We put together this Digital Guide to help you plan your next family vacation. Whether you have a family with young kids, tweens, teens or a multi-gen extended family with grandparents, this guide can be used as a resource for to explore the broad range of family vacations available and identify what vacation type best fits what you are looking for.

Inside you’ll find overviews on family vacations featuring:

• All Inclusive Travel
• Cruising
• Theme Parks
• Adventure Travel​

Are you a planner or do you prefer spontaneity? Do you make to-do lists to tackle each day or do you take things as they come? Does having a color-coded calendar system bring you joy or make you anxious? Many of us rely on itineraries and plans to bring order to our daily lives. Others see planning as too much work and not enough fun.

When it comes to travel, a little planning goes a long way. That’s why the professional expertise and experience of a Travel Advisor is a must.

I’ve worked with both types of clients, the planners and the spontaneous types. They both want a vacation that checks all of their boxes, and it usually starts with what’s on their bucket lis​​t.

Speaking of which, when was the last time you revisited your travel bucket list? If it’s been a while or you don’t yet have a bucket​​ list, ask yourself these questions to get started: 

• Which destinations have you always wanted to see?
• What experiences have you dreamed of?
• Which places have you been that you want to revisit?

Your bucket list can be as long as you want. Once you’ve put all your ideas down, go back and star or circle the top three to five items on it that are your top priorities. Then, set a goal for when you’d like to cross off that experience!

Click here for a handy worksheet to help you create your bucket list!

I’d love to see what you come up with. Maybe you’ve always wanted to do a sunset horseback ride along the beach in Puerto Vallarta. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to take a river cruise through Burgundy & Provence and taste local wines. The options are endless and as a certified travel advisor, I’m here to help make them happen.
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Let’s start planning now, so you can make it a reality in the future! I’m currently planning trips for 2022 and 2023! Not sure which of your bucket list items are doable right now, or when you want to travel? I can help you understand your options so that you can feel safe, comfortable and prepared with your future travel plans.

Here’s to shortening your bucket list so you can add even more to it later!

As fall returns and we usher in increased schedules and routines, now is a great time for relaxation. Discover seven properties below with featured wellness and spa offers. From Florida, Hawaii, Mexico, or Arizona, SELECT has a stay to satisfy your wellness needs and capture some moments of zen.

Whether you are an experienced traveler or first-time cruiser, river cruising appeals to a wide range of travelers with cultural engagement, culinary exploration and authentic moments. This guide encourages you to explore the broad range of experiences river cruising offers and to identify the river and cruise line that best fits what you are looking for.
 
Inside the guide, you will find an overview on River Cruising with helpful details on:
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• Why You’ll Lover River Cruising
• Ocean vs River Cruising
• Rivers of the World
• River Cruise Partners

​I love creating new traditions, so when I first started traveling, I came up with three ways to create lasting memories from my traveling endeavors.

Travel Tradition No. 1: Save a Bill
Whenever I am traveling, I always keep the lowest denomination paper currency and take it home with me. One day, I found a double-sided clear frame and decided to get crafty. I laid the bills I had collected throughout my travels inside the frame and hung it on my wall. If you visit my home, you can take it off the wall and check out the backside of the bills too! It’s a super simple and fun way to remember your trip.

Travel Tradition No. 2: Discover New Music
When I travel, I appreciate listening to local music, so when I hear a song I like, I purchase one of the musician’s albums. I try to find contemporary, classic and traditional folk music. When friends visit me, we'll talk about my travels, eat some traditional foods from the place I visited and play music from the area to set the mood. Collecting music is a fantastic travel tradition!
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Travel Tradition No. 3: Buy Art
​I'm not looking for anything fancy. In fact, I typically prefer something sold by local street artists. I've purchased small sculptures, ceramics, freshly created paintings and wooden carvings during my travels. Whenever I look at a piece of art I've brought back home, it reminds me of where I was, the person who created it and how I felt at the time.
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Consider implementing these three travel traditions or start your own traditions the next time you travel. Creating traditions is a terrific way to build long-lasting memories and makes it easier to take a trip down memory lane.

I love discovering ways to do things more efficiently. In fact, in another lifetime, I was a business analyst where part of my job was to help my co-workers work smarter.  Read on to learn about my two favorite travel apps that help me travel with ease. 

A+ Gallery
For those who want organized photos, but don't want to spend the time actually organizing them, this is the travel app for you. It automatically sorts your photos by time and location. It also includes a map view! Simply explore the map as your photos pop into view. Not only can you search for photos by date and location, but you can also search by color. Plus, it includes a feature that allows you to hide an album from prying eyes. If you love to take photos when traveling, this app will become your new best friend.

Learn more about this incredible travel app here.

Hopper
With airfare constantly fluctuating, it's hard to know when to buy your ticket to get the best rate. You can check one moment and by the next moment, the rate has already increased. Hopper has a data science team mining through trillions of archived flight records to spot trends and predict when you should book your flight to get the best rate possible. It also has a 95 percent accuracy rate! If you are traveling while on a budget, this travel app is perfect for you!

​Download it here.

If you have questions about getting vaccinated, talk to your healthcare professional or visit the CDC website for expert medical guidance. An amazing 97% of physicians offered to be vaccinated have done so.

Not sure where to get vaccinated? Visit this site for local options. 

Of course, our expertise is in travel, not medicine. When you are ready to travel, we are here to help you sort out the various entry restrictions and requirements for vaccinated (and non-vaccinated) travelers, cancellation and refund policies and safe travel protocols. This wonderful world is a pure joy to explore, we hope you take every opportunity to do so.

​Luxury Travel Offers from Matt Travel

Road trips hold a special place in our hearts. They’re in our favorite TV shows, movies, and even books. My first road-trip was with my parents the summer before I entered High School.

We roamed all over the western United States visiting National Parks and exploring everything we could. We drove to the high Sierra Mountains and the low Death Valley dessert. In fact, the first time I drove a car was on this road trip. My dad pulled over on a lonely stretch of highway and let me take the wheel. The road was as straight as could be, but you couldn't tell by my driving. We went as far south as the Grand Canyon all the way up to the Grand Tetons and beyond.

Many of my clients are itching to travel, but not ready to commit to a trip abroad. This makes 2021 a great year for a road-trip. I took a short road trip a month or so ago. I picked up my car in California to drive it to our new home just outside of Dallas (after living in Puerto Vallarta for six months, we decided to find a home-base back in the US). We passed through Solvang to walk through town and collect a box full of pastries, made an unexpected stop at an Ostrich farm, and couldn't help taking videos as we travelled through varying landscape.

Not only does a road trip put you in control of the destinations and the sights, it gives you a chance to make memories together, both in your destination and en route that you’ll treasure for years to come.

Whether you’re asking Siri for directions or going old school with a paper map, navigating on a road trip is part of the fun. It’s all about tracing your route, taking a detour to a roadside attraction (who doesn’t want to take a selfie with the world’s largest ball of yarn?), and stopping at a family-owned diner for the best (and maybe greasiest) breakfast you’ve ever had.

​Music connects us. It helps us convey our feelings and emotions to one another. It makes us want to dance. It turns us into karaoke singers behind the wheel. Before setting out on a road trip, build playlists for each other that tells a story about your relationship through song. Or perhaps you choose an audiobook or new podcast series to keep you guessing about what will happen next.

Road trips offer the chance to travel safely and comfortably, especially in light of COVID-19. That also means there may not be other travelers to snap photos of you and your travel companions together. Practice using your camera or phone’s self-timer so that you can snap photos together at every destination along the way. Consider packing a selfie stick to capture your smiles in front of the scenery. These are a few of the best ways to make sure the memories of your adventure last for years to come!

Ready to plan your road trip adventure? I’m here to help you with hotel and excursion recommendations, destination knowledge, and everything you need to know about travel policies between states! Let’s plan this adventure together.

I crowd sourced this itinerary with a bunch of my fellow Travel Advisors who live in each location. Check it out here!