Entries by Matt Villano

Self-park Schlep

You’re not a truly intrepid family traveler until you’ve schlepped five days’ worth of gear and three tired kiddos from self-park to a hotel lobby, BY YOURSELF. Such was life earlier tonight upon checking in at the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel. I’m here solo with all three girls on the sedentary part of […]

New Year, New Beginnings

Our most recent family getaway comprised one night in a room at The Astro Motel, a brand-new property near my home in Northern California. The place soft-opened in October after a pretty major renovation; the new owners redesigned it to celebrate mid-century modern flare. While some of the furniture and wall decorations are vintage, the […]

Resistance in the name of family travel

It’s a weird time to be in the travel industry. On one hand, we’ve got a number of media outlets (including the AP) describing what they’re calling a “Trump Slump,” a potentially crippling blow to our local tourism infrastructure due to all of the foreigners who don’t want to come here because of how our new […]

The squatter

We came, we saw, we did Disneyland and nobody had sensory overload. I’ll write more about that in the next few days. Today, however, the focus is on something far more fascinating: Our squatting baby.

The family travel sweepstakes dream

What family wouldn’t want to stay in a medieval Scottish castle for a week? The history! The secrets! The creative play for your kids (and the grown-ups)! The excuses to go out in public wearing plaid knee-length kilts! This is what makes a recent promotion from HomeAway so incredibly awesome The offering, held in conjunction […]

American families set to hit the road

A whole bunch of American families are expected to travel this year—great news for us family travel bloggers and just about everyone else. The stat comes from a recent survey report from AAA, which suggested that roughly 35 percent of American families will travel more than 50 miles away from home with at least two […]