I don’t know about you, but I’ve kinda run out of travel gas.
Not for me (I’ll jump onto a plane or into a car anytime by my own crotchety self) but the idea of a family trip these days makes me want to lay down and take a nap.
Squabbling siblings in the back seat.
One kid who tends to carsickness.
Flat wallet and no lottery wins in sight.
Living in a huge state (Texas) that takes 3-4 hours to get OUT of by car.
General post-holidays lassitude.
Bleh.
So, here’s my plan for getting some travel-ish action going with minimal mental effort on my part….I’m going to look at our Austin Big Weekend Calendar, pick one new place or event every month that’s close to home, and drag the family to it, arguing and barfing the whole way.
January’s almost finished, but for the next 30 days I’ve targeted the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (free admission in January) and either a Texas Roller Girls Roller Derby bout or a Texas Stars ice hockey game.
The wildflowers aren’t up yet (so at least one kid will say, “Why are we here looking at dead plants?”) and we’ve never gone to either a roller derby or ice hockey game (so at least one kid will say, “Why are we here watching a) women slam into each other or b) men slam into each other?”) but I don’t care.
That’s the plan to overcome travel ennui.
How about you?
(Update: My teen said this morning that since she and a friend saw the derby-based movie Whip It (set in Austin) she actually WANTS to see live roller derby. Who knew?!)
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We employ this idea quite often ourselves. When the weather is warmer, we sometimes use geocaching as an excuse for a road trip (and caches often take us to local sites we might not otherwise find). Detroit and the larger metro area has a wealth of museums, so we seem to get to at least one of them every month or so…and we’ve got season tickets to the local Ontario Hockey League team (Plymouth Whalers).
This month, we’ll be out at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI with a local group for a Photowalk. I’ve already got an idea for a blog story to come from that trip
Hi Dominique,
Good stuff, right underfoot. Yay!
This stuff is nice one and the image looks fabulous.
Yeah, no lottery winnings here either. What’s up with that? Plus, the recession hangover is really getting old, meaning we’re still paying for last years insufficient income with a game of catchup that really should be over by now but isn’t. Meh.
But we’re doing a lot of long weekends nearby. No plane tix, just a tank of gas. And diner food. It’s not free, but it’s not all that pricey either. And it beats staying home wishing we were NOT staying home, you know?
Having kids definitely changes the way you travel. I and my wife live to travel as well, and we are a bit worried about how kids will change the way we travel. But yes, I agree it’s important to keep the “travel mindset” alive, and get out of the house to new places as often as you can, even if it means going to the next door village.
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