What better way for the frugal traveler to stretch both her budget and her vacation allotment than by taking road trips during long weekends? Here are some of my top tips to reduce that cost even more.

Keeping The Cooler Cool

Packing an accessable cooler full of drinks and snacks is a great cost reducing option. To maximize cooler space, instead of filling with ice, freeze water bottles and low filled beverages (including drinking boxes, makes a healthier juice slushy). No more soggy sandwiches or spilled water in the backseat.

Eating Where The Truckers Eat

For longer road trips, travelers may have to look outside the cooler for a meal. Instead of haunting the usual fast food chains, keep an eye out for any local roadside restaurants with transport trucks parked outside. When truckers find a spot with good, affordable meals, they tell their buddies.

Note: Just because the sign says truck stop, doesn’t mean the truckers stop. The vehicles never lie.

Keeping The Kiddies Entertained

This is a trick I’ve stolen from my Mom. Whenever we went on a long road trip, she would dig out the coloring books and crayons. That may not seem exciting except it was…to us. During a road trip was the only time we were allowed a new coloring book.

Updated for today’s kid, keep a few toys or video games only for use on road trips. This could be a brand new toy or a favorite. The novelty of the toy will keep kids busy and looking forward to the long car rides.

Prepping The Vehicle

Road trips mean relying on your vehicle so prep work is essential. Check all fluids, oil, antifreeze/coolant, windshield washer solvent (for the bugs all road trip vehicles collect). Check the tires, ensuring that they are properly inflated and in good condition. Check all belts and hoses, looking for wear and tear.

AAA Or Other Vehicle Assistance Programs

Frequent road trippers should consider an AAA or other vehicle assistance program membership, especially if they have an older vehicle. One tow and the membership pays for itself. Plus no scrambling for local mechanics/tow trucks.

One of the benefits that I love about AAA is their TripTiks which are route maps complete with information such as road works (very helpful during the summer road work season) and rest stops. There are even blurbs on each town passed.

Road trips are a great way to see more local destinations and to stretch the travel budget.

It’s always a pleasant adventure to drive down in your RV across the open roads and enjoy the natural beauty to your hearts content. RVs have become an indispensable item for people who love to embark on long journeys to the wildernesses and great outdoors. Indeed it is much better than the boring journeys in your cold old car – its so much fun to enjoy the comforts of home while traveling across scenic locations fro your dream vacation. However, one of the major challenges that are faced by all RV owners is to drive safely and successfully on open roads.

Just because of its sheer size it is often more difficult to drive a recreational vehicle compared to a car or even a truck. Particularly, when you are on the highway, it is important that your motorhome blends in well with the smaller cars that are much more agile and your car doesn’t really block the road and create trouble for other drivers on the road. When you are driving recreational vehicle it is important that you are well aware of the road and traffic rules. There are various points that you need to be particularly careful about when you are on the streets in your RV.

Be Patient: Always keep in mind the size of your recreational vehicle, it is not your small car that you can blaze through the road. While on your recreational vehicle it is important to be patient and drive slow. Recreational vehicles are just not the type to drive aggressively at a high speed. Its just like you are adding wheels to your home and driving it along, so you need to give due consideration to its bulk and keep the speed in control. For those drivers who are a bit impatient it is often difficult to adjust to this slow moving giants but for a safe travel it is important that you adjust your mindset. Try to keep your speed below 10 miles per hour. 10 miles per hour would be relatively good speed for a RV that would keep things under control yet cover enough ground in short span.

Plan and Create Your Road Map: If you can plan your road map well that would probably save you more than half the trouble with your RV. Try to avoid interstates and highways that are particularly known for high-speed traffic. Also, it is very helpful, if you can plan your tour to avoid driving through busy cities during rush hours. Try to avoid the more commonly used routes and find alternative routes that has relatively less traffic and often offer better natural view. However, it is also important that while deciding on these alternative routes, you have complete information about these routes so that you don’t get stuck at some point due to narrow or bad road conditions.

Never drive in bad weather: Bad weather conditions put up a challenge for all drivers irrespective of the type of vehicle they are driving and the challenge is even greater if you are driving a RV. Motor homes and recreational vehicles generally do not take to bad weathers and are particularly difficult top drive during high strong winds. It is advisable to take off the roads during bad weather and drive another day once the weather has calmed down.

Avoid Slopes: Try to avoid slopes, both uphill and downhill when driving your RV. It becomes very difficult to drive up steep slopes and also to control your RV while moving downhill. Even if it requires you to travel a few extra miles off your route it is always better to do so than to take the risk of moving up or down the slope.

Towing Vehicles: Towing a vehicle is a common practice for RV owners but it makes driving an RV all the more difficult. You need to be doubly cautious when you have a towing vehicle along with your motor home. It is advisable to detach towing vehicle when you need to backup your RV. Unhook the towing vehicle and park it safely, then ask someone to guide you, when you back up the RV.

Campground Reservations: Always try to make your campground reservations in advance. Use the campground directories to locate and plan the campgrounds that you would use for your overnight stays. If you are going to stay at a campground where you have never stayed before, it is also wise to do your reservation for just one night to ensure that the campground meets your requirements than to do a longer reservation for cost cutting.

RV trips are meant for enjoyment and pleasure. Following these basic guidelines would definitely be helpful to ensure road safety and better organize your RV trip for hassle free enjoyment.

Sometimes its nice to get out of the house and take a field trip that will complement some of the things you are learning about at your kitchen table with your children. When you do this, its also very nice to invite some of your other home schooling friends in order to make a social event out of whole process.

Here are some guidelines that will help you schedule a Group Outing:

1) Track down the fees: Be mindful that some families are on an strict budget and will need to know the cost in preparation for the outing in order to determine if they will come or not.

2) Special High Spots: Take into account what the ambition of the Public park trip is? What do you want the children to walk away with after attending this Arena group excursion. Make sure you impart this to the dads and young people before the Public park trip.

3) Size of the family: Depending on the size you may call for supporting facilitators. Lock up this help in advance before you decide to invite the whole neighborhood along or else you make be overwhelmed and have to cancel the trip due to not enough adult assistance.

4) Eating facilities: If a breakfast needs to be prepared and ready for each lad, let families know in advance so they can send their children with money, make sure they are well fed before they arrive on the trip, or know if to expect their children home for dinner.

Inform your home schooling group of all of these facts well in advance. People have busy lives and they appreciate communication and advance notice so they aren’t scrambling at the last minute to make things happen. This will ensure that you have a safe and happy field trip and that parents will be more inclined to support you with your field trips.

With bike week just around the corner, bikers from all over the country are pulling their motorcycles out of winter storage and cleaning up their leathers in anticipation of a motorcycle rally like no other. While Daytona is definitely the place to be the week of March 5th, Florida offers some great stretches of road through pristine landscapes to some great biker destinations.

About an hour and a half north of Daytona on A1A lies the bustling beach community of Jacksonville Beach, which is where we will meet for the start of our road trip- because, well, that’s where I’m from! On any given day you’ll find bikes and bikers parked and hanging out at the Jax Beach Pier parking lot. Just across the street is the famed biker bar Mango’s, a great place for bikers to meet, have some good home cooking and shoot some pool. Summer weekends will generally find some heavy metal band performing outside on the covered deck. So put on your best leather motorcycle jacket and come on out to Mango’s to start our first north Florida road trip.

Our first day trip will start from Jax Beach and head north on A1A to Fernandina Beach, a quaint little island town with its own unique attitude. If you follow A1A north, after bearing left at Mayport Naval Station, you will be cruising through the marshlands at the mouth of the St. Johns River and come to a dead end at the ferry in Mayport Village. A traditional fishing village, this is where most of north Florida gets their seafood. Shrimp boats, party boats, and deep sea charters line the docks, and you can even take a gambling cruise from here. If you’re hungry, there’s an old wooden shack sitting on the water that serves some of the best seafood available. Singletons is not much to look at, but it’s been there forever and people drive for miles to sit on the water enjoying the freshest of Florida seafood, while watching the pelicans scrounge for theirs.

Taking the ferry across the river, you’ll once again pick up A1A heading north. To your right you’ll soon see a huge barren sandbar that was formed by the northern jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns. On the eastern edge are the jetties, the Atlantic Ocean, and a beach that is packed with babes of all shapes and sizes. The western side has a lagoon and the Fort George River inlet. A very wide beach at low tide, vehicles have been swallowed up and swept away by the Atlantic because of people parking just a little too close to the water, and taking a walk in the dunes. A great place for jet skiing, swimming, fishing and surfing, Huguenot Park also has a campground with primitive and RV camp sites and showers.

For the next several miles, you will be cruising through some of the most pristine and unspoiled wetlands in Florida. Island hopping through little and big Talbot Islands and the Timacuan Preserve, this coastal area is one of the few in Florida untouched by development, and will theoretically remain that way. Flora and Fauna abound, and nature lovers flock to the area in kayaks and flatboats to navigate the waterways in search of trout and redfish.

Heading across the Nassau Sound Bridge to Florida’s northern most barrier island, the developments once again start to pop up. World renowned resort Amelia Island Plantation has vast acreages of condos, single family houses, an Inn rivaled by none, and a huge convention center that draws business from all over the world. A community within itself, the Plantation strives, and has done a good job, of preserving the natural habitat.

Not to be outdone, the Ritz Carlton is just a few miles north and is also a magnet for the well to do, with a golf course and all the pampering the Ritz is known for!

Almost there, we take A1A into downtown Fernandina Beach. An old fishing village like Mayport, Fernandina is much larger and has many unique and historical buildings. The waterfront is speckled with shrimp boats and deep sea charters, and Brent’s is the restaurant on the docks. Fernandina Beach also hosts an annual shrimp festival on the first weekend in May.

Ending our motorcycle excursion from Jacksonville Beach (about an hour non stop), our last stop is a very popular watering hole for bikers and locals alike. The Palace Saloon has been there since 1878, and although it burned in 1999, it has been restored to its original 18th century wooden décor. More of a bar than a restaurant, this is where you get to know the locals, many of which are in the hospitality industry and definitely know how to party hardy! With live bands, dancing, flirting and drinking, the Palace Saloon is the place to party in Fernandina Beach!

In my next road trip article we’ll head south on A1A to our nations oldest city. Founded by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and home of the fountain of youth, this place is just a tiny little drinking town with a fishing problem!

Field trips can enhance any home school. They provide opportunities for learning that just can’t take place in the home. The more senses you use, the more you will remember what you learned. Field trips provide a better opportunity to use more sense and experience learning at a deeper level. Whether you go on field trips because your child has an interest in a certain subject or because you want to spark an interest in a certain subject, there are some basic tips you can use to make any field trip successful:

1. Get the details ahead of time. Where is the place located exactly. What did we do without yahoo maps and GPS’s? What time does the tour start? What are the hours for this location?

2. Bring snacks and water for your family. Whether you leave them in the car or take them in with you, keeping your family properly hydrated will make the trip more enjoyable for everyone. Nothing ruins a field trip more than hungry and thirsty children.

3. Make sure all the families in your group know what is expected. Do they know when you want to meet? If people in your group tend to be late it might be a good idea to state that everyone should meet 15 minutes beforehand to collect money and be sure everyone is there.

4. Do you know why you are going on this field trip? Read a few brochures or books about where you are going so that you are familiar with what you are going to see. Think of questions you might want to ask when you get there.

5. Make sure the place you are going knows the age range of the group of people you are bringing. Most places can adjust their talk or tour accordingly. They want you to be happy and enjoy their site so that you can come again and recommend them to others.

6. Take your camera! This seems to be the one piece of equipment that gets left at home when our family goes on a field trip. The pictures are fun to take, especially with a digital camera. It will help your children remember the trip and you can use it for future scrapbook practice if you choose.

7. Write a thank you note when you get home. You can write the note and have your children add a line or two or they can each write their own notes. It is good practice for them to be thankful and the people at the field trip site will really appreciate being thanked.

Whether you are taking a field trip around the block or across the country, if you use these field trip tips you will have a greater chance of having an enjoyable and educational trip.

Using printout games on a road trip is a brilliant way to occupy your child/children. Because as we all know there is nothing worse than a bored child on a long trip. When your children become bored they first begin to aggravate each other which in turns aggravates the adults in the vehicle making for a miserable trip. So there is a way to keep everyone happy in the vehicle, play some road games.

There are many vehicles that have family entertainment built right in but for those of us that cannot afford these types of vehicles there is a cost effective way to occupy your children, printout games off the computer. It is quick and easy and gives you and your family a way to interact with each other as you go through your travels.

When you begin to look online for these games to printout you want to look for websites that offer these types of games for free. There are dozens of websites that will allow you to do so. All you need to do is search for them on any of the search engines and you will get a list of the websites. Then just find the game you would like to print out and hit the print button and you should get a printable version of the game/s.

Another thing to look for is age appropriateness when you are printing out the games. Most of the websites will offer a wide variety of games to choose from and you should be able to tell if they are appropriate for your child. You can find lots of games such as connect-the-dots, tic tac toe, word scrambles, and rhyme games, the license plate game, and find the animal games. When you print these games many of them also have a list rules that you can also print.

If you preplan your trip you can make the printouts to be reusable. What you do is print out the game of your choice and then take the game to be laminated. It is a relatively cheap process and you can keep the games and reuse them on future trips. This will also give your children more options. For example you can print out several different word scrambles and once your child completes one they can erase it and pass it over to their siblings so they can do it also.

Just make sure if you are going to laminate them that you purchase erasable markers also. So when you are planning a road trip make sure you also plan for your children to be occupied. This will help to alleviate bickering and arguing which will help make the trip more pleasant for both the children and the parents. Having a variety of games that are printed out is a great economical idea to help entertain your children and still let them interact with one another. So take some time and get printout games off the internet and if you have time get them laminated so they are reusable.