We will be focusing on travel with families during the month of March with our offerings. Continue reading for insightful guides to the best road trips for different ages, the best hotels with amenities for children, and the changing face of family trip planning, as well as inspiring stories of travelling with a newborn, family travel after a divorce, the lowdown on family campground culture, and other topics.

When my twin daughters Michaela and Talia turned 10 years old, my mother and I took them on a mother-daughter road trip that lasted for six weeks. We drove all the way from Boston to Vancouver, Canada. We completed the objective that the girls had set for themselves of eating mashed potatoes and gravy in all 14 states by running in the spray at Niagara Falls, hiking around the lakes in Grand Teton National Park, and doing so. Even though there were a few temper tantrums, a tornado warning, and a miserable day or two along the way, this vacation is one that we still fondly recall many years after taking it.

It doesn't matter if your children are infants, teenagers, or anywhere in between; a road trip can be an unforgettable family vacation as long as you plan it in a way that caters to your children's ages and interests along the way. In order to assist you get in the mood for a cross-country adventure, we have provided some suggestions for travelling with kids at various ages.

Traveling with a 0-18-Month-Old Child

Get out to the Beach!
If you are considering a road trip with your newborn for the first time, it is best to stick close to home. Places like Cape Cod, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the coastal communities of Southern California are perfect examples of family-friendly beach vacation destinations. Any location that allows you to spend time outside while also allowing you to adjust to your child's eating and sleeping habits can be considered a baby-friendly destination for a road trip. A cabin in Wisconsin on the shore of a lake or perhaps a condo in Florida with a wading pool in Florida might be ideal.

A helpful travel tip is that the majority of infants will fall asleep in the car, particularly if you time your trips to coincide with their typical nap times. As they gain more mobility, you should give them periodic breaks. An "all done in the car" meltdown can occasionally be avoided with a little detour to a nearby playground for some vigorous play.

The Best Family Road Trips for Every Agehttps://t.co/NKq6mTz51x pic.twitter.com/imguylnWNj

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Traveling with 2-4-year-olds

Feel and Perform
Because toddlers and preschoolers are interactive and enjoy getting their hands dirty, yet have a low tolerance for long car rides, it is important to plan your road trip around activities and attractions that the children can participate in or interact with. Pay a visit to local farms where you can feed the animals or aquariums that have touch tanks. Explore the outdoor markets to find foods that you haven't tried before to bring with you on your picnic. Gather colourful leaves in the fall as you are hiking through the woods or search for seashells at the beach. Put the idea of viewing "the sights" out of your mind and just go exploring.

Consider taking your children on a road vacation with their grandparents or with other families that have children the same age as their own. The adults will be able to trade off taking care of the children in order to have some peace and quiet to themselves. The children will have friends. Also, make sure that you are always aware of the location of the nearest bathroom (or pack a portable potty).Feel and Perform
Because toddlers and preschoolers are interactive and enjoy getting their hands dirty, yet have a low tolerance for long car rides, it is important to plan your road trip around activities and attractions that the children can participate in or interact with. Pay a visit to local farms where you can feed the animals or aquariums that have touch tanks. Explore the outdoor markets to find foods that you haven't tried before to bring with you on your picnic. Gather colourful leaves in the fall as you are hiking through the woods or search for seashells at the beach. Put the idea of viewing "the sights" out of your mind and just go exploring.

Consider taking your children on a road vacation with their grandparents or with other families that have children the same age as their own. The adults will be able to trade off taking care of the children in order to have some peace and quiet to themselves. The children will have friends. Also, make sure that you are always aware of the location of the nearest bathroom (or pack a portable potty).

Traveling with a 5-7-year-old?

Participatory Activities and Educational Museums
This age group would benefit from visiting interactive museums such as the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, or The Exploratorium in San Francisco. All of these museums are located in the United States. Consider taking a road journey from island to island in the San Juans, which are located in Washington State, or drive from beach to beach along the coast of Maine. Kids of this age group continue to take pleasure in visits to farms and marketplaces as well as activities that take place outside. They are not too young to put some snacks in a daypack of their own and accompany you on a walk in the woods.

A helpful hint for travellers is that their eagerness to take on tasks independently makes this the ideal age to include children in the trip preparation process. Read them books about the places you intend to travel to, and get them to draw images of the attractions they are most excited to see. Give them a travel diary or a box to keep souvenirs in while they are on the road.

Traveling With an 8-11-Year-Old

Visits to Important Sites
By the time they are in primary school, many children have developed an interest in historical figures from earlier eras. Walk Boston's Freedom Trail and Black Heritage Trail while on a road vacation along the East Coast. Afterward, visit the Plimoth and Patuxet Museums, where you can speak with Wampanoag people and "settlers." Visit The Tenement Museum in New York City to get a feel for what life was like for immigrants living on the Lower East Side.

Learn more about Asian cultures and heritage on the other side of the country by visiting San Francisco's Chinatown, the Manzanar National Historic Site where Japanese Americans were interned during World War II, and Orange County's Little Saigon, home to one of the nation's largest Vietnamese communities. Chinatown is located in San Francisco. Manzanar is located in Orange County. Little Saigon is located in Orange County.

Visit places like Mesa Verde National Park and the distant Chaco Culture National Historical Park in the Southwest to learn about the region's indigenous civilizations, and if you have time, spend the night in a Navajo hogan. Your children may enjoy visiting more offbeat museums, such as the JELL-O Gallery Museum in upstate New York or the SPAM Museum in Minnesota. Both of these museums are located in the United States.

Travel Tip: This is a good age for national park road vacations, car camping, and longer day excursions, whether you are hiking through the volcanic sands in Idaho's Craters of the Moon, tromping through the geysers in Yellowstone National Park, or trying to see alligators in the Everglades.

The Best Destinations for Cultural Adventures When Traveling With Teens
Teens are more capable of taking on more obstacles than younger children, and this is true whether they are travelling to different cultures or going on outdoor excursions. Think about taking a road trip through the south of the United States following the Civil Rights Trail. Visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights to learn more about human rights concerns, and then take your adolescent children to the National Historical Park in Atlanta that bears Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s name to gain a better understanding of his legacy. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute educates visitors about the city's role in the civil rights movement, whereas the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas, guides visitors through the history of segregation in the United States as well as the landmark decision made by the Supreme Court.

You could also organise a road trip through the Midwest cities of Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis and let the teenagers choose their favourite neighbourhoods in each of those cities. As you go along the Pacific Coast, repeat step one with Seattle, then Portland, and finally San Francisco. Those who have a passion for the outdoors can plan a vacation that is centred on hiking and can include sections of the Appalachian Trail.

A lot of young people get a kick out of spending the night in weird places, like yurts in the woods or weird motels. Start your journey along the Oregon Coast by staying at the colourful Atomic Motel in Astoria before continuing on to Waypoint Ventura in southern California. There, you may roast marshmallows outside your travel trailer.

A helpful piece of advice for vacationers is to organise some entertaining food quests. Plan a taco crawl along South 12th Avenue in Tucson, visit Oakland or Monterey Park for dim sum, or go in search of sugar cream pie in Indiana, key lime pie in Florida, or blueberry pie wherever it is in season.

And if your children want to organise your road trip so that they may stop for mashed potatoes and gravy at several restaurants along the way, you should let them. You'll end up giving your family some tasty memories.