Ashley, Author at Traveling Graces

Blog

Budget Travel – 7 Ways our Family Saves

Budget Travel- 7 Ways our Family Saves In our family (including our kids!), we will always choose a shared experience over any material possession or gift. This comes in all shapes and sizes for us: cheering on our favorite sports team, getting season passes to local amusement parks, hiking a Read more…

By Ashley, 7 years3 years ago

Blog

Our Family Travel Vlog – the start of another new adventure!

Our Family Travel Vlog The first thought of Traveling Graces came in January of 2018. Brandon and I (Ashley) had just booked our flights to join the grandparents on a summer trip to Ireland. I knew this trip would be a bit different for him, because our past travels have Read more…

By Ashley, 7 years3 years ago

Review of Google Fi for World Travel

Google Fi for World Travel Does Google Fi phone service really work for world travel? We spent a lot of time figuring out how and what to pack for our trip around the world. It took 5 minutes to decide to switch from Verizon to Google Fi for cellular service. Was it a good decision? …
Finances during World Travel: Our Favorite Travel Card

Our Favorite Travel Card We are strong believers in proper financial management. Budgeting for all aspects of life, including travel, has been part of our marriage since day 1. We have planned, allocated, and tracked every dollar for many years. This has allowed us to pay off our house (see our interview with Dave Ramsey …
Packing for World Travel: 4 Month Gear Update

Packing and Gear Update We left our home 4 months ago to travel the world. Our longest trip to date had been 18 days, so we spent a lot of time planning and packing for world travel. Check out what made the initial cut for our backpacks here. After 4 months, we have learned a …
Lessons Learned: Tips for International Car Rental

Tips for International Car Rental Jon is a good and confident driver and has rented cars in multiple countries before this trip. However, some of the confidence didn’t allow for adequate preparation. He did not read up on tips for international car rental. He did get an International Drivers Permit (IDP) from AAA before leaving …
4 Months of Traveling the World: When the Dog Bites and the Bee Stings

When the Dog Bites and the Bee Stings Our family trip around the world has had its bumps in the road. We have always worked on how we can have a good time every time, but that has been put to the test on multiple occasions. The phrase, “I don’t know, I’ve never been here” …
4 Months of Traveling the World: A Few of our Favorite Things

A Few of our Favorite Things It’s been 4 months since our family left home and headed to Boston. We’ve had a lot of fun, made a lot of memories, made a lot of mistakes, and have learned a lot from traveling the world. Some of our learning has surprised us. For example, we all …
Top 5 Money Tips for International Travel

Money Tips for International Travel Our family is one month into a round-the-world trip and staying on top of our budget using our money tips for international travel. Amazing adventures, great food, multiple continents: yes to all. However, we are also diligent to follow sound financial principles while traveling. Here’s our top money tips for …
Travel to Europe: Plug Adapter or Voltage Converter?

Plug Adapter or Voltage Converter Now is a great time to start planning your trip to Europe. COVID-19 vaccinations are allowing for tourism to open, and prices are great (read more about our experience with COVID protocols in France here). You may know that outlets come in different sizes around the world. You might even …
Packing for a Family Trip Around the World

Family Travel Packing Guide The number one question that we’ve received with taking off for a trip around the world: How do you pack for a year with kids?! Yes, it can be a little intimidating to put together a year’s worth of family needs into 4 backpacks. We spent a lot of time and …
Packing for a Family Trip Around the World: Dad’s Backpack

Family Travel Packing Guide: Dad’s Backpack The biggest question we have received is definitely about how to pack for a trip around the world. Here is the breakdown of Jon’s backpack for our family gap year. We spent a lot of time trying to figure everything out and plan to be transparent with everyone regarding …
Packing for a Family Trip Around the World: Mom’s Backpack

Family Travel Packing Guide: Mom’s Backpack The biggest question we have received is definitely about how to pack for a trip around the world. Here is the breakdown of Ashley’s backpack for our family gap year. Check back to this page for updates about how our off-brand gear holds up, what we packed well, and …
Packing for a Family Trip Around the World: Kids’ Backpacks

Family Travel Packing Guide: Kids’ Backpacks The biggest question we have received is definitely about how to pack for a trip around the world. Here is the breakdown of our kids’ backpacks for our family gap year. We are still trying to determine how much they are able to carry on travel days. A few …
10 Ways to Spend Less and Travel More

10 Ways to Spend Less and Travel More Browsing through other families’ beautiful travel photos and videos can be fun and inspirational, but also frustrating if you want to be traveling but don’t think it’s doable for your family. This is exactly why we decided early on that an important component of Traveling Graces needed …
Our 10 Favorite Items for Adventure Travel (9 are under $50!)

Our 10 Favorite Items for Adventure Travel With all the traveling we do we’ve tried many different products to help us both enjoy and remember our trips better. We budget for everything we do, so finding the least expensive way to accomplish this is important. From trying a lot of different products over the years …
10 Best Websites for Finding Incredible Travel Deals

10 Best Websites for Travel Deals Over the fourteen years that we have been married, we have adopted a little hobby of finding great travel deals. Regardless of what financial bracket you fall into, saving on travel means you free up money to give generously, set it aside in savings, travel more often OR even …
6 Traveling Favorites (and how to have an amazing time every time)

6 Traveling Favorites “What is your favorite beach town? Your favorite water sport? Your favorite European city?” We get asked questions like these quite frequently and love asking other travelers similar questions about their traveling favorites. Although every person’s experience will be a little different, it’s a nice luxury to talk with someone who has …
Budget Travel – 7 Ways our Family Saves

Budget Travel- 7 Ways our Family Saves In our family (including our kids!), we will always choose a shared experience over any material possession or gift. This comes in all shapes and sizes for us: cheering on our favorite sports team, getting season passes to local amusement parks, hiking a new trail, but especially exploring …
Our Family Travel Vlog – the start of another new adventure!

Our Family Travel Vlog The first thought of Traveling Graces came in January of 2018. Brandon and I (Ashley) had just booked our flights to join the grandparents on a summer trip to Ireland. I knew this trip would be a bit different for him, because our past travels have been more focused on fun …