Over the years, and with a lot of trial and error, I’ve discovered a lot of great travel and road trip resources (we use almost every time we travel).
Since we had our kids, we’ve driven so many kilometers—I can’t even count. From all of our trips, we learned a lot (most of it from our own mistakes).
All that to say, we’ve got some experience road-tripping with kids, from short little weekend trips to long road trips.
So, we’re now sharing all our secret tips so you can enjoy the ride.
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📚 Find our detailed destination guidebooks.
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TRAVEL & ROAD TRIP RESOURCE CENTER
How to Find Cheap Accommodation
💡 For more information on how to find cheap accommodation, check out this article here.
Home Exchange – Home Exchange is our favorite way of traveling with our kids. It’s an amazing way to travel almost for free. A $150 yearly membership allows you to do unlimited house swaps. In 2022, we completed 10 exchanges. We are hoping to have many more in 2023.
▶️ You can read our Home Exchange review here!
Booking.com – Booking.com is an excellent way to compare lodging options and prices. Plus, it usually has an excellent cancellation policy (free cancellation up to a few days only before the trip). When we see a good deal, we often book it and then cancel it if we do not go on the trip.
TrustedHouse Sitters – We personally had no luck finding a house sit (but we tried just pre-covid and have not tried again recently). But we know a few traveling families who could travel almost full-time doing house sitting. P.S. If you decide to try TrustedHouse Sitters, don’t forget to use our 15% code and use this link: THS12SAVER.
▶️ You can read our TrustedHouse Sitters review here!
How to Book a Car or Campervan
DiscoverCars – DiscoverCars is a reliable car rental comparison platform, making it easy for families to find and book the perfect vehicle for their travels. By partnering with both major and local car rental providers, the platform offers a wide selection of vehicles at competitive prices.
▶️ You can read our DiscoverCars review here!
Outdoorsy – Outdoorsy is a popular peer-to-peer RV rental platform, connecting families with a variety of recreational vehicles, campervans, and travel trailers for their outdoor adventures. Offering a user-friendly experience and secure booking process, Outdoorsy makes it simple to find the perfect home-on-wheels for your family’s needs.
RVezy – RVezy is one of the largest and safest RV rental marketplace in North America, especially in Canada. With an extensive range of RVs, motorhomes, and travel trailers available, the platform ensures that users are covered with a $2M insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and personal bilingual support. RVezy offers a seamless and secure booking experience.
▶️ You can read our comparison review on Outdoorsy and RVezy here!
Escape Campervans – Escape Campervans offers custom-built, fully-equipped campervans, adorned with hand-painted exterior artwork by top artists from Los Angeles. It allows travelers to explore the vast terrains of the US and Canada without compromising on the comforts of home. These campervans come with features like a queen-sized bed, a 2-burner propane stove, dual-powered refrigerator, and more.
▶️ You can read our Escape Campervans review here!
How to Book Unique Tours
Viator – Viator is a platform where you can book tours, attractions, and experiences at your travel destination. Viator makes it easy for families to find activities that everyone will enjoy, regardless of age or preferences, with an extensive selection of options, from city sightseeing tours to outdoor adventures and cultural experiences.
Get Your Guide – Get Your Guide is a great alternative to Viator where you can book unique tours, attractions, and experiences at your travel destination. This platform specializes in connecting travelers with local guides and experts, ensuring an authentic and memorable experience.
Orlando Vacation – Orlandovacation.com is a dedicated resource for families planning a trip to Orlando, Florida. It’s a family-run business that offers competitive prices for theme park tickets, vacation packages, and accommodations. They make sure to provide the best prices available in the market and only require a $50 deposit to reserve your lodging reservation.
Our Favourite Travel Apps for Families
GoWhee – GoWhee is a crowdsourced app to help parents find kid-friendly locations across the globe. From playgrounds to hikes and kid-friendly lodging, traveling families add and review all locations. We are, in fact, ambassadors for the GoWhee app, so you can find many of the fun places we’ve been to on the app.
GuideAlong – GuideAlong (or originally Gypsy Guides) offers self-guided tours with informative, location-based audio commentary. The app uses GPS technology to automatically trigger engaging narratives about the area’s history, culture, and hidden gems as you explore your destination.
RoadTrippers – RoadTripppers is a road trip planning tool. It shows unique content and wonderful “off the beaten path” places to visit. You can use the app to map out your road trip and even share it with friends. Use this link to get $5.00 off your Pro membership.
How to Find Cheap Flights
Skyscanner – Skyscanner is excellent for finding cheap flights. It lets you put a date you wish to travel and will tell you which countries are the cheapest to fly to.
Google Flights – Google Flights is perfect for comparing flights from various airlines. They also have a feature if you have flexible dates. The biggest downside of using Google Flights only is that it doesn’t show all Ultra Low-Cost Carriers (ULLC) such as Ryanair, Lynx Air, …
Momondo – Momondo is another great search engine for comparing flights. Unlike Google Flights, it will also show you Ultra Low-Cost Carriers (ULLC) options.
Travel products we love
Fast Charging Portable Charger – This fast-charging portable charger is perfect for ensuring all your devices are charged up when traveling. With multiple charging outputs (including 1x USB, 2x USB-C), you can charge different electronic devices at the same time. This portable charger is compact, so can easily be stored in your backpack or carry-on bags.