Does traveling as a family overwhelm you? Is there just too many things to consider when planning vacations with children? I have answered “yes” to both of these questions, because there are so many variables and unknowns when it comes to leaving the safety of our homes. As a mom of six we have done many family vacations and I have never regretted one of them. Yes, it took a little more preparation and thoughtfulness when it came to making plans, but it was very much worth the effort. From a simple camping trip, to road trips, to cruises even an all out DisneyLand vacation that included several other theme parks. Each of these came with its own set of challenges, but in the end the memories were worth the struggle.
It was ten years ago that my husband and I decided that we no longer wanted to waste money on “stuff” for Christmas. This “stuff” I am referring to is gifts, physical gifts that would be lost, broken or just plain forgotten by our kids within six months of receiving them. The following Christmas we purchased luggage sets and cameras for our kids and booked us a cruise to the Bahamas. That decision began a tradition that we have enjoyed throughout the years and has taken us on many journeys together as a family. We have gotten to experience so many things together and made memories that are worth way more than any gift we could have purchased.
I will post specific trips and give details in separate blog posts, but I wanted to share with you all what we have done as a family. As I mentioned above, we did our first cruise together as a family with our four older children whose ages ranged from 6 – 13 at the time. We immediately fell in love with cruises because it offered so much versatility for our family. We were able to find something for everyone to enjoy and the best part was as parents we didn’t have to drive anywhere, plan meals and activities or navigate new places. The ease of cruising with our family became an instant love that we have enjoyed throughout the years. We eventually added two more beautiful babies to our family and that began to bring about some challenges when planning our trips. I did have to get creative in planning our trips, but we made them work.
We are what I like to call “bicoastal” and what I mean by that, is that we go between two different states. We have our permanent home and state of residence in Georgia, but we primarily live in California where my husband works. With that being said, all of our family is on the east coast so we make many trips throughout the year. We have flown many times and that is of course our preferred way to travel, for obvious reasons, it takes a lot less time and not nearly as much preparation. However, we have very much enjoyed the drive and just soaked in all the beauty that this nation has to offer right here within our States. We did Route 66 where we stopped and visited many locations along the way and got to explore so many incredible places. This trip required a ton of planning because we had to time our travel by our reservations and then budget in food, gas, souvenirs and unexpected expenses; but when I say it was worth it … it was for sure worth it!! Then there have been times that we have driven straight through, yes, you read that right, straight through. We only stopped for gas, food and potty breaks and those stops were coordinated into one when it was possible. We have also gone across with truck and trailer and in a motor home, so no matter what your plan of travel is when going across the states, I have probably experienced it. We have enjoyed camping trips, where we have tent camped and of course glamped in our fifth wheel, we have stayed in teepees, and caught some z’s at truck stops, rest areas and even parking lots where it was legal and allowed.
As for theme parks, we have done those as well. We spent one Christmas at DisneyLand where we enjoyed multiple theme parks, such as LegoLand, SeaWorld, Six Flags and Knotts Berry Farms. Throughout the years we have experienced so much together as a family and while it had its challenges it was worth every second of finding a way to make it work.
You may be wondering why I am sharing this information with you all, well the answer is quite simple. You see, I have a large family and I have planned every single one of our family adventures from road trips to bucket list vacations and I would love to do the same for you and your family!!
Contact me today with your bucket list of dream vacations and let’s start turning them into your reality.
