We love to travel and take a road trip as a family. But sometimes schedules are too busy and crowded or the weather is just not conducive to hopping in the van and heading out on an adventure. But that doesn’t mean that the travel bug goes away. It just means that you need to spend your time planning road trips instead. If you are finding yourself in a season of life where you can’t actually travel, then here are some easy tips to help you dream today so you can travel tomorrow!

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When you can’t travel, you dream!

People who have been bitten by the travel bug know that the desire and love for adventure never really goes away. To say that I inherited the love of travel is an understatement. My parents often have been known to hop in the car with little or no advance notice and go off to explore some new part of the world.

So with the love of travel in my family, it’s only natural that we are raising our kids to love road trip adventures too!

Want to make your own globe ornaments? You can buy the Globe Stress Balls, take the metal clips from plastic or glass ball ornaments and stick the clips in the top of the ball. Super simple and works really well!

How to plan your next Road Trip

Plan when You Can’t Go

When the weather is bad and the schedules are busy, spend that time planning instead of moaning about the fact that you can’t actually take a trip. You can create Pinterest boards with all of the states that you are interested in visiting. Then spend some time looking for places to go and explore in those states. Let those become your dream boards.

If actual paper and bulletin boards are more your style then you might want to look through magazines. Cut out pictures of places you want to go and store them in notebooks. My mom has taken this to a new level and has an amazing file system in place. I gave her these license plate stickers and she has attached them to individual file folders. Every time she finds something in a magazine, newspaper clipping, or on a blog post, she clips it out and drops it in the folder for that state. Then when she is ready to start planning our next trip, she simply pulls the folder for that state and starts making her itinerary.

I love using the site called Roadtrippers.com that allows you to see all the historic, landmarks, attractions, and unique things along the route. I know that as soon as the weather starts to change from winter to spring I will be ready for another road trip so I am doing my research now to see what unique things are along the route.

Put your dream on paper

Once your file folder or Pinterest boards start to fill up then you may want to put them on a spreadsheet or Google doc or paper planner so you can get an idea of what is on the route. I use a simple Google sheet to help me keep up with all of my ideas and help me map out my plan for our next road trip.

Start Saving Money

We typically take road trips because flights are so expensive, but I recently discovered a discount budget airline where you can get airfares for $20-$30 one-way. The thing about budget airlines is that they often have flash deals that come up. So I put aside money for next spring and summer so that when I see one of these deals and we have a weekend or a couple days free, we will be able to quickly grab the deal and head on an adventure. If you don’t have any money saved up, then it is harder to just take off.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Flying Low Cost Airlines

Get your Passports

We have never taken the kids on a cruise, but that is one of the things on our family bucket list. In order to take advantage of special deals that might come up, we need to have our passports in hand and ready. Since that process takes a while, now is a great time to start the passport process.

Get healthy

It is always more fun to tackle a walking tour in a new city when you can handle a lot of walking. So use this waiting and dreaming time to start improving your health. I typically try to get between 12 and 16,000 steps a day. I have a treadmill desk that allows me to put my computer on the treadmill and walk while I work. I also use a Fibit that helps me monitor my step count every day.

Did you know you can even earn money with your Fitbit? Take a look at these programs that are is slow but tested way to earn back money when you use your Fitbit or step counter.

It may be cold and dreary outside on the thermometer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something proactive to help get ready for your next travel adventure! Where do you want to go next? I’d love to hear where you want to go next!