Taking Our ND Son to Milwaukee — Here’s How We’re Planning It Differently 💛
We have been taking Lance to Reds road trips for a while now.
And somewhere along the way, something shifted. We stopped planning trips and hoping he’d come along for the ride — and started planning trips that were actually built for him.
Here’s the part I didn’t expect: we ended up loving them more too.
Why Sports and Music Trips Work for Us
We started doing sports and music trips specifically because Lance enjoys them. The structure of a game or a concert gives the whole trip an anchor. There’s a thing we’re going to. There’s a time it starts. There’s a reason we’re in this city.
For a neurodiverse traveler, that kind of built-in structure is genuinely useful. But what surprised me is how much Jamie and I benefit from it too. When the trip has a center of gravity, everything else just falls into place around it.
And the other thing — the thing I wasn’t expecting — is that we’ve started genuinely enjoying the parts of the trip we originally planned for Lance. Not just tolerating them. Actually loving them.
Turns out planning for someone else’s joy has a way of sneaking up on you.
The Hotel: Predictable on Purpose
We booked the Hilton Garden Inn Milwaukee Downtown. Walkable, central, familiar brand.
I know some people chase the most interesting boutique hotel in every city. And I get it — I really do. But for us, the Hilton family of hotels has a consistency that actually matters. Lance knows roughly what to expect when we walk through the door. That’s not a boring choice. That’s a smart one.
Downtown location means once we park, we’re done driving. That alone removes a whole layer of logistical stress.
The Food Strategy: This Is the One People Skip
We scope out two things before every Reds trip: what’s near the stadium, and what’s near where we’re staying.
Near Great American Ball Park, we have our go-to spots — the Cincinnati Lager House, the Yard House. Places we’ve been enough times that we know exactly what we’re getting. But some of our favorite meals happen away from the ballpark entirely, in the neighborhoods near our hotel. In Cincinnati, the streetcar line opens up so many great options it’s almost not fair.
We apply that same approach everywhere we go. Before Milwaukee, I’m already looking at what’s walkable from the Hilton Garden Inn downtown and what we can get to easily from there. Milwaukee actually has its own streetcar — The Hop — so we’re already planning to use it.
Here’s why all of this matters more than it sounds.
Lance needs a schedule. Breakfast at a reasonable hour, dinner at an expected time. When we don’t plan this out, we end up stuffed from a big ballpark lunch at 1pm, and by the time dinner rolls around nobody wants the amazing restaurant we had bookmarked — so we end up with takeout in the hotel room. Which is fine. But it’s not a memory.
Breakfast is actually the easiest part. We always look for hotels with complimentary breakfast — it’s one of the reasons we love Hampton Inns — because it solves the whole morning scheduling problem in one move. Lance gets breakfast at a consistent time, we’re not making decisions before we’ve had coffee, and nobody starts the day stressed.
Dinner we actually plan ahead. We know where we’re going before we get there. Not a rigid reservation-for-everything situation — just a real answer when someone asks “where are we eating tonight” that isn’t “I don’t know, let’s figure it out.”
And then there’s the pizza rule.
Local pizza is always somewhere in the plan. In Cincinnati, that means LaRosa’s delivered to the hotel room — especially if we’re staying two nights and need an easy night-before or post-game option. In every other city, we find whoever does it best there. It’s predictable enough that nobody panics, but you still get to try something new. Lance is in. Jamie is in. I am very in. Finding the local pizza is now just a thing we do on Road trips, and I fully support this tradition.
The Game Day Plan
What time are we arriving? Which gate? Where are we sitting? What’s the food situation inside the park?
I used to kind of wing these things. Now I have answers before we leave the house. Knowing the plan ahead of time means Lance isn’t getting information for the first time while we’re standing in a parking lot. That small shift makes the whole day run differently.
For this one we chose to sit in section 222. The photos from the seats look great and a good view of our team.
We Still Sprinkle In What We Want
Planning for Lance first doesn’t mean Jamie and I don’t get a trip. It means we figure out what works for him — and then build the rest around that foundation.
And in this case, it’s hard to go wrong. This is our first time in Milwaukee. We are excited about everything. The food, the city, the ballpark, whatever we stumble into on the way from the hotel. First-timer energy is genuinely one of my favorite things about road trips — you don’t know enough yet to have expectations, so everything is just a discovery.
That’s a good feeling. I’m not taking it for granted.
What I’d Tell Other Families
You don’t have to overhaul your whole approach to travel. You just have to plan one layer deeper.
Know the food situation before you arrive. Have the hotel figured out. Build in structure where it helps — and breathing room everywhere else.
And if you’re traveling with someone who needs a predictable rhythm to the day, try anchoring the trip around something they genuinely love. You might be surprised how much you end up loving it too.
If you want a tool that helps you track all of this — the logistics, the meal planning, the game-day details — that’s exactly what the Away Game Planner is for.
If you travel with a neurodiverse person and you’ve found something that actually works — drop it in the comments. I’m still figuring this out too. We all are.
Other articles that you may like.
How We’re Choosing Our Next Reds Road Trip
Caribbean vs. Alaska — Which Cruise Actually Fits Real Life Better? 💛
We were docked in Juneau when the storm rolled in.
One minute it was overcast and moody in that gorgeous Alaska way — the kind of light that makes everything look like a postcard you'd actually frame. The next minute the sky just decided it was done cooperating.
When we got back on the ship, I noticed something strange. One of the other cruise ships — a big one — had been pulled from port. Not at the dock anymore. Just floating across the way, like it had quietly excused itself from the conversation.
Nobody made a big announcement about it. It was just gone.
Alaska is like that. Breathtaking and a little humbling, sometimes in the same ten minutes.
The Caribbean, on the other hand, is not subtle about anything — including its cab drivers.
In St. John's, Antigua, Jamie and I got into a taxi and our driver pulled confidently into an intersection where there was very clearly cross traffic coming. The other cars stopped. Our driver did not. He just kept going. Smiled the whole time.
We laughed. Then I grabbed the door handle. Then I laughed again.
Two completely different cruises. Two completely different versions of "well, that happened."
So which one is actually better? Honestly? Neither. They scratch completely different itches. And if you've ever found yourself Googling this at 11pm trying to decide — this is the post I wish I'd had.
The Vibe: What Each Cruise Actually Feels Like
🔗 Alaska
Alaska feels like a wilderness documentary you're somehow inside of. Glaciers. Bald eagles. Water so still it looks fake. You spend a lot of time just standing at the railing not saying anything, because talking would feel weird. You don't want to interrupt it.
The Caribbean feels like exhaling. Warm air the second you step off the ship. Bright colors everywhere. The whole pace of it is slower and sunnier — and not just because of the weather. There's something about a Caribbean port that gives you permission to just be on vacation.
Neither vibe is wrong. They're just different answers to the question of what you need right now.
The Weather Situation (Honest Talk)
Alaska weather is genuinely unpredictable, and you have to make peace with that before you go.
You can pack layers and rain gear and the right shoes and still end up with a glacier tour that's foggy, or a port day that's cold and drizzly. That's not a failure. That's Alaska. The ship that quietly left the Juneau dock in a storm wasn't a catastrophe — it was just the cruise version of "the mountain doesn't care about your itinerary."
The Caribbean has weather too. It's hot. Sometimes humid. There's a hurricane season to work around. But day to day? You mostly know what you're getting. The sun is going to show up. The water is going to be warm. You're not going to need to layer.
If weather unpredictability stresses you out — that's useful information, not a reason to skip Alaska entirely. Just go in with the right mindset.
Pacing: Where You'll Spend Your Energy
Alaska cruises tend to be more active. The ports beg you to get out and do something — whale watching, glacier hikes, floatplane tours. You can take it slow, but the scenery kind of dares you to engage.
Caribbean cruises have more room for doing absolutely nothing, and that's not an insult. Sometimes nothing is exactly what you need. A beach chair, a drink with an umbrella in it, and three hours where nobody needs anything from you? That's a legitimate vacation.
First-Timer vs. Been Around the Block
If someone asks me which cruise to do first, I usually say Caribbean. More accessible, more forgiving logistics, eases you into cruise life without the weather anxiety.
Alaska gets better the more comfortable you are with cruising — not because it's hard, but because you'll enjoy it more when you already know how to pace yourself. When to sleep in. When to skip an excursion. How to build in breathing room.
But there are no wrong answers. Plenty of people do Alaska first and never look back.
So Which One Is Right for You?
Caribbean is probably your trip if you want warmth and ease, you're newer to cruising, rest is the whole point, or weather predictability matters to your peace of mind.
Alaska is probably your trip if you want something that genuinely moves you — if you're up for a little unpredictability in exchange for views that will wreck you in the best possible way.
And if you want to do either one without figuring out all the logistics yourself — that's what I'm here for.
Travel It With Us
I'm building the interest list for a hosted Alaska cruise in 2027 right now. Independent exploration, optional group hang time so we can all share stories from the day. I handle the planning — you just show up.
Caribbean is coming too. Drop your name on the list and I'll keep you in the loop on both.
🔗 Join the Journey — Harmony Horizon 360 Travel
I Don’t Plan Trips to Get Away… I Plan Them So Life Feels Better When I Come Back
It Didn’t Start the Way I Thought It Would
I used to think travel was about getting away.
From the stress.
From the noise.
From everything waiting for me at home.
But the truth is…
the best trips I’ve ever taken didn’t help me escape my life.
They helped me come back to it differently.
This Trip Was Different
We just got back from a two-week cruise with friends and family.
And if I’m being honest… I needed it more than I realized.
Life at home had been stacking up.
Work felt heavy.
The house felt loud.
My brain felt full.
So instead of planning something packed and busy,
we did the opposite.
We chose a longer cruise.
More time.
More space.
More room to breathe.
And yes… maybe a few too many port days (lesson learned),
but in between those, there was something I hadn’t had in a while.
Time to just be.
Time to sit with Jamie without rushing off to the next thing.
Time to talk, laugh, wander, or do absolutely nothing.
Time to think without immediately needing to solve anything.
And somewhere in all of that…
I reset.
Just enough to feel like myself again.
How I Plan Now
When I plan trips now, I think about them differently.
Not:
“How much can we fit in?”
But:
“How do I want to feel while I’m there… and when I come back?”
That changes everything.
It means:
Leaving space in the schedule
Choosing walkable, easy locations
Not overloading every single day
Building in time to sit, reflect, and connect
Because the goal isn’t to come home exhausted with great pictures.
It’s to come home lighter.
Finding Our Spot
This might sound simple… but it matters.
We always find “our spot.”
On this cruise, it was a quiet area where we could sit with a drink,
watch the ocean, and just exist for a minute.
No pressure to be doing something.
No agenda.
Just a place where we knew we could land.
Those little anchor spots become part of the reset.
Things I’ve Learned Along the Way
A few things I’ve learned the hard way:
Not every port needs to be an excursion
You don’t have to say yes to everything
Rest is part of the plan, not a break from it
The best conversations don’t happen when you’re rushing
Sometimes the best part of the trip is the part you didn’t plan.
We’re actually planning our Reds weekends the same way now — less packed, more intentional.
What I’d Go Back For
Not just places… but feelings.
I’d go back for:
Slow mornings with nowhere to be
Laughing at dinner without checking the time
That feeling when your shoulders finally drop
Real conversations that don’t get cut short
That’s the part I want again.
What Travel Really Does for Me
I don’t plan trips to get away from my life anymore.
I plan them so I can come back to it better.
More patient.
More present.
Less overwhelmed.
Because travel, for me, isn’t an escape hatch.
It’s a reset button.
And honestly…
It’s become one of the best ways I’ve found
to take care of the life I’ve already built. 💛
If you’ve been feeling that pull too…
I’ve started putting together a few trips (some simple, some a little bigger)
and you can join the interest list here:👉 Join the Reset and Roam Trip List
No pressure, just a way to see what we’re planning.
How We’re Choosing Our Next Reds Road Trip (And What We’re Doing Differently This Time)
There’s something about planning a trip that starts long before anything is booked.
It usually begins with a feeling.
For us right now…
it’s simple:
We need something to look forward to.
Not a big, complicated vacation.
Not something that takes weeks to recover from.
Just a trip that feels easy…
fun…
and a little like us again.
⸻
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We haven’t planned everything yet.
We haven’t mapped every stop or booked every detail.
But we have decided something more important:
how we want the trip to feel.
Walkable.
Simple.
Walkable. Simple. Room to wander.
Time to sit somewhere with a drink and just take it all in.
A game in the middle of it all…
not the only thing.
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That’s the shift for us.
We used to plan around the game.
Now we’re planning around the experience…
and letting the game be part of it.
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We’re starting with the basics.
Looking at schedules.
Picking a city that makes sense.
Finding a place we can stay where we don’t have to drive everywhere.
Because we’ve learned…
how a trip flows matters more than how much you fit into it.
⸻
There’s something else we’re doing differently too.
We’re not trying to get it perfect before we go.
We’re letting some of it stay open.
Because some of our favorite moments on past trips…
weren’t planned at all.
They were the in-between moments.
The walk to nowhere in particular.
The random conversation.
The place we almost didn’t stop.
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So this trip?
It’s still coming together.
We’ll choose the game.
We’ll lock in the stay.
We’ll sketch out a loose plan.
But we’re leaving space.
For fun.
For connection.
For whatever the trip turns into once we’re actually there.
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And honestly… that’s part of what I love most about this.
The planning isn’t just logistics.
It’s a reminder that we get to choose how we spend our time.
That we can build something to look forward to…
even in the middle of regular life.
⸻
If you’re thinking about taking a trip this year…
especially something simple like a weekend away…
you don’t have to have it all figured out.
Start with how you want it to feel.
Then build from there.
💛
What We’re Prioritizing This Time
Walkable location
One anchor event (the game)
Open time built in
Simple plans over packed schedules
How I Plan Trips Without Overplanning Them ✈️
Travel planning used to feel like a performance. I thought being “prepared” meant having every hour accounted for, every option researched, every moment optimized. And honestly, it stole a lot of joy. I was so focused on doing it right that I forgot to let myself actually look forward to the trip.
These days, planning looks different. Softer. More human.
This week was a perfect example. Jamie and I spent a few evenings tossing around ideas — maybe a quick night away somewhere close, maybe a cozy couples hot‑tub room, maybe a weekend trip a little farther out. Nothing urgent. Nothing forced. Just exploring possibilities the way you’d wander through a store without needing to buy anything 🛍️.
And the next day we’ll sit down and book our excursions and flights for our April cruise. Even that feels lighter than it used to. Instead of treating it like a task to check off, it feels like a small moment of anticipation ✨. A reminder that something good is coming.
Where Overplanning Used to Steal Joy 😣
For years, I believed the only way to avoid stress was to plan everything. But the truth was the opposite. The more I tried to control every detail, the more pressure I put on myself — and the less present I was once the trip actually started.
I’d get so wrapped up in the schedule that I’d miss the moment right in front of me.
The Boundary I Build Into Every Trip Now 🚧
Now, I give myself one simple boundary:
If a plan starts feeling like a rule, I loosen it.
That’s it.
If something feels heavy, I step back.
If something feels rushed, I slow down.
If something feels like an obligation, I let it go.
It’s the gentlest boundary I’ve ever set, and somehow the most effective.
Leaving Space for Things to Unfold 🌙
One of my favorite parts of travel now is the space I leave open on purpose. Not empty time — open time.
Like the night Jamie and I wandered into a tiny café on a whim because the lights looked warm and the music sounded good. That moment wasn’t on any itinerary. It wasn’t researched or bookmarked or saved on a list. It just happened because we weren’t rushing to the next thing.
That’s the kind of magic I want more of.
Planning Without Turning It Into a Job 🧘♀️
Planning can support joy without suffocating it. It can give you a sense of direction without boxing you in. It can help you feel prepared without demanding perfection.
And sometimes the lightest planning moments are the sweetest — like scrolling through hotel rooms and laughing together at the ones with hilariously dramatic décor. (Why do so many places have neon lights behind the bed now? Who decided that was the vibe 😂)
Travel doesn’t have to be serious to be meaningful.
It just has to feel like you.
You’re allowed to leave room for magic. ✨
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