There’s so much travel information out there, but how do you find it, curate it, and use it to plan your roadtrip? How do you form loops and calculate reasonable drive times? Whether you’re contemplating a one-week roadtrip or a grand Bucket List adventure, this workshop will guide you in creating interesting routes, finding unique stops and lodging, timing different legs of a trip that involves fixed dates such as weddings or festivals, and rerouting mid-trip without sacrificing the fun—while still leaving room for spontaneity! To get the most out of this two-day interactive workshop, bring a laptop and/or smartphone, as there will be opportunities for hands-on practice with internet searches and maps. While explaining her planning techniques, Kari will share practical advice, inspiring experiences, cautionary tales, and downright debacles—in RVs, SUVs, vans, and sedans—from her cross-country roadtrips, Germany’s scenic Fairy Tale route, circling the Iberian Peninsula, looping Ireland, rounding the Great Lakes, meandering through Normandy, exploring out West, skirting the southern coast of Iceland, and driving throughout Central, Western, and Northern Europe.
BIO
Kari Martindale, a published writer and former travel blogger, is a roadtripper at heart. She has visited all 50 States and over 40 countries. Since the 1990s, she has been roadtripping throughout the US, nearly 20 European countries, and a portion of Canada. Kari’s roadtrips have ranged from less than a week to over a month; her Summer 2023 roadtrip traversed 27 States, from MD to CA and back, for a total of 9,000+ miles over 40 days.
She has traveled solo as well as with family, friends, babies, retirees, dogs—and, once, her daughter’s fish. She has stayed in luxury hotels and sketchy motels, castles and campgrounds, Walmart parking lots, a yurt, and even the grounds of a small wildlife park. Kari is a poet and writer who has read across Maryland and performed at the White House. She has an M.A. in Linguistics, sits on the Board of Maryland Writers’ Association, is a managing member of EC Poetry & Prose, and is a teaching artist for Armed Services Arts Partnership.