Teens, screens, time pressure and other challenges to navigate on a family road trip
I found both when I packed up the car with my husband and two kids — one of them a teenager — for the eight-hour drive from Boston to Niagara Falls. We had taken long road trips as a family in the past, but our kids, now 8 and 14, were older. My son, firmly in his 'closed-door, don't talk to me' phase, wasn't exactly thrilled about spending over 460 miles trapped in our smallish Nissan Rogue. We also live in a part of the country where we don't spend much time in cars in our everyday life.
How would we all manage the close quarters?
Here's some of what I learned — along with advice from the experts — about not only surviving a family road trip but having a good time:
First, why do it?
Many road-trip veterans cite the chance to bond and create family memories. Eighteen-year-old Samara Worsham, for example, spent 30 days crossing 25 states with her family in 2022. Now preparing to leave for college, she says she cherishes that time on the road.
'There were long stretches with no cellular data, leaving us nothing to do but talk,' she said.
Along with visiting U.S. landmarks, Worsham's fondest memories include hotel pool swims with her siblings, and her father's mission to sample every fast-food chain across the country.
There are practical advantages to the family car trip too.
'It's more economical than flying, especially with a big family,' says Jamie Davis Smith, a lawyer and writer from Washington, D.C., who takes a road trip every year with her husband and children. 'Plus, you don't have to rent a car at the destination.'
Get family input on the itinerary
Alain Robert, founder of The Travelologist, a Canadian travel agency, recommends including the whole family in planning.
'Ask what they'd like to see or do. Build around everyone's interests,' he advised. 'Once you have a backbone itinerary, share it and manage expectations.'
My family, in particular the kids, wanted to get there as soon as possible. They had their eyes on the destination, not the journey.
Include some cheesy stops — if you can take the time
Davis Smith said her family loves to discover quirky roadside attractions; on one trip, they had fun stopping at the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama — a store that sells lost airline luggage.
Inspired, I downloaded the Roadtrippers app and mapped out a few detour-worthy stops. Our shortlist included the Jell-O Museum in LeRoy, New York, as well as the Schuyler Mansion (of 'Hamilton' fame) in Albany, New York.
But best-laid plans... We quickly realized that an eight-hour haul didn't leave much wiggle room for exploration. Lesson learned: Keep daily driving to six hours or less if you want time to explore. We didn't have time for either of those two stops.
Whether you bring your pet or not, prepare for extra costs
We briefly considered bringing Rosie, our 2-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but the hotel we'd booked at Niagara wasn't dog-friendly. No friends were available to watch her, so at the last minute, we boarded her at our vet — a first for Rosie.
We hadn't expected she would need two new vaccines, and we had to squeeze in a vet appointment two days before departure. This meant a steep bill the morning we left, and boarding costs awaiting us when we returned.
Travel journalist Kelly Burch, who road-tripped around the U.S. for seven months with her husband, two kids and senior dog, warned that pet policies on the road can be unpredictable. One budget hotel near Yellowstone National Park wouldn't even allow their dog to stay in their RV on the property.
'Triple check pet policies,' she advised.
Teens...
Knowing my teenager would need space, I splurged on a junior suite. He got his own bed, slept late and had the space to recharge. The suite came with a small kitchen and a breathtaking view of Horseshoe Falls — well worth the extra cost for three nights.
If we'd stayed longer, I would have reconsidered the splurge. But since we saved money by not flying, the room felt like a worthwhile tradeoff.
... and screens
If your kids are on the younger side, divert them with family car games.
'If you start the screen early, it can be difficult to convince them to do anything else,' says freelance journalist Stratton Lawrence, 43, who has written for Travel & Leisure about his family road trips — without devices. He's driven with his young kids and wife from South Carolina to the Pacific Coast twice, including one three-month stretch on the road.
Even older kids, he says, will appreciate something like a deck of cards or a paper atlas to see the geography.
'If you're going to be in a car for 100-plus hours, the kids aren't going to be entertained watching TV that whole time, so you have to have other things,' he said.
Overall, I think my teenager thought the trip was OK. His friend happened to be visiting Niagara Falls with her family and staying in the same hotel where we stayed. That was a welcome surprise. He also seemed to like our daytime outings, especially the boat ride into the Horseshoe Falls, where we got drenched with water.
I figure, if a trip is mostly OK for a teenager, it's a success.
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ultimate Washington road trip: How a holiday to the capital region helped LEE BOYCE truly grasp US history and culture
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Perhaps the building I have seen most in my life without visiting, I managed to time it just as the US President was landing in his green Air Force One chopper (well, that's what a local told me anyway - it was nice to be personally welcomed). The hotel is the perfect spot for a whistle-stop Washington tour – central and steeped in history, with plenty of past Presidents having visited. If you're going to visit DC, you may as well do it properly. I crammed in so much in Washington it's hard to crunch down into one travel review – although, most of it can be done on foot, where I quite enjoyed Cybertruck spotting (the novelty hasn't worn off yet, four in total). I love London, but Washington gives it a run for its money in the free museum stakes - and is far quieter and easier to navigate. If you love your history and impressive museums, I cannot recommend it enough. I was simply blown away. 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A boat trip through the Kent Narrows is also recommended for birdwatching and to get to grips with Chesapeake Bay - where Captain John Smith explored in 1608 and 1609 to map the region, commissioned by The Virginia Company of London. Maryland is famous for crab and oysters - and in my best Forrest Gump voice, we visited The Jetty in Kent Narrows where we devoured crab pizza, crab cakes, crab soup, cream of crab soup and soft crab BLTs. Crab until your heart is content. Also, Libbeys overlooking the bridge is another great seafood spot - indeed, I enjoyed it so much that I came home with a t-shirt from the restaurant, a surefire sign I've fallen in love. While DC was great for seeing the history locked away in exhibitions, Maryland was great for seeing it in the flesh - including Queen Anne's County Court House, erected on a plantation known as 'Chesterfield,' the ancestral home of Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson. He was the man who suggested the music for the Star-Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key was his brother-in-law. Washington's crib: Mount Vernon houses George Washington's tomb - and is perfect for another afternoon of fun peppered in with history Virginia's scenic historic beauty At first glance in Virginia, I felt like I'd be transported to Beverly Hills. Every few seconds there were gasps from the tour bus, as we admired multi-million dollar homes from afar, surrounded by lush greenery. On our way to Mount Vernon, we stopped at Great Falls Park. The perfect spot for Instagram-worthy photographs, it is part of the Potomac River that flows through to Washington. George Washington surveyed the area in the 1750s and recognised the potential of the Potomac River as a transportation route - and later he helped fund canals to help bypass these falls. And onto Washington. 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This trip opened my eyes fully to US history - something I may have sneered at a little in the past - and I'd highly recommend retracing the footsteps of English settlers, in Maryland and Virginia for the liveable history, and soak in the wonderful museums in Washington to cement it in. I genuinely arrived home to give my brain a rest from all of the information I had gathered in the week I was in the US - who knew a trip could be such a brain workout... Washington, Maryland and Virginia - tips and tricks How to do it: Flights can be easily snaffled for around £450 return from London Heathrow, with United usually coming out cheapest. In terms of hotels, I'd highly recommend the InterContinental Willard in Washington, just for the salubrious nature of it, the history and its central location - prices typically start from around £225 per night. Elsewhere, the beauty of the US is there are plenty of hotels suiting all budgets - and that's true of Maryland and Virginia. I'd recommend booking tickets for museums in advance (free, but saves any queue hassle), booking a Washington site seeing your (not one of those open top bus things, but an actual knowledgble guide). For trips like Mount Vernon, it's best to check in advance how busy it is likely to be on any given day (there are plenty of school trips as you'd imagine) and booking a private walking tour in Williamsburg is a must.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Parts of the Appalachian Trail are still damaged after Helene. Volunteers are fixing it by hand
In a rugged patch of the Appalachian Trail in eastern Tennessee, volunteers size up a massive, gnarled tree lying on its side. Its tangled web of roots and dark brown soil, known as a root ball, is roughly the size of a large kiddie pool. The collection of volunteers and staff from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and local organizations, doesn't plan to move the tree. Instead, their job is filling the gaping holes left by it and many other downed trees along iconic East Coast trail. Almost a year since Hurricane Helene tore through the mountains of the Southeast, restoration is still ongoing. In places like the Appalachian Trail it's powered primarily by volunteers, at a time when federal resources are strained and uncertain. That labor, made up of people spanning several generations and continents, aims to not only return the trail to its former glory but make it more resilient against future inclement weather. 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'Well, if we don't do the work, you won't be able to do that. You'll spend all your time climbing over this tree and walking around that hole." Volunteers travel the world to help out Partnering with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service has long been a critical component of preserving the Appalachian Trail. Through contracts, Perrenod said the agencies fund equipment, gas and the wages of some Appalachian Trail Conservancy staff members like himself. The Forest Service also helps the group lug their gear up to the trail, he said. That's why Perrenod says it's imperative the federal government does not slash those agencies' budgets and workforces. Disrupting support for volunteers could be detrimental for the trail's restoration, as volunteers provide 'a lot of muscle' to complete the vast majority of its maintenance, he said. In Helene's aftermath, volunteerism across the region was 'super high' because everyone wanted to help, Stowe said. This year, interest in volunteering has dipped, Stowe said, but he's heard from people all over the country — and the world — who cited Helene as a major reason they wanted to come out and help. Among the volunteers on the July maintenance trip were three visitors from Japan who work on long-distance trails back home. They were enthusiastic to learn about best practices for improving trail longevity and take those ideas back to Japan. The trio was also motivated by their own experience with natural devastation. After Japan's massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, volunteer Kumi Aizawa said people from across the globe came to rebuild. By restoring part of the Appalachian Trail, she's returning the favor. ___ Seminera reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Times
9 hours ago
- Times
Hotel or villa? There's only one winner on a grown-up Greek trip
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