Some travel lessons arrive as gentle realizations. Others hit you like a delayed boarding announcement after you’ve already finished your second overpriced airport beer. I’ve had plenty of both over the years, and somewhere between my first chaotic international connection and last month’s smoothly executed three-city loop, a set of rules quietly crystallized. These aren’t … Read more
I stood at the Visitor Center in Zion last July, sandwiched between a family of five and a busload of tourists all photographing the same shuttle bus. The thermometer read 104 degrees. The line for the restroom wrapped around the building. And I thought: there has to be a better way. That’s when I started … Read more
Every road trip starts the same way. You promise yourself this time will be different. You’ll eat well, save money, and avoid the fluorescent-lit trap of gas station food courts. Then hour six hits, your stomach growls, and you find yourself holding a warm chicken sandwich and a bag of chips that cost fourteen dollars. … Read more
There’s a specific kind of freedom that comes with unhitching a travel trailer in the middle of nowhere, watching the sunset paint the desert walls, and knowing you have power, water, and climate control for the next week — no campground reservation, no hookups, no neighbors three feet away. That freedom doesn’t happen by accident. … Read more
I’ve driven across America three times. Each trip was unforgettable — and each one left me exhausted, white-knuckled, and wondering why I’d volunteered to stare at 2,800 miles of interstate instead of actually seeing the country. So this summer, I’m doing something different. I’m parking the car, booking a Superliner bedroom on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, … Read more
I’ve logged enough highway miles with kids in the backseat to know that the difference between a trip everyone remembers fondly and one that ends with someone crying in a gas station parking lot comes down to preparation. Not the kind where you fold outfits into packing cubes and label snack bags — I mean … Read more
There’s a specific moment during every coastal road trip where the chaos melts away. For me, it usually happens around mile 40 of a two-hour drive — the GPS stops barking, the highway opens up, and that first sliver of blue appears on the horizon between the dunes. That’s when the vacation actually begins. Everything … Read more
Driving a campervan changes everything about how you experience the road. The views are better from up high, the adventures feel closer, and the freedom is real. But there’s a catch that every van lifer discovers within the first week: you essentially cannot see what’s directly behind you. The rearview mirror that worked fine in … Read more
I used to be a chronic over-packer. Two checked bags for a four-day trip. A carry-on stuffed so full the zipper screamed for mercy. A personal item bursting with “just in case” items I never touched. Then, on a flight home from Phoenix last summer, the airline lost both my checked bags for 36 hours, … Read more
My dog Moose has logged more miles than most people I know. Three national parks, fourteen state forests, and enough dirt roads to fill an atlas. He turned seven this spring, and somewhere around our third breakdown on a fire road in the Ozarks last fall, I promised myself I’d stop treating his comfort as … Read more