If you haven't yet been to Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park, this may be a perfect year to go. The incredibly beautiful petrified trees found within the park date back to a mind-blowing 215 million years or so, and the dramatic desertscape makes for a must-see place to visit. While the area was designated as a national monument in 1906, the park constantly reinvents itself with new adventures and hike areas. Before you go, however, consider these 10 tips to ensure a memorable trip:
While it's entirely possible to have a good time just road-tripping in at the last minute, you'll likely get lower airfare into Flagstaff, Ariz., or Albuquerque, N.M., with at least 30 days notice. Some of the preferred hotels book up during prime season, also.
These geological formations referred to as The Tepees are viewable year-round. But summer is the busiest and often the rainiest season. If you have flexibility, consider the fall, when you can visit with milder temperatures, less crowds, and while wildflowers are still in bloom.
Choose between the north and south when viewing the Painted Desert. Visitor Centers are found at both park entrances, each with its own advantages. The northern side features more about the historical people and the Painted Desert vistas like the one shown here, while the southern end features the most petrified wood. It takes about an hour to get from one end of the park to the other.
4. Give yourself a history lesson before you visiting.
Understand more about what it is you will be seeing, and why it is so truly remarkable. You can learn more about the petrified wood and the Triassic-era fossils at the park's Rainbow Forest Museum, which is a good starting point to your adventure.
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6. Opt for a guided tour to really learn from the experience.
While self-tours can provide a nice overview, consider a guided tour to really learn from the pros. The park rangers have all sorts of facts and interesting stories that aren't found in the tourist brochures.
Each rock formation has an interesting and vibrant history, which takes time to learn about and truly appreciate. Cultural demonstrations, geocaching and even Junior Ranger programs are offered as well.
There are numerous short hike options, including numerous ones that are 2 miles or less. If you have longer, consider backpacking in the park's Wilderness Area.
Camping is permitted, but you'll need to pick up a free permit in person at either the Painted Desert Visitor Center, Painted Desert Inn, or Rainbow Forest Museum, at least an hour before the park closes.
The park is open daily from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. except for Christmas Day. Park Rangers have developed sample itineraries to help visitors plan their experience.
Have you seen the Petrified Forest and the beautiful badlands, and if so, what did you consider the best part of your experience? Do you have any photos of your travel experience there you wouldn't mind sharing? For related content, you'll love these 15 beautiful photos that will change the way you see U.S. deserts.
What Traveling With Kids Has Taught Both Me and Them
There is no greater gift than expanding a child's mind as they learn about history, art, culture, language, and other aspects that make this world such an amazing place.
I have two kids who are seven years apart in age. The eldest is a boy, and the youngest is a girl. While these kids of mine have been traveling since infancy, it has certainly had its challenges. However, with those challenges come tremendous joy and a lot of lessons along the way! So, what has traveling with kids taught both me and them? Well, that's what I'm going to share with you today.
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First things first — some background on my kids: My son was born in 2009, and we moved from New York City to Arizona, where his paternal grandparents lived when he was 6 months old. That move across the country was his first big trip. My daughter was born in Arizona in 2016, and she had her first big trip to Cape Cod and then to Canada during her first summer.
Since birth, each child spends half a summer on Cape Cod and the other half in British Columbia. Occasionally, I may even take them abroad. Travel has always been an important part of their father's and my life. We met while working on an Emmy-award-winning travel show and even named our children after places.
Traveling the world is one of our greatest teachers and the greatest gift we can give our kids. There are so many things to learn about our country and the rest of the world. While traveling with children in town takes a bit of extra planning and patience, it's worth it just to create those memories and see the awe and wonder on their faces. Having traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad with my kiddos, here are some of the lessons we have learned along the way:
1. Plan as much as possible ahead of time.
From flights and car rentals to train tickets and hotel bookings, it's imperative to have a plan in place so you don't get stuck or have to scramble upon arrival. I am a big fan of planning ahead of time in order to mitigate the stresses of travel as best as I can.
When I've traveled on my own or with friends in the past, I'd often wing it, maybe book a hotel room the day I arrived or figure out a plan for the day as it unfolded. Well, with kids in tow, winging it just doesn't work in most scenarios.
2. Pack everything you need... and be organized about it.
Have you ever forgotten your child's favorite snack or toy on a road trip or before a big plane ride? Well, I have, and it never went over well. After lessons learned, I am a big fan of lists. Creating a list of everything from seasonal clothing they will need at your destination down to their favorite toys and snacks is essential so I don't forget anything.
If we are trying to pack light and only take one checked suitcase along with personal carryons, I like to organize our clothing in packing cubes with a specific color assigned to each of us. That way, there is no confusion as to who's belongings are in what cubes upon arrival at our hotel or vacation rental. That's my pro tip for you to make things easier!
3. Travel often forces you out of your comfort zone.
This is probably my favorite part of traveling — getting out of my comfort zone. We often become complacent when we stay home for a long period, but to leave — whether for a day trip, a plane trip to another state, or a transcontinental flight abroad — can have a profound impact on our minds and souls. While all kids are different, I have found that my children have become better able to adapt to change, have become more tolerant of others, and are more resilient. They have also realized that the world is so much bigger than their hometown.
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Travel invokes a sense of wonder and awe as children explore the world, listen to other languages and accents, try new foods, have new experiences, and learn the history and culture of a place. In my opinion, trying new things is essential for growth. It makes me so proud when I hear my kids excitedly talk about a travel experience they had or when they try food they never would have considered trying back home.
4. Patience is key to having a good experience.
We've experienced our fair share of flight delays, missed a train or a bus here or there, and sometimes forgot to factor in walking distance to an attraction or even when an attraction opened. While I love putting a daily plan together when we travel, I also allow for flexibility.
Sure, we may want to visit a specific museum at a specific time, but someone might get hungry (or hangry as with my kids), have to use the bathroom, or not want to do anything until after we stop inside a tourist shop to look for trinkets. Other times, the weather might not be optimal, so we may spend a bit more time at our accommodations than we intended. And that's okay.
5. People from all over the world are fundamentally the same.
I asked my teenage son one thing he has learned throughout his worldly travels. He said, "People all over the world are fundamentally the same. We may have different cultures and customs, but we are all basically the same." I have to agree! While cultures, countries, religions, and politics can certainly divide us, people from every nation want the basics of human existence like love, security, family, and happiness. And that's a beautiful thing.
I am a firm believer that traveling the world is one of our greatest teachers. If you're able to travel with your children, whether within the U.S., abroad, or both, I urge you to take them out of their comfort zone and learn through experience. To me, there is no greater gift than expanding a child's mind as they learn about history, art, culture, language, and other aspects that make this world such an amazing place.
Have you traveled with kids before? What are some of the lessons you have learned in your travels with them? What have the kids learned? Please share your thoughts!
Young woman booking flight and hotel online with laptop and smartphone. Business and leisure travel.
Some people scroll on social media to pass the time; I scroll for cheap flights. Ok, and I scroll on social media, too. But finding cheap flights is one of my favorite pastimes, and I can easily get lost in an imaginary, spontaneous flight to somewhere and find myself just one click away from booking it.
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Oh, a flight to Denver is only $58? I mean, at these prices, I can’t afford not to go.
Before you start packing your suitcase, let me help you navigate the wonderful world of finding cheap flights. If you’re a double-platinum, million-mile member of an airline, this is not the article for you.
This article is for my budget travelers. Those who are haunted by wanderlust, but their wallets keep them from the next adventure. You, my friend, are my people. I’ve got your back.
If you’re willing to put in a little time, you’ll be rewarded with a cheap flight to wherever the wind takes you.
How to find cheap flights: flexibility with location and dates
All too often, a friend of mine will reach out to me with some variation of this question:
I need to go to [city] from [specific dates]. Can you find a cheap flight for me?
No. No, I cannot. That’s not how it works. If you are locked into the location and the date range, you’re at the mercy of the airlines. If you want to fly to New York for Thanksgiving, you’re going to pay top dollar for it. Free yourself of at least one of those variables, and a whole new world of possibility will be available to you.
For example, say you want to take a vacation from November 2-12, but you don’t care where you go. With a little help from Google Flights, you can find where the cheapest places to go (in the world!) for those dates. You may surprise yourself with your search results and end up on a vacation you would have never imagined!
young afro man holding a mobile phone looking at the departures of planes in an airport
My home airport is New Orleans. When I plugged those dates into Google Flights, here’s what I got:
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Flights to Vegas, Denver, Chicago, and Miami each for under $200
If I wanted to expand to include international flights for the same dates:
Flights to Aruba and Toronto each for under $500.
On the flip side, say your heart is set on the location, but your dates are flexible. You can use Google Flights to see the flight prices each day and see when those cheap flights pop up.
A calendar will pop up and tell you the price of the flight for every day that month, which is really helpful. The flight may be $50 cheaper on a Thursday versus a Friday; knowing these little tips and tricks adds up to more money in your pocket.
Understanding your airport and using it to book cheap flights
Understanding your airport is truly the key ingredient to finding cheap flights. Not all airports are equal, and even though an airport may be an international airport, you still might find that it doesn’t fly to places you want to visit. Looking at you, MSY.
Let’s use the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) as an example. MSY hosts 15 airlines and has more than 50 direct flights a day.
The more direct flights an airline flies to a location, the cheaper the plane ticket will be.
A female tourist walks towards the plane on the runway, dragging personal luggage behind her and carrying a backpack on her back
There are 7-8 flights from New Orleans to Dallas a day. American Airlines flies this route 7-8 times a day, and Spirit Airlines has one flight a day.
Let’s look at some others:
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New Orleans to Chicago: 4-5 per day (American Airlines and United Airlines)
New Orleans to Boston: 2-3 per day (Delta and JetBlue)
New Orleans to Miami: 3 per day (American Airlines) and 4 per week (Spirit)
New Orleans to Newark: 3 per day (United) and 6 per week (Spirit)
New Orleans to Los Angeles: 4-5 per day (Delta, Southwest, and Spirit)
Why is this important? More flights per day mean that the flights are typically cheaper, you have more flights to choose from, and in the event of a delay, you won’t have to wait as long for the next flight.
Your final destination is probably not going to be a direct flight from your home airport. I like to spend my winters traveling around Scandinavia, embracing the Arctic weather and chasing the Northern Lights. Regretfully, New Orleans doesn’t fly directly to anywhere on that side of the globe, so I have to do some tinkering.
I do know that Play Airlines has a direct flight to Iceland from Boston every evening around 7 p.m. So I just need to get to Boston by 5 p.m. Lucky for me, there are 2-3 flights per day from New Orleans to Boston, so catching that international flight is fairly easy.
Many websites track direct flights. FlightsFrom and DirectFlights are my favorites to tinker with.
If you patch together your own flights, it’s important that you are team carry-on only. If you buy two separate plane tickets, your checked luggage will not arrive at its final destination unless you retrieve it during your layover and re-check it. Save yourself the headache and just travel with a carry-on and a backpack. I promise you don’t need all of the extra stuff.
What is the best day to book cheap flights?
You’ve probably heard that Tuesdays are the best day to book flights. Historically, that’s been true! Airlines used to release their sales on Tuesdays, which is where that stemmed from.
The truth now is, it depends.
It depends on when the airlines put their sales online. Expedia and Google have both done studies on this topic, and the results were that there really isn’t much of a difference.
Don’t confuse the best day to book your flight with the best day of the week to fly. Mondays and Fridays are the busiest days of the week to fly, so take that into consideration when you book your flight. The airport(s) will be busier, and the flights have a bigger chance of being full.
See my other similar photos:
Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be less crowded days to fly.
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All of this goes out the window if you’re flying around the holidays. Thanksgiving will always be one of the busiest times to fly. Same for Christmas, New Year’s, and any other major U.S. holiday.
The key factors in finding cheap flights:
Don’t fly during peak seasons (holidays)
Be flexible on your date and/or destination
Understanding your home airport
Booking directly with the airline
Booking directly with the airline
There are many websites that will do the hard work for you. Kiwi, Skyscanner, and Dollar Flight Club are the most popular. I've used Kiwi and Skyscanner to buy cheap flights in the past, and I lucked out and had zero issues. Now that I'm a more seasoned traveler, I don't know if I would let a third party book my flights again.
When you use a third party, you're gambling. If your flight gets delayed or canceled, you won't be able to take it up with the airline directly – you'll have to go through the company you booked your flight with. It's not just travel agency websites like Kiwi, GetYourGuide, or Viator, though. This also applies if you use your credit card travel portal to book flights/hotels.
Travelers with luggage using smart phones while waiting in line for boarding at airport. Focus on wheeled luggage.
Everything works fine until it doesn't. When it doesn't, the hoops you have to jump through will quickly outweigh whatever money you saved in the first place. Since I tend to keep my travels to the winter, storms play a bigger role in my journey than I want them to. If a flight gets delayed because of a storm, I'm at the mercy of a third party to fix my itinerary. And they typically don't offer any hotel credits, food vouchers, or anything like you would get from an airline.
If you're going on a spontaneous weekend getaway, then I'd say go for it. If this is an important trip that you've spent half a year saving and planning for, I wouldn't risk it.
Whenever possible, book your flight directly with the airline. Once you find a flight on sites like Google Flights, go to the airline's website to book it.
Once you’ve snagged that cheap flight, you can use the money you saved for adventures during your travels! You can use it to pick your favorite seat on the plane (window, duh) or use the extra cash to get a nicer hotel.
