5 Tips for Traveling with your Mom

Over the past 5 years I have taken my mom along on several little vacations and it has been fun but I have definitely learned a few things!

Pick a location she will be excited about!  In April 2010 I attended a conference in Nashville, TN.  My mom is the biggest music fan and loves all kinds of music but especially country.  To say she was excited is an understatement.

One great thing about my mom is she is very independent and doesn’t mind being left alone which allowed me to take her along when I was tied up all day in workshops.  We stayed at the Opryland hotel (a week before it was flooded) and that worked out perfectly because she was able to browse around during the day.

We attended the Grand Ole Opry one night and were able to see Blake Shelton and Jewel among others and some notable “oldies” which I was clueless about but she was all kinds of into it.

I’m assuming post flood the Opryland hotel still has the spinning bar.  If so it is a must do!  You stay seated but the bar is rotating (slowly) the entire time which she honestly thought was the coolest darn thing.  I was just thankful some friends had given me a little heads up or it might have freaked me out to be drinking and realizing the scenery was changing ever so slowly.

Prepare yourself for anything to happen and for her to maybe freak out just a bit!

In August 2010 we traveled to Long Beach, CA to watch Riley play baseball. California is so beautiful you just can hardly go wrong and we had an amazing time.  My family is always a little hesitant traveling with me because I’m always looking to have the biggest experience I can and on this day we took a winding drive to this point to see the Hollywood sign.

We ate some great meals in Long Beach!

And she was thrilled about her hot dog at Dodger Stadium!

My mom actually traveled to Cali with Keith & Jordan as I had to stay longer with Riley.  The night before they were to fly home my mom realized she had misplaced her drivers license.  I was seriously not prepared for the panic this created.  She must have emptied her purse and suitcase 100 times looking for it.  No amount of reassurance from me was enough to help her calm down enough to realize they were going to let her fly home!  She totally freaked out.

Now…if you have been following along you realize we have a dynamic relationship…because we are DIFFERENT and I do not freak out about things like this.  Thankfully, I was actually sweet and made sure to hold her hand until they assured us at the airport that she was going home!  I found her license the next day at the baseball field…they had evidently been calling her name out on the loud speaker for two days and we never heard them!

Take the time to over prepare her for what to expect.  In August 2011 we were back in Long Beach for….wait for it…baseball!  I had an itinerary for all the things I wanted to do.  I laid it all out and let her know before bed each night what time we needed to leave so she could set her alarm and be ready to go.  I take about 30 minutes tops to get ready…this woman not so much!   By letting her know each day what to expect it really, really helped us stay on track and have fun.  This was so much more critical on this trip because I not only took her but also my littles.  Seniors and littles…all together….recipe for this momma to go a little cray-cray.

Yes, she is your mom but maybe she hasn’t traveled in awhile or maybe she just hasn’t traveled with your crew of crazy before.  Regardless, give her suggestions on what to pack!

In October 2011 we took Jordan to Las Vegas for her 21st birthday!  For some reason I just really thought my mom would know what kind of clothes to take and that she would realize there is a lot of walking involved!!

Nope…I totally did not prepare her for this. Thankfully we still had a super time but she did end up with lots of blisters from her brand new shoes she purchased the night we got a little dressy.

July 2013 we took a road trip to Omaha, NE to…yep…you guessed it..watch Riley play baseball for team USA.  Fourteen hours in the car alone can make you crazy but 14 hours in the car with your mom can really push you to the edge.

I am a driver..I like to drive and am a horrible passenger.  I drove the entire way there and home.  This means hearing my mom gasp and say my name no less than 100 times because even though I’ve been driving for 29 years she is just not that sure I’ve got it down.  My killer playlist and drinking a LOT of Spark on the trip somehow made it all tolerable!

All in all what I would say is take your mom along for the ride every once in awhile.  We have made some great memories and had so much fun.  When we are together in an every day setting there are so many added pressures and it seems to fuel the fire in our relationship but when we are away we just let loose and have so much fun.

I can’t wait to share all the fun with you next week as we take on Arizona for the first time this weekend….courtesy of some baseball!

Have a great weekend!

To see where I’m linking up today visit here!