New Zealand, May 2015
It’s been almost a week since we got back from our epic New Zealand Adventure. I had hoped to blog about our journey in real time, but ultimately realized that being fully present for my family and a super early bedtime trumped blogging into the ground. So, a retrospective blog it is!
In these humble posts I hope to share the good, the bad and the ugly of international travel with our toddlers. Overall, our trip went extremely well, but it wasn’t without its momentary meltdowns, for kids and parents alike! Needless to say, it was a huge learning experience. I want to share what we learned in the hopes that it might inspire other parents to take the plunge and do the unthinkable…travel with children!
Colin and I both have a bit of wanderlust running through our veins. But after having two kids back to back, I started believing that once you have kids it’s "game over". No more travel. No more adventures. Of course, we have done day trips and small road trips, along with tons of cross country travel to visit family in Texas, but I really thought the “big trips” were over and gone. But Colin has always remained in the mindset of “With savings, a good budget* and a lot of determination, traveling with kids IS possible."
After going to New Zealand for our honeymoon, Colin always talked about going back. I remained dubious! We did an RV road trip to the Canadian Rockies in the summer of 2014 (the inspiration for my blog) and had the most wonderful time. It was great practice for a similar trip we dreamed of taking in New Zealand. Then one day in March of 2015, we decided to dive in and purchase tickets. People told us we were brave, but I know they really meant we were crazy!
We are home now, having traveled across the world with our two babies. We did it and never misplaced a child or our sanity in the process. I call that success! Check back here for more installments about our epic family adventure. Oh! And a very special thanks to my sister, Melanie, for going on the adventure with us!
*(There is no denying that money is a huge aspect of being able to pull off any kind of travel. This is where putting savings into a travel budget becomes vital because you will never save up enough for a big family trip by throwing spare change into a jar on the kitchen shelf. Maybe I’ll get Colin to write a post about budgeting. It's definitely his expertise, not mine! :)
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