“1,000 Places to See Before You Die” Giveaway

Does your family have a wish list of travel destinations?

Our family has enjoyed leafing through 1,000 Places to See Before You Die for years to build our own wish list and compare our experiences with the author’s, so when I was invited to review the newest edition and give three copies away to MomsTravelTales readers, I jumped at the chance!

This new edition features color photos of the destinations and more countries and destinations than the first edition. To keep the list at 1,000, Patricia Schultz lumped a few destinations together as excursions, so you are actually getting even more travel ideas jammed into this edition than the last.

No, this is not a family-specific travel book, but it still gives great insight on truly unique and gorgeous destinations worldwide.

For example, this weekend we’ll be traveling to Colorado with our three kids. After reading Patricia’s entry on Rocky Mountain National Park, I knew to plan extra time to allow our family to really take in the splendor. (And I promise to report back with photos!)

Each entry not only tells why that destination is spectacular, it also suggests places to stay (often in a range of prices), places to eat and often mentions tips for the best time to visit or special events to plan to see.

Just a few of the places she mentions our family has also enjoyed, including:

• La Sagrada Familia and Gaudi’s other architectural creations in Barcelona, Spain
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates (where our kids snow-skied for the first time– indoors, and also visited the world’s tallest building)
• Edinburgh Castle and Festivals
• Tivoli Gardens in Denmark

Not everything mentioned is so far away. Patricia also covers plenty of sites state-side including

• Route 66
• Boston, Mass.
• Big Sky, Montana
• The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
• The Outer Banks
• The Thomas Jefferson Trail
• and one of my newest favorite discoveries, the Finger Lakes of New York

And yes, I’ll admit it, reading through some of the pages makes me smile, remembering pre-family travel, like when I bungee jumped in New Zealand. (Gulp!)

 1,000 Places to See Before you Die is a great way to not only build a dream list of travel destinations, it’s also a great way to share geography with your kids in a very real way. Flip through the pages, pick a site to see, locate the destination on a map or globe and talk about what a trip to that spot might be like. You could even talk about what the people who live there might be like and plan how much a trip there might cost.

 Do you want to dream of new travel destinations and either add them to your own list or live vicariously through Patricia’s experiences?

Workman Publishing is going to give three lucky MomsTravelTales readers their very own copy of the book so you can compare notes, daydream a little and plan your next dream vacation.

 To enter, just leave a comment with 2 places you’d like to see before you die.

For extra entries, tweet about this contest, mentioning @MomsTravelTales, or “like” MomsTravelTales on Facebook. Then leave a comment for each telling me that you did.

I’ll pick three comments from the list randomly to select the winners. This contest is only open to those with U.S. or Canadian addresses.

Comment quickly. This contest ends when Labor Day weekend ends in the Central time zone, midnight, Tuesday morning, September 4.

 So… What are your two places you’d like to see before you die? Comment away and win!

 This contest is now closed.

 

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Travel Book Review: Kids Love I-95

There is still plenty of time to roadtrip this summer, and if roadtrippin’ is in your plans, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of one of the Kids Love guides!

Michele, one of the authors of the husband-and-wife written, kid-tested guides, offered a copy of Kids Love I-95 to me to review and share with you and, wow, I was impressed!

Kids Love I-95 offers a wealth of information to families planning any trip along Interstate 95 from Pennsylvania to Florida, featuring attraction reviews, restaurant recommendations, family-friendly hotels and listings of good spots to just get out and stretch your legs.

Sure, you could plan your roadtrip on your own using the internet (and I hope my Destination Snapshots are helpful) but this book lists all you need to know in one handy spot that you can take with you as your plans change. Plus, this family really has done all the research for you and has set it up in a super-easy-to-follow guide.

Kids Love I-95 organizes the highway by state and exit number with full descriptions and contact information of each spot highlighted. You could flip through the pages while someone else drives, (or better yet your kids could flip the pages and follow along!) mapping your journey to see what is ahead (or where to stop to go to the bathroom, grab a bite to eat or go on your own mini-adventure). Each state begins with on overview map and a short description of what you might find there. Next is an “Activities at a Glance” list and suggested local resources for more information.

After that where the real beauty is:

The authors have mapped out every 20 miles of the highway per page for each state, indicating places you and your family might want to stop. After these highway maps for each state (which are easy to read, beautifully organized and quite complete) each attraction or family-friendly stop is highlighted in great detail on the pages that follow so you can decide if it is the right place for your family to stop or not.

I love how the Michele and her husband don’t just share directions, hours of operation and prices for each spot. (Although these are fantastic and helpful.) They also give a little background and let us know what we might do there from their own personal experience with their kids.

Kids Love I-95 is just one of the Kids Love guides. They also have one for I-75, as well as guides covering entire states. Swing by their site and take a look. Then let us know how your travels go!

Disclosure: I was given a copy of Kids Love I-95 for the purpose of reviewing it and sharing my findings with you. This review is my own opinion and observation and was not influenced in any way, other than being given the book.

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