My Husband and I have always loved traveling, in fact our relationship was kind of built around traveling, as we met in the middle of the Venezuelan jungle. We were both determined that having kids should not stop us from exploring this planet, in fact, we believe that us showing our two girls the world is one of the greatest gifts we can give them.
We often run into parents who look at us as if we are mildly insane for even thinking about flying around the world with two young kids and even more who say; "man, I wish I could, but the stress would kill me before we got there".
My routine answer is always "the thought of doing it is a lot worse than actually doing it - you just have to take that initial jump".
But of course there is more to it. We as mothers often find it hard to balance being a mom with being a wife, a lover, an explorer etc. We are so preoccupied with being a mother at all times that we almost feel like we are not allowed to have a good time, and if we go on holiday its ends up being about the kids and nothing else.
Over the last few years, my husband and I have gained a lot of experience in what it means to have balance in a holiday - to make certain compromises so that not just the kids, but also we as grown ups get to have a fantastic time.
Don't get me wrong, we are still very much a work in progress; it is only weeks ago, during a visit to Cape Cod, I dragged my exhausted children (and pregnant sister I might add) out to see the Kennedy Compound after a long day of whale watching ... in hindsight that could have been done another day when my children weren't falling asleep in the backseat ... and that is my biggest traveling-with-kids problem - editing my desire to explore the destination.
But each time we go, we learn something new and as our children grow we face new problems and challenges and this blog is to share all these little gems (and turds) that we pick up along the way.
Travel Mama is for people who want to try to achieve balance in traveling; a grown up holiday..... with kids. I will write about all the tips I learn during my travels and also write about place specifics (ex a great restaurant in New York or when the best time to visit that museum in Florence, Italy is).
But I dont want this blog to be just about me self-indulgently philosophizing about my travels, but a tool to help us all to make that holiday a dream holiday for all of us - grown ups and children. My ideal holiday might not be yours! I like to see as much as possible on a holiday, others want to sit on a beach, have cocktails and a foot massage (mmmm that does sound good though).
There are different problems and compromises to make with every type of holiday and I therefore highly encourage people commenting and leaving their own tips (even write me with a review or story of your own holiday and I will post it on the blog), and hopefully this can develop into great little travel-with-kids forum full of great tips and ideas.
... So there it was; my first ever post on my first ever blog..
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