We are back! Oh wait…you probably didn’t even know we were gone, thanks to some fun previously scheduled posts. Well, my family and I made our first long distance trek as a family to visit my brother near Charlotte, North Carolina and from Oklahoma let’s just say that is a LOOOOOONG ways. 😉
We had fun seeing so much of the United States in a short time and enjoyed all the time we got to spend with family. While on our trip we learned several things that may be helpful to know while planning your own special trip. Thus today I want to share with you 5 tips I learned while traveling on vacation. Maybe they will help you as you plan your next traveling adventure too.
- Stop and start your mail online at USPS. It’s super easy; just fill out the online form for when you want the mail to be stopped and then delivered. You don’t even have to go to the post office to pick it up anymore; they will deliver it right to your doorstep on the day you return. Now you don’t have to have neighbors be responsible and you won’t have tons of mail lying all over your porch promoting “I’m not here” to passers-by.
- GPS apps do not always tell you the truth. I know…who’d have thought it would lead you 20 miles out of the way only to re-route and tell you should have turned left 20 miles back?! Glad we were not on a tight time schedule. That said, we discovered some great travel apps to make our trip more enjoyable. Here’s a few we used quite frequently: Google Maps, Scout, Smokies, Expedia, and Beat the Traffic.
- Plan more events than you may actually go to but be prepared to not visit them all so you can take time to enjoy what the family likes the most. For us, we were going to see the Peabody ducks while we were venturing through Memphis and ended up having such a blast at the zoo (which has some fabulous close-up exhibits by the way) and stayed there all day instead. It was well worth the exchange and something my kids are still talking about.
- Put a little nature into your trip. Maybe its just our family, but our most memoriable activities were those that involved God’s Creation…namely the Smoky Mountains, the Memphis Zoo, and the Atlanta Aquarium. There is just something about those “wow…God made this” moments that can’t replace anything else.
- Plan an extra day at the end of your trip for an “at home” day to recover, do laundry, and just relax before returning to the grind. Otherwise, you will step off the train running and never let up (pardon the expression). We ended up driving halfway through the night so we could do this and we were so grateful we did. It provided a wonderful day of playing in the backyard, just being us, and not having to stress about life before returning the ol’ daily grind.
What about you? What travel tips have you learned from your recent travels?
Found this post helpful? Then you may also enjoy my Ultimate Guide to Traveling with Preschoolers covering everything from packing tips to travel activities and everything in between.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:9-10