Travel
Summer Vacation Road Trip Essentials
I love a road trip where you can explore on your own terms. In this post I share travel essentials and websites worth bookmarking for your next trip.
I love a road trip where you can explore on your own terms. Whether it is in your home state or if you are traveling by air across the Atlantic, you can take a road trip to see the local sites and enjoy the scenery.
Fortunately we have access to so much information on the web such as The National Geographic where in this instance, they feature a road trip through the Amalfi Coast. Further in the post I list both local and foreign sites that will help you plan your trip.
Amalfi Coast, Italy
If you are looking for a last-minute Father’s Day gift, National Geographic has a coffee table style book that sounds interesting: Drives of a Lifetime – 500 of the Worlds Most Spectacular Trips.
Road Trip Essentials
Here’s a list of road trip essentials beyond your suitcase.
- A cell phone and car charger
- A GPS Device with car charger
- Yes, GPS’s and cell phones are great for step-by-step directions but it’s also great to have a map! Yes, a good old-fashioned map. You can’t always count on getting a signal on your phone and your GPS may not be able to guide you through a detour.
- Print out the highlights of your destination, hotel addresses, confirmation numbers, etc.
- Do your research! Make sure you know the operating hours of any sites and stops that are on your list. You would be surprised at what is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Don’t be disappointed.
- AAA Membership Card or other roadside assistance information
- Pack some music whether it is on your phone, MP3 Player or CD’s. There’s nothing worse than having to keep changing the radio channel in between cities.
- Pack a separate camera other than your cell phone. Your passengers won’t want to miss a great photo-op because you are using your phone as a GPS.
- A small cooler to pack a light lunch, snacks and some water and sodas is ideal. If you are traveling by air before starting your road trip, pack a small folding flexible insulated cooler and some Ziploc bags. You can fill the bags with ice from your hotel. When we first traveled to Napa Valley from San Francisco, we visited the farmers market and packed fruit, cheese and bread for the trip. So much better than stopping for fast food!
- Bring snacks from home such as almonds, granola bars and peanut butter crackers.
- If you are traveling from home, freeze a few water bottles and you won’t need any ice. Once melted, you will have extra water.
- Pack some change and small bills for tollways and parking meters.
- I always travel with Advil, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, kleenex, gum and mints
- Make sure you have your car registration and insurance documents
- A first aid kit is always good to have in your car
- A sense of adventure is a must!
Misc. Travel Sites Worth Checking Out
Route Perfect for European Trips
Hotel Tonight (app)
Be adventuresome and enjoy! Safe travels.
Travel
Favorite Travel Sites
If you like to travel you probably spend a good amount of time on-line doing some research. I do and I have some favorite travel sites to share.
If you like to travel you probably spend a good amount of time on-line doing some research on everything from your destination, flights, transportation, restaurants, etc. I do and I have some favorite travel sites to share. I’d love to know what travel websites and apps you enjoy too.
Here are the travel sites that I use on a regular basis.
Trip Advisor
Head on over to Trip Advisor to read reviews and recommendations from other travelers and to research your destination.
Kayak
Kayak is great for reviewing flight schedules and prices. What I love about this site is that you get to book your flight directly through the airline. I learned my lesson once having booked through a third-party. My flight was cancelled and because I did not book my flight directly through the airline, the airline wouldn’t help me after standing in line for a long time. I had to contact the third-party to re-book.
Hotel Tonight
If you ever need to book a last-minute hotel room, this is your site! Hotel Tonight will let you know what rooms are available. You may be able to snag a nice hotel at a discount due to a cancellation. This is a great travel site for road trips when you don’t know how far you will be driving before calling it a night.
Yelp
Yelp is the queen of review sites for restaurants, hotels, and just about any business you can think of. You can use the app from your phone.
Open Table
I have written about Open Table in the past. It’s my favorite way of making dinner reservations whether I am in a new city or my own home town. It’s easy to use and tells me at a glance what is available for the number in my party and the time frame I want to dine out. This is especially useful for last-minute dinner reservations. You can use the app from your phone. It saves you from calling all over town to see if there are any “open tables“.
Costco Travel
I have found Costco Travel to be very competitive and have saved quite a bit on car rentals and trip insurance. I only buy trip insurance when it’s an expensive trip such as an overseas vacation.
I haven’t booked any trips through Costco as I usually book directly through the airline and the hotel; however, I do know people who have raved about their savings on vacation packages through Costco.
Bed Bug Registry
Sad but true to have to recommend the Bedbug Registry. I have used it for many trips to check on hotels to see if there have been any Bedbug complaints.
My Other Travel Posts
If you are new to my blog, check out these travel posts:
Summer Vacation Road Trip Essentials
5 Packing Tips for Europe (& Other Overseas Destinations)
Your Favorite Travel Sites
What are your favorite travel sites? Please share in the comments below.
Travel
Enjoy America’s Fall Foliage
Fall foliage at its peak is some of Mother Nature’s best work of art. This post offers tips on fall foliage travel, peak times and great photography tips.
The most colorful time of year is just around the corner. Fall foliage at its peak is some of Mother Nature’s best work of art. If you want to get up close and personal with some spectacular fall scenery, this post is for you.
America’s Best Fall Color Drives
I am pleased to share two great articles, one from Travel & Leisure and the other from Fodor’s Travel highlighting the best fall foliage trips to take.
Moosehead Lake Region, Maine
Great Smoky Mountains
Peak Viewing Times for Fall Foliage
When should you travel? Yahoo Travel has a great map showing the average peak viewing times for across the U.S. This chart, of course, is dependent on the summer weather that region experienced.
I also came across this Interactive Fall Foliage Map at LifeHacker. “The 2015 Fall Foliage Map is the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves. While no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year.”
This year, it looks like the peak viewing time for most parts of the United States is early to mid October, between the 10th and the 17th. If you want to know when the time is right for your area of interest, click on the link above or on the map below to view the Interactive Map. Then just move the slider on the map to see when your area is highlighted in red (but not brown.)
America’s Best Hotels for Fall Colors
Omni Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
Whether you want a grand hotel or a Bed & Breakfast, Travel & Leisure has you covered.
5 Tips for Better Fall Foliage Photos
Once you get there you will want to capture the beauty. These photography tips from Popular Photography and Dan Splain Photography offer tips to take the perfect fall foliage photos.
Smokey Mountain Fall Getaway
If you are interested in going to the Smoky Mountains, here’s my post about our Smoky Mountain Fall Getaway. We stayed at The Lodge at Buckberry Creek which was rustic elegance at its best.
Even if you can’t get away for a fall foliage vacation, you can venture out near home to enjoy your local fall colors. Do you have a favorite place to go in the fall?
Fashion
Celebrity Airport Fashion from the 60’s to Today
Back in the day it was a priority to travel in style, whether you were a celebrity or not. See celebrity airport fashion trends from the 60’s to today.
Back in the day it was a priority to travel in style, whether you were a celebrity or not. In those days you flew in your best clothes and many women wore high heels. Perhaps airports weren’t near the size they are today, but still, high heels?
Styles certainly change with the times. Following is a peak into celebrity airport fashion dating back to the 60’s.
Yesteryear’s Celebrity Airport Fashion
Marilyn Monroe stepped out of her tight skirts to travel in more comfortable pants.
Brigitte Bardot’s 1966 tailored pantsuit.
Between the hat and the white boots, Ursula Andress definitely is entering the 70’s with a bang.
via Source Unknown
In the early 60’s Sophia Loren is seen here traveling in a formal dress and hat.
Today’s Celebrity Airport Fashion
Fast forward to today and you will find everything at the airport. I’m all for being comfortable but you can still dress casually with style.
Following are some of my favorite celebrity airport looks. These stars got it right by picking neutrals such as black, gray and navy for their travel wardrobe.
I particularly like wearing darker colors. It’s so easy to get dirty from spilled drinks on the plane or from a greasy luggage wheel.
The majority are wearing flats which are needed for comfort. After all, you want to save your feet for those gorgeous heels for dinner.
First off is Reese Witherspoon who looks chic in black and white.
Here’s another one of her travel outfits. Simple yet stylish.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s gray scarf is the perfect accessory to her all black outfit.
I love Gwyneth’s tailored gray coat.
Nicole Kidman looks stylish wearing all black.
Angelina Jolie is also a fan of all black. It really is the ideal color to wear when traveling to look fresh and clean on arrival.
Hopefully Salma Hayek has a pair of flats in her bag for comfort on the plane. All of these celebrities carry one great oversized bag that is their carryall. No need to carry a purse and a tote.
Cindy Crawford’s scarf and necklace also add style to her simple jeans and sandals look.
Cameron Diaz traveled on the wild side in her animal print pants.
At 77 Jane Fonda proves you can be stylish at any age.
What do you like to wear when traveling by plane?
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