No, we’re not running away from anyone, in fact we are generally running AFTER someone. Traveling with kids is rarely easy, but often rewarding. As working moms traveling with our families is usually the best chance we have to spend uninterrupted time with them…for better or for worse. As travel experts we plan a lot of holidays for families and we’re lucky enough to be able to take a few ourselves. Here’s what the Journeys Within moms had to say about traveling with kids:
April O’Connell-Cole
Mother of: One boy
Based: Truckee, CA
When I received Gavin’s passport the first thing I thought of was what great experiences he would have through travel. I envisioned him learning about foreign cultures, gaining tolerance, being an overall better member of the human race (oh, and that’s just the half of it!). What I didn’t realize was how much I would learn through him when we traveled together.
My most precious memory traveling with Gavin was on our last trip to Cambodia. We took him on a village tour in Siem Reap. Gavin walked around the village and wanted to play with the local kids, climb on the ruins and snuggle with his mommy. He saw no difference between this foreign country and his own home back yard. It opened my eyes to the similarities we all share as humans and closed a bit of the gap which I had felt when I first walked around this rural village. I soon realized that in dreaming of all the things that Gavin would learn on his travels, the one thing I missed was all that I would learn by traveling with him.
I look forward to the many things Gavin and I will continue to learn through our travels together.
Linda Chhay
Mother of: One girl and one boy
Based: Siem Reap, Cambodia
My favorite part of traveling with kids is I get to take care of her and when she happy or sad I will know because I’m there and not at work.
I have enjoyed a vacation with my kid at the sea.
I hope that because she travels she will see everything new that different from the old place that she usually saw, especially when she can travel a lot she will know the culture of different people and she will not be scared of those people.
Thanh Van
Mother of: Two boys
Based: Hanoi, Vietnam
My favorite part of traveling with kids is playing with them and taking care of them. I love to enjoy with my kids in the four or five star resorts with nice swimming pools on the beach. I hope my kids get to know the culture of the local people, to discover places that are relatively un-known and get real experience for doing everything by themselves in their life.
Andrea Ross
Mother of: One girl and one boy
Based: Siem Reap, Cambodia
I love that for kids everything about travel is an adventure: the overnight train ride isn’t an exhausting and smelly 12 hours, but rather an amazing experience where you go to sleep and wake up somewhere completely different! My kids are just as excited whether they’re going to the Pumpkin Patch or Thailand and that enthusiasm is contagious. I was lucky enough to grow up traveling and I know the sense of independence and strength it gave me and I love to see my kids learning the same lessons. Traveling helps them figure out who they are and at the same time traveling makes them who they are.
Philippa Nigg
Mother of: Two girls
Based: Truckee, CA
When our kids were little we didn’t travel a lot, or far, but every vacation was an opportunity to explore new experiences and see new places. Then finally we decided that before they were off on their own we would take them to Africa where both of us had grown up. There were groans and please of “Not Aaafrica, there are bugs, and snakes in Aaafrica…”. We went and they never looked back or stopped traveling since! What a fun experience to share those special moments – when we stepped into a local African market – not a tourist market – and they truly realized what it meant to be a minority – when we all felt the adrenalin surge and then relief as we realized the bull elephant was really only doing a mock charge…the shared laughter, new experiences and the opening of horizons happens at unexpected times – but travel and vacations make those moments more likely.
I wish every child and young person could travel, for with travel comes understanding of others as people, of other nations as nations and concern for the whole world rather than a single, selfish small part.
Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Travels!!