The Ultimate 3-Day Death Valley Road Trip Itinerary

Death Valley is the largest U.S. National Park within the contiguous United States.  Death Valley is located in eastern California and has valleys, mountains, canyons, salt flats, sand dunes, and oases.  Death Valley also has almost 1,000 miles of paved and dirt roads, so is a multi-day road trip within itself.  There are so many outdoor adventures to be had in Death Valley.  Here are some of the best things to do in Death Valley to put together a full three-day road trip itinerary, including some off-road exploration.

A Fun-Filled Scottish Highlands Road Trip Itinerary

The main reason we went to Scotland was to take a barge cruise through the Scottish Highlands with Caledonian Discovery.  During that cruise, we would be hiking, biking, and boating slowly through the Highlands.  Therefore, we knew we would see plenty of Scottish Highlands’ nature during that time.  However, there are other things to see in the Scottish Highlands like castles, cathedrals, and distilleries that we wouldn’t see on our cruise, so we also decided to spend four days on a Scottish Highlands road trip.  Our Scotland road trip itinerary took us from Edinburgh to Inverness with overnights in Stirling, Braemar, and Urquhart.

Must See Attractions for a California Highway 395 Road Trip

You know that saying, “it’s the journey, not the destination?”  We’re pretty happy with our destinations when we travel, but sometimes the journey there or back can be pretty awesome too.  One great journey is a road trip along California Highway 395.  U.S. Route 395 is a highway of eastern California which takes travelers to Death Valley, Bishop, and Mammoth.  In addition to these great destinations, there are a number of attractions and points of interest along California Highway 395 to add to a road trip.

Arizona Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Arizona has the honor of having the longest stretch of Historic Route 66 in the nation.  While there is not much left of Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, western Arizona has approximately 140 miles of uninterrupted Mother Road stretching from Topock to Seligman.  To celebrate Route 66’s 90th anniversary, we took a road trip along Arizona’s Route 66 and visited Route 66 attractions and towns.

10 of the Best Castles in Scotland for a Road Trip Itinerary

Scotland has thousands of castles, so it’s impossible to see all of Scotland’s castles in one road trip.  However, it also means that no matter what route you choose, there are sure to be a number of castles along it to visit.  Our Scotland road trip itinerary took us from Edinburgh and north through the Highlands through Stirling, Perth, Cairngorms National Park, and Elgin.   Part of this route is through Aberdeenshire, which has the most castles per acre than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, and is even home to Scotland’s Castle Trail.  These are 10 of the best castles in Scotland we included in our road trip itinerary.

California Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Route 66 was created to get people from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 was a popular road trip route in the 1950s, but with the creation of interstate highways, Route 66 became obsolete and the towns along it couldn’t survive being bypassed.  While Route 66 went all the way to Los Angeles, following the original Route 66 through western California is pretty impossible.  However, there are long stretches of California’s Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, especially between Victorville and Needles.  We decided to start the New Year by celebrating Route 66’s 90th anniversary with a short Route 66 road trip and drove as much of California’s remaining Route 66 route as possible.  While we drove Route 66, we visited a number of California’s Route 66 road trip attractions along the way.

History and Route 66: Things to Do in Flagstaff in One Day

An original section of Route 66 is preserved in Flagstaff Route 66 Park.

Flagstaff is a Route 66 town not like many other Route 66 towns.  While Route 66 bypassed a lot of towns, causing those towns to disappear, Flagstaff wasn’t affected in the same way.  Flagstaff was established in 1882 and has a lot of history that predates Route 66, so Flagstaff didn’t completely rely on Route 66 to survive.  Today it is a bustling college town with a historic downtown and some remaining remnants of Route 66.  While there are a lot of things to do in Flagstaff, many of Flagstaff’s historical and Route 66 sites are close together and can be visited in one day. 

Happy 90th Anniversary to Route 66!

California Route 66 between Victorville and Barstow.

I’ve become a little obsessed with how people in the past went on vacation.  Travel is such an important part of our lives; it’s how we get through the workday, knowing our hard work not only keeps food on the table and a roof over our heads but also provides us with the privilege of seeing how other people live on this great earth and touching and feeling and seeing history.  Travel is fairly easy and quick nowadays, but it didn’t use to be.  One particular type of vacation that fascinates me is the all-American road trip.  This is something we still enjoy today, but we can buzz from one destination to the next using our wide, multi-lane interstates.  It wasn’t always so quick, like when families hit the road and traveled along Route 66.  We kicked off 2016 with a short Route 66 road trip through California and Arizona to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Route 66 and get a glimpse of what it was like for families of the past to get their kicks on Route 66.

15 Things to See in Ireland for Your Road Trip Itinerary

Kylemore Abbey

A trip to Ireland isn’t really complete unless you take a road trip through the country.  There are so many things to see in Ireland including Irish castles, historic sites, and beautiful scenery.  Add to that cute towns and some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.  We traveled clockwise as our Ireland road trip itinerary took us from Dublin to Kilkenny, Waterford, Kinsale, and Galway, with lots of stops in between.  A what to see in Ireland list could go on forever, but here are some of the top things to see in Ireland on a road trip.

Delphi to Meteora: Central Greece Attractions

The monasteries of Meteora.

Can I be honest?  Greece wasn’t really at the top of my list for travel destinations I wanted to visit.  I’m not exactly sure why that is.  I love ancient ruins, and Greece has a ton of those.  The quintessential picture of Greece, the blue domes and white walls of Santorini, is stunning.  But Rome wanted to go to Greece, and when I read about Tripology Adventures’ off-road trip through Central Greece, it sounded exactly like the adventure for us.  We always like a good drive.  What I didn’t anticipate was falling head-over-heels in love with all the varied landscapes and attractions of Central Greece.  What we discovered, with Tripology Adventures’ Greece road trip itinerary, was ancient monuments, picturesque villages, and nature, from impossibly clear blue seas, emerald rivers, green sceneries that rival Switzerland, and snow-capped mountain ranges. 

Getting to the Heart of Central Greece: An (Off)-Road Trip

Look, Mom, no guardrails!

We love a good road trip. We have circumnavigated Spain, managed a particularly worrisome rust-bucket around Belize, blown up a rental in Ireland (the green handle is not necessarily diesel), driven the length of Croatia, bent a rim in Costa Rica, gone across and back Denmark, and managed to get not one but two flats right in front of London’s Department of Transportation.  Driving is one of the best ways to explore a country, and Greece is no exception.  Our road trip through Greece was no ordinary road trip.  To explore the heart of Greece (or the navel of Greece according to the Greek god Zeus), we took our standard road trip one step further.  We took an off-road trip through Central Greece.  Tripology Adventures’ off-road trip from Athens through the Pindus Mountains is the mythological mother of all road trips. 

Review: SiXT rent a car Denmark

Our SiXT rent a car in front of Viby's windmill.

As I mentioned in my post about our Denmark road trip, I believe the best way to really get to know a country is by getting away from the big popular cities and driving through the countryside.  For our road trip through Denmark, we chose SiXT rent a car for our car rental.  Here are the reasons why you should take a road trip through Denmark and rent your car from SiXT.