Becca Christensen

How To Plan And Prep The Perfect Family Roadtrip

How To Plan And Prep The Perfect Family Roadtrip Read More »

Summer is almost here and that means it is officially road trip season. We’ve made plenty of road trips in the past, but none of those have matched in magnitude to what we’ve experienced since owning our Vandoit. Whether big or small, planning a road trip takes time and effort but it’s one hundred percent worth it. Here are five helpful steps we’ve found in making our road trips a summer success!

1. Pick your location

The Perfect Family Roadtrip

This could be a bucket list destination or a yearly favorite. Map out how long it takes to get there, and how many days you will need for travel as well as play. We love traveling in the afternoon after work and into the evening. This helps us use less time off of work and we are able to have more fun days when we do our driving at night or early in the morning. 

2. Figure Out Where You’re Sleeping

The Perfect Family Roadtrip

Once you have your location picked and days mapped out, line up your sleeping locations first. We love using apps like ioverlander and freeroam to find all of the available boondocking and campsite spots available where we are traveling. If we know we are only traveling 4-5 hours the first night, then we can look on the map and find a spot that matches where we need to go. We’ve stayed at rest stops, on BLM land, and even parks that allow free overnight parking on our travel days. There are so many options out there! If campsites are needed for our actual play days, then we will get those booked. But the beauty of having a Vandoit van is that you can be more flexible, and nine times out of ten, you will find a spot for the night, even if it’s at a park!

 3. Pick Out The Activities You Want To Do!

The Perfect Family Roadtrip

We usually plan 1-3 hikes or activities a day and then build in some free time or relaxing into each day. Make a list of all the activities you’d love to do, highlight your favorites, and don’t stress about doing it all! Being together is more important than cramming in all the sites.

4. Plan Meals And Snacks!

The Perfect Family Roadtrip

We do the majority of our cooking at camp, and we love it. We plan out our meals for every day, make a menu, and meal prep a few days before our trip. Meal prepping will save you time and money on your vacation. I love coming back from a long day of adventuring and knowing that all I have to do is heat up our already-prepped food and within 15 minutes we are eating. Being able to carry our kitchen and food with us wherever we go inside our van has completely transformed the way we travel! We get more play in because we don’t HAVE to make it back to camp in order to eat, we can eat and cook wherever we go.

5. You’ve done all the work, now you are ready!

The Perfect Family Roadtrip

Get that van packed up and ready to go. We suggest using the three days before you leave to pack and prep a little at a time. Split the workload amongst family members or simply break it up over a few days. This will make you less stressed, and get you excited for the trip to come. So the last and final tip is to HAVE FUN! Once you’ve done the work, you are prepared and ready to go. Is it going to be perfect and flawless, most likely not. There will still be challenges, but it will be amazingly worth it.

Pack those snacks, crank the tunes, and get ready for endless summer adventures with a Vandoit van. Where are you going first?

From Minivan Misery to Skiing Serenity: How Our Vandoit Transformed Family Ski Trips

From Minivan Misery to Skiing Serenity: How Our Vandoit Transformed Family Ski Trips Read More »

We’ve been a ski family for six years.  We started teaching our oldest son at three and a half years old. The minivan we had would get packed to the brim each year as we added another kid to the skiing mix. Everything would get wet, kids would complain, and with snowy roads and parking lots, we were constantly worried about getting stuck…

That all changed once we got our Vandoit! Having our van with us on our ski weekends has made this the best year yet for so many reasons!

We can pack skis, helmets, boots, all the gear and food needed for six people, and still have enough room to walk around and hang out in the van. And, did I mention while hanging out it’s a toasty 68 degrees the whole time? With the Espar heater, we can easily heat our van without keeping the engine running, even all day if needed. 

Waiting Can Be Fun

Transformed Family Ski Trips

If you’ve ever driven to a ski resort, you know it can mean long drives, or extended waits in your vehicle. Usually, this involves some whining and complaining from kids, well not anymore! Our kids hop up into our double bunk beds and either read or watch a movie together while we wait for the resort to open. 

On top of having beds and room for kid-entertaining activities, simply being able to stand up in your vehicle is amazing. Nothing compares to the sheer bliss of dressing for the ski day inside the van. Getting six people dressed in full ski gear is no easy task. Being able to do it while inside, staying dry and warm, is a joy beyond compare. Trust me on this one, if this was the only plus to van life and ski days, it would still be enough to make it worth it! But, of course, there‘s more!

The Whole Family On The Mountain

Transformed Family Ski Trips

Having our entire family on the mountain with us brings deep fulfillment! But with four kids ranging from ages nine to three, there is a gap in abilities. Those three-year-old legs just don’t last as long as the older kids do. Almost every week, our youngest falls asleep either on the lifts, in line, or strangely enough while skiing. But, this isn’t a problem with our Vandoit! Our youngest takes a nap in the bed, inside our van while everyone else keeps skiing. Mom and Dad take turns hanging out in the van with our sleeping babe, and it has made our ski days perfect for the whole family. No matter what the ski day may hold; full sun and all-day runs, or snowy cold and lots of breaks in between, our Vandoit makes every ski day better.

One thing is for certain, there’s no going back to ski trips in the mini-van! Once you’ve got a feel for van life, it’s hard to imagine anything else. We knew we would use our Vandoit on summer trips and weekend getaways, but being able to use it to the max on our ski days throughout the winter has made it the ultimate adventure vehicle, and well worth the investment in our family adventures!

Check out @Advanture4Six on Instagram for more of our family van life content!

Transformed Family Ski Trips