Hello, and welcome to Explore With Tori, a family travel blog, inspiring you to get outside, explore, and start traveling with your kids.
All it took was a trip to London and Paris when I was eleven and a mom who instilled in me that “you have to leave home at least once a year” to develop a deep yearning for seeing and experiencing the world.
As a mom to two boys now myself, I’ve been to 35 states, 27 US National Parks, and 15 countries, many of which with my kids. I also get to share my love of family travel and inspire thousands of readers to prioritize adventure with the world through this lil blog of mine!
My goal here is to inspire you to embark on those adventures you’ve been saying no to, and to provide you with actually useful tips and itineraries to make planning those trips feasible and seamless. I aim to be your go-to adventure mom and your biggest cheerleader when it comes to saying “yes” to what’s out there!
What Will You Find on our Family Travel Blog?
Our family is a mid-range travel family, which means we travel comfortably with a moderate budget. As pro-road trippers, we’ve camped across the entire country and immerse ourselves in our National Parks, but also break up our trips with moderate level hotel stays and rentals.
On our family travel blog, we share dozens of tips for road tripping, camping, and hiking, as our travel style is very adventure focused. It’s our goal to visit every state and National Park; and to share our itineraries, tips, and hikes with our readers along the way! There’s just something so incredibly humbling and freeing about being able to visit these epic, remote, and vast corners of our country – and sharing it with my babies.
You won’t see us saying no to a European or Caribbean adventure either, though. We typically use points and travel strategically for more costly trips. While we’re not luxury travelers by any means, we enjoy a range of experiences and our itineraries typically feature a wide variety of excursions, museums, restaurants, and outdoor adventures. It’s safe to say our focus is on outdoor adventure, culture, and history. Throw a winery with a view in there for good measure, and I’m more than happy.
We utilize travel hacking, and share our tips and strategies as well. Using points and miles has allowed us to save thousands of dollars across the world, stay in nicer hotels, and cash in on free flights to travel to destinations we could only dream of. If you want to start travel hacking to stretch your family travel budget further, you’re in the right place.
Lastly, we’re not van-lifers, homeschoolers, or nomads by any means. And our travels and family travel blog reflects this. We are very much a typical family who chooses to prioritize travel over other luxuries. Our kids play sports, we own a home, and we probably will forego summer camp to galavant across the country ever summer. Just the four of us, in a sedan, with a packed truck and over-stuffed roof rack, covered in stickers from the place we’ve visited.
If you’re looking for a family travel blog that meets the average family where they are, and helps to strategically build in great adventure, you’re in the right place.
Oh, and we’re a carry-on only family…whether my husband likes it or not!
More About Tori of Explore With Tori
I (Tori) am the sole writer, manager, editor, photographer, and travel planner behind this blog and all of our family adventures. Give me a destination, and I’ll have a family itinerary whipped up before my husband can second guess himself.
In 2019, I hung up my MLS (Masters in Library Science) and career as a Children’s Librarian to raise my two boys and build this platform. We currently reside on Long Island (New York) and you can catch up departing from JFK or hitting the road at 4am to beat New York City traffic for a road trip.
With a husband who works from home as a cloud security engineer, we have the freedom and flexibility to travel more, but we mostly follow the school schedule and aim to inspire other typical families to build extraordinary adventures into their everyday lives.
Some of my favorite travel memories have been getting married on the coast of Saint Lucia, kayaking through the Channel Islands of California, watching the sunrise over Cadillac Mountain in Maine, visiting all 9 California National Parks in one long, cross country summer, and climbing to the top of Notre Dame to overlook Paris, my favorite city.
I love the beach, an ice cold glass of white Bordeaux, and reading historical fiction. If I’m not traveling, or planning a trip, you can find me involved in my sons’ school with the PTA, rearranging my house, or running late to pilates.
I’m very much an ordinary mom, doing her best to inspire extraordinary adventures and build lifelong family memories.
Where Can You Find Explore With Tori
Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest
Email: contact.torileigh [@] gmail.com
Wait, you are a yoga teacher too? That’s one of my long-term goals… And you know I was a librarian who has a MLIS and peaced out…and we love wine. SOOOOO…..blogging friends forever ; )
Yesss!! I did YTT in 2014 and taught like 5 classes a week on top of working FT and burned out so fast – when I got pregnant with my son I quit all my classes and now I just sub and teach kids. BUT, I’m so glad I did it bc it definitely keeps me a more sane person…that and all the wine I drink!
You are doing great job, Tori. Keep on it!