'm like, OK, let's look at you know, we're pretty loyal Marriott members like, what are the Marriott properties?

[00:02:42.020] - Tamara Gruber You know, which ones are rated, you know, this where how far off the highway are they? But there are a couple of things that we saw because we were trying to book with points and we were also, you know, with the three of us being on the road, being in the car together so much, it's like, you know, a lot of togetherness. They thought we might want to spread out like a little bit when we get to the hotel and just, like, chill out and maybe have more than just like your typical to queen kind of room.

[00:03:06.320] - Tamara Gruber So I was looking at different properties that have an extended room or have a one bedroom suite. So I'd find these Courtyard Marriotts that have a one bedroom king suite. So it's a king bed and then a separate room with a pullout couch. That gives us like lots of space. So I went and created a document with all the links to it and sent it to Glenn because he's the one with all the points and I'm like, can you book these? And he comes back to me and he's like, none of these are showing up.

[00:03:36.710] - Tamara Gruber So what I learned is that a lot of times those premium rooms are not available for points, so then you have to make a choice do you really want that space? And the other thing is he is a titanium member so we could get there and get the upgrade potentially. So sometimes I'm like let's book the regular and see if we can get an upgrade. And other times, I'm like, we're going to be very tired. We're there for two nights, let's pay and make sure we get what we want.

[00:04:09.380] - Tamara Gruber But when we were paying for it, I saw American Express Platinum card had a certain offer for Marriott where if you spent two hundred, you got a certain amount back. So then I was like, OK, well, let's use this deal. I made sure, like on my itinerary to write like use use Amex card.

[00:04:31.040] - Tamara Gruber It wasn't just like an automatic thing. So sometimes like when you get those emails from your credit card, it does make sense if you have a trip coming up to really read through them and understand, because even though sometimes even deals like, I don't know, for restaurant chains or something like that. So I'm like, OK, let's like make a note of that so that I remember to use this credit card.

[00:04:54.930] - Tamara Gruber So those are some of the things that we are doing. We also always get into the discussion of is it worth it to pay or not? You know, because as I mentioned, like on one of our episodes, you know, some of the inner city hotels are a little bit cheaper right now versus, you know, more of a leisure property. So we found a lot of good deals. And it's like, well, if it's only like one hundred and twenty five dollars, should we just pay for it, but then we decided towards the end of our trip, we wanted to, like, treat ourselves a little bit. So we decided to use the points.

[00:05:24.970] - Tamara Gruber And actually, instead of staying at, like the Courtyard, we're staying at like an Autograph collection hotel, you know, something that's in the city has a little character, sometimes they're historic properties but it just has a little bit more character.

[00:05:38.980] - Tamara Gruber I mean, I love a Courtyard and a Hilton garden inn because, like, I know exactly what to expect when we are stopping in Nebraska. I'm like, we're stopping in a Courtyard. I know that they have a washing machine. I know I can do my laundry. Like there's there's a comfort to that. They don't charge for parking. The Courtyards don't do breakfast, but if you stay at a Residence Inn and they do, you know, so you can always kind of figure out like what is going to be your state of mind?

[00:06:05.530] - Tamara Gruber Are you in the middle of nowhere? And you really just want, like, a quick breakfast before you hit the road? Or are you staying in a city where you might want to go out to brunch or pick or see like a local place, you know, and therefore you don't need breakfast at the hotel.

[00:06:16.780] - Tamara Gruber So I don't know. Those are some of the things that we think about and we thought about and planning our recent road trip. But I know you were a little bit more strategic in the way that you were using, like your points and your certificates and things. So why don't you talk a little bit about kind of what the process you went through?

[00:06:32.380] - Kim Tate Well, I think you brought up something really good. I need to go check my Chase offers, because if you guys log into a credit card that you use, the offers will be like on your dashboard. And, you know, like Tamara said, she scored that Marriott one. And so it's always a good idea before you start doing a big trip like this to look and see what, you know, little bonuses you might have. And so I need to go check my Chase ones and see if I had anything from there.

[00:06:59.170] - Kim Tate And then I also think that it's good to mention the breakfast thing, because that was something that really has me at a quandary right now, because I'm curious which hotels actually will have breakfast still and what that will look like because.

[00:07:13.180] - Kim Tate So I'm not a yogurt eater. So I'm really worried that I'm going to be getting bags of like an orange or an apple and a yogurt every morning on right now when I have the free breakfast ones, because on the West Coast, you know, everything's still pretty, pretty locked down a little bit. So we'll see what happens. I have no idea what to think about the breakfast, but on a road trip, that's definitely something I look for is the free breakfast.

[00:07:34.900] - Kim Tate Because for us, you would get this, but I have some late sleepers and it's hard to get up and get going in the morning. And if I have to make a stop for breakfast, then we are totally already going to be hours longer for us. So that's something that I keep in mind for sure. But I think one of the things that I do when I'm doing a big trip is I, I definitely plan.

[00:07:57.880] - Kim Tate Like I said already last week that I look at how far I need to drive each week and or each day. And so I look at like, what are the main cities in those destinations? And I think what Tamara already touched on that a lot of us know is if you're doing a road trip, you're going to be doing a lot of these smaller towns. And so you're going to be drawn to a lot of those chains like Holiday Inn Express.

[00:08:17.140] - Kim Tate You know, I for like Tamara said, Courtyard's I had a lot of Fairfield inns on mine. So you're going to be kind of looking at that. And I think the important thing is just to log in and check out what those hotels have going for promotions. For example, I saw that Holiday Inn Express, which is IHG, had a stay two nights, get double points promotion and you have to register in advance for it. So I registered in advance for that.

[00:08:41.590] - Kim Tate And two of our nights on our road trip, are Holiday Inn Express's. So that'll work out and give us a little bonus on points. It's not that much of a money savings, but it's always nice to give. It's kind of like getting the free money that's sitting there. It's not a big deal if you don't get it, but it is a nice little perk. So that's something I think is important. You know, recently I was booking a Marriott property and I actually found that they were doing a certain promotion and I canceled my previous booking and rebooked it.

[00:09:09.580] - Kim Tate And that's the other thing. Talking about cancellation of a lot of hotels offer you a much cheaper rate if you're willing to pay in advance. So you commit and say, I'm ready to do this, but for my planning and just with where the world is right now, I went ahead and paid the extra to get the free cancelation. Or you can cancel at least anywhere from one to three days normally before your trip. However, a little tip I'll mention is that there's nothing that says you can't log back in, recheck those rooms and cancel rebook at the lower the prepaid rate and then cancel the advance purchase rate.

[00:09:44.380] - Kim Tate But that takes a lot of thinking in advance. But just a little heads up, you can set a little timer once you know that you're going and there's not any real risk if you have like a day before cancelation, there's nothing that stops you two days before from rebooking at the prepaid rate.

[00:10:00.100] - Kim Tate So that's just some of the little hacks and stuff I have. I'm a triple-A, member. I actually need to reminds me I need to add, Lizzie, because I just always felt more. I don't think I've used it once, but I like having it and it just makes me feel comfortable.

[00:10:19.980] - Tamara Gruber I used to work at AAA so I'm a AAA fan.

[00:10:19.980] - Kim Tate I remember you telling me about making all those triptiks. So I think AAA is another thing to have in mind, that for a road trip it it serves two purposes is it can, you know, offer you the peace of mind if you do lock your keys or need a tow or have car trouble or need a change of tire or whatever your case may be, you have them on, you know, at the ready. And then also because a lot of hotels offer triple-A discounts. And that's a great little way to save, you know, save some money. I saved about I, I think I save, you know, around 10 to 20 percent on a room with it.

[00:10:56.880] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's funny you mention that because, like, I do that and I don't even think about I don't even think about mentioning it. But yeah, I mean, so many of them, when you're going and you're looking at the price they have like little checkboxes, like if you want to see the AAA. Specifically like ask to see the rate.

[00:11:12.450] - Kim Tate And then I know with Marriott you actually have to input your triple-A number when you're making the booking. So it can be a great, I mean based on this trip alone, it paid for itself.

[00:11:27.930] - Tamara Gruber By the way, with us I actually went and I upgraded our membership to plus before because our like my car is getting like a little bit older. And so the roadside assistance isn't the built in like that when you buy it. Sometimes it includes assistance for a certain amount of time. So I don't have that anymore. And your typical triple-A is only like a three or five mile tow. And I'm like, we're going to be in the middle of nowhere. And so I want to make sure that I can. So actually, it's funny that you mention that because I didn't even think of it, but we actually upgraded our membership just so we can do that road trip.

[00:12:02.340] - Kim Tate And the cool thing about triple A also for you parents who have teen drivers is it works for any car the person is in. So it's a membership for the person. So if your teen is with friends and there's something happens, they can always call AAA and get help even if their friend doesn't have AAA. Same with you. If you're renting a car or, you know, whatever the case may be, your AAA covers you. So it's really getting membership is free.

[00:12:34.320] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I recently just got a thing asking me like free two months of the plus or whatever if I signed up for that. So I need to log in and do that because I thought of doing that just for a road trip.

[00:12:46.230] - Kim Tate So anyways, that's some of the little tips I have. But yeah, I think hopefully we haven't overwhelmed people, but that's the way our brains work, right. We're always I mean, I'm just always looking for deals because if I can save a little money here and there, it means you can splurge and do a little more in other places. But I think the chains are the big thing to recognize on a road trip.

[00:13:04.560] - Kim Tate You're going to be doing a lot of chains. And if you can have loyalty or look for those bonuses, it might pay off a little bit. I know a lot of hotels used to do, you know, stay two nights, get one night free you type certificates. And with my Marriott credit card, I get a free certificate every year. But figuring out how to use those is the tricky thing. And then also considering parking costs, like Tamara said, I considered an Autograph hotel as well.

[00:13:28.560] - Kim Tate And one of our stops that was in a bigger city that had that. However, they charged a 35 dollar parking fee. And I thought that doesn't make any sense for us. We'll just stay at the Fairfield Inn and get our nice supposedly free breakfast. The differences between, you know, like just staying on the outskirts at a more of a chain property versus, you know, being in the city at a flagship property, you know, the extra expense can be insane between parking.

[00:13:53.550] - Tamara Gruber Then you charge for breakfast and you think about like some of those chains, like I just love, like Residence Inn or, you know, one of the like Springhill Suites is that have also they have like the little happy hour.

[00:14:05.820] - Tamara Gruber And then they have sometimes I know Residence Inn like sometimes on like a Tuesday night they have like the manager's reception or something and they'll like grill hot dogs, you know, like something like that. But there's, there's a lot of like little perks to some of the places that maybe don't have you know, they're not the downtown location.

[00:14:22.440] - Tamara Gruber They're not the more stylish, perhaps. But I also I like the consistency of a lot of those brands, though, in terms of knowing what you're getting.

[00:14:30.990] - Kim Tate Well, and I like the fact that if I'm on a long road trip, it's, a money saving because they're normally pretty affordable. And I just need a place to sleep for the night that I know it's going to be clean and I like the chains because I know that there's a cleanliness standard for the brand. And so you feel a little more confident there, even though they can't be franchised.

[00:14:50.850] - Kim Tate So we are going to talk today all about Florida hotels, and I'm excited to hear about that because I'm definitely dreaming of sunshine and palm trees.

[00:14:59.970] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, Florida is such a popular destination, so we wanted to cover kind of a variety, you know, from like what's good for family, what's good for girlfriend getaway, romantic, you know, different areas. So lots of, I think a little gems that we're going to talk about today. So I'm excited to talk to Joella.

[00:15:24.700] - Tamara Gruber Today, we're here with Joella Doobrow, and she was born in Venezuela and now lives in Florida with her husband and two teen girls, travel has been a part of her life since she was very young. And today she shares her experience through her blog at Roving Jo to help inspire others to find their own adventures and create memories to shape their lives in a positive way. So welcome, Joella.

[00:15:45.680] - Joella Doobrow Thanks. I'm really excited to be here with you guys.

[00:15:48.350] - Tamara Gruber Now, I've been following you on Instagram for so long now, and I am always jealous of all of the day trips and, you know, weekends and overnights and things that you've been doing, especially as I'm kind of trapped in the cold up here. So I'm eager to get your opinion on some of the your favorite hotels and resorts in Florida. But before we get into some of the details, I'm going to ask you a really hard question. And that is, if you could stay at any resort in Florida with any budget, where would you go?

[00:16:17.000] - Joella Doobrow Actually, I think it's this resort, it's called a little Palm Island resort. Tt's a very exclusive. It's on a private island and it's voted like the number seven resort in the USA by, you know, Conde Nast Traveler. And it's really the epitome of luxury and escape. I mean, you need to get there by boat or sea plane. And I just love the idea of no phones, no TVs, no guests under 18 and, you know, really good dining and just secluded and, you know, getting away from the world and having lots of luxury.

[00:16:51.770] - Tamara Gruber It sounded perfect to me. Kim and I were actually just talking about this on our last episode briefly, because I was, kind of scrounging around for different ideas for the summer. And I came across it and I was so excited until I saw the price. So, yes, when I win the lottery, that's where I'm going to go to.

[00:17:11.600] - Kim Tate So we are going to be talking all about Florida, which I'm sure most people understand is a, you know, fairly good sized state. So let's start on the East Coast. And, you know, there we're looking at Amelia Island, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, the Keys, of course. So what are some of your favorite East Coast beaches and resorts for families that you recommend for, you know, a good, good getaway?

[00:17:34.340] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, there's actually several. And like I said, I mean, the East Coast is fairly large. So, you know, starting all the way on the south towards the keys for the family, we really enjoyed Hawk's Cay. So it's not all the way down in Key West, but they have a lot of really, really fun amenities that are for families. They'll do dolphin encounters, you can do snorkeling, scuba packages, sunset cruises, paddleboards kayaks, fishing. They have tons of activities on site, game rooms, kids club, a wonderful playground.

[00:18:10.370] - Joella Doobrow They have this little pirate ship type pool putting course. I mean, it's it's just there's everything there and it's getting into the keys. So there's tons of things to do outside the resort as well. It's really fabulous.

[00:18:24.440] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I stayed there with my family once quite a few years ago, and I think I've told Kim before, I still have a scar on my knee from that pirate pool.

[00:18:33.740] - Kim Tate I actually was talking to them recently and I think it kind of has that it sounded like a very all inclusive feel where or almost like, you know, like staying on on site with Disney in a way where you're kind of insulated. They're they've got everything for restaurants and all your activities. You don't have to think about anything beyond that if you don't want to. So it seems like it's really great. Set it and forget it. Vacation destination.

[00:18:56.450] - Tamara Gruber It's a good one for now, too, because they have those villas that have kitchens and it's you know, you're you're really self-contained and self-catering if you want to be.

[00:19:06.440] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, they do. They have the both the the hotel side and then the villas. So if you need more space or want to cook your own stuff and or even if I think they even have places where you can dock your boat, it's it's really nice.

[00:19:18.500] - Kim Tate Cool, so moving north, what else have you got on the East Coast.

[00:19:22.070] - Joella Doobrow So a little bit closer to where I live and we've done this as a day trip or staycation is Margaritaville in Hollywood. And it's really fun because they have you know, aside from the pool, they have the florider where you can kind of like, you know, surf. But yes, it's lots of fun both for kids and adults. And they do have, of course, the rooftop pool with cabanas. And they do have a parakeets kids club with, you know, games and crafts for kids and stuff like that. I think between ages four and twelve.

[00:19:53.330] - Tamara Gruber I'm a big Jimmy Buffett fan. And was it two years ago? I stayed at the Margaritaville in Orlando when it first opened and I loved it. So I'm I imagine that they all have a similar vibe. But it just I felt very relaxed when I was there, which I usually wouldn't feel when I'm in Orlando.

[00:20:09.140] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, I was really fun. And then right outside the hotel, there's a broad walk or boardwalk. I don't know how people pronounce it, but I mean, you can skate there, ride your bike some there's tons of restaurants out there and cool places where you can get like ice cream. And it has that old town, Florida, feel. And, you know, it's right on the beach, too. So it's great.

[00:20:31.700] - Joella Doobrow A little further north, if you go to West Palm, there is the Breakers, which kind of has that old style to it. It's really great for adults and kids because they do have a lot of kids programs. There are even for teens, they have one for teens, thirteen and up, which is great. And they have activities like golf and kayaking and snorkeling and arcades and, you know, complimentary bicycles that you can take and and use for West Palm Beach, which is a great way to get around the area.

[00:21:01.030] - Kim Tate Now are any of those, would you say, better for like a beach, like white sand beach vacation type thing, because I know as you move to the keys, sometimes it's not always, you know, sandy beaches and sometimes with currents or tides or, you know, seaweed, stuff like that. So do you have any that are kind of more of a sure bet if you want the white sand beach?

[00:21:20.200] - Joella Doobrow Margaritaville is right on the water, and that is sand beach. I feel on the east. It's not as white powdery sand. You'll find that on the West Coast. There's also the the Ritz Carlton, either on Key Biscayne down south or if you want to go north on Amelia Island. Both of them have great family programs. I mean, it is more luxury. It's more that luxury family resort type thing. But they have, you know, different pools once for the family, once, you know, just for the kids and for the adults and the kids club is always really good with Ritz Carlton. So those are beach.

[00:21:56.760] - Tamara Gruber They even have those cute little like rich kids check in like a little stepstool so the kids can check it. And I stayed that Amelia Island one one said it was it was nice because I think there's a lot of, like, pirate history up there. So a lot of the kids program activities were involving, like, we're going to look for sharks teeth. We're going to, you know, learn about pirates. And we have like a pirate tuck in and we do stargazing at night in the dunes and some cool things like that that you may not think of as more Floridian, you know.

[00:22:25.300] - Joella Doobrow And Amelia Island, the beaches there are pretty nice. So, you know, if you're looking for more of that powdery sand, that's as close as you're going to get, I think, on the East Coast. Cool.

[00:22:35.440] - Tamara Gruber Do you have any others that you would want to mention on the East Coast or should we move over to the West Coast?

[00:22:39.720] - Joella Doobrow I think let's move on to the Gulf Coast.

[00:22:42.550] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I love the Gulf Coast because there you do find that that powdery sand, but also that blue green water. And it's like calmer and warmer.

[00:22:52.840] - Joella Doobrow It's my favorite part of Florida and it's when we want to get away, that's where we tend to go, even if we just go for the day. That's that is, you know, what we love. We feel more at peace there because, you know, you don't have the huge big waves. And like you said, the sand is like super white and powdery and the water is calm and it goes with that clear blue to that emerald green.

[00:23:17.290] - Tamara Gruber What areas do you like to stay at or would you like to visit? What do you think families should go to on the Gulf Coast?

[00:23:23.380] - Joella Doobrow So our our favorites that that we go to pretty much all the time as either Marco Island or Naples. So Naples, we do a lot of day trips there. And if we want to stay overnight, a lot of times we do, Marco, because we really love the J.W. Marriott that is there. It's really family friendly. You can also use points, which is fabulous. You know, if if you want to reduce cost, they do have three miles of private beach.

[00:23:47.560] - Joella Doobrow They have 12 restaurants inside. They have golf courses, you know, water sports day camps for the kids. And, you know, they even have the dove in movie. I mean, I don't know if they're doing that now during quarantine, of course. But, you know, they they used to do that where they had the huge screen outside. And you just you could stay on the pool and watch the movie from there. And on that side of the Gulf, they they can set you up to do the dolphin watching tours, which are fabulous.

[00:24:12.550] - Joella Doobrow We've done like kayaking out there and out to the Ten Thousand Islands. And, you know, you can see the domes out there. It's all it's really neat is there are a lot of shelling. So there's kids that, you know, like looking at the different shells and collecting them. It's a great area for that. So we really like staying there.

[00:24:31.960] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, we're definitely on the same wavelength here because you and I seem to like a lot of the same hotels. My daughter and I stayed there December of twenty nineteen and we loved it because they had also just open some kind of like microbrew, but it also had like a game room. So it was almost like Dave and Busters kind of place in a way. And so we played a bunch of games and we just had such a blast. And it's not far to the Everglades, too. I know one day we took a day trip down and did an airboat tour, see the alligators, you know, all that kind of stuff.

[00:25:09.430] - Joella Doobrow We did a kayaking tour through the mangroves and the Everglades there with a small local company. And, you know, it was fabulous. You get to see the alligators really right next to you and wildlife, all the birds. It's we love that area.

[00:25:24.370] - Tamara Gruber Although for some people, the whole alligators may not be right next to them, may not be a positive. I feel like every time I post something from, like a some type of tour that has alligators, they're like, are you crazy?

[00:25:39.490] - Kim Tate That's so funny that I live in Seattle, you know, and I've actually done sea kayaking. And, you know, it's funny because I'm scared of alligators. Yet I went out in the sea in kayaked where orcas regularly, you know, will come and they can really flip you. So, yeah, I'm like, I'm probably need to keep my mouth shut and just understand that, you know, alligators probably a lot less scary than orca whales, but.

[00:26:01.150] - Joella Doobrow Well, you can always just do the the boat and they take you on the boat. Exactly. You know. Yeah. No problem with flipping the dolphins come right up on you.

[00:26:10.570] - Joella Doobrow And then if you if you go when the the waters are warm, the manatees are

[00:26:15.530] - Kim Tate I that's what I would love to see would be the manatees that people are they now are the manatees more like inland from the, you know, Gulf side or are they inland?

[00:26:25.720] - Joella Doobrow You see them right on the Gulf. OK, yeah. So on the Ten Thousand Islands and you can get there on a tour from Marco all through the canals there. When the waters are warm, you see the manatees, I mean, hundreds and thousands of them. But now, you know, during more of the winter, they migrate from the ocean and they go into the springs closer to central Florida. You see a lot of them up there.

[00:26:50.590] - Joella Doobrow And then where the power plants are that keep the water warm so they all kind of migrate to where the waters are warmer. So that's why everybody kind of goes up to the springs to see them there.

[00:27:02.200] - Tamara Gruber When we were in Captiva, my gosh, Hannah was probably like four the resort that we stayed at, had a marina and they would always hang out there. So we would just go kind of sit in the marina and watch the manatees bobbing around. I mean, they're so they're ugly but fascinating and cute all at the same time, you know, so.

[00:27:18.700] - Joella Doobrow So you said Captiva. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret that us locals here do. There is a little resort down there. It's called Twin Waters Island Resort. And you have to call them the day of if you're if you're local. And it used to be for. Five dollars, but I think it's gone up to 60 now per car, and if they have availability, you pay the 60 dollars, you park your car there.

[00:27:42.450] - Joella Doobrow They used to give you, I don't know, twenty five or thirty dollars in credit that you could use in the resort and you could use the facilities, the beach, which is right there, because, as you know, Captiva, there's no real public like it's all like you have to be staying at a home or a resort and so you can use all the property and the amenities and I mean pretty much have a day at a resort.

[00:28:07.500] - Kim Tate Florida is really big on right now is day passes and I think that's going to be I did that once when I had a cruise, that we had a late flight out and I bought a day pass to a resort in Fort Lauderdale. And we spent the day we had a room at the resort and we played on the beach and the pool. And then we went to the airport at five pm or whatever. And it was so great. And I know there's a lot of Florida hotels that do that.

[00:28:31.140] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, it's great. It's great. This one's kind of hidden. People don't know much about it. Yeah.

[00:28:36.750] - Tamara Gruber Now, what about Naples? Do you have a favorite place to stay there?

[00:28:40.620] - Joella Doobrow Yes, but I'll talk a little bit about that when we talk about a girlfriend getaway.

[00:28:46.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I'd say there are a couple of times and you know, one, I think it was the Naples Grande, which I didn't really love. It was for a family vacation. Yeah. And then the last time Hannah and I just spent a couple of days and I had Marriott points, so I went from the J.W. Marriott, Marco Island to the residence inn Naples. I was trying to balance the use of those points.

[00:29:09.060] - Joella Doobrow I have stayed at the Ritz, they have the one by the ocean and then they have the one that's the golf course. And we really do like that. We have stayed up at the grand and it's there's no luxury, but it's we like that beach is really nice, although there's public access to it. And then there's the little inn on fifth.

[00:29:29.970] - Tamara Gruber So any other favorite places on the Gulf Coast or even in the other families.

[00:29:34.350] - Joella Doobrow I think Tradewinds in the St.. Pete Clearwater area is probably the best bet. I mean it is huge. It's like close to sixteen thousand square feet of floating ocean water park, which I'm sure it's not running right now. But you know, during regular times, having a great floating ocean water park is fantastic. They have five pools, you know, like ten restaurants and bars. Four hundred and fifty cabanas, kids club. I mean, all kinds of stuff.

[00:30:03.060] - Joella Doobrow They think they have two different properties with different amenities on each. But and it is not a luxury. It is pure fun. It's a great place for families just looking to really be entertained. So that's what limitation for that tomorrow.

[00:30:19.620] - Kim Tate And then we're in Clearwater before. And I think it seemed like an ideal family destination.

[00:30:26.350] - Joella Doobrow St. Pete and Clearwater has a lot to do. I mean, even if you don't stay just in the resort, there's tons of things in the area as well. Another place we really love as a family is Anna Maria Island. We just recently stayed in a small boutique resort. There normally will either rent a house or stay off the island with points somewhere and then just commute in. But we stayed at this small boutique resort that only has about eight rooms, and it's called the Rod and Reel resort.

[00:30:50.880] - Joella Doobrow And it's super quaint, super nice. It's all inclusive. They provide you with bicycles and kayaks and paddle boards. And the suites are great because there's tons of room for the family. So like we stayed in a two bedroom, which was great. The kids feel like they had all the room to themselves or bathroom and just, you know, kind of on their own like that on top of us. So they really, really liked it. And the island itself is just great for families.

[00:31:20.370] - Joella Doobrow There's very laid back, cute little restaurants. You can get everybody by bicycle. And the beaches are absolutely stunning, beautiful sunsets. And we just love it there. That sounds awesome. I know that, you know, it seems like there's these little hidden areas all around Florida, there's so much coastline, I'm sure there's a lot of little you know, I feel this this one's kind of being more discovered now.

[00:31:44.150] - Joella Doobrow And it's yeah, it's getting hard to even get rooms there. And they're going up in prices, which is, you know, I think part of.

[00:31:50.940] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons we wanted to talk about Florida, because it seems like for people who are ready to travel and do feel comfortable traveling, Florida is definitely seeing a huge boom in tourism. So if people are looking for escapes, it seems like the hotels there are welcome.

[00:32:05.300] - Joella Doobrow There are definitely open. It's like nothing's ever going on.

[00:32:12.980] - Kim Tate Well, one last area before we move on, I just want to ask about is the Panhandle, which I hear a lot of people talking about. Do you have any?

[00:32:22.790] - Joella Doobrow I have stayed in Port St. near Port St. Joe, but we rented we rented a house, a home there and stayed on the beach. But I know that there's beautiful areas like Rosemary Beach and Seaside, and I've just never made it up there. It takes me nine hours to get to the Panhandle. So it's not something we've done.

[00:32:45.290] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, you have enough beaches close to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's and I definitely hear that that area is more, you know, for like the vacation rental market, like I've heard of, like what is it, water color in or something that's that's would be very, very nice but definitely more known for its vacation rental home.

[00:33:03.820] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, definitely. I mean it's great you do a whole week and you mean you can split it with a family and you know, it's, it's really nice you bring in your groceries and just hang out. We did that in I mean, near Port St. Joe. I don't remember what the name of the town was, but it was in that area. And I have friends who have stayed in Seaside and they've absolutely loved it.

[00:33:24.380] - Tamara Gruber Well, obviously, one of the areas that people love to go to in Florida is Orlando. So not on the beach, but do you have any places that you really love if you're in the Orlando area?

[00:33:33.380] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, well, I mean, if we're going to talk about some Disney hotels, our favorite is Animal Kingdom Lodge, just because we are big animal lovers and you know, the idea of having the giraffes walking by and it's it's just.

[00:33:48.440] Awesome. Plus, I think the pools are really beautiful, the they have like that zero in depth entry that kind of looks like a watering hole. I mean, the way they think they're their hotels is just great. You know, the playgrounds with the ropes and bridge and you can kind of overlook and see the animals on the other side. And of course, the food is phenomenal at that resort. So I'm all about the food, too. So we like it there.

[00:34:13.340] - Kim Tate Now we're talking about Disney, my newest favorite little spot is I loved the Riviera resort because it's on the skyline. And just having that way of getting in and out of the parks, especially I two kids who really love Epcot and the Riviera. The skyline has a kind of back entrance to the world showcase in Epcot, which with teenagers, it's really nice because they can you can kind of stay in the room if you're tired and they can go back out.

[00:34:37.610] - Joella Doobrow Yeah. For us, when we go to Epcot, we usually stay at either the Swan or the dolphin. Yeah. Just because I mean, it's not over. Yeah. You can walk and it's not it's not technically a Disney hotel, so it's not themed, you know, in that way. But if you have little kids you can still like I think it's the swan has the, you know, the meal, the breakfast, the standards. So you can do that.

[00:35:04.130] - Joella Doobrow You know, they do give you perks. You can get transportation to the parks, free parking, you know, the extra magic hours and the complimentary, you know, fastpass plus or whatever that's that's called. You get some of the perks.

[00:35:15.980] - Kim Tate But yeah, there are Marriott property. So points person, you can try and snag a room. It's really hard there.

[00:35:24.230] - Joella Doobrow And I don't think the redemption is all that great for either. But yeah. Because our prices I mean are are fairly low, especially compared to some of the other resorts that are right there. I mean some of the big Disney resorts that are super expensive are right there. So compared to them, this is a big deal. So that's why we do that. Especially we're going to like the food and wine or something like that. Yeah, we're going to drink a little bit. And you can just walk home.

[00:35:50.450] - Kim Tate Yeah. What other places other than Disney do you love?

[00:35:55.130] - Joella Doobrow In Orlando, I mean, if we're if we're going to stay in the Orlando area and budget is not an issue, I mean, the Four Seasons is beautiful for a resort. You don't have to leave. Yeah, you really don't have to leave. It's everything is just there. It's just ridiculously expensive.

[00:36:13.850] - Tamara Gruber Well, you kind of teased us earlier by talking about some girl trip destinations. Now, Kim and I did a girls trip down to the Keys, but I'd love to hear if you have any places that you love for girls trip to Florida. Yes.

[00:36:25.790] - Joella Doobrow And I won't mention the Keys at all. OK, so I actually feel Palm Beach is a fabulous place for girls trip. I would recommend two resorts. I mean, that you can pick depending on the kind of vibe that you want. I mean, there's Eau Palm Beach which actually used to be a Ritz Carlton. So their spa is fantastic. It's like a forty two thousand square foot spots, like one of the best ones there. And it's phenomenal.

[00:36:53.810] - Joella Doobrow So if you want to do that with the girls, that's awesome. They have a great adult only pool. And of course, there's all the luxury that comes with with the brand. And then if you kind of prefer that more cutesy Instagram style type hotel, there's The Colony. So that one's not on the beach, but they do take you to the beach. And not only do they take it to the beach, they have a beach butler that will deliver like little bites and stuff in a pink yeti cooler.

[00:37:23.450] - Joella Doobrow So everything's kind of very Instagram able. I mean, you'll find pinks and blues and flamingo prince and banana leaf prints. It's just all super cute and Instagramable.

[00:37:35.000] - Tamara Gruber So it's a good place to wear your lily Pulitzer dresses.

[00:37:37.820] - Joella Doobrow Perfect. And it's just fun, fun place for the girls. And they have bikes that you can take everything in. And Palm Beach is very either walkable or you can get around with a bike. So it's you can just get on the bikes and go exploring lots of really good restaurants. It's a fun place and shopping, of course, lots of shopping. If I was somebody that I follow on Instagram that's been posting pictures from the colony this week and so I'm very familiar with what you mean with that like pastel pink and.

[00:38:07.590] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, yeah. Looks very cute. It is cute but is cute and I mean another one. If you kind of like the whole spa thing and maybe want to be closer to some of the Miami action, there is the aqualina resort and spa. It is. It's around Sunny Isles. So it's it's really kind of nice, the location, it's on the beach and it's close to both Aventura and Bal Harbor shops. So between spending time on the beach, pool, spa and shopping, I mean, make for great girls getaway.

[00:38:42.600] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I've heard great things about that hotel also.

[00:38:45.930] - Joella Doobrow I've gone there just for spa, like we have a month here that is spa month. So they have like really discounted rates. So we'll we'll take the girls and we'll just go for a spa day though.

[00:38:56.610] - Kim Tate So nice. I'm definitely dreaming of a girls getaway. Yeah. So but what about if we're looking for a romantic getaway.

[00:39:03.960] - Kim Tate I know Tamara. That's one of the reasons she's eyeing Florida a lot in case her Greece trip doesn't happen. So what do you think about that?

[00:39:11.420] - Joella Doobrow Well, if you win the lottery and want to go to Little Palm Island, go for it. If you don't, then I think a little less expensive alternative are the bungalows at Key Largo. That was the other one I was looking at. Yeah, it's an adult only property. It's all inclusive. It's, you know, kind of smaller in size. Has that feel of like you're in Bali. They have like that little spa garden getaway kind of thing.

[00:39:36.570] - Joella Doobrow It's it's supposed to be really nice and romantic. I personally have not been, but I would think that that would be a great place. I have been to the Checca Lodge. And that was really nice. I know they're remodeling it right now, so I don't I think it won't be ready till sometime in 2022, but that's another really nice option.

[00:39:57.100] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, Kim, that was one that we were maybe going to stay at when we were in Key Largo. Yeah, but then we ended up at Baker's.

[00:40:03.580] - Kim Tate I really liked that Baker's Cay spot that they put us up at. I thought that was nice and I haven't even heard of that.

[00:40:11.590] - Tamara Gruber That was was that an autograph? I remember one that we stayed at was not autograph. And when we visited was a curio collection by Hilton or I may have flipped those, something like that. Yeah.

[00:40:22.660] - Kim Tate I think the curio one was the baker's key I think. Yeah. And then there was the one next door to it too and I don't remember what that one was.

[00:40:29.740] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I playa Largo I think. Well that's some nice options. Do you have any others for a romantic getaway. I mean at this point anything sounds good to me. Yeah.

[00:40:38.920] - Joella Doobrow I mean I like, I like Amelia Island on the East but I would rent, I would rent or stay in a little bed and breakfast or something. Right.

[00:40:48.500] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, and the Omni has those residences right on property, so you can, like, have your own condo. I mean, that's not maybe quite as charming, romantic as you might be imagining with a bed and breakfast.

[00:41:03.170] - Joella Doobrow Yeah, it's an option and it definitely is an option.

[00:41:06.230] - Tamara Gruber Cool. Well, that's a lot of ground that we covered are a lot of coastline at least. I was going to say a lot of state. You gave us some great ideas to think about. And now I just, of course, want to travel more than ever. But out of everything that we talked about, do you have a favorite that you've been to?

[00:41:23.690] - Joella Doobrow Oh, it's it's hard. I think we just keep going back to the day of Marriott in Marco just because we love the location. The amenities are great. It's the prices reasonable. It just kind of ticks all the boxes for us. Lots of, like little day trips and things that we can do from their little excursions on boats and kayaking and that kind of stuff. So it takes a lot of the boxes for us. So that's where we keep going back to.

[00:41:53.150] - Joella Doobrow I feel like the changes by the mood, it's seasonal too, right? Yeah, that's true. I mean, some of them, you know, get decorate are really nice around Christmas when you go, you know, I mean, Disney is absolutely beautiful. During Christmas.

[00:42:07.640] - Kim Tate I was just going to ask, is there a season that you think that people, you know, if they're looking for kind of a resort beach, you know, we're thinking more of the traditional Florida beach escape. Is there, you know, any seasons that you think are great for either weather and or money? Like savings, like getting deals?

[00:42:24.120] - Joella Doobrow Well, for savings, hurricane season. But yeah, but you probably don't want to travel during hurricane season.

[00:42:31.970] - Joella Doobrow Summer usually, believe it or not, has the better deals because it is incredibly hot. So you do get better deals like this time of the year is expensive because it's horrible everywhere else and everybody wants to come to Florida. Yeah, but the weather's great. And that's why everybody I mean, this is perfect weather here now. I mean, you can still go in the in the ocean. It's, you know, seventy three degrees out. You know, it's perfect.

[00:42:56.960] - Joella Doobrow I mean, spring is great here, but it's expensive.

[00:43:00.650] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. You're in season.

[00:43:04.190] - Tamara Gruber Well, I guess we want to wrap up by asking a question that we ask all of our guests, and that is, do you have a favorite travel outfit or brand of clothing that you like to wear when you're traveling?

[00:43:14.990] - Joella Doobrow Oh, well, in Florida, I mostly wear like sun dresses and maxi dresses. I have some favorite rap rap style dresses that I get from Lulus when they're on sale. But I'm not I don't like just subscribe to one brand. It's whatever I find. I'm not brand loyal. So if I find something else that's comfortable, it's fine. But if I'm going to do anything outdoors and hiking, which we love to do, but we don't do that in Florida, we go away for that.

[00:43:39.290] - Joella Doobrow Then usually we do Columbia. We have a great we have great outlet shops here. So I actually live really close to a Columbia outlet and we get most of our stuff from there. And then, of course, also Prana when they're on sale.

[00:43:52.460] - Joella Doobrow So those are kind of my those are two of them, too, like outdoorsy, relaxed, you know, gear. I absolutely love Prana and Columbia both. Yeah.

[00:44:00.920] - Tamara Gruber And I know from seeing you on Instagram, you always have very cute dresses.

[00:44:06.320] - Joella Doobrow I have I have these wrap dresses from Lulus, which I mean, one, they're super, super comfortable for travel, too. They look fabulous. Some pictures. And, you know, you can dress them up or dress them down.

[00:44:19.380] - Kim Tate Great. So, you know, Tamara mentioned seeing you on Instagram, so do you want to let our listeners know where they can find you online? Yes, I do live most of my life there on Instagram, on my handle is roving Joe, I do have the same handle on Facebook and my website is the same as roving Jo Dotcom.

[00:44:38.060] - Tamara Gruber And that's Joe with no E at the end.

[00:44:39.860] - Tamara Gruber Just so. Yes, everyone knows and we'll link to that in their show notes. So thank you again for coming in and sharing your expertise with us. And we hope everyone does pop over to Instagram and give you a follow and a little shout out there.

[00:44:55.260] - Joella Doobrow And thanks for having me. This was super fun and I hope I was able to provide some valuable information.

[00:45:01.130] - Kim Tate I think you have us all dreaming of kind of a nice, you know, warm weather beach escape right now. So it's helpful to have an idea of where to look.

[00:45:12.530] - Kim Tate As always, thanks for joining us for another week here at Vacation MAVEN's.

[00:45:16.790] - Tamara Gruber And stay tuned because next time we're going to be talking to someone all about family travel tech. So your favorite gadgets to help make family travel a little bit easier.

[00:45:25.970] - Kim Tate Can't wait for that one, because you know me, I'm all about travel and tech gadgets.

[00:45:29.960] - Tamara Gruber So stay tuned.

View Details

Needs some tips for stretching your vacation budget to go further? This week we chat with dad and tech entrepreneur Nate Ritter, from RoomSteals and learn some new tricks for finding hotel deals.

About Nate Ritter Nate is a travel expert, who first got started in 2007 when he was able to fly & stay in Paris for $300 (accommodation included). This first experience sparked his interest in all things travel hacking through miles/points/finding deals, etc.

Most recently, he founded RoomSteals, which is a chrome extension that lets you see wholesale hotel rates before booking. Most companies, like Expedia and Booking, make money by marking up the hotel price or getting a commission (between 7-18%). They don’t add margin or take commission, so the prices are at the rock bottom.

You can follow Nate on Twitter or you can follow RoomSteals.

Tips for Finding Hotel Deals * One way to get cheap accommodations is to look for new home exchange start ups and sign up with them. Often they will offer points or credits just for listing your house, even if you don't want to actually swap your house. Sometimes those points are enough to get a free stay. * One option is Love Home Swap which was later bought by HomeExchange.com. * Hotels have wholesale inventory that they offer to online travel agencies but those prices aren't usually available to the public. * RoomSteals allows anyone to become a member and lets you see those wholesale rates. * RoomSteals is a Chrome browser extension that shows these secret deals once you are logged in and looking at hotel rates on Booking.com, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. * You don't need to be a paid member to log in and see the wholesale rates but once you see the rates and want to book, you need a paid membership to RoomSteals.com. * RoomSteals doesn't make a commission or transaction fee on bookings, only on a subscription of $59 per year (currently). * Members often save enough on one trip to cover the cost of the annual membership. * RoomSteals.com will show you the cheapest rate at that hotel, which may not be the exact room configuration that you are looking for. But you can compare once you look at RoomSteals booking engine and you can always select the room configuration that you want even if the price is slightly different. * Members are saving an average of 25% across an entire year of bookings. * You typically do not use points when you book wholesale rates, but you can always call the hotel in advance or give your number at check in to see if you can still get credit for your stay. * Also look closely at the rate as often it is non-refundable or does not have some of the amenities like free breakfast or such. * It is hard to find wholesale rates during peak travel seasons. It is easier to find rates when there is a bit of a lull in the market. * Discounts can be as drastic as $300 for a $3000 penthouse suite. * It often helps to call and talk to someone personally in advance as you will be more apt to get upgraded or special perks if you form a personal connection. * Use coupon code VacationMavens to receive 20% off an annual membership to RoomSteals.com.

[00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate Today we're talking about how to score a steal of a deal on your next hotel.

[00:00:16.200] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, the family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Hosts Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.700] - Kim Tate Well Tamara, when this episode airs you are going to be on the road off on an adventure with a teenager. So maybe we could talk before we start chatting about hotels. Let's talk a little bit about road trips road trip planning and in anything useful you think our listeners would like to know if there might be helpful for them cuz I have a feeling road trips are going to be pretty popular this spring break.

[00:00:53.300] - Tamara Gruber We have done a lot of road trips and so this isn't our first rodeo as they say but this is time Glenn is coming along too. So I don't know if it will make it harder or or what, but it is a massive road trip. Like I'm almost embarrassed to tell people because they are like where you going and I said, well we're going to go look at colleges and they think that we're just going around the New England area and we have enough colleges here but we're actually making our way all the way out to Colorado, so I can't even imagine how many miles we are going to put on the car. Glenn asked if you want to bring the Tesla and I was like no way because I know that while its a great car, but we just don't want to have to like sit and charge all the time and she likes more space or whatever.

[00:01:45.500] - Tamara Gruber Well by the time you hear this we will be I don't even know what state will be in like, Michigan or Wisconsin I think maybe Ohio but we are we're heading through Pennsylvania and looking at schools in Pennsylvania then we are going to Cleveland. We're going to Ann Arbor, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin, we're going to go and stop a night in Nebraska and then make our way to Colorado and then we're going to spend a few nights.

[00:02:08.900] - Tamara Gruber Then I set up a stay at a ranch which is going to be our relaxation portion of our trip and then book it all the way back to the east coast. Of course. We are stopping a couple of nights along the way because it is a lot of driving we get back and then we need a quarantine for a week and I'll be so happy to not have to drive Hannah to school. Our car is going to need another service by the time we get back.

[00:02:36.900] - Kim Tate I'm sure it will be like when we did that Maine trip kind and I assume you're driving the Volvo then? It served us well it's going to tag along again

[00:02:48.400] - Tamara Gruber Hey it went down to Florida and back in the summer. So, you know, it's got a lot of miles but yeah, it took I mean for us to this trip was really it was all about, you know, seeing colleges. We feel like there's quite a few to see she's interested in ones kind of all across the country. Even if we wanted to fly to them. We don't we have to be like hopping onto planes here and there if we really can't travel at all during school because of the quarantine requirements and so luckily the spring break works out where she is on a hybrid week when we get back. And so when we get back we can quarantine so do her virtual learning. The rules here are you have to test after 5 days quarantine for 7 and then she has to test again before she goes into school. So it all works out. You know, it's great. It's an opportunity for us to look at quite a few schools and hopefully we'll get a few more in over the summer and then she can decide where she wants to apply and if she wants to do early decision or any of those kind of things cuz fall's just crazy cuz we have soccer which is a very time-consuming thing and then she'll be you know, in her new classes and working on an application.

[00:03:57.400] - Tamara Gruber So it's really not ideal time to go look at schools unless they're local and then of course you could wait until after you get acceptances or whatever, but I think she would like to just narrow down where she would like to apply so it'll be good, you know, obviously there's no tours happening, but it's just about going and like walking the campuses seeing the surrounding areas are some of them have a self-guided walking like Maps or apps are things that you can use. So yeah so are our route was very much dictated by okay, which schools are on her potential list that we could kind of wrap into this trip and how many hours in between and how much like when are we going to get there while we have at least like half a day to spend, you know in this area before we move on and the timing was very much dictated by that like, okay, we've got a six-hour drive. We're going to get in here at night and then leave the next morning and and then in the afternoon, we'll head to the next place or something like that. So it's it's very it's like it's not a relaxing trip.

[00:04:59.100] - Kim Tate That sounds like it's a little different cuz I don't know. You have planned a lot of road trips and so have we. Do you have a plan of how far each day you want to drive and I know it makes a difference with that where you're saying you're more about getting to the destination. But you know for us we're headed out on a road trip down along the coast and so we're going to make Scenic stops. Like we want to be able to pull out and you know it admire the scenery take some photos. There's stops along the way. So do you guys have a plan normally when you're planning a road trip like we don't do more than this many hours per day.

[00:05:34.300] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. I'm going to try to stick to that just cuz I know how exhausting it can be. We definitely are driving down to Florida and 21 hours with you know, something that we're not eager to do again, but we try to stick to somewhere between like a 7 to 9 hours a day and we have a couple of those are going to have to drive from Wisconsin to Colorado. I think it would be like a 14-hour drive in this just like a little too much.

[00:05:59.600] - Tamara Gruber So we're stopping in Nebraska like along the way to break that up and then when we come back we're going from Steamboat Springs in Colorado, which is kind of in the central Colorado and then we not like Center but like it's it's not on the Eastern edge of Colorado. I guess I should say and then we're going to drive like I was debating. Can we make it to Kansas City? Can you do should we try to push all the way to you know, Saint Louis like how far do we go? And we did we decided you know, what we're going to push for like, I think it's an 11-hour day that day and get somewhere in Kansas and then go to St.

[00:06:41.400] - Tamara Gruber Louis the next day and then St Louis to Columbus and then Columbus home is going to be like a 12-hour day, but it was one of those things where it's like well at the time with Pennsylvania or New York, you've had quarantine or testing requirements. So I'm like, well, we can't stop Pennsylvania or New York overnight. So we kind of have to just push through that last leg. So I think again with everything like with covid it's not always what we typically do is.

[00:07:09.200] - Tamara Gruber We have to do so, you know sometimes right now but I would say generally we try to stick to like a 7 to 9 hour driving day because you know, I mean if it's not much driving, obviously you stop to go to the bathroom. You stop to pick up some food, you know, so it becomes a lot longer.

[00:07:25.600] - Kim Tate When we're planning our road trips. Like when we go out to Canada to visit family where it's more like we're just taking a little time on the road and get into Canada.

[00:07:35.800] - Kim Tate Then we're normally around that 7 to 9 hour mark is what we would actually works out to almost 7 hours one day and nine hours the next almost perfectly good spot. But when I'm doing scenic driving I try and keep it around the 3-5 hour mark and that's even last time when we did our California coast trip. I planned on 5 hour days and that was way too much we missed out on so many things and we are getting in to these beautiful destinations at night so late where you didn't even see the ocean and you missed the California sunsets you were having dinner at 8 at night and so for me when I'm doing like a Scenic Drive, I try and keep it around that 3 to definitely no more than five hours. But the three two three four hour is kind of in my opinion a sweet spot for us a Scenic nice vacation drives that makes sense that money,

[00:08:33.500] - Tamara Gruber especially something like the California coast. Because there are so so many places to stop. I know we just drove like Carmel to Cambria and that drive there is so many places to stop like just yeah, you think you think that you're going to make it by like you said that you end up spending way more time than you think so, I think that's really very smart. There is definitely a difference between a we're driving to get there and we're driving to enjoy our drive.

[00:09:04.200] - Kim Tate Yeah, and I think that's what people maybe don't always consider and think about enough and also just how many days you are going to be at it like the fact that you guys are seasoned roadtrippers. So, you know what that feels like what I mean for people who aren't used to it the leg cramp sciatica back. I mean it it gets exhausting. And so if you're pushing a seven and nine hour days for 3-4 days in a row, you're you're not going to be happy and you're not going to have I mean, I don't know if you're not going to have a good vacation.

[00:09:32.300] - Tamara Gruber That's what I'm a little bit worried about Glenn cuz he has not done many of the road trips with us at all. You know. What were we certainly drive to New York the New York-New Jersey area all the time, but that can be like me anywhere from 4 hours till like seven hours depending on traffic. But yeah, so it'll be interesting and that's why I tried to make sure we didn't have too many back-to-back long drives, you know, like the super long like, okay, let's like I think when we are doing that last home, it'll be like, we just want to get home like you have that anyway, yes, so I think that'll be a motivator to us and I didn't want to have too many of those long days. And if I did have a really long day like when we have like a 10-hour day and the next day is only like a 4-Hour day and then we're going to spend some time in St. Louis. You know, I went to the top of the arch.

[00:10:22.200] - Kim Tate I want to say that that Arch I have been there. I was there when I was a little kid and then recently again later in life. I remember being told to go up to the windows when you're at the top when you get out in a little room and 2 lean like you put your feet against it and lean into the window that do not have Glenn do that. It is just freakiest feeling I've ever experienced you actually I don't know if it's something about the way the windows are cut you feel like you're falling like you feel like the arch is falling like it's moving. Yeah, but a very weird sensation.

[00:11:09.000] - Tamara Gruber I did go out in the Sears Tower or whatever. It's called now in Chicago where they have those like box that like go out and I did do that. It took me a minute, but actually it was easier. If I like sat down on it then when I was standing in it, I don't know why but it just felt like more secure but they have all of those kind of things now where it's like the Tilt out, you know where you are like cleaning? Hannah will do it.

[00:11:36.800] - Kim Tate I'm sure you are going to have a great time and I'm looking forward to following along and it'll be fun to hear. You know, what Hannah thought and what you guys experienced on the college visits on our upcoming road trip. We are swinging through to a UC Berkeley which is on Lizzy's list. And so we'll see what that campus looks like. Again, it's California, so there's not any open. We're just going to swing through there and.

[00:12:09.100] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, well, we have to let me know cuz that's definitely maybe one that we would get to in the summer as well. And I just I hear that that's a very beautiful campus and it yeah, you know, a lot of these campuses that are not closed campuses like you do residents and everyone kind of walks through them. Anyway. Just can't go into buildings .

[00:12:25.300] - Kim Tate Yeah we will see, I mean she cannot afford UC Berkeley but luckily it's not her first. It's not her absolute first choice, but it's definitely on her list, so.

[00:12:38.000] - Kim Tate Well, let's talk to Nate because we're going to go from talking about planning our drives to learning about maybe some little tricks to getting a great deal and all those hotels that we have to stay at along the way

[00:12:49.500] - Tamara Gruber which is certainly helpful so let's talk to Nate.

[00:12:58.600] - Tamara Gruber We're here with me Twitter. Nate is a travel expert who got started in 2007 when he was able to fly and stay in Paris for $300 and his first experience sparked his interest in all things travel hacking through miles points and finding deals most recently. He founded rooms deals, which is a Chrome extension that lets you see wholesale rates before booking and today he lives in San Diego with his family. So welcome Nate!

[00:13:22.700] - Nate Ritter Thanks for having me!

[00:13:24.700] - Tamara Gruber I'm a little jealous of the sunny San Diego and I'm here in the cold snowy Northeast. But you know, it's okay one day I'll get to travel those places again.

[00:13:34.700] - Nate Ritter We have I please have our crosses to bear right buyers. So you have cold.

[00:13:40.600] - Tamara Gruber So I thought it'd be nice to get a little bit of your backstory. Maybe can tell us like how you got started. Obviously that trip to Paris was pretty influential. Can you tell us a little bit about how you managed that and what where that has led since.

[00:13:58.700] - Nate Ritter Yeah, absolutely I just love the travel hacking was by the way your second podcast with DF and then he had another one recently right with Lynn. These are fantastic podcast. So I'm happy to be here on that. Yeah, so flying to Paris for a couple hundred dollars round trip, and we stayed we actually stayed there for a month with free accommodations as well. So we the only thing we really spent there was on food in dinner entertainment or whatever we did when we went out.

[00:14:26.500] - Nate Ritter So it was pretty fantastic to be able to do that and you know it all credit to the person who taught me how to do it originally travel hacks in a couple years earlier that was it has changed our lives as a family for sure. So we we paid our first we paid for our first flight and hotel in about 10 years recently. So we've got to go get a couple we used to take an international trip every year or every other year and then about 5 or so domestic trips in the alternate year. I'm all for free.

[00:14:58.700] - Nate Ritter Or almost-free would sometimes we have to pay taxes, but one of the bigger than a fun times we had was when we rented out our house for the weekend in San Diego. Comic-Con was a big event and we didn't didn't realize it until we rented it and then realized oh, this is a big event day and can somebody snapped it up so fast we can just we actually ended up backing it out cuz we were like nevermind so we backed it up and then we put it up and we used points to stay at a hotel for that weekend.

[00:15:31.800] - Nate Ritter And so we went to hotel with a pool for the kids and the kitchen and all this kind of thing and we came back with $1,000 more than when we left. So that was our favorite favorite kind of moments the other than the Paris one.

[00:15:44.500] - Tamara Gruber But yeah, that's another advantage of living in a place like, San Diego.

[00:15:58.600] - Kim Tate You said someone gave you a tip to get you started, what was that?

[00:16:01.200] - Nate Ritter Yeah, I think the travel hacking part of it that first step was when somebody had told me and I think I'm going to I can't remember exactly where they said they were going to say Amsterdam perhaps but they said they were going and they were only spending a couple hundred dollars. I never got to be there for a week and was like, that's no way like, how did you do that? And I trusted this guy is so it's like I know you're not lying to me.

[00:16:22.600] - Nate Ritter Like, how did you how are you doing this and he's like, how do you know when it's every couple years to different places and I'm like, okay for real like what are you what it what is this like some weird club that night?

[00:16:41.400] - Nate Ritter But now he was he sat down he's like, well, I have the spreadsheet and I have all these credit cards that we turn through and then he showed me the credit cards and he literally had like a ziplock bag full of credit card sound like that's in that's crazy like. You know, and so I asked all the typical first, you know, two questions that come you know come with it. How do you how do you do that? And I get your credit hit doesn't doesn't hurt your credit.

[00:17:05.400] - Nate Ritter How do you how are you able to do that? Don't you get in a blacklisted by the credit cards? And you know, how long does it take to do it? Like all these questions? Right? And he's like, okay, it's alright. Let's just sit down for an evening in any explained it all in and that was it. I was hooked.

[00:17:18.200] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, it's kind of like travel blogging and people always like I do you get to travel for free and like, well, you know, there's a lot of work behind it and it's like with travel hacking it is you're traveling for free, but you have to put an effort right to do that cuz I'm sitting here thinking like Kim, what are we doing wrong? Like I do travel and use points in miles and all that but not to quite that extent we're still paying a little bit more than $200

[00:17:44.700] - Kim Tate you know talked about this before tomorrow that it truly can be like the couponing thing and you have to have a real passion for it where the amount of time and effort is kind of fun and like a hobby to you because it's it takes a lot of work to manage all that. I mean I've seen the people like you said, I need that have like the credit cards in the every quarter. They change out every month or change output.

[00:18:07.000] - Kim Tate Like what car do you use for dining, what card use for gas what can to use at grocery stores and they keep track of all that and it's it's definitely a lot of work.

[00:18:15.100] - Nate Ritter I think it actually one of the hardest things not actually earning it even that like that's take some organization. I think the spending of those points is probably where it is the craziest cuz you have you know, only so many things right all the awards seats that that that alone with a divvy up the airline itself they divvy up all the seats into the all the different, you know categories and what not. Like that's I didn't know that until I started.

[00:18:41.600] - Kim Tate And sometimes it's like so if you want to see the availability for this Airline, you actually go to this other partner line. If you're not going to talk about flying we are going to talk a little bit more about hotels but to start off, you know, we know you've mentioned that you have kids. So what do you normally look for in a hotel that you think makes it family-friendly when you're considering where to stay with your family?.

[00:19:08.000] - Nate Ritter Yeah, there's a couple things we look for in fact, I recently just found a list of brands that I'm going to be looking for specifically, but we look for Extended Stay or Residence Inn type of brand and I think one of the reasons why we've all kind of gone towards Airbnb's because we get those kitchens and and the extra rooms and that kind of thing and so we don't we look for hotels, which usually if you see if you stay with a particular brand new kind of know what their standard is.

[00:19:35.400] - Nate Ritter It's not quite as a variable at airbnb's of course with hotels, but should we look for these Extended Stays or residence Inns or those kinds of things where you get kitchenettes? That's our first that's the first thing we look for is do we get a kitchen. I'm usually that means that the room is slightly bigger as well and they're not that different of a price in any other hotels in so that our number one filter in the number two think we look for is transportation and I'm things that I like for instance it is it easy to get there with buses or Subways or ridesharing can be a little difficult unless if you have kids too big because I'm sure as many of your listeners know what do you do about the seats, you know, if you did you bring along when those inflatable ones or do they have them or do you never know? So inflatable seat car seats can be helpful in certain situations, but we really try and stick to public transportation if we can and then we look for a walkable locations. So less traffic roads Parks beaches nearby grocery stores restaurants all those kinds of things.

[00:20:36.400] - Nate Ritter They really cut down on the cost of a transportation outside of the area that you're in but also just the enjoyment of like walking outside of your hotel are your accommodations in finding, you know a park to play into the kids or Beach to run on those kinds of things is just very very helpful. So one of the examples we have this when we did go to Paris now we have is absolutely gorgeous inside inner Courtyard area, and I'm the staff was amazing, especially to our kids sitting up like chocolates and fruit baskets and I mean like we're not a celebrity.

[00:21:07.900] - Nate Ritter We were treated like it and that it was literally two blocks from the Eiffel Tower but it was practically hidden and it was to searching like like that that we kind of came across this this little gem of a of a hotel. It was tiny, but you'd never see it from the outside. But from the inside was just absolutely beautiful to

[00:21:25.000] - Tamara Gruber I love those little hidden gems fantastic and as you are talking about some of those Brands. So I'm thinking like also like not only do they have kitchenettes which are so helpful, especially right now and you're trying to like maybe prepare more food or bring more food in if you are traveling but a lot of times they're the ones that have the free breakfast and then there was no charge for parking if you'd like those kind of things to so I'm actually looking at doing a road trip and that's exactly the kind of brand that we're looking at right now.

[00:21:53.100] - Tamara Gruber So I imagine that when you were first doing your travel hacking it was a lot easier than when you started trying to manage it with traveling with a family. I mean, especially when it comes to the airfare is but you know hotels definitely add up, you know when you travel.

[00:22:07.900] - Tamara Gruber The family and I both have teens. So just wait for that because then you need a little bit more space. You know, everybody doesn't fit into one room quite as easy, so I'm wondering do you have any tips on ways to find deals mean sounds like you've done a good job so far is it just using you know miles or are points rather or are you actually just into finding some good deals and kind of secret ways.

[00:22:31.800] - Nate Ritter Yeah kind of a combination of things now with the credit card churning. It's become a bit difficult, especially with Chase and kind of the changes they have made in the recent years. So we do a bit less of that now but what are the ways in in this is something that is not not easy to do all the time because it's you have to kind of keep an eye on what's out there. But what we've done in the past to get like Frances free accommodations one way as we keep track and kind of look for new startups that would come out that we're kind of like home exchange type startups and we found one you may have heard of Called Love home swap.

[00:23:06.700] - Nate Ritter And when they first started they were out of UK and they would actually give you points credits towards staying to get with another member if you just simply listed your home and so we didn't necessarily want to rent it out for say, but we did want to see you in a what was this exchange thing about and when we when we listed it we got points eventually home exchange. Com bought them and we transfer their points into that service, but we would get points just simply through services like that.

[00:23:36.400] - Nate Ritter Just a listing are our house not necessarily even renting it then we ended up with I think about a month's worth of points in that way, but I learned through working in the travel industry about this kind of underlying inventory of hotel prices that existed that nobody really it's not public because of the way that the the hotel industry kind of works. They they have this agreement with the online travel agencies, which are like the expedia's and booking.com and hotels.com of the world have this agreement there that this whole it looks like we're going to call wholesale inventory does not exist in it. You can't exist in the public sphere. You can't show the prices for particular dates for that particular hotel. That's kind of a three points there if you do and it was some some companies have done this in the past. They can get their hands slapped and then basically they lose their ability to show that inventory. And so it's pretty push down upon in terms of like making sure that you know, who is who who's accessing these rates but there are there's a whole underlying set of hotel rates that I found out about it a couple years ago and I was just blown away that price difference is that are out there. And so that's the other other we're out that we trying and and get really good discount rates on hotels.

[00:24:56.300] - Tamara Gruber Once you see that or once you know that there's some of those routes available like how do you then have access to him? Like I'm thinking I had a brief stint as a travel advisor for a short period of time. So I know the travel agents get commission and that's usually off of a best available rate. So clearly there's even better that could be offered and then there's of course like corporate rates and discounts things like that. But how is your kind of an average traveler family traveler? How do you get access to those more wholesale rates?

[00:25:27.300] - Nate Ritter There's traditionally been offered to people in clubs. It is basically a closed user group and that's basically kind of these membership clubs where you would buy it and we've heard about these clubs that exists and have effectively the same inventory that we have with the product that we built but they have this this this inventory and they charge something like $1600 a year and then some like, you know, a hundred dollars a month or something like that to have access to it.

[00:25:56.300] - Nate Ritter Essentially what it is is it's it's a non Publix. It's a private group of people wear the company whose administrating that group knows each of the members that I can't so that way it kind of keeps it to a private atmosphere so in a way you can kind of think of it as corporate rates. And so if you work for Verizon as an employee, for instance, you might be given some code or something that you could then tell the hotel. Hey, I have the corporate rate and they would give you a better discount better rate because the corporation has managed to negotiate this in this particular case is not even a negotiation.

[00:26:29.600] - Nate Ritter It's just that this is what it used to be is it used to be that the hotels with bundle with airfare and tour operators in the area and those kinds of things and now because of the internet those have all been kind of unbundled and so now you have hotels which have a huge margin this underlying cause that's actually very low compared to what you're seeing online and so because of that unbundling that the online travel agencies like Expedia have done, now those are capable to be used in purchased just because of the industry acronyms they're not able to be purchased by the average consumer at the price that they could be. So what we do at RoomSteals. We've basically taken this idea and said well, we're just going to go ahead and say you anybody can become a member and you can see the see that price and where to make that completely transparent and so we're to show you what that prices and then let you book it.

[00:27:24.700] - Nate Ritter If you would like so is a bit bit of a couple caveats the model and I had to how we're doing it. But the Baseline idea there is that we want to show the public. This is the actual wholesale rate that's available to you and it's just that we have to hide it behind at login. So you have to be a member and that's it. So we do that through social login. So for instance if you you can use a username and password, but the easiest ways to the also use for instance your Google account or Gmail account or something like that.

[00:27:56.200] - Nate Ritter What you do with it is considered private and now we can show you the wholesale rates for trying to expose that to the public but doing so still within the rules of the travel industry.

[00:28:05.500] - Kim Tate It's good to know that you're you're kind of aware of those the rules cuz I know you know, there was a big story about I think it's skiplagged or something like that where a guy had written code that basically would find it was cheaper to go to go from Orlando to Seattle and you want to there's a stop in Denver, but you find out that it's actually cheaper than what Orlando to Denver is. And so the skip lag was kind of doing this cheating way of getting you where you just get off the plane in Denver and not get back on.

[00:28:35.300] - Kim Tate There was a problem because it was against the terms of service of your airfare, but it sounds like the secrets of power that by keeping it clean so that it is it is kind of open up now. Here's a question that I wonder do you earn any points? So if I'm a Marriott member and I find a Marriott deal and I use rooms deals what iron Marriott points still.

[00:29:01.500] - Nate Ritter So that's a great question in Wholesale in the wholesale Marketplace traditionally, you don't and so what you're giving up. Is it giving up some of the amenities some of the extra things like using your loyalty cards in in those kinds of things you may not get for instance a free breakfast. Sometimes their terms of service might change. Do you want to come to pay attention that to see if it's refundable or cancel? A lot of times it is now because of covid-19 that's still something that they could be given up.

[00:29:28.400] - Nate Ritter But what I found though is even with these rates actually to trick it seems to be just the one thing to do is is even if you booked a hotel rate in the matter what rate you book actually I would always now I always call the hotel ahead of time and I give him my loyalty card in the added to my reservation nine times out of ten. Even if it's a wholesale rate and then the same thing though, I would also call and just you know talk to them and many times do I upgrade you to a room? Like for instance that that's small room that I mentioned in Paris next to the Eiffel Tower we just told them hey, we had this kind of crazy experience and we're coming in and you know that we know it's last-minute and we just kind of told him the story and our story as to what we were experiencing while being there and they like, oh no problem come in and they upgraded us to this suite and that's when they started sending like chocolates and like all kinds of crazy stuff and it was just because we had a conversation we didn't we didn't specifically ask for it and we didn't even infer it, we were just surprised by it and it was just because you know as a front desk clerk, I mean their job is to really make your stay really great.

[00:30:33.500] - Nate Ritter And if they have room in time to do that, then they'll do it in the same thing goes for the loyalty points. So back to your question that it if you just simply say I have a loyalty card tonight add that to this reservation nine times out of ten they're going to do it and even if they don't what I would do then is I would go to the front desk when I check in and do the same thing and say, you know, we leave out of here because you'll get a different response depending on the person sometimes.

[00:31:01.500] - Kim Tate I've had that with conference rates and sometimes they will still treat me like, you know a member so I sometimes feel counted as a stay right even if you don't get points and sometimes it's like a number like you have X number stays than you qualify for something.

[00:31:13.200] - Nate Ritter That's one of the biggest tips that I give to people and it seems so mundane because you like to talk to people I know that's right, but it's it seems too good to have the most perks out of all the things that that we do in terms of travel hacking and all that is talking to the front desk folks and just being super nice and and it's amazing what happens when you're just nice to people that should have said it's sad that maybe that's a rarity.

[00:31:44.300] - Tamara Gruber But yeah, so you mentioned that you know that typically this would be a club membership that you're paying into and I know a lot of when it comes to flights a lot of those are still like paid subscriptions and things to access certain deals. So is there a payment or is there a membership fee for using room steals or it's just you login and membership in quotes is free.

[00:32:07.400] - Nate Ritter There is a fee. The way that we decided to do this to make this more transparent and more available to people kind of one of our internal motto is we want to enable you to save more so that you can travel more and so the idea here is that we want to show you what the wholesale rate is. So that's free. So when you sign into room steals you and then we have a Chrome extension that you can use in so as you browse around like booking.com Expedia or something like that, it will show you the rate the wholesale rate that's available.

[00:32:43.900] - Nate Ritter And so if that rate makes sense if it's cheaper than what the rate is that you're going to see I'm at booking.com. For instance. Then you can click on on on a extension and come over to Room Steals to book in the part where we make our money. So we make no money on the transaction.

[00:33:01.400] - Nate Ritter So if so no money on on commissions no money on margins for each transaction that comes to your system. So we honestly don't care whether you booked it through us or whether we find you another rate somewhere else and we show that to you our goal is to make sure that you see the cheapest rate possible. So we make no money on each transaction book. So to be able to enable us to do that. We do have kind of a subscription model. So it's an annual fee right now.

[00:33:27.900] - Nate Ritter It's $59 and will probably be up in that actually in the next month or so and we will by the way grandfather everybody into Old pricing. We have some people who are still on a dollar 99 a month. But yeah, we kind of gate keep it by making an annual fee. So it's kind of like a Costco sort of thing. Like we keep the commission's really low and not on Frost we didn't eat nothing but we make our money on the subscription. So the idea here is if you see a rate that covers that subscription, which many, most of our members are paying members. do, you book it and you're likely covered completely and as an example, I'm just last week. We had a new member show up and they saved $500 off of think it was a two day or maybe 3-day stay so easily cover their they're $59 a year membership, you know, so and it's still way better than paying the retail price no matter what once you pay the annual membership now, it's like basically all you can eat from there on.

[00:34:34.100] - Kim Tate So yeah, like you said, it is nice that you show the number in advance. So you can really see that's all I'm going to save more than $59. So it's a done deal. So are there we talked about the fact that it sounds like you can book on the on the sites and everything is there so there's no tricks then if you want to see secret deals in Hidden rooms, and you know, we've all had the the old fashioned Travelocity price.

[00:35:01.300] - Kim Tate So, is there a this is it sounds like this is just like booking a room direct. You can choose your room configuration. Cuz for families that's huge. Like I'm not going to share a king bed with my daughter and my husband.

[00:35:14.300] - Nate Ritter Yeah, you are search engine in the way that the rooms are displayed because we pull in from so many different sources. It's not as nice and neat as booking.com, I'll admit that but we are showing you is the cheapest rate at that hotel so might not be the exact configuration that you're looking for.

[00:35:32.200] - Nate Ritter But that being said, you know at that point when we take you to 2 hour booking engine, you can easily compare and see what the differences are. It does say, this is a king with a couch or this is to Queens or whatever so that you can select your configuration the price that we show you is like I said is the cheapest at that hotel and it may not be the one that you're looking for. But you can definitely select your configuration. It might be a slightly different price but wholesale still should beat whatever the.

[00:36:01.300] - Nate Ritter Retailcomm public version is and isn't always happen that way and I'll be the first to admit that but the bookings that we have gotten they've been quite significant and we see most of our members when they booked something with us. They're saving on average of 25% over across the entire year they're booking and that's just because some people find insane rates and some people find you no one's in there just booking embittered the same as it celebrates, but on average is 25% So I think that it seems when I've used the service myself that I'm able to find Kings and double queens and those kinds of things without too much problem in there still much cheaper than I would find on any of the other sites.

[00:36:40.300] - Tamara Gruber So it sounds like you see maybe the lowest in the extension, but then once you click over to actually book, then you can still get that actual the room the specific room and configuration that you're looking for.

[00:36:51.700] - Nate Ritter Yes, and yes and many times. I has the same verbage even in the description so you can look at the the verbage it says, you know, here's the thing includes breakfast or doesn't include breakfast and you can see the same verbage on the on booking.com or whatever service you looking at.

[00:37:08.000] - Tamara Gruber So when it comes to family travel, you know, we time to travel more on the weekends school breaks summer all of that kind of stuff. Is there a better time that you're seeing better deals, like is it with this typically be more of like a corporate and then therefore you're seeing better deals on the weekend or is it just kind of like everything where it depends on kind of more of the location of the hotel?

[00:37:30.400] - Nate Ritter Yeah, it really depends on all kinds of factors. So as you your list has been no hotels and especially the bigger brands have a person who is dedicated to be to find out how they can manipulate prices to get the maximum dollars at total dollars out of whether it is occupancy or the rate itself. And so they're always manipulating that price over time depending on what they see. So if the weather is going to be great for some. Of time or there's a golf tournament in town or something like that.

[00:38:00.600] - Nate Ritter They're going to change the rates according to what they see in in their Marketplace. And so the hotel rates, do the same thing, they fluctuate as well. And so the only thing I could say pretty definitively is if there is a Citywide event. So let's say for instance a Formula One event or something like that in your city or something that's going to take up the entire city. There's it's very unlikely. There will be any wholesale rates available at that point just because it's really if you think about Supply.

[00:38:30.300] - Nate Ritter They're not going to have that I can give you any wholesale rates if they're occupancy is quite high already. And so that's their that this person is at old job is to maximize that that amount the whole wholesale rates show up when there's a bit of a lull in in the marketplace. It's really there for tour operators or for other people to package together groups of travel packages in so that that was its original purpose for the wholesale rates. And so so when that happens when there's availability in the market for people to come in and be tourists, then they're going to the rear to see more wholesale rates available when there's less capacity and available and in the city is bought up in terms of hotels or travel traveling tourist, you get to see the last not to say that it's completely unheard of in a high season at all since I've seen in both Las Vegas and in Portugal I heard I've seen these rates where the penthouse suite switch by no means will I ever be able to afford? Otherwise we're going for $3,000 a night and I saw them for going for $300 a night and that's what the difference is an end. If you looked on Expedia or any of these other sites, you will see them at $3,000 because they're selling that same price that they're buying it at 300 and that's that's where we come in. That's that's actually one of the examples that I used because it was so irritating me to see that that's why I built the service at the meeting.

[00:40:06.800] - Nate Ritter But again, it's it's really depending upon what the market kind of looks like in the local Geographic market and what that revenue managers doing.

[00:40:15.900] - Tamara Gruber It is good to think about though. I think back to quite a few years ago when we were traveling to New York and I found like such better rates in lower Manhattan because it's more in a business district on the weekends, you know, if you can kind of think about like well hey, where would they may be be, you know offering maybe where would capacity be lower that they might need to offer these rates, you know, and so maybe think about that even locationwise or timing-wise.

[00:40:41.800] - Kim Tate I think families they need to keep in mind like if you're wanting to go on vacation that weekend cuz your kids are out of school or whatever. There's probably a large majority of people who have that same idea to wrap up. We got your good deal about the rooms deals in wholesale.

[00:40:58.900] - Kim Tate You've also given us the tip of you know, talking to the hotel directly and seeing what you can you know yet maybe as a little perk or upgrades but do you have any other final tips that families are people Travelers can use on you know deals for saving money on hotels that you want to share with our listeners.

[00:41:15.600] - Nate Ritter Yeah, I think the the biggest tip again goes back to you. I think normally it's just being flexible with any kind of Point hacking any kind of travel hacking that you're doing really thought flexibility is about as I mentioned talking to the front desk and then of course, you know, you've done these shows in the past on credit card points in miles and I think that's that's how we've been able to travel as much as we have. So the new services like these home exchange services are something to keep tabs on outside of that.

[00:41:43.300] - Nate Ritter It's really about making sure that you have access to those wholesale rates because they can be amazing at times but I think that pretty well sums up our kind of a 8:20 like what we really look for when were when were traveling is a family and then how we kind of do our travel hacking with those kind of of points of focus.

[00:42:02.300] - Tamara Gruber Well you have definitely given me something to think about. I'm actually still a little fixated on the penthouse suite and because we haven't traveled in so long I'm all right now about like give me the perks like I want to I want be luxury where is when I'm traveling all the time. I'm like, I just want a place to stay. I want to see things and do things, you know, but right now it's just like I just want to be in a nice hotel and you know be treated like give me those chocolates, right?

[00:42:36.300] - Tamara Gruber But yeah, so thanks a lot for your tips one question that we ask all of our guests and that is what do you wear when you travel do you have any favorite brands that you enjoy?.

[00:42:47.500] - Nate Ritter Well, I'm a jeans and t-shirt or hoodie kind of guy. So literally, that's all I prefer to wear while traveling. I don't really have anything different but the most comfortable thing that I can bring it to us about any weather in without too much trouble. I do love my backpack. I will say that I try not to pack any more than I can fit in there and it's by Nomatic and I want to try out and then all as well, but they they seem to have similar to crossover in terms of how how great the kind of community loves each of them.

[00:43:15.700] - Nate Ritter But I will I do when I can I throw this back at you. I do actually have a question. I wish I had a comfy shoe to wear and I have not really spent much on shoes. But when I'm traveling if I'm like, that's the one thing that I wish I I wish I would wish I would spend on tonight. I don't even know where would you look for any suggestions?

[00:43:33.600] - Tamara Gruber You know, we always ask and we tend to interview more women than men and so many of the women will answer about the shoes. And then as you say that I'm thinking like, you know, my husband was complaining about his feet when were walking around a lot? And so maybe he's not thinking it as much I don't know. I mean, I don't pay a lot of attention to guy shoes, but I think like Skechers in general like, you know, very comfortable and so they have a lot of options for guys too. And they're not necessarily did on all look like basic sneaker, you know, like some of them have some style to them.

[00:44:07.500] - Kim Tate I was thinking of we did talk to the one lady that was talking about Oofos that are made for runners and offer good support, and I know you love Taos too Tamara.

[00:44:20.900] - Kim Tate Yeah, and I think they have a male line as well, but they have really good arch support knee and said of the Taos shoes might be something to look at and we did just one of the men we we talked to recently actually went on about a shoes didn't he had a couple different things. I feel like somebody we talked to recently.

[00:44:39.400] - Kim Tate Talk about shoes, but now I can't I'm blanking on it. But we're going to go to look that up. You'll have to look it up and get back to you Nate. But a couple that you might look at is that Oofos or the Taos. But I might be a good hiking like I think Merrill most most people on our show always rave about Merrill and they make a lot of different styles.

[00:45:20.000] - Kim Tate Why don't you let our listeners know where they can find you online? If you share your travels anywhere and then also kind of tell them about how they can get signed up for room steals. If they want to look for some of those wholesale hotel rates.

[00:45:34.400] - Nate Ritter So I can be found in a pretty active on Twitter. So Nate Ritter and n a t e r i t t e r and then we first have RoomSteals on Twitter and then RoomSteals.com for the website there.

[00:45:49.600] - Nate Ritter And then I'd love to give your listeners a coupon code for RoomSteals. So this would be for the annual fee. So when you go to room steals.com or you download the extension sign-in, you can still see all the pricing for free, but when you're ready to actually book that hotel and need to become a member and pay the annual we have a coupon code with just use the all one word vacation mavens and that coupon code will give you 20% off of that subscription so that Annual fees so when you actually book your hotel, you'll get even better the price at that point.

[00:46:25.800] - Tamara Gruber Thank you, that's awesome. I'm sure our listeners will be jumping on that.I think can be very useful to families and we look forward to checking it out both.

[00:46:48.400] - Tamara Gruber We are back and I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to one of our listeners who I know is a long time listener. So Eliza, I just want to say thank you so much because when we put out our Instagram post about our fifth anniversary a couple of weeks ago, she let us know that she's listen to every single episode which I think is amazing and we definitely appreciate and if there is anyone else out there that it can make that same claim. Please let us know.

[00:47:13.700] - Tamara Gruber We're happy to give you a shout out and thanks to everyone that you gave us a congratulations and your supported us throughout the years

[00:47:21.300] - Kim Tate A huge thank you. We have loved because you guys so when you tell us that you like us and that you're listening to us that makes us feel so happy. So thanks for tuning in and speaking of you can join us again in 2 weeks. We are going to be talking all about Florida hotels which are having a boom year unlike most of the travel industry.

[00:47:41.400] - Tamara Gruber So join us then talk to you soon.

View Details

It is the five year anniversary of the Vacation Mavens podcast! To celebrate, we are talking about one of our favorite topics -- wine (and travel)! This week we are joined by Mary Jo Mazanares, from Traveling with MJ, to talk about how to go wine tasting and some of our favorite wine regions.

About Mary Jo Mazanares Mary Jo is an avid traveler with over 16 years of digital publishing experience. She publishes at Traveling with MJ with a focus on value luxury travel, luxury for real people, not celebrities, and is currently working on Secret Seattle, to be published by Reedy Press in 2021. She and her husband Tony own Leeward Media, LLC, and publish six travel and lifestyle sites. You can follow Mary Jo at @travelingwithmj on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Wine Tasting and Wine Travel Tips * If you are new to wine tasting, it helps to start with smaller wineries where you will get more personalized service because they aren't as busy rushing around and serving other customers. * Don't be afraid to tell the pourer that you are a newbie and let them help you choose which wines to try. They will often ask some questions about what you like and then get feedback on what you taste to go on from there. * When doing virtual wine tastings, you also want to keep it to a small group where you can have a more intimate conversation. See more about MJ's virtual wine tastings with Washington wines or get ideas for other virtual wine tastings. * When going wine tasting for a day, make sure you either hire a driver or set a designated driver. * If you are going to be just sipping and tasting, not drinking the full pour, you can probably get to three to four wineries a day. However, if you really want to leave yourself time to take a tour or really engage with the staff, two to three might be a better number. * If you are tasting with someone else, you may be able to share a pour. * Don't be afraid to use the dump bucket for wines you don't enjoy or if you just don't want to drink too much. * If you drink a full tasting pour each time, by the end the wines might blend together and you may have a harder time differentiating between them and identifying what you enjoy. * In some regions like Walla Walla, the downtown have a number of tasting rooms within walking distance to each other, making it easier to visit a few without needing a designated driver. You can also find this in Napa, Carmel, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa. * Be sure to plan who and when you are going to eat during your wine tasting day. Either make a lunch reservation or plan a wine and food pairing tasting. Many wineries will also sell charcuterie boards that you can enjoy with your tasting or after. * Three big things to consider when doing a tasting are how does the wine look? How does it smell? And how does it taste? * For looks -- swirl the wine, hold it up to the light, see how it clings to the side of the glass, is it dark/light/opaque? * For smell, put your nose in the glass and breathe in. Can you pick up any particular aromas? Does it change over time or after you swirl? * For taste - take a small sip and see how it feels on your tongue and your palate. Give some time to see what flavors might linger or where it hits you in your mouth. Taste again after a few minutes to see if it has changed at all. * To learn a bit more, you can purchase a wine wheel (this is an affiliate link. If you click and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.) * Just remember that wine tasting and wine preference is a personal thing and there is no "best wine" just the best wine for you. * Favorite wine regions: + In Europe, MJ is a fan of Tuscany and sangiovese-based wines + In Northern California, MJ loves downtown Napa + Her home state of Washington is MJ's favorite, especially Walla Walla * If you are planning a trip to Tuscany, Tamara had a terrific wine tour with Tuscan Organic Tours. * It is nice to know what varietals wine regions are known for and plan a trip based on wines that you enjoy. It will also help to have that knowledge before you do tastings. * Oregon is well-known for Pinot Noir. * Wineries in the south tend to specialize in sweeter wines or whites. * The Finger Lakes region in New York is known for Dry Reislings. * The South of France, including Languedoc and Provence, are known for rosé, among others. * Don't be afraid to try something new when you are traveling, especially if that is the dominant varietal in the region. It can be very different at the source from what you may have had at home. * When you are traveling, you can't always ship home. Some wineries are limited to certain states where they can ship and some countries, like France, charge so much that it just isn't worthwhile. So you may want to leave some space in your luggage to wrap up a couple of bottles and bring them home that way. * Keep in mind that your tastes will change over time. It is a journey and the object is to enjoy it along the way. Just be willing to experiment. * Wine tastings can range from free to $30 per tasting, depending on the region and the winery. * Typically if you buy a bottle or a certain dollar amount, your wine tasting fee will be credited. * If you ask questions, show interest, and build a relationship with the pourer, they are likely to share some wines that aren't typically on the tasting menu because they see true interest.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Tate Cheers to five years. Today, we're talking about wine.

[00:00:16.100] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We 3Travel

[00:00:31.100] - Kim Tate Tamara. Happy Anniversary podcast partner. Woohoo! Five years we've been doing this together. We're so lucky.

[00:00:39.530] - Tamara Gruber We're so lucky that we found each other and that we've, you know, managed to pull this off for five years. And we've developed such a special friendship through it. And I'm so glad I'm very thankful for you. I'm thankful for our podcast listeners. It's just been a great experience.

[00:00:54.050] - Kim Tate I agree. I think it's funny because our podcast, if any of you, our fellow podcasters, you'll know it's you know, we'll be very upfront, there's not a lot of money in podcasting. But Tamara and I always say there's just something about getting to chat with your best friend weekly and have people listen to you and get to know you. And, you know, when you guys email us or message us on Facebook or on Instagram, it means so much to us.

[00:01:17.810] - Kim Tate It makes us happy. We'll take screenshot and share it with people. And it's really good. So it's nice that we've created kind of a little community here and it means a lot to us.

[00:01:26.780] - Tamara Gruber And can you just imagine this last year? I know we're doing fewer episodes a month. But if I didn't have you to reach out and talk to, it would have been even worse this past year.

[00:01:37.400] - Kim Tate Agreed. It's great. I mean, technology is so awesome that even though we've been separated by a country, we're still going strong.

[00:01:45.020] - Kim Tate We just need to get back to our trips because we've had some pretty epic trips. And I know today we are going to be talking all about winetasting, kind of some tips and then also a few destinations. But, you know, I thought it'd be good time before we get talking to Mary Jo all about some of our, you know, memorable trips together, maybe to celebrate our five years. I'm sure a lot of our longtime listeners will have heard of most of these, but might be kind of fun. Do you have any trips that stand out to you?

[00:02:13.310] - Tamara Gruber Well, you know, the nice thing is that all of them have involved some wine. But, you know, I love when we go wine tasting together because while we may have very different opinions or tastes, I should say in some things like you love coffee and I hate the smell of it, you know, you're an early riser and I'm a late riser. But like we we seem to hit the similar notes when it comes to wine.

[00:02:35.510] - Tamara Gruber I'm so glad that we're both like, no, no, we want the dry. We don't want the sweet. No, we don't want to oaky Chardonnay. Like, there have been things like that.

[00:02:43.430] - Tamara Gruber And I've always been very impressed by your wine knowledge when we do go to tastings and it always makes for like a nice conversation with whoever's pouring or if we get to talk to the winemaker. And so you're very good travel partner when it comes to visiting wineries.

[00:02:58.520] - Kim Tate Oh, that's so nice. I have actually the same feeling about my experience with you because I feel like we're kind of on the same level of awareness and we both enjoy the same things. And so I agree. I think that's funny. I just had this funny trip memory pop up and this will show people like how much we love wine and being like with each other. We took a trip to Clearwater, Florida for a conference and Tamara got in earlier than me and I was letting her know that I was like in the Uber almost at the airport or I mean, almost at the hotel. And she ran out to some like I don't even remember where you went.

[00:03:32.750] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, a grocery store.

[00:03:34.400] - Kim Tate Yeah. It was like she's like, I'm getting a bottle of wine. We need to chat. And so literally, I came in from, you know, the airplane and everything, and we popped open a wine and poured ourselves a glass and sat down. And it was an awesome start to just kind of a, you know, a work trip with your best friend is pretty awesome.

[00:03:51.050] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've tasted wine in Texas. Remember Texas.

[00:03:57.830] - Kim Tate Grapevine. Right. That's I mean, literally called Grapevine for a reason.

[00:04:02.300] - Tamara Gruber It was funny because I remember being I don't know if we were together at this part of the trip, but I was at one place where we're doing a tasting and everyone got super excited about, like the chocolate tasting red wine, I'm like, oh, yeah, no, that's OK.

[00:04:18.380] - Kim Tate It is funny about the South because that was that experience that we had in New Mexico with El Paso as well. Was it was what was it like? Chili flavored that was really bad.

[00:04:29.330] - Tamara Gruber And that was the one where I'm like, OK, I could have a glass of this or like a half a glass. But I'm not like going to have more than one. I was actually just talking to some friends recently and I had said, like, clearly I will admit that I'm not usually a person to have one glass.

[00:04:47.470] - Tamara Gruber And so therefore if I'm going to have more than one glass, it's going to have to be something that I want more than one glass of, because we have this winery that's kind of down the road from us. And I made the mistake of going there when I first moved in here, not knowing that it was all like fruit wine and we were the only ones in there tasting. So I felt really bad to just like walk out that.

[00:05:06.950] - Kim Tate Yikes. Yeah. I'm not into the flavored wines. Like the grapes have enough.Well I guess they flavor, I mean there are flavored wines, people add stuff

[00:05:15.920] - Tamara Gruber But I do like that New Mexico one though because it was the we had a chance to talk to the wine maker, the wine he was from Chile. And so he kind of said like, look, this is not like I also make these like big Chilean reds. But I also I do this to satisfy, like, you know, a slice of our audience, like he knows where he is and what people are looking for. But then he also kind of did some of the wines that he loved, too.

[00:05:41.540] - Kim Tate Yeah, well, and I was also remembering when we were in Santa Rosa and we got to do I love the wine tastings that go along with like food or snacks with it. And I think that's really fun. And I know Paul and I did one of those in Northern California, I guess it was more close to central California as we were leaving the redwoods once. And it's kind of fun to see how much it can really change the flavor of stuff. So, yeah, it was a fun experience with you.

[00:06:05.300] - Tamara Gruber Glenn I did one of those in Mondavi once and it was, you know, completely different, you know, when he's like, OK, you know, have a bite of this now taste it again. We're like, whoa, totally different. Although I did learn when we went to where was it, Kendall Jackson together the year. You're not quite as into cheese as I am.

[00:06:23.390] - Kim Tate Yeah, no, I'm not a cheese person and I shouldn't be really a dessert person either.

[00:06:27.580] - Tamara Gruber Yeah and I have lactose issues, but I still love them.

[00:06:31.310] - Kim Tate But yeah, I don't.

[00:06:32.770] - Tamara Gruber What is wrong with, you know, cheese and dessert, this is why you stay healthy.

[00:06:36.860] - Kim Tate Yeah. I don't know, I yeah. I'd much rather eat a bunch of vegetables or nuts

[00:06:41.630] - Tamara Gruber But yeah I'm like bring me the fried stuff in the cheese.

[00:06:45.320] - Kim Tate There's some fried stuff I like but yeah. So I think you know, some of those memories are so awesome. I'm excited that we've had five years of experiences together

[00:06:54.920] - Tamara Gruber So we'll have to talk to Mary Jo and get some ideas and where we're winetasting next. Maybe it's up by you.

[00:07:01.700] - Kim Tate I definitely think. Yeah, we definitely need to. Washington wine tasting. I also would love to do the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I've never really spent time there and I think we're due for a trip there. But I know somewhere I'm definitely due for a trip with you. And that is Italy, because you know a lot about Italian wine and I know very little. So and I also would love to go get a champagne tasting and learn more about champagne. So I have some international wine tasting trips I need to do with you.

[00:07:29.330] - Tamara Gruber Well, let's talk to Mary Jo all about wine tasting and hopefully we can inspire some of our listeners to plan their next trip.

[00:07:36.350] - Tamara Gruber Sounds great.

[00:07:45.930] - Tamara Gruber So this week, we're here with Mary Jo Manzanares, and she is an avid traveler with over 16 years of digital publishing experience. You can see her traveling with M.J. where she focuses on value luxury travel, which is luxury for real people, not celebrities, and is currently working on Secret Seattle, which is going to be published by Readers Press in 2021. Congratulations on that. And she actually publishes six different travel and lifestyle sites. So welcome, Mary Jo.

[00:08:13.380] - Mary Jo Mazanares Welcome. I'm so glad to be here.

[00:08:16.050] - Tamara Gruber Well, we are always happy to talk about wine because we probably have been enjoying a little too much of it in the last year. But it's nice when you cannot just, you know, knock it down in, you know, but you're actually doing it with a purpose. And that's one of the things I always love about wine tasting when we are traveling. And even some of the virtual things that are available now is to to really sit back and enjoy the experience.

[00:08:40.830] - Tamara Gruber And I know that you've actually hosted a few virtual wine tastings over the last year. And so we thought it'd be nice to talk to you.

[00:08:49.010] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, it's always nice to talk wine with friends.

[00:08:51.680] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I wish we were drinking it right now, but it's a little bit early, is a little early for you. But before we get into it all, I have to ask, do you have a favorite varietal?

[00:09:01.850] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, OK, so this is like asking a parent to choose their favorite child and every winemaker will tell you their favorite is the one that's currently in their glass. So with those caveats in mind, you know, I'm a fan of the big reds, so I lean toward the the cabs and the merlots that are big and juicy. And when you take that first sip, they just explode in your mouth.

[00:09:27.320] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I like those too. Sometimes I'm just like, really in the mood for, like, I'm all back or something, actually.

[00:09:32.000] - Mary Jo Mazanares With a good steak.

[00:09:33.110] - Tamara Gruber Yes, of course.

[00:09:35.420] - Kim Tate Sounds amazing. So we thought we would kind of talk to you and just, you know, winetasting is such a huge part for Tamara and I when we travel. We love it. And neither of us have amazing you know, we don't have credentials, we're not experts, but we've come to realize that you can enjoy wine even if you aren't an expert. So what do you think for people who are kind of considering wine tasting or wine region or visiting wineries near them?

[00:10:01.300] - Kim Tate What tips do you have when they choose, like what wineries to go into or try a tasting at?

[00:10:07.750] - Mary Jo Mazanares I think it's really easy to start with smaller wineries. It just feels a little bit less intimidating. And you really have that direct connection with whoever happens to be running the tasting room. Sometimes it's the winemaker or a family member of the winemaker.

[00:10:25.120] - Mary Jo Mazanares And just there's nothing wrong with saying I'm a newbie at this. I don't know what I like. I don't know what I don't like. And they are generally thrilled to help you with that path of discovery.

[00:10:37.810] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I have found that sometimes people gravitate towards like the name brands. And whenever you go into those, it's like a factory in there. You know, it's very busy. The pourers don't have time to really spend with you. It's kind of really here's our five. You know, here's my little recitation of what the description is. But when you go into those smaller ones, I end up like spending a lot of time and usually a lot of money, but it's so fun.

[00:11:06.040] - Tamara Gruber And those are the ones where, you know, if you really enjoy something, they're always like, you know, if you like that, let me show you this, too. And it gets you know, it just turns into a whole experience.

[00:11:15.760] - Mary Jo Mazanares And it's it's not it's a journey, not a destination. And sometimes that means finding that you don't like a whole bunch of stuff, a whole bunch of flavors that just don't suit you. And then you find the one that you just love.

[00:11:31.630] - Mary Jo Mazanares And the one thing I found visiting small wineries is when you meet the winemaker or the family and there's the winery, dog or cat, there's something about falling in love with the experience that I think has a direct influence on how you feel about the wine.

[00:11:47.590] - Kim Tate Oh, 100 percent absolutely agree.

[00:11:50.140] - Kim Tate I think you gave a great tip about look for those smaller wineries, because I you know, it's the same thing I've had some of the best experiences have been when either I'm almost all alone in there or, you know, there's one person pouring for when people come in and it's just it feels more focused on you versus the larger ones that are going to attract a lot of people. You know, like you said Tamara, it's almost like you're on an assembly line and you got them running and they're like, OK, which one are you at?

[00:12:17.920] - Kim Tate And they don't even remember where your tasting is at and they're just pouring you another one. And so I think I think that's a good tip because like you said, you can kind of end up in this relationship and really discover things you wouldn't have considered before. And I think when people are starting out with wine tasting, that's one of the, you know, most, I guess, joyous parts of it is when you discover a varietal or you discover something and you can actually put words to it and go, oh, yeah, OK, that's what I like. That's what I don't like. And I think that's cool.

[00:12:47.710] - Mary Jo Mazanares And I think when you visit a smaller winery, or especially one that's not really busy, it's it is about a relationship, as you said, and you have that time to actually enjoy and learn and taste. And that's just all part of the experience. Yeah.

[00:13:04.930] - Tamara Gruber And, you know, I'm just kind of thinking and transitioning of the to the virtual world that some of us are in now. And I think it goes hand in hand, like I joined the virtual wine tasting. I think it was like through wine enthusiast. And, you know, of course, there's thousands of people. You're just listening in. You're not actually interacting. And it was more about like, let's use this celebrity name to try to get a lot of attention. And sell a lot of wine. And it wasn't as much about what are we really tasting. You know, it was more about like, let's just impress you with this, like, name and back story. So I think it must go hand in hand, like when you're doing the virtual tastings where you can get a little bit more of an intimate experience.

[00:13:48.490] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, and I've kept my virtual tasting small. I don't want more than ten people because that does simulate if you were actually at the winery and you have direct interaction with the winemaker to ask questions and get information. So I've really enjoyed keeping it far more intimate than that because that's the experience I prefer. Now, that's not for everyone. I get it. But I really do prefer small, intimate group when I'm enjoying my wine.

[00:14:16.150] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think the virtual wine tastings have become, you know, kind of a really neat thing that has evolved because of, ah, you know, what am I trying to say because of the pandemic, because it wasn't as popular then. But some of these wineries have done amazing things where, you know, you can order the wine, you know. Three bottles, six bottles or whatever, and they'll ship it to you and you, you know, sit down one night and you can taste it with the winemaker.

[00:14:42.840] - Kim Tate And again, like you said, Tamara, the smaller wineries, sometimes you're almost one on one with the winemaker, and it's really fun. So I highly recommend people who are interested to look into that. And it's a great way to support an economy, you know, that's definitely struggling, especially Mary Jo. You and I know on the West Coast, our wineries are really, you know, they need our help as much as possible. So I think it's a great way for people to buy and help them out. I mean, I think people need to realize that there are a lot of great virtual opportunities.

[00:15:13.470] - Kim Tate But let's start and consider that in the future we are all able to travel again and we are going to be going on a wine tasting trip.

[00:15:21.810] - Kim Tate Why don't you start with some tips like how many wineries should you plan to visit a day? Because, yeah, you don't always consider that the big question.

[00:15:31.320] - Mary Jo Mazanares And first of all, I think any time you talk about alcohol, you have to make really clear that, you know, don't drink and drive, have a designated driver, all of those kind of things, because that's just part of the prudence of wine tasting.

[00:15:47.340] - Mary Jo Mazanares I usually can do three, sometimes four.

[00:15:52.170] - Mary Jo Mazanares However I taste, I don't drink. And I think that you need to decide if you're going to taste, which really means, you know, taking a few sips of a variety of wines or if you're going to actually enjoy a full pour for my husband and I, you know, if we will, one full pour of a taste is more than enough for both of us to decide if we like it or not.

[00:16:16.380] - Mary Jo Mazanares Plus dump in the bucket so so we can do three, four if they're if we really have to. But any more than that, it just all blurs together. And we don't know what we've tasted and what we'd like to what we didn't like.

[00:16:32.230] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I agree. We've sometimes done that where it's like, you know, OK, this one I think I really want to taste my own if we have different opinions. But other times we will sometimes split a tasting flight and and do it that way, although I will say, you know, a good plug so that you're both enjoying it and you can do whatever you like is he could hire a driver? Definitely. I mean, we've done some wine tours, actually.

[00:16:54.220] - Tamara Gruber We did a wine tour in France and one in Italy. And it was just amazing. You know, it's just so nice to have it all taken care of for you because they're also making the appointments and setting everything up in advance for you.

[00:17:06.120] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, you know that you you want to totally indulge and drink a full pour of several at several locations, just find some that are close together and easily walkable from one to another. If you're in an urban setting, you can like downtown Walla Walla. You can easily walk from tasting room to tasting room. And you don't need to worry about driving if you're going someplace farther, farther out than you do need to think about either an Uber or a car and driver for the whole time.

[00:17:34.590] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, I like that idea that some of the towns, you know, we'll have tasting rooms. So some of the times the wineries will have their own tasting room at the vineyard. But like in town, they'll have a little tasting room. And I know, like in Carmel we did that we had like a little wine passport and we just kind of walked around town. And that was it was great. But sometimes I definitely love that winery experience.

[00:17:54.360] - Mary Jo Mazanares And downtown Napa, it has the same thing. You can taste a number of the tasting rooms downtown rather than drive out to the wineries, which are so spread apart.

[00:18:04.200] - Kim Tate Yeah, and I think another thing to consider is food during that time. And, you know, if they offer any charcuterie boards and things on that line, it's always good to make sure. Do you balance a little bit of food with the drinking?

[00:18:16.140] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Like you can schedule a lunch or you can do a you know, like you said, sign up for a food and wine pairing kind of tasting or cheese and wine.

[00:18:25.140] - Kim Tate Like you and I did when we were in Sonoma. I was remembering that when we went they had a big Mary-Jo, they had a big festival. What was that? It was like the Winemaker's Awards. I can't remember the name of it now in Santa Rosa. And Tamara and I, it was nice, you know, to Uber from her hotel over.

[00:18:42.300] - Kim Tate And while we we certainly drank a lot that night and they had an Uber back.

[00:18:49.020] - Tamara Gruber Not as much as some of those, not as much as some of the people.

[00:18:51.480] - Kim Tate It was funny. I mean, people watching at that event was quite you know, you walked in and everything seemed normal, but by, you know, two hours in, it was quite the show.

[00:18:59.880] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Once I saw some some shoving going on, I'm like, yeah, it's time to go.

[00:19:05.370] - Tamara Gruber Well, I mean, that's kind of covers, you know, some things to think about when you're planning a, you know, planning your day, when you're planning a wine tasting day. But when you're actually, you know, sitting down or standing up to taste your wine, do you have any tips or someone like what should they look at? What is your method for tasting wine? You know, what should they be looking for in terms of like taste or appearance or, you know, just without getting too fancy? But I think a little bit of understanding, you know.

[00:19:35.500] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, everyone will tell you that there are three things to consider when you're doing a tasting are, you know, what does it look like? What does it smell like? How does it taste? And that's way oversimplifying the whole science and art of wine tasting.

[00:19:51.370] - Mary Jo Mazanares But I try to follow that at a novice to intermediate kind of level.

[00:19:56.920] - Mary Jo Mazanares I mean, I look at what it looks in the glass. I swirl it. I put my nose deep into the glass and see what it smells like. What does that what does that do to my senses?

[00:20:06.850] - Mary Jo Mazanares And then I sip and I have never been able to master that art of somehow breathing in and sipping and making that noise as you're tasting. I mean, I can't do that.

[00:20:20.500] - Mary Jo Mazanares I give that up to the experts and the Soms who really know what they're doing. I just take a sip and see what that first sip feels like in my mouth and what my reaction to it is. And then I take my second sip to really see how it it lingers on the palate.

[00:20:36.760] - Tamara Gruber You know, it's funny, my husband does that little gargle kind of thing. I'm like, I can gargle mouthwash without choking. So that's not going to happen.

[00:20:45.400] - Tamara Gruber But I really like to do that, you know, nice, good sniff and like, see what I'm picking up then and then see like when you taste it, are you catching those same things, you know, are you tasting something different? And then it's really, truly amazing how much wine changes, you know, when it's had time to breathe or if you just had something else on your palate. Sometimes I love doing those tastings where it's like, OK, take a taste now, take a bite of this and taste it again. You're like, oh my gosh, it's a completely different thing. You know, it makes you realize, like, the differences there.

[00:21:18.900] - Mary Jo Mazanares And we found that when we started doing some tastings and wanting to learn a little bit more about it, we purchased a wine wheel and I think we just got it from Amazon or something. And to help us identify what we were tasting. And the other thing we learned was there are some flavors I will never be able to recognize because I don't know what they are.

[00:21:42.300] - Mary Jo Mazanares And some people just can't taste certain things and some people can.

[00:21:46.770] - Mary Jo Mazanares I always pick up the leathery, earthy mushrooms, the smoky kind of flavors and wine, and my husband rarely notices those.

[00:21:57.420] - Mary Jo Mazanares He picks up the dark cherries and the stone fruit. And those are just really sort of, you know, I don't even notice. So it's like, yeah, yeah, there they are. So very much it's a personal thing, which is why there's not really a best wine. It's just the best wine for you.

[00:22:14.400] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's a good thing to consider. And I mean, I think people will learn that as they taste. And the more you do it, you'll soon start to see like, oh, you know, that's a that's a lighter in appearance. You know, maybe that's a pinot noir, you know, and OK, this is the color I'd expect from it versus OK, now they're pouring me a, you know, Malbec. And it's going to look very different. And and I think, like you said, it's fun, I mean, I love when I smell wine and then I taste it. I love those moments when it's not what I expect because I'll pick up, you know, a lot of that. Earthy, leathery, very. Yeah. Earthy tone in the smelling. And then I'll taste it. And it's so jammy on my tongue and I'm like, whoa, that was not what I was expecting at all, you know? So it's kind of funny how you can have those experiences.

[00:22:59.250] - Tamara Gruber I always love, like the blind taste test, too, you know, when they do like the black glass or something. And and you need to to guess and I know some people are doing that with virtual wine tastings, too, but it adds like that fun element to it and almost like little competition element. You know who got it right? My husband, he's he loves wine.

[00:23:16.110] - Tamara Gruber And he I think one of the first times he went to Napa, he was like, this is what I would like to do when I retire is like go work in one of these places. So he actually he has gotten is like level one WSET, but then he never had time to go pursue number two. And I was it sounds terrible, but he now that we've been home so much, I'm like, oh, if only you could have done it online. Like now you have all this time to do it because before he's always traveling and never able to, you know, go to the actual class.

[00:23:47.430] - Tamara Gruber But he it's funny, he doesn't have the same palate that I do, not just in differences of taste, but he has a lot of trouble picking up on some of it. And I always pick on him. I tell him it's because he drinks so much coffee. It's like deaden his taste buds. But who knows? Like, people are like you said, they're just very different.

[00:24:03.660] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, you can do a couple of levels of the WSET at home because I was looking into it thinking, well, you know, I've always wanted to do it, but with travel, I've never been able to make the commitment maybe I should do it for from home so it can be done.

[00:24:20.160] - Tamara Gruber I'm going to have them look into it because, you know, it's it's been his dream. He's wanted to do it. And so we'll see. Maybe now would be a time to to get that next level.

[00:24:28.770] - Kim Tate I have a friend who retired and she's a pourer in a local little winery here in Washington State. So she loves it. It's fun because she gets to say social and she works very part time hours and just enjoys it.

[00:24:41.880] - Mary Jo Mazanares So, yeah, well, and it's not uncommon with family owned wineries that you'll have multiple generations working at the the winery, whether it's doing the book, serve the tasting room or or some of the consumer facing activities. So it's a multigenerational.

[00:25:01.470] - Kim Tate Yeah, I think that's fun when you you sit down on some of those, like you said, the smaller wineries, and you find out like, oh, you're the winemaker. Oh, OK.

[00:25:09.390] - Kim Tate Is it totally different than when it's just you're just a hired hand who's pouring and, you know, isn't as emotionally connected to the wines as a winemaker is.

[00:25:20.610] - Kim Tate Well, we've talked about kind of some tips for what people should look for and taste and what you know, let's imagine that we're all ready to book a wine trip and we're all safe to travel again. Do you have some favorite wine regions that you just love traveling to?

[00:25:37.430] - Mary Jo Mazanares Oh, now you're just going to be breaking my heart.

[00:25:40.800] - Kim Tate No, I mean, we've got to come in again. We'll just, you know, pretend we're going to be imagining where we're booking our next trip.

[00:25:48.990] - Mary Jo Mazanares Oh, well, I think I'll give three of my favorites. So I'm not offending too many people in Europe. I'm really a fan of Tuscany dominantly because I like the big super Tuscans Brunello Sangiovese is.

[00:26:05.160] - Mary Jo Mazanares And that's just, you know, where to go to the source. And I just I just loved wine tasting there. And we always wind up shipping wine home. So, you know, a. It's also a very expensive trip, so in Europe, that would be one of my recommendations outside of Washington because my home state is obviously my favorite. I really like downtown Napa. And the reason is that you can stay close in, you can walk everywhere.

[00:26:34.960] - Mary Jo Mazanares You don't need a car. It's easy to get to from a variety of airports, San Francisco, Oakland or Sacramento, the latter. I think it's the easiest to fly in. And you can really get a lot done both tasting and having fun without having to have a car and worry about driving.

[00:26:53.550] - Mary Jo Mazanares And there's some great wines there and locally. Oh, it's hard to choose a favorite, but my favorite locally here in Washington would probably be Walla Walla.

[00:27:03.570] - Mary Jo Mazanares The given that they have several different districts, you can really focus on a district without having to do too much driving and really get some great flavors plus there downtown. So if you stay close in to downtown, you don't have to drive everywhere. So those would be my three recommendations.

[00:27:24.930] - Tamara Gruber Well, I'm going to give a little plug and a shout out to someone that we had a great time with when we were in Tuscany a couple of years ago, and that's Tuscan organic tours. So they focus on like small, organic, biodynamic type of wineries.

[00:27:37.290] - Tamara Gruber And we worked with their owner, Giacomo, and it was like one of the best days of our lives. It was so, so wonderful. Like all the little like family run kind of wineries that we visited had an amazing lunch in a tiny village, you know, learned so much about kind of the local agritourism. And, yeah, it was fantastic. So if anyone is going to go to Tuscany, definitely check them out.

[00:28:00.390] - Kim Tate I think one of the things, Mary Jo, that you mentioned that I think is good for people to realize, especially I mean, people who are not novices will know this, but for people who are kind of not as into it, but want to get into wine tasting, it's good to know that a lot of times regions definitely have certain varietals or certain wines that they're known for.

[00:28:19.470] - Kim Tate And so if you know that you really like, you know, bold reds, then a Tuscany trip might make sense.

[00:28:25.530] - Kim Tate And of course, Tuscany, I mean, they've got everything. But, you know, you might want to choose based on wines you really like, whereas, you know, Tamara and I, it's kind of funny to even mention this, but we were in El Paso and they drove us over the border. And do you even remember where that was to in New Mexico? Yeah, but I mean, I don't remember the winery. But anyways, they drove us over the border to New Mexico to do a wine tasting.

[00:28:49.380] - Kim Tate And it was very you know, Tamara and I are not into sweet wines. And they were a lot of sweet whites. And part of the reason they said, you know, they're down south and people are really, you know, they're craving a kind of cold and quenching drink as opposed to, you know, if you live in the north, a big, big red isn't that big of a deal because you're not going to be in sweltering hot weather.

[00:29:10.770] - Kim Tate So I think, you know, that's something to keep in mind when you're planning a trip or thinking of doing a trip that's going to do some wine tasting is figure out maybe what that region is known for. I mean, there are areas, of course, all over California and Washington state, even we've become quite, you know, known what used to say Oregon would be the home of Pinot Noir. But, you know, some regions definitely have a few varieties, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.

[00:29:36.840] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, definitely. I mean, we you know, I'm thinking here on the Northeast, you know, in New York state, the Finger Lakes very well known for their dry Rieslings, like their German style dry Rieslings. And just thinking about when we were in the south of France, like the Languedoc in the Provence, very well known for their roses, you know. So definitely that's something good to keep in mind.

[00:29:59.460] - Tamara Gruber And I find, like a lot of the newer regions that are still developing, you know, their vines are not as old. So, you know, the flavors are probably going to still continue to develop. But a lot of those regions tend to kind of have a sweet and a dry like tasting menu.

[00:30:16.860] - Tamara Gruber Even I think they know that their audience is, you know, may be new to it as well. And so they're like, well, what do you like? And they kind of direct you one path or another.

[00:30:26.430] - Mary Jo Mazanares The other thing that we found is that certain choices that we might avoid at home that we try on when we're traveling are totally different now and we're predominantly red wine drinkers. But at home, we would never go buy a bottle of Chablis. It is just not anything that would ever occur to us.

[00:30:47.610] - Mary Jo Mazanares We were on a barge cruise in France and actually went to Chablis and visited the Chalbis' there. Totally different experience. Not at all. But we would find here at home, at the store. So, yeah, you have to be willing to to do a little bit of experimenting when you travel and and realize that things aren't necessarily the same when you're at the source. As when you're you're in your home region.

[00:31:15.600] - Kim Tate That's such a good point. I was just going to quickly say, like Chardonnay, California chardonnays, I would normally run screaming from the brand before they put a California Chardonnay in front of me. But, you know, it's kind of fun because as they've evolved, you know, the tasting rooms have learned because some winemakers are like, OK, we want to reclaim Chardonnay for California. And they'll be like, no, you have to taste this. It's not your traditional California Chardonnay.

[00:31:37.470] - Kim Tate And sure enough, they've you know, it's not as oaky and buttery. They put it in a steel barrel and stuff. So it's just kind of fun to, like you said, to be able to do a tasting because it can you wouldn't want to spend, you know, thirty bucks on a bottle when you're trying something out. But yet, if you're at a tasting, you you know, it's a minor fee to just try something.

[00:31:58.350] - Tamara Gruber That's one of the things I love and miss about travel, too, is that, like you said, Mary Jo, like you're in a particular region, they're known for something. And maybe it's something that you didn't think you like or maybe something you never heard of before and you would have never ordered because you had no idea what it was.

[00:32:14.550] - Tamara Gruber But when we were in France, I fell in love with the Picpoul de Pinet. It's like a white wine that has like a lot of minerality in it, you know, because it comes from the coast and I just. Now, I'm, like, obsessed with it in the summer. I'm like, let's get oysters and Picpoul, you know, like it makes me so happy when I can find it at home. But it just brings back those travel memories to, you know,

[00:32:35.510] - Mary Jo Mazanares You have to go back and send some home.

[00:32:38.510] - Tamara Gruber You know, I will say when we talk about shipping home, when we were in Tuscany, it was very easy to ship home a lot of times if you bought enough, they included the shipping. They took care of the shipping. It was all good. It was not outlandish.

[00:32:51.440] - Tamara Gruber When we were in France, the wine was so cheap, but you could not ship it home like nobody shipped. And if you tried to find, like, one that shipped, it was going to definitely cost as much as the wine. And so it really made it not worth it.

[00:33:04.130] - Tamara Gruber It was so disappointing because we found so many that we fell in love with. So now, you know, we just made sure we brought back a list to our local wine shop and, you know, try to get them to get what they can. A lot of these smaller wineries just don't distribute that much, you know. So it's enjoy it while you're there.

[00:33:19.880] - Mary Jo Mazanares I guess, to you know, when we find a small winery that we always figure we'll put a bottle in our our checked luggage coming home and we've never had a problem with breakage. Yeah. And then if there's someplace that'll ship, we try to take advantage of that. But you're right, some of the small places, they're just mom and pop operation, then you just have to grab it and be willing to carry it home.

[00:33:43.380] - Tamara Gruber Yeah, exactly. Or carry it and drink it the next day.

[00:33:50.210] - Kim Tate So do you have any final wine tasting tips that you could share with our listeners if they're considering, you know, getting into wine tasting and checking this whole, like, passion of ours?

[00:34:01.790] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, yeah. I mean, it's it's a journey. And what I like 10 or 15 years ago is not what I like now. And that's because I've explored and learn new things and leave your preconceptions at the door. Don't bring them to the bottle and be willing to try something, even if you think you won't like it, because you know you might be right. It might be. Oh yeah, no, don't like this one.

[00:34:27.620] - Mary Jo Mazanares Or you might be pleasantly surprised, but generally speaking, you will still learn something sometimes the path to finding your favorite wine or your favorite wine for the week or the month, it's just learning what you don't like.

[00:34:41.600] - Mary Jo Mazanares So my biggest thing is just be willing to try to experiment and, you know, don't be a jerk. Don't try to impress people with everything that you know or think you know about wine. Just it's community. It's family. Just go and have a good time.

[00:34:56.240] - Kim Tate That's a really great advice. Yeah, I was going to also mention for people who are novices with this, maybe we could also talk about really quickly pricing so people understand, like, you know, you buy a wine tasting, but normally that's credited if you buy a bottle.

[00:35:11.750] - Kim Tate So what do you see as the average tastings that you're used to?

[00:35:15.350] - Mary Jo Mazanares I mean, well, right now it's just all over the board. And I think that it changes based on the region in California. When I started wine tasting there, it was always free. And there may be a fee if you were getting a premier, you know, wine or something from, you know, the seller that was more spending. Now, pretty much every place is is fee based around Washington. You know, it's really hit or miss.

[00:35:46.550] - Mary Jo Mazanares Some places are fee based. Some are not. Sometimes it's rebated against the wine if you buy it. Sometimes it's if you buy three bottles, they'll rebate it. It really is all over the board.

[00:35:57.380] - Mary Jo Mazanares And during covid, I think the the differences in what people are doing is even greater. So just just check the wine winery or the wine tasting rooms website and hopefully they'll have have updated it.

[00:36:12.380] - Mary Jo Mazanares But if I'm going to spend, you know, more than a nominal amount, it it has to be one superb tasting. I know there were a few tasting rooms in California that were charging twenty five dollars for a flight of three wines and yeah, that's that's it.

[00:36:30.110] - Tamara Gruber It better be tasting real premium wines and that better be the reserves.

[00:36:34.770] - Mary Jo Mazanares Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:36:37.100] - Mary Jo Mazanares Or they're their club wines or something. Limited edition. Absolutely agree.

[00:36:41.970] - Kim Tate I would say I mean, most often I see five five dollar tastings is kind of pretty common, especially in Washington. But like you said, sometimes they're not even going to charge it and especially the smaller ones are just so happy to talk to you. And then you almost always end up finding something you like and walking out of there with a bottle. So it works well.

[00:36:59.940] - Mary Jo Mazanares But I've what I've found is, is that sometimes when you're talking with them and they really know that you're interested and you want to make some purchases and you want to learn more, you know, they break out some stuff that maybe wasn't on the tasting list or they add something in because you're not there just to get that cheap drunk on.

[00:37:18.420] - Mary Jo Mazanares You're actually there to learn about them and and to discover something.

[00:37:22.590] - Tamara Gruber Exactly.

[00:37:23.400] - Kim Tate I think that's a good tip. I think the good that, you know, pulling that out a little more is make a relationship with the person doing the tasting with you, you know, actually be interested, actually try and learn. And like you said, I think, you know, you might be surprised by some stuff that you might get a sneak peek at.

[00:37:39.750] - Tamara Gruber Yeah. Ask them questions. You know, talk about how you you know, what you're thinking of the different ones. Like, definitely it's I've seen that happen many, many times because they just get excited and they're like, yeah. And you would like this one.

[00:37:51.870] - Kim Tate Yeah. Great. Well, we will wrap up and ask you our question that we ask all of our guests, and that is, what do you wear when you travel? Do you have a favorite brand of clothing or shoes or anything? That's a go to travel gear item for you?

[00:38:05.490] - Mary Jo Mazanares Well, I'm a comfort girl, so I want I want comfortable clothes. Nothing too short, too long, too tight. So I, I tend to pretty much stick with, you know, leggings and an oversize top. And I'm not particularly brand loyal in that regard. If I know that I'm going to be doing a lot of walking, you know, my feet are where I probably pay a little bit more attention. I really like Skechers. They give me lots of support. They have a variety of styles from a true trail or walking shoe to something that I can easily wear yet cobblestone streets in in Europe without standing out. So I'm all about the comfort.

[00:38:48.660] - Tamara Gruber We are right there with you.

[00:38:49.890] - Kim Tate Yeah, I was going to say Tamara and I are with you.

[00:38:52.290] - Mary Jo Mazanares Good. Well, can you remind our listeners where they can find you online anywhere in lots of places, but maybe give a few.

[00:38:57.930] - Mary Jo Mazanares I'll give you my primary sites. I met traveling with MJ that's traveling with MJ Dotcom. And you can find me at all the social channels at traveling with MJ as well. Great. Thank you so much. Oh, ladies, it's so good talking wine, and I just can't wait till we can get together and do this in person.

[00:39:17.260] - Kim Tate I agree, especially, you know, now that we're we're semi local, so once we can socialize it, be easy for you and I to meet up and Woodinville or something and do some tastings, pick a winery.

[00:39:26.860] - Mary Jo Mazanares I'll meet you there. Yeah, sounds good.

[00:39:29.080] - Tamara Gruber You guys can face time, me in. Sounds good. Well, enjoy. Thank you so much.

[00:39:39.010] - Tamara Gruber OK, so we are back and I just want to give a shout out to one of our listeners, Heather Hill. She sent in a message. We were talking about places to go this summer that were good for the outdoors. And she had suggested Michigan, which I've actually thought about a lot, because there's so many places there that you wouldn't really think that you're in the northern part of the country.

[00:39:57.820] - Tamara Gruber You know, the water is so beautiful or there's sand dunes. You know, there's just so much there. So she had mentioned the national parks and Mackinac Island and Traverse City. So I may not be pronouncing that entirely correctly, but so that was, you know, a suggestion. And she also was looking for some episodes about other kinds of vacation rentals. So we're going to look into that as well. But I just want to say thank you, Heather, for writing in to us and for giving us the suggestion.

[00:40:25.330] - Kim Tate Yeah, that's a great one. I know Michigan's really popular with, you know, like cabins and lake getaways and stuff. So it sounds like a good episode we should check out.

[00:40:36.100] - Kim Tate Well, if you guys are joining again in two weeks because we're still on our biweekly schedule, we are going to be talking all about tips for finding hotel deals. And we've got something kind of cool interviewee.

[00:40:48.340] Talk to you then.

View Details

Budget is often cited as a top reason why families don't travel. Given how many of us are having our budgets squeezed right now, how can we start to save for a future trip? This week we talk to Danielle Desir from The Thought Card podcast and get some insights on turning your dream vacation into a reality.

About Danielle Desir Danielle Desir, and she is an author, blogger, podcaster and Founder of The Thought Card, which is an award winning affordable travel and personal finance blog and podcast, empowering financially savvy travelers to make informed financial decisions, travel more, pay off debt and build wealth. She's also the co-producer of Millennial Wealth Builders, a three time grant funded audio docu series highlighting women of color building wealth.

Follow Danielle on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also subscribe to her podcast, The Thought Card or purchase either of her books:

• Affording Travel: Saving Strategies For Financially Savvy Travelers
• Planning Local Trips During A Pandemic

Tips for How to Save for Travel * Start with creating a monthly household budget so you are tracking how much you spend (and how much you can spend) in different categories * Sit down at least quarterly and review your budget to see where you might need to adjust * Create a wants versus needs list and see what you can take off of your wants list and do without * Streaming services, gym memberships, ordering in using delivery services...these are common expenses that can be reduced * Create a separate bank account that will be your travel fund, so you it isn't intermingled with money that you use to pay bills or daily spending * Look for a bank account that you can open with little or no money to start, that doesn't charge a lot of fees or have a lot of restrictions, such as with Charles Schwab or Ally online banking * See Danielle's tips on why you need multiple bank accounts * Take a look at your top three expenses. Usually you can't reduce your housing expenses but can you reduce your transportation expenses (especially now when more of us are working from home) or food expenses (avoiding expensive delivery services, cooking more, etc.) * Automate as much as possible using direct deposit, including contributions to your travel fund * Danielle recommends the Digit app. It will automatically take a set amount out of your account everyday and put it into different funds that you set up for different expenses (such as travel) * Have your family buy into your savings plan and name your bank accounts for that specific trip you are saving for to give everyone an incentive to save for that purpose * Make sure you educate your kids about how to manage a budget and talk about spending decisions * Think about what you value when you travel to determine where to spend your money. For example, do you prefer to have a better hotel experience or more money to spend on activities but you don't need a luxury air experience * To find affordable airfare, Danielle recommends SecretFlying.com for finding cheap deals online * Signing up for airfare deals emails lets you establish a baseline of flight costs to particular destinations, so you know whether or not you are getting a deal when you are ready to book, as well as helps you find those special deals that you can jump on when available * TheFlightDeal.com and The Points Guy also offer daily flight deal emails. * For hotels or package combination deals with flights, hotels and activities, Danielle recommends TravelZoo. TravelZoo is especially good when looking for deals to China. They have a Wednesday top 20 list * Gate 1 Travel also has a weekly deal list every Monday and they do both independent travel and packaged group trips * You can often find good deals even in expensive locations if you travel off season * Lisbon and Mexico are very affordable international destinations * Traveling locally is also a great way to travel now and you can save money on transportation * If you are using an Airbnb or vrbo now, be sure to start looking about 4-5 months earlier. Fees and rates have increased recently because of demand and cleaning costs * Local hotels, especially in towns/cities that don't usually cater to leisure travelers are very affordable right now * For those traveling locally, be sure to check each state's travel and quarantine restrictions

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Here's some tips for filling up your piggy bank for your next trip.

[00:00:15.730] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.550] - Kim Tamara, we are fast forwarding through 2021. Some of us knew it wouldn't be a big reawakening. But I can't even believe that we're in February. So have you been thinking about travel? Do you see hope on the horizon? Are you making any plans yourself?

[00:00:48.580] - Tamara Well, I'm definitely thinking about it. It's kind of all I can think about because otherwise I'm just so bored. You know, the other day was Groundhog Day and it feels like that. Like every day one of my friends had texted me and saying, like, how are you doing? And I'm like, you know, same old, same old.

[00:01:05.290] - Tamara She's like, pretty much like work, work out, cook, eat, TV, sleep, repeat. But I'm starting to think about it. I've started to look into a couple of things I think I have mentioned before that like our Greece trip, but I doubt it's going to happen.

[00:01:19.900] - Tamara So I'm trying to come up with other kind of backup plans and we're still kind of hoping that we can go look at some colleges this spring. So we're looking into that and booking things tentatively. Everything is like, if things are going well, so I guess it's written in pencil, not in pen.

[00:01:39.940] - Kim Yeah. I felt all excited. We, you know, attended a conference recently, virtually, of course. So our listeners don't get shocked. But it was just nice to talk about travel again. But it really it made me excited and I would love to plan a trip for spring break and do something. But I'm kind of torn on, you know, will California like, we've done the road trip to California, a few spring breaks and it's always such a nice trip and I'm tempted to do that again. However, California right now doesn't want people from out of state and even people in state are not supposed to go without like 100 some miles from their house.

[00:02:21.400] - Kim And so I'm kind of torn on do I make plans or because I'm kind of tired of canceling stuff, it's it's almost discouraging. So I'm almost in a holding pattern.

[00:02:31.000] - Kim I thought about booking a Lake Front Cabin or something on Airbnb, where for spring break we could just go and relax and bring Sophie and just kind of get out of our space. But we you know, we have this nice backyard now and some of our space, we live on a lake. And so, I mean, we're not on the lake, but we're, you know, very close.

[00:02:52.510] - Kim So it seems kind of stupid to spend money to go have kind of a lifestyle that we already sort of have. And yeah. So I'm just torn. I guess I don't really want to cancel anything. I don't know what to book. I don't I still don't know. I probably need to just make a tentative plan of doing something in state, even if it's a weekend getaway, just kind of having a hotel stay again. It was so nice when we did that for Christmas. We went to one of our local hotels and did a shopping trip and just kind of stayed in the hotel. And it was it was nice. It was nice just to get out of our house for a little while. But yeah, I guess the cancellation is holding me back.

[00:03:27.910] - Tamara I brought that up to Hannah recently. Like, what about doing like a staycation at a hotel? And she's like, well, it's like dumb to spend the money. And part of me feels like, yeah, you know, I would like to save it for like real travel. But on the other side of the coin, like, I do know that it's just been so long that you forget. But I do know that every time we have gotten away, you know, even for a weekend, we always look at each other and we're like, we feel like we're so far away. Like we feel like everything changed so much. Like, you know, it's just so nice to have that change of scenery. So I do think we're all craving it right now. But it is definitely a cost consideration, right.

[00:04:06.580] - Tamara Because like you said, do you want to still do those fun things when they come up? And I know the episode we're talking about today with Danielle is all about how to save for a trip. And so spending on things you don't need is probably not the advice, but sometimes mentally you do need it. But I mean, as we're looking into different things, I'm definitely seeing like a trend in terms of pricing. Like we're looking at doing this road trip to visit some colleges. And there we would be staying close to the college and, you know, more like in a city or small town kind of thing.

[00:04:41.230] - Tamara And those hotels are actually really affordable because there's just not a lot of that kind of tourism happening right now, you know?

[00:04:49.750] - Tamara So I've even been like, well, if we do this, I want to book a suite because I want to have space. Like, I don't want to feel like we're on top of each other, but I also want to have a place where we can bring food in and eat because, you know, it's still going to be cold.

[00:05:02.920] - Tamara And so we're not really doing outdoor dining, but we're not going to want to do much indoor dining unless something has a very low capacity, you know?

[00:05:10.810] - Kim And a place where the microwave is helpful because we are in a hotel that had a. And it was nice to get the food and take out and bring it back, but, you know, every once in a while you'd want to heat it up and we didn't have it.

[00:05:22.040] - Tamara So, yes, I found that actually for what I thought would be the cost of a regular room, I can get a suite, so that's good. But then when it comes to summer, I'm looking at doing something that feels more resort, like more, if we can't go to Greece, I would like something. I know it's not going to be Greece, but can it be something like nice? And I think you know me. You know that I don't really love the big high rise hotels and that type of thing because I want something a little bit more intimate, more personal, has more character or whatever.

[00:05:56.410] - Tamara and also like now in times of covid, like, I don't want to have to always be in an elevator, in a hallway or a crowded pool area or like any of that kind of stuff, like I want more like open air. So I found a couple of places that I absolutely fell in love with in the Florida Keys. But oh my God, the price like it is insane. So it was one of those moments where I've always told Glenn, don't show me things that I can't afford. I don't want to look at houses that I can't afford, and I want to look at cars that I can't afford. I don't want to look at clothes that I can't afford.

[00:06:27.220] - Tamara And there's also some things where it's like even if you could afford it, like there are times where I've gone to, like, shopping for a store and I'm like, I'm sorry, but I am not spending 100 dollars on jeans.

[00:06:37.840] - Tamara It's just not like I grew up so frugal that it's like really hard for me to, like, spend on certain things. And I am more willing to do it on like travel. And I look at it, I said, look, I want something special. Like we gave up, you know, our special trip last year. We're probably giving up this year. I still want to do it in the future.

[00:06:55.240] - Tamara But can we have something special like not just we went away for like four days, but like, can it be to a special place, you know, to try to find that in an environment that feels safe, knowing that this summer is still, you know, all the protocols are still going to be in place. Like whether or not we will be vaccinated is still a big if. And so they're still going to be a lot of travel and safety concerns. And, you know, I wanted to feel special, but I can't spend two thousand dollars a night. I mean, it's just insane.

[00:07:24.850] - Tamara Every time I look at things, I'm like, are there really that many rich people in the world like? And then I realized, there are.

[00:07:32.320] - Kim yeah, obviously. So I mean, I'll never forget the time that I spent five hundred dollars for one night at a Disneyland hotel and I thought that was just stupid. I felt like an idiot then. But it was important for me to have the extra hour and make the most of our time and stuff.

[00:07:46.960] - Tamara I feel like sometimes I'm willing to do it like it gives you enough pleasure. It it provides something that you're really looking for, you know, and I would I would even spend, you know, a good amount more than that, but not two thousand dollars a night.

[00:07:59.810] - Tamara And then have to buy food, you know, food and drink and everything else on top of that. And so all I can say is if anybody just won the lottery, look up little Palm Island in Florida and you'll be very happy. And I found another place that looked really good, too. It's called Bungalows Key Largo. They look pretty good.

[00:08:15.970] - Tamara It's like an adult, only all inclusive in Florida because we're just trying to stay where can we get that tropical feel without necessarily leaving the country and having to deal with, like, all the bubbles and testing and, you know, just all the kind of hassles for a fairly short trip.

[00:08:31.280] - Tamara So anyway, I'm still searching and maybe using some of Danielle's tips will help me, you know, continue to save, although I don't think I'm saving quite that much.

[00:08:42.160] - Kim Yeah, well, maybe she'll inspire you to realize that you don't need the 2000 night hotel that you know. I know. But now I've seen it. I definitely think that Florida is probably attracting a lot of those kind of, you know, snow escapers right now. So I'm not surprised to hear that there.

[00:09:01.240] - Tamara This is because I'm looking for July, everybody's making plans. Everybody wants to make it now. Well, and I think the other tip is like, you really do need to plan in advance. The reason I want to book something now is because for those things that if you want what you want, like, so does everyone else.

[00:09:18.670] - Kim I think that's a good tip. Well, let's talk to Danielle and hopefully she can inspire us all to put away a little bit of savings so maybe we can splurge on something that's safe and fun for this summer.

[00:09:28.780] - Tamara Sounds good.

[00:09:38.030] - Tamara So this week, we're here with Danielle Desir, and she is an author, blogger, podcaster and Founder of the Thought Card, which is an award winning affordable travel and personal finance blog and podcast, empowering financially savvy travelers to make informed financial decisions, travel more, pay off debt and build wealth. She's also the coproducer of Millennial Wealth Builders, a three time grant funded audio docu series highlighting women of color building wealth. Welcome, Danielle.

[00:10:03.950] - Danielle Thank you so much for having me.

[00:10:06.230] - Tamara We're always excited to talk to another podcaster here. And we focus so much on family travel that sometimes we forget we need to get out of our little family travel bubble and talk to some new people, too. So I know you have a very interesting, back story when it comes to paying off debt, building wealth and traveling while you're doing it.

[00:10:26.220] - Tamara And I think this is a time, especially so many families are struggling right now, given everything we've all been dealing with for the past year and trying to afford a vacation when the time is right is definitely a challenge. I think now is the time maybe to start thinking about strategies and ways for that. So that's why we want to talk to you today. But before we jump into that, can you tell us a little bit more about your own personal journey?

[00:10:51.200] - Danielle Sure. So I would say that I have a love for travel at a really young age. And I also grew up in a family where money was talked about all the time. So it wasn't a secret. My mom was very transparent about how to save, how to spend. I even remember seeing her student loan with so many zeros at the end, like a really young age, so that that love of travel and that love of, I guess, the love of money or appreciating money and understanding, using it as a tool came early on. Now, my family, every summer we would go to Haiti.

[00:11:28.010] - Danielle That's where my family's from. And that's where I would spend all summer there with my grandparents running around with the chickens and the farm and learning the culture, the food, speaking the language. So, I mean, since I was like five years old, so I was about 15 when it kind of became uncool to, like, leave your boyfriend back home for the summer. So that's really like my back story of like how travel has been a really big, integral part of my life since I was really young.

[00:11:53.990] - Danielle And money, again, was talked about all the time. Now, I would say when I got to high school, I started to see travel as being uncool. It was taking me away from my friends.And like I mentioned, my boyfriend at the time. And I was I was really hanging out with my friends and I was really friend focused. So I gave up travel. It really just the left it alone until I got to college and travel emerged again.

[00:12:21.530] - Danielle But now it was like, it's the cool thing to do. Everyone was going on spring break trips and, you know, study abroad programs. And unfortunately, at the time my study abroad, I couldn't study abroad on a financial aid package. I had a ton of scholarships that helped to put my costs down for school, but they weren't going to cover studying abroad. So I had asked my mom, I said, Mom, listen, I would love to go to spend a semester in Paris. Is that possible? And she was like, of course I would do anything that I can. And that was great. But the back stories that we were losing our home to foreclosure. So a part of me felt so guilty that my mom couldn't even keep the lights on. Right. We're about to lose our house. And here I would be gallivanting off in Paris.

[00:13:08.480] - Danielle So I made the decision that I wasn't going to study abroad, but I made also the vow to myself and a promise to myself, which ultimately has helped me become the traveler I am today, that once I graduated from college, graduate from grad school, I would work really hard to be able to save and prioritize travel in my life. So that vow now, like almost ten years later, has been something that kept me grounded. I went on my first trip in 2014. My had graduated in 2011, so it took me three years to, like, get out to save enough funds.

[00:13:46.280] - Danielle But it started off with saving twenty five dollars every two weeks when I actually did get a job so that twenty five dollars every two week transformed into a week long trip to Paris in 2014. And then every single year I just try to learn more about being a savvy traveler, saving more money, you know, going on more trips. And here we are in twenty, twenty one.

[00:14:09.470] - Tamara That's nice. It makes me think of like growing up, we really didn't do any travel and we were just visiting family and I had such a passion for travel and stuff like travel posters on my walls. And my first real trip was to Mexico with like a school class in high school. And I think my mom, like, actually cashed in an insurance policy so that I could go on that. So, yeah, I've had my own little journey to being able to travel, but it means so much and you can make it happen.

[00:14:38.240] - Kim I agree. I was kind of in the same situation. My family did not have a lot of money growing up and there was travel wasn't really anything a part of it. The most I traveled was for like a softball tournament to a nearby city. And I think I went from Kansas, Oklahoma once for a tournament. And then I remember taking one epic trip to visit family in Southern California in like fifth grade. And that was kind of a big you know, that was a big deal for me.

[00:15:02.270] - Kim But once I got married, I was like, OK, travel is going to be a part of our life. And so I kind of started planning and getting into it more. But it's interesting how it can, you know, like you have this passion even if you didn't experience it as a kid.

[00:15:15.770] - Danielle So, yes, I totally agree. One of my dreams when I was a little kid was to go to Disney World, I'm sure, as a lot of kids have that goal. And it wasn't until I was, you know, 22, 23 that I actually ended up going to Disney. And I make fun of my mom now. I was like, mom, like, you never took me to Disney. We could laugh about it now. But I'm at the point now where it means so much more to me that I can take my mom and Disney when I have the finances to do that.

[00:15:45.200] - Danielle So I think sometimes when you are growing up and you may not have the ability or maybe maybe like for me, I was going to Haiti every single summer, which was a part of travel, but I also did dance lessons. I also did like so many extracurricular activities. So I think when it comes to like family saving and prioritizing and travel, there are a lot of other things that may come before travel. So as an adult, I feel so much like more equipped to to make it work.

[00:16:15.680] - Kim Yeah, exactly. Well, I know that there's probably a lot of people right now and then in in the grand scheme of things that feel like they can't afford to travel. I know I've had people say to me, like, how do you afford to take so many trips? And of course, being a travel writer now, they don't ask that as much. But when we first started traveling all the time, they would ask that all the time.

[00:16:35.390] - Kim So what do you think are some top budgeting tips that you would give for people who, you know, want to travel but don't see how they could financially do it?

[00:16:45.650] - Danielle So I know that budgeting is a bad word for a lot of people. It's the B word that everyone tries to avoid. But I definitely see budgeting as empowering because who set your budget? You do, right? Like, of course, we all have limitations based off of our income, but we have the ability to dictate how our money is moved around and where it gets allocated to. So no one seeing your budget as a tool that's going to be that you're going to use to really determine what your future is going to look like.

[00:17:16.160] - Danielle Another thing I want to say is that when it comes to budgeting, I really like to sit down, I would say on a quarterly basis, especially after and during the pandemic, like right now, it's a good time to reassess and to do of wants versus needs list. So out of all of your expenses for the month, what are the things you absolutely need to survive versus the things that are nice to have?

[00:17:38.450] - Danielle And the easiest place, if you're looking to save more for travel is to reduce from the wants list. So things that maybe maybe nice, maybe not. Maybe you have Hulu, Netflix and HBO. Maybe you don't need all three. Right? Maybe you just need one of them. So that that needs versus wants list is really, really powerful and it can help you to remove some unnecessary expenses. Like for me, I've been doing a lot of jumping rope at home, which has significantly reduced my gym costs. But I was paying for my gym for like the last six months because I just kept it on autopilot.

[00:18:15.260] - Danielle So this is the time to go through. What are you spending your money on and what are things that, OK, I no longer need. Maybe that was my old life and now I can move on and and make sure you capture that and put it towards your travel savings.

[00:18:28.940] - Danielle So my third tip is to create a travel fund. So a travel fund is simply a separate account that's devoted solely to your travel savings.

[00:18:37.430] - Danielle There's a number of reasons why you want to do this, because no one at a glance you can see undistracted how much money you have available to go on a trip. That is very empowering. And also you're not commingling with other funds. So just being able to see it separately is really helpful.

[00:18:54.950] There are a lot of online banks right now, for example, like if you're in the U.S., Ali or Charles Schwab, actually have a blog post on my Web site that recommends about three different big accounts that where you could open up a bank account for no money, you know, little to no money compared to brick and mortars, a lot of them have like maintenance fees and minimums and and it has all these and restrictions.

[00:19:20.360] - Kim So, yeah, I was just chiming in again, one of those tips of those online, don't they? Also, a lot of times the ATM cards work well, like overseas and things. There's not fees on those as well. So that's another like travel perk. If you have your travel fund in a in one of those, then it also works for helping you get cash if you're overseas. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to add that is another little thing.

[00:19:46.550] - Danielle And also, realistically speaking, like you're not necessarily going to be needing to run over to your brick and mortar to take out money on a consistent basis when it comes to your travel fund. It's usually going to be maybe a couple of times a year. So an online bank is just a great way to have some buffers and a little bit of a boundary and a space from just being able to go to your brick and mortar and take money out like willy nilly whenever you need to.

[00:20:09.800] - Danielle So I definitely think a travel fund is just a just a great budgeting tip.

[00:20:14.450] - Danielle And last but not least is to really take a look at your top three expenses. So for a lot of people, that's shelter like your housing costs, which is primarily fixed, like if you can't house hack or anything like that, like your housing is fixed. Transportation is another category that I've seen that I have significantly reduced since the pandemic. I'm not commuting as much. I'm not really driving that much. So that has been a place where I can funnel money into my travel fund and other goals and food.

[00:20:45.200] - Danielle Food is a huge category, especially if you're like using insta cart, which I've become addicted to recently. So those are my my budgeting tips that's to get you started, really prioritizing, figuring out the things that you need versus the things that you want and try to funnel as much money as you can toward your travel savings.

[00:21:09.860] - Tamara I mean, I love that you have these concrete tips because just the idea of putting it in a separate fund and watching that grow, it's such an incentive. You know, like when you see something, whether it's like in your business or whatever it is, when you see it growing, it's just I don't know. It's almost right now Kim knows this. I'm like lacking for positive, like a feedback loop in my life right now.

[00:21:32.480] - Tamara And so even like a little thing like watching my bank account grow would be like, yeah, I'm doing it and feeling good. So I love that. I was also just thinking that my credit card expires or will renew, you know, next month. So I need to sit down with my bill and go through and see what's automatically billed every month, because you know how I will then stop being automatically billed, because your expiration date came up and I thought this is going to be a good time for me to look at it and figure out what things do we really not need.

[00:22:01.760] - Tamara You know, because sometimes just looking at that bill, you skim it. But, you know, if you're not looking at every line item and realizing how much that that adds up, it's a good exercise to kind of go through every now and then just to say, hey, do I really need this? Do I really need that? But, you know, those are some great budgeting tips.

[00:22:18.710] - Tamara But I'm wondering when it comes to actually saving for travel, do you have any other ideas? You know, how do you take the budget and make it a reality?

[00:22:29.030] - Danielle So once you've identified areas where you can start funnelling into your travel fund, I would highly recommend to automate as much as possible. And I think you referred to this year, like, I just want to set it, forget it and just watch it grow.

[00:22:42.470] - Danielle And that's so powerful, being able to dictate where money is going to go and not having to actually think about it. So I try to best as possible. I have a direct deposit automation since I have a 9:00 to 5:00 employer. Even if you're a freelancer, you can still do like a bank transfer every so often except the frequency. But that's been really helpful. So throughout the entire pandemic, I've been fortunate enough where I did not even touch that automation at all. So now I have a stash of cash to pull from to go on that bigger, bigger trip one day when we can travel because it's been automated. So automation really allows you to just kind of let things happen in the background.

[00:23:27.260] - Danielle Now, one of my favorite apps to help me save a little bit extra cash for travel is digit. So digit is a auto saving app. There is a small monthly fee, but for me, it's been able to pay like it's paid for itself, just one little automation it's been able to pay itself. But what it does is that every single day it takes maybe a little bit like a couple of cents out of your account to a couple of dollars out of your account every single day.

[00:23:56.720] - Danielle Or you could also say whenever you're swiping your card, you could really determine how frequent you want it. And it just stashes it for you and you could determine what type of goals you want to have. So I have a mini travel fund goal. I have a mini shopping spree goal. So all of these automation's happening in the background is actually in twenty nineteen. When I went to Disney for a week, I didn't even look at my travel fund because I just pulled from digit. I was like, oh there's just all this cash sitting there like I did even I literally did not even feel it. And if you're worried like oh my gosh, are they going to overdraft my account? They do have stops in place, which prevents that from happening. So and you could even say, listen, pause this until X, Y, Z, which is helpful.

[00:24:41.780] - Danielle So in addition to my travel fund, I also have like this digit stash I pull from, which has been been awesome. And then the last tip I have when it comes to money saving tips for travel is having family buy in. So getting your family involved in the process of planning a trip, saving for travel from start to finish, getting them involved as early as possible. One of the things that I like to do is I like to name my bank accounts with my with my husband. And that allows us to both say, OK, what is it that we're both really excited about for our next trip?

[00:25:20.870] - Danielle And we named that account and we we both collectively try to work on that goal together. And then when we're going to plan the trip, all that hard work we can celebrate. I just think it's really great to not only the practical tips, but also just getting your family involved as much as possible with the planning process.

[00:25:39.000] - Kim We've always kind of said that with family travel, especially like with getting kids involved in it and, you know, excited about the destination, giving them a little control over it. And I think when people you know, when you when you combine the enthusiasm and the focus, it can make a difference. And I think that's a good tip. And that digit sounds really cool. Like I remember in the old days I don't remember which bank account would let you round up. So every time you would swipe your card, it would round up and that money would go into a savings account for you. And so it's really it's a really clever way of just kind of I think automating it, like we've mentioned, is a huge factor so that you're not feeling like it's costing you something to put the money away.

[00:26:20.850] - Tamara It makes me feel like going and looking at how much is in there would be like when you find the 20 dollar bill in your pocket, they forgot you had there, you know.

[00:26:29.310] - Danielle Or like when you're doing laundry and then you find that money in your pocket, like, oh, my gosh.

[00:26:35.970] - Kim And I think my girls have experienced that recently, you know, that we have savings accounts for them. And I started giving them the savings account like their statements and then being able to see that, like, interest does add up, even though it's so minimal now. But that's, I think, seen how interest accruing and all that works is very motivating for a lot of people.

[00:26:56.730] - Tamara And I feel like even when you make a decision, like I know I always try to talk to Hannah about things like when I'm making a decision, I'm like, well, you know, I just feel like that's too much money to spend. And I'll explain why, you know, kind of explain the rationale behind it.

[00:27:10.260] - Tamara And you know why making the choice that I am and maybe what that then allows us to do, you know, versus if we did, you know, X, Y, Z all the time, you know. So I think having those conversations, like you said, Danielle, like your mom was very open with you, I feel like it's really important to kind of it's an education, too. And it's really important to educate our kids about how to manage their money.

[00:27:31.560] - Kim Yeah, I totally agree. So, Danielle, do you have any, you know, top you mentioned digit is one of your favorite apps, but do you have any other tips or apps for finding travel deals? So once you've saved money, maybe, how can you get a good deal on your vacation?

[00:27:47.010] - Danielle Yes, this is my favorite part about both parts of my favorite parts, because that's what I think makes up a financially savvy traveler, is not only being able to accrue enough money to go on a trip, but also to be able to spend it as wisely as possible. But value based spending.So it's really like, what are you valuing and making sure that your spending aligns with that versus just spending frivolously.

[00:28:12.960] - Danielle So just to just to really think back in terms of what is a financially savvy traveler for me, prior to the pandemic, I was I was cornering the cheap flights market like that was that was me that I was finding the cheapest deals ever.

[00:28:31.980] - Danielle And it was just so exciting. And this goes back to the Value-Based Spending Idea, because for me, I just want to arrive safely at a destination. I don't really care that much for luxurious comforts in the air, but everyone is different, right? If you prioritize your your flight experience and you may not necessarily prioritizing your hotel or accommodation. So everyone has something that they're prioritizing. For me, it was not airfare. So that's where I focus my energy on trying to maximize like just spend as little as possible.

[00:29:04.830] - Danielle So some of the sites that I I look at when I'm thinking about cheap flights and I'm going to also offer some sites as well, that's more general travel planning because a lot of people are not flying right now. One of my favorite is secret flying. So secretflying.com is a free website which offers daily flight deals every single day, which is really helpful from all over the world. So I would sign up for their free newsletter and everyday they will send you a couple each day.

[00:29:35.160] - Danielle And this is important because it's helping you to establish a baseline for your flight costs, which is important because you want to be able to know when you're maximizing and when you're finding a really good deal. Not everything that comes across your desk is a good deal. But how are you going to know that if you're not using data, making a data driven decision?

[00:29:54.120] - Danielle So I would use websites like Secret flying to just really understand, like, OK, to Europe baseline, how much do I expect to spend? And then I'm always looking for like that below average costs. So secret flying is a good one.

[00:30:07.620] - Danielle The flight deal is fantastic they are another free web site that again offers you daily deals, which is helpful. I really like to keep an eye on. The PointsGuy also has been really helpful. They have a daily deal section. Those are more for like the flights now.

[00:30:25.440] - Danielle I really love Travelzoo. So Travelzoo dot com. They have a weekly Wednesday top twenty list now prepandemic make those deals were amazing.

[00:30:36.510] - Danielle Those deals were amazing. And I'll give you like a quick example of the deal that I found there. The deal, one of the deals that I will never forget is I found a 299 dollar deal, a ten, ten day all expenses like flights, hotels, some food to China, China.

[00:30:53.980] - Kim Yes, I saw that my my husband and father in law did that deal.

[00:30:58.980] - Danielle Yes. I mean, there there are some pros and I believe that's its own episode. There's a lot of with that.

[00:31:03.600] - Danielle There you go. Yes, you're right. It is. It's own episode. It's its own episode. We'll put an asterisk on that for everyone who also wants to go book that there's an Asterix.

[00:31:12.090] - Danielle Yes, there's a lot of Asterisk on that. But it was a deal that I spotted through Travelzoo, which is incredible. So Travelzoo not only offers flights, but sometimes they offer hotels or combined packages. So that's a free newsletter that I highly recommend to.

[00:31:28.620] - Kim Some other hotel deals are amazing, unlike luxury, you know, nice four and sometimes five star resorts. They they offer some great deals.

[00:31:36.660] - Danielle Exactly. Exactly. And then the last website that I really like is gate one travel. So gate one travel. They have not only independent trips where they pretty much like book your flight and they book your hotel, but they also run tours, too. So you could have like the full fledged experience where you have a tour guide and all of that and they have a weekly deal list every Monday, which they've actually reinstated since the pandemic. And it's just good to see like they have frequently like a thousand dollar deals to Dubai or other other really cool destinations. So I'm really all about signing up for all the free newsletters and keeping an eye out to see what's happening.

[00:32:17.370] - Danielle And then, you know, being able to not only couple that with the finances and then book it and go and love that, especially it does.

[00:32:26.010] - Tamara When you see a lot of those deals, you kind of get a sense for not just like what that base price, you know, is what is a good deal, but also just. What are some of the destinations that come up a lot for deals, because there are certain places that you'll see pop up like kind of over and over and you're like, OK, so I know if I want to go there, I'm going to be able to find a deal. I just need to hold out and wait for it. You know what I mean? And I really like your point about prioritizing. It's one of the things that Kim knows that we really like to enjoy local food. We're kind of foodies. And so we will spend a lot more on food when we're in a destination than some other people.

[00:32:59.600] - Tamara So it's one of those things when I'm looking at, you know, like my overall budget, I'm like, well, we spent this, but you may not need to, you know, like, there are other options. So like you said, it all depends on what is important to you. So it sounds like you probably have found a lot of your kind of budget trips through some of these deals and such.

[00:33:21.250] - Tamara But through your travels, have you found some destinations that you feel are more, you know, kind of favorite budget destinations, like places where people kind of should keep an eye out? Because if you're looking for a budget deal, you're apt to find one?

[00:33:35.920] - Danielle Yeah, I think it depends on the time of year. So I would frequently go to Ireland. I've been to Ireland twice in January because I found years apart the same or similar price deals to go to Ireland, to go to Dublin. So I it's funny because Dublin in Ireland is not necessarily the cheapest, the cheapest places to go do. And it's interesting because I the places I love to visit are actually some of the most expensive in the world. So Iceland. I love Iceland, I love Bermuda, I love Ireland.

[00:34:08.500] - Danielle These places are not necessarily cheap, but again, it's all about like the expenses and how you spend there. But in terms of my own personal experiences, I found Lisbon, Portugal to be affordable, especially as a European destination. I found that pretty affordable. I also found Mexico to be affordable as well, which has been really helpful. And let's see if there's any other. China was also very affordable as well.

[00:34:39.690] - Kim Tamara and I were in Lisbon and, you know, so that's great. And we were actually been in Ireland together, too.

[00:34:46.060] - Kim So I can remember in Lisbon, we had that like five euro lunch. That was a lot of food.

[00:34:51.340] - Tamara Yeah, I was thinking of that. I think Tamara and I both realized that in some ways Lisbon is extremely affordable as a European destination. Like even there are tourist attractions that you go to are still like priced fairly well.

[00:35:06.550] - Danielle Yes, there's a couple, actually, a family, a family that they're on YouTube. They're called Our Rich Journey. And they recently moved to Portugal after retiring early and being financially independent. And it's just really interesting to hear why. Like, why did they pick Portugal out of all the places in the world? So, yes, definitely. I definitely agree. Lisbon has really great food beaches. So many great things to do at a at a really good price.

[00:35:35.320] - Kim So we've covered, you know, kind of some big destinations and definitely places for a lot of our listeners that they would be putting off right now. But, you know, one of the hot topics I think right now for a lot of us is kind of local travel, you know, sticking around your own backyard or maybe, you know, around your own region. Do you have any tips for families that might be thinking of exploring around them that you think could, you know, be beneficial from a savings standpoint?

[00:36:03.040] - Danielle Yeah, last summer was, for me, the Great Awakening, because I realized, like, OK, travel's changed completely for me. I'm no longer flying. So I did a lot of more road trips and I live in the Northeast. So I visited towns or cities like between four and five hours away from home. One of the things I personally think that's important is to really think about if you prefer to stay at a hotel right now or if you prefer to stay at an Airbnb, each of them have their own pros and cons.

[00:36:37.780] - Danielle If you want to be necessarily like, let's say, secluded or you prefer to be like in a more remote location, then you have a lot of more options with Airbnb. Now, the problem with Airbnb is that there's so much more expensive now. A lot of hosts actually have higher fees, the cleaning fees. That has been astronomical. So if you are thinking about going on a, you know, more local trip or road trip, definitely start looking at Airbnb early. I would say anything from like four to five months early just to start to see, OK, what are price trends? Is it even affordable to stay at an Airbnb or do I prefer to stay at hotels? Now, in the countryside, a lot of hotels are offering really deep discounts. So a lot of financially savvy travelers are telling me that staying at a luxury hotel is like the most affordable it's ever been, right, because the capacities are down. The demand is down, which means prices are down, which is really helpful. So that I think is is number one is really great.

[00:37:45.970] - Danielle I think for the majority of all the money saving tips and ideas I was sharing before are all relevant, like using digit and making priorities in your budget and and getting your family involved. These are all things that regardless of the destination or the type of travel they could, still going to be beneficial.

[00:38:05.050] - Danielle Some other tips I would just share for those who are thinking about local travel. The thing about it right now, especially what I've discovered from last summer, is that each state has its own restrictions. Each state has its own quarantine. Or I mean, there's 50 states and each state is different. So really making sure that before you set out and go looking at what the state requirements, not only the state that you want to visit, but also your state as well, because some states are actually fining folks if you're not like being compliant. So that that's really helpful. And I would also say look at the tourism board website.

[00:38:42.560] - Danielle So tourism boards are going to keep you up to date with what's going on. And that's one of the places I actually look for for the most important information.

[00:38:51.520] - Tamara And sometimes they have deals to like sometimes they might have like a pass or, you know, sometimes some of their attractions. If you book online, you get a little discount. So Kim and I always talk about like looking at the tourism board website. And it's amazing. Kind of the I don't know, it's very helpful just to figure out what's there, but it's just helpful, you know, also finding some of those little deals and things that you may not have known about, like which restaurants offer kids eat free or which, you know, might have a Monday half price wine night or something like that, you know?

[00:39:23.500] - Tamara Well, you've given us a lot to think about. And I love that a lot of your tips have given us some apps and things, too, that we haven't necessarily talked about with some of our other guests. But we do have a question that we ask all of our guests, and that is, what do you wear when you travel? Do you have a favorite brand? You know, any particular go to travel outfit?

[00:39:43.750] - Danielle I would say I'm more of obsessive over footwear, so I really, really want to make sure that I have something comfortable with my feet. So I usually go to with vans. I like that their slip on that they're super comfortable and that I can just be more relaxed in them. No high heels for me, no high heels.

[00:40:04.210] - Tamara I'm with you there.

[00:40:05.470] - Kim Yes. So Danielle, why don't you tell our listeners where they can find you online?

[00:40:11.500] - Danielle Well, thank you again so much for having me. It was really fun chatting all about traveling money. You could head over to thought car dotcom. That's my affordable travel website. I also have the thought card podcast, which is my Affordable Travel and personal finance podcast. And I actually have two books that I think would be relevant to today's conversation. So the first book I have is called Affording Travel Saving Strategies Financially Savvy Travelers. And another book I published recently is planning local trips during a pandemic. So I think those two books would be really great to take the next step.

[00:40:52.810] - Tamara So thank you again for being on and chatting with us and looking forward to following your future travels. And I need you to tell me which luxury resorts in the Northeast are offering discounts, because I'm telling you, all the ones I've been looking at are way beyond my price range.

[00:41:07.360] - Danielle You know, it's so funny. I've been sticking to Airbnb, so I've been hearing rumors that they're cheaper. But I just prefer Airbnb out. They have been out in the cabin. So the countryside

[00:41:18.280] - Tamara We've done some of that. So I'm looking at something for the summer. I'm like, oh, man, I know the hotels are hurting, but these prices are outrageous. So I'm going to keep dreaming on that one for a bit. Keep dreaming and keep saving.

[00:41:31.000] - Kim Now, if you keep saving, maybe something, then sign up for some emails. You never know what I'll fall.

[00:41:34.690] - Danielle You never know. You never know.

[00:41:37.390] - Kim Thanks so much, Danielle. It was great chatting with you.

[00:41:39.490] - Kim Thanks so much as always. Thanks for joining us. For another week of vacation mavens next time, which is two weeks away, we're going to be celebrating something big. It's our fifth year anniversary of Vacation MAVEN's. We are five years old, so we are celebrating in a manner that, you know, truly is fitting for Tamara and I, for those of you that know us, we are going to be talking all about wine tasting and wine tasting tips.

[00:42:05.410] - Kim So I hope you will join us in two weeks and we will talk to you again soon

[00:42:10.510] - Tamara Come raise a virtual glass with us to celebrate and look forward to it and send us a picture. Yeah, definitely. Say cheers to us.

View Details

This week we are "traveling" to upstate New York to the land of mountain resorts of yore in the Catskill Mountains in New York. Fadra Nally from All Things Fadra fills us in on what is different in this region from the times of Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and why it makes a great spot for an outdoor-focused girlfriend getaway with waterfalls, wine, and shopping or a family vacation destination with hiking, kayaking and more. About Fadra Nally

Fadra is a blogger and podcaster focusing on the lighter side of cars, entertainment, and travel. Her favorite destinations are as close as West Virginia and as far away as Saudi Arabia. You can find her online at AllThingsFadra.com, or on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Tips for Visiting the Catskills

• The Catskills are located just about two hours north of New York City and cover 700,000 acres over four counties, with the Hudson River creating the eastern border.
• While the Catskills were popular in the 1950s, especially with families in NYC, many of those all-inclusive type of family resorts are no longer there.
• Dirty Dancing was based on a resort called Grossinger's, which is no longer operating, but it was actually filmed in Virginia and North Carolina.
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel episodes in the Catskills were filmed at a family-run resort called Scott's Family Resort at Oquaga Lake.
• The Catskills are a good four-season destination, with skiing and winter sports in the winter, great hiking year-round, and beautiful fall foliage in October.
• However, some activities and attractions may only be open from May to October.
• There are a lot of breweries, wineries, and distilleries in the Catskill region.
• Kaaterskill Falls is one of the tallest in New York State at 260 feet, which is higher than Niagara Falls. It is approximately a one-mile hike, including a series of stairs, to reach the top and an overlook. Some trail heads may be closed so look online to find alternatives.
• There are many cute towns with great bookstores, restaurants, and boutiques for shopping.
• There are many cabin rentals that you can find on Airbnb that are perfect for a self-contained getaway where you can either cook or bring in take out.
• Mohonk Mountain House near New Paltz is a great hotel to stay at or even visit for brunch and then enjoy the hiking trails on the grounds.
• Catskill, Kingston,and Hudson are all great little towns to set up a home base.
• Fadra stayed in Cocksackie on the water, which has a smaller downtown that is undergoing a revitalization to make it a wedding destination. Cocksackie has a great bottle shop and Chez Figata is a good restaurant to try for dinner.
• If you go further west in the Catskills you will find more resorts and mountains.
• It is a great destination for a girlfriend getaway, romantic getaway, or a family vacation.
• The Kartrite Resort in the Catskills is great for families and has an indoor waterpark.
• Fadra stayed at an Airbnb called Heron's View.
• Be sure to plan in advance if you are going to rent a cabin or vacation home.

[00:00:00.150] - Kim Where can you find Waterfalls, wine and shopping just a couple of hours from New York City? Stay tuned to find out.

[00:00:18.730] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:33.700] - Kim So, Tamara, we are in February. And, you know, things are starting to change a bit in the travel sector. I feel like we've been in a pretty standard operating procedure. But we recently had some big news come out for people that are planning to fly into the United States, and that is that they are going to require a negative covid test.

[00:00:56.890] - Tamara Yeah, and I think that's a big deal. I'm thinking of people that have done some trips like to the Caribbean especially. I've been seeing a lot of that or Mexico. And now to think about how you are going to get that test on the way back, otherwise you're not going to be allowed home. Tt's something you have to really take into consideration. I think in the past, we've thought about testing to leave, but not testing to come back. So definitely a change.

[00:01:23.920] - Kim Yeah, I think it makes sense. It seems good. I'll be honest where we're at with not traveling at all. It seems odd that people are traveling to the Caribbean and Mexico.

[00:01:34.420] - Kim But I know that some people are choosing to do that and definitely still planning vacations and traveling and stuff. But I think this is definitely going to be an extra layer of logistics that they have to consider. I know you had mentioned some testing might be done at airports or such, but I know I've received a couple of press releases from major hotels such as the Palace Resorts, where we had stayed at one Moon Palace in Jamaica.

[00:02:03.400] - Kim But they are offering free testing to their guests that will help them further. You know, American guests are flying back into the states so that that is one thing that you might consider is checking for hotels that are offering it. I think they know how much they rely on that tourism dollar. And so they're doing whatever they can to make sure that American tourists keep coming down and visiting.

[00:02:27.030] - Tamara Yeah, especially because I imagine they could get pricey. I mean, if you think about some of the private testing that is available tends to be 100 dollars or more a person, so that can definitely add to the vacation cost. I was just talking to friends of ours and we were talking about their 25th anniversary in October, and they wanted to do like a four day getaway to the Caribbean. And I was like, here are some things to think about.

[00:02:49.900] - Tamara And they're like, do you think that's still going to be in place? And I have no idea. And that's the thing is like we don't know how long. So, maybe people are thinking about a spring break trip, maybe they're thinking about summer. We just don't know how long these things are going to be in place. And it's definitely, for a four day trip, you think about the time it takes you away from your little vacation to have to deal with testing.

[00:03:12.130] - Tamara And even before you go, like even though testing is more widespread, I know here a lot of the testing that I can get easily and that they encourage us to get regularly now is the rapid test and the rapid test is not going to qualify for what most countries will we will need.

[00:03:27.640] - Tamara They'll need a PCR test for coming in, so if I try to get a PCR test, it doesn't have the same guaranteed turnaround time. And so then that could really mess up your trip. And so then you have to think about, OK, maybe I have to do private testing. Like when we talked to Amber about her trip to Hawaii, she used a company called Vault Health to do private testing before she left.

[00:03:49.570] - Tamara And so now you might be paying for testing on both sides, plus taking time away from your vacation like I was just thinking about in Mexico when we went to Riviera Maya, it was about an hour from the Cancun airport. And transportation was pretty expensive because we weren't going to rent a car because we were planning on staying on the resort and then, getting back and forth to the airport. If that's where you have to do your testing, that that's going to be time consuming out of your trip.

[00:04:17.830] - Kim So, yeah, a lot of considerations.

[00:04:20.410] - Tamara And then I think also there's things to think about. Obviously, every country has their own rules. And I mean, pretty much most of them are still off limits. But even the ones that are accepting visitors from the U.S., which are a lot of the Caribbean islands and Mexico, Costa Rica. I know I was just following our friend Sarah that talked to us about kind of where the Caribbean was and they're reopening of the islands to go to. And we talked to her back in the summer. She does a lot of reporting from down there.

[00:04:50.020] - Tamara So she's just in Anguilla and it looks like she had to have a PCR test before she left a PCR test when she arrived. And then you're quarantined in your hotel room until the results of that get back, which are supposed to be within 12 hours.

[00:05:04.690] - Tamara But then even beyond that, there's a 14 day quarantine within certain resorts or properties or a restaurant.

[00:05:11.850] - Tamara So basically they've created this little like traveler's bubble so that if you are a visitor and your negative, but you're still have a red wristband that you're in a 14 day quarantine and you can go to certain hotels, certain restaurants, but only on certain days. And then they're accessible to locals on other days to keep the locals and the visitors, I guess, a little separated. And I mean, it seems to be working. They've had no deaths and very few cases.

[00:05:38.650] - Tamara But, wow, that's a huge I don't know I don't want to say restriction on your vacation because, you know, frankly, just being able to travel at all right now is a huge privilege and so but it's really it's not everyone's like, oh, I want to go on vacation. I wanted to be feel normal. Well, you know, maybe not.

[00:05:57.250] - Kim Yeah, I think that's the thing is, it's I mean, we're still not looking at what normal is going to be for a while. And I think that's that's the big thing. I know. You know, we I do feel lucky that we have such great summers here in the Pacific Northwest and we could say, hey, we can, you know, go explore our own area again. But I think everybody is getting kind of sick of that. I know I'm you know, we love California and I'm typically down there a couple or few times a year. And we I just miss, you know, pool lounging and, you know, sunsets on the beach and all of that, you know, palm tree lifestyle. And so I don't know. And, you know, Disneyland is still not open. And I don't think it has any chance of opening for spring break, in my opinion.

[00:06:44.260] - Kim So what that must be doing to that economy and all those workers, I mean, I can't even imagine.

[00:06:49.030] - Kim So it's kind of a crazy, crazy world still. I mean, I can't believe we're coming on one full year of it.

[00:06:55.630] - Tamara And yeah, I know it's it's beyond depressing, but I'm thinking mostly about summer and I just need a change of scenery, like, desperately. And so we're going to go somewhere. You know, our plan was to go to Greece, which we wanted to do last year, this year. And that may just never happen. So my strategy right now is I'm creating backup plans.

[00:07:22.300] - Tamara So I'm just booking things that are cancelable and will go where we can go. I mean, I'm not going to book like airfare or whatever, but like I did for Greece, but it is changeable without a fee and it was a good deal. So I don't know I don't know what it will happen with that eventually.

[00:07:40.870] - Tamara And the hard thing is, like everything is contingent on everything else. And that's what drives me crazy in my life because I am a planner and have a really, really hard time like not knowing what the future holds, not being able to plan for not having anything in my control. So even just talking to Hannah about like her summer plans, like last year, she was going to do this like counselor in training year at the camp that she's gone to and then do this Israel trip.

[00:08:07.090] - Tamara And obviously that was canceled and all she did was stay home and take summer optional classes and face time with friends and go for runs with me. And then we did a couple little trips, but it was just not good. And so she was thinking that this year would be something entirely different. But then the camp said, well, we're just going to kind of push it out a year.

[00:08:30.820] - Tamara So you have another chance. You know, she'd kind of like given up on that hope that she was going to do that. So now the camp is like, well, you know what, we're just like adding an extra year to camp. So now you can do it as a rising senior as well. And everything she's ever heard has been that that's like the best year of camp. And so she really wants to do it.

[00:08:48.610] - Tamara But then we were kind of thinking this year she might focus on something a little bit more like a job or like an academic program or internship, something like that. And so it's like all these things like, is that camp, is it going to move forward? Because if it doesn't doesn't should you do this? And here are these other, like, astronomy related things that she wanted to do. But like one by one, those are getting canceled, too.

[00:09:08.830] - Tamara So they're off the table. And then we are like, if you do that, then you'd be around here. But if you're not doing that, then you wouldn't be around here and maybe you want to do a family trip versus a you know, Glenn and I go on a trip.

[00:09:20.680] - Tamara And then there's also like, well, coming back are there's still going to be quarantines and restrictions in place because like right now, especially with our school, there's very strong rules about, you know, what's allowed.

[00:09:30.460] - Tamara And so it's like, well, if we did something when you came back from camp, but you need to have time to quarantine or whatever before you would have to start up soccer practice in like mid-August. And we're also trying to look at colleges like all over the country.

[00:09:46.510] - Tamara And it's like, oh, gosh, it's just there's so many feel overwhelming. And it just feels overwhelming to get locked in, you know. Yeah. The one thing that I can then like, plan things around.

[00:09:57.220] - Kim I get it. Yeah.

[00:09:58.840] - Tamara And unfortunately it'll be like last year where it will literally be June, you know, like days before something where you finally know what the situation is.

[00:10:07.780] - Kim Yeah. Who knows. We can hold out hope and just see what's going to happen the next couple of months. But I think it's important for us all to just try and like. You said earlier it's it's still a very privileged worry and a lot of ways with what's going on, so long as we keep that in mind that it is a privilege to travel and we all miss it and we will get to it when we can, and we just all support each other and do the best we can to follow rules.

[00:10:33.250] - Kim I think the rules are there to keep everyone safe on both like visitors and locals. So I think just be following rules and make sure that you're educated about rules before you make plans. I think that's the thing to focus on right now, certainly.

[00:10:46.450] - Tamara And I think also, if you are considering doing one of those like Caribbean, Mexico, whatever trips, it seems like Canada is on the verge of telling people like if you go out of the country, you may not be able to come back in. So it's like, who knows? That could happen here as well.

[00:11:01.570] - Tamara Like right now there's bans on travel for people that are not U.S. citizens. But there's a lot of considerations to travel right now.

[00:11:13.360] - Kim Well, I mean, the Tokyo Olympics have completely been scrapped, which is just so sad and hard on that country. And I'm sure. So it's it's affected so much of, you know, I mean, it's not like they can't delay it another year like they did. So it's very sad for all those situation.

[00:11:33.010] - Tamara Yeah.

[00:11:34.000] - Kim Well, we are going to try and not focus on the sad and we are going to talk about a New York state escape. So for many people, depending on, like you've said, travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, it is a possible escape because it sounds like it's a lot of small towns, kind of keep to yourself, go outdoors, hike destination. So we are going to be talking about the Catskills.

[00:11:58.930] - Tamara Yes. Let's let's go to the Land of Dirty Dancing, right?

[00:12:02.080] - Kim Yeah, exactly.

[00:12:12.650] - Tamara Today, we're here with Fadra Nally. Fadra is a blogger and podcast author who focuses on the lighter side of cars, entertainment and travel, her favorite destinations are as close as West Virginia and as far away as Saudi Arabia. So welcome, Fadra.

[00:12:26.660] - Fadra Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk to you today about a location that's pretty close to where I am, but I've actually only been a few times.

[00:12:35.450] - Tamara We're going to talk about the Catskill Mountains, but some of our listeners may have only heard of the Catskills for movies like Dirty Dancing or I think The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, they spend some time in the Catskills. But can you explain to our listeners, like, where are the Catskill Mountains and what are some of the towns in their area if you're going to look it up on a map?

[00:12:53.000] - Fadra Well, I'll tell you, before I went last time, last November, for the first time, I only knew that I knew it from Dirty Dancing. And that was pretty much it. And, you know, it's it was kind of well known back in the 50s. It was a big sort of like a summer location for wealthy, usually Jewish families from New York City. They would head out to the Catskills and it's it's considered upstate New York.

[00:13:16.520] - Fadra It is west of the Hudson River. And it actually encompasses it's about 700,000 acres and takes up four different counties. So it's a pretty large region. It's kind of in southeast New York state. So it's a very big area. It's a mountainous area. It's actually part of the Appalachian Mountains. So there's there's a lot to see and do there. And it's kind of funny that you mentioned the entertainment aspect, because I do cover entertainment as well as travel.

[00:13:45.680] - Fadra And so it was kind of fun just to read a little bit more about it. And just a quick side note on Dirty Dancing. So the resort in that film is called Kellerman's, and it was inspired by a resort called Grossinger's, which is it's now gone. It's long gone, actually. So they actually shot that movie in Virginia and North Carolina.

[00:14:07.850] - Fadra So they didn't even shoot it in the Catskills. But Mrs. Maisel, they did actually shoot there. There's a place called Scott's Family Resort at Oquaga Lake, and it's a family run hotel. I haven't been to the one in the Catskills. I've been to similar type hotels where it's sort of like an all inclusive, rustic, family friendly family activity type place. And that one, they actually chose to film it there because that's remained largely unchanged since the 50s.

[00:14:35.060] - Tamara Yeah, it was funny. You talk about the 50s because I think my husband would get upset because growing up he always went to the Catskills and it was not in the 50s.

[00:14:43.280] - Tamara But I always call him old, so. Yeah, but but he was definitely one of the New York Jewish families that always went to the Catskills. They went to the Concord, was like the big resort then. And he tells me about like some of the comedians that came in. And so, like the whole Mrs. Maisel thing, like definitely ties into that. But it's really funny because one of the first times we went skiing together, his only experience skiing was at the Concord, which I guess is like just a small little hill that you would take like a tow rope up.

[00:15:10.310] - Tamara And so when we were going up the lift, I think it was in Mount Snow in Vermont, he was like, how high are we going? Like, how long is this lift? And I was like, I don't know. I'll take about like 10, 15 minutes. He's like, What? And then I was like, well, how long is it going to take to get down? I'm like, I don't know, like half an hour or so.

[00:15:27.590] - Tamara And he was just like so shocked because it was, you know, his experience was, you know, very much going to the Concord in the winter and skiing there. But skiing was more like, you know, that most five minutes down the hill.

[00:15:39.390] - Fadra So his idea of skiing sounds more like my idea of. So that's good to know. If I want to go skiing, I'm going to go to the Catskills.

[00:15:47.160] - Tamara Yeah, I think there are some some tougher hills or mountains, I should say now. But anyway, it's funny because he definitely always talked about his experience in the Catskills.

[00:15:57.530] - Kim That's funny. So speaking of winter and seasons, you had mentioned that you went in November, which would have been the fall. So it's it seems like maybe it's a seasonal destination. Do you know anything about some of the things that you can do around the different seasons and maybe the best time you think for people to visit?

[00:16:14.480] - Fadra Well, you know, the great thing about the Catskills are that it's really a four season area. So I think it just depends on what you like to do.

[00:16:23.150] - Fadra So I am not a skier, as you might have inferred from like those small little hills. I actually grew up doing some ski trips to Pennsylvania, which are also, you know, nice little hills, and I can handle that. So I'm not a big winter sports fan. They do have skiing there. So if that's something that you like to do, that is something that you can do in the Catskills. But the other three seasons are where you're really going to be able to take advantage of a lot of the outdoor activities.

[00:16:49.370] - Fadra So, for example, I love to kayak and we actually stayed at a place right on the Hudson River. So you do have access to the river and you do have access to the mountains. So depending on what you like to do, we stayed right by the river, which would be great for warmer weather activities. And then, of course, all the mountain activities are, you know, just a short drive away.

[00:17:09.590] - Fadra But I found November was just a bit too chilly for any activities on the river, and when you get into fall in an area like New York and in the mountains, you know, it's kind of hit or miss. You're going to have some warmer days and then you're going to have some really cold days. So I was actually content to just sit on the shore of the river. And for people that don't know, the Hudson River is a major waterway for cargo ships.

[00:17:32.850] - Fadra And so, it's kind of fun just sitting out there. In fact, our first night there, I looked out the window.

[00:17:38.610] - Fadra I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And my friends were like, what's wrong? What's wrong? I said, there's a giant ship on the river.

[00:17:47.730] - Fadra So it was totally unexpected to see them go up and down. So that was kind of fun. But, you know, fall and spring are great for hiking, as is summer.

[00:17:55.270] - Fadra I mean, you could do anything in the summer, but fall, fall or spring. It was perfect for us to do some brisk hiking. And then, like I said, if if you don't mind snow and you like skiing, there are opportunities in the winter as well. So, you know, it really just depends on what you like to do. But I would definitely consider it a four season area.

[00:18:13.560] - Kim Is it really like tree heavy snow would fall be have a lot of fall colors like you hear so much about in the Northeast, or is it a little too far north for that?

[00:18:22.680] - Fadra No, I think it depends. Again, it depends on where you go. Keep in mind that the Catskill region is huge and it goes all the way from the Hudson River, pretty far west. So if you start driving up, I think you're talking about maybe elevation wise, it is it you don't get a lot of trees. No, it was actually most of the leaves were gone by the time we went. We went mid to late November.

[00:18:44.220] - Fadra So, you know, of course, the further north you go, the earlier the foliage season is. But no, the area is definitely popular for fall foliage and they definitely encourage that. In fact, it's still a big area for New York City people, even though it's a couple hours away, you'll get a lot of the leaf peepers in the fall. So, yeah, it's a beautiful area for that.

[00:19:05.050] - Tamara Yeah, I was thinking I was in the Finger Lakes in September, like late September of this year. And so they are not too different in terms of how high up they are. So feel like October would probably be prime leaf season.

[00:19:24.690] - Tamara And I definitely think that the Catskills have a lot of agritourism because when I was there for a family reunion, this was, oh, gosh, maybe 15 years ago almost. We went in the summer and there were like a lot of farms to visit. So I imagine in the fall that could be really, you know, an excellent time to like do all the pumpkin patches and stuff like that.

[00:19:49.200] - Kim I'm betting if it's near the it has a lot of trees and it's near the river, it's probably really good for birdwatching. Not that I'm into that, but I'm thinking spring time would probably be really popular.

[00:19:58.230] - Fadra I actually love bird watching, but I can't say it was something that occurred to me because along the river. So if you're going to stay along the river, you're probably going to stay in a town which is going to be a little bit more developed.

[00:20:10.740] - Kim OK, but it's more I'm picturing like Pacific Northwest Rivers, but that's more like when I lived in Kansas. It's like the Missouri River, like transport river type.

[00:20:19.020] - Fadra Exactly. Exactly.

[00:20:20.680] - Tamara Okay. Yeah. When you were talking about kayaking, I'm like, wow, the Hudson, that's that's huge. And I'm not quite sure I'd want to kayak on that.

[00:20:27.900] - Fadra You know, it's kind of funny because my husband grew up a little further south, but right along the Hudson River and he used to tell me stories of how they would jet ski all the time on the Hudson River. And you just you don't really grasp it until you're there. And you see, OK, it's a pretty big it's a pretty wide river. And then you see these massive ships going up. And I came home and I said, you were jet skiing on that river with these giant cargo ships.

[00:20:52.260] - Fadra And he said, yeah, we used to you know, they would go behind the ships and catch the wake of the ships and jump them. And, you know, I was like, we are different people. He also did black diamond skiing trails. So, you know, he's more of a thrill seeker.

[00:21:06.540] - Fadra I'm more of a I'm going to sit over here with my glass of wine and just, you know, take a look at the the world going by.

[00:21:12.090] - Fadra But, yeah, I would I would definitely do some kayaking. I'd probably be more inclined to keep it, you know, close to the shore. And there are rules on the river. So, you know, they do have buoys, so you don't go out past a certain place and there are shipping lanes. So it's not like you can just cut straight across.

[00:21:28.890] - Kim So, yeah, funny when you said that, it reminds me, I don't know if either of you are. Well I know not on TikTok, but I'm, I like TikTok sometimes and there's a thing and it's like, the best relationships always have one really boring person and one really crazy person because the it works. It's the only it's the only way that matches up.

[00:21:49.110] - Fadra Did you just call me boring?

[00:21:50.670] - Fadra Yeah, I'm, I'm with you. Compared to my look compared to my husband. I like different types. You know, I might try and exotic fish.

[00:22:01.530] - Fadra You know, you live you live large. He's done everything jump out of airplanes. Motorcycles that I'm like, let's stay in a nice luxury hotel.

[00:22:17.900] - Tamara I'm just thinking, I think that we're both the boring ones, which leaves Hannah to be the wild one.

[00:22:23.900] - Tamara But, yeah, so we talked about kayaking and, you know, maybe some hiking, things like that. Are there any other, like activities? Are there attractions that you should see in the Catskills?

[00:22:33.890] - Fadra So, you know, keep in mind that I went in November and we are, you know, in the midst of this thing called a pandemic. So, you know, I didn't get to explore everything that I wanted to see because, you know, there are reduced hours and reduced availability. And also there are some things that are open seasonally. So I would say, you know, the biggest activities are probably open from May to October. So keep that in mind.

[00:22:58.790] - Fadra I was there in November. But with that said, I think the biggest things that I would recommend are waterfalls and wineries. And even if you're not into wineries, they have a lot of distilleries that are pretty well known. They have a lot of breweries. And so we didn't actually get a chance to hit any of those. But there are some you know, there are a couple really well-known distilleries that we were looking to get to. But waterfalls, of course, are, you know, available.

[00:23:24.830] - Fadra That's that's a four season thing as well. I don't know that I would go in the winter, but it was a nice brisk hike to do the waterfalls. And, of course, you know, you have the mountains, you have the water. So you're going to get a lot of waterfalls. One of the places that we went that I absolutely loved, it's called Catskill Falls. And keep in mind that this area was founded by the Dutch.

[00:23:45.380] - Fadra So you'll get that skill like Fishkill and Peekskill and which I think I think that I think Kill actually refers to River. I think that's what I think that's what it means. So it's a Dutch word. But Catskill Falls is a it's one of the largest the highest waterfalls in New York State. It's 260 feet tall.

[00:24:05.000] - Fadra So it's actually higher than Niagara Falls. It's the tallest cascading waterfall in New York State. And it's really popular. And we went and it was it's about a one mile hike to get to the base of the waterfalls. And then you can actually go up a series of stairs to take you to the top of the waterfall. And it's a it's a beautiful overlook. It's a nice hike. And, you know, the only thing to keep in mind, again, during the pandemic, if you look online, it'll say the falls are closed.

[00:24:38.180] - Fadra And what that means is some of the trailheads are closed. So you have to be a little bit more strategic about, you know, where you park and how you access it. But Catskill Falls was really amazing. And if you're not a super outdoorsy person, if you just wanted like a nice relaxing getaway, there are all kinds of cute little towns with shopping and eating.

[00:24:59.300] - Fadra And again, you know, availability during this time is really going to vary by towns. But we found great bookstores and cute little coffee shops and restaurants and just like boutique shops, unique artsy shops. And one of the things that that I like to do when I travel is I like to stimulate the local economy and I like to try and find things that I couldn't find other, you know, in other places. So I do a lot of boutique shopping.

[00:25:26.150] - Fadra And so, yeah, they had some really unique stuff there. So I definitely recommend the shopping as well. It's great.

[00:25:32.310] - Kim It sounds like a kind of the type of place that you'd pick a nice hotel and maybe get a spa treatment and enjoy a lazy breakfast and then stroll around and maybe do a hike or two. And that's the kind of vacation I'm dreaming of right now as a kind of nice for a girlfriend getaway.

[00:25:47.630] - Tamara Yeah, exactly. A romantic getaway. I think you definitely sold both of us on the waterfalls and wine.

[00:25:52.100] - Kim Yeah, exactly. Tamara and I, those are it's like we're sold. We're in.

[00:25:56.330] - Fadra And actually that's why I went in November. So last year was a big birthday for me. And I had decided going into the year that this is going to be my year to travel. And as you know, the world had other plans. And so two of my friends actually said, let's do just a local getaway. You know, it's drivable for all of us. And so we it was three girlfriends and we stayed in a little Airbnb, beautiful Airbnb on the water with three bedrooms.

[00:26:26.870] - Fadra And it was just, you know, it was a perfect getaway for us. And, you know, the thing is right now that you can go out, but you can also, you know, get some takeout and have a girls night in and just be away from home.

[00:26:39.020] - Tamara And it was really, really nice. Yeah, well, I share that big birthday with you, and I was also planning a year of travel, so I'm going to make up for it. We are definitely eventually I kept saying we're going to do in twenty, twenty one. I'm like, uh, maybe the latter half of 2021.

[00:26:55.970] - Fadra So yeah. Still holding out hope.

[00:26:58.550] - Kim So is there any, special area, you know you've, you've just been the one time. But I know with your research and probably what you plan, what about any favorite areas to stay because you said it's a huge region, so. What would you like, what towns or areas do you think are the the winning winning spots? So, you know, I've actually been up that way, you know, quite a few times because my I have family that lives up in Fishkill, New York, which is a little further south of the Catskills, and it's on the east side of the Hudson River.

[00:27:29.620] - Fadra So my husband and I go up there almost every year and we do a lot of day trips. And so I've done things like hiking and biking and brunching at Mohonk Mountain House. I don't know if you're familiar with.

[00:27:41.260] - Tamara Oh, yeah, I've wanted to stay there.

[00:27:42.850] - Fadra Yeah, it's beautiful in New Paltz, New York.

[00:27:45.160] - Fadra So that's a place where normally you can only go there if you are a guest. But, you know, fun little secret. If you make a brunch reservation, then you could spend the whole day there. You know, they'll let you in as long as you have brunch reservations or something. And so they have some great trails that go all the way around the lake. So I've done that.

[00:28:04.960] - Fadra But this time I stayed further north in a town called. If you were to read it, it looks like it's Cock Sakey, which is a horrible name, but they pronounce it Cook Soki. .

[00:28:19.270] - Fadra I thought it was really just the perfect location. It's not too far from Albany. It's a really easy drive. I live, you know, close to Baltimore and drove up there and it was actually a really, really easy drive. I thought it was a good location and it was kind of a good place where we could go to the east side of the river if we wanted to visit. Some towns over there like Hudson is a really cute town there.

[00:28:45.370] - Fadra If we wanted to go as far south to a town called Kingston, we went there or if we wanted to stay closer, you know, there there is actually a town called Catskill. And then, of course, the town we stayed in Cocksackie and just in the little downtown area, there's not there's not a ton there.

[00:29:03.040] - Fadra They're actually doing a lot of revitalization there. They have some investors coming in. And, you know, I think they're going to kind of try and make it a wedding destination. But there were some great restaurants we ate at this place called Chez Figata, and they were open for business. There was a great bottle shop, which we call them wine stores. But I guess up there it's a bottle shop and really great wines and just some small little little shops that we were able to walk to from where we were staying.

[00:29:31.540] - Fadra So I actually really love staying there and I wouldn't mind staying there again, but I would love to explore the areas further west. So the Catskills go much further west, a little bit deeper into the mountains, and that's where you're going to find the resorts and the ski areas and so on.

[00:29:49.450] - Tamara And what about Woodstock, Woodstock's part of the Catskills, isn't it? Or is that further South?

[00:29:53.350] - Fadra It is. Well, it's further south, but it's very close to New Paltz. So, you know, Woodstock, as in the Woodstock is right up there, which was actually just a big, you know, farming area, big farm where they had it.

[00:30:06.400] - Fadra So you'll find that there's pretty, how shall I say, crunchy towns up that way.

[00:30:13.270] - Tamara Yeah, those are fun. Like you said, though, bookstore's like unique boutiques like I love that kind of things.

[00:30:20.710] - Tamara I again I keep going back to like maybe more girlfriend getaway a romantic getaway. But at the same time like I know that we've done family things there and there are definitely I feel like there's like amusement park.

[00:30:32.410] - Tamara I'm trying to think of like all the things my nieces and nephews did when we were on that family reunion quite a few years ago.

[00:30:39.760] - Fadra Well, let me just say that right now, especially to the moms out there, we're pretty much home with everybody almost all the time. And it's OK to take a little time for yourself and do do a girlfriend getaway. I know it's easy to think like, well, if we're spending the time or the money, we should do a family trip. But it's really worthwhile to just kind of refresh and recharge and take that back home to your family.

[00:31:09.310] - Tamara Yeah, I think especially this should be a year where there should be less guilt about that because we're like, oh, I never see them. We're so busy. I'm like, no, you've seen them.

[00:31:18.910] - Fadra So we need to spend more time as a family. No, we don't.

[00:31:24.880] - Kim I have to say, I was, you know, really thankful that we never, you know, embrace the RV or tiny home lifestyle, you know? But then I was thinking of our friend Brianna, who runs Crazy family adventure, and they've been living in their RV with her, you know, kids for six years now or something. And I'm like, I guess this pandemic's really not that different for them.

[00:31:48.280] - Fadra So my friend Andrea Updyke, I don't know if you know Andrea, they recently bought an RV. By the way, RVs are hard to come by right now because because because of the pandemic, everyone's like, let's get on the road. So they bought an RV and they actually just did a trip out to the Grand Canyon from North Carolina. And it was a three week trip and I said, how was it, and she said, actually, you know, it's great, we had a wonderful trip, we all got along really well.

[00:32:15.450] - Fadra But it's funny because when she's home and I think when you're away with your family, it's a little bit different. So she says when we're home, a lot of times they'll plug the RV in on their driveway. And she uses that as her little like oasis away from her family.

[00:32:30.630] - Kim It's like her, she shed. I think it's funny.

[00:32:37.050] - Tamara So, you know, we were talking about that its kind of good for the girlfriend getaway, a romantic getaway. I remember when Glenn and I were dating, when we lived in New York and we went up to the Catskills, we stayed to someplace I wish I could remember.

[00:32:48.570] - Tamara It was like a B&B, but we stayed in like a loft in the barn and it was on a pond that was supposed to be like, I don't know where they filmed on Golden Pond or something like that. And I remember like rowing in a rowboat was so romantic.

[00:33:03.150] - Tamara But there are you know, there are still some family resorts up there. Do you have any that, you know, kind of heard of or know about? I think the one that I've that comes to mind for me is Kartrite, which has like the water park inside, kind of like a great wolf kind of thing.

[00:33:19.170] - Tamara But are there some more of those kind of the traditional like what used to be Catskill family resorts?

[00:33:24.870] - Fadra There are there are about 25 different mountain resort.

[00:33:29.760] - Fadra So if you're looking for a mountain resort in particular, they all have a little bit of a different focus. So some are that family oriented, all inclusive, where it's, you know, three meals a day or whatever it is. And they have all the family activities and everything is right there. Others are casino resorts and some are ski resorts. So I think it really just depends on what you're looking for.

[00:33:53.620] - Kim It's good to know that there's probably a lot of options out there.

[00:33:56.230] - Kim I seem to recall I recently wrote a post and I was referencing like some All-Inclusive in the United States, and I seem to recall one that's there. And I can't think of which one now, but I know it was in that upstate New York area and it's probably in that region, I'm guessing. And it's one of the all inclusive that kind of attracts families.

[00:34:13.360] - Fadra Yeah. And when you when you mention all inclusive, I mean, here's the thing. Depending on the resort, I've stayed at a couple in the U.S., not up in the Catskills. And, you know, the one thing I want people to keep in mind is you're probably not going to get the all all inclusive experience at, say, like in the Caribbean. So it's it's a little bit different. Some that are more old fashioned and more family oriented.

[00:34:37.200] - Fadra To me, they feel more like summer camp for families. Right. And then others, I've been to some I've been to some in the Poconos, and that's more like a cruise ship on land. So it's still not quite that Caribbean feel. But I think it's important to kind of reset your expectations for what an all inclusive is if you're doing something within the U.S..

[00:34:58.290] - Tamara That's true. Very true. It's definitely not a yeah. Not the same. You know, bring me my drink by the poolside.

[00:35:04.820] - Fadra Exactly, exactly.

[00:35:06.870] - Kim It's more of just like a meal package included. Yes, exactly.

[00:35:10.380] - Fadra So it's also a good area for camping. And by camping, I mean tent camping. We talked about RV camping. I got to be honest, for years I wanted that to be my thing. It's not my thing. In fact, I mentioned my friend when she got an RV and it was just very exciting. And I mentioned it to my husband. I said, what would you think about this? And he looks at me and he goes, No.

[00:35:32.850] - Fadra And I said, Really? He's like, Do you really think that's us? We're more like luxury hotel kind of people, which makes me sound sort of snobby. It doesn't have to be a luxury hotel, but I like places like you said, like something that's a little bit unique, like staying in a loft in a barn or something that's just that feels really clean and modern and comfortable. So we actually rented the first time ever that I stayed in an Airbnb and I absolutely loved it.

[00:36:00.570] - Fadra And I'm really worried now because I don't know if all experiences are that good. So we stayed at a place called Heron's View, which is right on the Hudson River in Cocksackie. And like I said, it was an older home. They completely renovated it. So it still had character, but it was modern and clean and I just loved it. So I definitely recommend that.

[00:36:23.610] - Fadra But again, I hate to keep referring to the P word, but in the time of the pandemic, these kind of things actually book up because a lot of people who maybe would have, you know, done their European vacation or gone on a cruise, they're not they're looking for these smaller, family oriented, more accessible type vacations. So these things actually fill up fairly quickly. In fact, the place where we stayed, Heron's view, I think for the entire month of August, it was rented by three working women out of New York City that just wanted to get out of the city.

[00:36:59.460] - Fadra And so it wasn't really a vacation. It was just a place for them to stay while they were working. So you'll find a lot more of those kinds of things. So I definitely recommend planning in advance for whatever it is. That you want to do?

[00:37:10.920] - Tamara Yeah, and we had that when we went to the Adirondacks over the summer and I definitely think it's going to continue. I think people are already looking at some of that this year, even if it's their backup plan.

[00:37:22.580] - Tamara You know, like if other things can't happen, at least they have something. So the better properties, like you said, like the ones that have those unique characteristics or the views or the you know, they're lakeside like that type of thing, if you're looking for that. I agree. They definitely book it up early. Those I think it's going to continue to be a very popular way to travel throughout 2021.

[00:37:44.600] - Fadra I think so, too. And, you know, I want to mention that because a lot of people feel like they can't travel.

[00:37:51.470] - Fadra And, you know, of course you have to pay attention to state requirements and state restrictions and your personal level of comfort as well. But, you know, because we all work in the travel industry, you know, I want to make sure that people know that you can travel, you can travel safely. You know, it just depends on where you're going and how you're choosing to travel. I think we went out to eat maybe once, maybe twice.

[00:38:15.440] - Fadra But we we did takeout and we brought it back. You know, we all made sure that we were safe before we traveled together. We brought takeout back. We brought board games with us. You know, we went to the bottle shop and got bottles of wine. And it was really about spending time with each other in a different destination. So you can do it. I don't think that you have to put off travel. You just have to figure out more creative ways to do it.

[00:38:39.530] - Kim Yeah, that's what we're starting to see. I mean, these these towns and tourist districts, I mean, as travel writers, we're seeing what they how they've been impacted. And I don't know if many of them can go through another summer or even spring into summer facing this.

[00:38:56.030] - Kim So I think it is smart for us to figure out where our level is and make sure, of course, that you're following any rules and restrictions, but then do what works best for your family and help try and support the local economy. I love that you talk about buying from the local shops. And, you know, we've been trying to do that locally, just eating at our local restaurants and getting order out instead of, you know, visiting as many chains and little things like that.

[00:39:21.290] - Kim So I think there are ways that if you're comfortable and you're following the rules and restrictions Tamara do you know, does New York State have any current travel restrictions?

[00:39:31.400] - Tamara They do. They have had for quite a while. So definitely check their website. They had some quarantine restrictions. There's a form that you need to fill out. Yeah. So definitely before you go, make sure you understand what the restrictions are. The good side is that I don't know what your experience was, Fadra, but I know when we were in the Adirondacks, it's like because New York has taken things very seriously, we saw a lot of compliance, you know, like we didn't have many issues.

[00:39:59.420] - Tamara It was it felt like a pretty safe place to go, you know, so that I really appreciate it.

[00:40:06.610] - Fadra I mean, I felt comfortable. But it's one of those things where if you're walking around town, you're having a mask on. Whether you're inside or outside, you just you wear the mask. And when even when we went hiking, there were people that wore masks. We chose not to wear them outside. But you make sure if if that's how someone feels comfortable, you give them a wide berth when you pass them on the trail, right?

[00:40:29.090] Yeah, definitely. We we would usually have something that we would like pull up if you're passing someone. But I definitely appreciated the people that didn't have it and they made sure they stepped far off the trail and that was good.

[00:40:43.670] - Kim So do you have any final tips that you'd like to share for, you know, if someone's thinking of planning a trip to the Catskills?

[00:40:50.840] - Fadra Well, just to kind of recap some of the things we talked about, I'd say planning it in advance, you know, make sure there's availability for where you might want to stay, especially right now. Make sure you know what's open, whether it's something that's closed for seasonal reasons or it's closed because of, you know, pandemic reasons, because you don't want to get your heart set on something. You'd be like, oh, well, we can't do that now and then.

[00:41:13.610] - Fadra You know, you don't know. You don't know what to do. I also want to mention that just because it's outside doesn't mean it's easily accessible. This is true, honestly, throughout the country, there are some trailheads that are closed primarily to reduce the number of people, you know, a lot of the national parks, which drives me a little crazy that, you know, some of the parking lots are closed and the shops are closed and some of the attractions are closed.

[00:41:39.230] - Fadra But more importantly, the bathrooms are closed. That's the only thing that bothers me.

[00:41:44.690] - Fadra But they do that because they want to kind of discourage, you know, large crowds of people gathering together. The other thing, and I sort of hinted at this is be prepared for any kind of weather. Even in the summer, it can get very chilly in the mountains. So we were staying right on the water and it it was actually nice during the day and then it would drop down at night. But, you know, a lot of places are used to having you know, we had a fire pit, we had an outdoor heater.

[00:42:10.760] - Fadra So but we definitely brought layers as well.

[00:42:14.340] - Tamara Yeah, very good point. I mean, even in the summer when you're in the mountains, it gets colder. Well, speaking of layers of question that we ask, all of our guest is, what do you wear when you travel? Do you have any favorite brands or gear?

[00:42:29.400] - Fadra Well, for me, it changes by season. So, for example, in the summer, I love fit flops and I wear them pretty much everywhere I go.

[00:42:39.000] - Fadra If I'm hiking, I'm more of a I wear new balance hiking shoes. If if I'm hiking, I don't do hiking boots, I do hiking shoes. But in the summer I do flip flops. This winter I've been wearing a lot of toms and I don't mean the little canvas toms. Toms makes some nice, they're kind of like sneaker ankle boots and I love them and I also have some wool clogs from earthier. Can you tell that footwear is important to me.

[00:43:05.400] - Fadra I like to be comfortable. And I also did a little shopping in Kingston, New York, which is a little bit south of Catskill, and I bought a shirt from a boutique. Between us, it's the most expensive shirt I've ever bought, but I love it. It's from a brand called Faherty. It's hard to say f h e r t y. And I've heard that it's my new favorite shirt. It's just like it looks like it's a gray wool shirt, but it's just a button up shirt with just the right fit, the right stretch.

[00:43:34.110] - Fadra And so like that's my go to shirt.

[00:43:36.150] - Tamara Now that's what I love about boutique shopping, though. It's I mean, I rarely do it here because I can't afford it on a regular basis. But it's just so nice to have something that's unique and like you said, that has like that special fit.

[00:43:50.130] - Tamara And you're going to remember going to remember where you got it. Going to remember the time that you had it with your girlfriends and all of that.

[00:43:54.870] - Fadra So every time I put it on, I text my friends and say I'm wearing my special shirt today and I know exactly what I'm talking about. That's awesome.

[00:44:02.820] - Kim Well, thank you so much for all these awesome tips. And why don't you let our listeners know where they can find you online? Sure.

[00:44:09.390] - Fadra Well, I have a blog called All Things Fadra, and you can find it at all things Phaedra dot com. It's spelled FADRA and I also produce a lot of videos. So I do have I do have quite a few travel videos on my YouTube channel and that's YouTube.com/allthingsfadra and I'm a sometime podcast store where I talk about TV in movies and you can find all the info on that at StingerUniverse.com.

[00:44:36.510] - Tamara And I've gotten a lot of tips from you guys on things to watch, so I enjoy listening.

[00:44:42.480] - Fadra Pandemic is a perfect time to really dig into entertainment.

[00:44:46.200] - Kim Can you believe how long ago Tiger King was like four years ago? That was still. That was it.

[00:45:12.690] - Kim Yes, but Fadra, you have to make time for Bridgton, OK?

[00:45:16.500] - Fadra Not with my son around though.

[00:45:18.180] - Kim No, definitely not. Well, you know, if you're into entertainment, you can't pass that by.

[00:45:26.790] - Tamara I kind of thought I was a teen drama kind of thing. And then I started watching. I'm like, oh, OK.

[00:45:33.150] - Fadra Isn't it sort of like a period teen drama, though?

[00:45:35.580] - Tamara Well, yeah, yeah it's yeah. It's like what the eighteen hundreds supposed to be.

[00:45:40.350] - Kim Well I mean it's just back to like when I mean I think the problem is the fact that girls used to be married off when they turned 17 and 18 like you come into your first season and you better get married then are you going to be on the shelf, you know, type mentality, then you'll be an old old maid or.

[00:45:56.100] - Fadra Yeah, well, we just got a new elliptical so I need something to motivate me and get my heart rate up so that if I don't work nights.

[00:46:06.360] - Tamara So have you ever watched Reign?

[00:46:09.540] - Kim No, I haven't is it ok? I need to watch that one.

[00:46:12.030] - Tamara If you liked Bridgton then you will definitely like that.

[00:46:15.750] - Kim I've been thinking I need to watch that, but I want to watch Queen's Gambit first and I just started. I haven't watched it yet and I was debating because I was trying to start watching the office, which Paul really liked the office years ago, like when it was out and I never really got into it with him, but a couple of times I would see some episodes. And so I thought I should go back and start it like season one and watch it. Yeah, but then I was just like I loaded it and I watched the pilot last night. I was like, there's like nine seasons and they're twenty some episodes per season. I mean, it's a lot.

[00:46:48.210] - Tamara We've watched all of those with Hannah like a few years ago we went through it. But I will say like I love the office. But the things that Michael did that were cringeworthy then are like a hundred times more cringeworth now. And you're like, how did they ever put that on the air? You know?

[00:47:06.060] - Kim I watched the first one. I'm like, oh my goodness, this is sort of hard to watch.

[00:47:09.640] - Fadra Pretty sure I worked for Michael Scott, so. I think we've seen every single episode about 17 times, so we're well versed in the office.

[00:47:22.480] - Tamara What I want is just a compilation of all of the practical jokes that Jim plays on Dwight like that would just make me laugh, like I would roll over, you know, just like watching an hour straight of all of those.

[00:47:35.920] - Fadra You know what? Let me just give one plug for a little show you guys should watch. Speaking of the office, it's a show on Netflix called We Are the Champions. If you haven't watched it, it's I think like a six or seven is running through my head. Yeah, it's like a six or seven episode docu series by Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight on the office. And, you know, I'm mentioning it because it goes to all different parts of the world and and the country so we can kind of tie it back to travel a little bit.

[00:48:03.820] - Fadra And it's really about unique competitions. It's like there's one and I think it's England, a cheese rolling competition where they roll a wheel of cheese down a very steep hill in this small town. And it's a big competition for who can get to the bottom and catch the cheese first. There's another one about the frog jumping competition in Calberas County, California. So it's just a really fun show. And, you know, even the kids would like it.

[00:48:31.870] Great recommendation. Well, thanks so much, Fadra, for spending time with us. And yeah, we look forward to hopefully chatting with you again soon and maybe eventually we'll see each other again on a vacation or somewhere..

[00:48:49.360] - Kim Well, as always, thanks for listening. And we have something exciting if you go to on Instagram, if you go to Stuffed Suitcase or We3Travel, go to one of our Instagram pages and check out our post.

[00:49:01.390] - Kim We are actually doing a giveaway with a lot of amazing books that will help you at least be inspired. If you are thinking of planning a vacation, it'll help you get some things figured out and started on your vacation planning. So go to our Instagram and check that out.

[00:49:17.620] - Tamara Yep. And stay tuned, because next week we're going to be talking about tips for saving for travel. And I think this is a big one because as we've talked about before, like budget is certainly an issue. And I think we're going to be trying to share as many tips as we can in the next few episodes and from different people about ways to save on travel and for travel. We'll chat with you again in two weeks.

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The cost of a family vacation is one of the top factors preventing many families from traveling. When travel is safe, I know many families will be excited to take the skies and get away. This week we chat with Lyn Mettler from Families Fly Free to get her tips about saving on airfare and earning points to fly for free.

Lyn Mettler is a longtime travel writer for US News, the TODAY Show and MSN, who in 2015 discovered a way to easily fly her family free all around the US, Caribbean and Europe. She now teaches other families her simple process through her Families Fly Free members program, podcast and blog.

Tips to Help Families Fly Free * To save money on airfare, book international trips at least six months in advance. * Thanksgiving is a good time to search for flight deals for spring break or summer vacations. * Search for flight deals using services such as Scott's Cheap Flights, Dollar Flight Club, Hopper, FlyLine, and SkyScanner. * Being flexible with your departure airports, looking at major cities within a driving distance, will help you find better flight deals. * If you are looking to use upgrade using miles, check the airline websites daily to see what seats may have opened up. * Be sure to consider partner airlines from your preferred airline when thinking about where you might be able to fly for free. * If you have an American Express Platinum card, you can book some hotels and airfares through American Express Travel and receive 5 times points on your purchases. Those points can then be transferred to partner airlines. * Sometimes American Express or other credit cards offer a transfer bonus where you might be able to transfer your Amex points and instead of getting a 1:1 transfer, you might get a 1:1.5 transfer, offering up bonus points. * Southwest is one of the best airlines to fly a family for free. * The first step is signing up for a credit card to receive the sign up bonus, but only use it for things that you would buy anyway -- don't go into debt to fly for free. * A Southwest Companion Pass is good on all flights during the year that it is earned, unlike some other airlines that have a companion pass but it is only good for one flight. * Southwest is expanding their footprint of where they fly, offering many options for families looking to fly in the United States, the Caribbean, and even to Costa Rica. * There is no need to sign up for tons of credit cards all the time. You can easily fly free with only about three different credit cards. * Always book when a fare sale is happening to book with the fewest points, but realize that not every sale is a good sale. Luckily with Southwest you can always cancel and rebook when you find a better price. * It helps to be flexible in where you want to fly and chase the best fare sales. * Tuesday is generally the best day to book when the fares are the lowest. * Keep checking even after you book and if fares go down, rebook those flights to save more points. * For international flights to Europe, Aer Lingus typically offers the best fare and points deals. You can fly to Dublin and then from there, use cheap European airlines to hop to other places within Europe. * If you fly Aer Lingus during the non-peak season, you can usually fly to Dublin for 26,000 points round trip. * Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers great sign up bonuses. * Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia (Spanish airline) all use the Avios points program and it is easy to transfer points from Chase Sapphire Reserve to Avios and Southwest. * Get Seven Ways to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles at home from Lyn Mettler.

[00:00:00.120] - Kim Start banking miles now to fly later.

[00:00:15.380] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.140] - Kim So, Tamara, we are going to be chatting all about airfare deals and a few tips for families that maybe are looking at having to buy a few tickets. And I think for a lot of us, now is a perfect time to start saving up some miles and points and looking at what we plan to do in the future when travel opens again.

[00:00:49.580] - Kim So do you have any favorite little, I guess I would say, travel hacks that you've gotten on airfare, any deals that you've scored?

[00:00:58.580] - Tamara You know, I was just posting something on Instagram recently about how I'm such an advanced planner. And all these people came back like, oh, I do it like still last minute.

[00:01:05.870] - Tamara Like, we find an airfare fair deal and we go and I know that's how so many people travel. But we tend to be more focused on, like, OK, we want to go here and then how do we get there. There are definitely been sometimes though, where an airfare deal has led us where we're going, but maybe it's helped us narrow down. I remember specifically a few years ago it was right before Thanksgiving, which is a great time to look for airfare deals, especially international ones.

[00:01:35.000] - Tamara And we were looking at a number of different cities. And Vienna came up as something that we could get to for about five hundred dollars or a little bit under per person. And we we just booked it like very much on the fly. And so that's you know, that's one that was definitely driven by that.

[00:01:49.250] - Tamara And then a couple of years ago, we were debating between a few different destinations. I think it was like Japan somewhere in South America and Morocco. And then Morocco came up with like a five hundred dollar deal. And we're like, OK, decision made we are going to Morocco, you know? So sometimes that's how it's been. I mean, I definitely use different apps and things to track airfare.

[00:02:10.160] - Tamara I just I think, as you know, I don't have the flexibility, as much on timing and such. And I am an advance planner, so I like to do it in advance. But I think my biggest tip, from that is just know when is a good time to buy.

[00:02:26.900] - Tamara For us, when we're looking at spring break airfare or even maybe summer, especially international, Thanksgiving is a really good period because there are definitely a lot of sales and definitely with internationally, you want to be a good six months out from your trip because it's just going to get more expensive from there. I remember a few years ago, Glenn and I were kind of last minute for us, which was maybe three months before I decided to go to France in the summer.

[00:02:54.680] - Tamara And I think we ended up paying eighteen hundred dollars round trip each for economy. And it was killing us, you know, that other times we've gotten that for five hundred. But it's just that's what happens when you can't make up your mind. But then you want to go to a particular place, you know. So it's like, either be very flexible with where and when you want to go or plan pretty far in advance.

[00:03:17.420] - Kim Yeah, I remember that episode that we talked to with Dia Adams and that was Episode one, our very first episode. And one of the things she had said I remember is flexibility. You've got to be flexible either on where you want to go or when you want to go. And so I think that's a big thing that people don't always consider. And we also have talked to Monet with the traveling child and they get some great airfare deals.

[00:03:41.360] - Kim But for them, it's kind of like what you saw with it just pops up where. OK, well, this is the cheap airfare. That's where we're going to go. And now we're going to plan that vacation based on that destination.

[00:03:50.720] - Kim So I think I think there's some, you know, good, good thinking of that. And when you're locked in a little more, it limits what you can do. I think for us, one of my best deals was I did a lot of research for our trip to Japan, which didn't happen.

[00:04:05.570] - Kim And I had figured out because, being an Alaska Airlines member, I found that there was a sweet spot with Alaska because they were partnered with Japan Airlines and I was able to score business class seats for us from Seattle to Tokyo nonstop. And I was so excited. Of course, now all those points are back in my account and we didn't get to use them.

[00:04:26.060] - Kim But I remember faithfully stalking the Alaska Airlines app every morning I would wake up and load it and search to see if any availability had come up for business class on those Japan Airlines flights. And I would check Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland. I think a tip is that if you have nearby airports, you can kind of search and see. And I think that Lyn will give us some of that same info that if you can be flexible with a few of your departure airports on International, that can be a real benefit.

[00:04:58.790] - Kim I know you've had that as well, where you've sometimes, of course, mostly with your international going out of Boston. It's a pretty major airport.

[00:05:06.890] - Tamara So, yeah, the one when we went through to Morocco, we did go through New York.

[00:05:13.940] - Tamara I was thinking of you and your Japan trip, when I was thinking about this episode, seemed like, well, you think about the times that we have done some of our best hacking work and we actually didn't get to take this trip. We didn't do quite the work that you did, but we had some Delta points which transfer to Air France. And then I had Glenn open up a Delta card.

[00:05:35.000] - Tamara And then I had booked our Greece trip on American Express where you got five times points for hotels and airfare. And so then I took those points and transferred them to like his Delta. So we were doing our trip to Paris with three free flights. And so now we have all these Delta points where we have nothing to do with them because we we hardly ever fly Delta. Would like to it's a nice airline. It's just usually not something that is going where we're going from, where we're going.

[00:06:10.880] - Kim Yeah, yeah. We have Delta points as well. Banked because I used our Delta points because Paul likes Delta and there a hub in Seattle after they had their big, nasty breakup with Alaska. But so we actually I wanted to fly home from Osaka. So we were going into Tokyo and out of Osaka. And the Japan Airlines flights connect from Osaka back through Tokyo. And whereas Delta goes direct from Osaka to Seattle. And so I booked I used, you know, Delta points and I transferred either Chase rewards or ultimate rewards membership, American Express points, I don't remember which one into Delta so that I could get us home and I got us in whatever like the economy.

[00:06:54.110] - Kim But yeah, those now are in my account too. And I like I said, I am a loyal Alaska Airlines flight flyer, so I kind of am like, OK, when are we going to use these Delta points? Because I always choose Alaska when I can. But yeah, I mean, I love Delta too.

[00:07:18.230] - Tamara Well it's funny because our American Express I had some points left and I used for Hannah and I to go to Marco Island in Florida and stay at the J.W. Marriott. This is not last December but the December before. And I then when I got refunded for my Greece hotels, they took away the points and now I have negative thirty five thousand points, so it's terrible.

[00:07:43.760] - Tamara But then the other day as well, another bad news thing is in the last six months I've had to replace practically all of our appliances in the house, everything keeps breaking. Our entire travel budget right now is going towards appliances, it seems like. But the other day I went to use the dryer and it was not working at all. And they're ten years old. So I'm like, OK, so we went and we were buying a new washer dryer. And I'm like, I'm going to put it on my American Express because number one, you get the extra one year of like warranty extension and then I can make up some of those negative points. I need to get back to at least a zero balance. It's really kind of sad to see negative points, you know?

[00:08:20.780] - Kim I know. Yeah, that's tough. The American Express card, by the way, right now, the platinum card, you get a thirty dollar PayPal credit.

[00:08:28.250] - Tamara I got that.

[00:08:33.620] - Kim I was paying our cell phone bill so I was getting the twenty dollar AT&T credit and then you know they need to give me something because we pay. What do we pay? I think it's four fifty a year for that stinking card. And I haven't stepped foot in a lounge for.

[00:08:50.720] - Kim Well I guess March first I think was my last flight, I flew home from Disneyland on March 1st. It's crazy to think that.

[00:08:58.820] - Tamara Yeah well American Express definitely needs to do something to keep their members happy for what we pay.

[00:09:04.280] - Tamara I know they've been doing that. Uber eats, you know, credit instead of giving you an Uber credit, but I've never actually used it because the fees and things are so expensive. And I feel bad because it takes away from the restaurant. So we tend to just order directly from the restaurant anyway. So I've had almost a whole year of those credits just disappearing.

[00:09:22.290] - Kim Yeah, we do the same thing. We try to do local because I saw a thing that showed the math that restaurants can make almost nothing from Uber and those delivery services. And so the other day when Paul took the girls skiing, I was like, oh, I'm going to splurge and I'll use my Uber credit because, you know, in December, I think it's like twenty dollars or something. That's more than the fifteen. So I thought I would splurge.

[00:09:46.310] - Kim And so I logged on to buy myself a meal from a local Mexican restaurant, and it was just one entree and some chips and salsa and it was like over thirty dollars to have that meal and it's just ridiculous. And it still took them like 45 minutes to get here because I was like drop number three or something. So I had to heat my food up anyway. So I'd rather just order my food and go pick it up locally.

[00:10:17.920] - Tamara And it's funny, because you think about these services, I'm like, aren't these what college kids are using, how they're going to afford that, right?

[00:10:26.430] - Kim So hopefully they can give us some good deals and we can all keep stockpiling our miles for when we're ready to travel again. But I wanted to give people a heads up because we're going to be talking to Lynn about her tips.

[00:10:39.210] - Kim But if you are kind of flexible on what you want to do and you are saving Miles or you're just searching for cheap flights, a few of the sites that I know that I can give you guys a little shout out about are Scott's cheap flights.

[00:10:51.480] - Kim And I believe they have like a free one and then they have a premium version. And a lot of people that have the premium say that it's worthwhile. How that works for a family that needs to buy multiple tickets, I'm not so sure. And then the other really popular cheap flight alert deal site is called Delta Flight Club. And so I know that's another one that they send you emails, you know, throughout the day of all these deals. So that's a couple of you know, if you're looking for those cheap airfare deals, those are good.

[00:11:19.680] - Kim But again, I don't know how well those work for families. I know Monet likes them, so they must work for families.

[00:11:28.110] - Tamara I've used Dollar Fly Club and I've used Fly Line, which is someone that I started working with last year and lets you kind of build together your flight using different airlines. So if you're going international, you might do one hop on one airline and the other hop on the other airline. But it puts together in one ticket. So you don't have to deal with issues of them not checking you in or something like that you can check on all the way through.

[00:11:51.300] - Tamara So that was a good one. And then I've used Hopper a lot in the past just to kind of keep an eye on things and of course, Google flights is kind of the the one that's taken over everything.

[00:12:00.600] - Kim Yeah. Not that we like, you know, giving Google all of our information, but I do know that Google flights is good because you can put in your outbound city and then like the dates you want to fly and you can leave the destination kind of blink and it'll show you flight deals for all around the United States if you're in the U.S. and then also international deals.

[00:12:22.080] - Tamara Yeah, it's a good way to take a look when you're not quite sure where you want to go. You know, you want to do it on a budget.

[00:12:27.300] - Kim Exactly. And I know that another one that people have talked about a lot that I tried to use a little bit is called Skyscanner.

[00:12:33.780] - Kim And I think Skyscanner is good. Again, it's a monitoring flight, so you can kind of monitor your destination and deals and stuff. However, I do see that Skyscanner has a lot of third party flight sale booking sites and a lot of them have very negative reviews.

[00:12:51.840] - Kim And so I kind of stopped using it just because I feel like when you you find a great deal, then you see that it's that, you know, Big Bob's cheap airfare.

[00:13:01.950] - Kim And so I haven't been, you know, totally on board with that. So just another heads up. For some people, Skyscanner works well. But, you know, a little bit of word of caution there.

[00:13:12.330] - Tamara That's why sometimes the the membership ones are interesting because they're alerting you to deals and that's how they're making their money. But you don't have to necessarily book through them. You know, I always prefer and what we've talked about this a lot is booking direct whenever we can, just because it gives you more flexibility and cancellations or changes and all that kind of stuff.

[00:13:32.760] - Tamara Well we've certainly covered different topics along the almost five years now that we've been doing this podcast, different things about traveling with points or travel hacking or how to find travel deals. So there's definitely episodes to go back and listen to, but it's always great to get people's perspectives. And so today we're going to talk to Lyn, and she works a lot with Southwest, but she has a whole program about helping families fly free.

[00:13:57.810] - Tamara And I know that for many of us, that's, you know, we're dreaming about travel, but we may not have a big budget. So it's time to start thinking about it and planning it now so that when we can travel, you've got some some miles in the bank, so to speak, and you can absolutely take off somewhere. Let's talk to Lyn.

[00:14:23.980] - Tamara Today, we're here with Lyn Mettler. She's a long time travel writer for U.S. News, The Today Show on MSN. And in 2015, she discovered a way to easily fly free with her family all over the U.S., Caribbean and Europe. And she now teaches other families her simple process through Families Fly Free Members program and her podcast and blog. So welcome, Lyn.

[00:14:44.470] - Lyn Thanks for having me and glad to be here.

[00:14:53.590] - Tamara Obviously, our listeners are interested in trying to fly free with their families. Maybe not right now, but for the future. I think everyone's budget has been a little bit crunched this year and we're looking forward to planning things in the future. So this hopefully will give them a chance to think ahead, plan ahead and start building towards that dream trip whenever whenever they can get it back out there.

[00:15:18.850] - Lyn Like, now is a great time if you're not traveling to be getting your plan in place and collecting your frequent flyer miles and whatever you need, even if you're just sitting at home so that you can do that in the future, at least it gives you something to look forward to.

[00:15:34.720] - Kim So Lyn, why don't you start off and tell our listeners a little bit about some of the awesome destinations that your family has flown for free to?

[00:15:42.490] - Lyn As Tamara said, we really just try to focus on the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe. So the first trip we took where we totally flew free, all four of us was to San Diego. That destination holds a special place in our heart and we'd love to go back there. But we also love to go to National Parks. So we've been able to go to lots of different national parks we would have never been able to do by flying free.

[00:16:06.820] - Lyn We like Disney. So pretty much every year we either go to Disney World or Disneyland. Of course, we we took our dream trip to Europe again that I never thought we'd be able to afford to do. And I was able to fly all four of us over there on miles. And then the Caribbean is awesome, too, you know, when you ready for some warm weather. And so my favorite Caribbean destination so far that we've been to is Grand Cayman.

[00:16:29.970] - Kim I like Grand Cayman, have great beaches there.

[00:16:32.730] - Lyn They do, and it's just feels very American. I think it's very especially if you haven't been traveled internationally, it's a it's an easy one to start. Yeah.

[00:16:43.080] - Tamara Until you go to drive and then they're on the other side of the road.

[00:16:46.560] - Lyn That's a little weird. My husband was able to do that, amazingly. But yeah, if you're not comfortable with that, then take a taxi or something instead.

[00:16:55.260] - Tamara It's definitely easier than in Ireland. At least the roads are much wider. But I remember the first time we landed in Grand Cayman, I got into the into the taxi and the guy just like looked at me and I realized I was sitting in the driver's seat.

[00:17:11.280] - Tamara So I imagine that took a lot of work. And there's four of you that you mentioned. So you're flying everyone for free versus, you know, getting one ticket or trying to do like the, you know, first class thing. You know, you are looking at flying a family, and that is definitely our audience as well. So can you tell us a little bit more about some of the travel hacking methods that you use? I mean, we've talked about this a couple of times with some other people on the podcast, but everybody has their own system and ways that they like to do things.

[00:17:39.090] - Tamara And some are a lot more work than others. So I'd love to hear about your process.

[00:17:43.560] - Lyn Sure. So my goals are, number one, to keep it simple and also to fly my whole family, as you said, to as many places as we can go. So we are not the people that are flying first class to Japan and fly back seat on a plane with the shower and glasses of wine. Like, I will hang on to the back of the plane if I have to, as long as I'm flying there free. So I really try to focus on the the fewest number of steps you can take yet to fly everyone free.

[00:18:13.300] - Lyn So for us, that is taking advantage of a couple of travel credit cards and of course, earning the those big sign on bonuses where you get a whole bunch of miles just in one go, just by meeting the minimum spend. And I always teach people, you to only put your everyday expenses on. There are things that you were already going to buy anyway. It's never about getting yourself in debt or buying things you shouldn't be buying.

[00:18:43.230] - Lyn I'm a big proponent of Southwest Airlines. So I think for families who again, want to keep it simple and want to travel a lot of places, they have the simplest system to do that. And one of the big reasons is the Southwest companion pass. So if you're not familiar with that, that is a pass that you earn and it lets you bring one person with you on as many flights as you want to take while you have this pass for free.

[00:19:10.020] - Lyn Aside from the five dollar and 60 cent government security fees, you have to pay per person. But other than that, you're not paying an airfare, let's just say. And that pass is good, not just once, because some airlines have companion passes, but they're good one time. This pass is good from the time you earn until the end of the following year. So that falls into my category of like the one thing you can do to save significantly on airfare, because if you don't ever have to pay for one member of your family to fly, like, there is just no better deal than that going.

[00:19:44.250] - Lyn Then to get that pass, you need to earn one hundred and twenty five thousand Southwest points to do so. And then you can use those points to book everyone else in your family free. So you've got one person you don't have to use any points or dollars for and the rest of you uses that one hundred twenty five thousand points to fly free. So it did take me about a year to kind of figure out the best process and do all the research and read all the blogs and all of that until I really streamlined how we do it.

[00:20:13.860] - Lyn And that is kind of basically how it works. And I would say the first year that I figured this out, we were able to take our family of four to six different places over the course of a year for about a hundred dollars per trip. And I've now figured out how to do that for less. And that hundred dollars comes from that five dollar and 60 cents per day per person.

[00:20:36.870] - Lyn You have to pay the annual fees for just two cards that we used. And then we ended up buying a few points at the very beginning to kind of get us to where we needed to be to actually redeem a free flight. So it's pretty amazing what you can do. And again, with Southwest, a lot of people don't like that you can't pick your seat. So you might be in the back of the plane. But who cares if you're flying for free. That's my thought.

[00:21:00.720] - Tamara Yeah, well, and you guys have teens, too. So it's if you're not all together, isn't maybe not as big of a deal.

[00:21:07.650] - Lyn Right. And we have never had a situation where one parent and one child couldn't sit together. That's how we do it. We just break it up into two and two. But I've even forgotten to like check in, which is how you get your boarding order on Southwest. And I was literally in the very back and we still could sit two and two and their flight attendants are awesome. So, if for some reason you have a young child and you can't find a seat together, they'll figure it out, it's like they'll get someone to switch with you or something, you know?

[00:21:34.930] - Kim I was going to mention also like just four people on the West Coast that, you know, side note, the Alaska Airlines card has a similar type of thing, not quite the same. Not quite the good deal. But you can if you have the Alaska Airlines credit card once a year, you get a companion certificate where you pay ninety nine dollars plus those taxes.

[00:21:54.310] - Kim And so for families, that also is a good thing if you're on the West Coast a lot and doing that kind of trip because, you know, you can pay 100 hundred bucks for what would be a 500 to 600 dollar flight, so that can be a good savings.

[00:22:14.470] - Lyn And is that just a one time?

[00:22:16.340] - Kim So it's every year it's an annual. It's just the one time. Yeah. But I would say a lot of families, it seems they take that one spring break or summer trip. We all travel a lot more than that. But for some families it's a good plan.

[00:22:36.850] - Lyn Absolutely.

[00:22:37.990] - Lyn And Southwest has added a lot of destinations in 2020. Well, they're going to be adding mostly in 2021. So they're expanding their footprint, which I like too. So if you happen to be in a place where they don't fly, they're starting to branch out a bit more.

[00:22:51.640] - Kim Yeah, and Southwest is also just good for, you know, if you are buying the other tickets as well. They're so convenient with the no change fees and free checked baggage and all that is is definitely a plus.

[00:23:05.260] - Lyn I've gotten to where I could hardly book another airline not knowing that I could change it if I wanted to, because we just book all the time with points because we think we might want to go somewhere and it's a good deal.

[00:23:18.040] - Lyn And then if we a kid gets sick or we decide we don't want to do that or whatever, easy. We just cancel the points, go right back in our account. No penalty. You know, it's just I have a peace of mind. So, I mean, in the way I show families how to do this is you really just work with the Southwest program for the U.S. and the Caribbean so you don't have to worry about is this airline a partner with this airline in which cards, you know. I like I use three travel credit cards for 90 percent of our free travel.

[00:23:50.560] - Lyn So I'm definitely not someone who recommends, you know, because it's very easy to get turned into, oh, this card has an amazing offer and I should get it because it's a limited time and whatever. And I think we've all made, like, the mistakes early on of getting a card. We wish we hadn't because it seemed like a great deal. So I have a very specific like here's the cards I recommend get them in this order and then you're done, you know, so you don't have to worry about.

[00:24:15.820] - Tamara Yeah. We're so busy. I listen to a couple of points people and they talk about the spreadsheet that they have, you know, the bonuses. And when you turn off this one and that one and I'm like, oh no thank you.

[00:24:28.450] - Kim Yeah it is. They have like sticky notes on the credit cards in their wallet. So they're like, OK, I'm at a restaurant, I'm using this one this time. And they change the sticky notes like every month on which credit card they use. And it's overwhelming. It's like you said, Tamara, it's totally like couponing.

[00:24:42.040] - Lyn I mean, like you can get into you can doing it that way if you want, for sure. You know, some people love doing that, but yeah, for busy moms, I mean, we're working and managing kids and helping parents and, you know, trying to take care of ourselves. Like we don't need to be spending hours on this.

[00:24:57.730] - Tamara You know, we want simple so that it works.

[00:25:00.340] - Lyn Keep it simple.

[00:25:01.570] - Tamara Well, in one question I have for you is you use Southwest and we fly southwest quite a bit. And I also I enjoy that airline because I know some people are uncomfortable with the method of lining up and getting on in the open seating. But I actually like it because it feels very orderly instead of everyone trying to cram in there and fight with the entire rest of the plane. So I kind of like that part of it. And I've gotten used to, you know, how things work and, you know, waking up early or whatever to try to log in right away to to get my boarding order assignment.

[00:25:39.400] - Tamara But one of the things that I found about Southwest is like if you fly, you know, at off times, like you can find some really amazing, you know, like one way is for 7000 points or these kind of really amazing, amazingly low point rewards.

[00:25:55.690] - Tamara But you have two teens. So I imagine you also have trouble like working around school schedules a little bit, what do you find?

[00:26:02.890] - Tamara Do you really look for destinations that have low points in terms of flying there? Or are you just like, here's where we want to go and when we want to go? And we'll we'll book whatever it takes.

[00:26:16.750] - Lyn So a key part of this and I have a program called Families Fly Free where I teach everyone my process and I give them, like, updated information that they need to know in real time to keep doing this. So first part is you have to kind of learn the process. Second is what you're asking about, how it's booking the flights for the fewest amount of points possible, and so we literally just flew to Las Vegas in October to drove into Utah to do the national parks. I flew us there for 2700 points per flight.

[00:26:50.890] - Lyn You you learn to you have to buy when they're having a sale. And we alert our members always when they have a sale almost every week. So they're not all good. So we tell them it's a sale, but we'll tell them this is a good sale. This isn't a good sale because Southwest lets you book in points and change with no penalty. You need to constantly check and see if the price has gone down. And when I say constantly, as much as you want, at least once a week is what I suggest on Tuesdays, because that's when airfares tend to be lowest.

[00:27:18.100] - Lyn So check and see if the price has gone down. And if it has, it's really easy to rebook on their website. And if you've booked on points, those points go right back into your account. So we have saved tens of thousands of points just by doing that alone. And most people miss that. They don't realize you can keep checking and keep adjusting and changing if you find a better deal. So and then, yes, I do look for destinations that are fewer points from my home airport, which is Indianapolis.

[00:27:48.580] - Lyn And we also are willing to drive and we do this. A fair amount will drive up to Chicago, which is about two and a half hours from us. If the airfare is significantly less. So that deal to Las Vegas, we actually did drive up and flew out of Midway because it would have been like seven thousand points per day from Indianapolis. And if I can pay twenty seven hundred points, that's another free trip my family can take right there.

[00:28:17.470] - Kim Well, we've definitely talked a lot about the United States and those kind of destinations. And with Southwest Airlines being, you know, mostly a U.S. and Caribbean airline, what about Europe? You know, I figure that's much harder. And you said you have been to Europe. So do you have any little tips for families who are thinking of a dream European vacation?

[00:28:36.160] - Lyn Yeah. So my favorite way to fly to Europe, which I think is it's the cheapest number of miles and the easiest way to do it is on Aer Lingus, which is the national airline of Ireland. And they have a really good deal where if you fly during their off peak season, which is actually two thirds of the year, so it's most of the year except for the peak summer months, spring break. And like the holidays, you can fly for twenty six thousand miles roundtrip from several major cities in the U.S. to Dublin.

[00:29:11.530] - Lyn So it's like Boston and DC and New York and Chicago and San Francisco, lots of major cities. So you may need to get to one of those major cities. And I recommend flying Southwest or using a companion pass to do so. But again, we just would drive up to Chicago and then we fly over to Dublin. And then once you're over in Europe, it's really cheap to get a flight out of Dublin like. So when we took our big trip a couple of years ago, we flew to Dublin and then we just used points to fly on into Paris.

[00:29:42.010] - Lyn And then we flew Ryanair, which is a really cheap discount airline in Europe for like three hundred dollars for all four of us to go from Paris to Bologna. And that was with all they have there, one of those that charge a bunch of fees, but that included all of the baggage fees and everything. And then we flew points from Bologna back to Dublin. And so I was able to do that with one card sign up, which happened to be the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

[00:30:09.250] - Lyn When they had that card first came out, they were offering one hundred thousand points if you met the minimum spend. So my husband was able to get that. And that was enough for all four of us to fly to Europe, which was amazing. So pretty simple, really, because it was one card sign up and then one airline.

[00:30:27.040] - Lyn And Aer Lingus uses Avios, which is we're talking about partner airlines. They are partners with British Airways and Iberia. So if you have, you can transfer or use for any of those three airlines. And the way I like to earn them is with the Chase ultimate rewards because Chase ultimate rewards transfer to Southwest super easy and they also transfer to Aer Lingus super easy. So that accomplishes my goals of US and Europe.

[00:30:57.370] - Tamara When we went to London three years ago, we flew Aer Lingus through Dublin. We didn't do it with points we paid. But just even from a cash standpoint, it was definitely cheaper than, you know, the direct flights to London, which, you know, it's added a little bit of time, but not really that much time.

[00:31:13.720] - Lyn And we just made like a day trip out of it. We stayed in Dublin actually for two nights and just saw the sights of Dublin for a day just to check that all our bucket list, you know, so that's a way to do it, too. If you want to spend a little bit of time in Ireland. And Dublin is a really, really nice airport and. Flying out of Dublin, you actually go through customs before you board in Dublin, so you don't have to do it when you get off in the U.S., which is another great benefit.

[00:31:39.540] - Tamara And they even have Global entry and everything there, too.

[00:31:42.750] - Kim They have a lounge there, too.

[00:31:48.240] - Kim Well, yeah, I think that that's I think what you said, there's two parts to that that I'll just quickly mention that I thought stood out was just be flexible and kind of be willing to look beyond just the traditional I'm going to fly from Seattle to Tokyo, you know, even though that's a common flight. But you know what I mean. You know, like you guys going to Chicago and then going to Dublin and using that as a jumping off point, I think that's really a tip for people, is to be a little more flexible and see if you can even get from one place.

[00:32:15.750] - Kim Like I know a lot of times I have looked when we were planning that Japan trip, I looked out of LAX in San Francisco because, you know, sometimes those flights to Japan were a little cheaper. And for me to get from Seattle to L.A. or San Francisco is pretty easy. So definitely be, you know, thinking outside of the box on that. And then I think one of the things I'll quickly mention is what you said about that people need to be aware of is something like Chase and the American Express cards have kind of those I don't know what the term is used, but they're universal points that can be traded into other networks and programs.

[00:32:50.070] - Kim And sometimes that can be handy for families who aren't loyal to one brand and want to kind of spread things around. So I think that that's that's something for people to be aware of, is that there is a difference where when people talk about travel credit cards, sometimes it's with one hotel like Marriott or it's with one airline, you know, like Southwest. But other times it could be just the American Express or the Chase, which are kind of universal points that can be traded in. So I think that's something for people to be aware of.

[00:33:17.250] - Lyn Yeah, I'm a big fan of the flexible points for that for exactly what you're saying. Now, if you're loyal to one airline or to one hotel brand, you really use it a lot, then you do need to probably have their card because you'll get some good perks for doing so. But then pair that with the flexible card who whose points travel to your favorite programs, you know, and Chase Ultimate Rewards works well within my system. And then it happens to transfer to some hotel programs as well. Should we have plenty of points and want to use it for that also.

[00:33:49.290] - Tamara Well, definitely lots to think about when it comes to planning some trips. I know you'd also mentioned the Caribbean. Now, would Southwest also be your preferred airline for getting to the Caribbean?

[00:33:59.280] - Lyn Absolutely. And because you can bring someone free with you. So, yeah, that's a great deal.

[00:34:06.540] - Tamara Now, what are some of the islands that they go to?

[00:34:09.930] - Lyn A lot of different places in the Caribbean. Mexico is a is very popular among families. Of course, Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos. We've been to the Dominican Republic on Southwest. They go to the most recent like Jamaica. Yeah. And Costa Rica.

[00:34:29.760] - Lyn So, yeah. Lots of choices there. And of course they now fly to Hawaii. So for lots of families, that's their dream bucket list trip is to to go away.

[00:34:40.950] - Tamara And so for when we just talked about Hawaii too. And that is from California. Right. So if you get yourself to California, then you connect there.

[00:34:49.680] - Lyn Right. You will have to connect in California. But yeah, you can fly from major U.S. cities to connect in California and then over and there's, you know, good ones like San Francisco and San Diego, where you can if you want it again to stop and make it kind of hang out there for a weekend or something and then hop on over to Hawaii. So it's not such a long flight. That's a good option, too.

[00:35:13.140] - Kim So you mentioned it took you about a year when you first were starting. What would you say for the average family starting out? Maybe they're a family of four. How much time should they allow for kind of earning points? How does that how does that look for an average family on, you know, what would be realistic to think if they want to have a vacation and they're going to buy all their airfare with points, what does that look like, do you think, from a time perspective?

[00:35:37.410] - Lyn If you know what to do and what steps to take within two to three months, you can be flying around the U.S. in the Caribbean.

[00:35:46.650] - Lyn For Europe, I'd give yourself four to six months of time to to get those points in order. But the key is you need to know what steps to take and what order.

[00:35:56.850] - Lyn And you can definitely search online and discover a process for yourself. But like I said, I've mapped mine down just for families who want to travel to those destinations. It's really pretty simple if you know what to do when.

[00:36:14.260] - Tamara And you've talked about the companion pass for Southwest and I seem to recall like is that only offered as a special promotion at certain times of year and is sometimes limited? Like I remember there is one that I was going to do, and I didn't live in a state where it was offered or something like that. Are there sometimes restrictions that you need to look out for?

[00:36:32.500] - Lyn No, you can earn one any time of the year and it's good from whatever you earn it till the end of the following year. So there's no location restrictions. All you have to do is earn these hundred and twenty five thousand qualifying points. Boom, you got it.

[00:36:48.880] - Kim When they first launched their Hawaii one Tamara, I think that's what you're thinking of. They did it to just California residents when they first launched that, you know, and they will have like special promotions where you can earn a companion pass by just meeting a minimum spend or by flying six flights. But the typical process that you can use at any point in time is to just get those qualifying points in and then you just have your pass.

[00:37:14.200] - Tamara There was a year when my husband was flying to Milwaukee every week and he was always flying Southwest. So he made A list but for some reason we never went through getting the companion pass, like now thinking back now, why did we not take advantage of all that Southwest flying?

[00:37:30.820] - Lyn It's it's totally the number one thing you can do to fly free. That's simple. You know, if you if you just do that, you're in good shape for a while for even for a whole thing.

[00:37:43.690] - Kim So do you have any final tips that you want to share with our listeners, just about, you know, helping families fly free?

[00:37:51.760] - Lyn One thing I want to make sure families know is that you can earn frequent flyer miles for whatever your preferred airline from home. That was the big light bulb moment for me. When I started into this, I thought people who flew a lot is who earned frequent flyer miles and I didn't fly a lot. So how can I earn frequent flyer miles?

[00:38:13.210] - Lyn So, I mean, making sure, you know, there's a lot that you can do from home right now, like taking advantage of airline shopping portals, which just means you start your online shopping in their portal and then you earn points for things you were going to be buying anyway. You earn frequent flyer miles or travel points, right. Or dining at restaurants.

[00:38:33.340] - Lyn All of the airlines have dining programs where you can earn points just by getting carry out at your local restaurant or eating there. There's a lot of different things. In fact, I have a list on my go to travel gal dot com blog of 101 Ways You Can Earn Southwest points and very few of them are by I mean certainly you can earn them by flying, but that's not the way I recommend doing it. We get all of our points mostly without flying.

[00:39:00.250] - Lyn They're earned without flying is what I should say. I also have a list of seven different ways you can start earning frequent flyer miles from home that you can download and that you can find that at families fly free dot com slash vacation mavens. So that's just for you guys. It's a PDF that you can download and it's easy things you can start doing today even if you're not traveling and start accruing those points for your future travels whenever you're ready to travel again.

[00:39:28.420] - Tamara Perfect. And we'll definitely link to that in our show notes because. I think that's really sort of us these days, like I can't remember things, so to have something written down that we can follow. That's what I mean.

[00:39:41.480] - Kim Great. So we will start wrapping up by asking our question that we ask all of our guests. And that is, what do you wear when you travel?

[00:39:48.590] - Lyn Yes. I can't wait for this. Been waiting for this question. So my favorite thing are Ofos flip flops. They were originally designed to be like a recovery shoe for runners. And I had a son who was a runner and I just happened upon them at the running store one day and I was like, these are the most comfortable, supportive things I have ever put on. So I got myself a pair and I have one. I'm on pair of number three. I think now take I wear a mountain about a year, but I have worn them all over the world, like at Disney, on the cobblestone streets of Europe, on the beach, you name it, you know.

[00:40:25.640] - Lyn And I love them because they're not your flat flip flop where you're, you know, that hurt your feet if you do much walking like these are more supportive than any sneaker or tennis shoe I've ever owned. And I at one point I had plantar fasciitis and that was the only thing I could wear that kept my feet from hurting. So I absolutely loved those. And they now come in all kind of different stylish designs and colors because people beyond runners have now have now figured out how great they are.

[00:40:52.100] - Tamara Yeah, I actually have a pair of their recovery slides and my husband had gotten them first and we we laughed at him that he called them recovery slides. But then I tried them on one day and I'm like, oh, these are so comfortable and I have plantar fasciitis too. And I needed something for just around the house. Like I can't just walk around barefoot, you know, it just will bother it. So I started using those as well. And I noticed last time I was in a running store, they have all pretty styles as well.

[00:41:19.760] - Kim I wonder if they have closed toed ones because Lizzie has a lot of trouble. She works in retail and she's on her feet like her whole shift and she comes home with a bit of the plantar fasciitis, like her feet are swollen and really hurt. And so I wonder if those would be if they have those toed ones that they do.

[00:41:35.030] - Lyn They do. And they look like they now they have boots. So I wear them in the winter for my boots. And they have kind of clogs which are but they're made out of material, not they're super soft kind of foamy stuff. But I think they have close toed ones, like the flip flops too.

[00:41:52.190] - Tamara So maybe you can just remind our listeners where they can find you online.

[00:41:56.810] - Lyn Sure. You can find me at Families Fly Free dot com. And then I also have a podcast where I teach families how to fly free, and that's called the Families Fly Free podcast. And then you can find me on Instagram as families fly free and then Facebook and Twitter is go to travel go, which is my blog. So great.

[00:42:19.730] - Tamara Well, thank you so much for sharing some of your process and your insights. And I'm sure everyone that wants to get more into this can go and download the PDF that you mentioned. So thank you for that as well.

[00:42:30.620] - Lyn Great. Yes. I love to show people how to fly free. Everyone needs to know how to do it.

[00:42:35.660] - Kim Thanks so much, Lynn. We appreciate you all the tips.

[00:42:42.860] - Tamara Well, thanks for joining us for another week on Vacation Mavens. We are coming up on our five year anniversary. So if you guys have any suggestions on a special episode that you would like to hear or recaps or anything like that, please let us know. In the meantime, stay tuned. Our next episode in two weeks is going to be all about travel to the Catskill Mountains in New York, which is a great destination in the winter and the summer and the fall. Not so sure about the spring, but we're going to find out more next week.

[00:43:12.080] - Kim Thanks for joining us and we'll chat with you again soon. Take care.

View Details

So many of us are dreaming about a tropical escape right now, but is it possible? This week we talk with Amber Mamian, from Global Munchkins, about her recent family trip to Hawaii. Find out what to expect in terms of testing, travel restrictions, and hotel and activity protocols when you are visiting Hawaii during COVID.

About Amber Mamian Amber Mamian is a family travel expert, founder of Global Munchkins, and ambassador for Oprah Magazine who resides in Southern CA with her husband and 5 children. You can follow her family's adventures and more on Instagram at @global_munchkins and on her site GlobalMunchkins.com.
Get Amber's guide to planning a Hawaii vacation here.

What to Expect when Visiting Hawaii During COVID * The state of Hawaii currently has a 14-day mandatory quarantine for visitors. * However, you can bypass this quarantine if you have a negative test within 72 hours of your arrival. But note that Hawaii only accepts tests from certain companies so you need to do your research regarding testing in your area to determine how you can get a test before your trip, and whether or not you will get the results back in time. * You can find the information you need about required testing on HawaiiCOVID19.com/travel. * Amber had a good experience with an at-home testing kit and processing from Vault Health. You take your saliva-based test at home in front of a doctor or nurse on Zoom and then overnight them the kit and you have the results in 24 hours. * You also need to fill out a mandatory Hawaii travel and health form before you arrive. * After submitting your forms, you receive a user account with the state of Hawaii. There you can upload the PDF of your testing results. * Once you have submitted your testing results, you are given a QR code to show on your phone when you arrive, checking in at the hotel, and whenever asked throughout your trip. * If you do not have a negative test upon arrival, you have to do the full 14-day quarantine, even if your results come in during that time. * Some airlines, such as United, will make you show your negative test results to board the plane. * Delta is currently still keeping the middle seat open but we aren't sure how long they will keep that in place. * When you arrive at the airport they will check every person's QR code and contact tracing form. * For hotel check in, every adult may need to be present to show ID and your QR code. * Restaurants adhere very strictly to the rule of only five people at a table, so even if you have a large family, you cannot sit more than 5 people together. * Once you are there, Hawaii doesn't have a lot of visitors right now so it is easy to social distance when on the beach or taking hikes. * The Disney Aulani has done an excellent job of explaining safety protocols, providing signage and sanitizing stations throughout the resort, and guests were very good about complying with those protocols. * The five person rule was also enforced at the pool, where no more than five people from the same family/household could sit together. * At some resorts in Waikiki, pool usage is restricted to certain hours with reservations required. * You will likely need to show your QR code when visiting attractions or doing activities outside of your hotel. * It is helpful to use sites like Yelp to read up on which attractions and restaurants are still open and their hours and protocols. * Don't be surprised to find many restaurants closed or require reservations. * It is helpful to stay in a villa or a place with a kitchen so you can prepare some of your meals. * Be sure to stay on top of updates in the time leading up to your trip * Make sure you research your state's travel restrictions and quarantine requirements on return. * Also make sure you read your cancellation policies for everything you book because things can change quickly. * Amber loves the swimsuits and travel clothes from Albion Fit. She also loves blazers from Chicos.

Read the Episode Transcript [00:00:00.150] - Kim Dreaming of a tropical escape? Find out what it's like to travel to Hawaii right now.

[00:00:16.930] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:31.750] - Kim Tamara, it is the New Year. So happy New Year.

[00:00:34.540] - Tamara Happy New Year. Yay! We all made it to 2021.

[00:00:37.690] - Kim Yeah exactly. Is it going to be better? Like let's hope, let's hope that 2020 is in the Blinder's, right?

[00:00:44.020] - Tamara Yeah. Yeah. I mean it has to be at some point. Right. Like it may not be immediately better but we're going to get there. Yeah, definitely.

[00:00:50.800] - Kim Well the vaccination news is certainly hopeful and good. So hopefully that's a good signal for all of us that we are all going to get back to traveling soon. And I know that today we're going to be talking about a pretty awesome destination that I think a lot of people are probably dreaming about, especially since when we're recording this, it's winter for most people. So I know that I'm dreaming of warm weather at this time of year.

[00:01:13.600] - Tamara There's a foot of snow out my window, so I'm definitely dreaming of warm weather right now.

[00:01:18.830] - Kim So we're going to talk to Amber all about Hawaii. She and her family took a little trip there, and it definitely looks different right now. There's a lot of regulations. And, of course, everyone's going to take their own consideration on whether they're comfortable traveling and what that looks like for them and their family. But we just wanted to give you guys an insight into what Hawaii travel looks like right now with the regulations about covid. But in the meantime, if you are dreaming of more Hawaii destinations, I think Tamara has some of our old episodes that she's going to give a little mention of.

[00:01:51.130] - Tamara Yeah, definitely, because this episode is very much focused on what it's like to travel right now. And if you are just new to traveling to Hawaii and you want to have some more of a background on maybe some of the different islands and what it's like at the different hotels, if you go back to Episode 75, we talked to both Kim and Kristi Marcelle about the Disney Aulani, and we went into some very detailed descriptions about what that resort is like. And that's what Amber is going to talk about also. And if you go all the way back to Episode 55, we talked to Mary from The World is a book about Hawaii. And we were talking about, I think primarily Maui and the Big Island and Oahu. So I guess we still need to do an episode on Kauai at some point, right?

[00:02:37.600] - Kim Yeah, we should have been there. It was a short trip, but I have been there.

[00:02:42.010] - Tamara That's definitely where I want to go and when I would return to Hawaii. But anyway, yeah, let's chat with Amber and see what it it was like to be there now.

[00:02:58.850] - Tamara This week, we're here with Amber Mamian. She is a family travel expert, founder of Global Munchkins and an ambassador for Oprah magazine. She lives in Southern California with her husband and her five children. And you can follow her family's adventures and more on Instagram at Global_Munchkins or on our site at Global Munchkins.Com. So welcome back to the podcast. Amber.

[00:03:19.520] - Amber Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be back.

[00:03:22.240] - Tamara I know it's been a really long time. Last time we talked to you, it was about cruising, I think maybe Disney cruises, but it certainly has been a long time since any of us were cruising, so. And in some ways, it's been a long time since any of us have traveled. But you have traveled recently to one of your favorite destinations. Now, I know you guys being on the West Coast go to Hawaii pretty often. But this year it looked a little bit different. So I was hoping that we could talk to you to learn a little bit more about what is it like to go to Hawaii now? Like what does it take to get there? What are the requirements? And really what is it like on the ground, you know, for someone that is considering a trip? So can you walk our listeners through, like, what are some of the testing requirements that are necessary to visit Hawaii right now?

[00:04:06.200] - Amber Absolutely. So the good news is once you are there, it's fantastic. Their numbers are really low. It felt very safe the whole time to get there. It's a little tricky. You just have to kind of do your homework and your research. Currently, the state of Hawaii has a 14 day mandatory quarantine. However, you can bypass that if you do, if you take a negative covid test and 72 hours before your departure, it's important to look because the state of Hawaii only accepts tests done from certain companies.

[00:04:36.180] - Amber So you do have to go on to their website. It's Hawaii covid-19 dot com forward slash travel and everything's listed right there. But basically, you get your test done 72 hours before departure. And we went through a company called Vault Health, which I highly recommend.

[00:04:50.660] - Amber It was an at home saliva test, which was really easy on all of us, including my youngest, who's seven. You do the saliva test in front of it like a doctor or nurse on a zoom, and then they overnight the test kit back to the company and they have your results back in 24 hours. In our case, which was amazing because we're able to upload those results before we ever departed. And then beyond the testing, you're also required to fill out a mandatory state of Hawaii travel and health form.

[00:05:17.990] - Amber And it's for every member of the family, which was a lot because there's seven of us adults are required to fill out their own forms. But I was able to fill them all out for the kids. And once you have those done, you have like a user account from the state of Hawaii. And when you get your results back from your testing, you actually upload that PDF right to that website or with your user, you know, your account, I guess I should say.

[00:05:38.330] - Amber And once that's uploaded, they email you a QR code and that is like your ticket of gold. You know, when you land, you're going to need your QR code. I mean, you're going to possibly need it for the resort. You stay at activities you do. So you definitely need, like your your QR code golden ticket. That's what I'd call it.

[00:05:57.120] - Kim Great. And can I just mention, is it true, though, that Kaui is one of the islands, they actually have have been able to opt out, so they still require a mandatory 14 day quarantine? Is that correct?

[00:06:08.400] - Amber Yes. And thank you for saying that. And you also you cannot island hop either. So, like, you know, we were planning on going to Oahu and Maui instead. We only travelled to Oahu because we would have had to either do another 14 day quarantine when we got to Maui or we would have had to retest again while we were in Oahu.

[00:06:26.430] - Tamara That's really good to know. And I think it's really interesting that you used that private company, because I know with cases on the rise, like testing, not everywhere is it's not possible everywhere to get testing if you're asymptomatic or just for travel anyway. But even if you can, there's not really guarantees of how quickly you're going to get it back. And I can't even imagine making that investment and then not getting a test back in time.

[00:06:52.170] - Amber And there's a new law, and I probably should have looked that before we talked, but my cousin traveled on her honeymoon. It did not. Her husband got his test results from CVS and before the flight, and she didn't they only had to quarantine in the hotel for a day or two. But since we've been I was told by the hotel that now the state of Hawaii, if you do not have a negative test upon arrival, you have to do a full mandatory 14 days instead of waiting for your test results, come in a day or two.

[00:07:22.020] - Kim I heard that as well. And I also heard that I think somebody said CVS might be actually opting out or they're not allowed anymore, but I'm not sure on that. But check that out. So definitely make sure you know who to use. And then I've heard lots of horror stories where they say it'll be back in a certain amount of time, but the people are still like they're ready to fly out and the results aren't back yet.

[00:07:44.430] - Amber So, yeah, I mean, we went with a really big group and we all used Vault health. I think there was 14 of us total because it was my brother and his family and my parents and all of our tests came back within twenty four hours from Vault Health. So, I mean, we were really impressed with their service grade.

[00:07:59.850] - Kim So beyond just now that everyone knows what the requirements are, what was your experience going navigating like the airport and then your in-flight experience, of course, your West Coast, Southern California. So your flight time is probably only what, like three and a half hours? But what's the experience like?

[00:08:17.130] - Amber Yeah, it's like five or six hours. Yeah, it's still quite a long flight. So in flight I was really nervous like a couple of days before. We haven't flown since, but it was our first flight and I did like that everybody on the plane most likely had a negative covid test. My mom flew united and they had to show their covid test just to get on the plane.

[00:08:40.620] - Amber And so that made me comfortable. And then once we were on the plane, I was really impressed. We did switch airlines. We originally with one airline that stopped doing the middle seat being open. So we switched to Delta and paid a little bit more just to have that comfort of knowing the middle seats would be open and we'd have a little bit more space on the plane. So I do appreciate the Delta did that. The planes were spotless and I did talk to Delta and they sanitized the entire flight before every single departure. And then they wipe down all the seats and sanitize in that way.

[00:09:11.430] And then when you board the flight, they give you another Purell wipe to wipe down your seat yourself. So between all of that I felt pretty good on the flight. I know that they change their air filtration systems often, they said even more often than they are required to. I talked to them about their testing program. I was really impressed with that. For all of their employees, they're able to do even the rapid test in the lounge at the airport at LAX, which I liked.

[00:09:37.710] - Amber And, you know, it's funny to be on a flight, honestly, and have you know, I was worried about the kids having to wear masks the whole time and it ended up not being a big deal at all.

[00:09:46.690] - Tamara That's good. I mean, hopefully by now people are kind of used to it, although that's a long period of time, especially if you're trying to, you know, take a drink or have a snack, you know, quickly or something like that.

[00:10:00.820] - Amber I was so nervous, we had the regular mask and then I had bought the clear, like shield. So when we were eating, I had the kid, I just pulled those out and so when they would have the mask off, I would let them have the face shield. That way they could still be somewhat protected. But on the flight home, I guess we felt so comfortable we didn't use them, to be honest.

[00:10:18.420] - Kim That's good to know. And did you, I'm assuming did you pack your own snacks because they aren't doing or are airlines still doing like drinks and snacks service?

[00:10:27.570] - Amber So I can only speak for Delta because that's all I've flown since covid. But what they gave you is a Ziploc bag. It had a Cheezits in it. The cookies, I can't think of what they're called the you know, the cookies they always have on planes, the bottle of water and a single use Purell. That was it for the entire flight. So we definitely knew that going into it. They email you and Delta stays in contact and is very upfront about the fact that there's not going to be those services.

[00:10:52.410] - Kim So we were able to pack enough snacks to be fine.

[00:10:55.650] - Tamara I think I'd have to pack a whole backpack full of water bottles.

[00:10:59.550] - Amber Yes, we did.

[00:11:00.720] - Amber We definitely did pack a lot of water because they give you, like, those little bottles to like it is about a teeny bottle. And they did pass them out.

[00:11:08.700] - Amber I mean, they pass out water several times. But I do normally drink just so much water on a plane that I had to pack, you know, several water bottles, which you have to buy after you enter the terminal.

[00:11:21.270] - Tamara So it sounds like once you have your QR code and it's your golden ticket that you're able to get into pretty much everywhere. But are they doing any additional screenings like temperature checks or forms or anything like that, like when you check into your hotel or go to restaurants?

[00:11:36.000] - Amber It depends, I think, on each place. So when you land, it it seems kind of funky, like you were waiting a really long line, almost like you're going through like a customs. And they check each family's QR codes and they have to check that. You filled out that form from the Travel Hawaii, which has all of your contact tracing, what resort you're going to be at. All of your information is there.

[00:11:55.980] - Amber Once they double check that, then you're free to leave. Same kind of thing, though, when you show up to the hotel, just a little bit like extra steps. Like I think they needed to know our flight home. We again had to show the QR code. They needed to see each adult. We arrived really late at night and I was in the car with the kids waiting and I thought my husband could just check in, but they needed to see each adult in the party and have ID and your QR code.

[00:12:16.890] - Amber So I think you just have to be ready to have to show those forms, especially with every adult. It seems like they need to check every adult. The only other thing that we saw when we went out at restaurants, especially being a larger party, being there with my brother and my family, even my own family, to be honest, because we're seven is the only allow groups of five at like restaurants so that they were very strict about almost every restaurant we went to.

[00:12:39.060] - Amber We were never able to sit together. They said the state of Hawaii could get them in trouble. And so, you know, obviously a very respectful but I think it's important for people to know in advance because I had my kids been younger ages, it would have been really difficult for us to have, you know, all of seven of us at one table and one.

[00:13:06.710] - Tamara Meanwhile, teens are probably like, yeah, we're fine. We're fine.

[00:13:10.110] - Amber Yeah, it was pretty much the teens at one table and our younger seven year old with us.

[00:13:16.060] - Kim So beyond everyone's getting tested before they come in and then the basics of just wearing masks when you're outside and around others and social distancing and cleaning things like that, is there anything else that maybe feels different or seems different about Hawaii vacation right now?

[00:13:31.600] - Amber Honestly, no, we had such an amazing vacation, it was such a huge breath of fresh air, I think we're pretty used to all those mandates now. That's the way we're living at home.

[00:13:40.480] - Amber So to have to do that there didn't feel too awkward. And it was just, you know, the initial getting through the airport, there was a little bit different and nerve wracking once we were there. It felt really good. And there's a lot of open space in Hawaii where and it's very empty right now. So we'd be at beaches where there was hardly anybody there and definitely nobody within, you know, I mean, 20 or 30 feet of us.

[00:13:59.920] - Amber So in those situations when we were hiking and stuff, we take our masks off if we were alone. So it felt really good to us.

[00:14:07.430] - Tamara That's nice. It's good when you can feel, you know, like you are having a vacation, you are having something that's a break from the norm, I guess.

[00:14:17.030] - Amber I mean, it definitely felt like a complete vacation. We didn't want to come home.

[00:14:23.110] - Tamara So I know you say to the Disney Aulani, which is one of your favorite hotels, we had recently talked to Rob Taylor from two travel dads and he talked to us about what it's like to go to Walt Disney World right now and what a good job they were doing. So I'm hoping that you had the same experience at Aulani. But what was your experience like? Was it something where you were feeling very comfortable, where the things you think they could be doing better?

[00:14:44.500] - Amber I thought that Aulani did a fantastic job. I mean, one of the reasons we chose to stay at the Aulani was because we had heard so many positive things about the way that they were doing things at Disney World. And we're big fans of Disney and we've been to Aulani. several times. Everybody at the resorts seemed to be not even have to have the rules be enforced. I think that at check in they let you know what the rules were there signs around everywhere and hands sanitizing stations are throughout the resort.

[00:15:08.170] - Amber And thankfully, all the guests seem to just comply. So it's not like I was in a situation where I saw people having to, you know, be scolded or anything for not wearing masks. It just seemed like people were respecting each other. And I did speak with other guests who stayed at other resorts in Waikiki who were telling me that at their resort, the pool had like, you know, hours where they had to make a reservation to go to the pool and that it was a little bit more strict.

[00:15:33.340] - Amber Once you're out at the Aulani, if you're in the pool area, you don't have to have your mask on. All the chairs are spaced within six foot distance. So there is that gathering rule again. So for my family, a little complicated because you can't have more than five people together in a group. So for larger families, I think, you know, that's something to pay attention to. But I think most families are probably about the size of five people.

[00:15:57.310] - Kim And are they doing a lesser occupancy rate? We've been to the Aulani and the chairs are normally completely full on a sunny afternoon. So are they is doing an occupancy decrease so that there aren't so many people at the pools?

[00:16:16.480] - Amber Yes. So there is an occupancy decrease and I cannot remember what it is, but it is a reduced occupancy. And like you said, normally Aulani is very, very crowded. It it was very empty. You could you know, you didn't have to, like, run down to reserve chairs in the morning. There would be good seats available if you strolled into the pool area around two o'clock in the afternoon.

[00:16:36.040] - Amber I did notice that it seemed like locals come in on the weekends. So if I was choosing to stay there I would definitely try to book a more of a midweek stay like a Sunday through Thursday stay just to avoid that crowd. We decided to leave the resort on those days to avoid having it crowded. But it still was less of a crowd than I was used to at Aulani.

[00:17:01.520] - Tamara Now, what about when you went off property? Were there things that you had to keep in mind there, like did you need to make advance reservations or were there additional protocols that were in place there?

[00:17:12.320] - Amber So we did several activities, including a cage dive with sharks, which they did check our QR code. And we also visited Waimea Valley, which is like a like a nature center. And they both of those places checked our QR codes before allowing us in. And they obviously made sure that all the normal restrictions of mask mandates and social distancing were told to us before we entered. But other than that, things seem to be pretty normal. We did try to keep in touch with what was going on as far as like on Yelp and stuff, trying to see what restaurants were open because some places have limited hours and some places were just closed completely.

[00:17:48.560] - Amber I think that food was probably a tougher challenge than activities.

[00:17:52.910] - Kim Yeah, that's what Tamara and I have noticed. You know, all the trips we took this summer is the restaurants and dining is the hardest part about travel right now just because, like you said, some restaurants haven't been able to keep their doors open, which is limited, the options that are open and then others are, you know, operating at 50 percent or something. And so getting, you know, the mass of people in and out is just really hard.

[00:18:17.500] - Tamara So is a little side chat about what the heck with a shark cage dive?

[00:18:22.860] - Kim I can't believe I'm ignoring it. I'm ignoring it and ignoring it.

[00:18:27.200] - Amber It's in a cage. I was really nervous and I almost canceled before we went. I it was all my brother. He's the thrill seeker. So he wanted to do it. And then my husband, because they become competitive, and then I have an 18 year old son who has to prove himself when the guys are doing something. So I felt like I better go and make sure everybody's OK because I would have had a harder time sitting out, I think.

[00:18:53.690] - Tamara Especially if you're like on the boat and you're looking down and seeing, like, fins circling your loved ones.

[00:18:58.730] - Amber Right. Right. I mean, it's like I'd rather just be in it with them, but it ended up not being scary really at all.

[00:19:04.550] - Amber And I know that it still is definitely, you know, a risk hopping into that cage. But it didn't feel as scary as I thought it would.

[00:19:10.850] - Kim Well, the you guys weren't in, like, South Africa, right? You know, like the, you know, Great Barrier Reef, where it's like great whites, you know, bull sharks.

[00:19:20.240] - Tamara It's like on our honeymoon we were in Bora Bora. And one of the things that we had signed up for was a shark and ray feeding. And my husband, who loves to dive, is just like, oh, they're just black tip reef sharks. And I'm like, they're sharks. Their face looks like sharks. Like when they're swimming right at you, it's a shark. And that's all you can think about.

[00:19:36.710] And I remember the night before I am was cancelled, I was up like all night. I was terrified. And then it was no cage, you know, it was just like we kind of made a line, like behind a rope, kind of like you're snorkeling and it's like made a line and then they feed them right in front of you. So the sharks come and they swim like directly at your face. And it's like last minute they turn and they go back and oh my goodness, I lasted for like a couple of minutes and I'm like, I'll be in the boat.

[00:20:07.820] - Tamara OK, well you're brave. I just had to ask about that.

[00:20:12.290] - Amber So I'll get to food. I was going to say one of the reasons we chose to stay at Aulani was we stayed in their villa, which has a small kitchen. And so we're able to stock up at Target before we got to the hotel. So we were able to do some meals, you know, within our little hotel room, which was super convenient and highly recommend, like maybe Airbnb stays or something like that, or resorts with kitchens would be nice right now.

[00:20:40.520] - Kim If people don't know about Aulani, it's actually about would you say it's about forty minutes away from Honolulu, from the airport.

[00:20:46.730] - Amber Yeah, I guess depending on your travel, because it's like kind of a suburb of sorts.

[00:20:50.810] - Kim It's called javelina, but there's like a Costco right there too nearby.

[00:20:55.250] - Kim And so it's it's definitely convenient if you can splurge for those kind of villa. I think that shopping and having food that you can make in your room is a definite plus right now. So I have an awkward question that I've heard some talk about it in some travel groups. But did you feel like there was any kind of negative vibe from the locals towards tourists that you know?

[00:21:27.890] - Kim I know that it's kind of a double edged sword. It seems like Hawaii really wants the money that tourism brings. However, I know a lot of locals are kind of stressed and don't want tourists coming to their island and putting them at risk. So did you have any weird vibes that you felt like the locals weren't welcoming?

[00:21:41.870] - Amber So we personally didn't. And I don't know if it would be, you know, whether or not you're following, you know, the restrictions and being respectful, like because to us, people were more than grateful to have a say. I like the small restaurants where, you know, over accommodating. They were, you know, making sure that they cleaned everything and thanking us. And so I had. Kind of the exact opposite, so it's probably just hit or miss, depending on who you run into, I guess.

[00:22:07.200] - Tamara Yeah, that's good, I mean, it's it is a difficult challenge, I think it's a challenge for any tourism area and really every state to, you know, in that you need the economic boost that tourism brings.

[00:22:19.740] - Tamara But, you know, it brings along some risk, too. So it's good to hear you weren't, you know, met with kind of open opposition, but more open arms.

[00:22:29.340] - Tamara Well, since we have you on the podcast, we've talked about Hawaii on a few other episodes, but maybe we can just quickly get some of your thoughts and some of your favorite, you know, things to do in Hawaii and stuff. But do you have a favorite island? I know this time you went to Wahoo, but do you have a favorite overall?

[00:22:46.130] - Amber It is such a hard question, I think, of why all the Hawaiian islands that I've been to or to just Kauai, Maui and Oahu Island, Kona are amazing.

[00:22:53.840] - Amber I really like Oahu. I think that it's great. It's got that iconic North Shore and some big resorts. And if you're looking for more of the hustle bustle, it's there. But Maui is probably my ultimate favorite. It's just more relaxed than North Shore, less populated. And I love the road to Hana. That's really cool. Yeah, I've been to I still haven't been to the big island, so that's kind of the one I want to get on my bucket list.

[00:23:17.020] - Kim But I've been to Oahu, Maui and Kauai, and I just love Oahu because I kind of I do like all the resort hotels, but I think the Kaanapali Beach area on Maui can bring that. And like it's like you said, kind of it's it's a little lesser, you know, a little more stepped back, which is kind of nice. And the road Hana is pretty awesome.

[00:23:38.440] - Amber Right. And then Kauai is like so lush and beautiful, but it's like I feel like even more deserted. Kona is like the big island. It was a trip to me because it's more volcanic. So I remember getting off the plane and being like, it's all black. Yeah. And there's goats like mountain goats like where's the kitchen? Where's the palm trees? I was really confused. You drive up to the resorts and you'll find the beaches there. But that one is definitely different. Very different. But you can see a live volcano, you know. Right.

[00:24:05.620] - Tamara The only time I've been to Hawaii, we did the Big Island, mostly because we wanted to see a live volcano. But I had the first, you know, thought when I first got off because I'm like, hey, where's all the lush, you know, like this? But then we did Maui, too, and we definitely found it there. But I loved both. And I would just love to go back to now I need to do Kauai and Oahu.

[00:24:25.990] - Kim So do you have any other favorite hotels in Hawaii that you stayed at or because like you said, Oahu for family is Aulani certainly is a nice draw. So any other favourite hotels for your family?

[00:24:37.270] - Amber I Think that the best contender for Aulani to me is Grand Wailea in Maui, they have like interconnecting slides in the world, only water elevator. It's absolutely incredible.

[00:24:47.770] - Kim Yeah, they are pretty nice there.

[00:24:49.000] - Kim We stayed at the Sheraton, I think, and they have like a sister property now. I can't even remember it. And they have like all these pools that run throughout the resort and stuff.

[00:24:58.900] - Kim And I've heard Grand Wailea has a similar kind of just the expansiveness of the pools and the grounds are really fun to explore, right?

[00:25:07.850] - Amber Yeah, it's great for families.

[00:25:10.720] - Tamara Well, what about some of your other favorite things to do with kids, maybe we can just touch on a couple in Maui and Oahu, since those are your top islands.

[00:25:19.810] - Amber I mean, we go to Hawaii really to, like, turn off and relax. So a lot of times we just hit the beach and surf and boogie board and then go like hiking and snorkeling. I think in Maui, like I said, the road to Hana is really great. It wasn't really great when my kids were like four of them were really young and I didn't love it. But as they've gotten older, that's a really fun trip.

[00:25:39.430] - Amber And obviously getting to North Shore and Oahu, we always see sea turtles and it's, you know, so fun to watch those incredible surfers surf there, too,

[00:25:48.880] - Kim and get some shrimp you got for Giovanni's shrimp truck

[00:25:53.140] - Amber or Macky's you know, it's like a big rivalry.

[00:25:55.680] - Amber So you got to, I guess, eat from both and then choose, which is the one that you're going to support

[00:25:59.710] - Kim and then get some Massimo's shaved ice afterwards.

[00:26:02.860] - Amber Exactly. Yes, that is exactly what you need to do.

[00:26:06.890] - Kim Cool. So do you have any final tips for listeners who are considering a visit to Hawaii during these times of covid anything to keep in mind that they should be aware of?

[00:26:17.920] - Amber I think just do your homework, make sure you stay on top of updates, because unfortunately things do change, you know, as numbers change. So I think that way you're just prepared, you know what's going to happen. Make sure that you talk to the resort before you go so that you know what their policies are as far as, you know, the pool and stuff like that, activities that you're going to be doing.

[00:26:35.180] - Amber So you have proper expectations when you get there. And then I mean, I know like sponsorship with Vault health, but I just was so impressed with them. I keep telling everybody about their services.

[00:26:46.720] - Tamara And then I guess I think it's probably important to make sure when you're doing that research about Hawaii to understand your home state, you know, and if they have, you know, travel restrictions, I mean, luckily, Hawaii is the one state that whose numbers aren't going up as much.

[00:27:00.640] - Tamara So maybe they're not on your travel restriction list. But, you know, to know if you have to quarantine when you get back or anything like that,

[00:27:06.670] - Amber that's a really good point. And I think all of that, yeah, I was going to say, like California just went on lockdown now. And I think also a cancellation policies. A friend of mine had booked Kauai and was having trouble with their Airbnb, canceling that trip after California had a lockdown. Hawaii now has restrictions, not letting people in. So I think just, you know, making sure that you go in fully aware, like really make sure you're reading everything, asking questions.

[00:27:29.830] - Amber I think it's important right now because travel can be done.

[00:27:32.440] - Amber It's just a little bit more work.

[00:27:34.940] - Kim Yeah, and just like you said, I know Delta has promised to keep the middle seats empty, I think through March and I know Alaska is through January, they're keeping their middle seats empty. And they are I think those those statements come with an Asterix, though, sometimes like if the flight ends up canceled or sold out or I don't know how that works, but it's definitely something to keep in mind also is getting their things to research and be aware of good will.

[00:27:59.450] - Tamara We have a fun question for you. And I always think of things I don't know you may not want me to say a fashion icon, but you're always very stylish. And so I would love to hear from you what some of your favorite brands are. What what do you like to wear when you travel lately?

[00:28:14.600] - Amber I've really loved Albian Fit, and it might be because I just did, you know, Hawaii. But their travel clothes are ones that I've had for years and they, like, don't go out of fashion. So I love it because I can just add a couple of pieces and, you know, it changes that the outfit I like to do those capsule wardrobes. And I think because they sell really high quality basics that are good for travel that they're kind of my go to.

[00:28:34.190] - Amber And their swimsuits, honestly, are the best fitting swimsuits I like the most comfortable in those.

[00:28:39.530] - Tamara Oh, that's nice. I love places that you can go to where you don't need to bring like so many extras and you like jackets and things like that because then you can fit more in your bag, you know.

[00:28:50.390] - Amber Yes. I want it so easy. Yeah. One of my favorite outfits I always see you in Amber that you always pull off so well. It's just like a T-shirt with a blazer

[00:28:58.580] - Kim and you wear the cutest little blazers. And every time I try to look for like a cute, like t shirt blazer combo, the Blazers are always like too long or too structured. So I don't know. I'll have to ask you later where you where you find your cute little khaki colored beige blazers.

[00:29:13.550] - Amber I get them at Chicos. Everyday I get teased, but I always find, like, super cute like wraps. I think they call those ones like Rhona's or something like that. I might be saying it wrong, but those and blazers at Chico's and you can usually find them on sale too online.

[00:29:27.950] - Tamara Thanks for your tips. That's great. So maybe we can just remind our listeners where they can find you online. And I imagine with California's recent lock down that you're not going anywhere anytime soon. But, you know, at least they can follow you online and you always post so much from your adorable family.

[00:29:46.670] - Amber So there's still some trips because that's what I did. I decided to give away trips all through twenty, twenty one. And the travel is good through like twenty, twenty two. So, you know, somebody can travel someday since I'm but some are twenty, twenty one.

[00:30:02.840] - Amber Right. People can follow us at global underscore munchkins on Instagram and then global munchkins dot com online.

[00:30:11.200] - Tamara Perfect. Well, thanks so much for being on to share your recent experience with who I am glad that you guys had a wonderful time. I'm glad that you came back relaxed and ready to face whatever the next few months bring.

[00:30:22.570] - Amber Right. Yeah. Thanks so much. Thanks so much for having me. Yeah. Thanks so much, Kim.

[00:30:29.910] - Kim Well, thanks for joining us for another week here at Vacation MAVEN's. And you definitely want to tune in next week. What are we going to be talking about Tamara?

[00:30:36.610] - Tamara We are going to be talking to someone who's going to teach us how families can fly free and that includes to Hawaii.

[00:30:42.940] - Tamara And you can do that just within a few months.

[00:30:45.520] - Tamara So, yeah, tune in, because I think we're all thinking about how to make our budgets stretch and still keep our travel dreams alive. So tune in on the next episode. Talk to you then. Bye bye.

View Details

Like everything, skiing is going to look a little different this year. This week on the podcast, Kim and Tamara talk about what to expect if you are planning a day trip or ski vacation this winter. Be prepared to make reservations, limited capacity, longer lift lines, and new lodge and shuttle procedures. Get the scoop!

What to Expect at a Ski Resort in 2020-2021 * Due to Covid, most resorts will ask you to book reservations in advance, which will make going for a last minute weekend trips harder. * Priority for reservations has been given to season or EPIC pass holders. * You are really going to have to do your research for the resorts you will want to go and find out what the rules and regulations are for booking your trip. You will also need to look into how you are going to get there. If you are going into a different state for your ski vacation you will also need to look into what that state's rules are for coming and going. * Many ski resorts will not be running parking shuttles and/or mountain shuttles. If they are running, it will be at lower capacity and the wait times might be longer. * A lot of Ski lodge eateries are going to require reservations. So you will need to plan out your runs more so that you don’t miss your reservation. Some places will also have a time limit that you will even be able to spend at your table. So no relaxing with a drink while you wait for your family to be done with a lesson or run. * It will be easiest to stay in a ski in/ski out condo where you can make your own meals. * If you or your child are going to need lessons, you will need to make reservations in advance. There likely will not be any full day ski programs for kids. * Social distancing is a challenge in ski rental shops. It may be easier to arrange for ski rentals from a local ski shop and bring them with you. Alternatively, you can rent from someone that will deliver to your accommodations. * You should look at your local state park websites and see if they offer any other winter activities like snowshoeing, sledding or even just playing in the snow.

Mentioned on the Podcast Ski.com

Episode 117 - Ski Resorts in the US for Family Travel

Episode 37 - Planning a Family Ski Trip

Read the Full Transcript [00:00:00.090] - Kim What to know before hitting the slopes this winter.

[00:00:15.130] - Announcer Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:30.340] - Tamara So Kim, winter is here and we are starting to think about what we're going to do outside since we know there's not a lot to do inside besides stay in our home. And I think you guys have really started to enjoy skiing a lot. Do you have plans to go skiing this winter?

[00:00:47.160] - Kim Yeah, so we well, we had originally been thinking of going to Jackson Hole and that trip has been canceled, obviously. And so we are definitely sticking close to home. Thankfully, we have a local ski resort that's only about an hour and 15 minutes away that we like to go to. And it is an Epic Pass resort.

[00:01:06.090] - Kim So we every year we kind of buy a four pack of passes for this resort and we go, you know, about once a month, sometimes twice. And so, yeah, we're planning on doing that again. It was a little different this year than what we've done in the past. So that was kind of the biggest change for us. But we're still planning on, you know, going skiing. We just know because of the changes, we're not able to just go, hey, do you guys want to go skiing this weekend?

[00:01:30.360] - Kim Because, and that's what I'll go into I guess, is we bought our Epic Pass, which we normally end up buying them in October, that is when they start going on sale for the cheapest prices.

[00:01:40.620] - Kim So it's kind of weird to be thinking that far ahead. But they start promoting and telling you to like buy in I think even August and September, they start selling the passes and by October they're giving you like, OK, it's the final day. You know, you need to get this purchased right away. And you can buy an Epic Pass that covers like a whole bunch of the Vail Resorts across the West Coast and even a lot of resorts in the East Coast also.

[00:02:04.020] - Kim Or we buy just a four pack to our local resort that's close by and it's a little bit cheaper because it's a smaller resort. So we did that this year and got that purchase in advance. But then we got a notice that we had to make reservations for what days we want to go skiing this year, which is the big change, I think, that people might not be prepared for.

[00:02:24.570] - Tamara Yeah, I've noticed that too. I've seen you know, I've kind of been tracking what's going on, even though I don't think we're going to be going skiing because there is actually one ski hill in Rhode Island, which is where you go to learn to ski, you know, initially.

[00:02:39.510] - Tamara And I think Hannah did the black diamond after like six lessons, you know, so it's it's not much of a of a ski experience unless you're a little tiny kid learning to ski.

[00:02:50.610] - Tamara But I've been listening to what's going on. And definitely it seems like many of the mountains are moving to this reservation system. I listened to a whole session from Ski Vermont, with all the different ski resorts kind of talking about their changes for this year. And it seems like some of the smaller mountains are not requiring reservations, but definitely all the bigger ones are.

[00:03:14.930] - Tamara Not only that, but they're giving priority to reservations for pass holders. I think some of them are opening up for reservations on like December 8th. But the pass holders have already made all their reservations. So you're basically left with the leftovers at that point.

[00:03:32.550] - Kim Yeah, that's been the biggest thing that the emails were suggesting and that I've seen is that pass holders have priority. So people who have like Epic Pass and Icon Pass and stuff like that.

[00:03:41.820] - Kim And even, you know, if you have a season pass for that ski resort, they're giving those pass holders first option to book their their days.

[00:03:52.050] - Kim So if you're planning on just buying a, you know, regular ski pass, you might have some trouble on the weekends getting a date. So it's definitely something you need to look into and be prepared for.

[00:04:03.630] - Tamara Yeah, I know that in the past we've mostly done ski weekends when we go to Maine or Vermont and those you book in advance anyway because of your accommodations and you kind of hope for the best weather. But for more local things, sometimes I've been tempted to like go on Lifttopia and buy some passes in advance.

[00:04:21.510] - Tamara But then I'm like, well, suppose like the weather isn't great, you know, because it varies so much and I've always like held off and now it's like, well, you're really locked in, especially, you know, it's one thing if you're making it like a weekend and it's if you if it isn't a great ski day, maybe the resort has like other things to do.

[00:04:39.180] - Tamara But for you guys, where it's just like, OK, we're driving an hour and 15 minutes, we're going to ski this day, you know what? If the snow is terrible, what if it rains? There's like a lot more risk involved.

[00:04:54.210] - Kim There's definitely a lot more risk because we've had those days where it's like, oh, it's you know, especially later in the spring here, out here by us, we they have something called Cascade Concrete. And as it gets towards, you know, February, March, the snow gets really wet and the way it falls really heavy and fast and wet, it's it's just like you get locked into place, like you can't even move. One time in March, our in-laws are visiting and they actually know where they had to carry like Lizzie and Mia down the hill because they couldn't even ski or move.

[00:05:26.940] - Kim And their body weight isn't enough to break through the the thickness of the snow. So, yeah, I mean, if you pick a day and it's snowing heavy like that and you've got that really wet snow, you're kind of just wasted your pass day and you don't have as much freedom to go, oh, let's not go today because, you know, it's a lot of wet snow. So that's kind of a bummer.

[00:05:45.740] - Tamara Yeah, we have that issue a little bit differently, but we get a lot of, ice and, things like that or, sometimes like last winter, there wasn't a lot of snow, so you could get up there and it's only the snow that they've made and that might be really icy. And I don't I don't really like skiing when it's only the snow that they've made because it's bare next to where your are skiing.

[00:06:07.730] - Tamara And I know one time we were up in Okemo in Vermont, like one of the first weekends that they were open and they had such a base built up on the trails. But if you went off the edge of the trail, it was like you were just dropping down a few feet onto the ground. And it was also a weekend. It was like the first weekend ski racing was open and they were one of the first ones open in the state.

[00:06:31.050] - Tamara So like all the ski racers in the in the whole state were there on the slopes, meanwhile, we're not confident skiers. And you got ski racers, zooming by you and. Yeah, this drop off the edge. We're like, oh, this is not an ideal experience. We're used to going in January, February like that. Not early in the season.

[00:06:50.000] - Tamara Yeah. So I think that that's definitely an issue and it's but there's no way around it, you know, unless you are going to one of the smaller ski mountains, that doesn't require a reservation.

[00:06:58.280] - Tamara I think really as with everything when it comes to covid and travel right now, it's doing your research during your research, not being a last minute planner and making sure that you're really reading through the website and the protocols and you're planning in advance and which, again, planning in advance a little bit difficult these days when you're like, I don't know what travel restrictions will change or will I be healthy and, you know, all those kind of things.

[00:07:25.880] - Tamara So it's definitely it's a challenge. But hopefully, when people are out there, you'll feel like normal and you can enjoy the outdoors, the views, the exercise.

[00:07:38.450] - Kim I think skiing would be the perfect kind of vacation getaway for 2020 or even, you know, winter 2021. Seems like it would be perfect. So we'll see. I think, though, if you're a first time skier and or if you're not really confident or if you're not into stresses and stuff like that, I probably would say this might be the winter to hold off and, you know, plan for that next ski vacation next winter, because I think there are going to be a lot of a lot of extra hiccups and things to think through.

[00:08:13.310] - Kim So just now we've talked about the reservations and getting on the hill. But just getting to the hill is going to be another consideration people have to take into account. I've heard that some places are reserving parking lot reservations to be able to actually drive and park and other resorts are not running the mountain shuttles that normally would pick up in the town and drive you up to the mountain.

[00:08:37.340] - Kim I think that some of those shuttles are either not being run at all or if they are, they're being run at a very low capacity, which is going to affect wait times and things.

[00:08:45.830] - Tamara And there's nothing I hate more than having to schlep all my stuff and standing around and waiting for a shuttle. It's so irritating and frustrating. My biggest recommendation for this year would be splurge for the ski in, ski out like condo or hotel.

[00:09:06.800] - Tamara I remember one year we were up at Mount Snow and Hannah had a fever, which, you know, thinking back like that would been a whole different thing now.

[00:09:16.040] - Tamara But she really wanted to try to ski and we didn't realize how sick she was. So we were on the lift and her head whent down an clunked against the bar and I was like, oh my God, she is going to pass out on the lift. So I got her down and we went and we had to wait for a shuttle to get back to our condo. And I'm holding both of our stuff because she's too sick and I'm like propping her up and trying to get us on.

[00:09:45.410] - Tamara I think our listeners might know that one of my favorite places to ski is Sun River in Maine. And there we usually do a ski in ski out condo. But there have been times where we might be staying off property and Glenn might drop us off at the front and then he would go park.

[00:10:03.380] - Tamara And of course unless you're there really early, you have to park pretty far away and hope that there's a shuttle, but you can always walk it. In a lot of places, it's just too far to walk. Also at Sunday River and a lot of mountains, there are multiple mountains on the resort. So you can ski, take one lift up and you're skiing around and you kind of ski down another side. And then to get back to your original lodge, you have to take a shuttle if you don't want to go back up another trail.

[00:10:34.820] - Tamara I definitely think, like every step of the experience, you have to think about what that's going to look like. If you are there for the day, a lot of times you just shove your bag either in a locker or just in the lodge somewhere and hope nobody takes it and you just leave there and you go back whenever you need to get it, that's going to look different this year.

[00:10:53.620] - Kim Yeah, definitely. Everything you're saying is exactly what I think some of the things are that people have to consider. And I know that the other thing we should talk about is renting gear as its going to be another huge factor because people are cannot be crammed in a line and at the rental store waiting for their gear, it's going to have to be spread out.

[00:11:17.230] - Kim And there's really going to be longer waits because they're not going to be able to cram in. I'm sure you've had this. I don't know how often you've rented, but there's like ten people on a bench and you're all getting fitted with your boots and all that stuff.

[00:11:28.480] - Tamara We almost always rent because Hannah had some when she was younger, but she doesn't anymore. And Glenn has boots but not skis. So, yeah, we're always renting something. I think rentals are going to look totally different. Yeah. What we've done a lot of times is rent locally at a local ski shop and then bring it up with us.

[00:11:47.380] - Kim Yeah, I agree. We have all of our own gear and so when we go locally we just take our gear, of course. And but when we've gone on trips we've always rented. But I do know something that people will want to look into is a lot of rentals will actually deliver your rentals if you're staying on property. And so if you have that option, if you are going somewhere, you're going to need rent. Try and find an outfitter that will deliver to your condo or whatever, because I think that's going to be that's always better anyways, because you waiting in those lines on their first morning is brutal.

[00:12:21.310] - Tamara oh, I hate that. I always try if we can get in like the night before, before it closes, to pick up then. But sometimes you have only a certain number of hours or days. When I was booking travel for people I used ski.com and they did a lot of total packages where it was the accommodations, the lift tickets, and the rentals that were delivered to your accommodations. And that was a really nice one stop shop, so it might be something that people would look into.

[00:12:52.960] - Kim Yeah, I think that's a good thing. So we've talked about reservations. We've talked about rentals. We've talked about shuttles and parking. What else do you think we should talk about? Probably eating. I think that's going to be another big thing. And the lodges.

[00:13:05.860] - Tamara Yeah, definitely. I've looked at a couple of the mountains that we've typically gone to, and they're all doing reduced capacity when it comes to how many people can be in either a restaurant or even the kind of the more self serve type of things. So that's good. And that, to me, is always such a pain, my preference, and I think you're this way, too, is to ski as long as I can. And go inside after the main lunch crowd has eaten. And then I'm basically done for the day. Once I warm up and I loosen my boots and all of that and I've had my my beer I'm about done.

[00:13:48.850] - Tamara But right now it looks like a lot of them are going to require a reservation for any of the sit down dining. And that impacts where you are on the mountain, how many more runs are you going to do, to get there in time for this reservation.

[00:14:07.210] - Tamara You can't always plan it out quite so perfectly, not like when you are in the lodge and walking down to the restaurant. And then also they're going to have a cap of the time that you spend there. So my whole thing of like, oh, let's have my ramen soup and my beer and just hang out until Hannah's done her lesson, maybe can't do that anymore.

[00:14:28.960] - Tamara I definitely think the ski in ski out would be so much easier. You can just go back to the condo and have your lunch there whenever you need to.

[00:14:40.360] - Kim I think this is the year to, like you said, splurge for the ski and ski out condo and do your grocery shopping and all that. Because I know we stayed. Was it last year? Was that two years ago now? Now I can't even remember at Keystone. And it was an amazing time. We loved that. And we stayed in there in Riverrun Village and it was a condo and we were in walking distance.

[00:15:02.170] - Kim I mean, it was a little bit of a walk, so you had to carry your gear and a lot of people had little wagons they would just pull behind them and carry their skis and boots and all that. But I think that it's definitely the year to do that because otherwise, your options are to packing lunch and snacks and all of that in the car.

[00:15:27.460] - Kim And so then when everybody's ready for lunch, we'll be coming back to the parking lot, sitting in the car, eating our lunch and stuff, and then gearing back up and going back to finish out the day skiing. Normally in our family, the girls get lunch in the lodge and they eat macaroni and cheese or whatever they want, and then head back out on the mountain and then on their way home, they grab an early dinner. And normally, I know this sounds crazy about McDonald's, but that's kind of their tradition.

[00:16:06.610] - Kim But I think your car is going to be your home base if you do not have a ski in ski out situation. I think that's what people should count on. And like I don't know how bathrooms are going to be handled because they're always so crazy and dirty.

[00:16:22.960] - Tamara I was just thinking about that. I wonder if they will put in porta potties. Can you imagine trying to go in a porta potty in a snowstorm? Oh my goodness.

[00:16:37.930] - Kim You know, this would be the year to make sure you have the pants and not the bibs with the suspenders because they're going to be hanging down on who knows what.

[00:16:45.670] - Tamara Yes. It's so funny because obviously we're middle aged women and our listeners know bathrooms are something we think about.

[00:16:54.220] - Tamara I was listening to this ski Vermont call and they were talking about lessons and, so we'll talk about lessons in a second. But one of the thing with lessons with little kids is some of them need some help, like you said, with all that gear, going to the bathroom. And so they were saying, we're not going to be able to do that. So you can only have a lesson if your child can, you know, go to the bathroom ourselves and all that.

[00:17:18.530] - Tamara For lessons I used to sign her up for a full day lesson and they would all go and eat lunch together in their own little space. But that's not going to be allowed anymore.

[00:17:28.660] - Tamara Obviously the size of lessons is going to be reduced. I think it's only going to be a half day or shorter lessons and then you can have a family lunch in between or something.

[00:17:40.630] - Kim There's going to be a lot of differences and reservations, of course.

[00:17:43.630] - Tamara Yeah. That's the one thing I've seen is that if you do want ski lessons, you need to make a reservation in advance. I'm curious how they'll do it. I don't know. I wonder if pricing will be higher because it's going to be semiprivate versus, you know, a big group of kids. So I don't know what that's going to look like because normally it's two kind of instructors and then like a class of like ten to twelve kids.

[00:18:22.690] - Tamara I know some of the resorts were debating whether or not they should even open because even just hiring, I'm thinking in Vermont, a lot of resorts might hire from out of state and you can't do that now.

[00:18:33.640] - Kim And so, yeah, I guess that they're living there.

[00:18:36.490] - Tamara You can, but you don't know like what capacity you're actually going to have.

[00:18:43.600] - Kim It's just really a huge task. And I really feel for the ski resorts trying to do their best. But there's so many contact points, you know, there's so many things to to think through for sure. And we didn't even talk about the lifts.

[00:18:59.230] - Tamara Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's going to be that's going to be interesting because obviously you can't travel up with someone that is not in your party. So lift lines might move a little slower. And I know in the past well, because I love the part of the mountain that's, you know, not the blacks. So I go I tend to ski near where the ski school is. And so often the kids will be coming up and they'll be like, can you take one? Can you take one? Which always stressed me out anyway. Like, I don't want to be responsible for my own.

[00:19:32.450] - Tamara I think I've talked about this before, but when you're already not a fully confident skier, especially, a few years ago before I had the experience that I do now, I was worried about getting myself off the lift, I didn't want to worry about a little kid.

[00:19:46.510] - Tamara And then the few times we brought up a little kid, they're fearless and they're just kicking their feet and they're leaning down. They're sliding down. I'm like, oh, my God, they're going to go under.

[00:19:54.540] - Kim Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[00:19:57.540] - Tamara And sometimes I would just be like, I'm really sorry, but I'm not comfortable because I don't want my kid with somebody that's not like fully comfortable.

[00:20:06.960] - Tamara Yeah. So it'll definitely be a little bit slower on the lines. And then I have a feeling though, more people, more resorts might be moving to the scanners or the RFID where you don't have to get close to scan somebody. So maybe that can go like a little faster.

[00:20:37.360] - Kim I think that it's going to be interesting also because I mean I'm thinking in those lines, like even when we talked to Rob with the Disneyland. Or I mean, Disney World and Universal, and he was talking about the switchbacks are skipped even, and I hadn't even considered that, like I was only thinking of the people, like in front of you being six feet apart.

[00:20:55.810] - Tamara But, yeah, when you have, like, a normal like a snake line formation where you're backtracking back and forth and zigzagging you, I mean, you got to skip six feet there, too.

[00:21:06.760] - Kim And so I don't know how the lines will work. I mean, I think in some ways it seems like it's going to be better because they're limiting the amount of people they're going to give passes to each day. But when you think of the limitations of, you know, only your party can go on the up the chairlift and things like that, it's going to look very different. And then I was even thinking like Keystone, they have a big tubing hill that's really fun and awesome.

[00:21:33.340] - Kim And I'm thinking of that because when we were there, you know, everyone's just grabbing their tube and rushing over to get back up the because you get to be there for like an hour.

[00:21:41.730] - Kim So the faster you are, getting off the hill and up back up the little conveyor belt that takes you up the mountain, the more rides you can get in. But that's just packed person to person to person. And so even that's going to be have to be spread out. So that's going to be a lot slower. And then you're not going to be waiting back to back with these people to go for your turn to go down the hill.

[00:22:04.240] - Kim So that's going to all just look very different. So I don't know what what's going to happen with some of those extracurricular things, too. But, yeah, I think the the lines on the chairlifts are going to be are going to move slower and they're probably going to be a lot more spread out than you're used to.

[00:22:18.760] - Tamara Yeah, because I'm thinking of different ones that I'm familiar with. And it's not necessarily the zigzag, but there might be three lines, coming in and then you alternate, when you get up to the front.

[00:22:40.480] - Tamara One thing that we haven't talked about yet, too, is just, travel restrictions. Yeah. I know that, you know, we we've been dealing with travel restrictions here for many months, but places like California and even Washington, you know, like you, you guys have started to implement at least recommendations or some restrictions. And, I think about Vermont was saying that they are usually so busy with people from New York and New Jersey that come up because they're one of the closest resorts for that.

[00:23:09.160] - Tamara And they don't anticipate that that would happen this year because they have a 14 day quarantine requirement or can do like seven days plus a test.

[00:23:20.020] - Tamara But you're certainly not going to have weekend people that are coming up. And I did ask because everyone's like, well, are they really checking? I asked a couple of the different major resorts and hotels and they actually said that they reach out to everyone that they see from out of state with an out-of-state reservation.

[00:23:38.620] - Tamara So this wouldn't probably be the same for some rentals, you know, but for at least hotels, if they see you're coming from a state that would require a quarantine, which is pretty much everyone, they reach out to you and they ask you like, what's your plan? And you have to submit something that says I'm quarantined at home or this is where I'm quarantining before I arrive.

[00:23:56.630] - Tamara So they are being proactive with it. So it's not like I'll just ignore that guideline.

[00:24:03.730] - Kim Yeah, I think that's one of the big reasons Washington and I think California is a recommended as well. I can't remember California, but they're not able to enforce it. And I think it's because you get to a certain level of people and they just can't follow up with every reservation in person. But that's good that it's being I mean, it's kind of like, again, going back to that idea of the theme parks you can have rules, but enforcing them is what's going to actually provide the the feeling of safety.

[00:24:33.700] - Tamara So definitely and honestly, I mean, we should just talk about the elephant that's in the room, which is we all know that right now there's not many places where cases aren't on the rise.

[00:24:44.770] - Tamara You know, things aren't looking good. So I think what you are planning is is good, right? You're local. You're just going to drive there and follow the protocols and enjoy your day. But in terms of, like ski travel, I think people really need to think about what that really would entail and whether or not that is something that they should really be taking part of right now.

[00:25:09.850] - Kim Well, I know this is kind of getting a little macabre, but even looking at if something does happen to you on a ski hill and you have a catastrophic accident or whatever, like, you know, ICU room beds and hospitals near some of these ski resorts and what are their what are their abilities to take care of you at that point?

[00:25:38.380] - Kim I know that Idaho is very popular ski resort, but I know last month they were asking Washington State whether they could take some patients and staff possible, they're trying to set up things to possibly take some patients because of the covid numbers on the rise there and the hospitals being full.

[00:25:56.660] - Kim So that's definitely another aspect, like you said, to keep in mind and whether people should be traveling or feel comfortable traveling right now and doing something that is kind of a, you know, not high risk sport, but it is a sport that comes with possible consequences.

[00:26:11.800] - Tamara It does. I know a number of people that have broken things. You know, I mean, it doesn't have to be completely catastrophic, but even that is exactly not ideal for sure. I mean, even here in Rhode Island, they opened field hospitals yesterday.

[00:26:31.360] - Kim So I think that's just something for everyone to keep in mind. We're not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but definitely something to consider. And and all of this information hopefully won't even be a problem. And if you just think, you know, try and maybe stay close to home and then look ahead to next winter might be a fabulous time. And you can really relax and enjoy it.

[00:26:55.480] - Tamara And for the people that don't live near a ski resort, it's definitely a good time to start thinking about next year. If you wanted to go back and listen to a couple of our previous episodes, I know we did Episode 117, which was 2019. We did an episode on the best ski resorts for families. And so that would give people a lot of ideas.

[00:27:17.680] - Tamara We tried to cover both the East Coast, West Coast, Colorado, Utah area. So we've got a lot that we covered in that one that would be good to go back and listen to. And then we did a previous episode. I can't remember the number of that one, but it was just kind of about planning your first ski trip for a family and things to keep in mind. So some good episodes to go back to two really good ones.

[00:27:39.190] - Kim I think skiing is a fun sport. It's expensive also. And I think that's another thing for people to just keep in mind is the the cost of lift tickets and everything, make sure you're looking into that in advance and rentals and getting that all figured out, you know, so you're not surprised by anything.

[00:27:54.730] - Tamara Yeah. And in the meantime, I think that there's also other ways to get outside this winter. I know that snowshoeing is going to be really popular as well as Nordic skiing, because there you don't have to deal with some of the same issues in terms of the lines and things like that. And and many times, if a resort offers Nordic or snowshoeing, many times it's out of a separate lodge or soopers facility, you know, so you're not always dealing with the the main crowd.

[00:28:23.770] - Tamara It's funny, there have been so many different things where I've predicted like, oh, there's going to be a run on that. I'm like there's going to be a run on snow shoes by that. It's funny though because I forget we were watching, but it was like a commercial or something. And they're like, this is hard to find. And Hannah looked at me and she was like, you just said, that was going to be hard to find like a month ago. And I'm like, I should go play the lottery.

[00:28:46.570] - Kim Yeah, exactly. You should be in marketing. So that makes sense.

[00:28:53.050] - Kim Well, and that was what I was going to say, is I actually and I feel kind of stupid for not realizing this, but I actually recently looked up because I was trying to figure out if I could find snow anywhere near as that has like an easy parking lot for like from some photos I wanted to get. And I realized that in our state if youlook up your state park system, so for me, Washington state parks, and you can find that they actually have snow parks. And these are parks that are specifically designed for people to just go play in the snow. So you can do you can park at a trailhead and you can go snowshoeing or you can, you know, build a snowman or you can go sledding and things like that. And some have there's also some winter recreation parks specifically for like snowmobiles.

[00:29:35.950] - Kim And then they'll have like non motorized that are specifically, again, for people to be able to go snowshoeing and play in the snow and sledding. So if you're curious and you want to get out and enjoy the winter, look up your state park system and see what they have listed for like winter recreation, because you might be surprised and find that there's some, you know, parks specifically for snow play and or trails specifically for, you know, like you said, snowshoeing and Nordic skiing.

[00:30:00.310] - Kim So don't be scared to look on your local state park website.

[00:30:04.420] - Tamara That's a great recommendation. Definitely not something that I think I have here. But, you know, many places that would have larger state park systems or more opportunity for snow probably would. So it's great.

[00:30:16.690] - Kim Yeah, well, you just go in your backyard, right?

[00:30:18.970] - Tamara Well, hopefully not too much. I mean, we did have that one snow in October, but last year we didn't get very much. I really enjoy snowshoeing. You know, I've done it a couple of times. I've always surprised by what hard work it is, you know. But I would like to get snow shoes. But they're a little pricey. I mean, you can get them for like one hundred and fifty or so.

[00:30:42.580] Yeah. Good ones. Because if you're going to buy some, you want to splurge a little because you want the lightweight ones, because it is hard work and lifting your feet up and stuff, you definitely want the you want the titanium ones, not the stainless steel or whatever.

[00:30:57.440] - Tamara And then I'm like, do I really want to get them now when I don't really want to spend money and who knows if it'll snow or not. And you know, it's one of those things.

[00:31:13.590] - Kim Yeah, well, it might be a time to look also on your local Craigslist or Facebook marketplace, because people might be upgrading their snowshoes this year and getting rid of older ones.

[00:31:23.490] - Tamara You know, you never know. It's funny. Right before the pandemic, I've had my basement for years. Hannah's old skis and and ski boots, like from when she was really little that I have never bothered to bring to a place to sell.

[00:31:35.280] - Tamara And I keep thinking, should I donate it or should I sell it? So I had that for a while. And then I had a chest freezer that we just hadn't used in years. And before the pandemic, I sold both of them. But I sold both of them. And I'm like, well, that was bad timing. Like, I could have gotten so much more. So much more. And it's funny, I guess I'm good with some timing and bad with others.

[00:32:04.110] But hopefully we'll all find some ways to get outdoors this winter because we'll need we'll need it. We'll need the fresh air. We'll need the change of scenery. I know there used to be so many places that we would go in the winter to, you know, be entertained even when it's freezing out. And those are not places that I feel comfortable going right now.

[00:32:24.120] - Kim Well, most of them are not open anyway. Yeah, I was going to say I feel like for us, it's cruising is always a very popular thing for people to go down to the Caribbean and take a cruise. And I don't know where people are going to escape to this winter.

[00:32:36.960] - Tamara Well, I know that we will be inside a bit more this winter and not really going to many places. But do you have any holiday plans? Do you have any special traditions or things that you're going to put in place for the girls to try to make it as festive as you can?

[00:32:52.900] - Kim I think it's probably going to be a pretty standard holiday for us. We already if some people follow me on Instagram, they already maybe saw that one of our biggest traditions because we live in Washington state is that we we go and pick out our Christmas tree at a local Christmas tree farm in advance.

[00:33:08.830] - Kim And so we you know, at the beginning of November, we go and you walk around their farm and you pick the tree you want and you wrap it up and you take off a little tag and they write it down that this is your tree. And so then we went the weekend of Thanksgiving and we actually cut down our tree and brought it home and then we'll decorate it and everything. So that's kind of one of our big holiday traditions. And it is interesting, though, is that girls have gotten older.

[00:33:32.620] - Kim They're less like into it, as we used to be, which is kind of sad. But so we're we're sticking with that. And then we'll just have our standard, you know, holiday. My mom is our she's lives out here and she's alone. And so she part of kind of our bubble unit. And so we'll have her over for Christmas. And that's that's about it. It'll be a pretty easy at home. We had planned to go to Canada like we try and add in Canada a couple every few years.

[00:33:59.500] - Kim And we were this was supposed to be a Canada Christmas year. So for us, we are not going to Canada for Christmas, but we will still have a wonderful time at home and just relax. And I know that Paul has a bunch of vacation time, so he's going to be taking off. I think he gets like the two weeks, the last two weeks of the year off. So that'll be a nice little thing to have just some family time at home.

[00:34:21.580] - Tamara That's good. Hopefully he can do some skiing.

[00:34:24.400] - Kim Yeah, exactly. We've got a couple a few days. We've got four days booked, so. Yeah. So what about you guys? Do you have any holiday plans this month and in the year?

[00:34:33.610] - Tamara This will be definitely very different for us because we're never home on Christmas. You know, we always go down to my mom's house and we see my whole family for Christmas and she lives in New Jersey. And it's if we put our whole like my immediate family, my brothers, my sisters, their kids, now, they're kids, kids together. I think we're like twenty six people. So that is not happening. So it'll be sad.

[00:34:57.490] - Tamara I'll be the first time ever that we've been home for Christmas. And as you guys know, like we have a Jewish home, so we don't have a Christmas tree and all that kind of stuff. And I've never really thought about it because we're just not here. I don't want to miss the specialness of it, but I don't know quite what to do to create it. You know, it's only it's just the three of us.

[00:35:26.080] - Tamara It's always just the three of us, you know, like we don't have anybody nearby. So I'm not sure. But I think what I will enjoy is the fact that this month is going to be quieter. You know, usually it feels like such a rush and so busy and so I don't feel like making Christmas cookies because I always go down to New Jersey and my sister makes like twenty six kinds of cookies and my brother makes like twenty kinds.

[00:35:52.630] - Tamara My mom makes like twenty kinds and they all give us like these big tins of cookies and we come back and we have cookies for like months. So I was like OK Hannah like let's make some cookies, like let's pick which ones we want to make. We're going to make cookies and we'll deliver them to like her friends and, you know, we'll deliver them to people. So that'll make us feel like we're doing something special. And then a lot of times, like for Hanukkah, it is like on top of Christmas or it's like too early.

[00:36:18.700] - Tamara It's you know, it's like it's never a great time. And we like I like to make potato pancakes and applesauce.

[00:36:29.380] - Tamara And when I do it, I make like pounds and pounds of potatoes. So it's like a whole day affair, like I'm frying for hours and then my entire house smells. The kitchen is like coated in grease. So it's basically like my time to deep clean the kitchen. I cook all day and then I clean it all spraying down the cabinets and everything like it, everything really clean, you know.

[00:36:53.740] - Tamara But I don't always have time to do that. So some years I'm like, oh, I'm just not like making them this year because it's not worth the effort to just make a few. It's like you want to make a lot. So I think this year, like that weekend, that Hanukkah falls over, like I'll just make a bunch of latkes and maybe do the same, like give them out to some people and, you know, make it festive.

[00:37:14.680] - Tamara We are going to do like a drive through holiday lights thing.

[00:37:22.390] - Tamara But you know what to figure out as we go. I mean it in a way it's like nice to not have to travel, but our Christmas is like this Christmas spectacular of you know, we drive down to New Jersey and Christmas Eve is at my brother's house and he has done for thirty years, I think, like where he does appetizers and we look forward to certain appetizers that he does.

[00:37:43.120] - Tamara And then Christmas Day, we used to always go to my sister's house and now we go to my nephew's house. And then the day after Christmas, my mom does a whole big dinner and we. Are all at her house, you know, and then we drive home the next day and sometimes we stop at New York, in New York on the way home and we see some family there, or we visit the, you know, the Christmas decorations in New York City, you know, do something like that.

[00:38:04.900] - Tamara So it's it's always been like a big thing. So it's going to be like definitely really different. And if anybody wants to send me a little holiday cheer message, I'm sure that I will appreciate it at that time because I'm going to be just, like, bored.

[00:38:21.260] - Kim Do you guys do light a menorah?

[00:38:23.530] - Tamara We do at home. So, yeah, we'll be at least you'll be home for more of the and we'll all be here, which a lot of years like, you know, Glenn is traveling or something.

[00:38:31.870] - Tamara So like I'll do the candles with Hannah, but then we don't always do like I used to always get her eight gifts and she would open one a day. This year she needed a new computer. So she's not getting gifts.

[00:38:43.840] - Kim So you're like, here's a monitor, here's a mouse. Here's your cell, you know?

[00:38:49.870] - Tamara Yeah, it'll it'll be different. In the New Year's Eve, we always the last quite a few number of years have done with our neighbors that live up the street. And they also love food the way that we do. And so Glenn and Greg just cook this amazing, like multi course, like gourmet food. We have caviar, we have oysters. Like, it's amazing. It's this it's actually my favorite day of the entire year.

[00:39:16.090] - Tamara And I don't you know, I don't know if there'll be a way to do that safely or not. I was like, well, maybe we can deliver courses to each other and cook, like, over a face time. I don't know, we have to figure out if there's a way, we'll be quarantined.

[00:39:27.670] - Tamara So if you guys are willing to quarantine ahead of time because we don't we won't be seeing anyone, then we'd be good. But I think they would do it, but I'm not so sure their sons would be willing to do that.

[00:39:39.610] - Kim Teenagers make things a little tricky. Well, and we have right now that with Lizzie has a job now outside the home. So that's she's kind of our biggest risk for our family because the rest of us are at home all the time. So yeah, it's definitely gets interesting. It's really hard to find someone that you can, you know, pod up with that.

[00:40:23.050] - Kim Yeah, well, hopefully it'll work out and that you guys will have some new memories and discover some fun ways, you know, fun activities together and stuff. I hope it works out. And for all of our listeners, this is going to be our last episode for the year. So we are wrapping up 2020. It was definitely a different year than other years for Vacation Mavens. And hopefully you guys have enjoyed what we've still shared. And we really appreciate you guys coming along during these crazy times.

[00:40:50.950] - Kim And, you know, joining us every other week to listen to what we ramble on about.

[00:40:57.010] - Tamara Yeah, we definitely really, really appreciate it, especially sticking with us when, you know, we all know we're not traveling as much as possible. And we always love those kind of encouraging messages that listeners send about different episodes or just when when we realize that someone that follows us on Instagram is also a listener, you know, things like that. It's just it's very heartwarming. And we definitely appreciate it.

[00:41:21.430] - Kim And we hope that you all have a very safe and wonderful holiday season. We will be back, you know, next year, probably going to stick to our every other week schedule for a while until at least until travel should pick up more. And we actually enjoy having a little extra time in our schedules, too. So definitely. Anyway, wishing everyone a very happy holiday. Yeah. Happy holidays, everyone. Thanks again by.

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Lake Tahoe is a great outdoors destination with plentiful vacation rental homes perfect for social distancing. This week we chat with Leslie Harvey from Trips with Tykes about her family's experience visiting the Lake Tahoe area in the winter and the summer. Find out her favorite ski resorts for families, the differences between North Lake and South Lake and California side and Nevada side.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

07:55 - Talking with Leslie Harvey

09:05 - Where to go in Lake Tahoe

12:58 - Winter destinations

14:00 - Ski Resorts

17:55 - When to go

19:50 - Where to stay

22:05 - Outdoor/Water Activities

23:30 - FInal tips

27:35 - Ski clothing tip

30:10 - Giveaways!

ABOUT LESLIE HARVEY Leslie Harvey is a family travel writer who publishes the blog Trips With Tykes. She co-hosts both the Disney Deciphered and Disneyland with Kids podcasts and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow Leslie on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING LAKE TAHOE * Lake Tahoe covers a huge area between California and Nevada. If you were to drive all the way around the lake it would take a solid two hours. There are so many different towns and scenes around the lake. * The Nevada side of the lake has more of your party scene with the casinos and big resorts. While the California side and part of the North side of the lake on the Nevada side are the more family-friendly areas. * If you have never been to Lake Tahoe before the towns of Truckee, Kings Beach and Tahoe City are great spots to find reasonably-priced lodging. Especially if you are going with kids. * The town of Kings Beach is located right along the water at the north end of the lake and is a great destination for a winter vacation. There are a lot of great vacation rentals and it is in a great location to be able to easily get to a lot of different ski resorts. * Northstar Ski Resort is a great place to take kids skiing. The resort has a great ski school as well as tubing, an ice rink and even a daycare for non-skiing kids. * Diamond Peak Ski Resort is also a great resort to take kids skiing. It’s not as well known but one big plus about this resort for families is that the kids ski free! * Summer is the most popular time for vacationers to visit Lake Tahoe. If you want to go in the warm months, the lake will be warmest from late July to early August. Though the lake is most crowded in the summer months there are ways to avoid major crowded areas. * If you are looking to really avoid crowds and maybe get better deals on lodging, the month of September will be your best bet. It will not be as crowded as the summer months but it is usually still decently warm and prices will go down being that it is out of peak season. * Though the water is mostly too cold to really swim in, you can rent a boat and explore, go kayaking, fishing, take cruise tours, etc. * Off the lake there are some great hiking areas and the ski resort trails actually turn into mountain biking trails if you are like to do that. * Driving times can be a little tricky both in the summer with the crowds and the winter with the weather. You really need to be prepared to rearrange your plans in the winter if you are relying on driving places. Depending on the weather, roads do close quite often and it is not just smaller roads that will close but highways too. You will really want to keep that in mind when you are planning a winter vacation to Lake Tahoe. * If you are planning to go this winter you really want to do your research for Covid restrictions. Make sure that things will work for you and you will be comfortable going. Some ski resorts you will require reservations.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Leslie recommends that if you have younger kids you should really think about buying gender neutral clothing, especially if you have boys and girls. Ski gear is so expensive and buying neutral colors will make it easier to pass them down to your younger kids or even to cousins. Getting the most out of the gear seeing as kids grow out of clothing so fast.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST First Timer’s Guide to Lake Tahoe

Northstar Ski Resort

Diamond Peak Ski Resort

The Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe

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Wondering what it is like to visit one of the Florida theme parks during these COVID times? This week the Mavens chat with Rob Taylor from 2TravelDads to get his take on the safety protocols at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Find out what you need to know to decide whether or not now is a good time to visit Orlando.

ON THE PODCAST This podcast is sponsored by Moon Travel Guides. Learn more about The Open Road: 50 Best Road Trips in the USA. All opinions are our own.

00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

04:10 - Talking with Rob Taylor

06:40 - Feeling comfortable with travel

12:40 - Transportation for the parks

15:25 - Social distancing on rides

21:15 - Available Passes

24:05 - Arriving at the park

26:45 - Food at the park

33:30 - Final tips

37:16 - Rob's Travel Gear

39:20 - Up next for Rob and his family

ABOUT ROB TAYLOR Rob Taylor is the founder of 2TravelDads, the original LGBT Family Travel blog. Focusing on ecotourism and education, 2TravelDads inspires LGBT families (and traditional families also) to go beyond their usual getaways and use travel to learn about and be part of a bigger world. "Traveling the globe and giving the kids a broad worldview."

Follow Rob on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING DISNEY WORLD * Visiting an amusement park may not be in your comfort zone yet, due to the pandemic. You should research the protocols in place carefully and see if travel is something your family feels comfortable with at this time. * Shuttle, Monorail, moving walkways, and trams are all still operating (with limited capacity and social distancing). Though keep in mind that some of these may not be 100% enforced -- Disney is much better about enforcing protocols than Universal from what Rob has observed. * Stay observant of your surroundings. If one area of the park is getting more packed than you are comfortable with, try to explore another area of the park. * Each park is probably going to manage ride spacing differently. Disney ride lines have markers for where to stand and the zig-zag parts will have extra spacing so that you are not stopped directly next to someone, or plexiglass walls separating each zig-zag portion from the next. * Just because there is reduced capacity at the parks doesn't mean ride lines will necessarily be shorter. * In the case of Disney, they will frequently close down a ride in order to deep clean the seats and handles to help minimize any potential germ spread. * You can still purchase Express Passes with your ticket at Universal Orlando, or receive them free if you are staying at one of their premium properties that includes Express Passes. * Disney FastPass+ is not currently available. * Disney is very good at enforcing the rule where you can take masks off to eat and drink, but only while you are stationary. Universal also has designated areas that you can take off your mask even if you are not eating or drinking. * Indoor dining seems to be managed very well compared to the outdoor mobile order dining. * Everyone's comfort level is going to be different. Do your research beforehand if you want to find out the specifics for what they are doing to keep social distance, but keep in mind that anywhere can make these rules and signage but what makes the big difference is how well a place is enforcing these rules. * Keep in mind that if you are planning to visit these parks that means that you will be traveling into Florida. Florida does not make it mandatory to wear masks. They have left it up to individual business on what they want to enforce. If you are coming from a stricter state this may be surprising to you. While the Parks themselves are stricter the state of Florida is different. Think beyond the Theme Park for your visit!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Rob packs for travel based on the weather instead of focusing on any favorite items. He makes sure to add pieces that are colorful, to make for fun photos, and are comfortable. For shoes, he recommends shoes that are comfortable, versatile and NOT brand new! You should never break in shoes on a vacation.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Moon Travel Guides

Disney World in COVID

Universal During Coronavirus

Disney vs Universal with COVID

Disney vs Universal During Normal Life

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Are you intrigued by the music, food, and culture of Cuba? Find out what it is like to travel to Cuba with kids as we speak to Deborah Haile, author of a series of children's books about traveling with kids.

ON THE PODCAST This podcast is sponsored by Moon Travel Guides. Learn more about The Open Road: 50 Best Road Trips in the USA. All opinions are our own.

00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

08:27 - Talking with Deborah

10:07 - Traveling to Cuba

17:28 - When to go

18:45 - How long to stay

23:19 - What to do

32:20 - Jonah’s Global Footprints book series

38:09 - Final Tips

42:11 - Deborah’s favorite travel gear

43:14 - Where she is heading next

ABOUT DEBORAH HAILE Deborah Haile is the CEO of Tiny Global Footprints and the author of Jonah's Global Footprints book series. She holds a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University and a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology from University of Minnesota. Deborha loves traveling the world with her son Jonah, and sees a world where working moms have the tools they need to be able to make international travel with their children a priority and a possibility. She is originally from Eritrea, but grew up in Minnesota, lived in Virginia and recently moved to Miami. She is extremely passionate about exposing children to global cultures.

Follow Deborah on Instagram.

TIPS FOR VISITING CUBA * If you would like to plan a trip to Cuba after places start to open up fully, you should know that you can no longer stop there on a cruise trip. You will need to get an Advance Visa. You can get this online or go in person to the Cuban Embassy. This is only one of the ways that you can travel to Cuba. * There are different categories for traveling to Cuba for Americans, which include: family visits; official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations; journalistic activity; professional research and professional meetings; educational activities; religious activities; public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions; support for the Cuban people (obtaining a Visa, staying at a Casa and eating at local restaurants); humanitarian projects; activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes; exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials; and certain export transactions that may be considered for authorization under existing regulations and guidelines. * The best time to visit Cuba is between December and May, which is after hurricane season. * 7-10 days is a good amount of time to give yourself to explore and take in what some of Cuba has to offer. * Start in Havana and then rent a car to travel to places like Vinales or Varadero to experience more of Cuba. * Keep in mind that you will have limited access to WiFi when in Cuba. This is a great opportunity to disconnect and immerse yourself in the culture around you, but you also need to be prepared. * English is not widely spoken so if you are not a fluent Spanish speaker, you may want to brush up before your trip and look into a language program to teach yourself some basics in order for you to get around easier. * Be aware that not all U.S.-issued credit cards will work in Cuba. Be sure to bring along plenty of cash, because finding an ATM can also be challenging in parts of the country. * Packing light will make getting around that much easier, and you won't need much while you are there. * Be aware that those cool old cars you see around Havana don't have seat belts. Plan accordingly if you feel you will need a carseat for your child on longer drives. * You should also do a lot of preplanning for your trip before you leave. Since you will not have easy Internet or phone access, you will want to bring printed maps and information for the places that you are staying. You might also want to think about bringing a Spanish-language dictionary or printing up some phrases to help you with your travels.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Jonah's Global Footprints: The Search for Elephants in Thailand

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Yosemite National Park is a popular destination for families during all seasons. This week we talk to Preethi Harbuck from Local Passport Family about her many trips to Yosemite. We cover the best places to stay, good hikes with kids, and fun things to do in Yosemite.

Tamara also fills us in on her most recent glamping experience at the KOA in Lincoln / Woodstock, New Hampshire and how it compared to her stay at the Huttopia glamping resort nearby.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Tamara about her recent glamping trip

12:32 - Talking with Preethi about RVing

15:12 - What to keep in mind when visiting Yosemite

17:45 - Where to stay outside of the park

19:48 - How long to stay

21:50 - When to go

24:35 - Where to stay

26:40 - Activities and family-friendly hikes in Yosemite

29:55 - History of the Park

35:10 - Global Children’s Book Club

38:20 - Preethi’s Favorite Travel Gear

40:40 - What Preethi is doing now

41:20 - WINNER!

ABOUT PREETHI HARBUCK Preethi is an exploring mom of 5 who writes about education and diversity in and through travel. She helps families recapture curiosity and connection by connecting with the world.

Follow Preethi on her blog Local Passport Family, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

TIPS FOR VISITING YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK WITH KIDS * Keep in mind that Yosemite National Park is popular and can get very, very busy. If you can you might want to plan your trip during off season. * June, July, and August is peak season for the Park. Late May and September are ideal times to visit, but it can be very beautiful in the winter as well. * If you are planning on camping in the park you will want to look into where you would like to go and make reservations far in advance. * The Valley is the most popular camping area and you will need to make your reservations well in advance for your trip. * Due to Covid restrictions you will now need to make reservations just to go into the park not just for camping. You will want to plan well in advance and avoid the disappointment of being turned away at the entrance. * If you can’t get a reservation to stay and camp inside of the valley, you will be looking at a 45-60 minute drive to get there if you stay outside. * Mariposa is one of the closest small towns to the Valley which has some hotels and even RV parks. * If you want to take a trip and explore some of what Yosemite has to see, you will want to spend at least three days. You could make your trip longer and explore some more in Yosemite or you can travel a few more hours and visit a few other National Parks that are nearby. * All four seasons in Yosemite are magical in their own way. But if you want to keep to the warmer weather, May or September are perfect! The park is going to be quieter than visiting in the main summer months but you will still have the beautiful weather. September will give you more dry weather to get out and explore, while in May the waterfalls will be big and the river flowing heavily, which is really incredible to see. * The Upper Pines Campground is a great place to spend your time while visiting Yosemite. It is located in the Valley, right near the river and beautiful with tons of trees. From this campground you can access a lot of the Valley by bike. * If you are willing to drive a little farther you can stay at the Rush Creek Lodge which is located right outside one of the entrances to the park. If you have young kids that may not be too into camping outside, this may be the place for you. They have a big game room, heated pool, playgrounds and every night they offer s'mores over the fire pit. * Sentinel Dome Hike is a great hike to take with families. The hike is two miles and it doesn’t have a lot of elevation. The hike starts from Glacier Point Road, which unfortunately will be closed in 2021 for repairs. * A great way to visit Mirror Lake is to bike up the trail. The ride is mostly flat making it great for families. You can rent bikes if you don’t have your own or don’t want to transport it. * If you are interested in the history of Yosemite National Park you can visit the main visitors center that has an exhibit that takes about the Indigenous People who lived there. There is an old story called Two Bear Cubs that talks about the Miwok Native American People that lived on the land. This is a great book to read to your kids to help them learn more about the park's history.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Preethi loves her travel pants but she also loves to wear stretchy leggings with pockets on the sides so that she can store her phone. When she is hiking through water she loves her Chaco’s.

ALSO MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Global Children’s Book Club

Ultimate Guide to Yosemite with Kids

Yosemite Camping Tips with Kids

One Day in Yosemite with Kids

How to Get a Free 4th Grade National Parks Pass

Best Kids Hiking Gear Our Family's Favorites

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Whether you are a frequent camper or a newbie, our guest this week, Catherine from To and Fro Family, offers up some great tips on camping with kids. We talk about how to find campgrounds, packing tips, and great ideas for entertaining young kids at the campsite.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking about Tamara’s Huttopia glamping trip

16:13 - Talking with Catherine

21:35 - How to choose your campground

30:30 - How to choose your campsite

32:55 - Camping in the Fall/Winter

35:20 - What to pack with Kids

42:15 - What to do at your campsite

46:55 - Planning for meals

52:27 - Catherine’s Favorite Gear

57:30 - Catherine’s Book

59:50 - Book Giveaway

ABOUT CATHERINE RYAN GREGORY Catherine Ryan Gregory shares travel hacks and kid-friendly destinations to de-stress family travel. She founded the family travel website To & Fro Fam and is the author of Virtual Travel Activities for Kids.

Follow Catherine on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

TIPS FOR CAMPING WITH KIDS * The first thing you should do when picking your campground is figure out how far you want to drive. * Next, think about the kind of terrain you want to camp at; in the mountains, by a lake/coast, or in the desert. * Campgrounds offer different amenities and campsite locations. Some campgrounds are first-come-first-served. With first-come-first-serve campsites, the sooner you get there, the better chance you will be able to grab one of these spots. Going on a weekday can help with this since the weekends will usually fill up fast. Keep in mind that first-come-first-serve campgrounds have different rules/restrictions. Some have restrictions on how long you are allowed to stay at the site. Make sure to check this out if you are planning to get a spot at one of these campgrounds because some sites have a one-night limit! * Before booking your campsite make sure to double check the amenities that the campground offers. This is especially important if you would like to have certain amenities and services. * If you plan on taking a camping trip in the fall or winter months when it will be colder, you really want to make sure that you are checking the high and the low temperatures for the time you are going. Make sure that your sleeping bag is rated for the colder temperatures and you may also want to pack some more layers for the night time. * No matter what time of year you are planning on taking a camping trip you want to check to see what the weather is supposed to be like and plan accordingly. If there is any chance it might rain when you are camping, you might want to think about bringing a kind of canopy so that you are not stuck completely inside your tent for the times that it rains. * Less is more when it comes to clothes. You can always rewear if they are not too dirty. For kids you don’t need to change their clothes everytime they get dirty. Just let them go and be dirty! Minimizing the changes of clothes will help you downsize your packing. You are already bringing a lot of other supplies, you don’t need to bring a huge suitcase with clothes on top of that. * One item that you don’t want to under pack on is wipes. Especially if you have younger kids having wipes to clean their feet and hand, and even their face, without having to make the trek to the bathroom that may not be all that close to your campsite to get clean. * In regards to your meals, you might want to prep as much as you can before your trip. Depending on what you are eating that might just mean cutting up potatoes, vegetables and mixing them with seasoning and oil in a bag. Then for your meal you can pull the bag out of the cooler and using some foil pour some of this mix in with a burger or meat and heat it up.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Catherine loves all things REI. The quality of the items they have gotten from them have lasted them for years! Catherine loves to use her fanny packs but recently she has not needed to wear them because of the Alder Apparel pants that she has fallen in love with that have lots of pockets and are super comfortable. Along with that she loves Columbia and Eddie Bauer, that make up the majority of her summer clothing.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Tamara's Huttopia White Mountains review

Fun family camping hacks

The best way to pack a cooler for your camping trip

Outdoor art projects for kids when camping

Recreation.gov

Hipcamp

Tentrr

Digital Courses during Covid

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD!

If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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This week on the podcast, Kim fills us in on her summer family vacation to Olympic National Park and Mt. Rainier National Park in her home state of Washington.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim about her recent vacation

02:50 - Olympic National Park

08:08 - Waterfall Hikes

10:45 - Where to stay

23:20 - Mount Rainier

29:38 - How long to spend

34:15 - National park pass

35:44 - Final tips

TIPS FOR VISITING OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK & MT. RAINIER * The main visitors' center for Olympic National Park is on the northern end of the park by Port Angeles. Since all of the visitor centers are closed due to the pandemic things are a bit different than they normally would be. They do however have park rangers there that have trail maps and Junior Ranger booklets, who are willing to answer any questions that you may have. Other National Parks may have different offerings so you may want to look that up before heading out. * If you make this a longer trip you can even take a ferry into Victoria, Canada from Port Angeles. Unfortunately right now due to Covid they have canceled all sailings until November 30, 2020. If you are planning a trip after that, check out the website for Black Ball Ferry Line for updates on their status. * If you like hikes and wild flowers you should definitely check out the Hurricane Ridge hike in Olympic National Park. When you get to the summit you can see great views of the mountains and you can actually see into Canada. * Marymere Falls is another great waterfall hike and you can take a swim in Lake Crescent while you are there. Or if the water is too cold you can enjoy a nice lunch by the lake. * The Woodland Inns is a great little place to stay while visiting the park. They also have a great contactless system setup for checking in/out. Since they are individual cabins they will give you a code to a key box and they will text you the code and make sure that you have everything you need before you get there. * Visiting Mount Rainier has some great hikes but depending on the weather you might not see much of the mountain. * The parking lots in Mount Rainier fill up really fast so if you plan on visiting you may want to get an early start. * You should also keep in mind that there is not much in the way of food when you go to Mount Rainier so bring a lunch and snacks. * Also make sure that you go in with a full tank of gas. * Keep in mind that when you are planning a trip anywhere right now, you should think about also planning on food options and do some research on what places offer or if they are even open. This is one thing that you never really had to worry about before Covid but now it can cause you and your family some unnecessary stress.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Hoh Rain Forest Walk

Woodland Inns

Tree of Life

Lake Quinault

Mount Rainier National Park

Epic Olympic National Park Itinerary - Stuffed Suitcase

How to get a National Park Pass - Stuffed Suitcase

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Kim and Tamara both managed to pull off a socially-distanced, outdoor-focused vacation this summer not too far from home. Tune in this week to hear all about Tamara's summer vacation in the Adirondacks in New York and her cabin and hotel stays in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

01:50 - Tamara’s trip to Adirondacks

04:23 - Where they stayed

14:55 - Hiking in the Adirondacks

26:55 - Coming Next Week

SUMMER VACATION IN THE ADIRONDACKS * Be aware that if you would like to plan a trip to New York, the state has been very strict with what states are allowed in without quarantining. They also ask that you register with the state before traveling and follow the quarantine guidelines. If you do not register you could be subject to a fine. * Due to the increased interest in house/cabin rentals, it may be very hard to find a cabin or lake house rental to visit the Adirondacks unless you plan ahead. * Tamara stayed at Bear Cabin on Lake Colby near Saranac Lake, which is a two-bedroom cabin on a lake with access to canoes and kayaks. She found it on Airbnb (affiliate link.) * An alternative to renting a cabin or house is to stay at a family-friendly resort, such as the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort in Lake Placid. Tamara and her family stayed in a two-room suite with a fireplace overlooking the lake. The rooms are a bit dated but the location is perfect because you are right in town but have access to the lake, including free use of kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards. The downside is the crowded beach without much social distancing. * Some good hikes in the area for intermediate hikers include: Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Mt. Jo, and St. Regis Mountain. * If you want epic views without the hike, you can take the gondola at Whiteface Mountain or pay to drive the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway to the summit.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.

Tamara loves her new Black Diamond Hiking Poles, which fold up to fit into a backpack and offer great support on challenging hikes.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you ever considered renting a houseboat? This fun type of vacation rental is a great way to socially distance! Find out what it is like to stay on an "RV on the water" and get houseboat rental vacation tips from Jessica Averett, from Bring the Kids, on this week's episode.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

05:25 - What’s happening with school

07:24 - Talking with Jessica

09:05 - Where to take a houseboat vacation

10:38 - What to expect

16:10 - What to look for in renting a houseboat

19:00 - Tips for planning your trip

21:50 - Price

23:45 - What is the water like

26:50 - What to pack

28:44 - Jessica’s Favorite Travel Gear

ABOUT JESSICA AVERETT Jessica Averett is an adventure loving mom to 5 kids. She and her family have a serious case of wanderlust and are constantly exploring to find the best travel experiences for families. You can follow her writing and adventures at Bring The Kids.

Follow Jessica on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

TIPS FOR RENTING A HOUSEBOAT * It is really popular to have a houseboat vacation on large lakes. Most people will rent a houseboat through the local marina. * Staying on a houseboat is like staying on a big RV on the water * The houseboat moves at about 6 miles per hour on the water because they are so big, so don’t plan on traveling far if you have a short vacation time. * A typical time on a boat is usually four days to a week. You can then spend your time stopping at a few places or just dropping anchor wherever. * Surprisingly you do not need a boating license to rent a houseboat. Most places will just require you to be 21 years or older. * It is fun to rent other boats or water toys to take along. This is so you can get to shore faster or just ride around off the houseboat. This could be anything in between floaties and kayaks or jet skies and a small craft. * Since towing will make your houseboat go even slower, if renting a motor boat, it makes sense to have someone else drive it ahead of the houseboat when going to a different location. * For smaller water toys like kayaks and floaties, the roof of the boat is flat so you can just tie them off up there for when you are moving around. * If you are going with younger kids, you might really want to look into getting a houseboat that has a slide off of the roof. * You will also need to think about how many people you want to sleep. A typical houseboat sleeps up to 8 or 12. Given that number if you are going with a larger group some of you can actually camp on shore in tents, while some stay on the boat for the night. * One big tip for going on a houseboat vacation is to go with another family. This will make your trip more fun to hang out with friends. Plus if they have kids around the same age they can hang out together and have others to have fun with. This will also make it easier on the adults having a few more people to drive the boat. * The price of renting a houseboat mostly varies on the kind and size of the boat that you are renting. For a three or four day trip you will probably be looking at around $2,000. * Keep in mind that you can still get some choppy water on a lake depending on the size and the weather. * Make sure you pack plenty of sunscreen and aloe because someone will end up with sunburn since you are spending all of your time on the water. You should also think about bringing a line or rope with clothespins, so that you will have an easier time drying all of your swim suits and towels.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Jessica loves her pair of Columbia pants along with a pair of Chaco sandals.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST House Boating Rentals

SunBum

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Vacation home rentals are soaring this summer and for good reason. Renting a vacation home -- whether or it is a cabin in the woods or a beach house -- is a great way to socially distance. Listen to our tips on what to look for when renting a vacation home, plus our suggestions on what to pack to supply your vacation home.

ON THE PODCAST 00:35 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

02:30 - How to determine what house to rent

03:40 - Extra fees

05:15 - Guest responsibilities

10:10 - Cooking your own food

12:45 - What to pack

28:26 - Entertainment

36:18 - Traveling during Covid-19

40:18 - Up Next

TIPS FOR VACATION HOME RENTALS * Make sure to thoroughly read reviews for any house you are considering and look for statements about WiFi, cleanliness, location, responsiveness, etc. This will help you weed through the options you have and maybe even answer some questions that were going to ask. This is a great thing to do for hotel/motel stays and house rentals too! * You will also need to keep in mind that when you are renting a house you also need to find out what the cleaning fees will be. This is not usually something that is built into the price of your stay. * Right now because of Covid-19 some house rentals are also leaving a full 24 hour in between guest stays. * Depending on where you are booking your house through you will also need to keep an eye out for different service fees that will get added on to your per night fee that you thought you were paying. The sticker price almost never includes these extra fees. * When you rent a house you will also need to make sure that you know what is expected of you as the guest to do before you leave. You may be required to strip the beds, take out the garbage, or even make sure certain things are turned off. This might mean that you have to make sure you have time to do these things before you leave/check out. * Plan for when you can check into the house that you rented. You can’t leave your bags like if you were to stay at a hotel so if you wanted to go somewhere right away do you feel comfortable leaving all of your stuff and/or food in a possibly hot car! * The main upside of renting a house is so that you can cook your own food and have left over space. When looking for a house you might want to look into where the closest grocery store is. Even if it is a small one for little things you can map out a bigger one that is on the way and store before you get to the house. * Keep in mind that supplies may be limited at the local grocery store and cost more than at home so ideally try to bring as much as you can from home. * You really want to make sure that you are reading what is offered at your house. Kitchen utilities, bedding, pillows, soap, towels, sponge, spices; some house rentals will not supply everything that you would want. If things are not listed you can always message the owner about them or even just get a clarification of an item on the list. For example, coffee makers. What kind of coffee maker is it? Do you need to bring filters? * If the house has a washer and dryer and you think that you will end up using it, you might want to bring your own detergent and dryer sheets. You also might want to think about bringing detergent pods since they pack a lot easier. * Some places might have a few games and puzzles but you might want to think about bringing at least a deck of cards or other card games. If you are staying for a week the weather can change and you might get a rainy day where you are stuck inside. * Outlets in houses might be tricky. You might want to look into getting a longer cord or even a small power strip can be useful when you need to charge different devices. * You may want to think about bringing your own hand sanitizer. A lot of places will not provide hand sanitizer for your stay. Especially if you have younger kids you will want to try and make sure that they are getting into the habit of washing their hands every time they come inside the house. * You may also want to look into getting disposable masks if you are able to buy them. They come in handy for doing outdoor activities since they tend to be a bit more breathable than reusable ones make out of different clothes.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Can you just picture yourself relaxing under a palm tree on a beautiful beach with a tropical drink in your hand? When you are ready to plan a vacation to the Caribbean, get ideas on the best islands and resorts from Caribbean Expert Sarah Gabbadon Greaves. Just keep in mind that some reopening plans have changed or rolled back for Americans since we recorded this episode. Please always check the latest regulations before planning a trip -- this is a good time to use a travel agent that is up to date on travel restrictions.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Tamara about her Florida trip

12:45 - Talking with Sarah

15:00 - Open Islands and regulations

21:25 - Islands to visit

27:38 - Visiting from a cruise

30:50 - Beaches for families

34:43 - Active adventures

40:58 - Getting out

44:30 - Places to stay

52:50 - Final Tips

57:32 - Sarah’s Favorite Travel Gear

ABOUT SARAH GREAVES-GABBADON Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon (aka JetSetSarah) is a travel writer, on-screen host and self-described “Carivangelist,” who goes to the beach and beyond to share the culture, lifestyle and personalities of the Caribbean with the world. Based in Miami, she creates content for outlets including Travel + Leisure; Islands.com; AARP; Essence magazine; the U.K.’s Telegraph and Canada’s Globe and Mail newspapers. Sarah is also jetsetter-in-chief at JetSetSarah.com where her passions – travel, style and fitness – meet.

Follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS * The Caribbean has surprised the world with how well it is doing with respect to the virus. As of June there have only been 16,000 cases. The islands of Anguilla, Saint Barts and Nevis have all been declared Covid free. * The islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Antigua and Saint Barts are all open. They are expecting to open the islands of the Bahamas, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Puerto Rico and Turks and Caicos soon. (Although some have since been closed to Americans -- please check updates!) * Each island that is open has different regulations in terms of safety. There was a time when one could just hop on a flight and explore a different island on a whim. Now you will need to plan ahead and find out exactly what is needed for each specific island. Some might need proof of a negative test that was done within three days while others say that they will test you as soon as you arrive, or even both. * If you are planning a trip soon to the Caribbean make sure to budget extra money if you end up in a situation where you need to quarantine for 14 days. Though quarantining in the Caribbean may not be so bad. Certain islands have quarantine hotels where you can’t leave the hotel, but you are allowed to go from your room to the beach! * You should also keep in mind that if you have to get tested at an island it will cost you roughly $100 each person. They can not afford to test for free. * When it comes to choosing an island, if you are looking for the total package, Jamaica is the island for you. Great food, great people and direct flights onto the island, especially if you are coming from the East Coast of the US. * The Grand Cayman may not have any all inclusive resort, but they do have some great hotels. This is a really great family island to visit. They have very pristine waters and it is actually where scuba diving was invented. * They don’t expect cruise ships to start visiting the Caribbean until possibly the fall. Even when they do start the ships will be at 50-75% capacity. They will also most likely be shorter, three to four night cruises and include stops on private islands. Cruising can be a great way to see a few islands in one trip and then decide on places you want to go back and explore more fully off the cruise. * Doctor’s Cave Beach in Jamaica is really beautiful and well maintained. * On Turks and Caicos there is a beach called Bambarra Beach that may seem a bit tricky to get to since you have to take a ferry and drive a bit. But when you get there you will realize it was worth the travel. The water is crystal clear and stays about knee deep for about a quarter mile out! There are no places to eat on this beach so you need to pack a picnic, which may be the only downside for some. * On Grand Cayman there is a beach called Smiths Cove that is about a twenty minute drive from Seven Mile Beach. It is pretty small, but very relaxing. * Jamaica has some really great mountain biking trails in the Blue Mountains. Dunn’s River Falls is a must do for visiting Jamaica. You will take a hike with a group that leads you to the top of a 600 foot high waterfall. Not recommended for children under seven. * Saint Lucia has great hiking on a volcano called Gros Piton. You can also tour the drive-in volcano, which collapsed long ago. Your guide will tell you all about it. Right next door there are sulphuric mud pits that are supposed to be very healing. * If you are staying at an all inclusive resort don't be afraid to get out and really take in the culture. If you are not sure where to go it is always helpful to ask the front desk or your driver, but a really great person to ask is someone on the house keeping staff. They seem to have really great recommendations and they are coming from their own experiences not just off a list they may be paid to promote. * Staying on a private island is not cheap but so relaxing! If you have the money to splurge on a vacation a private island stay may be for you. * There are so many islands in the Caribbean, all with different languages, music, culture and more. If you have never been, look around and find one to visit! If you have been to an island, don’t think that you have been there, done that. Find a different one to explore and enjoy! * December through April tends to be the busiest for travel. So if you can, try to plan your trip just outside of these months. * Like the US tipping is expected and though you don’t really need to worry about exchanging money or credit cards too much it is good practice to keep some cash handy for tipping.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Sarah loves her style and fashion. Her travel uniform is a pair of G-Star jeans along with a graphic T and her Adidastrack jacket. Then she will pair that with a pair of Adidas sneakers.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Caribbean Travel

Atlantis Submarines

Atlantis Bahamas

Baha Mar

Grand Cayman Ritz Carlton

Petit St Vincent - Private island resort

Fowl Cay Villas - Private island resort

Compass Cay Marina - Private island resort

What to pack in your carry on

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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If you are ready to hit the beach, head to Virginia Beach, where there is something for everyone. This week we chat with Brianna Simmons, from The Casual Travelist, about her hometown of Virginia Beach and all it has to offer families.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about the beach

06:20 - Tamara’s upcoming trip

12:20 - Talking with Brianna

14:25 - How Virginia is doing with Covid-19

15:57 - Different sections of the beach

18:06 - Hotel vs. Beach House

19:45 - Activities

22:29 - Favorite Restaurants

24:40 - When to go

25:36 - Where Brianna wants to go next

26:48 - Brianna’s Favorite Travel Gear

28:20 - Coming up Next

ABOUT BRIANNA SIMMONS Brianna Simmons is a travel blogger at the Casual Travelist where she balances her love for travel with a full time career as a physical therapist. Whether you’re getting away for 2 days or 2 weeks she aims to show you how to make the most of your vacation days.

Follow Brianna on Facebook and Instagram.

TIPS FOR VISITING VIRGINIA BEACH * Virginia Beach has a beach experience for just about everyone. The main area is a resort area, which has a three-mile long boardwalk, making it a very family-friendly place to visit. During the summer they usually have music acts and a lot of other activities going on. This is also the area where you can find most of the hotels. * If you are looking for a place quiet, you can always visit the Chesapeake Bay area, which is great and has calmer waters. * Sandbridge is another area that is relaxing, located at the very northern tip on the Outer Banks. * Depending on how long you are staying and where, renting a beach house is a great way to vacation at Virginia Beach. * Going to the beach may be the main reason why you are visiting the area but there are definitely some other activities that you can do on your trip. For instance there is a really great Aquarium that also offers dolphin wildlife cruises during the summer months. They also offer whale watching cruises during the winter months. * If you want to stay outdoors there are some different state parks you can explore and even camp if you are feeling adventurous. In Chesapeake Bay there is First Landing State Park that has some great wooded or water trails and also offers some camping areas. Around Sandbridge there is False Cape State Park, but you will have to hike or bike there since you can not drive to the park. * Holiday weekends are usually very busy. Make sure to check the weather when you are planning your trip, as the days get closer you want to prepare yourself if it ends up being rainy. Being that the beach is on the East Coast you want to keep in mind the chance of hurricanes.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Brianna loves to wear her comfortable clothes, which includes a pair of leggings from American Giant paired with a Marine Layer t-shirt. As another layer she loves to wear her Daisy Wrap from Eddie Bauer that goes with everything.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Where to Eat in Virginia Beach

Beach Packing List - Stuffed Suitcase

Hilton Garden Inn - Virginia Beach

The Cavalier Hotel

Virginia Aquarium

Commune Restaurant

Bay Local Eatery

Lolly’s Creamery

Casual Foodist

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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This summer is definitely bringing back the great American road trip and one of the most beautiful is an Oregon Coast road trip. On the podcast, we talk with Jessica Baker from Boundless Bakers, about the time she spent on the Oregon Coast and she fills us in on the best places to stop, must see towns, and side trips to take along the way.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking about future road trips

07:20 - Talking with Jessica Baker

09:25 - How long to spend in Oregon

10:20 - Where to fly into and out of

11:30 - Where to stop

22:20 - Where to stay

25:40 - Day trip locations

27:25 - Driving around

29:20 - Final tips

31:00 - Jessica’s Favorite Travel Gear

32:50 - What's next for Jessica and her family

33:45 - Coming up next on Vacation Mavens

ABOUT JESSICA BAKER Jessica Baker is a full-time mom, wife, and RVer. She and her husband, two young kids, and three cats have been traveling North America full-time for the last year and a half. Jessica has contributed to RV travel blogs such as CampingWorld.com and DoItYourselfRV.com. Follow Jessica on Facebook and Instagram.

TIPS FOR PLANNING AN OREGON COAST ROAD TRIP * You can spend anywhere between a long weekend and a full week exploring what the Oregon Coast has to offer. * If you are coming from the East Coast or even just farther than a drive away from Oregon’s coast, then fly into Portland and rent a car. You can then either fly back out of Eugene, or make the return loop via the highway. * The natural beauty of the Oregon coast is what draws visitors to explore. As you are making your way down the coast here is a list of cute towns and attractions to visit along the way. + Cannon Beach - is a little touristy that has a great food and if you are a Goonies fan this town should definitely be on your list. + Depoe Bay - this town is known for whale watching. It may be tiny but it is a lot of fun. + Newport - has great seafood and harbor. If you are interested, this is a great place to do your own fishing. You need a license but it is not expensive to purchase. + Florence - is also a fishing town and is north of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, which covers forty miles of dunes. You can rent equipment and ride around the dunes! + Hug Point is a really great location to visit, but you have to keep in mind when high and low tide are since you could potentially get stuck where you don’t want to be. It is a great spot for exploring the tide pools and water caves that are along the point. + Devil's Punch Bowl is another area where you need to watch the tide times. If you are adventurous, during low tide you can hike down into the bowl and explore the inside before the tide comes back in. + Cobble Beach is made up of little black volcanic rocks and when the water runs over it, it makes a really unique and beautiful sound. * It is highly recommended that you make this a camping road trip and even rent an RV if you want. If not you can stay in Cannon Beach, which has a bunch of little hotels. You can also try Newport as that is a bit larger and has a number of different places to stay. * There are a few places within four hours of the coast that can make a great day trip: + Tillamook has a lot of dairy farms and it is a great place to visit and try some different cheeses and ice cream. + Crater Lake is a gorgeous sight to see, and if you have time to explore it, you should add this into your itinerary. + The Columbia River Gorge is another great area to visit whether you make it a day trip or spend a few days there. It is close to Portland and could be a good stop to make before you make your way to the coast. * Driving around Oregon is not too difficult, especially if you stay on Highway 101. You will feel comfortable driving even if you are towing or driving an RV. Just don't be surprised if you lose cell service from time to time.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Jessica recommends wearing plenty of layers when visiting Oregon. She loves her Columbia windbreaker as an outer layer. She also likes to wear a pair of convertible hiking pants. That way she can unzip them into shorts if she gets too hot. She also likes to pair this with a pair of Keen shoes.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Boundless Bakers

Our Top 5 Oregon Coast RV Parks ($50 off RV rentals button on this page)

Northern Oregon Coast

RV Rentals (coupon here too)

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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If your vacation budget is being squeezed, you are not alone. This week we tackle the topic of affordable vacation destinations (that you can hopefully take this year or in the near future) with Tim Leffel, author of "The World's Cheapest Destinations." Plus, we share some of our favorite black family travel content creators and commit to bringing more diverse voices onto the podcast.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Recommended black family travel bloggers

05:17 - Talking with Tim Leffel

07:20 - What makes a cheap destination

09:10 - US budget destinations

14:05 - Covid cases in other countries

15:35 - Budget places in other countries

20:50 - Tips for saving money

25:30 - Thoughts of what is to come

27:50 - Where Tim wants to go first

29:53 - Tim’s Favorite Travel Gear

33:20 - What’s next for Vacation Mavens

ABOUT TIM LEFFEL Tim Leffel is an award-winning travel writer, editor, and blogger. He publishes five online magazines and blogs including Perceptive Travel, the Cheapest Destinations Blog, and Hotel Scoop. He is the author of several books including Travel Writing 2.0, A Better Life for Half the Price, and The World's Cheapest Destinations, now in its fifth edition. He is a member of NATJA and SATW and is North American Conference Director of the Travel Bloggers Exhange Conference (TBEX).

Follow Tim on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING ON A BUDGET * Visiting a place where the cost of living is cheaper ends up being a bit cheaper if you are going to take a vacation there. If the cost of living is cheaper that means dinners, admission prices and even room costs tend to be lower than your home country or city. * Just checking out smaller cities in the US rather than going to a big city like NYC or Chicago can help save you on the budget. There is still a lot to offer in smaller cities including museums, waterparks, aquariums, etc. Smaller cities are also usually easier to get around being that they are not as crowded. * In other countries there are different regions that are budget friendly for families In Europe there are two great budget areas; one in Eastern Europe and one in the Balkans. The Southeast Asian countries are pretty close together and easy to get to, making this area a backpacker favorite. South America also has some great budget friendly areas to visit. * Malaysia is one of these budget areas that doesn’t get thought about often, but it holds a lot to explore. The roads are easy to travel, the food is cheap and good and you don’t have to worry about the water, it is safe to drink. * There are some destinations like Iceland or Canada that if you have had them on your bucket list some places are offering cheaper prices than normal and the exchange rate is really good. You should definitely look into these destinations if you have wanted to go there at all, this might be your opportunity to take that trip at a lower price that you could have before. (Just keep in mind that the Canadian border is closed until at least the end of July and, while Iceland is reopening on June 15th, you need to get tested either before you arrive or on arrival or be subject to a 14-day quarantine.) * It may be tougher for families but the more you leave yourself open the options of making the trip trip cheaper increases. Travel dates are a big cost change if you are more flexible. Having kids in school makes this harder to do but it is definitely something to keep an eye on when your kids are younger and you are more capable to pull them out of school. * You also want to think about high travel times for different destinations. Peak season for travel is going to be different in different countries and destinations. This will make your trip cheaper if you are able to go at a non-peak time. * Other kinds of accommodations and travel options can make a big difference in your budget.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Tim loves to wear either ExOffico or CragHoppers clothing. He has tried out a bunch of different brands of gear and loves how well these brands have held up over the years. He will also almost always choose something that is quick dry and he can wash it in the sink if he has to. He has recently been wearing some Prana items because he likes the comfort and how they look.

If he is going anywhere that he thinks might be busy, he will wear pick-pocket proof pants to keep his items safe. As for socks, he loves his Darn Tough socks that are very durable and comfortable to wear and are made in the USA. For shoes he likes a lot of different kinds but Sanuk’s are the best for compact travel. They are comfortable and they are also easily compressed and can fit nicely in your bag for travel, no matter what kind of bag you have.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Travelers to follow:

Heather Greenwood Davis on Instagram

Montoya from The Spring Break Family Blog

Monet from The Traveling Child Blog

Karen from The Mom Trotter Blog

Tim’s Travel Books

Stuffed Suitcase - Budget Vacation Worksheet

Stuffed Suitcase - Budget Planner

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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With states across the U.S. entering some phase of reopening, Kim and Tamara tackle the topic of summer travel. What will be open, what should you expect if you travel, and what are the best trips to think about right now? Tune in.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

01:15 - Finding travel information

02:00 - Florida

11:08 - Flying

16:00 - States that are doing well

20:08 - Rentals

24:02 - International travel

29:20 - Reopening plans

31:50 - What to do locally

TIPS FOR NAVIGATING REOPENING TRAVEL * The information coming to you today is current as of May 27th. Location changes and regulations for travel are changing daily. * Keep in mind that some locations have 14-day quarantine requirements for visitors coming from other states. Some states are state specific for these quarantines. For instance Florida is checking license plates specifically for New York and New Jersey. * If you are planning to take a trip outside of your state for the summer, you may need to do a lot more research to make the trip happen. With information changing almost daily you may want to think about keeping to your own state in regards to summer plans for this year. * As states are opening up, restaurants, hotels, beaches, etc. are limiting capacity. Some hotels and restaurants will only be opening at 50% capacity. * Keep in mind that if you plan on flying somewhere some airlines are blocking the middle seat and having to change their schedules around a lot more than usual. You will need to be a bit more flexible than you normally would. * You can also expect new procedures and long lines at the airport as more people start traveling. * Flexibility with airline cancellations is coming to a close. Some airlines that were previously offering free cancellation or changes have stopped as of May 31st. So you need to keep this in mind when you are planning to take a flight somewhere. You may not be able to get your money back if you decide against the trip or find out new information regarding the place you are going that you don’t want to risk. * Listen to more information about National Parks on our previous episode 164. In this episode you will get some useful information regarding what is happening with different parks and where to find the most updated information as places are being reopened. * If you plan on renting a house somewhere, make sure you bring a good amount of supplies with you. You don’t know what you will be able to find when you get there. The grocery stores might not be as replenished as you would think. You will also be buying up supplies that the locals need as well. * International travel will be more difficult. Some areas may be opening for tourists but only allowing certain countries to come in. You will need to make sure to do a lot of research on where you could be allowed and what their regulations for quarantine are. A lot of things are still up in the air and are changing almost daily. * If you have a specific state that you would like to go to you can try googling what that state's reopening plans are. Some states have sites dedicated to what they are doing about reopening and maybe even dates for when things are happening. Keep in mind that though some states may be reopening for their citizens that does not mean that they are allowing travelers from out of state. * Take this opportunity to explore the area around your house or town. You may not have known that there was a great hiking trail a mile from your house. Or maybe even a drive in theater in the next town over. You can use this time to explore around your own area, maybe even find some new regular places to visit. * Tamara also wrote a post about where to go this summer and some safe travel tips.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Wondering what is in store for the National Parks this summer? The Vacation Mavens chat with John Tillison, a former park ranger and publisher of the Park Ranger John website, to get his take on planning a visit to the National Parks in 2020 and what to expect. Plus we talk about virtual Junior Ranger programs that you can do at home.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsors - COMRAD Socks and Moon Travel Guides

00:56 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about summer plans

03:40 - Talking with John Tillison

04:30 - What is happening with National Parks right now

06:30 - What to expect this summer

11:55 - Junior Ranger Program

19:30 - Virtual Tours

23:05 - Parks to visit

29:55 - Where John wants to go first

30:35 - John’s Favorite Travel Gear

33:20 - Coming up next

ABOUT MOON TRAVEL GUIDES This episode is sponsored by Moon Travel Guides.

What’s the best way to explore the world’s greatest cities like a local? On foot! Leave the tourist traps behind and discover local favorite spots in cities like Paris, Rome, New York, and Amsterdam with the City Walks series from Moon Travel Guides, which now includes a brand-new guide to Tokyo! As the pocket-sized companion to Moon Japan, Moon Tokyo Walks is the ultimate way to experience Tokyo’s infectious energy and futuristic charm at your own pace, without missing a beat. Visit moon.com or your favorite bookseller to grab your guide.

ABOUT COMRAD SOCKS This episode is also sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what’s traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that’s why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

ABOUT JOHN TILLISON John was a Law Enforcement Park Ranger for 20 years before starting Park Ranger John. The goal of Park Ranger John is to share the things I learned while working and living in parks. I want our readers to have the best experiences possible in the parks they visit.

Follow John on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING NATIONAL PARKS * As the National parks start to open you may see different rules and regulations for each park depending on the crowds that they are getting. Some parks may only be available for scheduled visits rather than just showing up. * Crowd control has always been a top priority for National Parks and you will see that this is still a fact as the parks are slowly re-opening. Make sure that you are contacting the right people to find out what each park is offering as they start to open up again, whether it is a visitors center or the local Park Rangers. Facebook and Twitter have been a really up to date source of information for what is going on for each of the parks. * The Junior Ranger Programs are a really great source of learning for a bunch of different age groups. The way the program works is that you would find a ranger at a visitors center or contact station and ask about the program. They will give you a booklet and throughout the day you will go through the visitors center and learn some of the history of the park. Then you will go out into the park and do some activities. Once you do the worksheets in the booklet you will take it into the ranger and take a pledge and receive a Junior Ranger Badge. This is not something that you can do in five minutes. You will need to make sure that you are getting the booklet as soon as you get there if this is something that you want to do for your visit. * You can also earn a Junior Ranger Badge virtually. Different parks are offering some other virtual learning tools right now that kids can take advantage of. Just visit John’s site for information on the Junior Ranger Programs so that you can learn at home. * You can look up National Park webcams and just look around at different parks at home. * The average National Park visits is about 3 - 4 hours, usually between the hours of 9am and 4pm. So if you want to visit at a less busy time you should keep that in mind when planning your visit. The first couple weeks of June or the very end of August also tend to be less crowded due to school openings and closings. Unfortunately that won't necessarily be the case for this year!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR John loves his Zamberlan boots because if his feet aren't happy he is not happy! He also likes to wear layers because it is easy to dress up or down, and clothes that dry quickly.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Junior Ranger Programs

“Virtual” Parks

National Park webcams

2019 Least Visited National Parks

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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We have reached the point in staying at home when we are really missing travel. To get the experience of traveling at home and fighting back boredom, this week Kim and Tamara interview two tour operators and a winery owner about the virtual experiences they offer.

Angelo from LivItaly shares the innovative and engaging ways his tour guides are sharing their subject matter expertise (and humor!), while Rachel from Devour Tours talks about her company's free and paid cooking demonstrations and classes. And we chat wine and virtual wine tasting with Chris from Benziger Family Winery.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Comrad Socks

00:50 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

08:20 - Talking with Angelo from LivItaly

11:35 - LivTalks

20:50 - Where Angelo is heading first

23:30 - Talking with Rachel from Devour Tours

30:50 - What’s going on in Spain

32:15 - Where Rachel is heading first

33:33 - Talking with Chris from Benziger Family Winery

37:47 - Wine Wednesday

40:10 - Private Happy Hour

43:50 - Where Chris is heading first

45:17 - Up next for Vacation Mavens

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what’s traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that’s why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

ABOUT ANGELO CAROTENUTO FROM LIVTOURS Angelo Carotenuto is born in Italy from an American mother and a Neapolitan father. After attending public Italian school up until the age of 18, he moved to the United States of America to attend Occidental College in Los Angeles. He pursued his BA in acting and also studied at the London Dramatic Arts perfectioning his art. He often loved to take his friends and family members around, proud of his cultural heritage and at ease in front of crowds.

Angelo worked for companies of all sorts of shape and form, creating an outstanding CV and receiving thousands of 5-star reviews on TripAdvisor and other social channels. He then realized that there was a niche of tourism that needed more attention. A segment of people that were actually looking for authentic emotions and that valued their dream of coming to Italy as extraordinary and needed to pursue every aspect they had ever dreamt of: food, wine, art, culture, soccer, fashion, ferrari, etc. He then founded LivItaly Tours with the intent of creating services that matched people’s dreams of Italy and that allowed them to authentically experience all of them, however and whenever they wanted, a la carte, throughout their vacation.

Along with this, knowing that nobody dreamt about following a flag, in large groups, and having dirty headsets in their ears, he decided that even the most traditional of tours, needed to be an experience and opted to cap small group tours at max 6 people and offer private tours, all at competitive pricing.

The mixture of the two ingredients: the quality of the tours and the variety of the offer, made LivItaly a leader in the Italian industry. With the help of Kristin, his wife, they brought LivItaly to be recognized internationally and partner and collaborate with the most infallible businesses of the world.

LivItaly’s wide range of offers also include truly fantastic family tours and activities in almost every corner of the peninsula. Activities dedicated to provide entertainment to all family members, give the parents the ability to trust and relax while touring and making sure children go back with fond memories of their time in Italy.

After years of providing excellent service to clients in Italy, LivItaly recently expanded to Paris, London, and Spain under the LivTours umbrella.

Follow Angelo on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

LIVTALKS

The LivTours team has recently revealed LivTalks, a series of online events that bring the world to "visitors", even when we can't travel. Each session lasts approximately 45 minus and starts with an interactive and entertaining discussion between Angelo and a local guide, followed by questions and answered.

Upcoming topics include:

• Best moments in Italian soccer
• Ostia, the cradle of an empire
• World War II: Facism, Jewish Persecution, and how Italians saved them
• Climbing the Dome of St. Peters from home
• Michelangelo and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

ABOUT RACHEL SCHNEIDMILL FROM DEVOUR TOURS Originally from New York, Rachel also called Washington DC her home for eight years where she worked in marketing roles across a variety of industries before moving to Spain two years ago. She has a serious (but fun!) interest in wine and is currently enrolled in the Spanish Wine Scholar program.

Rachel has been working at Devour Tours for the last eight months and loves everything about her company; from its mission to help connect local culture to tourists, to the amazing group of people who work there. Devour Tours is based in Madrid and operates across eight cities in Europe, offering food and wine tours that represent each city.

Follow Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

DEVOUR TOURS

Devour Tours offers a number of different free and paid Online Experiences from Facebook Live cooking sessions to virtual cooking classes. Devour Tours has also put together a virtual Cookbook from their favorite guides.

Upcoming online experiences include:

• Pair wine and cheese like a Parisian
• Cook pasta like a Roman
• Discover England's history through 10 dishes
• Cook a Medieval recipe
• Discover Portugal's history through 10 dishes

ABOUT CHRIS BENZIGER FROM BENZIGER FAMILY WINERY Still in high school when the Benziger family moved from White Plains, Chris finished his senior year in wine country. He went on to earn a degree in marketing from the University of San Francisco while spending summers, weekends and every spare moment working at the winery. He officially joined the Benziger Family Winery in 1993 as a Brand Manager. In addition to sales responsibilities, Chris also oversees the home ranch and its many farm related duties, i.e. shepherding the Benziger flock of sheep and cows, tending to the estate vegetable and fruit trees, and producing the Biodynamic preparations for all our vineyards. Chris feels that the only way to communicate the quality of the wines he promotes is by having the soil from the vineyard in which he’s endorsing under his nails. The best impression a winemaker can leave on his wines are his footprints in the vineyards.

Follow Chris on Facebook and Instagram.

BENZIGER WINERY

Since visitors can come to the winery right now, Benziger and their sister winery, Imagery Winery, have introduced Wine Wednesdays every Wednesday on Instagram Live at 4pm PDT. Join in to learn or taste along by getting your wine for Wine Wednesdays from Benziger.

Upcoming Wine Tastings include the following:

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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If you are starting to feel a little stir crazy at home and missing travel, plan a travel theme night. This week on the podcast we chat with Katja Gaskell from Globetotting about how her family is spending their Friday nights dressing up and cooking recipes from different countries. Kim and Tamara also share some fun ideas for family movie nights.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Comrad Socks

01:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about their quarantine

08:47 - Talking with Katja Gaskell

10:40 - Themed dinners

24:03 - Keeping kids entertained

30:08 - Katja’s favorite travel gear

34:05 - Future trips for Katja and her family

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what’s traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that’s why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

ABOUT KATJA GASKELL Katja Gaskell is the Founder of globetotting.com, a website for adventurous family travel. She is a firm believer that you can – and should! – take your children everywhere and anywhere no matter what age they are. She currently lives in London with her husband and three children, after nearly 12 years living abroad in Australia, India and Mexico. Katja has also written across a range of titles for Lonely Planet guidebooks and tried and tested luxury hotels for the British boutique hotel guide Mr & Mrs Smith.

Follow Katja on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR KEEPING TRAVEL IN YOUR QUARANTINED LIFE * To keep the travel vibe alive even when staying home, consider planning a theme night. * Choose a country and then cook or bring in food from that cuisine. * You may consider dressing up or adding a family movie about or from that area to make it even more fun. * Themes Katja and her family have done for their themed Friday dinners: + Mexican theme with fish tacos for the meal. Her daughter dressed up in a skeleton decorated dress to be La Catrina. Who is one of the most recognizable symbols of The Day of the Dead celebrations, she is a tall female skeleton that wears a fancy hat with feathers. Her son dressed up as a lucha libre, which is a term used in Mexico for professional wrestling. If you don’t already know they wear unique masks with different colors. Katja dressed up as Frida Kahlo, who is a Mexican painter known for her portraits, with a headdress from a previous costume and a Mexican scarf. Her husband dressed up as a mariachi band member. Then their youngest dressed up as a princess, which may not be Mexican but was still fun. + India theme with fish curry, samosas and aloo gobi, which is a dish made of potato and cauliflower. Dressing up was harder, since they didn’t already have items that went with the theme, but they decided to find some Bollywood movie posters and recreated them. * Any theme you come up with can work. It could be based on places that you’ve been, on seasons, places you want to go, color, movies, etc. Make it something that your family will enjoy. * If you have a family that is not into dressing up so much, you can just focus your theme around the food you have for your meal. If you have kids that are a bit older, you can make it so everyone has to make a dish for the meal. * Take turns with control of the TV if you can. If it’s not your night and you don’t want to watch what someone else is you can go do something else that night. * Depending on how you like to work, you can create a bit of structure for your kids by making a list or a schedule of different activities to do during the day. * Quarantine tip for Katja: wear a pair of jeans at least once a week!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Katja loves to be comfortable and wear jeans along with her Stan Smith Sneakers, and a long cardigan.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Frozen Dinner Theme - Stuffed Suitcase

Big Hero 6 Theme - Stuffed Suitcase

Beauty and the Beast Theme - Stuffed Suitcase

Vacation Planning for Kids - We3Travel

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Remember travel agents? They are no longer just those storefronts advertising cruises and packaged trips you used to see in shopping malls. Today's travel agents are advisors that can help you design a custom vacation. And in these uncertain times, using one is more important than ever. This week Kim and Tamara talk with Christina from Showcase the World about why to use a travel agent and if there are any drawbacks.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Comrad Socks

01:40 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about staying at home

06:03 - Thoughts of travel in the future

10:45 - Talking with Christina

13:50 - Agent fees

17:24 - On your own vs. with an agent

29:50 - Services agent provide for Disney

33:12 - Itinerary planning

36:30 - Finding the right agent

46:46 - Christina’s Favorite Travel Gear

48:25 - Coming up

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what’s traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that’s why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

ABOUT CHRISTINA VIEIRA Christina Vieira is the owner of Showcase the World, a travel agency specializing in family travel destinations such as Walt Disney World, Europe and the Caribbean. She has been in the travel industry for 5 years and loves helping other busy moms plan the perfect vacation so they can spend less time worrying about all the little details and more time enjoying time together with their family. She loves spending time with her family which includes her 15 month old daughter, Annabelle at her home just North of Boston.

Follow Christina on Facebook and Instagram.

PROS AND CONS OF USING A TRAVEL AGENT * If a travel agent works off of commission that means that there is usually no extra cost for you to pay. This is built into the price either for the tour operator or the hotel to keep as a profit or for them to pay the travel agent with it. Airlines however do not pay agents, so you may get charged a planning/booking fee for flights. * Due to the time involved in planning detailed trips, some agencies do charge an additional planning fee. * Keep in that agent fees are not put in place to gouge you with cost. They are there to compensate the agent for the time spent on their end. * Using a travel agent does not mean that you are giving up control of your trip. You can find an agent that will work with you and have as little or as much say as you want. * Some trips you might want to use an agent for: + Disney World may be an option for using an agent. Even if you have been multiple times you see that most families do the same thing over and over just because they do not know what else is out there to do. Having an agent for this can help spread out your days giving you more options of things you never thought you could do. + If you are new to Disney, having an agent will help you maximize your time and get things organized with dining reservations and such so you can just focus on enjoying your vacation. + Multi generational trips can also be easier with an agent. They will be able to help you balance different ages and activity choices for all or just some of the group. + If you are planning a large/long trip, having an agent to help you get everything set and decided on can help make the trip more relaxing and less stressful. + Should anything go wrong, you know that you have someone on your side to help you get things fixed. * If you like to earn loyalty points and miles, planning through an agent will not affect this. You will still be able to earn points/rewards. However, if you are planning to use points, most agents won't be able to help you as they wouldn't get a commission on those bookings. * If you have a really busy life, using an agent can really save you time on your research and booking, even just having to call around and find out more information about amenities or dates. * Using a travel agent is especially important if you unfortunately have to cancel your trip. Your agent is the one that will be making phone calls and getting updates for you. * Make sure that you talk to your agent to find out exactly what services they offer. * In terms of Disney, some agents will just give you recommendations for restaurants and FastPass plans but not book them for you, while others will give you the options and then book them all for you. * Discuss the type of itinerary you enjoy. Do you like to be always on the go or have more flexibility and downtime? Do you want structured/booked activities or just recommendations on things to do? * If you think you would like to use an agent for your next trip, make sure that you find the right one for you. This is important in helping your planning experience go smoothly. Picking an agent that has a different planning style than you like may cause you some frustration. * If you think that you would like to travel with them you will most likely like to plan a trip with that person. * You want an agent that asks about you and what your interests are, rather than just the dates you want to go and your budget. * Be very upfront about your budget to minimize frustration during the planning process. Also think about what you prioritize more (activities versus hotel, location versus amenities, etc.)

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Christina loves her Skechers GOwalks but also likes her Yosi Samra flats for when she wants something a little bit dressier. She loves to fly in her Athleta trousers that are really comfortable and are a little more stylish than a pair of leggings, plus they have pockets!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST 7 Reasons Why You Should Use a Travel Agent

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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All of this family time has been great, but when this is all over, I think us moms are going to need a girlfriend getaway. This week, Kim and Tamara chime in with their picks for girlfriend getaway destinations and tips for planning a drama-free trip.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Comrad Socks

01:30 - What we are doing to keep active

03:25 - East coast destinations

09:02 - West coast destinations

12:05 - Different kinds of girlfriend getaways

19:17 - Ski resorts in the summer

23:12 - Trips overseas

24:25 - Planning your trip

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what’s traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that’s why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

GIRLFRIEND GETAWAY DESTINATIONS AND TIPS * Some of our favorite east coast girlfriend getaway destinations: + Saint Augustine, Florida; can be compared to Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA in its history. It has great food, warm weather and some great sites and shops. + Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, Alabama; beautiful sunrises and beach walks, great food, fun beach bars, and plenty of things to do. * Some of our favorite west coast destinations to have a girls trip. + Wine Country; would probably make the top of the list for most girls trips. Napa, Sonoma, Santa Rosa to name a few. Going to these destinations does not mean that all you are doing is going to wine tastings. There are a lot of other opportunities there like zip lining, hiking and more. + San Diego, CA; has some amazing food and some really great resort hotels. + Hawaii is also a popular getaway since it is much easier to get to from the west coast, even for just a weekend getaway. * Getting away to Arizona can give you a surprising mix of activities. You can go on some outdoor adventures then come back and have a relaxing spa visit. El Paso, Texas is another surprising girlfriend getaway destination. With its variety of different activities to relax and wind down or get out and try something new and adventurous. * Ski resorts are not just for the winter. They try to have a lot of activities during the summer as well. Depending on the resort you go to they can offer a wide variety of outdoor activities. Including; ziplining, water parks, hiking trails, slides, adventure courses and much more. * Depending on where you live in the USA, planning a trip to a different country can be faster and easier to get to than the other side of the US. Ireland, Portugal, and Iceland have all made great girls' trips. * Planning a trip with multiple people can be hard but you have to make sure that one person is more of the lead on the trip. This person may have to push and make the hard decisions. Be honest with yourself and the people you are going with, especially when it comes to money. You don’t want to be the one that ends up spending more money because you lent it to someone to cover their part. You also don’t want to be the one that has to back out last minute because you actually can’t afford to go. This might leave everyone else having to pay more if you are splitting costs during the trip.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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These are tough times but we are here for you! Find out what happened when Tamara cancelled her trip to Europe and what we are doing at home while social distancing. Just remember, we will get through this and someday we will be traveling again.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking about Tamara’s cancelled trip

14:38 - Should we stay or should we go?

17:22 - Kim’s spring break small trip cancellation

19:39 - Situation at home

29:58 - Fast response needed

31:43 - Staying safe/keeping busy

WHAT WE ARE DOING FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING * If you have older kids, making a daily chore chart for them can help give a bit of structure to their days while you are staying inside. Even if they are just simply things like making their bed and doing something creative or academic. If you are going to do this you should also think about adding in a restriction if they do not do these things. * Don’t be scared to go outside for walks of small outdoor adventures. While still keeping your distances from others you can get out for a little bit in the fresh air. * You may not want to but you may want to think about giving your house a good cleaning while you are home. * If you do go to the store, you may want to think about wearing gloves or even just wiping down what you buy. Be sure to wash your hands when you get home! * Kim put together some activities to keep you busy at home including: + Boredom busting bingo + 25 Virtual day trips that you can take from home * Tamara also found a way to keep kids busy and get them to help plan your next family vacation: + Vacation planners for kids - with downloadable worksheets

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Ugh. As much as we don't want to have to tackle this topic, it is at the top of everyone's minds. This week Kim and Tamara share their decisions regarding spring break plans because of the coronavirus. Find out where to find important information regarding COVID-19 and travel warnings, as well as tips for staying healthy during this challenging time.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

03:08 - Kim’s trip changes

13:03 - Tamara’s spring break plans

23:55 - Tips for protecting yourself

29:55 - Final tips

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR Comrad Socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments. These compression socks make a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day.

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CORONAVIRUS TRAVEL DECISIONS * Cancelling a trip can be a tough decision to make. You put so much time and money into your plans for a dream trip. But if you ever feel like you will need to cancel, look into all of the cancelation policies for airfare and hotels. Having all of the facts may help you make your decision. You may also find that because of something like the Coronavirus, airlines and cruise companies may be more lenient with cancelation fees due to this issue. * Make sure that you are checking cancellation policies when you are booking so that you have an idea what will happen in case you ever need to cancel a trip. * Most standard travel insurance does not cover cancelling over fear of something (Coronavirus, terrorism, etc.) or pandemics. For that you would need to purchase Cancel for Any Reason insurance (CFAR). You need to purchase this insurance within a certain number of days of the first deposit for your trip, typically 7-21 days. Also note that CFAR does not reimburse 100 percent. * If you are traveling with kids that go to school, make sure to contact someone to see if you will be required to self quarantine when you come back. Get yourself prepared if this will be the case. * In case travel warnings change while you are away, make sure that you stock up on food and other necessities before you leave. It also makes sense to make sure you pet or house sitter is available for an extended period of time, should you be quarantined or delayed getting home. * Whether you are traveling or not, make sure that you are washing your hands often and wash them for at least 20 seconds. Make sure you are not touching your face and use sanitizer in between or when you can wash your hands right away. * Wearing a mask may stop you from touching your face but it will not protect you from germs that you are touching and transferring around. You need to make sure that you are washing your hands regularly. * Wipe down your area on a plane, train, or bus with sanitizing wipes, including the armrests, window shades, tray table, seat belt buckles, etc. * Now is a good time to walk as much as possible, to avoid being in taxis or Ubers where others may have left germs. If you do take transportation or ride the subway, you should be sure to sanitize your hands right away after leaving. * If you are planning or thinking of planning a trip somewhere, look into the areas and what is happening there as well as what they are doing in regards of quarantine. This can help you decide on where you want to go or even just where you know you don’t want to go, at least while this virus is going around. * One resource is the CDC's COVID-19 page and the CDC Travel Health Notices page. * If traveling internationally, you should also register with the U.S. State Department (for U.S. citizens) and the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST What it Cost Me to Cancel My Japan Trip - Stuffed Suitcase

travel.state.gov

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Often getting through an airport is the worst part of a trip. The hassle, the rush, the stress -- the people! This week on the podcast, Kim and Tamara share their tips for making the airport experience as low-stress as possible, even when traveling with kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Comrad Socks

02:08 - Getting to the airport

14:13 - Getting through TSA security

17:45 - TSA Precheck/Clear

23:38 - Global Entry/Nexus

27:18 - In the Airport

38:10 - International Airport

This episode is sponsored by Comrad Socks. Comrad compression socks are an essential no serious traveler should board a flight without — at least on LA-NY or transoceanic segments — and makes a major difference in how your legs and feet feel during the flight, upon arrival, and the next day. Their aim is to make the best, most stylish, comfortable version of what's traditionally been a boring but useful product—and that's why travel customers that already know and wear compression are getting excited about. Receive 20% off your first using discount code VACATIONMAVENS.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING THROUGH AN AIRPORT * When you are taking a trip by plane, be mindful of your boarding times. When you are planning when you need to leave for the airport make sure to not just look at your departure time. You want to make sure to go by your boarding time. Depending on the flight and airport this could be anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes before your departure time. * Checking in in advance helps reduce your time at the airport waiting in lines, particularly if you aren't checking bags. Even if you are checking luggage you can pay in advance and just need to print your luggage tag when you arrive. * Make sure you have all of your essential items easily accessible, like your boarding pass, ID, credit cards/cash, luggage tags filled out on all your bags. This will help when it is time to pull something out as you won’t have to fumble around to find what you are looking for. * If you are traveling during a peak time make sure to look into your parking situation. Find out if you have the option to prepay for parking or if you need to park in an off site lot which will then require you to have to take a shuttle to the airport. If that is the case make sure that you give yourself a little extra time to unload your car onto a shuttle and for the shuttle to get you to the airport. Even just finding a parking spot in a lot or garage may take you some time. * You will find that some airports may have Skycap available outside of the terminal. They can take your checked baggage and print out boarding passes for you right there, which can help you skip the indoor lines. * Having one spot for all your documents really comes in handy for going through TSA Security. For some this might be an exterior pocket on their backpack/carry on. If you plan on keeping these items in a pocket on your person you may want to rethink for when you have to go through security. Since you have to empty all of your pockets to go through this can cause you to misplace or lose items if you have to shove them into a pocket or in a basket for them to go through the scanners. * If you don’t have TSA Precheck, you should really think about what you are going to wear to the airport. Especially when it comes to your shoes. Wearing a kind of slip on shoe would be your best option verses a shoe that you have to tie and untie to get them on and off. You will usually have an okay amount of time while you are putting items on the security belt but afterwards you will need to grab and move your stuff to get out of the way pretty quickly once they come through the otherside. You should also make sure to not wear any clothing that a lot of metal as these show up on the scanners and you may have to get pulled aside to get patted down. * Having TSA Pre check is a separate line from regular security check, where you don’t have to take out your toiletries or laptop/tablet as well as you will not have to take off your shoes. * There is also a program called Clear that is a paid program which breaks down to $15/month. With or without precheck this program gets you to the front of either of the lines. Unfortunately not every airport offers this program. * If you would like to sign up for TSA Precheck, you will need to go on to the government site to fill out an application. The next step will be to make an appointment for an interview. This is not something that you can do right before you book your flight. * Global Entry has a similar process. This is a different program but if you receive Global Entry you will also get TSA Precheck. For those of you that don’t know Global Entry is a program that gets you through customs quicker. The price difference is $100 for Global Entry and $85 for TSA Precheck. * Nexus is another similar program that offers Pre check for some flights going into Canada. This program also has a faster line for when you are driving across the Canadian border. * Once you are through security, find your way to your gate and look for some seats if you have time to wait. If you need to see if you can find seats that have a plug by them. You might not want to use the USB plugs that they offer, there have been reports of viruses and data being stolen from these plugs. If you brought a refillable water bottle you may want to use the time to fill up your bottles and use the bathroom. * When you are walking to your gate try and look around to where the bathroom, water fountain/water bottle station or even a place to grab food. This might save you some time trying to find these things after you get to the gate if you already know where it is. * If you are nervous about getting through international airports you might want to look into a meet and greet service that airports offer. This is a paid VIP service where someone will meet you when you get off of your flight, they will then walk you to where you need to be. They will usually take you through a quicker security line and you may also be able to board your next flight before your boarding group. * If you are an American Express Platinum member, you also receive access to Escape Lounges, Centurion Lounges, and other lounges through a complimentary Priority Pass membership. This can be a much more pleasant way to wait for your flight or to manage layovers.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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We have talked about the Big Apple before from a local's perspective and the borough of Brooklyn, but what do you do on your very first visit to NYC? Tamara and Kim talk with Claudia from The Travelling Mom to get her advice (and share their own) about what to do, where to stay, what tours to take, and where to eat for NYC first-time visitors.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about NYC

03:14 - Talking with Claudia Laroye

06:15 - Planning your stay

10:30 - Traveling into and around the city

14:44 - Favorite hotels

19:12 - Must see attractions

24:40 - Tours

27:48 - Food locations

32:30 - Broadway tickets

37:12 - Final tips

37:45 - Claudia’s favorite travel gear

38:50 - Coming up next for Claudia

ABOUT CLAUDIA LAROYE Claudia Laroye is a travel writer and editor living in Vancouver Canada. She is the founder of The Travelling Mom, editor of Twist Travel Magazine and writes freelance articles for print publications around the world.

Follow Claudia Laroye on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING NYC * When you are planning to visit New York City you must think about how long you want to spend there. There is so much to see, even locals probably haven’t seen it all! Whatever you plan on doing, try not to over book yourself. Give yourself time to just walk around not rush from one location to the next so that you can fit it all in. * Try to only choose five to ten activities if you plan on spending a long weekend. This is more than enough to fill your time. You should also plan on using the subway system, it can really help you get places without traffic or tiring yourself out walking to the other side of the city. * Make sure to wear good comfortable shoes. You will be logging a lot of steps on your days in the city. * Depending on what you plan on visiting in the city you should really look into getting a CityPASS. This might just save you some money on your visit. It can also save you some time too as the CityPASS allows you to skip the line at some attractions like the Statue of Liberty. * Depending on which airport you are flying into, you can catch a train into Penn Station. You should keep in mind though that depending on the time of your flight and when you will be getting on a train, these are commuter trains so during rush hour they will be very packed and may have standing room only. * Depending on the time of year you plan on visiting, hotel stays can get pretty pricey. January is usually pretty cost effective in terms of hotel prices. You should also keep in mind that rooms in NYC are usually compact. With that in mind you can figure out the best options for you and your family. * The Best Western Plus Hospitality House is a really great place for families to stay. The location is great, plus they have some areas inside that offer great space to hang with the family. The rooms offer ensuite kitchens that you can stock up on food and snacks, that is great for late night and early morning hunger. * These are must see locations for first time visitors to the Big Apple. + Empire State Building - this is a very iconic place to visit and the views from there are just stunning. + Time Square - it is free and a great place to walk around both during the day and night. + Walking The High Line + Walking through Central Park + See a Broadway show + Visiting some museums - The MoMA - The Natural History Museum - The Guggenheim - The Metropolitan Museum - Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum - For those that really love art there are some other smaller museums around the city. + 9/11 Memorial + Statue of Liberty + Rockefeller Center - with the skating rink in the winter months * If you want a great introduction of the neighborhoods in NYC, the hop-on and hop-off tours are great for first time visitors. But other than that, depending on what your interests are there are tours for almost everything. * If you really want to see a Broadway show when you are visiting you should look into booking through the theaters ahead of time. If you are not sure if you want to go or can afford it, try the TodayTix app/website.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Claudia made sure to wear really great walking shoes/boots to NYC and likes pairing them with her black Athletaleggings and her Lululemon wraps and sweaters.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Dial 7 Car Service

The Benjamin Hotel

WestHouse Hotel

Marriott Moxy Hotels

Episode 150 - Things to do in Brooklyn

Tips for Visiting NYC for First Timers - The Travelling Mom

Fable & Lark Tour

Shake Shack

The Smith Restaurant

Ellens Stardust Diner

BareBurger - offers vegan options

Chelsea Market

Turnstyle Underground market

Eataly

Wagamama

Headout NYC

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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What do you do when you get that dreaded alert on your phone or when your listing on the board of departing flights turns red? This week Kim and Tamara give their past tips as road warriors for what to do when your flight is delayed or cancelled, including how to be prepared for the inevitable.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

01:10 - Planning ahead

08:05 - Flight apps

12:10 - Tips for a delayed flights

21:52 - Connection issues

28:50 - Airport hotels

32:35 - Rental car

33:58 - Cancellation issues

40:03 - Coming up next/safe travel wishes

TIPS FOR FLIGHT DELAYS AND CANCELATIONS * When picking your flights when you are going on a cruise or even a train ride that have set boarding times, you should really think about giving yourself a good buffer in case you have any issues getting there. For example, if you book a flight that has an arrival time of 12pm and you have a boarding time for your cruise at 3pm, that only really gives you under three hours to get all of your luggage, get a taxi or car to the port than unload all of your luggage and board the ship. If you have even just one hour delay on your flight that can cause a lot of issues and unnecessary stress before you take a vacation. Imagine how you would feel if your flight ended up getting canceled! * It is recommended that you book an overnight stay in the place that you are shipping out from so that you will just need to worry about getting to the port for boarding. * Looking into flights that are nonstop can also help out with delay issues since you don’t have to worry about catching connector flights. * When you are going on a flight make sure that you download the airline app and are logged in before you even get to the airport. If you haven’t logged in in a long time you might not remember your password and you have to reset. Doing this at the last minute might cause you some aggravation if you can’t just get right on when you need it at the airport. You should also look for the text notification options and sign up for that so that you will get notified of any delays right to your phone. * If your flight gets delayed you should think about heading to a lounge. Lounges are more accessible then they used to be. If you have certain credit cards they can give you access to certain lounges. You can also sometimes pay for a day pass. If that is your plan for if you have a long delay, as soon as you find out if your flight is delayed you should head right there to beat the possible crowd that will try to get in. * There is always the chance that your flight will get rerouted due to weather or other issues. In a situation like that, you really need to stay calm and think about what your next step is. * Make sure to check your gates when you have connecting flights. Even if you checked before you boarded your first flight they do tend to change. This will help for when you get off of the plane, you will already know where you will need to go. You should also look to see a map of the airline that you are flying into so that you know which way you are turning as soon as you walk out. Depending on the airport there is usually a map in the back of the flight magazine! Otherwise you may be able to find a map on the app or airline site if you are able to get on it before they open the doors. * If you need to book an airport hotel due to cancelations, you might want to look for places that offer airport shuttles so that you can avoid having to pay for and wait for a taxi as well as a place that offers free breakfast. Especially if you have a morning flight, you might want to be able to grab something quickly. * You should also make sure that the shuttle is 24 hours so that if you have a really early flight or a late arrival you will still be able to get the shuttle and not have to pay for a ride to and from. You may also want to call the hotel that you booked and let them know when you would be getting there. You don’t want to be arriving really late and have them mark you as a no show and give away your room. * Make sure you have easy access to all your travel information including the name of the hotel you booked, the times for your arrival and departure, your gate numbers, and your flight number. * Check with your rental car company if you are arriving late to let them know that your flight was delayed and when you would be possibly arriving. You should also find out how late the desk is open. You don’t want to assume the desk is open 24 hours and have your flight arrive really late and no one is there to give you your car. * If you have certain membership plans with the car rental company you may not even need to let them know that you will be late because they will hold it for you for so many hours after your booked pick up time. You should also make sure that you get the name of the person you talked to and note the time that you called in case there is any issue when you get there. This way you can tell them who you spoke to and what they said. * If your flight gets canceled, depending on the type of ticket that you booked you could be pushed to the bottom of the list and end up waiting days to get booked on a new flight. You should try to call or go to a desk to rebook your flight as soon as you can, to see what they can do, even to see if they can get you on a flight to a different location that may be in the same direction but a different airport, so that you are at least getting somewhere quicker. * While waiting in line at the customer service desk, jump on the app or the phone to see if you can get service faster that way. Also tweeting the customer service of airline may help. * Having travel insurance can really come in handy in these situations, they may not be able to cover everything but it is possible that you can get some coverage for the extra money that you have spent.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Allianz TravelSmart

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Do you think cruising is all about the big ships? Think again. There are many types of cruising including river cruising, sailing cruises, barge cruising, small ship ocean cruises and more. Join us as we chat with Dana from Dana Freeman Travels about all sorts of cruising from the big ships to the smallest windjammers.

Don't worry, we also chat about a few of the newer big ships too so you can decide what is right for your next cruise.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about cruises

03:35 - Talking with Dana

06:45 - River cruise

10:15 - Ocean cruise

15:18 - Barge ships

21:40 - Comparing large cruises with small ships

27:18 - Dana’s favorite way to cruise

28:30 - Tips for picking your cruise

33:28 - Dana’s favorite travel gear

34:20 - Coming up for Dana

36:00 - Shout out!

ABOUT DANA FREEMAN Dana is originally from New York City but has been calling Vermont home for the last 20 years. She a freelance journalist and the editor behind Dana Freeman Travels. Dana is a luxury travel writer specializing in small ship cruises and places found on the road less traveled. Her work has been featured in CNN Travel, Porthole Magazine, Thrillist, Yankee Magazine, the Forbes Travel Guide and several other print and digital publications.

Follow Dana on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING ON A SMALL CRUISE * There is more to cruising that your typical large cruise ships. There are river, barge, windjammer, small ocean cruises and more. Both barge and river cruises will take you to different spots inside the country rather than ocean cruise that can only take you to areas on the coast. * River cruises average under a hundred passengers. They will normally pull up to the center of a city rather than having to get a shuttle from the port that an ocean cruise will stop at. * You will find that most river cruises have balconies so that you can see the sights go by. You will also sometimes find mini golf and a track on the boat. Unlike an ocean cruise, you will be spending most of your time during the day off of the boat. * Small ship ocean cruises that will carry around three hundred passengers seem to have a choice of some vastly different ports to stop in rather that your large cruises that have two thousand or more passengers. You will also find that you will blend in more in a small cruise port rather than a large cruise port. * Barge ships are more personal. You can book the whole barge with family or friends. But you can also book with a company and you will be paired with another couple or another family. Depending on the type of traveler you are this option can turn out to be the best way to meet and make friends with others while you travel. * Barge cruising travels at a more leisurely pass in the early mornings rather than a river cruise, which will travel at night. The barge will only move about 4 miles per hour. Because of this you will actually have some opportunities to walk or bike alongside the ship. Then after lunch you will have a tour guide come and take you around the area. * Large cruise ships will have a lot more options when it comes to food. Large cruises also have more entertainment options like shows, laser tag, pools and more. * When booking a cruise, you should think about the age of your group and what the stops will offer. You should also look at what ships offers for amenities rather than picking your cruise by the boat.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Dana loves her Lululemon cropped leggings. They are comfortable, have pockets and can be dressed up or down.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Barge Ladies

Barge Cruise 101

Dana Freeman Cruise Experiences

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Who knew the small city of Madison, Wisconsin could offer so much to do -- especially in the winter? This week Tamara fills us in on her recent trip to the Wisconsin state capital, and home to the University of Wisconsin - Madison and shares why this college town makes a cool winter weekend getaway. Warning: you may end up craving cheese curds if you listen to this episode!

This episode is part of a paid partnership with Destination Madison, allowing Tamara to experience what Madison has to offer and share her honest opinion with our listeners.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

00:55 - Tamara’s time in Madison, Wisconsin

06:48 - Where to stay in Madison

12:55 - Things to do in Madison

20:30 - Madison Eats Food Tour

29:55 - Favorite cold weather travel gear

TIPS FOR VISITING MADISON, WISCONSIN * Madison is the state capital of Wisconsin and home to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This vibrant city is also the HQ for many tech and healthcare start ups and over 50% of the people that live in Madison are under 30. * If you are visiting the University, or want to stay downtown, the Graduate Hotel is a great choice that offers an academic and local vibe. This hotel has a rooftop bar and restaurant called the Camp Trippalindee which is named after an 80s movie Back to School. * On the lake, also walking distance to the Capitol and downtown, you will find the The Edgewater Hotel. Newly renovated and slightly more upscale, here you will have a great view of the lake and during the winter they also have a small ice skating rink right next to the lake. * You can catch a free tour of the capitol building which runs every hour. If you don’t want to take a tour, you are free to roam around on your own if that is what you prefer. * If you take a walk down State Street from the capitol building you will find a bunch of boutiques, bars and restaurants. As you walk you will see the transition from downtown life to more of the college town scene. * If you like food and want to explore some of Madison's neighborhoods, you should really check out taking a food tour through Madison Eats. Tamara took the Atwood "Brew and Chew" tour, which included six food stops and three drinks. * There are a lot of different locations in Madison that offer a class or some type of hands on activity. When planning your trip you should really make sure to look into some of these Essential Madison Experiences. You can find more information about them on the Destination Madison website. * If you like mustard at all you should check out the National Mustard Museum. The bottom floor is a kitschy museum with old packaging, signs, and videos. But the top floor has a shop along with a mustard tasting bar where you can taste test 200+ types of mustard! * Madison also offers many museums and attractions, like the zoo, which are free to visit, making this city an affordable weekend getaway. * On Saturday mornings in the winter, the Dane County Farmer's Market is held at the Garver Feed Mill, also home to the Kosa Ayurvedic Spa. * There are many entertainment options in Madison, including the new Madison Circus Space. * Madison is home to many restaurants and some that really stood out include Everly, Graze, and Short Stack Eatery.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Nothing like starting off the new year with a bucket list destination! This week we chat with Keri Hedrick, from Family Travel in the Middle East, about visiting Egypt with kids. We dig into what you need to know -- is it safe? how should you book? when should you go? and more.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

04:11 - Talking with Keri Hedrick

06:25 - How long to spend in Egypt

09:05 - Getting around Egypt

15:50 - Visas/Money/Safety

21:50 - Tour companies

23:15 - Highlights of Keri’s last trip

27:10 - How to dress

28:35 - Keri’s favorite travel gear

29:10 - Keri’s upcoming trips

31:30 - Shoutout!

ABOUT KERI HEDRICK Keri is a British-Australian mum of three who has been based in the United Arab Emirates for the past seven years. She founded the website Family Travel in the Middle East to remove misconceptions about the region and encourage family explorers with inspiring stories and practical information. She also runs a personal family travel blog Our Globetrotters and is the co-host of the City Travel with Kids Podcast.

Follow Keri on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING EGYPT * The best time to visit the Middle East would be between October and April, though Christmas to New Years tends to be the busiest. Going just two weeks before the holidays, you will have a lot less tourists to deal with. * Depending on the locations you would like to visit, you could need anywhere between 3 -14 days to visit Egypt. You can easily visit Luxor and Cairo in three to four days. If you plan on traveling along the Nile you could spend about a week seeing all of the highlights. Then if you plan on really exploring the country you will need 12 - 14 days. * Traveling around Egypt by air is often easiest and the main airline is EgyptAir. Be prepared for a lot of security in the airports. You will need to take everything out of your bags and you will be thoroughly checked before being permitted on a flight. * Another travel option is to catch an overnight train or even a short cruise along the Nile and visit different temples and other landmarks. * Keep in mind that when you are negotiating any kind of price, whether it is for a tour or just buying a souvenir, that you want to be very clear on if you are talking about US Dollar or Egyptian Pound. There is a big difference and you don’t want to be stuck paying more than you thought going in because of a misunderstanding. * Be very mindful of your tipping. Anyone that helps you at all expects a tip. * There are a lot of different kinds of security all around Egypt. Everywhere you go you will have to walk through metal detectors or you will see bomb sniffing dogs. * Don’t drink the water! You will see warning signs everywhere. * You will find that tour companies can be very restrictive with their dates and if you have younger kids you will find it hard to book boat trips and things like that, so you may be better off finding an experienced travel agent or working with a local company to plan a custom trip. * When visiting a temple, it is really great to take a tour with an Egyptologist that can explain what the hieroglyphics mean. * Make sure dress a little more conservatively. Women and girls should have knees and shoulders covered. It is also a great idea to bring a shaw or light jacket with you in case you go anywhere that you need a bit more coverage. You should also make sure that you are wearing closed toed shoes when walking around. This is more for the dust and grime that your feet will end up covered in with sandals rather than being conservitive.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Keri loves to wear looser cargo pants that offer some air flow if the heat of the Middle East along with her casual Skechers.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST 7 Day Egypt Itinerary

Is Egypt Safe for Travel

Egypt Nile Cruise

Best Time to Visit Egypt

Egypt Packing List

Bakseesh Tipping Culture in Egypt

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you ever traveled to a new city and been overwhelmed by all the hotel choices? Wonder how you go about choosing a hotel or finding the best deals? Wonder why you are stuck in a noisy room by the elevator? Find out our tips for booking a hotel and requesting a hotel room that is best for your family.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking about Tamara’s recent trip to Naples and Marco Island, FL

12:36 - Kim’s trip planning for Tokyo

20:24 - Evaluating hotels

21:50 - Comparing ratings

27:10 - Using points

31:30 - Resort fees

36:15 - Booking room

40:50 - Final tips

45:11 - Upcoming trips for Kim and Tamara

TIPS FOR BOOKING HOTELS * If you are planning a trip to a country or location you have never been too. It is a great idea to look up the location and read what other people have to say about where they stayed. After reading a few blogs/posts about the area you will notice areas that are mentioned throughout. Blogs and Pinterest are great places to find travel information. * Be sure to read the room descriptions, occupancy and bed carefully when you are booking in a different country. Terms you are used to hearing in the US are not going to be the same in some countries. Like a double room in the US is usually two double or queen beds, but somewhere else it may mean two twin beds. * You may want to think about creating a spreadsheet of all of the hotels that you want to stay in for your trip. Add in the distances to each of the major places that you want to visit to help you decide on which one(s) will work best. You can also star these locations on a Google Map to get a visual picture of the places you want to visit and therefore the best neighborhoods to stay. * In your spreadsheet or notes, you should also add in the size of the rooms to help narrow down your decision. When you are traveling as a family, having some more square feet to the room might just outweigh having to walk/ride a little farther to a destination. * Be aware of hotel ratings. Make sure you are not just looking at the hotel sites rating but TripAdvisor or another booking site ratings. You should also read some of the more recent reviews as well. Give yourself a little more information about the rating rather than just the stars. * If you are considering using your points for booking hotel stays, you really want to weigh the value of the points versus the price. * Also consider if your points/credit have an expiration date and compare the value of using hotel program points versus credit card points. Does one include any perks such as free breakfast, upgrades, or resort credits. . * Be aware of different resort fees that you could be charged for your stay. All of these little extra charges can add up quickly. Also account for state, city, and tourism taxes. * When you are booking your room there is usually a place that you can add in notes for your booking. If you are a member of a loyalty program, you can also add these to your profile. You can also add in a preference to be close to an elevator, request a higher floor, or an allergy-free room. * You should sign up for loyalty programs when they are offered. They don’t usually take more than an email and you can always unsubscribe later. By signing you you could get a better rate or get free wifi for your stay. * Be careful when you are booking through a third party as you may not earn any rewards points with your booking.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort

Residence Inn Naples

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Most visitors to New York City only explore Manhattan. But what do you do when you want to explore the other boroughs? Local mom Ranjana Armstrong shares what she recommends to do with kids in Brooklyn -- beyond just walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

04:25 - Talking with Ranjana about Nugget

11:05 - Neighborhoods in Brooklyn

18:58 - What to do in Brooklyn

28:00 - Coney Island/Aquarium

29:20 - When to go

31:20 - Where to stay/getting round

34:40 - Eating out

38:55 - Favorite Travel Gear

40:00 - Coming up next for Ranjana

42:20 - Next Week’s Episode

ABOUT RANJANA ARMSTRONG Ranjana Armstrong is the founder of Nugget, a global community for millennial parents to share and discover travel itineraries and ideas for unique family vacations. She's also the co-host and co-producer of two travel podcasts for families: Go With Nugget for Kids and Go With Nugget for Parents. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and 3 boys.

Follow Ranjana on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING BROOKLYN, NEW YORK WITH KIDS * Depending on how much time you have, you might want to stay in Manhattan and the go into Brooklyn for part of your trip. * If you decide to stay in Brooklyn, most people stay in DUMBO. * Brooklyn neighborhood breakdown: + Dumbo is a neighborhood that is on the waterfront and is located right next to the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. There are great cafes and creative places. + Brooklyn Heights is another neighborhood that on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. This is a more residential area, but has some cute boutiques for shopping and a nice promenade to walk along the water. + Williamsburg is a little further north and used to be more of the hipster area. It still has some art scenes, funky shops and people with tattoos. There is also the Domino park that is great for kids. * Things to do with kids in Brooklyn: + New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn that is a great place to take kids or even just go as adults if you are interested. It is a smaller Museum but still has a lot to offer. The museum is located in an old subway stop! + Brooklyn Bridge Park is a great place to hang out. It is located just on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. So if you are staying in Manhattan and want to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge you will come off right at the park. Also there is the largest outdoor bouldering area in north America. If you have any interest at all in rock climbing you should definitely check out The Cliffs. + Domino Park is another great area to spend the day with your kids. There is an area with great slides and a good Mexican taqueria right next to it that would be a great place to get lunch. + Whether you like museums or not, you should really think about checking out The Brooklyn Children’s Museum. It is really well done and has a lot of interactive things to do with your kids. + You are really into the old school amusement park rides you should check out Coney Island. Just keep in mind that it is quite a trek to get there, so depending on where you are staying, make sure it is something that you really want to do. + You can also check out the New York Aquarium which is right next door to the amusement park. * Depending on the time of year you plan on visiting you may want to look up what is going on in other areas including: + Dyker Heights has a lot of Christmas lights that you can see all the different kinds of decorations during the holidays. + In Park Slope there is a large Halloween parade where your kids can trick or treat and join the parade. + There are also some parks that offer movies in the park and festivals.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Ranjana loves to wear her Patagonia Nano Vest anywhere she goes. It’s lightwieght and can fold up really small.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST What to do in NYC with kids Local Guide

Things to do in NYC kids ultimate vacation guide Podcast

The Pilot Restaurant

Tacocina

Smorgasburg

Berg’n

Habana Outpost

Shake Shack

Sweetgreen

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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It is time to head to Miami and explore the street art of Wynwood Walls, the beaches of South Beach, the food of Little Havana, and the wilds of the Everglades. This week we are chatting with Guiomar Ochoa to get her insights on what to do in Miami with kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about the holidays

08:06 - Talking with Guiomar

09:40 - How long to spend in Miami

10:20 - What to do in Miami with kids

21:00 - When to go

22:17 - Favorite restaurants

26:50 - Day trips

29:18 - Final tips

31:20 - Guiomar’s favorite travel gear

ABOUT GUIOMAR OCHOA Guiomar Ochoa is an arts aficionado, foodie and passionate traveler, who has called both Rome and Paris home. She now settled back in her hometown of Washington, D.C. with her husband and two young children, Anna-Cecilia and Luca. Guiomar is adamant about passing down her love of languages and cultures to her kids.

You can find Guiomar online at www.cosmomommy.com. Follow Guiomar on Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING MIAMI, FLORIDA * Four or five days in Miami is a good amount of time to spend. Make sure you take advantage of the beaches and relaxing. * The Everglades is a must see location when visiting Miami. Also located not to far from there is the Miccosukee Indian Village. They have great arts and culture and a world famous alligator demonstration. * When you visit Miami you may want to think about renting a car. Miami is large and a lot of what you will want to visit, including the Everglades, is going to be about a half hour away from the city. * The street art and murals of the Wynwood Walls is a great place to take photos and explore. They are vibrantly colored murals that are done by different artists in the area. The neighborhood is very walkable and has some great restaurants to stop for food. * The Venetian Pool in Coral Gables is a great public pool that only cost about 5 dollars to get in. * Going to Miami in the summer is actually the low season so you will find the cheapest rates. * If you end up exploring Doral, you should have a meal at the Biscayne Bay Brewing Company. You may not think a brewery is that best place to take your kids for a meal but every Saturday this place offers free meals to kids under 12. * Depending on how much time you have in Miami, Florida. Taking a day or two and traveling to the Keys is a fun experience. It is such a pretty drive to get to the keys. Plus the vibe of the area is different than the city. * Keep in mind that visiting Miami can get pretty expensive. A lot of the beaches are public and free. Packing your lunches can save you some money. If you are driving there make sure that you are bringing beach chairs if you want them so that you can really spend some time on the beach.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Guiomar loves to wear a comfortable pair of Vans shoes, with their style pared with a comfy pair of black pants. She also loves to wear some Grace Gonzalez jewelry to dress it up!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Acqualina Resort and Spa

Fontainebleau

The Diplomat Resort

Bulla Gastrobar

Glass & Vine

Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour

The Bazaar by Jose Andres

Episode 136 - Florida Keys Girls Trip

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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At the end of every year we like to look back at some of our favorite travel experiences, destinations, hotels, and products and share those with our listeners. So settle in and listen up as we share our favorites for 2019!

At the end of every year we like to look back at some of our favorite travel experiences, destinations, hotels, and products and share those with our listeners. So settle in and listen up as we share our favorites for 2019!

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor

01:09 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

04:13 - Favorite hotels

18:50 - Favorite Experiences

32:58 - Surprise Destinations

38:36 - Favorite Travel Gear

51:28 - Favorite trip of the year

Favorite Things of 2019 * Favorite hotels + Tamara enjoyed her stay at L’ma Lodge in Morocco. The property was spacious and had a bunch of little hangout places under palm trees. Plus there was a really great view from the roof and the stay was not too expensive. + She also had fun at the Margaritaville Resort in Orlando, Florida, which has a beach feel and a really great pool. In the surrounding area there is a waterpark along with shops and other activities. + Her stay at Les Carrasses in France, was very elegant and affordable. + The Mount Juliet Estate she stayed at in Ireland has a lot of character which made for a great stay. + Tamara’s last favorite hotel was the Riad Fes in Morocco. This Riad had a really unique atmosphere with its large doors and tile work that made you feel like you were in a palace. + Kim loved her stay at the Moon Palace in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This was an all-inclusive resort that made for a very relaxing stay where she didn’t have to worry about the price tag of food and activities. + She loves the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland, where you can get a theme park view room. It is farthest from the entrances so that may be a downside for some. + She also likes the Disneyland Hotel,which has light-up headboards and though you still have to walk to the entrances, you walk through downtown Disney which makes it a more fun walk. + The Grand Californian Hotel in Disneyland is definitely the closest to the park and will be more luxurious than the others. + The Presidio Lodge in San Francisco is close to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Lodge is on an old army barracks type property that has two hotels, a restaurant and the Walt Disney Family Museum. If you are a big Disney fan you might want to check it out. The Lodge is very beautifully done and spacious. They also serve a cocktail hour with wine for adults and lemonade for kids.

• Favorite experiences/excursions

  • One of Tamara’s favorite experiences was when she was able to camp in the desert in Morocco with her family. They rode camels in and were able to try sand boarding the next day.
  • Her experience with Souk Cuisine and their cooking class in Marrakech. They took you to the market and helped you pick out what you need for the meal you were going to make than you were welcomed in to someone's home, where they helped you cook the meal.
  • The Via Ferrata in Banff was such a great experience to have with her daughter.
  • Jasper Food Tours gave a very unique with their Peak-Nik. You would hike up a mountain with all of your supplies and then learn how to cook a bunch of different items and enjoy the view while you eat.
  • Tamara’s wine tasting experience on Canal du Midi barge.
  • Lastly was the great experience of seeing the Northern Lights and feeding an arctic fox in Iceland!
  • Kim loved her experience skiing in Keystone. Since she first learned how to ski there it was great to be able to bring her kids there.
  • The food tour in Key West was a great experience to have with a friend.
  • Gulf Hagas hike in Maine may have been a hard hike, you had a great feeling of accomplishment when you reach the end.
  • California Road Trip was a really neat experience, being able to spend a day or two a bunch of different places.
  • The Rocky Mountaineer train ride was a bucket list experience with its scenery and relaxation.
  • Northern Ireland Causeway Coast (Carrick a Rede Bridge) was a really wonderful experience and makes you want to stay explore in every direction.
  • Being able to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge was a really fun experience.
  • Royal BC Museum in Victoria was a really impressive experience.
  • Being able to see the Hubbard Glacier from a cruise ship had some really great views to see nature at work.

• Destination that surprised you

  • Tamara felt that Belfast had a really great food and views. This surprised her because of everything she kept hearing about the location from others in the past, built up this image that was a lot different than the amazing experience that she had.
  • Kim’s first experience with Jamaica ended up being really overwhelming with all of the people at each cruise port bombarding you with things to buy. Her recent trip there at an all inclusive resort made for a much better experience and left you to relax and enjoy your time rather than worry about little things.

• Favorite new gear

  • Tamara has found some new gear this past year like Taos shoes that have some great style options but have really great arch support. Delsey Paris Chatelet Air tote bag is a great addition to her luggage with a nicer look to it than caring around a backpack. Plus it also has a strap that you can put over you rolling so that you don’t have to carry it on your shoulder all of the time. She also found this new brand of jeans called Fatface, which is a UK brand and they are very comfortable and stretchy.
  • Kim found Forsake Boots for her trip to Ireland that are really great hiking boots. She has also found that she loves wearing wireless headphones especially when she is on a plane. Compression socks that are a little looser than medical ones are less claustrophobic for Kim when she is wearing them. Columbia has an Anytime Bootcut pants that are extremely comfortable and look a little more professional.

• Favorite trip of the year

  • Tamara loved her time in the Canadian Rockies that she took with her daughter. There was a lot of great views and places to see.
  • Kim loved her time in Ireland she was just blown away at the beauty and the ease of getting around.

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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This week we are chatting with Lee Huffman from the We Travel There podcast about his recent father-son trip to Amsterdam and Billund, Denmark. Learn about everything LEGO including LEGOLAND Denmark, LEGO House, and the LEGO Hotel.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Allianz Travel

02:19 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

06:58 - Talking with Lee Huffman

10:10 - Break down of trip

14:45 - LEGO

26:27 - Final tips

32:09 - Lee’s favorite travel gear

ABOUT ALLIANZ TRAVEL We all travel for different reasons. Some to get closer as a family and some to get away from it all. Some to discover new sounds, new tastes, and others to discover themselves. No matter your reason, Allianz Travel Insurance is the ultimate wingman—having your back while helping you make the most of every moment. True experts providing protection for all the reasons you travel.

  Visit allianztravelinsurance.com, and see what award-winning travel insurance can do for your next trip.

Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Plan(s) underwritten by Jefferson Insurance Company or BCS Insurance Company. AGA Service Company is the licensed producer and administrator of these plans.

ABOUT LEE HUFFMAN Lee Huffman spent 18 years in banking and investments and now uses that insider knowledge to write about credit cards, travel, and other personal finance topics. Lee enjoys showing people how to travel more, spend less, and live better through the power of travel rewards. You can connect with him at BaldThoughts.com. Follow Lee Huffman on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

You can also listen to him at We Travel There.

TIPS TO AMSTERDAM AND LEGOLAND DENMARK * Don’t be scared to take a solo trip with your kid, even if you are trying to squeak it into a week break that they have in school. Taking those solo trips with your kids and centering it around something they really enjoy or have wanted to do will create some great bonding opportunities. * If you visit Amsterdam, you should think about getting the Amsterdam Pass. With the pass you can get free entry into over 50 attractions plus free bus and boat tours. Getting the pass will save you a good amount of money if you are planning to do a lot of sightseeing while you are there. * If you plan on visiting the Anne Frank House, you will need to make sure that you book your tickets in advance, because they do sell out pretty quickly. You should also know that when you are booking your tickets you can only book them 60 days in advance! * LEGO House is a really fun and interactive place to visit. Just ordering your food, you will get a pack of LEGOs, which is how you pick what you want to order according to the color and shape. You will stack what you want together and then put them into a machine that has a screen. The screen with then play a little video that makes it looks like little robots are making your food. They when your food is ready there are animatronic robots that are there to ‘serve’ you the food. * You should reach out to the hotel you are staying in. They may be able to give a LEGO card which can get you some discounts or even something free at some of the local businesses. * If you do go to LEGO House you should make sure that you go up the outside of the building to these little terraces that each have an activity center with different themes. Your kids will love to explore these before you leave. * There are three properties that are part of the LEGOland property. The LEGOland Castle Hotel is a happy medium. You will get good accommodations without paying too much. The Wilderness Barrels and Cabins is comparable to camping, including having to walk to the bathroom. Than there is the Hotel LEGOland that is attached to the park and also the most expensive. * A good thing to keep in mind when you are traveling with younger kids is that uou should run through what to expect with your kids before hand, that way they can be a little more understanding of what is going on each day. This may also get the kids excited and looking forward to the trip. * If they are a little older, make sure that you are giving them a chance to pick out some activities or sights that they want to do/see. Try to involve them in the planning process a bit. * If you are taking a solo trip with you kid, you should think about scheduling times in each day when you can call or Skype with mom/dad maybe even siblings. * Always have your kids use the restroom before boarding!!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Lee loves to wear a hoodie when he travels, especially on a plane so that he has a pillow/eye mask/blanket!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Annual Travel Insurance Plan - We3Travel

Upstairs Pancake House

Lalandia

LEGO Inside Tour - Travel Babbo

Postgram

Episode 93: Visiting Amsterdam with kids

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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The Vacation Mavens love a fun girls' trip and what could be better than pairing up some wine tasting and adventure? This time, we head to Santa Rosa in the heart of Sonoma's wine country to learn all the things to do with friends, or with family. From zip lining to hiking to glamping within view of giraffes, listen to all we experienced during our four days in Santa Rosa, California.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor - Allianz Travel

01:16 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about California

05:20 - Santa Rosa Itinerary

07:54 - Safari West

14:57 - Charles Shultz Museum

23:05 - Wine tasting

28:40 - Shout Out!!

19:05 - Redwoods

32:30 - Downtown Santa Rosa

37:45 - Grand Tasting

43:40 - Coming up

ABOUT ALLIANZ TRAVEL We all travel for different reasons. Some to get closer as a family and some to get away from it all. Some to discover new sounds, new tastes, and others to discover themselves. No matter your reason, Allianz Travel Insurance is the ultimate wingman—having your back while helping you make the most of every moment. True experts providing protection for all the reasons you travel.

  Visit allianztravelinsurance.com, and see what award-winning travel insurance can do for your next trip.

Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Plan(s) underwritten by Jefferson Insurance Company or BCS Insurance Company. AGA Service Company is the licensed producer and administrator of these plans.

TIPS FOR VISITING SANTA ROSA CALIFORNIA * Santa Rosa has luxury hotels and inns for couples and girls trips, but they also have options for budget stays and families. * Safari West may be surprising to find African mammals in Northern California, but it is a fun option for tours or overnight stays. * At Safari West you can glamp overnight in an African bush tent, or just visit for the day and book a guided-safari tour. On the three-hour tour you will learn a lot about the animals and how they run the preserve. Safari West is AZA accredited and works on animal conservation. * The Charles Shultz Museum is great for kids and Peanuts' fans. There are other museums and activities in the area as well so that you can make a full day in downtown Santa Rosa if you would like. * If you are a dog owner you should make the Mutt Lynch Winery a must-visit winery. The tasting room is located in Windsor, CA and is filled with gift shop items that you will want to buy for your furry friend! It had a really down-home feel and they offer a wine club that for every wine order you make, you will also receive a dog toy with your shipment! You are more than welcome to bring your dog and they will also do a treat tasting for the dogs while you are tasting their wine. To top it all off the wine was really good! * The Armstrong Redwood Reserve is a great little gem and is a great alternative if you can’t make it up to the Redwoods in San Francisco. There are a few easy loop hikes to take among the Redwoods. * If you are in the area for the grand tasting at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, you should definitely check it out. They hold it every year in October and they have probably over a hundred different wineries there, along with craft beer and ciders. * See more things to do in Sonoma with kids and Santa Rosa kid-friendly wineries.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Kendall Jackson Wine Estate

Safari West

River Vine Cafe

Charles Shultz Museum

Francis Ford Coppola Winery

The Sandman Hotel

Mutt Lynch Winery

Korbel Champagne

Armstrong Redwood Reserve

Perch + Plow

Sonoma Canopy Tours

Hopmunk Tavern

Bistro 29

Visit Santa Rosa

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Do you show up to the rental car counter and get overwhelmed with all the choices? Do you want to prepay for the gas? Do you want additional insurance? Do you know what your existing insurance covers? Ack! It is all so confusing, so this week we chat with road warrior Ed Pizzarello and get his car rental tips. Listen to Ed's tips for renting a car so you are armed with the info you need to make good choices when planning your next trip.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor

01:12 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about car rental

03:25 - Talking with Ed

05:40 - Favorite car rental company

08:00 - Loyalty programs

10:55 - Bad experiences

14:40 - What to look for in your rental car

19:20 - Finding budget rentals

24:45 - Booking

26:20 - Insurance

30:29 - Gas

34:50 - Issues with rental cars

40:20 - Renting Internationally

43:18 - Ed’s Favorite Travel Gear

44:50 - What’s next for Edward

46:45 - Up next for Vacation Mavens

ABOUT EDWARD PIZZARELLO Edward Pizzarello travels for over 100,000 miles a year for business and loves to travel with his wife and two children whenever he's not on the road for work. You can find him blogging at Pizza in Motion and hosting the Miles to Go podcast.

Tune in to Edwards podcast Miles to Go using Google and Apple or on Now Boarding Podcasts.

Follow Edward on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR RENTING A CAR ON VACATION * Hertz may not always be the cheapest option, but they offer the best customer service. Ed has found that Hertz has always taken care of him, while other companies have left him with unresolved issues or not willing to honor a rental rate. * Being a part of a loyalty program with a car rental company can pay off when it comes to picking up your rental car. If you are part of the company's loyalty program you can skip having to wait in a very long line. Since most of you will be traveling with children, this will save you from having to wait possibly over an hour! * Mini vans tend to be more expensive to rent, due to the fact that everyone wants them because of the space for luggage and passengers. They also may have the most miles because they are always been taken out. Try looking for a station wagon or SUV instead. * When looking for what kind of car to rent for your vacation, you really want to think about how much space you really need and look closely at what luggage guidelines are listed. * When looking for car rental deals you may want to look at what your credit card companies have to offer. For instance Chase bank has a portal where you can get cash back for just for using your card to pay for certain items. Look to see if they have a rental company that you can add on to get money back. Costco is also a great option, since they partner with different companies you can get some really great deals. Costco also will not charge you for adding a second driver while other companies will. * Auto Slash is a great site to look for the best prices in rental cars. They will ask you for a lot of information and then send you all of the deals you are eligible for at different companies. Also, if you plug in the information of your car rental after you book, the site will keep checking to see if your car rental price changes up until the moment you pick up your car. * When it comes to insurance when you are booking your car rental, you should first check your credit cards to see what they will cover in case of any issues. Chase seems to be one of the best when it comes to car rental coverage. But you should check your cards to see exactly what they will cover. * Be aware of the gas prices when you need to fill up your tank before you drop off the rental car. A lot of time the closer you get to airports, the more you will have to pay per gallon! * If you plan to rent a car internationally be aware that automatic transmission will usually cost more and companies may run out of them if you don't book months in advance. If you are comfortable driving a manual, you should definitely think about renting one when going overseas. * Having a larger car in Europe is not easy. You will find it hard to find parking and with the narrow road you may have issue getting around.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Edward likes to wear his Merrell shoes along with a pair of jeans or his Prana shorts that have zip pockets for the summer time. In the colder weather he will wear his ScotteVest so that he can utilize all of the pockets.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Article on how to use Chase Portal

Auto Slash

American Express Premium Car Rental Protection

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Slip on your wellies, don your kilt, and grab a Scotch because this week we are chatting with Moon Travel Guides author Sally Coffey about Scotland. Sally fills us in on things to do with kids in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Isle of Skye.

About our Sponsor Moon Travel Guides If you’ve traveled the Americas, then you already know Moon Travel Guides are the go-to guidebooks for truly immersive experiences. Now with expanded coverage of Europe, your family can enjoy everything you love about Moon—honest local insight, strategic planning advice, and the opportunity to support unique and vibrant communities just by having fun—in extraordinary European regions from Prague's fairy-tale architecture to the ruggedly picturesque Isle of Skye. Wherever your wanderlust may lead, there’s a Moon guide for you. Visit moon.com or your favorite bookseller to grab your guide.

ON THE PODCAST 00:31 - About this week's sponsor

01:10 - Using Moon Travel Guides to plan your travel

03:51 - Talking with Sally Coffey

05:43 - Must see places in Scotland

07:44 - When to go and how long to spend

14:50 - Areas to stay in Edinburgh

15:40 - Getting around

16:36 - Glasgow

20:02 - Transportation

22:23 - Isle of Skye

30:16 - What to know before visiting Scotland

32:57 - Sally’s favorite travel gear

35:13 - What’s coming up

ABOUT SALLY COFFEY Sally Coffey is a freelance journalist specializing in Scottish and British travel. Her first travel guidebook Moon Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Isle of Skye is out now and she is currently editor of Scotland Magazine.

Follow Sally Coffey on Instagram and Twitter or see what she's up to on her website sallycoffeywrites.com.

TIPS FOR VISITING SCOTLAND * Edinburgh is a must see when visiting Scotland. * The West Coast of Scotland is another great area to visit, with the Isle of Skye being the most dramatic. * Scotland can get quite crowded in the summer months, but the weather is also the nicest. Places like the Isle of Skye is best to visit in the summer, whereas Edinburgh you can enjoy year round. If you are visiting Edinburgh in August, keep in mind that you will be competing for hotel rooms and in lines for attractions with those attending the Fringe Festival. Keep that in mind when you are planning your trip. * Edinburgh is the ideal spot to start your trip. The city has lot to offer, with a medieval feel and cobblestone roads of Old Town, as well the gardens and buildings of New Town. * Plan on spending at least three days in Edinburgh. The shoulder seasons of spring and fall are the ideal time to visit to avoid the crowds. * New Town in Edinburgh has a lot of museums and galleries that you can explore. * If you like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, there are quite a few locations in Old Town that seem to have inspired characters/locations of the books. Including the Greyfriars Kirkyard which is a graveyard where some of the characters may have been inspired from. * Edinburgh is very walkable and pretty. There are taxis and other transportation, but that can get pretty expensive. * Glasgow offers loads of great museums and a lot of outdoor areas, which comes in handy if you have younger kids that like to run around outside. * The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is really great and right outside there is a nice green area to have a picnic after exploring the museum. * Traveling by train is a great way to get around Scotland and it is not too expensive. The Jacobite steam train is the train that the train in the Harry Potter films was based off of along with the track it takes. If you can get a ride on that train you will see some really fantastic views. * The Isle of Skye has really fantastic views and natural beauty. You can take a train there but then you will need to rent a car to explore. * The island has some great hikes where you can walk for a long time without seeing anyone. If you would like, you can catch a short boat trip to see dolphins or even to the other smaller islands nearby. * You should really spend at least 3 days on the Isle of Skye or you might miss things if you are rushing around trying to see everything. If you can, you should try to stay a week to really get to explore the whole island. * There are some areas that you will need exact change when you are buying anything so do exchange some dollars for British pounds. * Don’t be afraid to talk to locals. They can have some really great insight into spots to visit. Keep an open mind and don't be afraid to take a look at some suggestions.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Sally loves to wear jeans along with her hiking boots. She also likes to keep a waterproof jacket handy for when she is walking around outside in Scotland!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Moon Travel Guides

Camera Obscura & World of Illusions

The National Museum of Scotland

Gallery of Modern Art

Greyfriars Kirkyard - Harry Potter

Balmoral Hotel

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The Raeburn

Stein Inn

Alison Guesthouse

Alamo Guesthouse

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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The Channel Islands is one of the most unique, but also one of the least visit, National Parks in the United States. This week we chat with Travis Timmons of the So How Was Your Trip? podcast about his family's recent trip to Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Sponsor

01:14 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

03:28 - Talking with Travis

07:30 - How long to spend

10:10 - Taking a boat to Channel Islands

12:20 - What to do on the Islands

17:50 - Animals on the island

22:10 - Other things to do in the area

32:05 - When to go

34:40 - Travis’ favorite travel gear

35:50 - Coming up for Travis

ABOUT TRAVIS TIMMONS Travis and his family tell stories about places that people go. That varies from full time travel all the way down to a weekend road trip. He is the host of the So How Was Your Trip? podcast. Follow Travis on the So How Was your Trip Podcast and Instagram.

TIPS FOR VISITING THE CHANNEL ISLANDS & SANTA BARBARA * You should make sure that you give yourself at least three to four days to visit and explore the Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. * If you are traveling with kids that are a bit older and like the outdoors, you should really think about camping overnight on the Channel Islands. After the last boat leaves, which could be around 6pm depending on the season, you will have the island almost to yourselves. You just have to pay a small fee in order to stay on the island and there are limited services and facilities so you need to pack in and pack out. * In order to get out onto the Channel Islands you will need to book a boat ride through Island Packers. The prices will change depending on the season, so make sure to check on that if you are trying to budget and plan in advance. The boat will make stops at the four different islands and you will get off the boat when you get to the island that you want to visit. * There are great kayak tours on the islands, as well as some great opportunities for snorkeling. For information and booking you will need to go to Channel Island Adventure Company. You can also find some great hiking trails. * You will also need to keep in mind that if you plan on visiting the Channel Islands, whether it is for the day or overnight, you will need to pack food and supplies. There are no cafes on the islands. * Reagan Presidential Library is only about 30 minute away from Ventura. So if you like history at all and need a break from being outside, this is a really nice place to visit. * You can also have some fun with a day on the beach or even just a relaxing afternoon. * Black Sheep restaurant in Santa Barbara offers a chef's tasting menu that is great for a date night.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Travis loves to wear his Old Navy Sweatpants when he travels. Especially loves that they have zippers on the pockets to keep his wallet and phone in place.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Channel Island National Park

Island Packers

Channel Island Adventure Company

Reagan Presidential Library

Shoreline Beach Cafe

Black Sheep Restaurant

Handlebar Coffee Roasters

The Funk Zone

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Now that it is fall, we are turning our attention toward winter getaways. If you have ever dreamed of visiting Santa Claus, taking a reindeer safari, and sleeping under the Northern Lights, tune in to hear about Finnish Lapland. Kevin Wagar from the Wandering Wagars shares his family's experience in Finland during the winter and all the things there are to do in Santa's wonderland.

ON THE PODCAST 00:35 - Sponsor - Allianz Travel

01:13 - Talking with Kevin Wagar

04:16 - When to go to Finland

09:30 - How long to spend in Helsinki

14:30 - Where to go in Finland

18:53 - How to split up your days

22:20 - Driving around

24:10 - Santa Park/Village

27:30 - Where to stay

29:35 - Prices in Finland

30:40 - Kevin’s favorite travel gear

32:00 - Coming up for Kevin and his family

33:10 - What’s coming for Vacation Mavens

ABOUT ALLIANZ TRAVEL We all travel for different reasons. Some to get closer as a family and some to get away from it all. Some to discover new sounds, new tastes, and others to discover themselves. No matter your reason, Allianz Travel Insurance is the ultimate wingman—having your back while helping you make the most of every moment. True experts providing protection for all the reasons you travel.

  Visit allianztravelinsurance.com, and see what award-winning travel insurance can do for your next trip.

Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Plan(s) underwritten by Jefferson Insurance Company or BCS Insurance Company. AGA Service Company is the licensed producer and administrator of these plans.

ABOUT KEVIN WAGAR Kevin Wagar is a professional photographer and adventure and family travel writer who makes his home near Toronto, Ontario. When he isn’t traveling the world with his wife and two boys, Kevin in sharing stories and inspiring parents to look beyond the standard family vacation. He focuses on exploring the world in a way that makes travel fun, adventurous, and educational for the whole family.

When Kevin isn’t writing for publishers such as Explore Magazine, and Intrepid Travel, he is creating content for his website Wandering Wagars – Adventure Family Travel. There he shares guides and inspirational stories of family adventure travel.

Follow Kevin on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING FINLAND * You may think that Finland is going to be extra cold compared to the United States or Canada, but you will find that the coldest temperatures will be between 9 to 17 ºF (-8 to -12 ºC). * Keep in mind that if you are going to Finland around Christmas time, you will only have 2 - 4 hours of daylight. But this also means that the Christmas lights will come on sooner making everything pretty and magical. * Most visitors will probably choose to fly into Helsinki Airport, and if you do you should definitely spend a day or two there and explore. * Saariselkä and Levi are resort towns and ideal if you are planning to do a lot of skiing and outdoor activities. * The Pilke Museum it is fantastic for kids --basically and giant indoor play area. * If you are a nervous driver, you may want to think about taking a hired car, public transport or bus tours. Otherwise the roads are good and decent to navigate. * The cost to go and visit Finland is actually better than other Scandinavian countries.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Kevin loves his Merrel shoes and pairing them with his Columbia tear away pants.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Christmas Lapland Finland

Things to do in Rovaniemi Finland Winter

Santa Park Finland

Things to do Inari Finland

Santa Claus Village Finland

Things to do in Helsinki

Pilke Museum

Santa Park

Santa Claus Village

Glass Igloos

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Where is the largest amusement park in the Pacific Northwest? Silverwood, just outside of Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Find out more about this lakeside gem and tips for visiting Silverwood as Kim shares her family's experience this summer.

ON THE PODCAST 00:34 - Sponsor

01:40 - Kim’s trip to Idaho

10:08 - Tips for Silverwood Theme Park

15:36 - Where to stay

23:06 - Bike trail

25:38 - Winter activities

28:15 - Coming up

TIPS FOR VISITING COEUR D’ALENE * Silverwood amusement park could be considered a hidden gem in the Pacific Northwest. It is also only about 30 minutes north of Coeur d’Alene. * If you are visiting Silverwood and want to maximize your time, you can arrive early to the theme park before opening time and wait just inside for the park to open. This means that you can go right to a ride rather than waiting in line to get through the turnstile. * Silverwood sells reusable water bottles and you get free refills all day long. * The waterpark has lockers that you can rent for the day for 10 dollars and you can go in and out throughout the day. You should also think about bringing a pair of cheap flip flops to leave at the bottom of the slides. Make sure that these are extras not ones that you wore to the park in case the get lost or stolen. The park also offers towels that you can rent but it may just be easier if you bring your own to the park. * La Quinta Inn & Suites is a really affordable option to stay. They have spacious rooms, an indoor pool and free breakfast. * When you are planning when to go to Coeur d’Alene, make sure to check out when the Iron Man Marathon is going on because getting a room can get pretty expensive during that time. They can also sell out quickly. * Outside of the theme park, the lake is a great way to spend an afternoon. You can go kayaking, rent jet skis, go on a float plane trip and more. * If you are into biking at all; there is a gorgeous paved bike trail in Coeur d’Alene that will take you along part of the lake. * Schweitzer Mountain offers a lot of different outdoor snow activities. Silver Mountain is more of a challenging mountain that doesn't have too many beginner runs, but they do offer activities like snowshoeing through the woods.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Allianz Travel Insurance

Silverwood Theme Park

La Quinta Inn & Suites

The Blackwell Bed and Breakfast

The Coeur d’Alene Resort

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you been to Iceland and want to go back to see something new? Or maybe you would love to see Iceland's natural beauty without the crowds you find in the Golden Circle or the South Coast? Tamara shares how to get off-the-beaten path with Hidden Iceland. Tune in to hear about her girls' trip to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and the West Fjords.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Tamara about Iceland

02:15 - Getting around Iceland

04:00 - Tamara’s Itinerary

10:20 - Warning signs

12:55 - Driving tour

36:48 - Group trip next year

37:30 - Coming up for Kim and Tamara

TIPS FOR VISITING ICELAND * Getting from the airport to the capital city of Reykjavik will cost you about 150 to 175 dollars taking a taxi. * A cheaper option is to take the FlyBus, which will cost you around 30 dollars to get to Reykjavik. Of course you can also rent a car if you will be driving around the country. * If you see a warning sign in Iceland you really need to take heed. They don’t put up signs without reason. The warning signs can mean that someone has died there. * You should really think about booking hotels in advance if you plan on visiting Iceland. They book up quickly since they don’t have as many hotels outside of Reykjavik. * If you want to spend more than 3 days in Iceland, you should plan on renting a car and moving from place to place to minimize driving and see more. * If you are visiting in the winter, you are better off taking group or private tours with a driver versus driving on your own. * Hidden Iceland offers group and private tours to the Golden Circle, South Coast, Snaefellsnes, and the Westfjords. All of their guides are experts in their fields including volcanologists, glacier guides, and folklore specialists. * Although getting from place to place takes a while, you will have a more of an experience visiting Iceland if you travel around to different areas rather than just staying in Reykjavik for your whole stay. * The Westfjords can only be accessed in the summer, from May or June through August or September.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Iceland Family Travel Tips - Episode 013

Hidden Iceland Tours

Hotel Budir

Eiriksstadir - Viking Longhouse

Heydalur

Hotel West

Icelandic Taxi and Tours

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Kim recently took a weekend getaway to Victoria, British Columbia on the Victoria Clipper ferry from Seattle. Find out where they stayed, what they did, and tips for taking the ferry. Wait until you hear about the orcas on the whale watch they went on!

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim about Victoria

04:15 - Traveling on the Victoria Clipper

07:43 - Where to stay in Victoria

10:45 - Things to do in Victoria

28:10 - Where to eat in Victoria

33:10 - Final tips

35:16 - Shoutout!

TIPS FOR VISITING VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA * You can travel by ferry from Seattle to British Columbia on the Victoria Clipper. There are various levels of service. If you are in the higher class, you will actually exit last because they will let the travelers out from the bottom floor up. This also means that you will be the last to get in line for customs in you are in the higher classes. * The upper levels of the Victoria Clipper feature front facing seats for everyone. So if you get motion sick that could be a definite plus. * There is no Uber in Victoria, only taxi services. So keep that in mind if you are planning a budget for you trip to British Columbia. * You should also keep in mind that the famous Butchart Gardens are not by the downtown area. So you will have to pay a lot for a taxi. There is also an option to book a tour charter that will take you to the gardens and they will let you know when you need to be back on the bus to go back. * If you or your kids are adventurous at all you should look into going to Wild Play,which is an outdoor obstacle course with ziplines, log ladders, nets, rope swings, wobbly bridges and more. The higher you go the more challenging it gets! * Going whale watching can be a fantastic experience, especially on a jet boat. Just be prepared to experience the full circle of life if you encounter any orcas (or killer whales.) * There is a great museum right next to the Parliament building called the Royal BC Museum. They offer a very interactive experience, which is great with kids. * Don’t forget that you should dress in layers because this is a coastal area and it can get cold at night. You should also think about packing a waterproof jacket because even if it doesn’t call for rain, it could rain during the day and burn off later.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Inn at Laurel Point

Wild Play

Royal BC Museum

Finn’s Seafood Chop Cocktails

Earls

Pagliaccis

Floyd’s Diner

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Dreaming about a trip to the Canadian Rockies? Listen in as Tamara shares the highlights from her mother-daughter trip to Kananaskis, Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper. Plus Kim chimes in on what she did in Banff before boarding the Rocky Mountaineer train earlier this year.

ON THE PODCAST 01:53 - Talking about Tamara’s Mother Daughter Trip

05:45 - Kananaskis

09:52 - Via Ferrata in Banff

12:50 - Driving the Icefields Parkway

13:43 - Peak Nic with Jasper Food Tours

15:45 - Horseback riding in Banff

17:00 - Post Inn in Lake Louise

23:20 - Two Jack Lake in Banff

27:30 - Exploring the Athabasca Glacier

TIPS FOR VISITING THE CANADIAN ROCKIES * Banff is very crowded in the summer so you may want to stay in nearby Canmore. * If you want to get away from crowds, you can also visit the other nearly Provincial Parks or National Parks like Yoho or Waterton. * Kananaskis is about an hour away from Banff, and not nearly as crowded. There are amazing views, great hikes and lakes, and plenty of wildlife. * Bears are all over in the Canadian Rockies and bear spray is highly recommended. In Kananaskis you see warnings about bear encounters everywhere. * The Via Ferrata at Mt Norquay in Banff is a thrilling adventure for adults and teens. Via Ferrata is an assisted climbing experience that uses climbing ladders and cross suspension bridges to help you climb a mountain without having to actually mountain climb. You do need to be in good shape as it is a workout and it isn't good if you are scared of heights. * Jasper Food Tours offers a unique backcountry cooking lesson and picnic called "Peak Nic." You hike up to the peak of a mountain, carrying everything you need, then you learn how to make your food and enjoy a spectacular mountain view while you relax and eat what you have cooked. * Two Jake Lake, which is just outside of Banff, is a great spot for scenic photos and a walk along the lake (look for the famous red chairs!) * You should never walk on glaciers without a guide. You also want to always follow all signs that are posted. These signs will tell you where to stay away from and what not to do.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Kananaskis Mountain Lodge

Chester Lake Trail

Jasper Food Tours

Post Inn

Jasper House Bungalows

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you ever thought of planning a girl's trip to Maine? In August, Kim and Tamara headed up to the Northwoods of Maine for a girls' trip filled with hiking and laughs, with a stops in Portland and Freeport along the way. Find out more about their trip and some things you can do with the family too!

ON THE PODCAST 02:20 - Where to go in Maine

05:37 - Moosehead Lake Area

10:13 - Moose safari adventure

16:45 - Hiking

23:50 - Appalachian Mountain Club

32:50 - River Rim trail

38:15 - Going home

38:40 - Coming up

TIPS FOR PLANNING A GIRL'S TRIP TO MAINE Note: Our trip was hosted by Visit Maine. All opinions are our own.

• Where to stay in Moosehead Lake: rent a cabin from Moosehead Hills Cabins for privacy and lakefront views, just double check the location as not all cabins are on Moosehead Lake.
• What to do in Moosehead Lake: Though you have to get up super early, going on a Moose Safari is a really fun experience. You will drive to different places where moose are often spotted, and with Northwoods Outfitters, you then head out in a canoe to see if you will see any by the water.
• Appalachian Mountain Club's Gorman Chairback Lodge: if you are looking for a more remote and rustic destination in Maine's 100 acre wilderness, try a stay at one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's Lodges. We met many families staying in two bedroom cabins (with a bathroom) while we were there. The meals are included and served family-style and there is plenty of hiking, kayaking, and canoeing in the area.
• The Appalachian Mountain Lodges are approximately 40 minutes to town in a very unplugged area. This is the place for you to connect with your family without cell phones or video games getting in the way.
• The Gulf Hagas hike was a great hike in the 100 acre wilderness that takes you along the rim of a river, but make sure to bring water shoes if you have them because there is an area that you have to cross the river. There are also places by waterfalls were you can swim if you don't mind the cold water.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Duckfat

L.L.Bean Flagship store

The Holy Donut

Moosehead Hills Cabins

Northwoods Outfitters

Kineo Mountain Hiking

Black Diamond Trekking Poles (affiliate link)

Appalachian Mountain Club 100 Mile Wilderness Conservation Area

Gorman Chairback Lodge

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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The Florida Keys is a perfect road trip destination for families, or friends. This week Kim and Tamara talk all about their recent trip to the Florida Keys and Key West, with stops in Key Largo and Key West.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about their time in the Florida Keys

02:31 - Getting to and around the Keys

10:45 - Key Largo - Baker’s Cay Resort

17:35 - Playa Largo Resort

23:00 - Islamorada

30:45 - Driving to Key West

38:20 - Stock Island

42:44 - Places to eat

50:58 - Food Tour and Boat Tour

58:15 - Sunset Celebration

1:02:00 - Island Adventure Tour

1:09:30 - Coming up next

TIPS FOR VISITING THE FLORIDA KEYS * Keep in mind when you are planning your trip to the Keys that you are going to be driving down through different Keys, you will run into quite a bit of traffic since you will mostly be driving through one lane roads and small beach towns with lights and little shops. * The Baker’s Cay Resortin Key Largo is a great resort for families or friends. They have great views and while the beach and pool are not close to each other to enable you to easily go back and forth, they are both very nice. This resort offers a complimentary glass of champagne at sunset every night, nicely decorated public spaces, and offers water sport adventures that you can easily access on their dock. * Playa Largo Resortbeach seems to be a bit narrower and part of this you can only access they water by a set of stairs. They also offer a special treat of marshmallows you can roast on bonfires at sunset. The resort pool is nicer than Baker's Cay and right on the beach. * If you are at all interested in feeding fish, a great area to visit is Robbies on Islamorada. They have a restaurant is called Hunger Tarpon and you can pay a fee to go out on the docks and buy a bucket of fish to feed the tarpon. Just go early because the parking lot gets very full. Robbies also offers a bunch of different water sports. * Driving from Key Largo to Key West will probably take you about five hours with a few stops, including lunch. * The Perry Hotel on Stock Island is a bit outside of downtown Key West, but offers free parking and a shuttle downtown. You can also rent scooters and you will find that you will be able to find decent parking with them. * Parking in Key West is challenging. For a car, you will find that there are a lot of residential only parking spot that you could get ticketed if you there. The lot parking can also get a bit expensive as well. * Key West Food Toursprovided a fabulous tour around the area. The tour guide Rose was fantastic! * Mallory Square offers a sunset celebration that starts about an hour before sunset and they have performers to watch as well as bars you can go and have a drink that are all right around the square. You should keep in mind that people will stake out spots to see the sunset early on, so you may want to get there early and do the same otherwise you will be behind a crowd and you will need to hold your camera up over others to get good shots. * The Fury Island Adventure Touroffers a fantastic experience where you can snorkel, walk around a sandbar, kayaking, and even paddle board. This tour offers a great variation of activities all in one great boat trip.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Planning a Trip to the Florida Keys with Kids - Episode 122

Baker’s Cay Resort by Hilton

Calusa Restaurant at Baker’s Cay

Playa Largo Resort

La Marea at Playa Largo

Hunger Tarpon

Bahia Honda State Park

Reef Friendly Sunscreens

No Name Pub

Perry Hotel

Matt’s Stock Island Kitchen

First Flight Island Restaurant and Brewery

Kermit’s Key Lime Pie Shoppe

Blue Heaven

Bagatelle

Key West Food Tours

Sebago Watersports

Mallory Square

Hogs Breath Saloon

Island Adventure Tour

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Happy summer!! While we have been on a short break, Kim and Tamara have kicked off their summer with some fun travel -- of course! In this episode we tell you all about Tamara's trip to Orlando with teens, Kim's last-minute Alaskan cruise romantic getaway, and Tamara's wine-tasting trip to France with her hubby.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Tamara about her time in Orlando

04:25 - Dinner and a movie at Studio Movie Grill

05:08 - Rental car vs. Uber in Orlando

06:55 - Kayaking on Shingle Creek

08:55 - Andretti Indoor go karting and games

10:30 - ICON park

14:03 - The Void Disney Springs

16:45 - Animal Kingdom After Hours

22:52 - Waterpark at Margaritaville Resort

25:20 - Talking with Kim about her time on an Alaska Cruise

28:01 - Chef Daren

34:15 - Cruising relaxation

43:02 - Alaska Airlines Magazine mention

47:47 - Tamara’s time in France

55:30 - Where to stay

1:01:45 - Coming up next episode

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Margaritaville Orlando

Studio Movie Grill

Shingle Creek Kayaking

Andretti Karting and Games

ICON Park

The Escape Game Orlando

The Void - Disney Springs

After Hours at Animal Kingdom

The Final Table - Netflix Show

The Filharmonic

The Hanger on the Wharf

Alaska Airlines Magazine - Vacation Mavens is mentioned on page 53 of July issue

Join Us in France Podcast

Camellas-lloret Maison d'hôtes

Château Les Carrasses

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Did you know that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited in the United States? Find out what to do in the park and the surrounding area, including Pigeon Forge, on this week's podcast. We are chatting with Tennessee native Sarah Wilson from The Wandering Rumpus to get her take on visiting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about summer travels

11:20 - Talking with Sarah Wilson

13:12 - Where is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

15:15 - How long to spend

20:04 - Time of year to go

23:54 - Staying in the park

26:19 - Must dos for families

32:52 - Favorite place to take a family photo

33:55 - Sarah’s favorite travel gear

37:20 - Coming up for Vacation Mavens

ABOUT SARAH WILSON Sarah is a Nashville-based freelance writer, editor and communications consultant. Sarah writes about kid-friendly Nashville and expanding her family's worldview through travel, food, books, and engaging in our local and international communities at The Wandering Rumpus. Sarah, her husband Brad and their three girls have traveled extensively - both locally and internationally - and are making big plans to do much more wandering with their little brood - around the world and in their backyard - while sharing tips, encouragement, and laughter around travel and experiences with kids.

Follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterestand Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK * Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located in East Tennessee but also spans into North Carolina. * If you are just planning to visit the national park you could spend a long weekend and have a great time. Spending a full week you will be able to explore the park as well as some of the surrounding area. * Dollywood is a theme park in Pigeon Forge started by Dolly Parton. You can actually learn quite a bit about the areas history when visiting the theme park. It is very well made and a great way to spend a day while you are in Tennessee. * Summer is always fun but tends to be busier like a lot of places. * During the fall you could see the changing of the leaves which is always beautiful along with festivals. * There are two weeks in the spring/early summer when you can see the mating of fireflies in open fields. They actually get so busy that they open a lottery for parking in April. * You can also see the migration of monarch butterflies that happens in late September early October. * During the winter time they will close certain areas or trails of the park. But this usually just depends on the weather. * Most of the National Park is meant for camping in a tent, but there are also places to rent cabins. * You will want to make sure you are booking spots several months in advance to make sure you get a reservation. * Laurel Falls Trailis a great hike for families. It is only about 2.6 miles to and from the waterfall. Most of the trail is paved so you could potentially bring a stroller. * Clingmans Dome Trailis also another great hike for families. It will take you to a lookout point which is the highest point in Tennessee and has really beautiful views. * If you and your family like to take bike rides, there is an eleven mile loop called Cades Cove Loopthat is closed to all cars until 10am on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting in mid-May thru to mid-September. * If it interests you, there are some great guided tours you can take on horseback along different trails in the Smoky Mountains. * In the summer months there is an active black bear population, so be sure to practice bear safety if you are planning to go hiking.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Sarah suggest getting a photo in front of a wooden Smoky Mountain sign that you will find at the main entrances. Besides that you can get some great photos at any of the lookouts you visit or even just standing with a trail sign.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Sarah recently has been wearing Pranapants that she has loved wearing whether she is at home or traveling.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST 10 Best Things To Do In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park With Kids

5 Things I Love About DollyWood

Cobbly Nob Cabin Rentals

Laurel Falls Trail

Clingmans Dome Trail

Cades Cove Loop

Cades Cove Bike Rentals

Smoky Mountain Riding Stables

Surrounding areas:

Knoxville, TN

Chattanooga, TN

Asheville, NC

European Christmas Market Episode 106

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Find out why Johnston County, North Carolina makes a great weekend getaway from Raleigh or a perfect place to stop on a road trip down I-95. This week Karen Dawkins from Family Travels on a Budget joins us to share her knowledge and love for this special part of North Carolina tucked between 95 and 40 just outside of Raleigh.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Visit JoCo Sponsor introduction

01:14 - Road trips on Interstate 95

03:22 - Johnston County, North Carolina

04:30 - Talking with Karen Dawkins from Family Travels on a Budget

10:07 - How long to stay in Johnston County

11:57 - Finding out about festivals and events in Johnston County

15:55 - Favorite places to stop and eat

22:54 - Must dos in Johnston County

27:52 - Where to stay

31:20 - Off the beaten path

35:34 - Final tip

36:44 - Best place to take a family photo

37:24 - Karen’s favorite travel gear

39:40 - Thanks!

ABOUT KAREN DAWKINS Karen Dawkins writes at Family Travels on a Budget, and has been sharing travel stories, itineraries and tips since 2012 to encourage families to get out and explore the world -- or their own neighborhood. She moved to Johnston County, North Carolina in 2001 and has enjoyed living in this close knit community just outside of Raleigh. A long-time homeschool mom, she and her kids took many field trips to explore all JoCo, as the locals call it, has to offer. Follow Karen on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

ABOUT JOHNSTON COUNTY, NC Today’s podcast is sponsored by Johnston County, North Carolina. Whether you are looking for a weekend getaway or a place to stop on an East Coast road trip, Johnston County, affectionately known as JoCo, is a perfect destination for families.

Located at the intersection of Interstate 95 and 40, just outside of Raleigh, JoCo offers a small-town vibe in a convenient location. Families will enjoy visiting farms, shops, museums, and cafes, as well as attending outdoor movie nights and one of the county’s many outdoor festivals. And don’t miss the BBQ!

Visitjohnstoncountync.organd get to know JoCo! It is easy to remember, just take exit 95 off I-95. Don’t pass it by!

TIPS FOR VISITING JOHNSTON COUNTY, NC * Johnston County is a great place to visit even if it's just for a weekend or a stop on your road trip down to Florida. You can hang out and explore some festivals or go berry picking in the spring and visit pumpkin patches in the fall. Though you won't find any festivals in the winter and summer because they tend to be either too hot of too cold, there are plenty of other things to explore. * If you visit the johnstoncountync.orgwebsite you can find out everything that is going on. There is a calendar of events for the entire county and a very active blog that keeps current information posted. * Even though there are not any festivals during the summer and winter, there are still a ton of places to stop along the route of Interstate 95 through Johnston County. * One highlight is the Tobacco Farm Life Museum, which is right at the beginning edge of the county when you are driving down from New York or New Jersey. This museum is open all year long with live demonstrations and hands on experiences your kids will love; especially after sitting in a car for hours. * If you are interested in shopping and antiquing, then you should think about stopping in Selma and grabbing an orangeade to quench your thirst during your shopping spree. * Going further south into Benson, NC there is a great gluten-free bakery to grab a snack. If you are bringing a dog with you on your road trip, Benson is also a great place to stop since they have an off-leash dog park! * If you can’t stop for a day or two, you should think about at least stopping for a meal and get away from the fast food you find on the highway. Just by driving a little way off the highway you can grab a great meal that will only cost a little bit more than that fast food you were going to get and is so much better! * Just a five minute drive off the highway you can hit Smithfield and grab some food at Simple Twist, which is a farm-to-table restaurant that is laid back and serves some great light dishes. SoDoSoPais another restaurant to try which serves a twist on southern cuisine. * Beer Wine Shine Trailis really fun experience and a great way to try some local brews, wines and moonshine made in a local distillery. Of course this is more for the adults on your trip! * If you like exploring the outdoors with your kids, you can check out some great hiking trails that even some of the locals don’t know about! You can learn more about the hiking trails and other outdoor adventures at Mountains to Sea Trail. * If you are traveling with pets make sure to check out the Hampton Innin Benson which is new, pet-friendly, and located right across the way from the dog park. * If you are looking to stay somewhere more untraditional, you should stay at the Morning Glory Innin Clayton. With its location you can walk almost anywhere in Clayton and spend your nights in a beautifully restored historic home. * If you plan on spending a little more time in Johnston County you should think about visiting the Bentonville Battlefield. This area is also known for playing a big role in the Civil War . The battlefield is out in the middle of nowhere but not too hard to find and is a great learning experience. If you go in March that is when they do their reenactment of the battle. * If you have any interest at all in early Hollywood or even the Royals you should check out the Ava Gardner Museum. The facts you learn about Ava Gardner will blow you away. * If you are going to spend any time in Clayton you should make sure to check out the Sculpture trail which is amazing to go and see plus every year they feature a different artist so you can keep going back and see something new.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO When visiting Johnston County there are a lot of places to take a family photo. If walk the Sculpture trail there is usually some sort of sculpture that forms an arch which makes a great frame for you family photo. The I Love Benson Mural is another great photo opportunity! If you are outdoors exploring, anywhere along Neuse river have beautiful places to take a family photo.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Karen loves to where her Keensandals which are closed-toed and are very comfortable, she has been wearing them for many years.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST JoCo

Hilton Head South Carolina - episode 006

Tobacco Farm Life Museum

Simple Twist

SoDoSoPa

Redneck BBQ Lab

Beer Wine Shine Trail

Mountains to Sea Trail

Hampton Inn

Morning Glory Inn

Bentonville Battlefield

Ava Gardner Museum

Hills of Snow

Pelican’s Snoballs

Snoopy’s Hot Dogs

Jones Cafe

Glendas Sweet Shop

Sculpture trail

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Sure we love to travel with our kids, but sometimes parents need to get away too! This week we share our suggestions and tips for planning a couples romantic getaway, and some of our favorite trips with our respective partners.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Kim and Tamara talking about couples vacations

03:33 - Kim’s upcoming trip

05:16 - Tamara’s upcoming trip

08:40 - Thoughts behind their trips

13:47 - Kim’s past getaways

16:40 - Wine tasting with or without kids

17:45 - Time away versus at home time

20:28 - Tamara’s past getaways

23:48 - Tips for planning a romantic getaway

TIPS FOR PLANNING A ROMANTIC GETAWAY * The first thing you want to ask yourselves when planning your couples getaway is… Do you want to have a more relaxing trip or fill your itinerary with things to do? * Make sure to have your partner plan part of your trip. This can help take the pressure off of you for planning the entire trip give you both responsibility if things don't go perfectly. * Look for places that cater to adults. When you are doing your research, make note of the places that say have kids club programs and events for kids. This may have been a great place to stay if you were going as a family but you may want to get away from that on your couples trip. * Consider where your kids are while you are on your trip. You may want to do a little research on what it would take to get home if there ever happened to be an emergency while you are on your couples getaway. * Choose something different than what you would normally do for a family trip. That may mean not going to museums on your trip or having a nonstop itinerary. * Also consider splurging a little on some excursions. It will be cheaper for just the two of you rather that your whole family. * You may want to think about making sure you have a plan set in case anything were to happen to you and your partner. Make sure whoever is watching your kids know their doctors, allergies, insurance, etc., or even a way for them to get money to cover an expense for your child. * Budget your trip well so that you can fully relax on your trip without having to worry too much about what you can and can’t afford on your getaway. Planning your budget ahead can help when it comes to the little things that add up throughout your trip.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Google Flight Alerts

Dollar Flight Club

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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This week we cover everything from luxury train rides to flying budget airlines. Join us as we chat with Hilarye Fuller from Dotting the Map as she and Tamara dig into the pros and cons of budget airlines. Kim also shares her experience aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim about her time on the Rocky Mountaineer train

17:20 - Talking with Hilarye Fuller

20:40 - Hilarye’s book

22:23 - Airlines traveled with kids

25:20 - Tips for budget airlines

31:00 - Comparing airlines

48:38 - Keeping kids entertained

56:36 - Hilarye’s favorite travel gear

58:48 - What’s next for Hilarye

1:02:26 - Coming in next episode

ABOUT HILARYE FULLER Hilarye Fuller is a family travel blogger and author. She has been writing about family travel for over ten years and specializes in helping people get out of their vacation rut. Her family currently travels full-time in an RV touring the USA. You can check out her blog at Dotting the Map.

Follow Hilarye on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterestand Twitter.

TIPS FOR FLYING ON A BUDGET * Southwest Airlines is a good airline for families, but not quite in the budget category. They do offer family boarding and two free checked bags, although not everyone likes their "open seating" concept. * Allegiant is a budget airline that is good for families, as long as you pay attention to added fees. * The first price you see will make you think it is a great deal, but there are usually fees including seat assignments, checked bags, carry on bags, and boarding passes. This means you will probably still end up with a good deal, but it may be significantly more than that first price you saw that enticed you to start booking. * It seems the new hidden fee for budget airlines is charging to print your boarding passes at the airport. Airline apps can come in handy for this, especially for your return flight when you don’t have as easy of access to a printer. * A lot of times budget airlines do not offer snacks and drinks, and if they do they tend to be on the expensive side. If you are traveling with kids this can be particularly worrisome. If you are traveling with toddlers be sure to check out these TSA approved snacks. These could also work for older kids or even yourselves in a pinch. * Make sure to bring a refillable water bottle, because plenty of airlines don’t give free water anymore. * Keep an eye on what airport you are flying into though, particularly the airport codes. The ticket may say you are flying into a city, but actually you are really flying into an airport that is close to that city, but not that specific airport. This could cause problems if you had already booked a hotel in the city you thought you were flying into. * Spirit Airlines has newer planes, but keep in mind that your checked bag can only be 40 pounds instead of the usual 50 pounds. And the overage fee is quite high. Make sure you check the amounts when you are purchasing your checked bags for you flight. * Frontier Airlines has a program where kids fly freeand they offer some other deals. They are definitely a family-focused airline. * If you have really young kids, they tend to be content just playing with cups and the magazines in the seat pocket rather than toys you would bring. As they get older you should think about bringing window clings so that they can sit by the window and play with those on the window and you don’t have to worry about them making a mess. * Keeping a routine with your kids on the flight can help keep things calmer and more peaceful. This can be as simple as making sure they understand what to expect before you even board the plane. * See Tamara's tips on the best budget airlines for families

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Hilarye’s favorite thing to travel in are a pair of really cute and comfortable yoga pantsthat can almost pass off as slacks. She loves to pair them with a basic Teefrom Target and a pair of Old Navy flip flops.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Using Essential Oils to Stay Healthy When Traveling

Monsters Don’t Ride on Airplanes

TSA approved snacks

How to Entertain a Toddler on an Airplane

Dos and Dont's of Air Travel with Young Children

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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If has been a while since Tamara and Kim traveled with toddlers, so this week we check in with Lydia Blanchard of My Adventure Gang to learn her best tips for traveling with toddlers. Also hear all about Tamara's recent trip on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas and her visit to the brand new "Perfect Day at CocoCay."

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking Tamara’s trip on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas

18:49 - Talking with Lydia

20:58 - Travel with toddlers

23:21 - Trying to be prepared

25:38 - Finding destinations

30:01 - Car trips with toddlers

33:25 - Flying with toddlers

43:05 - What to look for in a hotel

48:47 - Travel gear

52:33 - Final tips

54:24 - Lydia’s favorite travel gear

55:56 - What’s next for Lydia and her family

57:20 - Next week's episode

ABOUT LYDIA BLANCHARD Lydia Blanchard is the adventurer in chief behind My Adventure Gang. She strives to treat every day like an adventure, whether it is in your back yard to traveling around the globe. Follow Lydia Blanchard on Facebook, and Instagram.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH TODDLERS * You should definitely keep in mind that your toddler will act the same way no matter where you are. Whether you are staying home, taking them to the store, or going on an out of country adventure. * You can’t really be prepared for everything. But you will have moments when things are working out great, even if they only last that moment. * When you are looking for where to visit with your toddler, you can try and plan trip to places you know your child will have interests in. * Places in Europe seem to have more support to families with young children; more accommodations when it comes to public transportation, the offer of warming up a bottle when you are out. * You may think driving overnight to a location with a young child will work out great, and it just might depending on your child. Though traveling during the day can also work, depending on your child's sleep schedule. They can watch the cars going by and having some toys to play with. Though you should make sure to stop places where you child can get out of the car and run around a bit. * Number one tip for traveling with young children, no matter if you are flying or just going on a short trip is to bring plenty of snacks. Airlines specifically may not offer anything you child will like or depending on the length of the flight they might not offer anything. * If you have the Netflix app on your phone or tablet you should look into downloading kids show/movies onto the app so that you can play them in offline mode. But make sure you do this before you even leave for the airport so that you don’t have to worry about being able to get the videos to download in time for your flight. * If you child likes to color you should think pack some paper, washable markers/crayons, a small pack of stickers. If you don’t already have these you could even find activity packs that have magic markers that only show up on the pages that come with it. * When looking for a place to stay you should look to see what kind of amenities the place has specifically for children. For example if the place has a pack and play that you can use, that means one less thing you need to pack.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Lydia loves her Cosco Scenera next car seatfor traveling. This car seat is 8 pounds and very versatile and it is FAA approved so you can bring it right on the plane.

Lydia also loves their GB pockit strollerbecause it folds down easy and can fit under the seat and likes to bring a soft child carrier like the Boba child carrier,even if she thinks they will walk most of the time having that carrier comes in handy.

Personally Lydia loves to pants with pockets so that she can hold her plane ticket, phone, ID and that extra crayon or stickers her child hands her to hold. She also likes to wear layers so that if that juice spills or another mess happens she can take off that dirty layer.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Monsters Don’t Ride on Airplanes

Cosco scenera next car seat

GB pockit stroller

Boba child carrier

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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If you are planning a trip to Paris with kids, why not get tips from someone who has gone half a dozen times in the last few years! This week we are chatting with Michelle Millett, a Francophile and experienced family travelers about visiting Paris with (and without) kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

05:40 - Talking with Michelle

10:38 - How long to spend

12:03 - Where to stay

21:35 - Top sites to see

31:33 - Structuring your days in Paris

37:09 - Day trips

39:15 - Transportation

40:46 - Restaurants

45:16 - General tips

59:55 - Best Place for a Family Photo

52:02 - Michelle’s Favorite Travel Gear

54:14 - Michelle’s Top Tips for Traveling

58:50 - Where Michelle is going next

59:22 - Kim and Tamara’s upcoming travels

ABOUT MICHELLE MILLETT Michelle Millett is a wife and mom of 2 boys aged 11 and 15. A devoted Francophile, who although a late bloomer to international travel, has been making up for loss time in the last 4 years. Lover of high jinx and shenanigans whether near or far.

TIPS FOR VISITING PARIS * If you only have a few days to spend in Paris you can definitely cover the highlights. If you don’t want to spend your whole week of vacation in Paris you can pair your trip with other area in Europe. * There are 18 neighborhoods of paris. So depending on what you want to get out of your stay is how you can determine which to stay in. * Keep in mind that nothing is really far away so you can stay in a neighborhood on the outer edge and still go into the city and visit the Eiffel Tower, museums, est. * If you are taking a train into the city you may think about staying in the area of your train station, just so that it will be easier to get to and from your hotel. * If you want to be able to travel around by just walking, you should think about stay closer to the center of the city. * A good fact to know is that if a hotel has a three star or higher rating, it has to have air conditioning. * Just so you know Airbnb is getting harder to find in Paris due to restrictions. * If you really want to visit the Louvre and you are traveling with kids there is a program called THATLouthat has a scavenger hunt for families to even compete with other families if you wanted. * The Louvre also has a late night on Wednesdays that can be less crowded that during the daytime. * Right by the Eiffel Tower there is a place you can get a boat ride along the Seine River. If you plan your day out right you can go up and see the Eiffel Tower and than when you are done get a boat ride on the river. * Make sure to get your tickets in advance if you want to go up into the Eiffel Tower. Getting them in advance will save you from waiting in the long lines that there will be. * They usually start selling ticket 90 days in advance. This doesn’t mean you have to get them that early but depending on the time of year that you are visiting the quicker these tickets will sell out. * Tuileries Garden is very beautiful area, there is this path that leads you to the garden that has trees on either side and shops all along the way. * Angelina Parisis known for its rich and creamy hot chocolate. They also have pastries, tea, coffee and other treats. If you like hot chocolate this is a must do stop for you and your family. * If you have more time in Paris and want to take a day trip or two here are some close areas that are great to visit such as Versailles or Reims. * Reims is the region of champagne so you can see more of a country area of France and do some champagne tasting. * Fontainebleau is similar to Versailles, but is lesser known and is not nearly as busy as Versailles. * If you are traveling with kids and have a stroller. You need to keep in mind that there are a lot steps and if you had planned on taking the subway/metro there are no escalators or elevators if you bring the smallest stroller you have, that will help you navigate easier. * Paris has really great food and a really good variety. Theres is really no bad food places in Paris. You find that while there are a lot of options for sit down dinners there are also a lot of places where you can just grab some quick food and keep exploring the city. * Make sure you say Bonjour! when you are going in anywhere and Au revoir! when you are leaving places.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Any photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background is a great shoot!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Old Navyleggings in black are Michelle’s favorite because you can dress them up or down, and she pairs them with her Converseslip on sneakers or a pair of boot. She also likes layer to keep warm but still cool by shedding layers.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Paris Perfect

THATLou

Tuileries Garden

Angelina Paris

David Toutain

Paris by Word of Mouth

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Kim and Tamara are back from 10 days in Ireland and giving listeners the 411 on their trip. Tune in to hear about their adventures in Dublin, County Wicklow, Waterford, Kilkenny, Belfast, Derry, and the Coastal Causeway. Plus, Game of Thrones fans will love to hear about some of the filming destinations and experiences in Northern Ireland.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about adjusting from jet lag

03:07 - Driving in Ireland

07:10 - Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin

11:36 - Dublin attractions

19:38 - County Wicklown in Ireland's Ancient East

25:50 - Wexford

28:04 - Waterford

34:50 - Kilkenny

40:40 - Waterford Greenway

47:00 - Game Of Thrones boat trip

58:20 - Belfast

1:10:10 - Causeway Coast

1:16:28 - Giants Causeway

1:19:50 - Derry

1:27:30 - Final Tips

TIPS FOR VISITING IRELAND * Ideally when visiting Ireland you would self-drive or hire a driver so that you can stop where you want and take your time exploring areas. * The roads can be a little challenging and narrow, especially if you aren't used to driving on the left. You could definitely rent a car and drive around to explore more than the area you fly into. But when renting a car for your family you must keep in mind that the bigger the car the harder it will be in some areas to get around. * Touring the Guinness Storehouse is a lot more than just seeing the beer being made. There are four restaurants and two bars. They will teach you the correct way to pour a Guinness and there is also a spot where you can get a picture of you on the head of your beer. * Dublin is a young city in terms of population and a very walkable city to explore. * The Ancient East area of Ireland is not far from Dublin and there is a lot of history in the area. * Glendalough is an area with monastic ruins and two lakes that is very popular with visitors. * There is a famine ship in Wexford and in Dublin. You really learn a lot by visiting just one of these ships but if you have a chance to tour both, you can see the differences and compare the stories and conditions. * Waterford is Ireland's oldest city dating back to the vikings. There is much more to Waterford than the crystal. Though if you visit the Waterford Crystal there is a style that is only made for Ireland, so if you are going to buy a piece of crystal you should get that as it will be unique. * Jerpoint park in Kilkenny has some great places to explore. There is an apple orchard that makes different products out of their apples. There is also a glass blowing studio that you can visit. * Waterford Greenway is a really pretty biking trail, and if you continue you can explore Mount Congreve Gardens which is a very beautiful garden that has a lot of different walking paths. * North of Dublin in the Boyne Valley, you can take a Game of Thrones boat tour with Boyne Boats. * Game of Thrones fans should also visit Castle Ward for the Winterfell Experiences. You get to visit the area that is the backdrop for Winterfell in the beginning seasons of the show. You can dress up in the costumes and try out archery and axe throwing and maybe even meet a dire wolf. * Downtown Belfast is very safe and walkable, with restaurants and bars. You wouldn't know about the Troubles that tore the city apart unless you visit the Peace Wall or the Catholic or Protestant neighborhoods. * In the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, you can visit the Titanic Museum and the Titanic Hotel. * Until September 2019, there is also a Game of Thrones touring exhibition in Belfast where you can see costumes and props used in the show. * The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is in a gorgeous area. Keep in mind that they will close the bridge depending on the weather. You also need to stop at the first little booth to get you ticket for the bridge. They will not sell them at the entrance to the bridge. * Giant’s Causeway is another beautiful site. Give yourself plenty of time to walk along the coast and there is even a path to walk up towards the cliffs and see another view of the coast. * Derry is a walled city that has two sides that has a bridge that crosses to both sides called the Peace Bridge. There is some really great food all throughout the city. * Make sure you leave extra time for the security in the airport when traveling through Dublin. There will be two seperate security areas that you will have to go through to get back to the US. * Make sure to pack and wear layers throughout your trip. With the temperatures changing through the day you will want to shed or put layers back on.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Episode 19 - Ireland Family Travel Tips

Guinness Tour in Dublin

The Davenport Hotel

The Morgan Hotel

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

Killruddery House

Glendalough

Brooklodge

Dunbrody Famine Ship

Granville Hotel

Jerpoint Glass

Pembroke Hotel

Mount Congreve Gardens

Mount Juliet Estate

Grand Central Hotel - Belfast

Titanic Museum Belfast

Ulster Museum Belfast

Titanic Hotel

Bushmills Inn

Trim Castle

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Let us whisk you away to the land of chocolate, cheese, and gorgeous mountain trails! This week we chat with Claudia Laroye, from The Travelling Mom, who has visited Switzerland over two dozen times. She shares her love of all things Swiss and best tips for planning a trip to Switzerland.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - What Tamara Learned from the Switzerland Tourism Board

13:26 - Talking with Claudia

17:30 - Number one area to visit in Switzerland

19:44 - When to visit

25:30 - How to plan your itinerary

36:30 - Planning early

38:47 - Getting around

47:18 - Swiss foods

54:30 - Final tips

55:35 - Favorite place to take a family photo

57:30 - Claudia’s favorite travel gear

1:00:45 - What’s next for Claudia

1:02:28 - Coming next for Kim and Tamara

ABOUT CLAUDIA LAROYE Claudia Laroye is a freelance travel writer, blogger and editor. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two sons. In addition to The Travelling Momfamily travel site, Claudia is the Contributing Editor forTwist Travel Magazine, the Curious Travel Mama on TravelMamas.com, and contributes to a wide variety of print and online publications around the world. She writes about adventure, family, luxury and sustainable travel. Follow Claudia Laroye on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING SWITZERLAND * If you are only able to visit Switzerland for a few days you should definitely stay in Zermatt. This is an iconic area of Switzerland and has all of the elements that you would think of when imagining Switzerland. This is a little village that is very easy to access by train. * Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen are also great areas to visit that have the iconic mountains. These alpine destinations can all be considered sweet spots of Switzerland. * Even if you do not ski, the winter time is still a great time to visit with plenty of other snow sports or even just watching ski races and walking around the villages. If you venture into the cities you will find some great museums. * Keep in mind that Switzerland is an expensive destination and both winter and summer are their high seasons. Switzerland has a high quality environment and you will find that because of this everything is going to run a bit more expensive. * Summer time may be the right time to visit for your family due to the wide variety of outdoor activities that you can find and explore. There is hiking, boat rides, ziplining, cycling, and much more. * You could plan your itinerary in a sort of loop if you are coming and going from the same airport. You could also plan your itinerary more of a one way trip if you decide to fly in and leave from different locations. * For families that are keen on spending 10-14 days in Switzerland, you can plan your itinerary to look something like this: + Spend your first day or two in Zurich visiting the old town, Swiss National Museum, FIFA World Football Museum, and the Uhrenmuseum Beyer Zürichwhich is a watchmaking museum and is one of Switzerland’s most important industries. + You could that take a day trip to Lucerne and visit the Museum of Transportwhich is an outstanding museum to learn everything about all modes of transportation. + Then you could spend a day or two in Bern visiting the Gurten, Bear Park, swimming at Marzilibad, visiting the Einstein Houseand Alpine Museums. You can also walk through the limestone arcades in Bern’s Old Townand visit the Westside Mall for BernAqua water park. + Take a day trip to Ballenberg which is the Swiss Open-Air Museumthat displays over 100 original Swiss buildings and architecture. + If you love Gruyere cheese, medieval towns, you could make a day trip to Gruyere. + Next you could visit Interlaken, Thun and take a boat tour on the Lake of Thun, view the famous Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau mountains. + Head to the Bernese Oberland Alps and spend three or four days in Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen or Adelboden. In this area you can explore the outdoors by going hiking, cycling, zip lining, ride gondolas and cog-railways up mountains. You could also take a ride on the Jungfraujochwhich is the highest railway in Europe to glacier area between Jungfrau and Monch peaks. Plus you could do day trips to neighbouring villages. + You could than spend some time in Lausanne and visit the Olympic Museumin this French-speaking town on Lac Leman. + Next you could spend one to three days in and around Zermatt. Take Gornergrat cog-railway up to 3,125 m and see some amazing views of Matterhorn and several glaciers. Then if you want to spend some more time outdoors you can hike down or around the area. + If your schedule and interests allow to visit the Italian-speak part of the country, you could spend time in Bellinzona and Lugano in Ticino. Bellinzona has three UNESCO castles, a wine-making regions, and Lugano is beautifully situated on the Lake of Lugano. + Than make your way back to Zurich for your flight. * Once you know that you can go to Switzerland you should start your booking as soon as you can. Try to book at least six months in advance if not more. That way you will will have more options and won’t have to worry as much about that hotel you wanted to stay in being booked. * Renting a car may not be the best option due to to parking. If you planning to visit from North America you should think about purchasing a Swiss Travel Passbefore you go. Getting around Switzerland by train is very easy. Plus if you have a child that is under the age of 16 and are with an adult with a travel pass they travel for free! There are a few different option when it comes to the Swiss Travel Pass. Then along with transportation, you can also get into hundreds of museums for free. * Outside of Toblerone there is plenty of other chocolate in the area. There are also some amazing cheeses that you will find. Though keep in mind that meat in Switzerland is not cheap. Fondue is very popular in both the winter and summer. Though it is recommended that you not drink cold drinks when you are enjoying fondue because it could upset your stomach with the hot cheeses. Swiss honey is also amazing but can be quite expensive. So if you have an opportunity to try some at a breakfast buffet you should definitely try some. * Here are some other food items you should think about trying while in Switzerland: + Rosti - shredded potatoes, fried and covered with eggs, ham or cheese. + Raclette - toasted cheese served with potatoes, meats and pickled onions and cornichons. + Sussmost - a bubbly apple juice, non-alcoholic. + Rivella - a soda made from milk whey, this may be an acquired taste for many. + Fruit pies - the Swiss love their pastries and fresh fruit pies. + Dried meat - Bundnerfleisch is a type of air-dried beef, delicious with raclette cheese. + Basler Lackerli - a traditional hard spice biscuit, made from honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel, and Kirsch. Invented in the 15th century. + Thomy mustard - a famous mustard brand in Switzerland.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Getting a photo with the Matterhorn in the background is a great place to snap a photo, as well as in the historical town of Bern.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Claudia loves to wear her Scarpahiking shoes or BirkenstockGizeh sandals or Allbirdsshoes to walking around town. She pairs those with her Athletapants and Kit and Aceor Lululemontops and pashminas, and an Arcteryxlayer.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Reasons to Visit Canada in 2017 - Episode 39

Swiss National Museum

FIFA World Football Museum

Uhrenmuseum Beyer Zürich

Museum of Transport

Bear Park

Einstein House

Alpine Museums

Bern’s Old Town

BernAqua water park

Swiss Open-Air Museum

H.R. Giger Museum

Jungfraujoch

Olympic Museum

Swiss Travel Pass

Family Trips App

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Happy Easter, Passover, and Spring to all our listeners! This week Kim is giving us the low down on her massive road trip from Seattle to Disneyland, including stops along the California Coast. If you have ever thought of taking an epic California coast road trip, don't miss this episode!

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Thank you Listeners!!

01:18 - Talking with Kim about her road trip

01:50 - Itinerary

07:15 - Redwoods

08:45 - Fort Bragg

14:52 - San Francisco

22:37 - Unplanned stops

26:30 - Cambria

33:06 - Ventura

37:37 - Disney

40:19 - LA

41:58 - Going home

43:05 - Final tips

50:15 - Where to take a family photo

52:30 - Kim’s Favorite Travel Gear

56:28 - Coming next week

TIPS FOR PLANNING A CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP * If you rent a car and drive one direction and fly back, you can drive from Seattle to Southern California in a week. Even if you are not a Seattle or California resident you could still have a great road trip if you plan to make your road trip one way and take flights. * It is highly recommended that you take your California road trip from north to south. Since you will be on the right side of the road, it makes it easier to get off and back onto the highway at scenic overlooks. Though you should know that if you are not a fan of heights, driving on the Pacific Coast Highway from north to south can have quite a few spots where there will be a drop off on that side of the road that may make you nervous. * If you plan on visiting the Redwoods on your road trip. You may be tempted to stop as soon as you start seeing them, to start you exploring but you should really wait until you get to Crescent City, then get on the 101. * Fort Bragg (not a military base) in California makes a great overnight stop. This is where you will also find a glass beach. The glass there is actually from a dump that years ago pushed the glass to the shore where it got washed up after storms. Keep in mind that this cove that will have the glass is somewhat hard to get to, go make sure you have good shoes if you are adventurous enough to find and explore the beach. And remember to leave the glass on the beach and leave no trace! * If you are planning on visiting San Francisco on your trip you should definitely think about renting bikes and riding across the Golden Gate Bridge. You can also walk the bridge but that will take quite a while. There is a lookout on the other side of the bridge that has a great view of the bridge and city. * Don’t be afraid of making any unplanned stops. They could out to be a highlight of your trip! * You may want to think about staying in Monterey, California. There is so much to do in Monterey and nearby Carmel, plus starting from this area instead of San Francisco will give you more time to stop along the coast. * Make sure to fill up on gas, bring snacks, and use the bathroom before you leave the Monterey/Carmel area, as there are not many places to stop until you get to Big Sur. * Piedras Blancas is a great place to stop and see the Elephant Seals. If you or your child have any interest in animals you may want to think about making this one of your planned stops. Springtime is a great time to see them otherwise they may not be there. * Universal Studios LA is very different than Orlando. There are less rides and it is more about the movie sets. If you do plan on going, it is highly recommended that you do the studio backlot tour. This is an absolute must if you plan on going to Universal on this or any trip you make to California. Make sure to ask to ask to be in the third car of the tram! * Make sure to have a mapped plan of the route you want to take. If you just rely on GPS to get to each point on your trip. The GPS may want to keep taking you on the shortest or quickest route rather that the one you want to take. If it does you could miss out on some coastal views or additional stops you want to make. * Plan accordingly for gas prices they tend to be pretty high in California. Also make sure to be aware of rush hours when you are driving to or from cities on your route. This could get you caught in some slow traffic if you don’t try to plan around them. * If you are renting a car and you have any issues with the car try to get the car to the nearest rental company, depending on which you used, and they may be able to help you quicker that waiting on hold if you call them to find out what to do.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO If you are going to San Francisco you should definitely get a shot on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge where you can have the bridge on one side and the city on the other.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Kim loved wearing her leggings for driving around since they are so comfortable and perfect for the long times in the car. One huge time saver would be to make sure everyone has slip on shoes, which will make taking stops that much quicker when getting out of the car.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Things to do in Fort Bragg

North Coast Brewing Co.

The Beachcomber Motel

Best Place to see the Redwoods on the California Coast

The Lodge at the Presidio

Tips for Driving the California Coast

Oceanpoint Ranch

Pelican Inn & Suites in Cambria

Robin’s Restaurant

Linn’s Restaurant

Crowne Plaza Hotel

Alamo Car Rental

Visiting Los Angeles with Kids

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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We are back from our spring breaks and this week, Tamara is telling us all about her family trip to Morocco. Tune in for tips on visiting Morocco with kids and what you need to plan your own trip.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Kim about her ski trip

13:55 - Talking about Tamara’s trip to Morocco

14:30 - Weather in Morocco

16:36 - How long to spend

18:28 - Travel to and from Morocco

19:40 - Itinerary

24:40 - Riads

29:39 - Food tour

34:20 - Shops

37:28 - Camping in the Desert

45:30 - Marrakech

51:15 - Cooking class

54:14 - Language

55:04 - Money

59:29 - Final Tips

1:01:55 - Favorite Place for a Family Photo

1:02:45 - What to wear

1:04:47 - Listener’s tip

TIPS FOR VISITING MOROCCO * The weather during the spring is very nice, though you have to keep in mind that it changes depending on the area of country you are staying in. So the further north you are, the colder it will be, then it will warm up the further south you go. * When planning your trip to Morocco the best time to go will be in the springtime. The temperatures ranged from 50 to 80 during the day and about 40 to 60 at night. This will also depend on the area of the country you are staying in. November to January is not the best time to go because it tends to get quite rainy. Then in the summertime, the temperatures get very hot, so keep that in mind when planning when to go to Morocco. * You will need at least a week to explore what the country has to offer. Ideally two weeks in Morocco would be best, so that you can really explore. Make sure that you travel around to different areas rather than just picking on area and staying there the whole time. Get out of the touristy areas of the country a get a taste of the true Morocco. * Keep in mind that depending on how many places you want to visit there is a lot of driving involved. For instance if you want to spend a night in the Sahara desert it could take you an 8 hour drive to and from the desert. So you will need to plan accordingly. * Be aware that if you ask around on how long it will take to get somewhere, you will most likely be told that it will take less time that it actually will take. * If you are a squeamish person you may want to really do some research before planning your trip. You will definitely see some eye opening sights, like animal parts just hanging or laid out in the open. This is not a location for a germaphobe and you need to be careful where you eat. * You may want to look into hiring a driver for your trip to Morocco. This will save you some headaches and if you are not comfortable driving in foreign places. This may not be in the budget, but it is definitely worth looking into. * Make sure to keep an eye out for different stands that sell souvenirs and authentic merchandise. You will find that there are a lot of places that sell imported knockoffs. * Something that may be on your bucket list is camping in the desert. If so you should look into the experience when visiting Morocco. This is a big commitment considering the drive it takes to get to and from the area. * If you like food you should definitely look into taking a cooking class when you are in Marrakech. It could turn into the highlight of your trip. * In major areas you will find that most speak English, but in smaller areas that are less touristy you will hear a lot of French and Moroccan Arabic. * The money in Morocco is the Moroccan dirham, and you can’t get this out of the country. You can exchange at the airport or you can go to an ATM. But keep in mind that for the ATM you can only take out 2,000 dirham at a time which is about 200 dollars, and you can only take out a max of 4,000 dirham a day. You also find that very few places take credit cards. * Having a driver can really make a big difference on how your trip will go. A thing to keep in mind is that there are police everywhere, so if you are planning to drive around yourself you need to keep an eye out because they do pull people over quite a bit. The roads are mostly narrow and winding. You may also come across some areas that are in the mountains and you will be on a narrow with a drop off one side and mountain on the other. So, if you are a nervous driver in areas like this you should definitely look into hiring a driver. * Keep in mind that you are in a conservative country and will need to wear clothing that is appropriate. Pants or skirts need to be below the knee, keep your shoulders and cleavage covered. Loose and flowing is a good option because you will be able to cover the areas that need to be covered and not get overly hot in the weather.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO If you plan on experiencing the desert, this is a great place to get a family photo while you are there!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Keystone Colorado

Lina Ryad & Spa

Epic Morocco

Riad Fes

Riad Madu

L’ma Lodge

Four Seasons Marrakech

Riad Kaiss Marrakech

Chefchaouen Morocco: 5 Important Facts to Know Before You Go

50 Essential Morocco Travel Tips for First-Time Tourists

How Much Does a Morocco Trip Cost?

Plan a Perfect 7-day, 10-day, or Two-week Morocco Itinerary

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Today is World Autism Awareness Day and we wanted to share some tips and strategies for traveling with kids on the Autism spectrum. Nicole Thibault shares her personal story and learnings to encourage families that feel that travel isn't possible or is just too hard. Learn about some of the resorts, theme parks, and brands that have been certified to support guests on the Autism spectrum.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking with Tamara traveling with special needs

05:10 - Talking with Nicole

09:25 - Advice on whether or not to travel

13:40 - Certified destinations around the world

14:30 - What age to go

15:58 - Flying with kids on the Autism spectrum

18:30 - Tips for visiting uncertified locations

20:34 - My Villa Key

22:30 - Theme parks

28:16 - Cruising

32:40 - Preparing your child

35:11 - Final tips

36:25 - Favorite Travel Gear

ABOUT NICOLE THIBAULT When Nicole Thibault opened her travel agency, Magical Storybook Travels, in 2015, she knew she wanted to create a travel business that catered to ALL families, including those with Autism and other Special Needs. She takes great pride in assisting families with their vacations, especially those who thought that they might not be able to travel with their child with Autism.

In addition to Magical Storybook Travels, Nicole also owns Spectrum Travel Social Story Videos, a production company that creates destination-specific travel videos that help children with Autism and anxiety get acclimated to a destination prior to travel. These videos greatly reduce the anxiety and fear for a child with Autism about traveling to an unknown destination.

Follow Nicole on Instagram.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH AUTISM * If you are thinking about taking a vacation but have concerns regarding traveling with a child or adult with Autism, here are some sites that may answer some of your questions; IBCCESwhich is a company that partners with destination to provide training to employees to create accommodation for families that are on the spectrum, and Autism Travelis a site that will list all of the destinations that have been through the training. * The best part of these two sites is that the company really looks at these destinations through the eyes of someone with autism. They make sure that 85% of the staff at each location has been through the training. They will also supply some planning tools on their site to help families. * The best place to start is to take small trips at first. Then progressing to longer times away from home. Depending on progress and comfort, you could try plane trips to take vacations further away. * Autism Travelis a site you can count on to know that each destination listed has employees that have been through training and that they will be ready for you family. * Most kids are diagnosed around the age of two or three. With that being said you should wait a couple years for your first vacation. In those couple years your child will have some therapy under their belt and may better be able to handle the situation. * Flights may be difficult, especially for the first time. TSA Careshas a hot line that if you call them and give them a heads up on flights at least 72 hours before, they will have someone meet you outside security that will walk you through security so you won’t need to wait through the regular 20-30 minute line they will take you through a seperate area to go through security. * If you need to travel to a location that is not a certified destination. You may want to think about going on the hotel’s website where you will be staying, and show your child pictures of the lobby, room, even the outside of the hotel. With those pictures you can create a social story about how this is where you will be staying. Maybe even talking about how long you will be there. This can give your child a sense of calm and ease about the trip. * My Villa Keyis a certified Orlando Vacation site with IBCCESwhere you can stay in a villa of your own. They make sure to use cleaning supplies that are not to strong smelling. The walls are painted in muted tones so there is nothing too bright that could cause sensory overload. The doors are equipped with an alarm system so that if you child is a runner you will know when they open the door. There is also a lock on the gate at the pool so that you know they will not be able to get in there without your supervision or even out before you are with them to leave. * Prepare your family if you are planning on going to a large Theme Park like Disney. Have a talk with everyone explaining where you are going what you will see. Maybe showing pictures of the park and the rides that are there. * Do some research on accommodations the park may offer for children or adults with disabilities. You may also want to put together a bag with items that will help your child with any sensory issues. You could have noise canceling headphones, little toys, hand sanitizer, scented lip balm. Anything that will help your child get through any unexpected issues. * Royal Caribbean was great with helping out anyway they could to make Nicole and her family's cruising experience the best. * Teaching your kids to be friendly to all kids no matter if they are in a wheelchair, have Autism or even just shy can make a big difference in social situations. * Don’t be afraid to take a chance on traveling!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Nicole loves to be comfortable; wearing shorts, t-shirts, sandals. She also like to wear her Lands’ End fleece for when she gets cold. Eagle Creek makes a backpack that you can roll up that Nicole loves to use on her travels.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Morgan’s Wonderland

R Family Vacations

IBCCES

Autism Travel

TSA Procedures

TSA Press Release - has all the information you will need and links to find out more

My Villa Key

Fact on the DAS pass for Disney

Sesame Place Autism Social Story Videos

Spectrum Travel Social Story Videos YouTube channel

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Happy anniversary to us!! Thank you to all of our listeners who have been with us all along our three year journey and those who have joined in along the way. This week we are celebrating our third anniversary by recapping our top 10 most popular episodes of all time.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - 3 years, top ten episodes

01:57 - New York City

05:36 - Summer Travel

08:36 - Norwegian Bliss Cruise Ship

10:18 - Our Top 100 Travel Products and Experiences

14:07 - More Summer Travels

15:44 - Travel Apps

20:24 - Black Hills of South Dakota

21:58 - First Trip to Italy

23:10 - Mexico All-Inclusive Resorts

27:02 - Saving Money for Vacation

32:40 - Next Episode

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST #1 New York City with Kids - episode 54

#2 Summer Travel - Yellowstone, Montana and a Midwest Road Trip - Episode 103

#3 Our Experience on the Norwegian Bliss Cruise Ship - Episode 104

#4 Our Top 100 Travel Products and Experiences - Episode 100

#5 Summer Travels - Arizona, New Mexico, Toystory Land, Italy and Montana - Episode 102

#6 Best Travel Apps - Episode 90

#7 Visiting the Black Hills of South Dakota - Episode 105

#8 Planning a First Trip to Italy - Episode 84

#9 Guide to Mexican All-Inclusive Resorts - Episode 109

#10 Tips for Saving Money for Vacation - Episode 87

Disney Cruise Guide for First Timers - Episode 91

Columbia

Momondo App

Autoslash

Secret Flying

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Does the winter weather have you down? It is time to start thinking about spring break and summer vacations. This week we are talking about another warm-weather destination, the Florida Keys. Bryanna Royal from Crazy Family Adventure has spent a month in the Florida Keys and shares her tips for visiting the Florida Keys with Kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about Florida

06:25 - Talking with Bryanna

09:55 - Florida Keys

11:30 - Not about the beaches

12:10 - Getting around the Keys

13:05 - Where to stay

16:30 - How long to stay

17:28 - When to go

19:43 - Must do activities

30:10 - Day trips

33:49 - Campgrounds/Hotels

37:14 - Food

40:30 - Final tips

41:51 - Where to take a family photo

42:02 - Bryanna’s favorite travel gear

45:37 - Where Bryanna is going next

ABOUT BRYANNA ROYAL Bryanna, her husband, 4 kids, and dog sold everything, bought an RV and our traveling full-time around North America. If they aren’t out climbing mountains, hiking to a waterfall or playing at the beach they are most likely at the local donut shop trying to find the best donuts in North America! They write about things to do with kids at the destinations they visit, full time family travel and working from the road at www.crazyfamilyadventure.com.

Follow Bryanna on Facebook, Instagram, Youtubeand Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING THE FLORIDA KEYS WITH KIDS * There is more to the Keys than just Key West. The Keys are made up of five destinations; Key West, the Lower Keys, Marathon, Islamorada and Key Largo. If you really want to get the most out of the Keys you should think about maybe doing a road trip, where you can hit all of the Keys rather staying and experiencing only one of them. * Be aware that the Keys are not about the beaches. The Keys are surrounded by a coral reef, which messes with the white sand beaches that come to mind when thinking of Florida. This means there are a lot of great snorkeling spots that you can do right off of the beach. * Since the Keys are so long, you shouldn’t try to stay in one of the Keys and drive to explore the rest since you will be spending a lot of time in the car. It is also not a great drive at night since the roads are mostly two lane. * Hawks Cay Resortis a great resort to stay for families located in Duck Key. * You could definitely visit the Keys in a week, but if you can spend ten to fourteen days, that would be the best. If you are able to spend at least ten days for your trip you will really get to explore each of the Keys at a more relaxed pace. * You can still have some really great weather if you visit the Keys in the Winter or Fall but be prepared, it could always turn rainy and overcast. * Must do activities in the Florida Keys could include: + John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Parkis a great place to visit. They offer glass bottom boat tours, kayaking, and much more. This state park is located up in the northern Keys. + If you are going into Marathon, Florida, you should think about checking out the Turtle Hospital where you can see all of the turtles that they are rehabilitating. They also have a surgery area, that if they happen to be conducting a surgery there is a window where you can see and learn what they are doing. + There are also locations in the middle Keys area were you can rent a pontoon, or even just go kayaking. + When you get to Key West, the best activity you should think about doing is a tour through Fury Adventures. They will take you out on a big boat for six hours and do activities like snorkeling, jet skiing, parasailing and more. This is a great way to get out on the water! + If you want to spend some time off of the water the Key West Aquarium is a great spot to do that. This is a small aquarium but has a lot to offer like signing up to feed the shark! If you are really interested in this, make sure to ask the front desk as soon as you get there to see if they are doing it that day and get your kids or yourself on the list. + The Shipwreck Treasure Museumis a really cool place to visit. They have a lot of different artifacts from shipwrecks that happened in Key West and their basement is actually below sea level. + There is also the Florida Keys Eco - Discovery Centerthat is free to go to and it is a great place to go to learn more about the reefs, area and the ecosystem! + If you like to see the sunset you should check out the Sunset Festival on Mallory Square Dock. You can definitely bring your kids but be prepared for loud people and some crowds. * If you are interested in exploring a little bit out of the Keys you should think about visiting Dry Tortugaswhich is an island that has an old fort on it. You have to take a ferry to get there and the trip takes about two hours, but it is so beautiful! If you are really feeling adventurous you can actually camp out on the island. You will need to bring all of your supplies with you but it would be a great experience. * If you are thinking of camping in the Keys you should check out the State Parks for their campgrounds but for some of these you will need to book at least eleven months in advance. * In Key West there is a place called Island Dogs Barand Lagerheads Beach Barare both great places to eat the beach bar you can literally eat your food with your toes in the sand! Then by the seven mile bridge in Marathon there is a place called the Sunset Grillewhich has a pool in the restaurant and you can sit and relax with your food or even a cocktail while your kids enjoy swimming. * You will find a lot of supplies you will need while you are there. For example snorkeling gear, if the place does not provide it there is always places you can rent the gear you will need. * Since the weather can be unpredictable be sure to pack layers!

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Bryanna suggests that you take your family photo at the southernmost point of Florida, but be sure to go early in the morning or you could be waiting in line for a couple hours to get your picture taken. If that doesn’t matter to you, taking a family photo on any beach with the ocean behind you will be a great photo!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Bryanna loves to wear her Adidas sandalsbecause they are so comfortable and easy to slide on and off. When she is not wearing those she like her plain black flip flops that you can dress up if you want too.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST RV Travel Tips - Podcast Episode 012

Top Ten Florida Keys Beaches

The Ultimate Florida Road Trip

Family Fun in the Florida Keys

Hawks Cay Resort

John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park

Turtle Hospital

Fury Adventures

Key West Aquarium

Shipwreck Treasure Museum

Florida Keys Eco - Discovery Center

Sunset Festival Mallory Square Dock

Dry Tortugas

Casa Marina Resort

Bahia Honda State Park

Curry Hammock State Park

Sunshine Key RV Resort

Island Dogs Bar

Lagerheads Beach Bar

Sunset Grille

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Puerto Rico has come a long way in its recovery from the hurricanes in 2017 and is waiting for you! Seriously, you can help in the recovery by spending your vacation dollars here. And why not, between beautiful beaches, a rainforest, history, and culture, there is so much to show the kids -- and you don't even need a passport. This week we chat with Jessica van Dop DeJesus from The Dining Traveler, who has literally written the book on dining in Puerto Rico and she shares her favorite places to visit.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about Puerto Rico

08:59 - Talking with Jessica

12:22 - What is it like to visit Puerto Rico

14:54 - Where to stay

18:14 - Bioluminescent bays

22:17 - Hotels to stay in

24:20 - Experience local culture

28:23 - How to get around

29:23 - Must try local foods

33:40 - Tips for visiting

35:18 - Where to take a family photo

35:53 - Jessica’s favorite travel gear

58:54 - Where Jessica is going next

40:31 - Next week’s episode

ABOUT JESSICA VAN DOP DEJESUS Jessica van Dop DeJesus is a food and travel content creator and founder of The Dining Traveler. She began traveling over twenty years ago as a young Marine and has lived in a variety of places from Okinawa, Japan to Baghdad, Iraq. From serving as a translator in the Senegalese countryside to interviewing chefs in Peru, she loves learning about new cultures and people.

She has traveled to over fifty countries and lived in six, fueling her appetite for travel. When she's not traveling, she's a home with her Dutchrican family in Washington, DC. You can also see her writing in publications such as Travel Channel, Modern Luxury, Edible, Southern Living, and Telemundo.

She's a graduate of University at Albany '00 (undergraduate) and Boston University '07 (MBA). Follow Jessica on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING PUERTO RICO * As you know Puerto Rico was hit with a category 5 hurricane in late 2017. Don’t let that knowledge stop you from visiting though, the island has made great progress in rebuilding. Plus your tourism dollars will add to the money it takes for the island to continue to rebuild. * There are many areas of the island to stay, though if this is something you are worried about, the southwest coast has the least amount of damage from the hurricane. The beaches there are very calm, and it is highly recommended that if you are traveling with younger kids and you want to hit some beaches you should head over to the southwest side of the island. * The Combate Beach Resortis a great locally owned hotel to stay in if you are thinking of staying on the southwest side of the island. Close to the beach with easy access. There are a few other hotels you can stay but most of this area of the island is Airbnb or rentals. * The outer islands are very beautiful and since you have to take a ferry or a small plane to get to them, they are far less crowded. The islands are inhabited, but not with many people, making visiting the pristine beaches an experience you won’t get many other places. * If you are looking to experience bioluminescent bays, Puerto Rico has three of them. There is Vieques (or Mosquito Bay as called by tourists), which is the brightest, then Laguna Grande in Fajardo and also La Parguera. * San Juan is a great place to stay as your vacation base. You can get to a lot of different places in about an hour. * The El Conquistador Resortis a great resort to stay for families. They have a large water park as well as a spa and other activities. La Concha Resortis also a great resort for families to stay along with the Ritz-Carlton Reservewhich is a more luxury hotel that has just reopened and houses an amazing spa. * About an hour drive from San Juan is an area called Guavate which is well known for their restaurants serving pork, playing live music and dancing. If you want to experience some true local authentic food and entertainment you should definitely check it out. The food is also not expensive, a family of four could eat to a meal for less than $40. * Visiting El Yunque Rainforestis a fun place for both tourists and local to visit. It is only about 45 minutes from San Juan. They still have some trails closed but if you have a family that loves outdoors and likes hiking, this is a must see adventure. * Old San Juan is a beautiful place to visit and if you do some research there may be some gallery shows or events going on that you can explore. * There are some small islands off of Fajardo that you may want to look into visiting. They have catamaran tours and snorkeling available, and you may see some sealife like sea turtles. * Ponce is a beautiful town to visit with its great boardwalk and art museums. There is a great mix of history and culture in the town. * If you are comfortable driving you should definitely think about renting a car. It will definitely give you more freedom to go places when you want to or even just leaving to go to your next destination that you want to explore instead of waiting for a ride. * A lot of the beaches have shacks where you can get great food. Make sure you try the empanadas, which can be stuffed with octopus, meat, sea food, or even just cheese and sauce making a kind of fried pizza. Alcapurrias is another must try dish, which everyone makes a little differently, but the dough is typically made out of green plantains which is stuffed with meat or crab and then fried. Roasted pork is also a must try food! * Kasaltais a great bakery in Ocean Park that has some great sandwiches! * Lot 23is an area that has been turned into a food truck park and has a variety of food and picnic benches to eat. Everyone can get something different and enjoy as a family. * If your family is adventurous you should definitely look into rental properties or even Airbnbs. As well as renting a car to be able to get around as you please.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Jessica recommends a sunset shot with your family if you make it to the southwest side of the island. Though if you don’t make it to the southwest you can get some great shots at El Morroin Old San Juan.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Jessica loves to wear maxi dresses at night and loves to wear a blazer with her outfit and her Todsloafers.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Combate Beach Resort

El Conquistador Resort

La Concha Resort

Ritz-Carlton Reserve

El Yunque Rainforest

Kasalta

El Morro

Lot 23

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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It is Black History Month and the perfect time to honor the Civil Rights heroes by planning a trip through the South. Today we talk to Mia Henry from Freedom Lifted about which civil rights sites to visit, how to plan a trip, and what to expect along the way. If this type of trip isn't on your radar, be sure to listen to hear why it should be and the powerful impact it can have on you and your kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking with Tamara about her Civil Rights road trip

08:08 - Talking with Mia Henry

12:03 - Top Civil Rights destinations

20:47 - Sample Itinerary

22:30 - Combining your trip

28:52 - Touring on your own vs. with a guide

36:27 - What age to take your kids

38:30 - Books and Documentaries

44:25 - Mia’s favorite travel gear

47:30 - Thank You!!!

ABOUT MIA HENRY Freedom Liftedhosts customized Civil Rights tours for groups through the Deep South. They work with students, teachers, and large family groups to plan and lead educational experiences to Alabama, Mississippi and more places connected to the movement. For more information, see www.freedomlifted.com.

Follow Mia on Facebook, Instagram, Youtubeand Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING CIVIL RIGHTS SITES * If you are thinking about visiting some civil rights sites, here are six must visit places to add to your itinerary. + National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motelmay be the first item on many lists, but you may think about making this a last stop on your tour of civil rights sites. This site really pulls moments of the Civil Rights movement together. + Equal Justice Initiativehas opened some new sites in Montgomery, Alabama, like the Peace and Justice Memorial which honors more than four thousand documented lynchings across the country, along with the thousands more that are undocumented. There is also the Legacy Museumthat really lays out the context of the black freedom struggle. + Edmund Pettus Bridge is a national monument that symbolizes the pain of Bloody Sunday but also the triumph and beginning of the Selma to Montgomery March (or the 5-Day March). + The Rosa Parks Museumis fantastic for families to visit. With the guided tour you will learn facts about how collective action was at the core of the Montgomery bus boycott. + The Fannie Lou Hamer gravesitein Mississippi is a favorite. She was a leader in the Mississippi Democratic Party. She famously testified at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. + The Whitney Plantationis a great site to visit so that you understand the long freedom struggle in the country and the history of slavery. * If you are planning your trip around civil rights sites, you should make sure to have at least four days to spend exploring and visiting these national sites. * You may think about making a trip to Alabama or maybe just starting there. You could spend a day in Birmingham, a half a day in Selma, a day and a half to two days in Montgomery. All of these areas are within an hour and a half of each other so you could easily visit them without changing where you are staying. * Unless you have at least a week you shouldn’t try to combine Memphis and Alabama. Due to the distance, you will be spending a lot of time of your trip driving if you did combine them. You could combine Memphis with Mississippi by spending some time in Memphis first and explore some music related places first, like the Stax Museum. Then move onto some site in the Mississippi Deltalike the BB KIng Museumor the Fannie Lou Hamer gravesite. Then you could head to the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museumwhich is a massive museum and the first Civil Rights museum in Mississippi. * If you would like to get a first hand account of the Civil Rights Movement, you can look into Civil Rights Movement Veteranswhich is a website that has a list of all the people of the movement that have registered with them. These people are willing to meet and talk to groups or you can just click through the list and read their stories. * You may want to think about visiting some of these historic sites in a tour group rather than alone because there are some places like the 16th Street Baptist Churchwhich usually only opens for groups. * If you are traveling with children you may want to think about whether they are old enough to really understand and respect the events of history they will be learning about. Though you may decide your child needs to be older to visit these sites, around 12 years old is a good age for some. This is an age they may be starting to learn about this in school so it would be great for them to get more in depth information and see the historic sites first hand rather in photos. * Depending on the age of your kids you should look into having them read some books on Civil Rights or even watching some documentaries as a family so that you all can get a little more informed before taking your trip. + If you are going to Mississippi you should watch the documentary Freedom Summer. + For visiting the Delta and Memphis you should watch The Murder of Emmett Till. + You should definitely watch Selmabefore you take your trip and walk across the bridge.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Mia loves to wear Eileen Fisher Crepepants and a pair of Crocsin the summertime. Since she the temperature is constantly changing and the bus temp can fluctuate she like to make sure she has layers including scarves.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST 15 Civil Rights Sites

Civil Rights Road Trip

National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel

Equal Justice Initiative

Peace and Justice Memorial

Legacy Museum

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Rosa Parks Museum

Fannie Lou Hamer gravesite

Whitney Plantation

Stax Museum

Mississippi Delta

BB KIng Museum

Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Hidden History Tours

Civil Rights Movement Veterans

Self-Guided Tour Resources

Pies from Nowhere

Eyes on the Prize

Freedom Riders

Freedom Summer

The Murder of Emmett Till

Selma

Soundtrack for a Revolution

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Is Antarctica on your bucket list? Everyone wants to see the penguins, but what does it take to get there and how much does it cost? These are just some of the questions we asked Shellie from KidTripster, who just returned from her trip to Antarctica with her teen son. Plus, get the scoop on Seattle Museum Month!

If you are thinking about visiting Seattle and like to explore museums you should definitely go in February. February is museum month! This is a partnership between museums and hotels were if you stay at a hotel even for a night you get a pass which will get you half-price admission to about twenty different area museums. Read more about Seattle Museum Month on Stuffed Suitcase.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Thank you from the Vacation Mavens and reminder to subscribe

00:55 - Kim’s recent staycation in Seattle

13:47 - Taking with Shellie Bailey-Shah

16:29 - What put Antarctica on Shellie’s bucket list

17:24 - Choosing a company to go with

18:58 - The plane ride over Drake Passage

20:16 - How to decide if your child is ready for this kind of trip

23:00 - When to go

24:25 - How long to visit for

25:25 - Cruise life

33:50 - Wildlife encounters

37:57 - Weather

39:30 - Packing tips

41:32 - Food on the cruise

43:45 - Budget

46:14 - Travel insurance yes or no?

49:30 - Shellie's Favorite Travel Gear

51:08 - What’s next for Shellie

53:20 - Travel with teens Facebook group

ABOUT SHELLIE BAILEY-SHAH Shellie Bailey-Shah is the founder and editor of KidTripster, an online family travel resource that provides information and inspiration to families traveling anywhere in the world. The site was just awarded the Lowell Thomas Silver Award from the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) for "Best Travel Journalism Website." Shellie, of course, does a fair amount of traveling herself. She's visited 46 states, 44 U.S. national parks, 34 countries and as of last month, 7 continents. She lives in Portland, Oregon and is mother to two boys, ages 16 and 18. Follow Shellie on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR TRIP TO ANTARCTICA * When you are planning your trip to Antarctica, there are going to be two major options you should decide on before moving on to the little details of your trip. These are whether you want to fly across or cruise through the Drake Passage. * Be aware that the majority of your trip will be dependant on the weather. Once you get to a certain point you have to wait for a good window of weather in order to get to Antarctica. For instance, when traveling with Antarctica 21,if you can’t get down there in four days due to the weather conditions, the company will refund you the money of your trip. * When flying to Antarctica, the chartered flight you will be taking is through a commercial airline, one that you may say is better than a commercial flight you’ve taken in the States. * If you are traveling with kids here are a few questions you should ask yourself for any trip you plan but for this trip especially. + Will they remember the trip? + Are they comfortable with a look of air travel? + Are they good with structured activities? + Will they be okay with alone time or entertaining themselves? (There are no kids clubs on a trip like this.) + Are they good with following directions? (Being on a ship there are plenty of safety concerns as well as with wildlife.) + Who do they do in cold weather? + Does your child(ren) love nature? * Some of the cruise lines have a minimum age for kids. Keep that in mind when booking. For example Antarctica 21has a minimum age of 8 years old. But even though there is a minimum age you still might think about waiting a few more years depending on your answers to the questions above. The teen age years may be best for your family to get the most out of your trip. * Antarctica has a very short tourist season from early December through early March. If your main interest is to see penguin chicks, you should plan on going in late January since they tend to hatch around Christmas time. * The seven-day, six-night cruise seems to give you a good chunk of time for your trip, but there are longer cruises available depending on how much you would like to spend. But keep in mind that travel time to get there could take you two or three days both there and back, which will make your trip about 12 days long from start to finish. * On board the ship, there will be about two excursions a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. There will also be chances to pay extra and do some outdoor activities like snowshoeing. * On-ship, there are informational talks you can go to and learn more about the area and if you are adventurous enough you can be a part of a polar plunge off the side of the boat. * When you are going out on the land you are right out in the wild. You could possibly get within a foot of a penguin as they are waddling by to go to the sea or on their way back to their nest. You should not go too close but there will be occasions when they will waddle close to you. * Depending on the time you go, you could get great weather and it may be only in the 30s (before windchill). If you go out on excursions and are moving around you could actually end up taking off you coat! * Don’t overpack! With the amount of travel it takes to get the Antarctica packing just a carry on and a backpack maybe the best option. Plus since the company provides boots for you you only have to worry about wearing a pair of shoes for your travels. Be sure to also leave the hand warmers at home. You will probably not use them, they will take up room you could use for something else and they trip the scanners at the airports so you could possibly get stopped every time you try to go through security, which will make your travel time a bit more tedious. * With Antarctica 21your food is served part buffet style and part table service. The soup and salad is buffet while the appetizers are already set on the table. They will then offer a few options for your main dish and dessert to choose from. Meals are open seating. * A trip to Antarctica is not cheap! So you should try to budget at least $13,000 per person. This will include the flight to and from Antartica, two nights stay in Punta Arenas (night before flight and night after), food, excursions except for the snowshoeing and kayaking. You will still need to pay for the flights to get to Punta Arenas. If you chose to take a ship through the Drake Passage rather than fly you could save up to 25% of the price. So if you are okay with sea sickness this might be a better option for you. * If you are going to travel with Antarctica 21, travel insurance is required. This may also be the case with other companies for Antarctica as well.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.

Shellie and her son loved their Columbia Outdryjackets in Antarctica, it felt like their own personal furnace surrounding them.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Best Travel Apps - episode 90

Antarctica 21

Quark Expeditions

Dap Airlines

Antarctica & Kids: 7 Ways to know if your child is ready for a journey to the White Continent

KidTripster Teen: 5 unforgettable memories from my bucket list voyage to Antarctica

World Nomads

Travel with Teens

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Do you have a Percy Jackson fan in the family? Even if you don't, if you have been dreaming of a trip to Greece, Dawn from 5 Lost Together shares her tips on planning a family trip to Athens, Greece and the surrounding areas. Plus, find out where Kim and Tamara were hanging out together last week!

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking with Kim and Tamara about their time in NYC

03:25 - Kim’s plans for her west coast road trip

09:10 - Tamara’s Canada trip ideas

13:40 - Talking with Dawn

16:05 - First trip to Greece

18:13 - How long to visit and when

19:42 - What time of year to visit Greece

22:17 - Things to see in Athens

28:22 - Driving other places from Athens

34:05 - Tips for visiting

39:40 - Getting around

40:20 - Dawn’s favorite travel gear

42:26 - Where Dawn is going next

ABOUT DAWN NICHOLSON Dawn is a Canadian mum who loves blogging about her adventures traveling with kids and expat life at 5 Lost Together. She eats, sleeps and breathes travel and wants to inspire other families to take epic trips with their kids. Follow Dawn on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitterand Instagram.

TIPS FOR VISITING ATHENS, GREECE WITH KIDS * If you are planning a trip to Greece, you should think about spending at least ten days there but it would be best to be able to spend two full weeks. You will be able to see a lot in ten days but you may feel like it is a little bit short. Two full weeks would be the optimal amount of time, especially if you have never been before. * Traveling to Greece in the summer time is very hot, especially in August! Plus this is also peak season to travel there, so the cost will be higher and it will be very crowded. May/June would be a good time to go as well as September/October when it will still be warm but budgetwise your money will go a bit farther and you will be able to do more. * If you are really worried about budget you could also book your trip in the winter time and get some incredible deals on accommodations. * When you travel to Athens you should make sure to see: + Acropolis of Athens- which has the remains of many ancient buildings with historic significance and great architecture. You will get a lot more out of your visit if you go with a guide. There is also a museum at the bottom that is fairly new and they have great models made out of Legos of the buildings, along with scavenger hunt activities, so your kids will love it. + The Parthenon(probably Greece’s most important historical sight) - located in the center. + If you are into trying new foods you should think about taking a food tour. If you don’t want to do a tour there some markets you can go to that have food as well. + Changing of the Guardis also a great sight to see and is very different from the Changing of the Guard in England. They have very elaborate uniforms and this happens every hour at Syntagma Square. + Mount Lycabettushas great views of Athens as the only real high point of the area. You take a funicular, which is a mountain cable car that goes up at about a 45º angle. The track is 689 feet long but the journey only takes about 3 minutes. * Renting a car a driving to some other areas can give you some great sights. For instance there is the Corinth Canalwhich was built so that ships could go through instead of going around a big chunk of land. If you are into experiencing an adrenaline rush you can even bungee jump off the canal. If not it may be a great spot for you and your family to get out and stretch your legs while you watch the jumpers. * If you are planning to travel outside of Athens, you may want to take a trip to Olympiawhich is the birthplace of the Olympics! There isn’t much left of the structure but open greenery and some seating. * Another place to visit is Delphiwhich is one of the most important greek sights. This was the place people would come to visit an oracle and is featured heavily in the Percy Jackson books. This sight also has some great views of the area. * As a day trip from the more central part of Athens you can visit the Temple of Poseidonin Sounio. This is also featured heavily in the Percy Jackson books and has some great views of the ocean since it was built on hill right by the edge of the ocean. * People in Greece are very friendly and helpful. Just what you would think with their greek hospitality! * Renting a car can be a bit overwhelming and the price to rent a car is a bit expensive but if you have a larger family or are traveling with a larger group compared to paying for public transportation costs and just the freedom of having the car this may be worth it for you. But if you are planning to stay in one general area it may not be worth the price. * Be aware that there are actual quite a few toll roads when you are driving that you may not expect and they are all cash so be aware of this before taking off on a long drive and plan accordingly with cash. * Tipping is not really customary, but you can always round up a bit on your bill. * All the food is very reasonable priced and the main dishes are quite large so you may only need to order a few dishes with a family of five and share between everyone. * Be careful with taxis, you may come across a situation were you can get ripped off. Taxis have meters so make sure that your driver is using the meter and if there isn’t one you may want to get out of the taxi. They are also quick particular with the amount of people they take saying they are only allowed to take four people and if you have five in your family they will possibly bargain with you on a price and not give you change.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Dawn loves to wear her Toad & Co dress paired with a scarf and her entire family loves to wear their Keenshoes. Her husband is very particular about his shorts and he loves his Quicksilver Waterman shorts.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST The New York Times Travel Show

Visit California

Martinelli’s

DIY Percy Jackson Greece Trip

Athens with Kids

Athens Food on Foot Review

Mythology Tour with Greeking.me

Acropolis of Athens

The Parthenon

Rick Steves Audio Tours

Mount Lycabettus

Nafplio - a small fishing town

Epidaurus Theater

Olympia

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Whether you are a beginner or expert, boarder or skier, this week's podcast episode will help you plan your next family ski trip. Tamara shares her adventures in North Idaho and we chat with Amy Whitley from Pitstops for Kids and pick her brain on the best ski resorts in the U.S. for families.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking about Tamara’s trip to Idaho

01:50 - Schweitzer Mountain Resort

05:40 - Lookout Pass

08:30 - Silver Mountain

14:45 - Talking with Amy

18:20 - What to look for

24:33 - Favorite resorts in the Pacific Northwest

28:42 - Western favorite resorts

32:07 - Eastern favorites

37:43 - Amy’s all time favorite for beginners

41:44 - Mountains for advanced skiers

47:55 - Ski vs Snowboard

50:09 - Packing for our trip

52:40 - Renting gear

55:53 - Amy’s favorite ski gear

1:00:45 - Upcoming trips for Amy

1:01:45 - Follow Us!!

ABOUT AMY WHITLEY Amy Whitley, founder ofPit Stops for Kids, is a family travel, outdoor adventure, and gear writer based in Southern Oregon. A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Amy helps families get outside with their kids in all seasons. Follow Amy on Facebook, Instagramand Pinterest.

BEST SKI RESORTS FOR FAMILIES * If you are planning a ski trip to North Idaho, Schweitzer Mountain Resortis the biggest when it comes to acreage. At the base of the mountain there is a small cute town that has some places to eat and great views of the lake. * Keep in mind that if you are going to ski at Lookout Pass,that the mountain is on the border of Idaho and Montana. You will be able to ski in both states! But because of this you will be in two different time zones. Inside the lodge you will see clocks for both. But if you are traveling with a group and are going to seperate be sure to make sure you know which clock to go be or be sure you wear a watch. Your phone will automatically keep switching between the time zones unless you can change your settings. * If you plan on visiting Silver Mountainbe aware that the terrain is a little more challenging. So if you and your family are pure beginners you may not want to visit this mountain until you have had more experience. But the mountain also has snowshoeing, a water park, and snow tubing. * When you are deciding where to go for your ski vacation, you have to make your decision based on what you want to get out of your trip. For instance if you are a group that will mostly be on the mountain, you will want to make your choice by the terrain that the mountain offers. If your group wants to do more that just what is offered on the mountain, then you will need to look into what the resort offers in other adventure options to make your decision. You also need to assess the stay you want to experience. Whether it's your own lodge or a room in a small village/town or resort stay. * Hoodoo Ski Areais a great place to go in the Pacific Northwest if you like the small family focused resorts. * Mt. Baker Ski Areais also a great option for family-focused resort. They are very chill and don’t have as much of the craziness that you will find at a lot of the big resorts. Lift tickets are also usually between $50 - 60 a day. * Mt. Bachelor is a mountain that always seems to have a consistent amount of snow every year. Which can be a big deciding factor. * Whistleris a great resort if you want the options to ski and out and there is a town at the base that you can explore. They have some good long runs and you can definitely find some beginner runs as well. And if you find it, they have a kids snow fort on the mountain. * Utah seems to have the best snow consistently, and it is so easy to get to being that it has a hub airport. * There are some great resorts for everybody like Deer Valleywhich has some great groomed runs, then there is Alta Ski Area that is more of a european feel to your experience. Though they only allow skiing at Alta no snowboarding! * There is also Solitude Mountainthat is similar to Deer Valley in that they have that village feel while Alta is set up with all-inclusive lodges. * Smugglers Notch Ski Resort is a great option on the east for families. When in comes to child care it has a great set up to keep your kids entertained after you are finished on the mountain. * Jiminy Peakis also a great option in the east for families. The resort is not too large but it has a great value. * Sunday River Ski Resortwhich is located in Maine has a unique ticket lift system. They have a pass that is just for beginner terrain so you are going to spend less money if you are not going to use the whole mountain. They also have a few other outdoor adventures besides skiing/snowboarding. * Squaw Valleyis a great resort for beginners as well as some great long runs. They also have their ski schools up at the top of the mountain instead of being stuck at the bottom by the parking lot. Because of this you get to really experience the sights of being on the mountain. * Northstar Resortis also a great option for beginners especially if you family has multiple levels of experience. * If you are looking for a mountain that has some really great terrain parks Boreal ski resort is one of the first mountains that started with snowboarding and it has a Burton terrain park that is really advanced. They also have indoor training facilities for snowboarders and tricks gear which is called Woodward. There are also some mountains that have good boarding terrain like Breckenridge, Solitude Mountain, Brighton, and Sierra at Tahoe. * When picking your resorts/mountains keep in mind that if you have snowboarders Deer Valley, Alta Ski Areaand Mad River Glenare the only three that do not allow snowboarders! * Packing for your ski trip can get a little cumbersome and everyone has a way they like best. That being said make sure to bring extra items like gloves, socks, hats, etc. in case the ones that were worn the day before are still wet or even if one gets lost. * Whenever possible try to get your rental gear the day/night before the day plan to be on the mountain that way you can get all time you want out of your mountain time without the wait for just the gear.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Amy loves to wear base layers either Smartwool or Hot Chillys are her favorites. Then her Columbiaski jacket and pants. She may also wear a Patagonia shell jacket over a down jacket to keep with the layers, rather than wearing one big jacket.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Family Camping - Episode 20

Best Ski Towns

Round Up of Ski Resorts

How to Afford Skiing as a Family

Stevens Pass - Washington

Keystone Resort - Colorado

Okemo Mountain Resort - Vermont

Lake Placid Ski Resort - New York

Stowe Ski Resort - Vermont

Mount Snow - Vermont

Mammoth Mountain - California

Brighton Ski Resort - Utah

Cuddl Duds

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#

You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you dreamed of taking the family on an African safari but worried that it would cost too much? This week we chat with Monet Hambrick of The Traveling Child and learn how to score great flight deals and plan an affordable and memorable African Safari.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking about Kim’s safari experience

15:37 - Travel shows

16:55 - Talking with Monet

20:56 - Monet’s Safari experience

22:13 - Where to start planning

26:10 - 8-day itinerary

30:37 - How to choose a country to visit

32:30 - How long to visit

33:22 - Bathroom on a Safari

35:13 - Best time of year to take a safari

36:07 - Budget ranges and payments

40:13 - Exchanging money

41:36 - Vaccinations

44:25 - Tips in planning

50:00 - Monet’s favorite travel gear

50:38 - Upcoming trips

51:33 - Flight deals

54:43 - Share and review

ABOUT MONET HAMBRICK Monet is the mom and writer behind The Traveling Child. Her motto is if kids live there kids can visit and her family has traveled to 21 countries on 6 continents with their 2 and 4 year old. Follow Monet on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR PLANNING A FAMILY SAFARI TRIP * Start off by figuring out which country you want to visit by reading other blogs to decide on an area you want to visit or even tour companies that they had a great experience with. * If you plan to visit Kenya, Natural World Kenya Safariswas a great help in Monet’s planning for her family trip. They helped book local flights and were able to give a list of lodging locations. * Natural World Kenya Safari offered a driver that will pick you up at the airport and they stayed with them for each leg of Monet’s family trip. * If you are working with a budget, you may want to choose your African destination by the flight deals that way you can save on the flight and put that money towards the time you are on the grown experiencing the county you ended up going to. * 10 to 12 days will give you plenty of time to experience the African country, any less and you may feel like you missed out on things! * Make sure to look up the rainy season for the country that you are visiting that way you won't risk the chance that your safari drive is cancelled due to the weather. * While you will need to get vaccinations for some countries, not all African countries are required for you to get any vaccinations. Either way you should make an appointment with your doctor and discuss this with them to make your decision on vaccinations if the country you are visiting does not require them.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Monet loves to wear comfortable clothes like leggings or sweatpants, and her family tends to pack light for every trip they take.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST African Safari with Kids in Kenya

Chobe River Lodge

Natural World Kenya Safaris

Diani Beach

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Does watching Crazy Rich Asianshave you thinking about a trip to Singapore? This week Marianne Rogerson from Mum on the Move and author of Singapore with Kids, joins us to share her experience living in and visiting Singapore.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking about Kim’s holiday travels

05:48 - Talking about Tamara’s holiday travels

09:30 - Future travels

15:37 - Talking with Marianne

18:40 - Lay of the land

21:25 - How long to stay

23:12 - When to go to Singapore

24:40 - Hotels in Singapore

27:34 - Top things to do

30:40 - Gardens by the Bay

32:16 - Local culture

37:52 - Changi Airport

38:43 - Local foods to try

44:13 - Best place to take a family photo

45:19 - Marianne’s favorite travel gear

46:38 - Marianne’s upcoming trips

47:56 - Follow Kim and Tamara

ABOUT MARIANNE ROGERSON Marianne Rogerson writes family travel blog Mum on the Moveand is co-founding editor of family travel website Little City Trips. Marianne lived in Asia for 11 years and so her blog focuses heavily on Asia and Australia travel. Her latest book Singapore with Kidshas recently been released on Amazon. Follow Marianne on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitterand Instagram.

TIPS FOR VISITING SINGAPORE WITH KIDS * Singapore used to be more of a stopover destination where people acclimated to Asia before moving on to Thailand, Indonesia, or other points in Southeast Asia. * Now Singapore is becoming more of a stand-alone destination, or at least a place where people are spending more than a day before moving on. * You could easily spend a week in Singapore and it makes a great "intro to Asia" destination because everyone speaks English and there is so much to do with kids. * Singapore weather can be pretty fickle. But since it is tropical you could have a beautiful sunny morning then an afternoon thunderstorm, which will clear up by the evening. * November into December tends to be a bit more rainy, but for the most part stays the same all year round. * Sentosa is known as Singapore’s playground. There are a lot of things to do as a family. * Download the app for Grabwhich is the Uber in Singapore. * Don’t leave your hotel without bringing an umbrella of sunscreen!

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Marianne suggests heading to the Merlion Statue which is located in Marina Bay.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Marianne is simple in her gear but she loves to wear her J Brand jeans with her Niketrainers and a comfortable hoodie.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Snowflake Lane - Washington

50 Things To Do in Singapore With Kids

The Best Family Friendly Hotels in Singapore

The Best Child Friendly Restaurants in Singapore

What To Pack For Singapore

Shangri La - Singapore

Gardens by the Bay

Changi Airport

Singapore with Kids - Book

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#

You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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This week, Kim and Tamara catch up on recent travels including Memphis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, and the Georgia Coast. Kim also shares her recent experience on the media preview of the new Celebrity Edge cruise ship.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Presenting Sponsor

01:17 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

01:39 - Where Tamara was in November

08:55 - Kim’s time in Memphis

13:01 - Civil Rights Museum

20:46 - Tamara’s visit to Philly

30:23 - Kim’s cruise experience

41:53 - Tamara’s time in Georgia

54:01 - Kim’s time in Nashville

1:09:10 - Last for the year

1:10:30 - Thoughts on travels next year

SPONSOR: ROSETTA STONE Are you planning an international trip next year? Now is the time to start learning a new language with Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone language learning system prepares you to use your new language skills in the real world. Rosetta Stone uses visual cues and its Dynamic Immersion system to develop practical conversational skills.

With an emphasis on speaking, you will feel confident using your new language skills when traveling abroad. This holiday season, why not gift your family (or yourself) a three, six, 12, or even a 24-month subscription for as little as under $11 per month!

You can learn on the go with the Rosetta Stone mobile app with features like downloadable lessons for learning offline and an audio companion for environments where you can listen but not speak aloud.

Visit RosettaStone.comto sign up today.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST November Festivities in Chicago

Three Days in Chicago

Christmas at Graceland

Walking in Memphis

Christmas in Philadelphia

Historical Site in Philadelphia

Celebrity Edge Cruise Ship

East Coast for Christmas

Romantic Weekend in Nashville

7 Nashville Restaurants

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035# You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Does the winter cold have you dreaming of an island getaway? This week Kim and Tara from Pint Size Pilot share their recent experiences on the island of Barbados. Learn everything you need to know about planning a Barbados vacation with kids.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Presenting sponsor Rosetta Stone

01:21 - Talking with Tara Cannon

03:46 - Tara’s vacations to Barbados

05:33 - Best time to go to Barbados

07:29 - Popular areas to stay on the island

12:15 - The people of Barbados

14:13 - Beaches in Barbados

14:55 - Tara’s favorite hotels

19:22 - Restaurants/local foods

24:04 - What to see/do in Barbados

26:08 - Spas in Barbados

30:40 - Getting around the island

34:53 - Final tips for visiting Barbados

42:20 - Where to take a family photo

47:07 - Tara’s favorite travel gear

50:12 - Where Tara is going next

53:30 - Kim’s upcoming vacations

SPONSOR: ROSETTA STONE Are you planning an international trip next year? Now is the time to start learning a new language with Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone language learning system prepares you to use your new language skills in the real world. Rosetta Stone uses visual cues and its Dynamic Immersion system to develop practical conversational skills.

With an emphasis on speaking, you will feel confident using your new language skills when traveling abroad. This holiday season, why not gift your family (or yourself) a three, six, 12, or even a 24-month subscription for as little as under $11 per month!

You can learn on the go with the Rosetta Stone mobile app with features like downloadable lessons for learning offline and an audio companion for environments where you can listen but not speak aloud.

Visit RosettaStone.comto sign up today.

ABOUT TARA CANNON Tara Cannon is the owner of Pint Size Pilot– a Family Travel Adventure Blog dedicated to taking the fear out of exploring the world with kids. Follow Tara on Facebook, Instagram, Twitterand Pinterest.

TIPS PLANNING A BARBADOS VACATION * Mid December to the end of April is high season to visit Barbados, which is when the weather is the best and it is dry season so you don't get much tropical rain. * Hurricane season is between August and September but being as the island is farther out of the path of hurricanes, there is slightly less of a chance that there will be a storm compared to the other Caribbean Islands. * Keep in mind that vacationing to this island will get a bit pricey. If it is right for you be sure to look into all -inclusive resorts. * If you don’t have it in your budget to rent a car, or you don’t feel confident enough to navigate around the island, the Barbados bus system is cheap and not to bad to use. Though if you are traveling with young kids it may not be the best option since you will be carting so much stuff around. * There is no issue with language since English is widely spoken on the island. * Keep in mind that wearing camouflage is illegal and reserved only for their military. They will confiscate it as well as drones if found in customs.

BEST PLACE TO TAKE FAMILY PHOTO Tara has used Flytographer to book a photographer to take photos on the west coast. You can surely take your own sunset shot on the beaches of the west coast. You will just need to be a little creative with your lighting to light the faces of your family. Hilton Barbados has a great area to play around with family photos!

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Tara loves to wear her bathing suit underneath a romper so that she can stop whenever she finds a great spot to go in the water. She also likes to be prepared and packs a bag with towels and sunscreen to keep in the car for those potential stops.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Guide to Barbados with Kids

Lone Star Restaurant

Cutters

Cuz’s Fish Shack

Folkestone Marine Park

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#

You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Disneyland is decked out for the holidays. But before you grab your tickets, there are some things you should know about visiting Disneyland during the holidays. This week Leslie Harvey and Kim share their recent experience with Disneyland's holiday celebrations.

ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking with Tamara about her trip to Arkansas

09:15 - Presenting Sponsor Rosetta Stone

10:05 - Talking with Leslie Harvey

11:35 - What to expect to see in Disneyland at the holidays

15:11 - When the holiday season starts at Disneyland

16:31 - Crowds

17:27 - When is the best time to go

19:40 - Extra cost events

23:09 - Shows and fireworks

25:10 - Tips and things to know

28:25 - Seasonal food in the park

30:36 - Disneyland app

32:13 - Hotels for the holiday

35:03 - What not to miss in Disneyland

37:11 - What not to miss in California Adventure Park

40:25 - Leslie’s favorite travel gear

41:46 - Where Leslie is heading next

SPONSOR: ROSETTA STONE Are you planning an international trip next year? Now is the time to start learning a new language with Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone language learning system prepares you to use your new language skills in the real world. Rosetta Stone uses visual cues and its Dynamic Immersion system to develop practical conversational skills.

With an emphasis on speaking, you will feel confident using your new language skills when traveling abroad. This holiday season, why not gift your family (or yourself) a three, six, 12, or even a 24-month subscription for as little as under $11 per month!

You can learn on the go with the Rosetta Stone mobile app with features like downloadable lessons for learning offline and an audio companion for environments where you can listen but not speak aloud.

Visit RosettaStone.comto sign up today.

ABOUT LESLIE HARVEY Leslie Harvey writes the family travel blog Trips With Tykesand also co-hosts the Disney planning podcast Disney Deciphered. Follow Leslie on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

DISNEYLAND HOLIDAYS TIPS * If you are planning on visiting Disneyland for the holidays, the best time seems to be in early December and during the week if you can. There seems to be a good lull in visitors at this time after the decorations are first put up and when holiday school breaks start. * The Sip and Savor Pass is a great idea for families that plan to try several different food items. You recieve 8 tickets for different food items and you don’t have to use them all in one day. But try to plan what you use your tickets for to get the most value out of your tickets. * Due to the weather, shows and fireworks can be cancelled so try not to plan your entire visit on these events since there is a possibility that they could get cancelled. * Be sure to check crowd calendars when you plan your trip. If you do decide to go during peak season be sure to get there as soon as the park opens (or earlier) because they will close entry to the park if they reach a certain capacity. This can happen as early as mid-day in some seasons. * The Disneyland app is a great help and you should make sure at least one of your party has it downloaded. The app will tell you when rides are closed, even if only temporarily. This can save you a long walk to a ride you would like to experience when the ride was closed down.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Leslie loves her Skechers GO walks and a pair of North Face Aphrodite pants.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST The Preacher's Son

Oven and Tap

21c - The Hive

Complete Guide to Holidays at Disneyland

Episode 17 - Disneyland Travel Tips

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#

You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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There may not be a more family-friendly, all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean than Beaches Turks and Caicos. This week we dig into the nitty-gritty details with Sarah Pittard at Solo Mom Takes Flight. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Beaches Turks and Caicos.

ON THE PODCAST 00:32 - Talking about last week's episode

02:58 - Talking with Sarah

04:33 - Sarah’s visits to Turks and Caicos

06:04 - Layout of property

10:10 - Kim’s time at the resort

11:36 - Renting homes

13:34 - Tamara’s experience

15:38 - Night activities

16:44 - Butler service/concierge level

20:24 - Pricing

23:40 - Activities/services available

30:35 - Sesame Street paid activities

36:20 - Food options

48:40 - Welcoming

51:44 - Sarah’s favorite travel gear

53:51 - Where she is going next

55:32 - Thank you!!

ABOUT SARAH PITTARD Sarah Pittard is a mom first, and travel writer second. She has a knack for finding adult themed adventure trips and tailoring them to include her children. Lately, they have driven through the state of Alaska and spend weekends hiking in Banff National Park.

She what she has been up to on her travel blog Solo Mom Takes Flight. Follow Sarah on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT BEACHES TURKS & CAICOS * The resort is laid out across four villages: Caribbean, French, Italian, and Key West. * The Caribbean Village pools are very active with older kids due to the volleyball nets and places to eat all around. Plus, if you have younger kids as well the pool area is located right by the infant daycare. * The Italian village is the most popular spot for families. The pool is located at the center of the resort, which houses a big swim up bar and activities, as well as teams of people to come and play with the older kids and organize activities. They also have a great night life which includes movies by the pool. * The Key West Village is located more on the outside of the resort and has a bit of a slower pace. * The French Village is also closest to the waterpark and Sesame Street stage. This village may not be beachside like the rest, but since its recent renovations the village houses a large pool. * Beaches is expensive and if you are looking to save some money on your booking, you should definitely sign up for their emails because every few months the prices will dip down; for instance booking your trip on Black Friday! * Unlike other resorts, there is no tipping allowed on the property! This is a strictly enforced policy of the resort. The only place this is allowed in at the spa. * They are very accommodating when it comes to food allergies. They will go out of there way to make sure your child’s allergies do not get overlooked! * Keep in mind that there have been some issues recently with cab pricing and safety in some locations. The resort is makes sure there are employees there to greet you when you get through customs and take care of your travel to the resort.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Sarah loves to wear anything made by Lululemonfor all of her long travels and also loves her Conversesneakers!

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST TAUCK

Backroads touring

FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#

You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!

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Have you ever considered taking a group tour vacation with your family? Not just a city-tour or full-day tour, but a multi-day vacation with other families that has been organized and facilitated by a tour operator? Today we are chatting with Karilyn Owen from No Back Home about her experiences both on her own and with her son taking group tours. We chat about the pros and cons, as well as what to look for in a group tour experience.