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Vacation Mavens
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Vacation Mavens is a family travel podcast offering destination inspiration and travel tips for traveling with kids. Co-hosted by Family Travel bloggers, friends, and moms Kimberly Tate from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara Gruber from We3Travel. Each week we chat about our recent travels and interview fellow parents and family travel experts about destinations or travel tips to provide the info..
Vacation Mavens
3d ago
Are you ready to go leaf peeping in New England this fall? Tamara shares some great destinations and road trips on where to go to northern New England including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
New England covers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
If you are visiting in the fall, you will want to keep an eye on the fall foliage trackers and know that the further north you go, the earlier it will peak
The prime time is late September through mid-October for fall travel
How to plan a New England road trip: fly into Boston and then head n ..read more
Vacation Mavens
2w ago
Kim is back from her 7th Alaska cruise! This one was on Princess Cruise visiting the Inside Passage that cruises from Seattle and visits Victoria, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagaway and sails through Glacier Bay.
Note: Kim was hosted by Princess Cruises for her trip.
This cruise visits Victoria very briefly at night so not a good choice if you really want to visit Victoria
When evaluating cruises, you need to look closely at the time and length in port very carefully
If you do want to pick a cruise that flies out of Vancouver, it may be cheaper to fly into Seattle and take either a train o ..read more
Vacation Mavens
1M ago
Summer vacation is almost here and we are getting ready for the busiest summer travel season ever! Be sure to pack your patience, your travel insurance, and these travel apps. In this episode we talk about some of our favorite travel apps that we are using lately for road trips, plane travel, and international travel.
Travel Apps to Download this Summer:
Flight Aware - helps you track to see where planes are and their status
Airline apps - send you alerts for delays, help you rebook easily, download mobile boarding passes, can sometimes track luggage, inbound flights, or provide information o ..read more
Vacation Mavens
1M ago
St. Maarten is a popular destination in the Caribbean, but many people only visit as a brief cruise port destination. However, getting there is pretty easy with direct flights from the USA and there is plenty to do and see on this Dutch and French Island.
Tamara recently visited St. Maarten to stay at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort as part of a press trip. This is the largest all-inclusive resort on the island and it has plenty of offer for families.
Read the full review of the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort on We3Travel. It is located in Maho Beach Village, very close to the airport and the famous ..read more
Vacation Mavens
2M ago
Kim took her oldest daughter on a Caribbean Cruise for her college spring break this past March. After sailing Holland America in Alaska in the past, she was excited to try the Holland America Caribbean cruise on the Nieuw Statendam.
This was a unique itinerary that left from Fort Lauderdale and visited Nassau, Bahamas, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos, along with Half Moon Bay, which is Holland's private island in the Bahamas. This itinerary included two days at sea.
Kim has cruised Norwegian, Disney, and Celebrity in the Caribbean in the past, so in ..read more
Vacation Mavens
2M ago
Tamara has finally made it to her 50th state...Oklahoma!! She took an Oklahoma road trip to visit both Oklahoma City and Chickasaw Country in south-central Oklahoma, in partnership with Chickasaw Country and the Chickasaw Nation.
Oklahoma City has a lot to offer as a stand-alone destination including the First Americans Museum and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Tamara stayed at the aLoft hotel in Bricktown, which is the entertainment district with plenty of restaurants, bars, shops, and the minor league baseball stadium and water taxis.
If you are interested in learning more ..read more
Vacation Mavens
4M ago
Tamara is hosting an all-women small group trip to Portugal this fall and she would love for you to join her! Find out all the details and sign up here.
In this episode, Tamara talks about her two-week German Christmas Markets road trip! If you have this magical holiday trip on your radar, make sure to give this episode a close listen and check out the following articles:
German Christmas Market itinerary (10-day road trip)
Beyond Bratwurst: 32 German Christmas Market foods and drinks to try
5 Reasons to visit the Stuttgart Christmas markets
7 Christmas Markets near Frankfurt work a day trip ..read more
Vacation Mavens
11M ago
Before we say goodbye to summer and pull on our flannels and break out the pumpkin spice, Tamara and Kim are back with a recap of Tamara's European summer travels including a month spent exploring France by river and barge cruise!
Tamara first spent two weeks in the United Kingdom, on a road trip through both Scotland and Wales with two other travel writers. She then took the Eurostar down to France and spent one week cruising through the Canal Nivernais on the Hotel Barge Elisabeth. Next, she went to Bordeaux and her husband joined her for a weeklong river cruise with AmaWaterways. Tamara fin ..read more
Vacation Mavens
1y ago
Well it has been a minute since we had a chance to catch up and record a podcast but in this episode Tamara shares her insights and experience from her recent family trip to Japan.
Kim and Tamara also share their love for Scottsdale, Arizona and some of the things they did on a girls' trip together. Read more at:
Scottsdale girls weekend
Reasons to visit Scottsdale in summer
Best Scottsdale Arizona resorts for girlfriends trips
Scottsdale weekend itinerary
Tamara also talked about her time in Paso Robles, California. You can read her Paso Robles itinerary to get inspired to visit this wine r ..read more
Vacation Mavens
1y ago
Kim took a last minute spring break trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland with her younger daughter and this week on the podcast, she tells us all about it!
She flew into Dublin and then stay at a country estate hotel in Northern Ireland before visiting Belfast, the Causeway Coast, Derry/Londonderry, and Galway before looping back to Dublin.
See Kim's articles on:
Ireland travel tips
Ireland packing list
2 Days in Dublin
Ireland Trip Highlights:
Killeavy Estate in Northern Ireland
Belfast - Titanic Belfast and city architecture
Causeway Coast - Carrick-a-Rede bridge, Giant's Causeway ..read more