Summer 2025 Trip Reports

[Anonymous]

I love hearing these reports!

We went to Colombia. 4 days in bogota and 5 days in Cartagena, most of which were outside the city at the Sofitel. Not sure of total cost but flights were partially bought on miles, we stayed with friends in bogota and the hotel in the walled city of Cartagena was moderately priced. Our splurge was the Sofitel Baru. Lovely hotel but not the easiest with a 5 year old. Overall a really fun trip! Colombia is easy to travel to and travel in. Love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

My people would revolt with that mich driving!

and you felt the need to share this because....

[Anonymous]

6 days in Bermuda. Flew direct from DCA (only about 2 hours). Stayed at the family-owned Pompano Beach Club which someone here suggested. They have a really nice private beach. Food was good. Kayaked, did a snorkel trip, went to Hamilton for Harbour Nights, tried a couple beaches. Really lovely and we had a fantastic, relaxing time. About $8000 for a family of four total (airfare, lodging, food, excursions).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

We visited South Dakota a couple summer ago. It was a great trip. We visited Badlands, Custer, Black Hills and went to Wyoming to visit Devil's Tower.

We didn't make it to North Dakota, which I'm bummed about. I'm very close to visiting all fifty states and that trip was my opportunity to check off ND.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

My people would revolt with that mich driving!

Road trips actually are not that bad. Flying is miserable, airports are no fun and renting cars is expensive. All these things make driving not that bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

We visited South Dakota a couple summer ago. It was a great trip. We visited Badlands, Custer, Black Hills and went to Wyoming to visit Devil's Tower.

We didn't make it to North Dakota, which I'm bummed about. I'm very close to visiting all fifty states and that trip was my opportunity to check off ND.

No, no, no. Save ND for last and join their club: https://www.fargomoorhead.org/best-for-last-club/

-I'm very close, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Punta Cana at an all inclusive in February. Never need to do an AI again.

Switzerland in early July. Absolute perfection for a four year old, and we immediately all wanted to go again the second we got home.

Would love to know your Switzerland itinerary and how many days you stayed! Thinking of doing the same with my tweens next year.

We stayed in Wengen for 5 days, 2 days in Lucerne, then 1 in Zurich. Itinerary was heavily influenced by Busy Toddler, who I think has some tween-aged kids. Looking back, I would have skipped Lucerne and re-allocated that time to stay in a base town in the mountains and did day trips from there. We chose Wengen, but Murren is also cute but more isolated. Lauterbrunnen is a lot more convenient, but not as charming.

For day-by-day activities, basically looked up where the best alpine playgrounds are and built the trip around that. For tweens, I'd make sure to spend a bit of time in the Bernese Oberland area and then branch off from there based on interests (lakes, tobogganing, etc.) and hikes the kids can do. Swiss Family Fun website would be a great start to identify what's kid friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Galapagos! Best trip we have ever taken. About $15k for three people for a week. We went on a mid range 16 person boat and it was great.

I’d love to know which boat company and any mists or changes you’d make!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

My people would revolt with that mich driving!

Road trips actually are not that bad. Flying is miserable, airports are no fun and renting cars is expensive. All these things make driving not that bad.

PP who drove to South Dakota. We started out with smaller road trips and increased them. Now everyone is used to it. From the Chicago area we also drove to Colorado and around the Great Lakes and Toronto in a loop. We never get air miles with work and flying has lots of down sides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spent one week in Acadia with two kids (2 yo and 4 yo) and grandparents. We had a fantastic time! Everyone’s first time in Maine.

4 yo had fun hiking and the 2 yo loved looking at all the water.

We drove to save $$ so it was a pretty affordable vacation, all in about $3,500.

Where did you stay? I was pricing a VRBO for August 2026 and that alone is about $4000 - $5000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our teens to London and Paris. We all preferred London. Paris was just okay. I'm not sure what we did wrong. We also took a Caribbean Cruise with extended family for my inlaws' anniversary and it was a lot of fun.

I am very interested in seeing Maine (never been) but need to do a lot more research to make sure my teens won't be bored and bicker.

Tell me more about what you didn’t like about Paris. We also loved London but haven’t done combined London and Paris trip I was considering for December.

NP. For Paris museum goers, I think the free Musee Carnavalet (Paris City Museum) is a gem to enjoy if you'll be in the Marais. I also enjoyed watching the Eiffel Tower doing its on the hour sparkle show from the Palais de Chaillot. I also enjoyed a free walking tour I did with a "Paris Greeter". This is a local person who volunteers to walk people around the town. You can request the part of town and topics of interest.

We had kids with us and went on a commercial bakery tour in the Marais where we saw and participated in bread and pastry-making. That was fun and easy.

[Anonymous]

1 week in Glacier National Park earlier this month. Family of 4, kids 7 and 10. Spent about $10k as we used mostly in-park lodging. Flights and rental car were expensive. Absolutely loved it, the hiking and views were spectacular, and I would love to go back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a road trip starting in the Chicago area. We drove in one day about 12 hours to the Badlands National Park. We stopped about every two hours to stretch legs and we got there by dinner. Kids loved Badlands National Park because they could climb all over the formations. We did some trails and they did climbing. We stayed two nights at a motel one minute outside the park.

From there we saw Wall Drug and went to Custer state park. We stayed at a cabin in the park at a lake so we could walk to it. Since we were inside the park we could drive the wildlife loop at different times of the day and saw lots of wildlife. Hiking, scenic drive.


Then we drove to North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It looked different than the Badlands of the south. Gorgeous. Nice trails and less crowded. Went to the Medora musical.

It was a budget friendly trip. Before we left I made breakfasts and lunches to bring with us and we stopped at a grocery store twice to restock. 11 days. $4400. Includes all gas, pet sitter, food, tickets, etc…

We visited South Dakota a couple summer ago. It was a great trip. We visited Badlands, Custer, Black Hills and went to Wyoming to visit Devil's Tower.

We didn't make it to North Dakota, which I'm bummed about. I'm very close to visiting all fifty states and that trip was my opportunity to check off ND.

No, no, no. Save ND for last and join their club: https://www.fargomoorhead.org/best-for-last-club/

-I'm very close, too.

Neat…never heard of this. I’m four away from all 50. I need Michigan, Oklahoma, Hawaii and North Dakota. I want to visit Michigan and Hawaii. I wouldn’t mind visiting North Dakota, but not sure if I’ll get there. I have no desire to visit Oklahoma, but if I’m close to it, I’ll try to visit the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spent 3 weeks exploring the Cook Islands and French Polynesia in the South Pacific with our 11 and 13 year old. Absolute heaven!!

So says the wife of a CEO of a Fortune 100 company. Did your tennis team miss you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can South Africa poster please come back and share more details! Your trip is exactly what I want to do.

Main questions for any of you-which private reserve in Krueger?

Thank you!

Sure! We stayed at Walker’s Plains Camp in Timbavati. It was INCREDIBLE and I would go back in a heartbeat. 8 rooms, max @18 guests, our family was 8 total (myself and my husband, our kids ages 10-15, my 81yo mom, 83yo uncle and 79-something uncles friend). All seniors are super mobile and healthy. We had our own jeep and driver and tracker for our whole time (6 safaris). We saw the big 5 in the first 3 hours. The watering hole just outside the camp attracted tons of animals day and night. Our first morning on safari we were steps away from a pride of lions feasting on a large kill, then followed them as they walked down as a group maybe 200 yards to a watering hole, then watched them drink calmly for a long time. It was incredible. At most we ever saw one other jeep - that’s the advantage of the private reserves that are open to Kruger but limit the guests.
Walker’s is a pretty new lodge and they were impeccable. The food, rooms, staff and every moment were perfect and luxurious without being ostentatious.
Let me know if you want to know more about other parts too!