Katja and Victoria run globetotting.com, a blog about adventurous family travel. I fell in love with their Instagram account and love to read about their travels. Since these two friends run the blog together, they are both sharing their traveltips today.
Victoria Westmacott
Full-time travelers or part-time travelers: part-time
Do you always take your kids along on your travels? Yes, always! I love the idea of the occasional kid-free holiday too but have never been able to make that work logistically.
Why do you travel with your kids? I’ve always loved travel and wouldn’t want to stop travelling just because I have children. Which is just as well really because my husband works in the UN and we get posted, as a family, all over the world. My daughter was born in Hanoi and my son in Delhi, and we now live in Panama. Besides being curious to explore the regions we live in we also spend a lot of time travelling to our home countries (UK and Spain) to see family and friends. Whilst our nomadic lifestyle may not suit every family, I personally feel very fortunate. I also believe that travel can be hugely beneficial to children. Besides offering educational experiences, travel is known to improve self-confidence, creativity, flexibility, open-mindedness… the list goes on! Above all, I appreciate being able to connect with my children in ways that are often not possible at home, where busy work schedules and routines get in the way.
Best tip(s) to travel with children: Don’t try to do too much! I often see itineraries that allow you to see a country in 10 days, providing you don’t stop to get out of the car / bus / plane. Whilst fast-paced travel may work well for retired folk, I don’t think it works well for families, especially those with little kids. Remember to factor in plenty of rest time!
Favourite destination for kids: At globetotting, we tend to cover destinations that aren’t necessarily obvious choices for kids, such as India, Nepal, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. There are plenty of blogs out there that cover Florida style theme parks and hotels with water slides. Our aim is more to find parent-friendly destinations that are great for kids too. With that in mind, one of my favourite destinations for kids to date is The Magic Kingdom of Peru! We all loved it!
Place you wouldn’t take your kids to: McDonalds. At least, not when we’re on holiday. Sorry kids!
Favourite Unesco World Heritage site visited: I can’t decide between Machu Picchu in Peru or the Taj Mahal in India. Both exceeded expectations. Perhaps Machu Picchu because the journey getting there was infinitely more spectacular, and more relaxing, than the journey to the Taj which involved a white knuckle car ride up the Delhi-Agra highway.
Katja Gaskell
Full-time travelers or part-time travelers: part-time
Do you always take your kids along on your travels? 95% of the time, yes! My husband and I try and get a weekend away without the kids once a year but at all other times the three kids come along with us.
Why do you travel with your kids? There are lots of reasons why we travel with the kids. The main one is that I have always loved to travel; I grew up living overseas and travelled a lot with my family. I then found a way to travel and get paid working for publications including Lonely Planet and Mr & Mrs Smith. So it was only natural that I would continue to travel when the kids came along!
We are also an expat family and so travel a lot because of my husband’s job. We left the U.K. nearly 11 years ago and have lived in Australia, India and now Mexico (with a child born in each country!). We always enjoy exploring the country that we’re living in and we travel to England annually to see family.
And finally, I love travelling with the kids not just because we get to discover new places together, but because travel gives us proper, quality time together, just the five of us.
Best tip(s) to travel with children: Don’t wait until “the right time”, it doesn’t exist! Someone in the family will always be too young, or too difficult, or too grumpy or whatever! Pack your bags, book a ticket and go.
Favourite destination for kids: Our three most favourite family holidays have been to Sri Lanka, Nepal and, most recently, a road trip in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.
Place you wouldn’t take your kids to: Camping. Unless it was in a tent that had beds and lights and showers. I’m not very good sleeping under canvas!
Favourite Unesco World Heritage site visited: Probably the Taj Mahal. I went expecting to be underwhelmed and I was completely blown away.
I love this instagram feed too! And I love that they cover such different and interesting locations – it really sparks my wanderlust and open my mind to different types of family travel.