My name is Mary and I have 4 kids under 9 (3, 5, 7 and 8)…
I started this blog to share my passion about travel. Just because we have kids doesn’t mean our sense of adventure must end. Having lived in Hong Kong, my husband and I cultivated our sense of adventure during our short 2 years there.
So far, we have taken our kids to Beijing, Shanghai, Hanoi, Syndey, Melbourne, London, various locations throughout Mexico, lots of places in the US and hope to travel more. Together, we can learn from each other and share tips and horror stories about travel with kids.
This site will only work as a community because only from each other will we learn how to do it best. Together, we can share our experiences and pitfalls to make the most of our adventures. Travel is a gift to our children and let’s learn from each other so we can open their eyes to the world.
Cheers…
Hi! I just noticed that your kids have the same age spread as mine (mine are 7, 5, 4, and 2). I love to travel with them, but so far I haven’t braved (and haven’t been able to afford) flying with them. It’s great that you’ve taken your kids to so many interesting places!
It is tricky…with a 2 year old…is he/she diaper trained?
I remember trying to find diapers in a remote area of China for the kids and having to spend $50 US to send someone 30 minutes away to find them…we were in a place where the poverty was so bad kids didn’t wear diapers! Makes for a bigger suitcase.
I always look for spots with cheap child care (or all inclusive). When we went to Shanghai for example it cost $3 an hour for a nanny and her husband also needed work, so for $6 an hour we had a manny and a nanny! It was ideal. We also have an adventurous babysitter who will come with us cheap for the cost of an airline ticket.
Don’t know where you live but places like the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club are awesome because your room is on the beach so you can sit outside and enjoy the ocean after the kids go to bed or, for the more adventurous traveler, you can go to Bali where they love kids and the help is cheap (and so are the accomodations).
I guess it’s like anything, no pain no gain. Like my husband says “sometimes the things that take the most effort can have the biggest payoff.”
Keep me posted about your travels and vice versa! Cheers.
We’re off to Hawaii (from Toronto) with our 2 1/2 and almost 4 year old kids. Am going to try RascalsinParadise.com travel agency you recommended re: accomodations in Maui (if you have Maui suggestions, please advise! We leave in a week or so and still have not found the perfect place!) We used Aeroplan points for our tickets but had to do a lot of research re: inter-island travel (ferry or plane?) and car rentals and accomodations. We’re booked at Aqua Bamboo and Spa in Waikiki.
Our kids are pretty good travellers whether by car or plane. Spent a week in Vancouver in June with them.
If anyone needs travel advice from a local mom in Toronto, I can certainly offer some recommendations. It’s a great place to live with kids.
I’m happy to help out anyone who wants to visit our area too – Calgary, Alberta, Canada. That would include the Banff/Canmore area. I go to Victoria, BC about 4 times a year as well, usually with my kids, so can help people with information about Vancouver Island.
So far, we have taken our kids (two boys, now 8 and 11) to San Diego, Orlando, Cuba (twice) Ixtapa, Akumal, and several times to our favourite spot, Puerto Escondido (on the far Southern Mexico Pacific Coast)
Puerto is our favorite spot because it is not your usual mexican resort area – it does attract lots of tourists, but they are mostly Mexican. It has the most amazing waves – true pipeline waves – so it is a big surfing destination. There are beaches that are good for swimming, too. There are no resorts there but there are good hotels. We like to rent a house there, and eat some of our meals in, there is a great market in walking distance. Last time we went we spent our mornings going to a wonderful spanish school.
The boys are ready for some more adventurous trips so I just finished booking a tour of Costa Rica this coming April for 8 days. We are particularly excited because we hope to spend several days in El Salvador before going to Costa Rica. We sponsor a little fellow there through Plan International Canada and they encourage you to visit the communities where you sponsor a child. So I’m just getting in touch with them so that we can plan the El Salvador leg of our trip and visit our little friend and his family and community. My youngest son is at a Spanish Bilingual school so I am hoping we can take lots of letters down from his school to the kids in our sponsored child’s school and make a good connection between the two communities.
More and more, we are looking at holidays that teach our kids about environmental and social responsibility. Resort holidays are fun but it’s easy to just hang out at the resort and forget for the most part they are in countries where the culture and the realities of day-to-day living are very different from ours. I am hoping to raise travellers, not tourists!