Vacation Never Ends: Travel Chat

'Your Dinner Night' on Group Trips - Some Tips

Every trip group trip we make we usually assign one night to each couple/person to make dinner for the whole group, this is reason we added meal planning into Travel Group Planner.  The 'Your Dinner Night' works great because everyone gets to show off their best meal, you can slack off when it's not your night, and there isn't one person who gets overwhelmed with cooking all the food. 

Some tips for planning when it is your night

1. Do not make something for the first time for a whole bunch of people.  If you mess up, the teasing will never end.
2. Figure out things that people can help with.  Should they shred the lettuce, cut the chicken, man the grill, etc.
3. Music makes everything more fun
4. If you are working from a recipe decide if you are going to double, triple, quadruple the servings then make sure to let all your helpers know.  
5. Give yourself a little more time to cook -eating at 1pm stinks
6. Make sure to marinate the chefs!  It is vacation after all.
7. And lastly - if you cooked, don't clean up.

Happy Cooking and Group Tripping.

This Photograph is from Brandi B Photography - check her out on myspace.

Five Star Hotel on Wheels

I just ran across an article talking about a company building hotels on wheels.  It is a hotel on an 18 wheeler that can sleep almost 50 guests.  It expands to 2 stories with up to 11 rooms.  Business 2.0 also has an article about this in their August issue under 'What's Next' (I don't have a link to their article, looks like you have to buy the magazine to get it). 

I was thinking it would be interesting to buy one and attend music festivals or follow NASCAR around.  In other words, get a class 'A' driver's license, go explore, and make money along the way.  Of course it wouldn't be that simple, Some of my questions:

1. What does it cost to maintain
2. How much would gas cost
3. Do you need permits for  each place you stop
4. The hookup situation could be tricky
5. How to let people know where you are going to be
6. People who don't want to check out when you are ready to leave

Still an interesting idea.  If someone buys one to rent out, let us know.  This is could be an interesting place for groups to stay together. 

Florida Family Vacation 2005 - Getting there

My family loves to take vacations together.  Florida is a favorite location for our trips.  Two years ago we decided to visit Ft. Meyers, Florida for almost two weeks. 

We had my parents and my brothers family coming from Denver, CO, 2 Grandmas from Leavenworth KS, 1 Aunt from Topeka KS, and my family from LA, California.  We all came in on different dates and stayed for different lengths of time.  My Mom, my brother's family, and I were there for the whole vacation.  My Dad, husband, and my grandmothers came later on different dates and stayed through the end.  My aunt joined us for about 4 days in the middle of the trip.

Needless to say, coordinating all the different arrivals and departures on the trip was a large task. My Mom took on the responsibility of keeping track of everyone's flight information.  She also arranged rental cars and told us when to go to the airport. Everyone communicated their information to her through email and phone calls. My Mom was the only person who knew when people were coming and going. 

Travel Group Planner has a section 'Getting There'.  This feature will store and make available everyone's travel information whether they are flying or driving.  The next trip we take we will be able to use this tool to take the burden of coordination off one person.