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Summer is a time for family vacations

Posted by Sprinter
Feb 27, 2009
Travel Plans, Vacations Ideas, Van Rentals, 15 Passenger Vans, Passenger Van Rental, Rent Vans, Sprinter van Rentals, Summer Camps, Summer Rentals, van rental
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A cross country road trip can be a fun and rewarding experience or a total drag, depending on how well you plan and prepare. Your essential road trip planning checklist should include mapping a road trip route, packing necessary items and preparing for emergencies.

Depending on your timeframe and your budget, a road trip is a great way to see the country while en route to visit family and friends. If you’re planning a drive cross country anytime soon, you’ll want to start planning now so you can avoid the potholes and road blocks that mark the path of poor road trip planning.

Decide What You Want to See
Are you simply trying to get from one part of the country to the other, or do you want to see as many sights along the way as you can? Is speed the most important factor, or do you want to enjoy the scenery? Decide what kind of road trip you want this to be, and plan your route accordingly.

Select Your Route
As you choose your route, check out road trip maps and online resources to determine which route will give you the experience you desire. If you’re driving from New Hampshire to Florida, you may want to take major highways until you hit the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then wind your way through the mountains for some pretty scenery, and then hit the major highway again for speedy travel.

Services such as AAA and other travel w can give you input on avoiding construction delays and traffic. If you’re going around big cities such as Chicago or New York, but don’t plan on stopping in the city, you may want to take routes that avoid the city altogether, since traffic is almost always congested in these areas.

Map Your Way
Use an online service or AAA to map out your trip. Many online travel sites will give you detailed directions, including time estimates and mileage for every leg of the trip. Pick up local area maps as well so you have both detailed directions and general area maps. Put all of your maps in a folder to keep beside you as you drive for easy and quick access.

Prepare Your Vehicle
Bring your vehicle into the auto shop for a tune and check up before you head out on a major cross country road trip. Make sure the inspector checks the following:

Windshield wiper blades should be soft and pliable
Lights all work and are aligned properly
Tires have even wear and are properly aligned and inflated
Fluid levels are adequate
Belts and hoses are in good condition
Battery connections are corrosion-free
Brakes are in good shape

Pack the Essentials
You’ll want to pack a few items for your family road trip to make the experience more comfortable. Include a variety of snacks (not messy items, but easy finger foods) and a cooler of beverages.

Pack a small plastic bag for trash and wet wipes and hand sanitizer. Keep a box of tissue within easy reach. Bring along non-drowsy anti-nausea medications and Pepto Bismol for stomach problems. If you are traveling with children, have them pack a bag of toys. Bring along small blankets and pillows for easy napping.

Bring Entertainment
You’ll want some entertainment along the road to help pass the time. As much as “I Spy” and license plate games can be fun, you’ll eventually tire of looking at the scenery or chatting with the people traveling with you. Consider bringing books on CD, music or DVDs for the kids.

Book Motel or Hotel Rooms Before You Go
Whatever you do, you don’t want to find yourself driving around for hours at the end of your day of travel searching for a motel with a vacant room. Plan your trip so that you know where you want to stay each night, and book your hotel or motel room ahead of time.

Since you’re just looking for a place to sleep, take advantage of cheaper rates at lesser known spots or motels that have few amenities and few tourist locations, unless you want to explore in each town as you stop.

Be Prepared for Emergencies
You’ll want to take the time to pack a small emergency kit in case you break down on the road. Make sure you include:

Oil
Radiator coolant
A funnel
Tire pressure gauge
Flashlight and batteries
Flare
First aid kit
Duct tape
Jumper cables
Blanket
Nonperishable food
Bottled water

Safety Tips While On the Road

Stop every two hours. Get out and stretch, get a drink of water, use a restroom and freshen up with a splash of water on your face. You need to stay alert so you can drive safely.Keep children with you. It may be tempting to leave your sleeping child in the vehicle while you dash into the restroom, but that could easily turn into a poor decision. Inconvenient as it is, always bring your children into the restroom with you at rest areas and gas stations.

Use extra caution when driving at night. Watch out for deserted rest areas and gas stations, especially late at night. Choose your stops carefully and only use well-lit, well-frequented places, especially if you are a woman traveling alone or with children.

Don’t talk on your cell phone while driving. You’ve heard the warning before, but it’s true—talking on a cell phone while you drive is asking for an accident, especially when you’re already tired from driving a long distance. Limit calls to stops.

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As parents about May we start thinking about summer . It is almost a panic with the thought of, “I want to create lasting memories for my children, what will we do this summer?”

Let us help you, by providing ideas in four categories: Short day trips, 1-2 day overnight trips, ideas, and one to two week summer vacations.

All of our vacation ideas are accessible, affordable and accommodating for families. Summer vacation is the prime time for families to vacation. The kids are out of school so let’s start looking at some great summer vacation ideas.

Short Day Trip Excursion Summer Vacation Ideas You can do lots of day trips with your kids providing awesome memories to last a life time.

First think of what might be within a 1 to 2 hour drive from your house. If you aren’t sure call the chamber of commerce for the closest large city and ask them to send you information on things to do with kids in the area.

Most major cities have a Children’s museum with hands on fun displays for kids of all ages, a zoo, and aquarium or water park. Some costal cities have military museums with tanks or battle ships you can actually tour.

There are lakes, beaches and parks. I once met a mother with (2) children at a local park on the river, who’s summer vacation was going to be spent seeing as many parks as they could squeeze in during the summer. They called it a park a day!

If your town doesn’t normally have outdoor pools call around see if you can find a county or city public pool your kids will love swimming in the outdoors.

For the train lover (most kids), some parks have train or carousel rides for kids at minimal charge. Also you can look for a scenic railroad usually an hour train ride; this is always a hit with kids.

Historical sites can be great fun to visit on a day trip. Lewis and Clark Forts or the Pilgrims villages for example.

1 to 2 Day Overnight Trips- Summer Vacation Ideas

If you have the funds and your kids are great in the car look at what cities you can drive to and spend 1 or 2 days touring the town. Kids love to spend a night in a hotel and swim in the pool. Older kids would love the city life of New York, take in a Broadway play or the opening of a new movie.

If you are traveling by car Embassy Suites Hotels are great overnight stops along the way for families. All have pools and in-room microwave, refrigerators and Nintendo games systems. Most big cities charge less for rooms on weekends as they typically cater to the business traveler.

RV Summer Vacation ideas

Renting a RV Motor home can be an awesome way to introduce your family to camping and the great outdoors. A motor home allows your family to keep some of the comforts of home, including their favorite foods for anyone with picky eaters.

Visiting a National park is always a fun RV adventure. Listed below are the highest family rated National Parks:

* Grand Canyon Arizona* Yellowstone National Park Wyoming* Great Smokey Mountains National Park* Crater Lake National Park Oregon

If a national Park is not on your list of destinations. Some other suggested summer vacation ideas for families include taking your RV to Disneyworld or Lake Tahoe.

Disneyworld actually has a resort RV park on the Disney property just waiting for you to visit.

Lake Tahoe is also the number one must see spot for families in the summer.

Planning a One or Two Week Vacation? Here are some Summer Vacation Ideas just for you.

The kids have their heart set on a theme park vacation? Keep in mind the busiest times for theme parks are in the summer; there will be longer lines. Here are the top theme parks:

Any of the Sea World Parks (California, Texas, Florida or )
Disneyland in California
Disneyworld in Florida
Six Flags Parks throughout the USA (17) total locations
Noah’s Water Park in Wisconsin

For a 7 to 10 day trip to Tropical Paradise try one of the Hawaiian Islands: Oahu, Maui, Hawaii or Kauai are the best islands suited for families. Our summer is Hawaii’s off season, meaning lower .

Another suggestion is a 5 day trip to a Resort property or Dude Ranch. Resorts and dude ranches offer a wide range of activates for the whole family. Rather you fly or drive is up to you, but you can find great resorts all across the United States.

Hilton hotels have great family friendly resort properties.
A couple offering on-site water parks are:

The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix click here, Hilton Hotel, and scroll down about half a page.

Hilton Hotels Beach Resorts. Check out the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hawaii on page 2 of this link.

Be sure to check out our visitor Group Travel and family vacation recommendations.

Summer Vacation Idea Considerations
To help you choose one of the summer vacation idea categories; you will need to decide how much money you want to spend on your summer vacation. Whether your kids can handle riding in the car for vacation or is some place on vacation the best choice? Combining the categories is great idea too.

Which ever summer vacation ideas you decide to investigate remember kids are happy just spending time with you! So save some time to relax by the pool, jump in the ocean surf or swing on a swing in a park.