Celebrating Family, Summer and Travel

My relationship with Alamo began a couple of years ago and has been such a great experience. In my second year as a Chief Travel Mom, I hope that I’ve inspired you to pursue more family travel and take it beyond basic.

Have you been following the #AlamoDriveHappy hashtag? Myself and the other CTMs have enjoyed chatting with you about overcoming some of the obstacles that inevitably come with family travel, and facing it with a sense of humor. Like with all things, travel is more fun when you can laugh at yourself and your circumstances.

Alamo challenged me to make a travel resolution earlier this year. I resolved that my family would go 24 hours on our vacation with no technology. You would think that would be a difficult task for a blogger, but it surprisingly wasn’t. We did this on our trip to Charleston and it was quite nice having meals without smartphones. It was a great bonding experience and we found so many other fun things to occupy our time.

Writing this post is bitter sweet as this year’s partnership with Alamo is drawing to a close. Last weekend – thanks to Alamo – my friends and family gathered to celebrate family, summer and travel. School is starting up here in just a couple of weeks and we have so many fun experiences to look back on. My family didn’t do a big family vacation this year. Instead we did several short trips that took us to Charleston, Austin, Atlanta and Orlando. My son and I spent a weekend in Chattanooga – one of our favorite cites.

Our end of summer party wasn’t fancy. Just a whole lot of fun! We are not a glamorous group, just regular folks like most of you. Although a couple of my friends think they’re pretty fancy. You know who you are, if you’re reading this. (Just kidding!)

I fired up the grill for some burgers and hot dogs. Mom made us some yummy sides and snacks. For dessert we enjoyed a summer classic – strawberry shortcakes. A party isn’t a party without some good food!

The party actually started before the party started. My nieces and a couple of their friends had way too much filling the balloons with helium. I set up a table with some of the goodies that Alamo sent us, including some fab door prizes, cool sunglasses and decorations.

There was also a journal for everyone to write about their favorite vacation memories, travel resolutions and travel goals for next year. It was fun reading what everyone wrote.

My niece, Becca, wrote about how much fun she had in Charleston.

At the party we talked a lot about our summer fun and shared vacation stories. There was also a lot of chatter about an upcoming trip. Debbie and I will be going with Becca on her senior trip to Europe for two weeks in May. Me, Europe and a bunch of crazy teenagers… it’s going to be FUN???

I have to show you these vintage travel postcards that I picked up for the party. Love them! I used these to draw for the door prizes – Alamo Drive Happy boxes filled with goodies that will help them go beyond ‘basic’ family travel. Everyone was so excited about those prizes!

Many thanks to Alamo for such an amazing party. My friends and family had so much fun.

Ready for your next family adventure? Be sure to sign up to be an Alamo Insider, which can get you some great travel discounts. You can find Alamo at most airports.