Travel

Top Frugal & Practical Tips for Your Next Family Vacation

May 30, 2020 / 5 Comments

My family loves to travel, and it’s all my fault. When I was a voracious reader in my much younger days, I dreamed about destinations around the globe and realized those dreams with my very first trip to Hawaii when I was 16. That addiction to travel continued and for the next couple of decades, I made my way through Europe more than once, lived in Germany for a few months, worked on an Israeli kibbutz, drove throughout eastern Europe …

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What Most of Us Don’t Think About When Staying in a Hotel Room

May 28, 2020 / 2 Comments

When I used to travel on business, as a woman and alone, it often crossed my mind what I would do in an emergency situation, especially hotel room safety. Hotels are generally safe for women travellers, but I always took precautions to learn about the surrounding neighborhood. Once when I was in Baltimore staying at a beautiful waterfront hotel, we were warned to not go out alone after dark. Naturally, I took that advice to heart! While there’s no need …

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Surviving the Family Road Trip With Fun, Surprise Envelopes!

May 28, 2020 / 9 Comments

Apple pie.  The American flag.  The family road trip. All long-standing American traditions, and this summer the Paranoid Dad and I decided to maintain the tradition of the road trip.  It was our turn to pack up the kids and head east to a family wedding in Texas.  We would be driving some 2,400 miles, round trip, with a 7 year old and a 10 year old and two 40-somethings whose first question upon arriving at a hotel is, “Are the beds any …

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Cruise Ship Crisis: Dealing with Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios at Sea

May 30, 2020 / 8 Comments

Earlier this year you were probably just as fixated as I was by the story of the Carnival Triumph. This massive cruise ship lost nearly all its power back in February and many passengers reported horrific conditions, while others took it in stride. At the time, a reader asked me, “Survival Mom, what would you have done if you had been on that cruise ship? How do you deal with cruise ship crisis?” Well, very coincidentally, I actually WAS on …

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Enjoy road trips with kids? I do … now

May 30, 2020 / 3 Comments

Did you know that there is a dinosaur museum in Hays, Kansas? There’s also a huge duck pinwheel at an exit near the Missouri/Nebraska border. A bridge dedicated to the old wagon trail spans over I-80 in Kearney, Nebraska. Also, if you can spare an hour, a detour to Wamego, Kansas, takes you to the Wizard of Oz Museum. I found these all on road trips taken over the past few years – with my children in tow. I actually …

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Why Your Family Needs To Go Camping This Summer

May 30, 2020 / 4 Comments

I would be lying if I said I was ready to star in Survival Mom vs. Wild, but believe it or not, I know quite a bit about surviving in the great outdoors. I even taught “Wilderness Survival for Kids” at a local Cabela’s for a while.  As a kid, our family went camping frequently. With five kids in the family, it was the cheapest way to get out of town. I still remember how to pitch a tent, use …

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family road trip survival

Survive the Family Road Trip With These 13 Tips

May 30, 2020 / 17 Comments

I’ve traveled more than 16,000 miles in the past 3 years on road trips with my family. I go into more detail about our travels and these tips in my radio show, but here are some of my favorite family road trip survival tips for surviving hundreds of miles in the car with kids, husband, and a trunk full of suitcases! Write out a packing list for each family member. Include one for any pets you’ll be taking. Once kids …

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Preparedness on the High Seas

May 30, 2020 / 7 Comments

In 1997, I went on my first cruise and loved it. In September 2014, I went on my 13th cruise. Cruising is a fantastic way to vacation but there are some safety and preparedness issues that are unique to this kind of travel. Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, and many know the story of the Costa Concordia or the Carnival Triumph. These cases, while they got a lot of attention, are rare. But obviously, they do happen and …

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Prepping For an Emergency in Another Country

Basic Survival in Another Country: Prepping For an Emergency

May 30, 2020 / 9 Comments

Basic survival in another country means being prepared for an emergency long before you board an airplane for your travel destination. As an outdoor guide, I’ve been asked to go to many different parts of the world, and I lived in Japan for 3 years. Before boarding the airplane, heading up the gangway to a ship, or getting  in my car to go visit, work, or live in a foreign land, there are a few preps I’ve learned to undertake. What do I mean by survival …

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Is a cruise ship any place for a Survival Mom? Answers to your cruise ship safety concerns

May 30, 2020 / 3 Comments

Several weeks ago my family participated in a one-night promotional tour on the Navigator of the Seas, a huge Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The cruise was all too brief, but it provided a chance for me to check out safety features typical on most, or all, cruise ships and discover one very, very good reason why a cruise is definitely a place for a Survival Mom and her family. Evaluating cruise ship safety is a smart thing to do if …

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