Oliver Hudson Talks Childhood Road Trips with Sister Kate Hudson and 'Badass' Mom Goldie Hawn

The actor and podcast host chats with PEOPLE about his new Super 8 by Wyndham PSA and how he's incorporating lessons from childhood road trips into his family vacations today

Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson in 2004. Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty

There's nothing like the great outdoors for Oliver Hudson.

The actor and podcast host is currently on a low-key trip with his immediate family — wife Erinn and their kids Rio Laura, 7, Bodhi Hawn, 11, and Wilder Brooks, 13 — Oliver tells PEOPLE, "We're getting out into nature, cooking, camping, sitting around the fire. It's just the thing that I've always loved to do."

"It [has been] great to get off the grid, and to be together with no devices," adds the Splitting Up Together alum. "We just have books and old-school movies, and it's been really amazing, very fun and a great activity — a great way to bring everyone together."

That's part of the reason why the actor and podcast host, 44, chose to partner with Super 8 by Wyndham on the company's #JourneySafe campaign, for which he voices the "Coach" bobblehead (below) in a new PSA about taking the proper precautions while hitting the road amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Much of his love for unplugging on the open road certainly comes from the way he used to travel with mom Goldie Hawn and sister Kate Hudson, when technological devices as entertainment staples during long car rides were still a ways off.

"My mom was — is — badass," Oliver says of Hawn, 75. "We did a bunch of road trips, honestly. There are a couple in particular that are very memorable just because we were young. We were in the Southwest just cruising around in her van, and it just felt free."

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Oliver Hudson (far left) and family. Todd Williamson/Getty

"We didn't have all of what we have today, and we weren't stopping and watching television," he continues. "It was just this freedom of being out in the world with nothing but us and the wilderness and nature."

Another key component to some of Oliver's favorite road trips with his mom and younger sister: The one and only George Michael. "Faith had just come out, and I was obsessed with the album. So I played it until the tape literally melted," he recalls.

"So it was a lot of George Michael blasting from the van and a lot of stops along the way, and that's the beauty of camping, too," Oliver shares. "One minute you're in the most beautiful moment of your life, and then the next, you're throwing up over the Grand Canyon, trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with your kid. It's fun, all of it."

Aside from his children and sister Kate's three kids, Oliver's family just gained another new member: their younger brother Wyatt Russell's new baby boy, Buddy Prine.

"The more [kids] we can add, the better," the former Dawson's Creek actor tells PEOPLE of becoming an uncle again. "We're a tight family, always have all lived very close to each other, and Wyatt is just a natural father ... he could probably teach me a few things."

Oliver Hudson for Super 8 by Wyndham. Super 8 by Wyndham

Between acting gigs and family time, Oliver is busy with his podcasts Daddy Issues and Sibling Revelry — the latter of which he hosts alongside Kate, 41. Both let him get to work "exploring things that I care about," like the "extremely important and underserved" dynamic between siblings.

"It's been a really nice outlet for me during this [pandemic]," he says.

Speaking of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Oliver couldn't be more excited to be part of the "really smart PSA" for Super 8's #JourneySafe campaign which, according to a release, promotes "the continued importance of safe and responsible travel."

"I think Super 8 by Wyndham is definitely on the right track with this kind of messaging," he says. "It's just being vigilant. It's keeping masks in your car. I have a slew of 10 of them that are hung up on my gear shifter, and I've got hand sanitizer in my car."

"I keep it in my ride because when I'm on my road trips, or when I'm camping, or even when I'm just going out and about, it will always be there," Oliver adds. "I'll never forget it."