Jeet Yet?

I'm up to my earlobes in planning this year's surprise family vacation.

However, don't get too excited (I love how so many people eagerly question us about our trips because they all want in on the big reveal). It's going to be a lesser affair this time around. Additionally, Jeff knows where we'll be staying for one night of the 6 day venture, so he's not completely in the dark like he usually is. The kids, however, are completely clueless.

(By the way, Jeff likes being surprised about the details--everything from where we're going, how we'll get there, who we'll see and what we'll eat. It was his initial casual remark of "surprise me" years ago when I was planning our first official family vacation that started this whole clandestine tradition. What I'm trying to say is that I don't do this because I'm some control freak. My control issues are completely separate from this annual occurrence. ;) )

As I was saying...we're doing a scaled-down version this time around, so when you come here to read about it later on, don't cue your internal drum roll as you click on my blog. Your internal kazoo might be more appropriate.

One of the reasons for a diminished venture is because we think it's time to tour some colleges with the kids. Tobias is a junior this year and Delaney's right behind him in 8th grade. It won't be long at all before they consider where they'll go to school and they can't do that very effectively without being familiar with some universities.

Another reason is that Jeff couldn't get any time off of work in the summer and most of the places we like to go are frozen over until mid-June. (We're a woodsy-lakey-mountainy-kind-of-family.)

Anyway, several people have asked me questions about trip planning and I thought I'd share a few tips. That brings me back to my original question...

Jeet yet?

If yes, were you pleased? If not, is that because you weren't sure where to go to do so? Well, let Trip Advisor help you!

When planning a trip, Trip Advisor is probably my favorite website.

Let's say I know we're going to be rolling through Port Angeles, Washington right around lunch time on day 3 of our trip. I know we're likely to be very hungry because we will have had a cheapo continental breakfast four hours earlier and will have spent the morning hiking around Hurricane Ridge up in the Olympic National Forrest (I wish!). So, I cruise over to TripAdvisor and type "Port Angeles, WA" in the search bar at the top right.

Next, I choose 'restaurants' from the column on the left.

I know that we'll have a long drive to Portland ahead of us after lunch and we probably won't want anything too heavy sitting in our guts the entire way, so I'm thinking Thai food. (Hmmm...when am I not thinking Thai food?) Therefore, I scroll down in the 'cuisine' box until I see 'Thai' and check the box next to it. If you're going to be in a big city, you'll get a list of several Thai restaurants in order of best reviewed to worst reviewed (or not yet reviewed). In the case of Port Angeles, there's apparently only one Thai place.

Click on the restaurant's name and scroll down to read the reviews of customers. Wow, apparently, Sabai Thai is really good. Yay for Port Angelesians.

I like to read several reviews to get a feel for the place. Sometimes people will mention a specific dish that's especially good or they'll warn you that it's a cash only place (which I've learned is important to know!).

If I'm sold on the place, then I'll Google-map from Hurricane Ridge to Sabai Thai so we can easily find it. 

Obviously, you may suddenly feel like eating pizza instead of the Thai food you planned a month prior. Then change things up! I do find it helps things run more smoothly if I plan things out but we don't always stick to it.