Things To Know

Read about planning road trips and prepping for them. For a lot of people, getting ready for a trip is half the fun.  Then comes the process of getting to your destination…by way of a very long drive…with kids in the back seat. While you might once have enjoyed leisurely drive time …

A good summer vacation can generate memories that stay with you long after you’ve returned home to your everyday routine. When something goes amiss on vacation that is often memorable, too, but for all the wrong reasons. We want families who read FamiliesGo! to have the best possible memories from all …

Need more advice on traveling with grandparents? Read Disney World With 3 Generations. I caught the travel bug from my parents, who love to travel and always made it a priority to explore the world. I knew I wanted to keep traveling after I became a mother. I just didn’t know how …

For better or for worse, your holiday plans are made. The bags are mostly packed, the presents mostly bought and wrapped (unless you’re my husband, who probably hasn’t started his shopping yet), the itinerary for driving, flying or just staying home is set. After the holiday travel is over, it’s …

November and December are big travel months. We travel near and far to visit family, get someplace warm —or snowy—or to give our family the present of a dream vacation. It’s good to be reminded that even amid all that holiday travel cheer things can go wrong on vacations in …

In the fall Tiny Traveler and I were flying coast-to-coast on Jet Blue. Of course, given the current stranglehold airlines are putting on seats that don’t cost extra, it seemed likely my daughter and I would be sitting in two middle seats, one in front of the other, rather than next to each other. (I …

I love these duck photos. For one thing, they’re funny. They also remind me of a trip to Germany to see my husband’s family when Tiny Traveler was 3½. It was filled with summer fun we still talk about, much of it unplanned. These ducks, our companions on a weekend …

I started FamiliesGo! because when Tiny Traveler was small it was incredibly difficult to find out  whether a hotel, even one that bills itself as a family hotel, had the amenities I needed as a parent. Most of the guidebooks I looked at defined family hotels as inexpensive with a pool and free breakfast, but but …

There’s always one week of summer where everyone is home from camp and work but we aren’t going away. We need things to do so that we feel like we’re really on vacation, and so we don’t spend the week organizing closets, answering email, and watching Sing! on an endless …

This is Ask FamiliesGo!, where we answer our readers’ questions about family travel. We add new questions as our readers pose them, so keep checking back. You can ask your own question with the private contact form down below. Add your own great advice in the comments. More Ask FamiliesGo! • Managing …

At the age of ten, Tween Traveler declared she wasn’t interested in visiting museums that aren’t interactive. Luckily there are plenty of science and history museums that interest us and engage her. But not every museum I’d like to see on our travels is designed with kids in mind. I …

Just six months ago, I was chomping at the bit to downsize from my 1,800 sq. ft. dream home steps from the national forest in Big Bear Lake, California. Our plan was to go to San Francisco in our RV and work in the city at high-paying jobs while living …

Theme parks are go-to vacation destinations for some families and places to avoid at all costs for others. But if you have kids, you’ll wind up spending at least a few weekends at amusement parks, be it a giant destination theme park or your local fun park. Here are some tips, care …

I admit I chuckled a little when the editor at FamiliesGo! asked me to write about my most ambitious family vacation. As a father of six, pretty much every trip we take qualifies as ambitious. The last time we all traveled together we took 17 (!) pieces of luggage to …

I love to travel and being a filmmaker has given me all kinds or reasons to go many places. But as my family grew I got tired of long hours in airplane seats and nights alone in hotel rooms. Then, a few years ago I had a flash of inspiration …

We recently did our first home swap vacation, staying in the 15th arrondissement in Paris while a French family lived in our Brooklyn home. It saved us a few thousand euros in hotel fees and made the trip very affordable for us. Since returning, several friends have asked how we …

New more on travel with a toddler? Try Toddler-Friendly Resorts, and Travel Diapering.  New parents, here’s a little secret: Traveling with a baby is much easier than travel with a toddler. Your infant will likely feed and sleep through plane rides, dinners out, museum visits and walking tours. And they are happy pretty …

Like our diaper tips? Find more advice in our Know section. I wish I’d had these diaper tips the first time I flew with my first baby. It’s a whole new world flying with the not-yet-potty trained. You don’t just have to worry about flight schedules and hotel deals; You …

In our first year of marriage, my wife Kendra and I tested our relationship with a six-week trip to Europe. Fortunately it was a great tip and the first of many more. Not even the birth of our daughter Addison in 2010 has slowed us down. Our 2YO has been …

You might find our planning and packing lists helpful for your first vacation. Your first vacation with your very small child won’t be least bit relaxing, at least not in the way you’ve come to think of relaxing. But it is a break from your routine, a change of scenery …

There are times when you need to get away from your kids when you’re getting away on vacation. You might have a wedding or other social obligation. Or you might just need one dinner where no one has to be told that chocolate pudding isn’t finger food. Whatever the reason, …

Read more Home Exchange Tips and about another Home Swap Experience.   Your family can enjoy a two-week vacation in a flat in Rome, a townhouse in Boston or a cottage in England for free. How? A home exchange. The concept is simple: You live in someone’s home while they live in …

Clomp, clomp, clomp. My legs are aching, my arms feel like they will be pulled from their sockets and I can’t even see the river I’m walking toward with a canoe, a load of gear and my son. I went over the list, checked it twice and made sure everything …

I had a conversation about family travel recently with the Dad of two teenagers. He told me that rather than starting his family vacation planning by picking a destination (as most of us do), he comes up with an activity that he and the kids can enjoy doing together and …

Like many parents with young kids we have—with cautious optimism—become cruise-goers! It’s one of the many things I thought I would never do–until I became a parent. Richard and I liked our family cruise vacation much better than we thought we would, as evidenced by the great extent to which …