Gas prices? Turmoil? Are you rethinking your summer travel plans
By Eileen Ogintz
Tribune Content Agency
Taking the Kids
Are you rethinking your summer travel plans? You’re not alone.
Campspot, a leading booking platform for RV, tent and glamping campgrounds, reports in its new Dust-Off Summer Trend Report that nearly 70 percent of travelers say higher costs are disrupting summer travel plans. The majority are reducing air travel and are more likely to choose drive-to getaways than last year.
According to the latest American Travel Sentiment study from Longwoods International, the war in Iran is influencing decisions for international travel. Thirty-nine percent will postpone their international trips and 37 percent will replace an international trip with a domestic one.
“But even with these major disruptions, 90 percent of American travelers still plan to travel in the next six months,” said Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International.
Perhaps you will camp instead of staying in a hotel. You can pack a cooler for picnic lunches and dinners and seek out free attractions and summer festivals. Many city and state official tourism sites will tell you what free attractions are on offer, as well as special events this summer.
Certainly, there are many reasons to travel this summer. The kids will only be this age once. You are celebrating a special anniversary, graduation or birthday.
Let’s not forget all of the events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Colorado’s 150th birthday, Route 66’s Centennial and the World Cup. (Our Best Summer guide, done with our partners at Family Travel Forum offers some great ideas. (Johnny Jet offers the excellent Ultimate Guide to America 250 Events Worth Traveling For.)
There are plenty of lodging deals and incentives to go along with the big celebrations. Hopefully, you can find some not too far from home.
If you can’t afford tickets to a World Cup game, there are big FIFA fan festivals in cities across the country where matches will take place, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and Kansas City. In New York, the American Museum of Natural History, has just opened World Cup, World Cultures with watch parties, interactive soccer experiences, activities exploring the science of sports and more. From June 11 through July 19, 2026, guests can step onto the pitch at LEGOLAND resorts and immerse themselves in everything World Cup fun with interactive games, an epic LEGO build and character experiences inspired by LEGO FIFA heroes.
Expect to see new exhibits around the country’s 250th birthday at museums and historic sites, including in Washington, DC, where The Declaration’s Promise (opening July 3) at the Library of Congress, complete with Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
At George Washington’s Mount Vernon in Virginia, there is a new exhibit of George Washington: A Revolutionary Life and the Patriots Path, and a Revolutionary War exhibit at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello offering a revamped hands-on discovery room and a new exhibit 1776: Road to the Declaration. Come to Mount Vernon for the special Juneteenth programming exploring the lives of enslaved people there.
Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, said to be the largest living history museum, is celebrating its centennial. The new hands-on Crawford Archaeology Center is a working lab that gives visitors a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how historians and archaeologists uncover and interpret 18th-century life. See the Great American Birthday Quilt, a 500-foot-long installation created from submissions across the country. And while you are in Williamsburg, the kids won’t let you skip Busch Gardens.
(The newly launched free Virginia 250 Passport encourages visitors to commemorate America’s 250th by exploring 70 premier historic sites and museums across five regions of Virginia.)
PHILADELPHIA, of course, is where in 1776 the Second Continental Congress adopted the name “United States of America” and where the Declaration of Independence was written. See The Declaration’s Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution, the two new galleries at the National Constitution Center and Three Centuries of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You won’t want to miss the chance to time travel back to the 18th century and chat with the nation’s founders with Historic Philadelphia’s free programs. Each week in 2026, experience a new “first” that originated in the city that started it all. There will be a celebration each of the four Saturdays in June and four Saturdays in July, beginning June 6 and including the first American flag, first organized baseball team and even the first ice cream soda.
The Wawa Welcome America festival is expanding to a 16-day festival, offering the country’s largest July 4th celebrations and one of the largest free festivals in the country.
Of course, there will be July 4th celebrations everywhere, but this year’s will be special. New York, for example, will be celebrating with the arrival of the largest fleet of the world’s tall ships and gray hull ships into New York Harbor.
Carnival Cruise Line is celebrating with special America’s 250th birthday cruises, complete with special deck parties, dishes, themed dance classes and more.
Colorado is celebrating its big birthday with festivals (including the inaugural Breckenridge Wildflower Week July 2 to 12), museum exhibits (Moments That Made US at History Colorado Center in Denver), hotels (the Kindred Resort at Keystone) and nearly 150 celebratory drone shows. (A free Digital Passport Program encourages visitors to explore Colorado’s attractions, businesses and hidden gems to earn rewards, badges and exclusive offers like $500 in United travel credits and 150,000 United MileagePlus miles.)
Best Western is encouraging travelers to explore the country through Best Western Rewards® Summer Sweepstakes. Best Western Rewards members can earn 1,000 bonus points per night all summer.
Hilton is kicking off Hilton Honors America Experiences with 12 road trips for only 250 Hilton Honors Points, gas included. New Hilton Honors America Experiences will be added throughout the summer.
Loews Hotels is celebrating the upcoming 100-year anniversary of Route 66 with a new campaign called Loews on 66, inspired by the original stretch of the Mother Road from Chicago to St. Louis, complete with themed suites, a retro diner pop-up in Chicago and soda fountain in St. Louis.
RVshare offers a guide to the ultimate Route 66 road trip, including where to stay, special events and best sections to explore while Under Canvas, the glamping resorts near national parks, is touting a Star Spangled Summer, complete with Americana programming and a $250th anniversary experience credit when you book three nights. (Use code Celebrate250.)
What’s your pick?
(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)
©2026 Eileen Ogintz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.