Never Too Festive: Parenting with More Joy & Less Mom Guilt

24. Family Travel Ideas: Joyful Traditions and Stress-Free Adventures with Cindy Anderson

• Elizabeth Hambleton

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Imagine transforming your family's travel into a joyful and stress-free tradition. That's exactly what you'll achieve after listening to this episode of Never Too Festive. I'm Elizabeth Hambleton, and today, I'm thrilled to welcome Cindy Anderson from Blue Shore Vacations. Cindy shares her family's cherished travel traditions and her journey from passionate traveler to successful travel advisor. Together, we unravel practical tips that will inspire you to make the most of your family adventures, whether it's a grand trip to Disney World or a simple visit to your grandparents.

Explore how small touches can make any getaway extraordinary. We discuss the magic of working with a trusted travel advisor, the joy of adding a birthday cake to your trip, and the value of preserving memories through photos and scrapbooks. Our personal stories highlight how travel can be a powerful educational tool, teaching children self-confidence, budgeting, and problem-solving. These real-world lessons go beyond the classroom, offering your children invaluable experiences that will shape their growth and understanding.

Discover the immense benefits of family vacations during challenging times and learn how to create meaningful travel traditions. From drawing trip destinations from a hat to the convenience of booking cruises, this episode is packed with ideas to make travel stress-free and memorable. We also address the importance of keeping travel lighthearted, even when faced with inevitable challenges. Get ready to be inspired and equipped with the tools to create your own family travel traditions that will be cherished for years to come.

Grab Cindy's free guide: 7 Ideas for Unforgettable Family Getaways
Join her FB group: Luxury Travel by Cindy Anderson

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Never Too Festive. I'm your host, elizabeth Hambleton, and if you know anything about my family or you've been following along for a while, you know that we are huge travelers. We love anything travel themed. We love books that are travel themed. We leave town quite often, whether your family has some upcoming short day trips on the calendar, you're looking forward to a week spent in Europe or anything in between. This episode will give you some actionable tips on how to maximize the joy and the ease of traveling with a family, because we know that budget and logistics are top of mind. We're here to help make it easier and more memorable, no matter where you're headed. Hey there, mama, and welcome to Never Too Festive, the podcast where we celebrate the extraordinary in everyday motherhood.

Speaker 1:

I'm Elizabeth Hambleton, your host and fellow mom, on a mission to help you rediscover your sparkle, redefine your style and reclaim your sense of self in the midst of motherhood mayhem. Do you ever feel like you've lost touch with the stylish, confident woman you used to be before kids? Are you tired of living in yoga pants and feeling like you've gone from thriving to just surviving? Well, mama, it's time to reclaim joy, creativity and style, while embracing the fabulous mom you were meant to be. So grab your iced coffee and join me as we embark on a stylish adventure together, because here, on Never Too Festive, there's no such thing as too much sparkle, too much flair or too much celebration. Get ready to shine bright and live your most fabulous, joyful life, because you deserve it. We actually just were out of town this past weekend for a little birthday trip for my daughter, so, for us, travel is a huge way to add celebration and joy to life, which is obviously something we stand for here and today. I'm super excited to have Cindy Anderson joining us, and she runs Blue Shore Vacations. Thank you so much for being here today, elizabeth. Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, travel is something I love to talk about, and it's become a big tradition in our family as well, and I just could go on and on about all the positives for it. So, yeah, let's talk. Yeah, and I know you're a mom as well and I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you got into running a travel business and what travel means to your family. Yeah, so, as my, I'm going to talk about family travel traditions and I want to just from the get-go and what's the word I'm looking for? Just just say that you can have whatever travel tradition you want. Like empower that's how I've been Empower people to just love what they love Some people.

Speaker 1:

When I was growing up, our travel tradition was to visit family. We visited grandparents twice a year and it was the finale of the season, right summer and holidays, and that my warmest childhood memories are from those trips. As an adult, when we got, when I, my husband, we met in college, he introduced me to his family travel tradition, which I will refer to. But truly, you could make it anything. You could make it cruising, you could make it beaches, you could make it grandma's house, the lake, you could go to Europe. You could take a different trip every year. It could be your family, or every five years could be your tradition. My husband's family tradition he introduced us to was Disney World, and I had never been, but he used to go like growing up his whole life. And so we went.

Speaker 1:

When we were in college I fell in love and I knew that we would have a family and this would be our thing. And, lo and behold, it became our thing, to the point where we would go every other year. If we could swing it, we'd go every once a year and pretty soon friends and family would come to us, come to me especially for advice. And I was good. I would bring home extra paper maps and I would circle it and say this is where you should stand for the three o'clock parade. And I would say your kids are little, so you should be here for the fireworks so that you can be first people on the bus and you won't have to wait in line to go back to your resort. And I would just talk through everybody these are the best snacks, this is the best breakfast. And people would come home and say you're so good at that, you should figure out a way to make a living.

Speaker 1:

And I was for years. I was like, oh yeah, right, that's not a thing. And then one day I was on a website, a scrapbooking website, and put a pin in that topic, cause we're going to come back to that. Um, I was on this website and there was a little like comment about becoming a travel agent and I was like, oh, that's a, that's a thing. I had no idea. And so I clicked on it and by the next morning, I was a travel agent.

Speaker 1:

The lady interviewed me. She loved my extensive travel history and she was like sure, you can join our team and here's how. And so we went through the whole thing and it was great and I didn't get a lot of training. They were lovely people, but I did not get a lot of training. She kind of just said here you go, go be a travel agent. I didn't know about marketing. I didn't know about how to email clients. I'd get my own business card, like I knew nothing about running a business and, to be honest, I booked about two trips a year for a few years and finally one day I was like this is, this is not a, this is not really being anything. I don't even know if I could call myself that.

Speaker 1:

I worked at a brick and mortar travel agency for a few years and from that I learned about all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, cruising river, cruising all kinds of African safaris. My eyes were open to the whole world of travel and I had tons of experienced agents around me teaching me and I would just listen and absorb. And so, when we moved, I decided I had enough and I would open my own agency. So in 2018, we opened Blue Shore Vacation and since then we've added 20 agents on the team. So we've grown and everybody is doing great. They have their little specialties. You know, sarah's really good at cruises and Christine's really good at like all over the world. She just had people in Africa doing a fantastic African safari. So everybody kind of has their own specialty and I'm really proud of all of them. Yeah, so that's pretty much how we got in it. I'm sorry that's really long-winded. Yeah, so that's pretty much how we got in it. I'm sorry that was really long-winded, but it's kind of how it just how it goes. Just life happened.

Speaker 1:

My degree is elementary education, so I bring in the education piece to our client, our concierge. Concierge service includes a slew of educational emails before anyone travels, so that they're prepared not only for their destination but how to travel. A lot of people don't haven't had a lot of experience with international travel. There's a lot to that. I make sure that they have the appropriate length of layovers and I tell them why. Um, we've got apps and tips and VIP services through the different airports in the Caribbean that we offer them. So that is that. It's just my passion that people travel well, and so that's where I use my background in education to do that piece of it. Yeah, I love that. I think there's so much there that we can unpack.

Speaker 1:

But I think it's funny that you got started with Disney, because I can understand, we've been to Disney World and Land and they're so different as a family. And then this past summer we just tried Universal for the first time because we wanted to check out Harry Potter World and it's like its own whole thing. And there are definitely things where you get there. Even though I'm pretty good at doing all the research and I generally have a pretty good grasp of what we want and what we need, and like I used to live abroad for a while. I did part of my university, I studied in the Netherlands, I lived in Paris, so, like I've gotten around a lot, I've backpacked as a young adult, like alone for six months through Europe, and so I'm not afraid of adventure. But there are still a lot of details and the hardest thing I think is that it always changes. I swear every time I go to Disney the fast pass means something different from the time I was there before, and now it's Lightning Lane, and then it's this and that.

Speaker 1:

So it's hard, I think, for the average person to stay on top of all of that. If someone were like, because some of what you mentioned are like a little bit higher end, I would say you know, disney, they're not giving that away. The Caribbean and Europe are also, you know, like those are kind of maybe more milestone trips for the average family. If someone's newer to travel and they're just wanting to kind of get started, but they want a way to make travel maybe more memorable, do you have any tips on how to kind of get started? Because I know a lot of people, some of whom may be listening, think, oh, like it's too hard to travel with kids or that feels really overwhelming. Do you have any tips? I'm like, how do people kind of dip their toe in? Sure, so most of our clients come to us and they're they exactly like you said. They're done some research online and they feel a little bit overwhelmed because the internet is truthfully, a big, wild, wide place and not everything is true, not everything is up to date.

Speaker 1:

Anybody can make a website. I made a website. My degree is in education and it's not fantastic but it's pretty. So you really, you really want to have someone on your team that is trusted and trained and well-traveled, and that that's what. That's what we can offer. So if you're just going to Tulsa for your cousin's wedding and you need, you need a hotel and maybe you could probably manage that right. Most people could research a weekend wedding away. But if you want to take the family and do something new and a little bit more involved in a destination, I've, first of all, I've got lots of ideas and, second of all, I've got lots of ways to make it special.

Speaker 1:

I love your focus on the celebrations. I love to make the smallest thing special. Birthdays in our family are practically a national holiday. Like if we could take a vacation on everybody's birthday, I totally would. That's not feasible, I don't know anybody that does, but I get it. And you want to make something special? I only take so many clients on per month so that I can give you the proper attention. So that's kind of how that works with us. Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned birthday vacations.

Speaker 1:

We have started offering our kids either a like you know, kind of friend type of birthday party, because those have gotten like more and more expensive if you're not doing them at your house especially, you know, even then with like the food and everything. But if you're doing them at a place like a bowling or you know, jump trampoline kind of all that stuff, you know that kind of adds up these days. And so we've offered them a trip instead, just like a weekend trip instead, which of course my daughter was like, great, I want to go to London. And I was like, uh, yeah, no, that was not on the bingo card for birthday trips. I'm more of a person who could drive for like a night or two. But we just went to Houston, which is about four hours away for us, and saw a ballet and spent two nights and I tried to make it more festive because why not? We ordered a cake and brought it to the room, like I ordered it in Houston, so we could pick it up, and then I had confetti for the table and like some festive paper plates and stuff. And you know it's just a reminder that those little touches, like bringing a cake with you, having some candles, they can really make a sort of relatively low impact overnight trip feel celebratory. And it wasn't much more expensive than just having a friend party, but it's something that creates really fun memories for our family, and so that's part of what I love about travel. I just think it's such a fun way to get everyone out of their comfort zone, get everyone off their devices, get everyone focused on something together and create those bonds. I think is part of why I love it, and just you know it's very educational.

Speaker 1:

Like you said, you had a background in education. I think sometimes just showing kids different cultures has more impact than just talking about it in a theoretical way. That that is the hill. As an educator, that is the hill I will die on forever. That travel, even just going to that city that's four hours away from home, totally. Maybe that people have a different accent, maybe the geography is different. You can study the maps, you can bring in history what's going on, what happened in that area, and by the time they go home they've got new, fresh experiences that they'll be able to journal about, that they'll be able to write things in school about. I will die on that hill. Take the kids out of school, go away, visit places, and you'll make them better for it forever Another thing that I love to do, for example, forever.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that I love to do, for example, your little weekend getaway and I'm super passionate about this is the memories of it and making sure that they're solidified and always able to refer back to. Do something with the photos yeah, I love that. Don't have them linger on your phone until they get deleted. I will tell you, I come from the world of scrapbooking. I did it for years and I still make the digital books.

Speaker 1:

It's not a photo until it's printed. Otherwise it's a digital image in danger of being lost forever because things that you know, technology fails us, and how sad would everybody be if we lost all our photos. I know people have lost hard drives. They know iCloud backup didn't happen right, and then phone dot whatever we all I mean my wedding photos were given to us on a cd and my computer doesn't even have a cd drive anymore. So there you go, like I can't even look at my wedding photos. Okay, take your trip photos from this weekend, and maybe it's 30, maybe it's 300, it doesn't't matter. It's her birthday trip, right, it's her special. And if you can print it, go to Shutterfly. There are other software programs out there you can purchase, but if you just go to Shutterfly, pop it in an album, write a few captions and print it. She will always remember that warm, fuzzy feeling with her family that she was special, it was her birthday, she belongs in a family, she's part of something bigger than herself.

Speaker 1:

I could go on and on about the values of printing the photos from your vacation. No, I do love that and you know I use chat books a lot. Um, chat, chat books. Um, if anyone's looking for a good resource, I find them to be very economical and they do some cute square books so you can do in a series and they look great with just like phone photos. They don't need anything super high res, um, and I agree, because it's like you can kind of scroll back through your phone, but only certain times.

Speaker 1:

It's funny because my father-in-law is on a digitization cake where he's taking all his printed photos and digitizing and I was like I feel like I'm going the other way, like I want to get like the thousands of photos on my phone and we never, we can't possibly look at them all, yeah, and they get lost in the sort of stupid ones like oh, here's a screenshot of my, you know, target pickup order that I needed the confirmation number off of, or whatever you know, like that's all mixed in and you can't find the really good photos Exactly and my kids were in show choir in high school. I couldn't even tell you how many thousands and thousands of photos that we have of like the exact same moment like 10 of them, and then another, second, another. You just don't go and weed them out, you just leave them there and then it's too many to look through. So go through all the really good ones and create some kind of a book, um, that she can do, even a digital frame in the family room, like just just bring them into their life in a tangible way that they can pull out whenever they want to touch that memory and feel those happy feelings again. Because you never know and I thought this might come up, I'll bring it up you never know when you might need the strength of that family weekends in the future.

Speaker 1:

In 2011, our son was a senior in high school and he was involved in a very serious car crash. We actually almost lost him. He fractured over 33 bones in his body. He had five major surgeries and was in the ICU for 22 days, and the physical healing was only part of it. Then, of course, came the mental healing, and so then we had introduced not only the physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory, like then, we also had to add the mental therapy into it. And in the five and a half months between the accident and spring break I stopped counting at a hundred appointments that we had to to help his recovery process. And it was September when it happened, and shortly after New Year's we turned the corner. On the holidays he was doing a lot better, he finally went back to school, which was so exciting, and everybody had just been through so much, our whole family had been through so much.

Speaker 1:

We scheduled a visit, a vacation to Disney for spring break. And that might not seem like a big deal, because the Anderson family goes to Disney, that's our thing, right. But what it gave the sibling and our son, something it gave us all something to look forward to that touched on the past, family closely, the good memories of the past. In the middle of all this hard stuff, it just gave us a glimmer of something happy that we knew was coming, glimmer of something happy that we knew was coming. And so I had no idea all those other trips would mean, what they would mean until later, and I would say the same thing happened again Just a couple of years ago. We went through a really hard time in our family. That still is kind of private, but the way that we all bridged back to joy was reminiscing about our family vacation.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I can relate to this because my son was in a traumatic accident as well. He's younger, um, he's, he's 10 now. It would happen when he was nine and we were in a therapist's office. He and I were at a visit, doing like a, trying to kind of help him regroup. Because, yeah, to your point, the mental is, I think and not always obviously everyone's different, but can be even harder to repair. The medical feels more sort of clear and someone will tell you this are the three steps you need and this is the surgery and this is the whatever, whereas that mental repair piece is a little more open-ended and sometimes harder to pinpoint. And the therapist asked him like what were his three happiest memories, or something along those lines. And they were all memories from vacations or trips or weekends away when we were together and just enjoying each other's company. And so I agree, I've seen that in my life as well, that sometimes too, I think, as a parent, we don't always know how much of an impact is it making on our kids? But then you can find out later that it did make an impact and it was worth the effort and the hassle and the budgeting and all the many things that go into making it happen. So I can totally relate to that being true, and one of the really valuable pieces of travel is that it brings that joy and connection back to families.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's just one of the many intangibles that you literally cannot put a price tag on. Yeah, absolutely so I, we do kind of a I don't know, maybe unusual family tradition. So we're, like you said you kind of touched on like looking forward to things and we are always looking forward to our next trip here, usually more than one, and we budget in a lot of other places so that we can travel more. Like we don't have a housekeeper, we mow our own lawn, like whatever. We save money in other places so that we can get out of town more often, and that's just sort of what we've decided is not the right fit for everyone. So we usually take at least one bigger trip and then a couple little shorter. We love a two-day or like three-day trip, two nights, like in and out a little city, see it, see the highlights, fairly budget-friendly and kind of just keeps something to look forward to in different parts of the year, versus like one super long, super mega trip. But again, you know I'm not saying that's for everyone, but I will say it doesn't have to be a huge, gigantic trip for it to really revitalize your family.

Speaker 1:

So when we are planning our trips for the next year on New Year's Eve eve we will have each family member can put in two destinations. And there are some stipulations, like we have to look at the kids ones and be like yeah, no, sorry, we're not, you know, spending the entire summer in bali, but way to dream guys. So like they can't, we do kind of approve the choices. Um, because there was one year my daughter was on this Bridges of China. I was like Bridges of London and Walls of China kick, and I was like we're not going to the Great Wall of China or London Bridge this year, but love that you had that as your two options. So we may say like pick within the continental United States or pick within this range or whatever, or you can do one bigger and one smaller or something, so everyone can put in two destinations and then we draw out of the hat and the last one in there is like the destination we're going to try to do as a family, and then the second to last one drawn is like our runner up in case, for whatever reason, the weather or the plane tickets or something it's like super hard with the first destination. So we do that as just a fun way to get everyone involved and have a little ownership in the process and we allow people to double vote if they like super, have their heart set on Boston or something they can put Boston twice to increase their odds. So you know, we like give a fair amount of freedom. That's an unusual way to pick your next vacation.

Speaker 1:

Do you have any suggestions for someone who says I would love to plan a memorable trip for maybe even next summer, because you know most people plan their big trips fairly far out. Well, how do they narrow it down? It down? Or like what are your top destinations for families? Or what would you say to someone who's like I love this idea, but I don't know where to start? Yeah, so it helps if people have some what of an idea or some sort of a wish list. We like. We like a budget. Maybe a price range is good. We'd like a beach, we'd like we like history.

Speaker 1:

So if there's something you know, something like that that that is important to you, popular things right now, like an intro to international travel, a popular thing is a cruise. It's simple. You take your floating hotel with you and you visit two to five different destinations and the cruise line makes it easy. They bring you right to the doorstep of the island and you go, you do your excursion and then you come back. A lot of them have their own private island. That's super easy and included. The kids get to try different kinds of food, they get to see different cultures and it's like all it's all in one.

Speaker 1:

Now, booking a cruise is a little bit uh, multi-faceted. Yes, just, I have never been on a cruise, honestly, but for anyone who's never done this, we almost booked an Alaska cruise last year and it was so complicated we finally gave up. So I do. I would love to hear, like, who you think like, do you have a particular cruise line you recommend for families? And like a hot tip on, because it is, I had no idea, like the levels and the this and that and the excursions. It was a lot, it's a lot and it's really.

Speaker 1:

I love to help people walk through that process because you know there's different cabin types and within a cabin type there can be 12 different price points in the cabin category. What's guarantee? What does that mean? It's how much. You think it means One. We were going to go with other family members and like so we needed the four person cabin for us, but my mom and stepdad were going to be in a two person cabin, but they only had it on a certain floor, but that floor had different restaurants and they're like wait, we can't eat together, and like it was crazy. And here's the thing a lot of people think you wait till the last minute to get the best pricing, maybe, but you give up all kinds of control and and if that never happens, then you're actually going to pay more so you can book your cruise 12, 18 I mean in some cases two years, 18 months, two years ahead and and I recommend that We'll reprice it if it goes lower, don't worry about that but get the cabin you want, get them close together, get them on the right deck. You know, like you said, if people have wildly different categories, not everything is available on all the decks. So that is something. And then you get into how to do the excursion and then gratuities and taxes, fees and port expenses. It's complicated and I can just I just love helping people make sense out of it so that I take away a lot of that stress and decipher it for you. Um, you asked about how do they dip their toe in it. So yeah, I would recommend I really recommend a cruise.

Speaker 1:

There are all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean that cater to families. It's not just romance, and that is another easy one. You go, you park it, there's kids programs, there's family time. Everywhere you go, you just eat. You don't have to pay extra unless you want to. So those are like two really good options there.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that's a trend is people making special occasion, not just birthdays and anniversaries, but in our family we did a 13th birthday mother-daughter or father-son trip, and the first one. We did what we could afford and so we were living in Omaha and he went on a sports weekend with his dad. They went to Minneapolis and they saw a Minnesota Twins game and a Minnesota Vikings game. His birthday's in August, so the seasons crossed. They did some fun shopping at Malden. He had so much fun, it was great. Then the girls came up to their birthdays and we were able to swing a short trip to Disney with them, and so the girls, and then our youngest also went to Disney with his dad on his 13th birthday. A lot of people do a domestic graduation trip domestic or Caribbean for high school graduation and then for college maybe they'll pick someplace in Europe and like, the whole family goes and the graduate gets to pick the itinerary or at least the destination, and then they plan it you know well in advance, so everybody can plan. So that's, those are some traditions I've seen happen that people have really enjoyed. So that's, those are some traditions I've seen happen that people have really enjoyed.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my mom and I went to Paris when I got engaged and we bought a few things for my wedding and like honeymoon, and so I told my daughter that I would take her to Paris to buy stuff for her wedding or you know, just like honeymoon kind of stuff, and that's so. It's like I agree, like it doesn't have to be a birthday to create a tradition and it doesn't hold family. No, yeah, true, with my mom we went on a cruise together last January. It was an agency retreat. We're doing it again this January. She's my guest, my plus one, just me and my mom in our little cabin, and we're at this stage of life where you're just cherishing everything with your parents too.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, your travel companions can, can be you know a variety of different configurations for sure, yeah, and I you mentioned Omaha, which is funny because that's actually on my list of weekend trips that we're going to take, because it has one of the top rated zoos in the whole US, and we're, yeah, depending on the, there are rankings that put San Diego first, but a lot of them put Omaha first or second, and so I think, too, it's like take an interest of your family or your kids. Like maybe it is sports like we took my son to see Messi the soccer player last year in Miami and he loved it. We were only there two nights. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale because the stadium is actually pretty far north. It's like more like Fort Lauderdale than Miami. Stayed in Fort Lauderdale, did a little bit of beach, saw a Messi game, came home and it was great and it didn't have to be super long. It was a highlight for him for the whole year. So I think, too, it's like don't be afraid to lean into what your family likes. Maybe it's sports, maybe it's zoos, maybe it's aquariums, maybe it's history museums, maybe it's art museums, maybe it's music festivals. That, like, your travel doesn't have to look like everyone else, because every time I tell people like oh yeah, we really want to go to Omaha, they're always like that is so random. But there are some cool things in the US that aren't in like the top. Maybe whatever three, five cities that you would think of, like, oh, new York or you know whatever, san Francisco, dc, like those are cool too, but there's a lot of stuff off the beaten path and some of those smaller cities are not as expensive. So if you're looking for budget friendly, right, if you do some research, there's some cool options out there.

Speaker 1:

Our youngest son is super into us history, particularly presidential history. So we currently live in Charlotte, but we had, we just spent three years in Richmond, virginia, which is an hour from Monticello, where Thomas Jefferson. I'm going to Richmond in about six weeks. Well, I can give a lot of recommendations for nice things there, but we and was it the first week in? It was in April. We were there and we he wanted to go to DC before we left Virginia, so we spent my son wants to go to DC too had four days and he, like he's 23. So he was able to do all the research, right he we did every minute of every day booked. We were exhausted, but it was so special to see the joy that he had, like teaching us about this president is buried at the National Cathedral and we have to go in there and see. And then you're in the National Cathedral. I remember this funeral. I remember when this happened here and you can see Ronald Reagan's embroidered seat cushion like all these random.

Speaker 1:

We saw parts of the Smithsoniansonian. It's way too big to do. Oh yeah, it's huge. We went to the top of the washington mart. We did all kinds of things and he loved every. We bought a book everywhere we went. We bought bookmarks for our books everywhere we went, because those are the things that he likes.

Speaker 1:

And, uh, we just made a nice little four, four or five day getaway with just that one uh kid of ours and totally special, totally special photography. We got some great photos of the three of us, of just him. Yeah, I can't recommend. Like exactly what you're saying. Lean into what they love and you'll just create those bonds around that. I know that he will never forget that trip as long as he lives. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

And I mean and it's okay with quirky that sometimes takes a little more research, but, like my son's very into birding and ornithology and we took a trip to see like the last flock of wild whooping cranes in North America and so he could photograph them. And we love a national park, I have to say if you're looking for a more budget-friendly option for your family, national parks are amazing, like way less expensive than like a theme park would be, though there are some that are a little more pricey. We actually kayaked the Channel Islands this past summer and you can like kayak through a kelp forest. The kayaking excursion is they're not giving that away, but it was amazing and one of those moments where you look back and you're like I just was a foot away from a sea otter going through a kelp forest, like you can't get that, no, just in the middle of Texas, which is where we are normally. So and in the big picture of your parenting job, you know birth to 18, when they get to that point, when they're adults and they look back. I think it's a really big deal. When they go away to college or wherever after high school and they get to meet other people that don't have that kind of like, they're going to realize even more so. Oh my gosh, my, my family really valued what was important to me, like what that does for a young heart. It's just, I mean, it's invaluable. Yeah, and then, building on that, I know that this is a passion of yours and why could you give listeners who haven't traveled as much a couple of reasons why you think travel is so important for kids and families? Thing we've already kind of touched on is cultural awareness, open-mindedness, just exposing our kids to new places and people and traditions, ways of eating, ways of dressing, talking, language, all of it, and those are great things to research together ahead of time.

Speaker 1:

So there we go into the number two, which is the educational experience beyond the classroom. Listen, I was a teacher. I get it. Being in school is important. We shouldn't just skip it for skipping it. But again, I said it early in the beginning, this is a hill I will die on, miss. A few days of school to take a trip. It's just invaluable.

Speaker 1:

What they will see Depends on where you go. Maybe there's it's a more. Like you said, you're going kayaking, so they're going to. You know, maybe you're going to study the marine ecosystem of that part of the country, which is going to be very different than when a couple of years from now, when you go on that cruise and you go snorkeling and you're going to study the ecosystem there. Like right, you can make everything educational, and even for you.

Speaker 1:

I've learned so much traveling. It's not just for the kids I love. Another thing I love is learning social graces, practicing our manners and logistics, right. So you can't expect kids to be able to sit at a fancy dinner or in a moderately fancy place if we haven't practiced it at home. And now this is probably like for much smaller, younger children, but that's how you do it. You practice it at home and then you go on the road and then they do it and they watch you model how to treat the waitstaff, how to treat the hotel, at the check-in counter, taxi drivers teach them how to be a good tipper. You know, I think that's great. I'm always yelling at my kids in hotels like don't barrel out of the elevator. The elevator you know. Like. And like cut off other parties where you know so like the wife of some other group goes out and then they like run out, and then that you know the husband is caught and I'm like guys, let the whole party go. You know, wait your turn. Yes, waiting in line is a good one. They get that at school, but using that in the real world, it's like help teaching them how to bridge that with real world experience. I also think that travel teaches them self-confidence, encouraging them to adapt to new environments, solving problems.

Speaker 1:

Give them little jobs. Like you're in charge of your carry-on, you're in charge of your souvenir finances. However much you can save, however much chore money you can earn, is how much you're going to get to spend. And then maybe research what will there be there that might be interesting to them? Are they a book collector like my son? Are they a t-shirt collector like my mother? Do they want a piece of art, like you know? Teach them valuable things to do and then talk about okay.

Speaker 1:

So say you have a hundred dollars, just because that's easy math, right? Are you going to spend on this four-day trip? Are you going to spend 25 on this day and on this day? On this day, are you going to blow it all on the first day? Are you going to wait and spend it all on the like?

Speaker 1:

Teach them to think about your different strip. Be more intentional with your finances. That's another. Yeah, really, to play like a theme park where I feel like they want like everything. I totally can, and I know someone who gives their kids an allowance per day for longer trips like ten dollars a day and they help them budget it out, just like you're talking about and keep track and and sort of learn those money management skills like you would as an adult on a trip, and I don't judge them for what they want.

Speaker 1:

If they want the dumbest looking pencil keeper, okay, that's your money. You spend it, right? Yeah for sure, another stuffy. But don't come crying in three days when you're out. You know, and they probably some of them will, because that's their personality You're like well, maybe next time you'll be more thoughtful about it. These are great things. These are your consequences. Right, like, right, you already spent it, and the opposite. My son can actually do the opposite. He'll like hoard it and then he'll it's the last day and he's like but I didn't get anything. So it's like the healthy balance of spending and saving, yep, spending and saving, yep.

Speaker 1:

And I think the last thing we've already kind of touched on is just the strengthening of the family bonds. That, um, that's what's most nearest and dearest to my heart for the stories that I shared already. You just, you just never know when, later in life, that's one trip is just going to suddenly mean so much more. And then, you know, making sure that we bring those photos and memorabilia to life in some way in life so that they can stay alive a little bit better. Life is short. Make the memories, kick the jazz. Oh, I could not agree more and just carve out those moments of joy, those moments of joy.

Speaker 1:

And I think it's just, sometimes it's easier to have that connection and feel the permission that this is fun and this is joyful when you're not at home. I know that just the, you know just the busyness of life and the to-do list and the laundry and all of it. When it's staring you in the face at home it can be difficult to really step out mentally and say we're carving out this time. But even for anyone who is maybe doesn't have a huge budget for travel, even a day trip can serve this purpose. It doesn't have to always be bigger. I'd say if you are stressed during the really big ones and like too worried about logistics or cost or whatever it is, then your kids are going to pick up on the fact that this isn't fun and joyful. So you do what feels authentic and right and that's what's going to give you the dividends. And that's probably where working with a professional can help you sometimes take off some of those worries around logistics. If that is something that weighs down the energy of your trip and you don't know where to eat and it feels like overwhelming, then you know, perhaps looking into a travel service would be a way to preserve the joy in your time together, because there's no point in going and then not enjoying it Like that's never good.

Speaker 1:

We always joke, you know, inevitably on a trip you know you're going to families are going to have their moments, right, and sometimes you'll be walking somewhere and you see another family and when they're having their moment and we walk away, we're not making fun of them at all because 10 minutes ago it was us. But our little joke is when somebody's kid is screaming or crying and having, we walk another happy camper, like you know. Just, you just make light of it, because five minutes from now could be you. Oh yeah, have you that movie, the mitchells versus the machine? I don't know if anyone's gonna have seen it. It's on netflix. Hysterical. And they this family's having a horrendous road trip and they run into one of their neighbors and they're like perfect, and then they pose for a photo and then it's on Instagram and it's like amazing and the mom's hair is like gently rustling in the breeze, you know. And then this other family feels so inadequate about how their trip's going. But it ends up that they, you know, were doing fine. But yeah, I think you again, don't compare yourself or your trip to anyone else. Do what fits you, do what fits your family, even if it's camping, like it could be anything.

Speaker 1:

There's so many ways to create those positive memories and carve out time for connection memories. And carve out time for connection and speaking of carving out more joy in your life, we like to ask everyone, at the end of an episode when we have a guest, to share with us a little petite plaisir and for anyone who's newer with us, a petite plaisir is French for a little pleasure, and it's just something small that brings you joy or happiness that we can incorporate into our day and will inspire us to find joy in the little pockets of life. So is there a petite plaisir that you could share with us? Yes, so this is my new tool that I love. It, of course, is for travel. You can get this on Amazon. It, of course, is for travel, you can get this on Amazon.

Speaker 1:

And I was never a fan of germs before COVID. Like getting on a plane, it just feels like rose and I always had the sanitizing wipes in my bag and I like everything I'm going to touch, lean my head on the wall. It's all been cleaned. I'm not touching that without doing that. But I found this amazing thing. It's called original, it's called airplane pockets. It's like an apron. So you take it, there's a pocket. It goes on your tray like this I can hold it so that I have like a tablecloth that's mine on the tray, and then you fold it up and it stays, and then you've got pockets here for your water bottle, your snacks, your AirPod case, your chapstick cough drop, whatever, and it's two rows of pockets. So you're not going to drop, because there's nothing worse than losing your AirPod out of your ear on the. But if I or your kid's dropping it too and and you're like I can't reach it, reach anything. I have t-rex arms my husband's the one with the longer arm, so anyway, I think it's $29.99. It's on Amazon.

Speaker 1:

It's called airplane pocket. It's my favorite. I do not travel on an airplane without it because, um, I just feel like organized. I love that. So it's kind of a flip cover for the tray table with extra pockets, keeps you organized and sanitary. And again, I agree, my little pocket of four peanuts that the airline gives me when it spills on the tray. It's not so bad, it's my cover. Yeah, love that.

Speaker 1:

I have seen versions for kids that do that, but I haven't ever seen like sort of more of an adult version that is not, like you know, a dino print or whatever. So I love that. If I didn't think it would be socially weird, I would love like a whole cover for the whole, like a shower, a shower camp cover for the whole seat, but I'm pretty sure that my husband wouldn't like me to do that. So my husband is the germaphobe in our duo and I think he would love this and not feel like his stuff or the kids stuff is touching, because, I agree, like, how clean can that possibly be? I'm sure they're best, but I've seen people and you know anyway, yeah, especially with the winter travel season coming up lots of coughing, lots of who knows what. So, yeah, well, this had tons of tips and takeaways.

Speaker 1:

If someone is looking to get some help planning their next getaway, where can they connect with you? So I have a link to a guide I created just for your listeners. It's called Seven Ideas for Unforgettable Family Getaways and if you are interested in that, I believe you're going to share the link for us so they can get in touch with me and also just download the free guide and then you can reach me through that. Yes, we will absolutely put that link in the show notes, as well as her website link, so that you can see the places that she covers, get in touch with her and her team and go ahead and go out and make some memories. Life is short. Take the trip. Yes, I agree, I need that on a t-shirt now. So I hope this inspired you and we will see you next time. Thank you for joining me today on Never Too Festive. I hope you are leaving feeling inspired and refreshed.

Speaker 1:

If you've loved what you've heard. Don't keep it to yourself. Share this podcast with a friend who could use a little extra sparkle in her life. And hey, while you're at it, why not leave a review on your favorite podcast platform? Your feedback helps us continue to grow and inspire more women like you. Have questions or feedback you wanna share directly with me? Simply click the link in the show notes to send me a text. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, remember, all we have is today, so let's choose to live our most fabulous, joyful life together.