Planning a Winter Road Trip

A winter road trip is a fantastic family holiday. The scenic views, skiing, skating and exploring the wintery wildlife are all wonderful ways to escape and relax. But winter trips bring challenges you don’t face during the summertime, and some extra planning will go a long way. Here are some top tips for planning your next winter road trip.

Plan Your Route

Once you’ve decided where you want to go on your winter road trip, it’s time to plan out your route. Here are some things to plan out:

• Exactly which roads you’ll take 
• Where the gas stations are 
• Where the motels are 
• Where the emergency services are in each town 
• Safe places to stop in case of emergency

As well as knowing your route inside and out, it’s important to plan for challenging conditions. Before you leave, make sure to check on weather reports and traffic reports. If there are any areas that suffer from bad weather, have back-up routes planned out so you don’t get held up. 

When you go on your trip, take a GPS system with you as well as physical maps which will keep you on track and safe on your journey.

Plan for Snow and Ice

No winter road trip would be complete without snow and ice. And although they make any winter road trip magical, they can pose a serious challenge when driving. Make sure to plan ahead by packing de-icer, a shovel, sand, tire chains and other essentials that will make driving a little easier.

Plan Lots of Breaks

If you’re going on a long road trip, make sure to plan lots of breaks along the way. These breaks are good for both you and your car, and will keep your family from getting restless. There are many sno-park stops across the US that are perfect break points on a winter trip. Go online and search for these on your route to decide the best places to stop.

Plan an Emergency Car Kit

It’s difficult to think about an accident happening on a fun family road trip, but preparing for the worst is important, especially in the winter months. Make sure your car is fully stocked, should you break down far from help. Think about packing a first aid kit, flares, extra food and water, warm clothing and blankets. An emergency car kit will come in handy and keep your family safe in an emergency.

Prepare Your Car

Getting your car ready for the winter drive is essential. Carry out some basic checks including checking your battery, oil, brake fluid and tire tread to make sure your car is prepared for the journey. Think about switching to all-weather tires to give you the best chance of driving safely on snowy roads.

This complete guide shows you exactly how to prepare your car for a winter road trip, as well as giving useful tips on how to pack and prepare for your journey.

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The Perks of Having the Right Family Car

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We spend most of our holidays and summer breaks on faraway places for our vacation and church camp meetings. Thus, it’s important that we have our own car to travel in comfort and safety. We have three big kids and going to different places is not that easy if you only commute through public vehicles. Sometimes we venture on places where public vehicles are not available so it’s really vital. Nowadays having a car is not a luxury but a necessity especially if your family is big like us as we travel not only with the kids but with my younger sister and my Mom. 

We had two cars in the past which are slightly small for us so for our third one we bought a big pickup with camper shell to accommodate more people and baggage too. We love our Mazda pickup which we fondly called Mazy because we were able to go to a lot of beautiful places without worrying about our heavy baggage. We were able to share it also to our church mates who don’t have cars of their own. Now that our Mazy is getting old and showing some signs of mechanic issues we’re thinking of buying a new one. 

Finding the perfect car for the family is never a problem with cars.com  where you can browse over branded cars and search for whatever type of car you need. They offer all car brands with complete specifications and features so you can decide which will fit your specific car requirements. I just visited the site now and discovered that they also offer used cars which are more affordable for those who don’t have funds for the new models. Hope that we can buy our new car soon also just in time for the school break.

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Prefer to fly then take a long drive with your baby? Here is what you need to take!

There comes a time, or a reason where you may find that you need to get somewhere with your baby. This could be due to a family visit, work or perhaps a holiday. The two choices that parents are faced with is to make a long drive with a baby, or fly with a baby. Both have their own drawbacks or benefits that you need to consider.

Driving with a baby is never easy, it is going to take a considerable length of time and you may find that it is hard to keep them entertained as you are trying to focus on driving. Flying with a baby is shorter, and means that you can focus entirely on them during the journey. The only thing to remember when it comes to flying with your baby is that you are going to need to take particular items with you for the trip. This includes diapers, strollers, toys and of course the beloved pacifier if they use one. For some help picking out a stroller for the big trip check out this stroller guide here!

Having these things to hand is going to make sure that your trip, is a whole lot more bearable. Not only for you as parents, but also for your baby too! Check out the infographic for more info.

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Travel, Vacation and Homestay

We love traveling and staying on some place to have vacation and enjoy some days off from work. If we want to have a family vacation we plan ahead of time say at least several months or a year to complete our budget for hotel, transport and food. Well if you really want to enjoy your life you must refrain from working all year round, at least spare a week or two for a family bonding vacation.

Since the cost of staying in hotels is very expensive we should consider some options in order to cut expenses and enjoy more days of stay without spending too much. One of these options is homestay where you will stay in private homeowners’ place for a couple of days, weeks or even months. Compared to hotels they offer cheaper rates everyone can afford.

As they’re private individuals they provide varied setups and accommodations depending on their resources. Some offer room with meals and internet connection just like hotels. Oftentimes it feels more comfortable staying on private homes as they have personal dealings with clients and has some other services as well.

This is not only advisable for travelers and vacationers but for students also. When you want to study abroad and can’t afford staying on expensive hotels and dormitories you can search for homestay that will not only give you nice shelter and good accommodation but fit your budgetary allowance as well. Staying on these affordable private homes will give your vacation, travel and study a relaxing thought to ponder upon. In many countries now homestay has become the most widely sought accommodation for guests and students. 

So if you are a student or a guest and you need to find a place to stay you can search for homestay host that can provide place and services. Homestayin.com accept homestay host and offers advertisements for guests in Asian countries like Korea, China and Japan. Private homeowners need not worry about paying big commission to agents and guests will have an easy way of looking for good homestay with the help of Homestayin. For guests from other parts of the globe like America, Europe and Oceania they provide and carry out marketing activities for them.

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God’s Protection on Us

I felt very blessed when God has saved us from a coming car accident last Sunday on our way to our fellowship service. We were driving through a long highway when I heard an abnormal sound on the wheel. I asked my husband to stop and check when we found a place to park. We started disassembling the tires and checked each of them to ensure that we will be travelling on the road safely. 

It would be easier if there’s an hdlift available so DH can remove the tires easily but we’ve managed anyway specially that two of our church mates came to the rescue and helped us fix the trouble with brake disc and pads. There is also trouble with the parts of our car holding the wheels in place and in just one speedy run there’s a possibility that our right front wheel will be removed accidentally. 

Well God has guided and protected us from a would-be accident and we thanked Him that He never left us in that moment. Since we’re blessed and it’s also a special day for fathers we capped the night with a dinner celebration.

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Tips for Finding the Right Hotel

Staying in hotels is stressful for many people because they worry that the room will not be clean enough or the travelers will not be taken care of while there. When you are looking for Cape Cod hotels, you can do a few things to make sure that you know exactly what to expect when you stay in a hotel. You can then make a choice about which hotel you would like to stay at, and there is no need to be nervous when you get there. 

The Search for a Room 

After you decide what area you need to stay in, you can start looking for a hotel in the area. There are many sites that will allow you to search the availability and prices of hotels in the area while setting some parameters for what you want. For example, you can put a limit on how much you pay or how many stars the hotel received. Doing so will narrow your search so that you do not have to waste your time looking at hotels you will not stay in. When you look at a potential hotel to stay in, consider a few things. 

First, look at the rating the hotel received. Most hotels will be rated on a scale of one to five stars, depending on how clean the hotel is and other important factors. If you are looking for a nicer hotel, you can skip hotels that received one, two, or three stars. Next, look at any reviews the hotel received. These reviews will be from people who have stayed in the hotel before. They can tell you about their experience and what to expect. There will always be people that exaggerate or have a unique experience, but look for trends in the reviews. When multiple people say the same thing, you can usually trust that it is the truth. 

Booking the Hotel 

When you book your Cape Cod hotels, make sure to get the right days and the right type of room (smoking vs. nonsmoking, number of beds, etc.). Ask how much you will be paying overall and if there are any extra deposits or fees. Know when they will charge your card.

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How to Choose an Extended Stay

When you’re in the middle of a move, your home is undergoing renovation, or you’re traveling in a city for a long period of time, you might consider an extended stay in Lubbock, TX. An extended stay apartment is a cross between a studio apartment and a hotel room. There are laundry facilities and a kitchen in the building, and you can take advantage of hotel security and maid services. Plus, you may get Wi-Fi and access to swimming pools and fitness centers. In short, it’s a large, homey hotel room. 

What You Need and Want

To decide on which extended stay hotel to visit, you must first consider your wants and needs. How long do you intend to stay there? What is your price range? Do you need to rent a car when you’re staying in the city? Where would you prefer to be located? What amenities do you seek? Are swimming pools and workout centers a must? Would you like a voicemail service? How many bedrooms do you need? Are you bringing a pet with you? Make sure you make these considerations so you can narrow down your list to the appropriate hotel. 

Process of Choosing 

Now it’s time to explore your options. Go online and search through popular brands and chains of hotels. Browse their websites to see what an extended stay entails. Various hotels have different ideas of what an “extended stay” means. Some hotels will allow you to remain there for less than a week. Other hotels believe that time should be longer to qualify as an extended stay. Most chains will tell you that 2 weeks or longer equates to an  extended stay in Lubbock, TX. 

Remember to explore the features of the hotel and see what spaces and amenities are available to you within your price range. Take into account all expenses to know what each stay at a certain hotel would cost you. Then call or meet with hotel personnel to negotiate rates. Remember that you should get a special price if you’re doing an extended stay, particularly if you are part of a major company or a corporation. When you check out, look over the bill to see that you were charged the rate you agreed on.

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Safe and Enjoyable Charter Bus Tours for the Family

We all want to relax sometimes especially after several months of working hard and defeating stress and work problems. And what a good way to unwind with an exciting and refreshing travel to the place you’ve dreamed about and never been before. I’m a workaholic person myself and thoughts of good travel always perks me up especially if it’s for the whole family. I must admit I really love traveling even when I’m young because we used to live in two different towns separated by one province. We used to travel two hours to get to my father’s hometown on special weekends and holidays until I was seven and my parents decided to live permanently on my father’s place. 

Anyway now that we only get to travel on our regular camp meeting fellowship schedule I really wish that we could set on a full vacation where we can do some nice sightseeing of beautiful places, eat on nice restaurants, relax and sleep whenever weI want. That’s the ideal vacation I want for my family where we can only worry about having nice pictures of the places we went. Well it doesn’t have to be so expensive or too far just as long as we will be able to enjoy simple things we want I’ll be happy to indulge. 

I also love recreational tours like when I accompany my kids in their educational school trip where I get to see historical places, museums and memorable places that would be nice to remember even after the trip. Well it seems that my ideal things would be easier with the likes of bus charters that All Aboard America offers. They’re a group of professionals who provide charter bus tours and travel experiences that will not just give you knowledge on the places you visit but a comforting travel as well. With the quality of service they offer you’re ensured that you’re getting more than you ask for like safety, comfort, excitement and little luxuries as well. 

They have first class customer care, well trained courteous operators, beautiful functional luxury motor coaches and safe travel to such places like Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, New Mexico and for all southwest bus service needs. They have dedicated staff and lots of features and amenities available like PA system, DVD, CD and VCR, drive cam, wifi, GPS tracking, engine fire suppression and plenty of things that will make your travel and tours an enjoyable and relaxing one.

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Aspen Destinations

In the wintertime, Aspen is known for its amazing ski mountains which brings riders from all around the world. You can choose between skiing or snowboarding at Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Snowmass, or Buttermilk, all which have their unique slopes for different riding capabilities. In the summertime, you can find amazing golf courses, hiking and rafting, camping, biking, and much more. 

Aspen Destinations can help you plan your next Aspen trip in providing lodging, lift tickets, transportation, flights, and other excursions and activities. They are the largest provider of Aspen vacation rentals and lodging and can provide you with the best experience to make your vacation a great time. Whether you are going in the winter or in the middle of summer, you can book online or talk to Destination Experts that live or constantly visit Aspen, Colorado and can help plan your trip. 

Aspen Destinations has lodging options all over Aspen from condos and townhomes, to vacation homes and lodges. You can find your perfect Aspen lodging to fit as little or as many people, choose your amenities and amount of space and bedrooms you need.

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Early Preparations

We've started packing up clothes and things for our fellowship vacation in Baguio. I've arranged the little boy's things in his own traveling bag and he excitedly watched me while I choose which clothes he will bring. For my big girls I told them how many they should bring including extras should we decide to stay longer then they showed me and told me that they will arrange it themselves.

When they grew older I began to feel lighter whenever when we're expecting long journey because they can fix their own things. They just need me to approve what they want to bring and assure them that they've packed enough clothes and they're fine already. I even had an easy time with DH as he has packed earlier than us. He's a light traveler and I always envy how he manage to pack just the necessary things and he did it very fast this time.  Well we're 5 days ahead of our travel day and it feels good that I'll not be rushing next week. Really excited!

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Holiday Vacation Villas

It’s summer vacation here in our part of the globe and most of my friends are spending their holidays either here or abroad. They have planned in advance at least 4 months before the intended holiday because they want to be assured of a good price deal in their vacation bookings. I would also love to spend some few days off my work to enjoy vacation with my family but I was offered a new job and I’m working on it now. Now with the current part-time office job I have and the online writing I’m engage in I can’t fit a real vacation for my family. Anyway I just talked to my SIL last week and she told me about their dream holiday vacation in one of the beautiful beach resorts in Mexico and stayed in Cottages during their vacation. 

They stayed in hotel on the first part of their stay then decided to hire cottages for a more convenient and flexible accommodation. It’s her first time to hire cottages direct from the owners and she finds them very accommodating. She told me that she has managed to request for some friends who visited them to stay for a night and she’s happy to have an internet connection there. She has had many vacation experiences in the past having vacation in Europe, Egypt, Asia and in some other popular places but she never experienced renting cottages from the owners themselves. It was quite an enjoyable experience for her and is now thinking of booking in Turkey villas next year. She liked the idea of direct booking and it’s so flexible with the busy life she has. 

With direct booking to owners she can deal with them directly if there are changes in her schedule and she’ll have no problem with asking for some petty requests. Also it’s more affordable to her budget because it has no agent fees. She can bring the whole family and some of her close friends and hire a villa which can accommodate them all. There are plenty of beautiful villas, apartments and holiday rentals available for all her vacation needs. She likes having grand vacation because she’s a workaholic and it’s only on vacation that she can really rest and be free from the stress of daily life. It’s good to get away from your usual environment and see beautiful places, learn other country’s culture, get to meet other people and spend some days relaxing and enjoying the beauty of life.

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My Friend’s Business Travel and Vacation

I just talked to my former officemates through online messaging and was glad to know that she’s having a good time with her vacation in the land of the Big Apple. She has a sister there and it saves her money because she has a place to stay with. But when she has business meetings on other place she stays in hotels because it would be too far to travel and she wouldn’t want to be late in any of her meeting with foreign business associates.

Lately she stays in one of las vegas hotel when her business partner requested their meeting to be near her place and she’s living in Las Vegas. They offer her a room in their house but she opted to stay in the hotel because she wants the good accommodation there. She asked me to have some chit chat lunch together when she goes home. Well all my friends abroad always tell me that and I’ll certainly wait for them.

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Tour Around New York City

Traveling is one thing that many people loves especially if it’s a vacation travel where you’ll get to see different places, meet new friends and have the experience of knowing the cultures of other countries. It’s even better if you travel with your family as you’ll experience a different kind of bonding with your loved ones. I always say that if I travel abroad for a nice and good vacation I would love to have my hubby and kids with me.

Well there are things you need to remember in your travel especially when you’re in vacation or tours. You need to get a good transport accommodation that will ensure your safety but will not affect much of your budget. If you’re traveling in New York you might as well booked for New York Bus Charter to bring you to various sights of New York with the best coaches and safest driver.

It’s nice to tour around New York City seeing Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building and many other beautiful sights if you feel you’re safe and comfortable with your transportation. NYC bus charters offers service package to families, group or an individual like you. The bus can get you from the airport to wherever your destination is or you can booked for hop-on, hop-off bus tours which will take you to known best places in the Big Apple. They provide these services for reasonable prices. Now you know where to get services for your day trips, conventions and tours. Just visit them online at nycbuscharters.com for schedule and fees.

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Excited Over HK Trip

My friend Jen will visit and tour around Hongkong with siblings Joy and Beng who will be coming from Australia and Middle East. They will meet there and together they will visit Hongkong Disneyland and some beautiful places there especially the shopping stores there. Well she really loves shopping and I know she’ll be happy to roam around Hongkong with her sisters.

The day will actually fall exactly on my birthday so I’ll be missing her morning greetings and our dinner together. It’s either we have it earlier or wait until she arrives but I think by the time she’ll be here I’ll be in our camp meeting fellowship in Indang Cavite. We have a really tight schedule on the coming holidays and I forgot to ask her if she has an annual travel insurance ready for her travel. She was so excited by her visit which she booked very early last March that she forgot about the insurance. Excitement really makes someone forget about important documents sometimes...

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Safe Travel with Better Visibility

Every time we travel far we see to it that we check our car for any possible trouble that may cause us delay in traveling. We check our batteries,oil, water,brake, air, gas and most importantly our lights. It’s hard to travel if you don’t have enough lights to guide you in the night. They say that to be safe you have to wear your seat belt always but it’s not only seat belt that will make your driving safe but the lights as well. Driver must have good bright lights for better road visibility and with the use of hid lights you’re assured that you have the best luminance ever. Traveling to far away places will be an enjoyable drive.

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A Vacation that Feels Like Home

I’m back once again, actually I can’t believe that I’ve already finished setting up my desktop PC after what happened in our place and Metro Manila. The storm that hit the country has almost ruined many businesses with the flood waters rising up so sudden. Until now I can clearly remembered how I watched the waters coming into our house so fast that after half an hour it reached up to a knee-high length and in mid-afternoon our place was in complete chaos of brown flood waters and soaked appliances. We never expected this situation as it only happened now ever since I lived in our town since birth.

Well after several days of reviving what’s left for us, cleaning endless dirt left by the flood it makes me yearn for a real vacation like what my SIL was telling me who is living in England. She said it’s better to rent holiday cottages where you’ll feel like you’re not away from home. It’s better and cheaper than renting hotels so your family can extend their budget on some other things. It’s good for people like me who enjoy a more private place, I also browse online some cornwall cottages which are really good like St. Ives property where you’ll have a private view of the beach by the terrace, a breathtaking sight in the morning and even more on sunset.

If you really want a good, more private and comfortable vacation in different countries in Europe you’ll need self catering holidays offered by Home Away Holiday-Rentals, the best vacation package for families who want to experience vacation which feels like home. Get the feel of being one of the locals while having your vacation on their cottages or private villas. Just browse their site for the list of their properties and thousands of holiday villas, cottages, apartments or even castles that you can rent for your vacation.

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Car Safety Reminders

When you have a car it’s like having a baby to take care of. You have to maintain it properly in order to have the best car performance. It’s an expensive necessity that you always have to allot some money for it because you’ll never know when the lights will go off or the tires will go flat.

There are many things to remember when handling a car and when you travel to a far place you’ll have to think of the term blowbag, an acronym for the car’s safety reminders. Blowbag when defined in each letter of the word means break, lights, oil, water, battery, air and gasoline. Well I just got it from our dear pastor in our church and he always reminds us when we travel for our camp meeting fellowship. Before any of our camp meeting travel we make sure that our car accessories are in good condition and to my experience the most common parts of the car that needs constant checking are the tires.

As tires used to be our common problem part in traveling we often buy a new one for our backup when the tires showed signs of wearing out. Before buying a new one we often canvassed the price in two or more dealers to gather the best deal offers just like the wheels and tires packages I’ve seen while I’m shopping online for a new USB. Wheelfire offers quality wheel rims and tires in wide range selection to fit every buyer’s needs. One good thing about these offers is the discount packages available for others to avail. By the way shipping is free so you don’t have to worry about anything.

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NYC Sightseeing

I love to go places and I always bring my camera with me so I can have some memorable photos to document all the places that I’ve been to. I’ve been stucked for several years in my job in a very tight schedule where I consumed my vacation leave mainly for attending to my kids’ school activities. My work demands that I’ll be at the office always so absences are far from my mind leaving me no time for myself. I’m just glad that I had chances of traveling in line with our church camp meeting fellowship. We held our semi annual camp meeting on far away places so my liking for going to different places coincides with our church travels.

My likings for traveling to various places lead me to browse online for vacationing resorts and great places to visit. Sometimes it helps some of my friends who have the time and money to spend free time going out of the country and vacationing. They asked me to search about places and if they feel that the place is good they plan their vacation on my vacation finds. Recently I’ve browsed through New York Sightseeing sites and found that they have packages for group sightseeing tours which offers visiting to different places in NYC like downtown tour, empire state building observatory, Washington D.C., top of the rock observatory deck where you’ll get to see spectacular views of New York and many other attractions of the city. My former officemate was so happy and excited upon seeing what I have found for her and she planned her trip three months from now.

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Ten Things I Hate About Traveling

I love to travel even if I only travel around my country I just love the feel of hopping from one place to another meeting new friends, learning different cultures and seeing beautiful places. But traveling is not always fun and easy, sometimes it tires your body too much you can't go on traveling for more. Anyway here are the Ten Things I Hate About Traveling (this is for land travel only):

1. Heavy rains, on long land travels it's dangerous because the road is wet and it's easy for the car to slip.
2. When the kids are restless and ask for impossible things or things located in the compartment. You have to stop to get what they want.
3. Heavy traffic
4. Long lines in the stop over station comfort room
5. Reckless drivers
6. Delayed departure
7. Can't bring all my necessities (I'm a heavy baggage traveler)
8. When the car breaks down on a deserted road
9. Forgot/Left some important things
10. Can't sleep when hubby is the driver on a midnight long distance travel trip (He might sleep too if everyone is sleeping)

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Romantic Vacation for Two

For newly weds and vacationing couples there’s a lot of vacationing ideas that might interest them but sometimes the places that you go seems very crowded and not so romantic at all. It’s just a waste of money if you go on places like that because you’ll be spending your money and after that you’ll not be satisfied. I suggest that you open your minds to other options that might interest both parties.

First things first you must know what the two of you are most inclined to then balance your budget. Well even though you want a certain place and then it’s not affordable it wouldn’t be so much fun as you’ll go home without money on the pocket. Vacationing is good as long as you both enjoy it and you can afford it. For some romantic ideas if you really want a very nice one I suggest a romantic cancun vacation in Mexico where you can relax amidst the white-sand beach resort and enjoy a sumptuous dinner after that or just be content in visiting the secluded coves and other scenic areas. It would be a very memorable vacation and its worth all your money.

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