Part one: Announcement
First off, I owe all of you a HUGE Thank You. I had a guess that the topic of family travel based in reality had an audience, but I’m blown away by the response, including speakers (on their own dime) and readers willing to come from across the country to share and learn from each other.
With your support, I’m so happy to announce that “Family Travel For Real Life” is live! FT4RL will be held August 23 at the Hyatt House Dulles Airport in the Washington DC suburbs. Registration will begin at 9AM and sessions will run from 10-5:00) with a lunch and afternoon snack break included in admission.
As this is a labor of love, I’ve worked with the Hyatt House to keep costs as low as possible. I’m thrilled we can offer the first 25 tickets for only $49, with tickets after 25 going for $59. At the moment we are capped at 50 attendees, but I will consider renting a 2nd ballroom if demand is through the roof.
Hyatt House also offered me a group room rate of $85 (pre-tax), but I’d keep an eye on prices as weekends tend to go lower. I’ll have a booking link soon. If you’ve never stayed at a Hyatt House, you’re in for a treat! All rooms are full suites and breakfast is complimentary and includes fresh omelettes. I’ll definitely be there Friday night and will be happy to co-ordinate a dinner or happy hour for any staying over.
I’m SO grateful to our speakers who are volunteering their time (and getting here from across the coast to coast on their own dimes). It shows how much we all really care about the topic and want to share their knowledge with you.
Confirmed Speakers and Tentative Schedule:
- 9:00-9:45: Registration and meet your fellow travelers
- 9:45-10:00: Welcome from The Deal Mommy
- 10:00-10:55: Shawn Coomer, Dad, from Miles to Memories on the topic of extended travel with your kids (with an assist from The Deal Mommy on Camp Mom).
- 11:00-11:55: Phil, Dad of 2, from Miles Abound on how to earn miles without opening 10 credit cards in one day or spending 20K a month and which programs are best for families.
- 12:00-12:55: Lunch (be sure to use this time to meet new friends and chat travel!)
- 1:00-1:55: Jason Steele, Dad of 2 and well-known points expert, on booking award tickets for families.
- 2:00-2:55: Susan DeBruhl, Mom and Grandma, from Carolina Travel Girl on lodging options when a regular hotel room just isn’t gonna cut it. I’ll have lots to share on this topic too!
- 2:55-3:10: Afternoon Break and snack
- 3:10-4:05: Debra Schroeder, Mom of 2, from Traveling Well for Less on how to keep saving once your get to your destination.
- 4:05-5:00: Ask the Speakers session. Make sure to bring your specific travel dilemmas!
And I keep forgetting to mention: Awesome Door Prizes!
And finally (drum roll), here’s the link to register!
Family Travel for Real Life Ticket Sales
And as a reminder, here’s the original post and concept:
“We need not wait to see what others do” Gandhi
I’ve noticed more and more a huge gap in the travel community: real life advice for “real families”, especially those with school aged children. I’ve asked for three years for more family seminars to be included in FTU and Chicago Seminars, but after the success of the recent “Mile Madness” event in Charlotte, I can’t help but think it’s time to create what I think many want to see.I envision sharing topics such as:
- Scheduling around a school calendar
- Saving money without relying on only credit card bonuses
- Hotel room alternatives for families, even overseas
- Booking award tickets when you need more than 2
- Destination Planning for families
- Camp Mom: traveling with your kids for less than camp
- How to Save on Theme Park vacations
But mostly, I envision finding a group of like minded people and helping each other.
June 14, 2014
Part two: Schedule
I’m so happy to present the confirmed speakers and schedule for “Family Travel For Real Life”!
FT4RL will be held August 23 at the Hyatt House Dulles Airport in the Washington DC suburbs. Registration will begin at 9AM and sessions will run from 10-5:00 with a lunch and afternoon snack break included in admission. I’m SO grateful to our speakers who are volunteering their time (and getting here from coast to coast on their own dimes). It shows how much we all really care about the topic and want to share our knowledge with you.
Confirmed Speakers and Schedule:
- 9:00-9:45: Registration and meet your fellow travelers
- 9:45-10:00: Welcome from The Deal Mommy
- 10:00-10:55: Shawn Coomer, Dad, from Miles to Memories on the topic of extended travel with your kids (with an assist from The Deal Mommy on Camp Mom).
- 11:00-11:55: Phil, Dad of 2, from Miles Abound on how to earn miles without opening 10 credit cards in one day or spending 20K a month and which programs are best for families.
- 12:00-12:55: Lunch (be sure to use this time to meet new friends and chat travel!)
- 1:00-1:55: Jason Steele, Dad of 2 and well-known points expert, on using those points on family travel (Have you ever tried to book 4 award tickets?)
- 2:00-2:55: Susan DeBruhl, Mom and Grandma, from Carolina Travel Girl on lodging options when a regular hotel room just isn’t gonna cut it. I’ll have lots to share on this topic as well, including how I rent condos worldwide for $35/night!
- 2:55-3:10: Afternoon Break and snack
- 3:10-4:05: Debra Schroeder, Mom of 2, from Traveling Well for Less on how to keep saving once you get to your destination.
- 4:05-5:00: Ask the Speakers session. Make sure to bring your specific travel questions!
The schedule might get tweaked as speakers have been coming out of the woodwork and I’d love to fit more in, but don’t want to shortchange anyone’s session. It’s a good problem to have!
I keep forgetting to mention: Awesome Door Prizes!
And finally (drum roll), here’s the link to register. Early Bird Tickets are still available at $49, but they are going fast. After they are sold out, Tickets will be $59.
Family Travel for Real Life Ticket Sales
Hyatt House offers a group room rate of $85 (pre-tax), but I’d keep an eye on Hyatt.com as prices for the weekends tend to go lower. If you’ve never stayed at a Hyatt House, you’re in for a treat! All rooms are full suites and breakfast is complimentary and includes fresh omelettes. I’ll definitely be there Friday night and will be happy to co-ordinate a dinner or happy hour for any staying over. I’m also open to putting together a group Saturday night as I know a few of you want to come on the other end of the weekend.
Will we see you at FT4RL? I can’t wait to talk travel with fellow parents!
June 21, 2014
Part 3: “Family Travel for Real Life” Worked! Time to plan #FT4RL 2…
Travel with kids is not only possible, but necessary. By sharing the world with our children, we expand both their minds and our own, creating a lifetime’s worth of wonder that can come no other way.
I’m happy to report FT4RL went better than I could have imagined. The speakers brought incredibly diverse experiences to the table from chicken buses in Guatemala to (gah!) first class to the Maldives. We had an engaged group of guests, everyone had great feedback about the sessions, and most importantly we all left with both concrete tips to use in our travels and a network of new friends to help us share ideas.
I can’t thank Shawn, Jason, Phil, Susan, and Debra enough for their generous donations of time and knowledge.
Hat tip goes to Dan for live blogging FT4RL so I don’t have to do a detailed recap! You’ll get a real flavor of the sessions by checking out his posts.
My favorite part of FT4RL wasn’t the sessions, though, as fun and informative as they were. My favorite part of the event, as it’s “Mom”, was watching the room fly on it’s own. We’ve all been to events where the vibe was just “dead”, and it’s always a fear when you have a party that people won’t gel. I knew before we even started that FT4RL was going to work because the guests quickly got to know each other and by the time afternoon break rolled around, I had trouble getting everyone back to their seats for the last session!
The event officially ended up at 5, but we were in the room until 6:30 until we rolled the party over the bar, then closed it down. THAT’s the sign of a good event!
Will you be at FT4RL2? Please share any ideas about timing and location in the comments and I’ll get a poll up in a few days.
PS: Shout to the Hyatt House Dulles Airport for hosting. The hotel universally got high marks, even for the food (which can be hit or miss at a hotel event). We all raved over the desserts…the cupcakes were straight out of a gourmet bakery! If you have an event to plan in the DC Metro area, definitely reach out to Heba and Terrell in the sales department
