About me
I’m a mom of two young boys, and we love to take road trips around California and the West Coast, and occasionally feel brave enough for long haul flights.
Even though flying might save some time, I prefer road trips for several reasons:
- We can pack as much stuff with us as can fit in our car
- This includes all of the (healthy) snacks we need! It’s hard to find your favorite snacks when you’re in a new place.
- This also includes bottles of water, so we don’t have to make an extra stop before getting to the hotel.
- Avoid the stress of air travel. These are all of the things that come with air travel:
- Booking an Uber
- Making sure we get out of the house on time
- Getting through security with young kids
- Having to take our shoes off at the airport and waiting in line
- Making sure there is a ‘point person’ for all the documents
- Counting how many pieces of gear we have
- Negotiating with flight attendants regarding whether our stroller fits inside the overhead,
- Bringing car seats with us
- The worst is having to wait a LOOONG time at the car rental for our car, then spending more time getting set up in the new car.
My experience with hotels and how I choose them
One of the most time-consuming things about travel planning for me is searching for places to stay.
As a former consultant who has spent hundreds of nights in big hotel chains across the country (RIP SPG), I purposely seek out family-friendly independent hotels so that I don’t feel like I’m just “going for work” when I arrive at the hotel. I balance this choice with affordability.
For some vacations, the hotel IS the destination. That would be more of a luxury vacation, usually for a shorter stay, or even abroad.
However, for road trips, we usually want to spend more time OUTSIDE of the hotel exploring. That said, If it’s a longer road trip like this 14-day SF to Vancouver trip, I sprinkle in some nicer hotels amongst the budget options, depending on the location.
This is also why I choose to use Hotels.com. Since I had a lot of Marriott points or Hilton etc. points, I found myself restricted to only stay at those hotels when I went on holiday.
It felt like I was losing out by not continuing to stay in their branded hotels, even when the choices in certain areas were dire, or the points conversation was a rip off.
Hotels.com has a loyalty program (One Key Cash) that even includes money spent on flights through expedia.com and vacation home rentals through VRBO. Here are more details from Nerdwallet.
It’s a simple system that works for me, especially because I refuse to play the credit card game.
Hotel room tips
My best tip is to try to get the biggest room, usually the suite, even if you are staying at a budget Inn or motel. The extra space can really make a difference.
The second tip is to stay on the ground floor if you’re in a motel or inn. Those walls are thin and kids may drop water bottles and toys, and jump from beds, so in consideration of other guests, try to stay on the ground floor 😂
Why I started this blog
I started writing this travel blog because I love planning trips, and I can spend days researching the best, most unique places to stay and things to do. I’m all about making those core memories.
At some point I realized that I had a lot of research and itineraries sitting on my drive, and only shared them with friends when they asked. So I decided to share my research in a blog.
These posts are like a post-mortem of my trips. I write it from the perspective of how I would plan a trip if I were to do it all over again, so you get the benefit of my insights and learnings!
Happy planning!
