Alice
Hi there! My name is Alice, and I am a mom who loves to “pack” as many stops into our family vacation(s) as humanly possible. I love to travel with my family. While on the road, I make sure that we always pay homage to the well-recognized attractions, but it is the ones with the most story-telling potential (“World’s Largest Pistachio” et. al) that truly inspire me.
Before I had children, my ideal trip would have involved a week at the beach perfecting my tan. These days, I desire something a bit more fast-paced and memorable. As a result, I spend numerous nights mapping out itineraries that are educational, age appropriate, novel, and well, completely arbitrary. The latter of course, providing me with a wealth of material for “Tales From Our Trips”.
Note: I originally planned on naming this blog “Moms Trips” but then I realized that the url would have been “momstrips”, and reconsidered.
Travel Style
My style when it comes to selecting our accommodations, is a bit obstruse — as I am a firm believer in the law of averages. While one may find us staying a night or two at a five-star luxury resort, I will then “average” that out with a night in a hot pink yurt, on a beach, directly adjacent to a mangrove filled with crocodiles. (I mean they mostly kept to themselves, so this wasn’t really an issue.) Oh, and then there was that matter with the ants as well…. Anyway, you get the picture.
As for trying the local cuisine, that isn’t our ‘thing’. One of our kids has Celiac’s Disease and he isn’t about to try something that has not been labeled gluten free (in clear English), and two of us are just picky. As a result, breakfast is typically oatmeal for the family, and a granola bar for me. Lunch and dinner are a mustard and cheese sandwich and sometimes the cheese and/or the mustard is actually made locally. Anyway, if you follow our method of fine dining, you will most definitely save some money, but you will also find yourself desperate for a “real meal” by day five.
Family
This brings me to my wonderful family. These days my travel buddies include my husband, Doug, our two boys – Roy (11) and Greg (8), and, occasionally, Chuck, our Golden Retriever. (*Note: All names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
Before we had kids and the dog, Doug and I were both avid travelers. Our favorite holidays (sans kids) were to New Zealand and Norway, but you aren’t reading this to hear me wax eloquent about how adventurous we were before we had children as that is a whole other (blogging) genre.
Many of the families in the travel blogs that I follow appear to have been blessed with super obedient children, who happily follow their parents to parts unknown, rarely complaining. My kids are not as compliant. So to be fully transparent, know that I am a mom who is NOT above bribing my children to smile for a picture (“GET your hands OFF your brother or there will be NO television tonight!!”), complete a long hike (”You guys want ice cream?”), or sit through an overly lengthy tour (“FINE. Here is my phone.”).
The “Pilots”
While my boys do enjoy traveling, it is the mode of transportation used to reach said destination that is more significant to them than the destination itself. You see, my two aspiring pilots’ ultimate journey would consist of a flight on an Airbus A350, a connecting flight on a Boeing 757, and then a return flight on Boeing 777. All they need are some top-notch in-flight amenities and an airport with moving walkways and they are happy as a clam.
I envy the families that can travel with very young children. Many years ago, we took our first trip as a family of three to Hawaii because that is just what you do when you live in California. Roy was two at the time, and I had images of him happily building sandcastles, wading in the ocean, and frolicking with the dolphins. But, Roy had no intention of doing any of that. Instead, we spent the week at the playground (that looked very similar to the one in the park back home) going down the slide. Sigh. It was at that point that my husband and I decided that we would forego traveling with kids until they were (at least) four.
Our First Trip
And so that is where our “Tales From Our Trips” begins – when our youngest was just shy of turning the big 0-4. (Complete with a pink piggy party to boot!) In the summer of 2018, we took Roy and Greg to Europe for the first time …. where we proceeded to carry both of them and their respective “Paw Patrol” suitcases, (forming a permanent bruise on my left hip) all over the cobblestone streets of Rome, Venice, and Copenhagen.
While that was all almost five years ago, (the memories and bruises have yet to fade), I took copious notes that I plan to share alongside those from our more recent excursions. I will reiterate that while our chosen routes will rarely include much time for any rest and relaxation, (I prefer to save that for the trip home – albeit with a slight fever and head cold due to the lack of the aforementioned) they will be “packed” full of family fun and some incriminating pictures for your next Christmas Card. So enjoy, and as I like to say, “Go big, then, go home.”
