Weekend Trips Offer An Alternative To Big Family Road Trips

With more Americans struggling just to make ends meet, the big family road trip is just out of reach for many. This doesn’t mean, however, that vacations need to be a thing of the past. Closer, less expensive destinations can serve families very well in this time of belt tightening.

Taking weekend trips closer to home can make sense for a number of reasons. Weekend mini-vacations for families with younger children can be especially beneficial because they:

• Give parents a way to break children into car trips – If smaller children have never been far away from home, a long family road trip can be a nightmare in the making. Shorter, weekend trips get them used to being in the car for longer stretches and provide faster relief from travel for everyone.

• Enable parents to rehearse for longer trips – Going on a huge family vacation for the first time with little ones in tow can cause a lot of stress for mom and dad. Remembering everything that needs to be packed, coming up with ways to occupy the kids in the car and simply getting to the destination with sanity intact can be daunting. Easing into the travel routine with a trip close to home can provide a great trial run and also give parents the confidence they need to lengthen the next trip.

• Can be a lot of fun – There are generally fantastic travel destinations rather close to home. These trips can save parents a lot of money and still offer a lot of adventure for a few days.

Keeping a budget in check and still having fun time with the family can be tough. Shorter vacations can serve everyone well and lay the foundation for longer, more elaborate road trip vacations down the road.