Father and son trips are about more than sports

The Atlanta Braves were thwacking their way through batting practice, a herd of fans clamoring for autographs in between swings.

A few feet away, Jeff Siegel and his son Spence stood surrounded by a CNN crew getting peppered with questions, a couple of media stars whose journey started simply, but snowballed into something special.

Nearly 11 years ago, when Spence was 7, the duo from Evanston, Ill., took a last-minute trip to a handful of NBA arenas.

The trip was a success on both a fan level – Jeff and Spence define sports fanatics – and an emotional one, as Jeff, a single dad, discovered the excursion to be ideal bonding time.

Every year since, they’ve continued their quest to visit every NBA arena and Major League Baseball park in the U.S. before Spence went to college, a total of 60 venues.

He leaves for Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., next month. And Atlanta, along with Miami, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, was on their final itinerary, one which will likely encompass about 2,000 miles.

During the years, as Jeff, 51, would recount their tales of ballpark visits in San Diego and arena adventures in Chicago, friends and family would encourage him to document the trips.

He finally took their advice and in May released “RelationTrips -- A Simple, Powerful Way to Bond with Your Loved Ones Through Personalized Road Trips,” a collection of anecdotes about his and Spence’s adventures and tips for parents to explore common travel interests with their kids.

“This is, to a large degree, about being together on the road and the bonding between kids and parents,” Jeff said. “But it’s also about finding those points of interests between you and your kids. It doesn’t have to be sports. It could be visiting every roller coaster in the country or music clubs or restaurants that you saw on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.’ If it sounds like an excuse to talk to your kids, then it’s a good idea.”

Jeff, a creative director for Fortune 500 sales companies, and Spence appear to have nothing but affection for each other and swear there is rarely, if ever, a cross word between them during their weeks-at-a-time travels.

Usually, they fly from Chicago to a starting point – this time it was Miami – and cruise in a rental car from there.

They share the frustrations that often accompany vacationing – spotty directions, traffic, deciding where to eat – which further nourishes their relationship.

“There are moments when it might start to be a really long day and we might get worried about missing the start of the game, but that’s about it,” Spence said with a sweet grin and a shrug.

Earlier this week, while the Braves continued their batting practice, ESPN star – and one of Spence’s broadcasting heroes – Tim Kurkjian sauntered by to watch the team hit. Jeff immediately urged his son to take advantage of the moment and go say hello.

With a nervous smile, Spence, who will study sports communication in college, approached Kurkjian, quickly explaining his travels with his dad. Jeff proudly snapped a photo of them, which is now on their Facebook “RelationTrips” page along with a history of photos of trips past and current.

Spence readily admits that the experience of traveling with his dad has taught him more than just the importance of familial fusion, like, say, developing an appreciation of regional food specialties.

“When I was younger, I had a limited repertoire of food,” Spence said. But now, he’ll always yearn for the cheese steaks at Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia and the chili at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

In Atlanta, the pair chose to eat at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, not for any local connection, but because it held special meaning from a previous visit to the city.

Don’t assume, though, that means Jeff and Spence blow scads of cash on fine dining and fancy hotels during these “RelationTrips.” For their overnight in Atlanta, they stayed at a Comfort Inn. Planning ahead, said Jeff, is key.

“If you’re strategic, you can find cost effective places to stay,” he said, noting that his trips with his son are often less expensive than a few days at an amusement park.

But money really isn’t the object of these journeys and that is what Jeff wants others to understand.

“The most important currency is time," he said, "and a close second is creativity.”

Tips for RelationTrips

In his book, “RelationTrips -- A Simple, Powerful Way to Bond with Your Loved Ones Through Personalized Road Trips” (available through www.Amazon.com and www.MyRelationTrips.com), Jeff Siegel offers many tips for road-trippers.

Among them:

• Personalize and customize your trips to explore common interests

• Planning each phase of the trip is a multi-month experience

• Involve your child in as much planning as possible

• Enrich the trip by weaving in cultural and non-theme related highlights

• Find "teachable" moments on the trip

• Document the trip, whether through photos, journals or social media

• Fill up a "dream notebook" with entries for possible ideas for themes and destinations