How to start traveling as a family

A couple years back my wife and I made the resolution to take our young children on more trips. We had taken them on vacations but no real trips. We wanted to take them to places that they will never forget. Now let’s get this straight we don’t have massive budgets or huge amounts of extra vacation time. We discussed options together and came to the realization that we would do whatever it took to had to make the trips happen. Maybe it was not go out to eat so much or whatever we could do to save the budget for the trips we would find a way. 

”If you look for excuses or reasons not to explore, you will always find them. If you look for adventure or ways to explore, you will always find those also.” -Ken Farley, Jr. 

Overlanding family

We knew that if we didn’t commit to a timeline and a trip we would always keep finding excuses not to travel. Let’s face it, it is easier and cheaper to just stay at home... But where is the fun in that? Where are the memories?

COMMIT TO A TIMELINE

So we committed to a 2 week trip in the spring to travel through Utah and the western part of Colorado. Having a solid timeline gave us time to budget for the trip as well as prepare our vehicles. The timeline also made it much harder to back out of the trip, we had commitments and reservations made. This is critical and I can’t stress it enough.

Jeep chief overland

PREPARE YOUR VEHICLE

Being the glutton for punishment we are we decided to do a full build on an off road rig before the trip. This adds to the stress level of any trip exponentially. This did 2 things for us. Gave us a solid timeline for our trip and a solid deadline for the build. No backing down now. This is where Expedition Vehicle Outfitters comes in, we work through a budget, build plan and timeframe to take preparing your vehicle off your mind so you can focus on your family and trips.

Having done many trips ourselves we understand the variables and difficulties you can run into when preparing a vehicle for trips. Our experience makes the process much smoother.

Overland axle gear

PLAN YOUR TRIP

The internet is full of great sources for everything from campsites and trails to restaurants and activities. We like to set aside half the day each day to do whatever we find, no plans. This becomes a huge thing to us, have your own adventure not someone else’s. Go search and find your own little special spots and secret places, you will be amazed what you can find in 6 hours when you really aren’t looking for anything. 

When taking our young children we base our entire days around activities for the kids. That means that every hour we are either stopping to get out and explore, having new “trip snacks”, or finding new things. The trick is to let the kids make most decisions but remember you are the parents, you can guide their decisions. 

Just get out of your own way and make adventure part of your life. Call Expedition Vehicle Outfitters to make your dreams a reality. 989-593-2533