Success! My long-desired skip-gen family legacy trip finally happens, and it is a “Mary Poppins” experience: practically perfect in every way! I am blessed by having six grandchildren living in the same city with me. The other three live seven hours/400 miles away. Because they live in Pennsylvania and my husband and I live in Michigan,…

In just a few months’ time, everything – especially travel – looks very different, doesn’t it? There’s plenty of speculation going around, but then, that’s about all we have right now. It’s interesting to read articles trying to predict what the future will look like in different sectors of our economy. The internet is rife…

Most people are familiar with the story of Pandora, who unfortunately unleashed all kinds of evils into the world, including sickness and death, when she lifted the lid from a gifted box. Many people don’t know, however, that one thing was left in the box before she quickly closed it again: hope. So why am…

I don’t know where these ideas come from: they just come! In the summer of 2017, I decided I wanted to take a road trip with our four oldest grandchildren. They were 9, 8, almost 6, and almost 5. Fun for us, and fun for the kids because this would be the first “cousins’…

According to the calendar, we are just about to slip out of winter’s icy grip – the perfect time to start dreaming about summer travel, especially for us skip-genners. Do you have a grandchild reaching a certain milestone in the coming months, such as a graduation or special birthday? Do your working children need any…

Recently I took a day-trip from our hometown in West Michigan to St. Joseph along the lakeshore, about an hour and a half drive. The occasion was the fifth birthday of one of my granddaughters. She decided to invite her older sister to join us. I wasn’t sure whether or not she’d want the day…

Any grandparent seriously considering taking a skip-gen trip, especially if it is their first time, would do well to begin by perusing the trips offered by Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org). First of all, Road Scholar has been in the travel business for a long time, beginning as Elderhostel back in 1975, when they excelled in planning…

It will come as no surprise to you, dear readers, that I believe your most important New Year’s resolution is to travel with one or more of your grandkids in the coming year! Why is this the most important resolution? First of all, life is short…and unpredictable. We never know how much time we, or…

Our 11-day trip through Belgium, England, and Scotland is behind us now. We have completed the long journey home. Our suitcases are unpacked and put away; the souvenirs tucked into Christmas stockings. It’s now time for a few reflections… First there are the practical considerations, starting with a few FAILS. I have to kick myself…

We leave Vaux-sur-Sûre, Belgium, the same way we arrived three days earlier – in the dark and the rain. So many moving parts ahead of us today that it feels overwhelming: drive 2-1/2 hours to Brussels, return rental car, get from airport to international train station, take the Eurostar across the English channel, take another...