I’m a mother and an avid traveller—And yes, you can be both!

I’ve heard (unsolicited!) opinions like these before and I feel like they deter young families from exploring. I’m a mother. I’m also an avid traveler. Sure, there are hard parts of traveling with a child, but I’ve learnt that these challenging times are temporary and that the positive experiences and memories far outweigh the struggles. Life and travel certainly change with a child on board… but not in a bad way.

Since my Aussie-born two-year-old graced this earth, she has been on inter-state and overseas trips, countless (sleepless) flights, and now, to top it off, lives across the world in Toronto with her dad and I.

I distinctly remember when we booked our first international trip with her: a week-long vacation in Bali. We hadn’t been able to travel internationally for some time due to the pandemic, so we were eager to get our passports out again. Both my partner and myself are avid travelers, having traveled throughout Australia, Canada, the U.S., Bali, Vietnam, Singapore, and Cuba together. Needless to say, we were ready. Except this time, we’d be traveling with a new addition.

At the very first chance of being allowed to plan a trip, we booked a vacation in sunny Bali. We pictured days exploring the local culture with our daughter and nights by the pool as a family. Being the sporadic people that we are, my partner and I never really thought anything of travelling with our daughter until I started researching about travel with a baby.

Travelling as a family was always a given. We always wanted to travel as a family and give our daughter life experiences that we have been fortunate enough to have. Once I started googling though, my screen filled with headlines like, “Why you shouldn’t travel with kids,” “Why we chose to wait until our kids were older to travel,” and, “How to stay sane while travelling with a family.”

I thought to myself: “Wow, this may actually be really hard with our baby!”

I quickly started to wonder if we’d made a mistake. How would we be able to handle her napping schedule while travelling? Could we still go sightseeing like we love to do?

What would we do if she didn’t sleep on the flight? How would she act while away from her bedroom and toys? Would I be able to find food for her to eat?

I spent the month before we left panicking. In spite of that though, we still mustered up some parent courage and kept our plans. I packed more than I ever had before bringing enough diapers and clothes for a month, a mountain of snacks, and brand-new toys that would hopefully keep her entertained on the flight.

As we boarded the plane, I felt my anxiety levels rising. I spotted the sweet lady around my mother’s age who would be sitting next to us for the flight and immediately felt bad for what I thought she was about to endure. I smiled saying, “Sorry in advance,” as we sat down. She smiled back and immediately offered to help us in any way we needed. She did exactly that. My daughter didn’t play with any of the new toys I bought her during the six-hour flight. My girl went between me, her dad, and this lovely lady the entire flight. This woman even took her so we could get a chance to eat, and they laughed and played together for ages.

During this particular trip, I felt relieved and supported. People are kind and understanding to travelling families for the most part. Fast forward through the trip, and that kindness continued. Locals and other tourists were constantly chatting with us, telling us how much of a good job we were doing, offering suggestions for child-friendly outings and chatting with our daughter across the table at breakfast.

Yes, some aspects of our trip changed from how we travelled in the past. For example, we couldn’t be as spur-of-the-moment as we had been before. We made plans and, for the most part, stuck to them so our daughter could keep a routine. We never stayed out late (I secretly love this part about parenting!). Those changes were SO worth it, and we had the best first international family vacation with so many cultural experiences, friendly locals embracing our baby and a newfound confidence that we could take on future travels as a family.

After this trip, we decided to make it official and take the leap to move to Canada with our (at the time) one-year-old child and dog. We’d been considering it for over a year. Prior to becoming parents, we lived in Canada and knew that moving back with our family was the right move for us. We love the country so much and knew our family would fit right in. So, we sold everything we owned and flew for 24 hours across the world starting from scratch with four suitcases each.

In the lead-up to the move, we were excited and busy. With all the packing, planning, and goodbyes, I didn’t have mental energy to get caught up in feeling nervous or doubtful. But every so often in a quiet moment, I’d catch myself entertaining concerns similar to the ones I had prior to our Bali trip, only on a larger scale. How would we keep our baby warm in winter? Would we still be able to do fun activities in winter, or would we be stuck indoors? Would our baby be okay being so far away from her extended family and literally everyone that she has ever known?

To my worried heart’s advantage, the first few weeks in Canada were so jam-packed with finding and creating a home that there wasn’t time to think about those worries. We had to learn on the fly and adapt as all parents do. We learnt how to dress a baby for Canadian winters, embraced the winter activities like skating, sledding, and making snowmen, and met many amazing people who gave us a warm welcome.

Of course, as with anything new, there’s been a lot of learning but also so much joy. When I’m old and grey, and my daughter is off on her own adventures with her family, I’ll forever be grateful and remember the memories we made abroad on our own terms. The sound of her Australian-Canadian accent squealing with joy the first time that she went sledding in a Canadian winter. The excitement she got experiencing her first Halloween (it’s not a big thing in Australia). The Christmas morning family tradition we’ve created where we go skating in downtown Toronto after Santa found his way through the snow to our Canadian abode.

Overall, I’m so grateful that I wasn’t deterred from adventure because of the messaging that’s so often given to wanna-be adventure families. I’m proud that my family and I chose to take a leap of faith when my girl was young and open all of our minds to a world of possibilities and exploration. And not just those in our own backyard!