Travel | Grit and Grace Life

Wanting to Take a Fall Vacation? Check Out These 5 Spots

As much as I enjoy summer’s arrival, there’s just something about autumn that seems to calm my soul. Like an open invitation to relax, fall swoops in after summer’s high-intensity fun, like a hero in the night. Calm and comforting. An enchanting reminder of what it means to slow… down. So, after the sand castles are washed away, and the back-to-school transition ends, here are five beautiful places to visit for a fall vacation. 1. Asheville, North Carolina Nestled in the western part of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville is a popular fall destination. A festival haven, this mountain town hosts celebrations of all kinds including the The Lovely Asheville Annual Fall Festival and the live, outdoor theater experience-inspired Haunted Trail […]

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10 Tips to Enjoy a Road Trip With Kids

By Geinene Carson / Motherhood

My husband’s family lives in Canada, so we are well-acquainted with the undertaking of a long road trip with kids. With small children in tow, an estimated 18-hour trip can easily stretch into 26 hours on the road one way. If it isn’t little bladders or tummies demanding frequent pit stops, it is a temper erupting due to being restrained or a little mind bored of counting clouds in the sky. We have set guidelines to avoid dependence on screens until absolutely necessary. We all know that once they come out, there is no going back… even with toddlers. Rather than an endless stream of movies or video games from the onset of an excursion, we attempt to keep the kids engaged

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view of family's sneaker-covered legs lined up next to each other with a vast mountain landscape background while visiting travel destinations in the U.S.

The Places You’ll Go! Must See Travel Destinations in the U.S.

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture

“Oh, the places you’ll go.” I’m sure you’ve read that book by the incredible Dr. Seuss a time or two, perhaps for your enjoyment or that of the littles in your life. You may have embraced it as a child, dreaming of all the unique and exciting things you wanted to see. After reading to your children, I’m sure you have offered this: “The world is a special place, and it’s yours to explore.” But has life distracted you since the reading? We often think it’s too much work to load up those kids to show them what that means. Well, it’s not! The memories created are too important at these special travel destinations. I’ve traveled extensively and had the chance to

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This Medical Mission Trip Miracle Will Restore Your Faith

By Katelynn Boot / Faith

When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him, and the word got around. Soon, a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick. Toward evening, the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country, and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.” But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.” “All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said. Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then, he had the people

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9 Tips to Travel More and Spend Less

By Amanda-Lee Pitzer / Life & Culture

In the first few weeks of meeting my husband, he asked me about my screensaver on my phone. I explained that I had taken the picture of that beach nearly 15 years prior, and it had been my screensaver ever since. I told him how much I loved living on the Florida panhandle, and how I wish I could go back and visit. His response? “Sounds like 15 years is long enough; let’s go.” But, travel isn’t cheap. How do people afford to travel? Between the cost of getting there, the hotel, the food, and the things to do… you have to be borderline wealthy to travel. Right? Wrong. My husband and I take about 4-6 trips a year. Some with our

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5 Ways to Stay Connected When a Family Member Is Traveling

By Brianna Barrett / Relationships

My husband has traveled the entire time we have been married. It was really hard when our son was little, trying to explain when Daddy would be home and trying to keep them connected over the phone was a major struggle. We have learned some helpful tips on how to stay connected when a family member is traveling and how to help little ones better understand when they will be back from their travels. 5 Ways to Stay Connected When a Family Member Is Traveling 1. Defining time with sleeps When our son was young, I defined the days Daddy would be away with sleeps. Daddy will be home in three sleeps. Since telling him Daddy would be home in four days

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Traveling Solo: How and Why You Need to Just Go for It

By Anne Mabry / Life & Culture

My name is Anne and I have a problem: I suffer from wanderlust. I don’t know if I will ever be able to feed the inner monster that has an insatiable appetite to travel to new places—especially traveling solo. If you are single like me, trying to find a friend who can take time off work and has money for travel planned into their budget at the same time you do is tricky. Never fear! It can be done, and I definitely recommend it, but even if you cannot coordinate with a friend, don’t let that stop you from exploring on your own! Early in my adult working life, I found myself almost two years into a new job before I realized I

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10 Packing Tips when You Need to Travel Light

By Darlene Brock / Life & Culture

I have taken two extended European trips, one with a band that I managed and the second with my two daughters. The first was work getting to each city where concerts were to be performed. The other is a promise I made to my daughters when they were small that we would do when grown. On both trips, we traversed the European landscape on the Eurail, an exercise that taught me a crucial lesson: always travel light. This rail system is amazing yet waits for no one, whether it is creatives or young women, complicating getting on and off with belongings in tow. I learned this from traveling with musicians on the first trip; it is insane to lug two suitcases each.

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The-Best-6-Spring-Break-Vacations-to-Take-This-Year

The 6 Best Spring Break Vacations to Take This Year

By Sharita Hanley / Life & Culture

It’s that time again. You know, the time of year where the kids go back to school after you have just finished recovering from some much-needed time off. But parents, step parents, foster parents and even grandparents know it won’t be long before their next break. Before we know it, winter will bid us a chilly goodbye and spring will make her debut. With that of course, comes the task of deciding what to do for spring break. While I’m almost always excited for a stay-cation, sometimes everyone—parents and kids—need a getaway. But it isn’t always easy finding options that work for everyone in the family. So here are six spring break vacations that are perfect for you and the kids. Pigeon

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The Northern Lights Weren’t What I Expected…

By Kathy Izard / Faith

Last month, I checked off an impossible adventure on my lifetime bucket list: seeing the Northern Lights. It was absolutely more wondrous than I imagined and not at all what I expected—kind of like faith. I had traveled 3150 miles to meet ten friends for a hiking adventure in Iceland. We had planned the trip for the summer of 2020 before we knew the world would close to tourism. It was already an epic feat to get ten women with busy lives and families to align calendars but then, we had to rework it all over again for the summer of 2022. As we set off from six separate cities to meet in Reykjavik, some of us couldn’t even remember why we

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Simple Guidelines for Traveling With Kids and How to Enjoy It

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

Let’s just get this out in the open: vacationing with children is a daunting affair to think about. There’s planning and packing and food and travel and lodging and food (because they always eat). Should you plan a lot of activities? Should you keep it simple? What is on the menu (because they always eat)? The stress of the process can make even the most seasoned travel mom want to fold and plan a staycation instead. The getaway becomes more like a chore you have to do rather than an enjoyable experience for everyone. But no matter if it’s your first trip or your fiftieth, I’ve got a few tried and true tips that will leave you anticipating your next vacation, not

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Trusting God Means Not Needing to Know What Happens Next

Trusting God with the Unknowns

By Kristen Bailey / Faith, Audio Articles

(Listen to the audio version of this article here.) Outside of Taipei, Maokong stretches green and wild with tea plantations clinging to the slopes. Taking ropeways up into the hills, I soared unaware of the circumstances unfolding back home. We need more hope and ropeways in the world. And trust. Ruthless trust, some call it. The day I discovered Maokong ropeway, my story spread across two countries. I was in an unaware moment of the events soon to impact me. Stricken by slow-moving gondolas like Téléphérique du Salève in Geneva or the ones near Lake Ashi at the base of Mt. Fuji, I couldn’t resist finding another. Even While Away, I Couldn’t Escape the Worry Taipei sounded like a jungle beneath the

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7 of the Best Summer Vacation Trips to Take in the USA

By Sharita Hanley / Life & Culture

There’s nothing quite like a summer vacation. Between the sun’s warm rays, the excitement of a new adventure, and a week or two away from the office, summer vacation just might be one of my favorite times of the year. But what I love most about summer getaways is the way they seem to rejuvenate my soul. Let’s be real. Life can be hard, exhausting, and stressful, but regardless of what’s going on in my life, blocking off a few days to literally get away always helps me relax and remember just how good life is and can be. So whether you’re in the midst of some pretty hard times, weary from everyday life, or simply planning your next annual vacation, here

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Now Is Not the Time to Quit Your Daydream

By Joyell Nevins / Purpose

The man in blue caught my eye: a friendly cop plastered on a billboard, encouraging would-be policemen to train and apply for the sheriff’s office. “Perfect!” I thought, planning to tell my sister Kara. Kara had always dreamed of becoming a woman in an investigative unit. She had her heart set on the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), but surely local police was a great way to start. And then I remembered—Kara passed away in a drowning accident just a month before. She was 33 years old. There is a plethora of awful things surrounding Kara’s death, including her darling 3-year-old who won’t get to have her mom in her life. But what hit me that day was the travesty of lost

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How to Avoid Relationship Conflict Over the Holidays – 111

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreThe holiday season is full of wonder, hope, and love. But, it can also be a season full of stress, pain and emotional agony. The holidays bring so much “togetherness”. Yes, this “togetherness” can be an amazing opportunity to spend quality time with our loved ones and create meaningful memories, but it can also cause conflict and become way too stressful to actually enjoy. In this episode of This Grit and Grace Life podcast, hosts Darlene and Julie have a much-needed chat about this topic. They discuss how to avoid relationship conflict during the holiday season. This can apply to any important relationship in your life, whether

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10 Instagram Travel Accounts You Need to Follow Right Now

By Sharita Hanley / Life & Culture

If you’re anything like me, you too are guilty of spending countless hours scrolling through Instagram. Sure, I’ve wasted more time than I care to admit procrastinating on it, but there are some days and moments when I find the site inspiring, motivating, and downright fascinating. For example, I love celebrating my friends’ milestones and successes, laughing at memes, connecting with like-minded (and safe) strangers, reposting encouraging messages, and reading quotes and real-life captions that inspire me to keep going when I want to do everything but that. But if I’m really honest, one of my favorite things about Instagram is how easy it is for me to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures—travel photos. I mean, I’m never ashamed to

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6 Reasons Why Traveling Will Make Your Marriage Stronger

6 Tips for Traveling With Your Spouse

By Rachael Pace / Relationships

There are many things couples can do to keep their marriage strong and healthy, and traveling together is one of them! Whether you are exploring historical castles, kayaking endless waters, or grabbing a pampering massage, vacations are fun and exciting experiences. Who better to share them with than the person you love the most in the world? Couples who travel together broaden their horizons, minds, and learn to grow together. Check out these six tips on traveling with your significant other and how to use your vacation time to boost the quality of your relationship. 1. Spending Quality Time Together Quality time is important for couples. It provides an opportunity to communicate and connect amidst everything else going on in their busy

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