Omaha Boat, Sports & Travel Show

This February we went to the Omaha Boat, Sports & Travel Show, but it wasn't as crazy as the one in North Dakota. Maybe because we've been looking at travel trailers A LOT recently, but we just weren't blown away by as much. Also, it was much more crowded so you didn't get to really look into all the trailers and fifth wheels and motorhomes with the crowds coming and going.

The best part of the trip was probably that we got free tickets from one of the local RV dealers the weekend before when we were looking on their lot for a travel trailer. The second best part may have been all the travel brochures we picked up! So many places to visit!

What's in your glovebox?

My recommendations for a happy roadtrip:

1. Registration and Insurance card, easy to find.
2. GPS and charger
3. Flashlight
4. Tire guage
5. Napkins
6. Baby wipes! I have become a firm believer in baby wipes, especially over other antibacterial wipes. They're gentler, smell better, and tend to be cheaper in bulk because there are always store brands available. Great for washing your hands after pumping gas or if the bathroom soap dispenser didn't work or if your face is feeling icky from a day stuck in the car. Endless possibilities!

Evergreen Cabin

I grew up in a lot of different states, but the base camp for my family was always Nebraska. And I would say the actual camp we used as our base camp was Platte River State Park. It opened before I was born and we were going before I remember. It's one of those places you have foggy memories of as a child, possibly some of my first memories. I remember sitting on the curb in a parking spot waiting for someone. I remember watching my mom come out of the shower house and us making fun of her for something (wet hair? terry cloth romper?) and watching one of my older cousins playing tennis.

I've heard tons of stories to supplement my memory, like when my sister and aunts had a popcorn war instead of going to bed one night. I've also been back enough times to have my own real memories, like when we went out for two of my aunts' birthdays and brought Russel Stover hats for everyone to wear.

Now that I'm back living in Nebraska, I'd love to say I am going more often but recently I've been going to Mahoney State Park, 10 miles west of Platte. Mahoney is newer and has more amenities, like wifi and mini golf. Platte River is strictly cabins (or teepees) with no tent or RV camping. Both parks have paddle boats (but I've only been on them at Platte). Nebraska state parks are in a class of their own in my view.

The idea to go to Platte River came up around November and my aunt (did I mention I have 5 aunts? On my mom's side? Yeah, that's why so many of these tidbits start with "my aunt") and I decided we'd have a ladies' retreat at Platte River to sit around and play games and eat junk food and just relax. So we booked one of the biggest cabins they had for Jan 8-10th. Possibly forgetting how cold Nebraska can be in January. Good thing the cabin was heated beyond belief and had a bathroom. Some of Platte's cabins don't have bathrooms. Which is fine in the spring, summer, or fall, but not so great in the winter.

Anyways, the point of this post was a review of the cabin, mainly so next time we're trying to figure out what cabin we want we have some pictures and info to go off of.

Pictures first!

My awesome, not to scale, obviously, floorplan

Looking down the hallway towards the bedrooms

A little further back from the hallway,
table on the right

Bedroom with double bed

Bedroom with bunk beds

Bathroom, duh

Review:

4.5 stars

Would be better in the summer or fall when we could take advantage of the outdoor space (sorry for lack of outdoor photos). There were three tables outside, fire pit and grill. It was fairly secluded compared to other cabins, but only came with two parking spaces.

Would sleep 8, but the 5 of us filled it with all our stuff so 8 adults would have been tight.

Nice sized fridge, tiny stove. Microwave/toaster/coffee maker all included.

Double basin sink.

Living room seating for 3. Table fit 5 comfortable, 8 would be a squeeze (extra chairs were in the bedrooms as places to put your stuff)

Each bedroom also came with a tall, compact armoire with area for hanging stuff, one large drawer, and one large cubby at the bottom for storage.

Normally $115/night, rented for about $80 in the off season

Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin

Partially folded

Folded.

Happy Labor Day! We're up near South Dakota camping for the long weekend, but I wanted to tell you guys about my latest camping supply find. While in Cabella's recently, I spent a good amount of time in their camping section. You can buy almost anything you can think of for camping. I try not to go too crazy though and only buy what we absoluely need or what is something that is super cheap and fun. And then I saw this. The Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin. And I feel in love. It's compact. Plus. It's useful. Plus. And it was under $15. Plus, We bought it. Before, we were using multiple large plastic containers, but I always used the plastic containers for packing too. So then we had to empty them, do the dishes, dry everything off, and put it back in. I love that this folds and doesn't take up any space and we can use it almost exclusively for dishes.

I say almost exclusively because it also is great at the end of a camping trip for that one last bag of trash/recycling that seems to be leaking some brownish liquid. Put in the basin and your trunk carpeting stays sticky-mess-free.

I recommend this to anyone who tent camps. (Bonus: amazon link! Although Cabella's was cheaper...)

Unfolded and in use!

Why I no longer use Hotwire

I've used Hotwire for years. When you don't care exactly where you stay, it offered some great deals on last minute hotel reservations. Got an awesome hotel on the beach in Dayton with a balcony one time.

And then I tried to use it for a hotel in Denver. Now getting a hotel can be stressful because there are just SO MANY CHOICES! How important is location? Amenities? Price? I had finally settled on the Hotwire deal that claimed it was about a $40 savings on a 2 star hotel that normally cost around $100. Two star hotels are normally those hotels between Super 8's and Hampton Inns. Maybe a Best Western. Something like that.

Nope, not this one. It was the cheaper sibling of an Extended Stay America and actually cost the same amount on the hotel's website as my "deal" for using Hotwire. Strike #1.

And then I started reading the hotel's reviews. I read a lot of reviews and I write a fair amount of them. This hotel had by far the worst reviews I had ever seen for a hotel. And pictures to back up the reviews! There were complaints of dirty sheets, piles of trash, drug deals in the parking lot. And on about half the reviews the management had posted a response. But the responses were all form responses that basically amounted to "Why didn't you call us, we would have fixed everything!" I feel with that many complaints, that wouldn't actually have been possible. Strike #2.

I contacted Hotwire. Repeatedly. Email. Facebook. And never got any conclusive response. I got form email after form email and promises to look into things, but no resolution. They didn't offer to switch my hotel. They didn't offer to let me rebook. They just kept saying to check in and call them. Our flight was to land at 1:30am, if it was on time. I wasn't calling them in the middle of the night to try to fix a problem that didn't really seem like they could fix it (what, were they going to tear down the hotel and rebuild it in a different, safer location?) Strike #3.

I will no longer be using Hotwire for my travels and I warn you guys to avoid it as well. Their facebook page is not full of compliments. I think they've lost their touch.

Finger's crossed Priceline still has it! They did not disappoint when I used them to help my parent's get a hotel in NYC.

Travel Deals

Omaha is not the cheapest city to fly in and out of, despite being so centrally located. We ran up against this in May when trying to figure out how to get to Seattle for a wedding the last weekend in July. We were able to find some cheaper flights for Wednesday to Tuesday and the husband was able to get the needed time off. But then, before we could book them, they shot up in price. It was now going to cost about $1000 for two of us to fly round trip from Omaha to Seattle. It just seemed so crazy.

I noticed that most of the flights had layovers in Denver, so I thought why not check Denver prices. Denver to Seattle round trip was only $450 for both of us! So I made the executive decision (ok, not really, I waited to book the tickets, but I did all the prep work for it!) to fly out of Denver.

Now, to get to Denver. We could drive straight there, but that would be boring. And a little ridiculous to just drive to the Denver airport. Since we already had about a week of vacation carved out, I decided we would camp. Because camping is fun and cheap and what this summer is all about. And there happened to be a Nebraska state park the right distance from Lincoln and the right distance from Denver. So camping it was!

We camped for two nights, flew to Seattle for three, stayed one night in Denver on the way back, and got back in Lincoln in time for work on Wednesday. Plus we got two vacations in one! It was a win-win and I would totally do it again.

So if you are looking for flight deals, don't discount airports that are further away! You never know what kind of fun you can plan if you think outside the box!

Planning a Camping Trip

So now that we're married, my husband and I have a tent that we want to use very badly. But it isn't quite warm enough yet, so we just get to make all our grand plans for the future use for it.

And it's driving me crazy. Not the waiting, the trying to plan a camping trip.

You may never camp yourself, but those that do, do it a fair amount. So the campgrounds tend to be pretty full. Combine that with the ability to reserve sites a year in advance for most places, and planning in April for that summer is awful. Some places have walk in reservations for the day of, but I'm also not good with leaving it all to chance. Who wants to pack up an entire car to go camping, drive to the campground you've been daydreaming about for months, and find out all the sites are taken?

So I'm left at reserveamerica.com, trying not to pull my hair out. First of all, you can't sort the campgrounds the search returns by distance. You also can't search them for amenities, like showers (I'm sorry, but any trip longer than 3 days requires a proper bath house. Judge me now, I don't care.) You can't search for multiple weekends at once. You're limited to "specific dates" and flexibility for "two weeks ahead" or "four weeks ahead." But the flexibility will return any night campgrounds have an opening, including during the week which most of the time isn't helpful. Also, back to the not sortable search results, I can put in that we want to travel near Sioux City IA and get results from upwards of 200 miles away.

When you finally find a campground that looks great, you go to reserve your dates. Now, my husband works a normal job with semi normal hours so we are looking primarily at our holiday weekends (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day). I put in that we want 2 or 3 nights, find a campsite, go to book it, and suddenly then reserveamerica.com tells me that there are stay requirements. And the requirements are all different. And not posted on the website before you make it to the reservation process. Some require you to stay 3 nights, some require 5 (Kansas, I'm looking at you. 5? Who gets 5 nights off for three day weekends???), some require you to stay Friday if you want Sunday. Some require that if you stay a Friday, you have to stay at least one other day past Friday.

I'd like to report that we are done. Our reservations are made and I survived without throwing my computer out the window. But we aren't. We have two weekends out of three, and a plan for the other one. But then one may change because did I also mention we have 3 weddings to attend this summer?

I may end up just putting the tent up in my aunt's backyard and calling it a day.

5am flights...

While cheap and tempting, are never fun. Besides the lack of sleep, the airport always tends to be so crazy that early in the morning. Apparently everyone shows up at the same time to check in and go through security.

Thankfully this time I remembered this and we arrived early too. Alarms went off at 3. Ouch.

But fresh donuts from Dunkins may make it worth it. Their fresh donuts are soooo much better than afternoon donuts.

My trusty carry on suitcase, and a weeks worth of clothes

It's purple with white dots. Not filled in polka dots, but open circle dots. Have I mentioned I love dots? It had two exterior pockets and fits into the overhead bin in most aircraft wheels first. Sometimes it has to go sideways and then I feel bad. Stupid shorter overhead bins.

It has gone on road trips and plane trips. From Thailand to Boston to the West Coast. It's from Penneys and may have cost me $30 as part of a set of two. What's great about not spending a ton on a suitcase is that I don't feel bad when I start to tear the seam from over-packing, or a zipper pull falls off (also possibly from over-packing).

For my latest trip I took 8 outfits, 3 pairs of shoes, and some odds and ends. I was gone from Tuesday evening to the following Monday night and the biggest challenge was the weather. Highs were going to be anywhere from 25 to 65 during the 7 day trip to the east coast. Plus, I would have days of walking around NYC, a day at an indoor playground with my niece and nephew, a day for a church outfit, two days in the car, etc. So this is what I brought, always matching at least two tops to each bottom.

Black long sleeved knit dress
Jean skirt (full)
Boot cut jeans
Blue chinos
Black loose running pants
Grey tight running capris

Red suede boots
Running shoes
Brown sketcher lace ups (best shoes ever, I've had them for over 10 years, and they go with almost anything and are great for walking around on cold days!)

Red cotton cardigan
Grey wool sweater

Brown leggings
Black leggings
Grey and black patterned leggings
Two pairs of long johns

And various tops that would coordinate (mostly in whites, blacks, and browns).

When I begin packing I try to pick one neutral to go with for the whole trip, either black or brown. This time I packed a little different and picked one statement piece to go with, my red boots. From there I coordinated four outfits with my jean skirt and black dress that would go.

You're probably sick of seeing this picture, but here is me and my bag at the airport! It really is the perfect size for most of my trips.

Road Trip Planning!

There are a ton of steps in planning a road trip in my family.

1. Dream big. Get a plan going. Rough out the timeline. Google docs is your friend. Use the spreadsheet feature to make a calendar, and then share it with pertinent people so that everyone can update it as needed and have a visual for the cross-country planning conference calls.

2. Convince Dad it's a good idea. This may take a couple of weeks, so give yourself plenty of time!

3. Retackle the timeline. Plan out days based on mileage and end goals. Hit up google maps until you dream about routes in your sleep.

4. Configure as many friend and family visits as possible along the route. When else are you going to be in State College, PA? Better see those friends now!

5. Scour HotelCoupons.com for deals. You can't make reservations, so print out a couple for each likely stopping point on your trip to be prepared. (Always have a backup plan!)

6. Check Groupon for deals in cities you'll be visiting. Especially cheap restaurant deals.

7. Find the donut shop you are going to visit and review while on the trip. Make sure you write down the hours and phone number, just in case.

8. Get the car ready. Clear out the stuff you don't need (like the snow shovel during a Memorial Day Weekend trek). Put in the stuff you might (see road trip necessities for the complete list)

9. Start making ice for the cooler a couple days before. Giant blocks of ice (one or two) will stay frozen longer and can be supplemented with ice from a hotel. Don't rely just one ice from a hotel though, often their ice has more surface area and therefore melts in the cooler faster (when did this become a math lesson? You guys know I used to teach high school math right? Well, now you do).

10. Get the clothes ready. Do you need to bring laundry soap for the laundry mat stop halfway through? Layers are the only way I dress while traveling, so lots of leggings and cardigans for me.

11. Get the maps and paperwork ready. Make sure someone who isn't traveling with you has a copy of your itinerary and pertinent info about the route and your car.

12. Get the food ready. Turkey sandwiches carefully re-stacked in the empty bread bag? Yes, please.

13. Get on the road! Have fun! And remember, some schedules were meant to be ignored :-)

Cocoon Grid-It Organizer Review

With my birthday money this year, I bought myself something I've been looking at for awhile...a Cocoon Grid-It organizer. I love organizers and traveling and I have a lot of portable electronics that need homes in my carry on. Sometimes I just use a ziplock. But this looked so much cooler, I had to buy it.
I got it at the Container Store for $19.99 plus tax. I choose the medium size, 12" x 8". I put it to use immediately on my trip.

Electronics/accessories I've used it for:
Digital camera battery charger
Digital camera cord
I-pod
I-pod cord
Phone charger
Headphones
Minispeaker


Pros: Holds the cords in place, variety of sized bands and openings for different things, loops for hanging organizer, zipper pocket in back for little stuff.

Cons: Moderately expensive for a "maybe I'll use it sometime" purchase, takes some finaggeling to get everything in its place and make the most use of space.

So far I'm very happy with my purchase, even at home I'm not searching for cords in my cord box so much. I like having it visable so I know where my chargers and speaker are at all times. For security, I put my netbook cords in it so that I didn't have to take my netbook out of its neoprene case. I definitely recommend it for people who travel frequently (3-4 times per year) and/or people who have a lot of gadgets.

Christmas in Florida

Every year I spend Christmas in Florida because that is why my parents currently reside. This year was especially busy because a lot of friends from middle and high school who are not always in town were going to be around, my best friend was getting married, and my new boy friend was going to be coming down to meet my parents for the first time.

So of course, with all this craziness, I lost my luggage for the first time ever. Now, I've never sat down and counted how many times I've flown. But I started flying by myself in the 7th grade and made yearly trips to Nebraska from then until I graduated high school. Then came college in Boston and more trips, and then traveling abroad and visiting friends all over the US. So I'd say about 40 plane trips, so maybe 100 flights. And no lost baggage, until this year. It wasn't even a short layover either, it was over an hour. Who knows.

But here are my tips so that you don't lose the important stuff or your mind.

Your carry on should always have:
phone chargers
money, gift certificates
important medicine
snacks
jewelry
anything not easily replaced
for overseas flights or flights where you aren't going home (and therefore don't have a stash of clean underwear at your destination) at least one change of clothes

You should also always know what your bag looks like, even if it's new. This includes the brand, how many exterior pockets it has, and any identifying marks. I've never been one to tie colored ribbon on my black bag because I can spot it from a mile away because I know it so well, but this trip I realized the ribbon isn't always for YOU, but for other people who don't know what their bag looks like. So the colored marker isn't admitting you're an idiot, it's admitting you don't quite trust everyone else either.

Thankfully my bag showed up the next morning still in STL, so it was put on the next flight to Orlando and arrived at my house by midafternoon. Phew. That was a close one.

Packing for cooking over a fire

The full kitchen box!

This past weekend I got to go camping in South Dakota which was awesome because 1. I'd never been to South Dakota and 2. It had been way too long since the last time I went camping. We rented a cabin in a state park just over the Nebraska boarder and it was AMAZING. But again, that's for another post. Notice I'm trying not to inundate all you readers with a ton of stories at once. This post will focus on packing a kitchen to go. I'm really proud of my packing job because there was only one thing that I was like, crap, I wish I had brought that. And we used almost everything in my kitchen box!




Items for two people for a two day camping trip:
1. 6 inch fry pan
2. 4 quart pot with lid that would also fit the fry pan if needed
3. Spatula/scrapper
4. Spatula/flipper

Cold breakfast the first morning before
we got firewood.

5. Two plastic cooking spoons
6. Two pot holders
7. Three tea towels
8. Collapsible bowl with lid
10. Two distinctly shaped sponges (so we could tell them apart if need be)
11. Small tupperware of dish soap (approximately 1/4 cup)
12. 2 8-in plates
13. 2 10-in plates
14. Cutting board
15. Sharp knife

Dinner the second night cooked
over the fire.

16. Metal pinchers
17. Utensils (assorted butter knives, forks and spoons)
18. Corkscrew/bottle opener
19. Can opener
20. Scissors
21. 4 bowls
22. 4 cups
23. Paper towels
24. Assorted ziplock baggies
25. Trash bags (large glad ones and some old grocery bags)
26. Tub of antibacterial wipes

Hot breakfast cooked over the fire.

Everything fit into a collapsible crate that I had from college that measured approximately 18x12x12. We didn't use everything, but the only thing I wanted and didn't have was some duct tape (although, not sure if that counts as part of the kitchen packing or not). If I go camping more in the future or for longer periods of time, a dish bin would be nice for doing dishes (the collapsible bowl worked fairly well, it had a lid which was nice, but it wasn't very big) and a kettle for warming up water on the fire.

Cheap Airfare

I recently got a roundtrip ticket from Omaha to Orlando for $125.

Seriously.

I've kind of become the cheap airfare specialist. And sometimes the family travel agent.

I figured I should share my secrets to scoring these awesome deals (and, no, I don't always get great deals. I've had to pay close to $400 for some tickets before, but sometimes I just get lucky!)

1. Sign up for your favorite airline's emails. Mine are Southwest and Jetblue, so I get notices of their sales constantly. With Jetblue, I'm actually signed up with two different email address and sometimes the offers are different. You never know. Also, if you're saying you don't have a favorite airline, I'm saying why not? It really does pay to sign up for a rewards program and start earning some loyalty points. So try to figure out which airline has the best prices generally for your most common routes and try to stick with them whenever possible. I can't even remember how many free flights I've gotten on Southwest and I've only been flying them for about 6 years.

2. Sign up for Travelzoo and Expedia emails too, sometimes they have interesting destinations that I wouldn't have thought of before.

3. I monitor my favorite routes anytime I'm bored to check for crazy cheap deals on Southwest. Jetblue doesn't actually fly out of Omaha, so they're on the back burner for a bit.

4. I earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points on airfare, by taking surveys online (E-Rewards), on certain hotel stays, even on filing my taxes this year. Sign up for a rewards program and keep checking into non-conventional ways to earn points.

5. When I'm shopping for a specific trip, I search on Kayak and then set up a price alert to let me know daily what the airfare is. Yeah, sometimes it's annoying to fill my inbox with this stuff, but when I get that email that says it dropped $100, I'm totally excited that I waited on purchasing the ticket!

6. Really, I cannot sing the praises of Southwest enough. They don't charge you to change your ticket, so if the price goes down you can get a voucher for the difference. Doesn't even have to be the same flight, could be one on a different day or at a different time. Jetblue used to do vouchers as well if the price went down, but it had to be for the exact same flight and you had to do it over the phone. It was still awesome they did this, but again I haven't flown them in awhile so I'm not sure if they still do this.

7. Check with your credit card company to see if they have travel deals. With my Chase card, I can buy airline tickets partially with points and partially on my card, so even if I haven't saved up enough points for a full ticket I can still use them to get a discount. Also, if you're thinking you don't get any points on your credit cards, I'm asking why not? Get a card that gets points! Pay it off every month and start earning that free money! (Seriously though, pay it off every month. I'm not tell you to go into debt to get the rewards. They aren't THAT great.)

8. It helps to be somewhat flexible. I know that's hard for a lot of people, but it really is more pricey to fly on Fridays and Sundays or during peak travel times like around Christmas. If you want to a take a weeks vacation, try a Thursday to Wednesday trip instead of a Friday to the following Sunday trip. I know it's two days less of a vacation, but the price may make it worth it.

9. Check alternate airports. When I lived in Boston, I would check flights out of Manchester, NH or Providence, RI and sometimes found they were worth it. I'd also check NYC and Philly and coordinate a trip to FL with a weekend with my sisters.

And now, I should probably pack for my next trip tomorrow...

Moving

Today I started a move that will probably take about a week. Moving sucks. It's hot. I hate having my stuff all over the place in random boxes that I can't find or remember where they're at.

Moving isn't really traveling, but sometimes traveling is involved. So I'm going to use that weak connection to let me whine about moving on a donut and traveling blog. Or not really whine. But make a list. As I always do.


Top Moving Tips from the girl who has lived in five different states:

1. If you think you may be moving, stick to furniture that folds flat or easily comes apart. For example, my bookshelf kind of looks like this, and the four shelves come out and the sides fold flat into the middle. Super easy to slide into the back of SUV/minivan.

2. Always keep out important documents and all chargers (phone, computer, camera).

3. Speaking of camera, if you're renting a place, take tons of pics during the moving in. I didn't and it almost cost me $150 one time. I lucked out with that one, but never again.

4. Pack the power cord you use with your computer/printer set up, in the box with the computer or printer.

5. When moving an entire family, assign each person/room a number so that when you have to unpack, you just make the number with the room that the box goes in.

6. Don't buy knicknacks that don't serve any actual purpose. Who wants to move a box of fake apples from one state to another?

7. Make sure to properly compensate with beer, food, money, etc, anyone who helps you move. Lately, my go to has been the Valentino's Pizza Buffet. All you can eat pizza and pasta and whatever else they have out that day, including my personal favorite DESSERT PIZZA :-)

8. If you're going to be short on space for transporting your life's possessions, purge and divide what you think you can fit with you in half. Half may fit. You may have to purge again on moving day.

9. When packing linens, it really helped me to have a pack that had one of everything so that I could start with that the first night (instead of one box all of sheets, one all of towels, etc).

10. No tenth tonight. But I did have a donut today :-) Review tomorrow!

Still figuring out road trip necessities...

Tonight's tip is a short one, but important.
Make sure when you return from a road trip to remove everything road trip related from the car, including the wet towel in a bag.
Two weeks later it gets kinda gross...

An addendum to Road Trip Necessities

My family has added some things I forgot, mainly a pillow. However, the pillow was a recent addition. Growing up Mom always brought her pillow along because she has to have HER PILLOW at all times; the four of us didn't bring our pillows.

Which, btw, easy tip for never forgetting your pillow at a hotel: put it in a brightly colored pillowcase. Don't let it blend in with the white linens!

The one thing I wanted to add though was a tool kit and flashlight. There were many times camping we needed tools and the flashlight obviously came in handy for midnight bathroom runs. Lying awake in hotel rooms, Dad would always suddenly shine his halogen lantern into one of our faces and yell "Halogen!" and then go back to bed like nothing happened.

The toolkit came most in handy the year we were late getting into Omaha. It was probably one am and we were staying at my dad's dad's house. He had already gone to bed and we didn't want to wake him up. My dad noticed that the three diamond shaped decorative windows on his front door had the windows screwed into the door on the outside. So he pulled out the screwdriver, took them all off, reached in and unlocked the door, and we basically broke into my grandpa's house. I'm sure we were all relieved as it was probably at least 10 degrees in the middle of a Nebraska winter.

And, yes, Dad replaced all the window panes so that they were secured to the door from the inside so that no one else could follow in our B&E footsteps. So it was probably a good thing for Grandpa that we tested his security for him!

(the original necessity list, what do you guys always have in your car for trips?)

Road trip necessities

My mom taught me about proper road trips. I took a lot as a kid. Dad was in charge of packing the suitcases in the back end (and later the rooftop carrier), Mom was in charge of packing the coolers and the kids. Each kid was allowed a small box/bag of personal items. Like a carry-on for the car. I remember bringing books. Karen and Kevin had their walkmen. Later we had candy. Gum was normally outlawed on trips but there may have been a black market going on for it (we also got per diem at the beginning of the trip so we didn't beg for souvenirs the whole time, some people used it to buy stock for their "store"). I can tell you lots of stories about road trips, but tonight I'm tired (from a mini roadtrip of my own) so you get a list of the random travel necessities my mom taught me to never leave behind:

1. Paper towels.
2. Maps. Never fully trust a gps unit, bring some paper maps.
3. Music and/or books on tape. Although books on tape for a carful of adults can get confusing. We kept losing track of where we were in the story last time we tried this. As kids they worked awesomely.
4. A wet washrag in a plastic baggie for spills.
5. Plastic bags for trash.
6. Enough snacks to not have to stop every thirty minutes (carrots, granola bars, trail mix, grapes, etc).
7. A cooler of pop with a bunch of sandwiches premade and cut, put back into the loaf bag.
8. Car blanket (why is it so cold with the ac on and so humid with the ac off? so frustrating!)

I've also discovered, probably through trial and error, that a straw in my water bottle saves me from a lot of spills.

(addendum and funny story!)

The Ultimate Packing List

I know there are a lot of packing lists that you can buy out there that are probably kind of satirical and maybe a little intense. And maybe mines a little intense too. But this is what I've been using for multitudes of trips for at least 5 years now and I've shared it with a lot of friends and family (who all rave about it, but they could just be raving to be nice, so maybe their opinions were just negated...anyways). I love it. It works great for me. It helps me get organized and get moving and then I don't end up taking 5 tops and no pants, or repeating that time I took no underwear on a trip. Yeah. That happened. Don't make my mistakes, people.

(If you want to see the whole pdf/download it, right click on the pdf (not the little tiny preview) and open it in a new tab or window. Then you should be able to actually see it in all its glory! :-)

Travel Insurance

My lovely hotel room in Denver

I totally recommend travel insurance for any large domestic trip or any international trip. There have been trips where I never even thought about it and trips that I've actually had to use it.

I have used a couple different companies, but most recently World Nomads. I liked World Nomads because it works for any trip over 100 miles from your home address. It was incredibly easy to sign up for (all online) and easy to make claims with (also all online). But, despite all the online stuff, you can also call them and get a real live person to ask questions to! Such a plus nowadays!

Making the most of my extended layover

I was able to use it to cover a hotel stay when my connection was late and stranded me in Denver and I was able to use it to go see a doctor about an ear infection I had while visiting my parents in Florida. The process was so super easy, I just had to scan in relevant documents and email them to World Nomads. They were prompt with questions and payments when my claims were approved.

This isn't a very interesting post, but bottom line: travel insurance is a good idea for any large trips! Save yourself the worry!