As you all probably know, sometimes you wish there were 48 hours in a day instead of 24. Everything is coming at the same time and you don’t exactly know if you need 20 mugs of coffee, 13 litre of wine, or a week of sleep to get it all done. The last thing you want at those moments, is someone wasting your precious time. Well, that happend last week when I send back an Interview for a Family Travel Website. They had send me some questions related to travelling with kids, to put on their Travelling Families Page. I thought nice, lets spread the word about travelling with kids. Spend a good amount of time, got some nice pics to go with it, and send it off. The next day I received an email saying ‘ Thank you for sending back your interview with the answers, but unfortunately due to lack of time we don’t have this part on our website anymore’. Eh Say what?!?! What about of my time? Anyway, instead of trashing it, I thought lets put it out on our website, so some of you guys can get to know us a bit more 🙂 So here is our interview about travelling with kids.
1. Where is home for your family? Originally? Now??
My husband ( Lion ) and I ( Jo ) are originally from the Netherlands and our son is born in Kununurra, WA, Australia. After living in Kununurra for 3.5 years, we moved to Queensland and are now based in Cairns, but hitting the road again in a few weeks.
2. Who are the people in your travelling group including their ages? A little about each of them.
My husband Lion ( 1984 ) Me (1984 ) and Sem ( 2015 ) are a little adventurous family and we love to discover new things. Before Lion and I met in 2012 we both travelled extensively all over the world and we are both adventurous, loving the good things in life, and never stopped travelling when Sem was born. Sem is a happy and easy-going dude, and a typical Australian outback kid as he loves the water, animals, playing outside and exploring new things.
3. What are your usual occupations when you’re not travelling?
Apart from being parents, we both work full-time. Lion works at a Furniture & Interior company and I work at www.woodyworldpacker.com and as a freelancer in marketing, writing, and photography. Apart from that, I have a great job for a few days a week at a Photography business specialised in Child Care Centre Photography and Family Portraits. Although, we both quit our jobs, for our next adventure in a few weeks time. We will be travelling for 3 months while focusing on fine tuning our website and I will keep on working freelance, which I can do from anywhere in the world. And most importantly ; Lots of family time 🙂
4. When and where was your first overseas trip as a family?
Our first overseas trip as a family was when Sem was 7 months old. We went to the Netherlands to visit friends and family and this was the first time Sem met all of his Dutch family and friends. During that trip we also went on a cruise to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman to celebrate my parents in law’s 40th wedding anniversary.
5. What is your favourite family destination and why?
So far, that’s still our own beautiful Australia. There is so much to discover, the perfect country for epic road trips, it is safe, and really family orientated.
6. What is your family travel style? e.g. back packing, luxury, slow, fast Why? What do you like about this?
It’s a bit of everything. In general, we are fast travellers, but that has to do with our curiosity as well. We always want to discover and explore more, get everything out of it. We love luxury backpacking, like discovering different places in one holiday, but absolutely no dorm rooms. We go for hotels, motels and b&b’s but also love tourist parks and staying in a nice cabin.
Australia is of course a great place for camping, which we also love. Before Sem was born, we went out for camping and road trips many times, and slept in the car during some road trips ( sometimes not in the trunk on a mattress but in the front seats! 😉 At this stage we prefer a bit more luxury.
7 What are the challenges when travelling with children?
I think the fact that you never really know if your child is going to have a good day or a bad day when you plan a flight or a long road trip. Lucky us, Sem is really easy and goes with the flow and that’s exactly how Lion and I are when we travel ( And actually always 😉 ) . We are really relaxed and take Sem everywhere we go. We never experienced any bad situation like crying for hours in the car or on a plane. Of course he had his moments like every child, but he did pretty well on all the road trips and flights he had done. We just take it as it is, and make sure that when we re having a massive trip ahead of us, everyone is happy, relaxed and comfortable.
8. What are some of your favourite things about travelling with kids?
That you see the world through your children’s eyes. For example; sometimes you are at a certain place, take a picture and you are ready to move on, then your child points to something interesting and you stop for a while, look at it, and take it all in much slower. You might see some other things and the real beauty of a place, which you otherwise, when you’re just taking that photo and move on, would have missed. And I really love all the new things children discover, which are so normal for us.
9. Tell me about your travels before children?
Free, careless, and no plans. The latest 2 trips we did before Sem was born, were a road trip through the South West of Australia and an epic Asia trip to the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia, Borneo and Brunei. We booked a ticket from Australia to Manilla and a ticket from Manilla to Bangkok and just went with the weather and booked our accommodations the day before, or on the day we decided we wanted to go to the next place. And we can still do that with Sem in a certain way, but we would never step into one of those dangerously fast and old busses in Laos where you get squeezed in with building materials and animals. It was just us and 2 backpacks against the world and now we have to plan a little bit more and be more aware of certain things.
10. How do you fund your travel? i.e. remote work, save up to travel?
One of our motto’s is work hard, live smart, play hard.
We always worked a lot, saved a lot, didn’t have to pay rent or a mortgage when we went for long trips, don’t spend money on material stuff you don’t need and as a travel professional, I know where I can find the best deals and know the tricks of travelling 😉 Also, our website helps us in a way that we sometimes receive FOC accommodation, entrance fees and other freebies in return for marketing services we offer. On top of that, with our website and with my freelance work, I can basically work from anywhere in the world.
11. What are your current travel plans? Where are you, where have you been, where are you going next?
We are currently in Cairns, Australia, but taking off in a few weeks for a road trip to Brisbane ( 1686 kilometre) Then we fly from Brisbane to Hong Kong, where we will stay for 6 days before going to the Netherlands to catch up with our family and friends. When we are there, we are also planning on traveling around in Europe for a few weeks, before heading back to Australia for our next exciting adventures.
Do you travel a lot with your kids? Or would you like to, but have no idea how? Talk to us in the comments below!
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Yay!!! It would be amazing to meet up, really looking forward to that! And I’m sure you’ll like it in here, especially in the summer London is really nice. But hey, I can see how much I have to catch up with in here, let me move to the next post as I’m super curious!
Mal x
Yay!!! Meeting up would be amazing! I’m sure you’ll like it in here, especially in the summer it gets really nice and green. And I can see how much I have to catch up in here, let me move to the next post as I’m really super curious! x
Hey Archana,
Hahaha I think so 😉 Thank you so much and have a great weekend!
Jo
Hi Ana,
That is really sweet! Thank you 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Jo
Hey Mal!
Totally agree with you, but at least it is not wasted 🙂
Much more to come about travelling with our little cheeky monkey 😉
London is high on the bucket list to visit, and I will definitely let you know when it is on the agenda, would be awesome to meet up! By the way, years and years ago I did visit London ( I would almost forget! ) but that was for a few hours of christmas shopping. We went with the bus from the Netherlands to Calais – Dover and spend triple the amount of time travelling to and from London, than actually being there. So I Can’t really say I ve been to London properly, but we really should! Your posts make it even more inviting! 🙂 Coincidentally, we will launch a post a bit later today about London’s High Flying Helicopter… X Jo
I must say your son who was born to traveler parents in Kununurra is super cute. Is that the effect of travel genes?
Glad to know that you guys didn’t stop traveling even after your son was born. I’m sure your post will inspire other parents to move out of their comfort zone.
Oh Jo, this company sounds like a joke! How awfully disrespectful!!! I have to say though, I was extremely happy to read this post as I often wondered how you manage to travel with your little one and make the most of it, now I know! Super excited for your next trip, is London by any chance on the agenda? 😉 Xx
Good on you guys! We think exactly the same about that 🙂
Enjoy
Jo
No worries Christopher!
Traveling with children is awesome! Enjoy your future travels.
Jo
Thank you so much 🙂
We wish you guys the same.
Jo
This was a great read. We are planning on growing our family, but that definitely won’t stop us from traveling!
I’m not all that far away from starting a family and I want travel to continue to be a part of my life, so this was a great post for me to read. Thanks a ton!
I am glad you guys decided to continue to travel after having your son. A lot of people would think you would stop. We don’t have any children, so I can’t picture what it would be like to travel with a child. Good luck on your future adventures!
Hi Stella,
Thank you so much 🙂 Glad you liked it!
Jo
Hi Micki!
Great to hear you and your husband plan on traveling with children as well in the future. It is really manageable and a great way to spend time with your family 🙂
And yes, we always try to turn lemons into lemonade 😉 Love that sentence !
Jo
It really is Victoria 🙂
Thank you for reading, and glad you liked it!
Jo
That’s great that you are able to travel with Sem. Lucky he is an easygoing baby and likes to travel. I’m glad to know that people can travel even after they have kids.
Way to turn lemons into lemonade! I enjoyed reading about your family. We don’t have kids, but my husband and I agree that if/when we do have children, we will continue to travel. I love hearing from family travelers and seeing how manageable it is to travel with kids in tow. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a great life. I plan to do the same once I have kids 🙂
Thank you so much Marta.
Glad you liked it:)
Have a lovely week!
Jo
Haha thanks Kat!
Enjoy your week!
Jo
Hi Marlene!
That is exactly right, we heard so many times when I was pregnant ‘ Enjoy it now you still can ‘ or when you have kids, you dont travel that much anymore ‘ hahahah we travel more with our son than in the year before he was born 😉
I think it is more the idea in peoples heads that they can’t travel anymore once they have children, as it might be to much hassle.
Hi Dannie,
Thank you 🙂
And yes, that is exactly right haha. There are always good and bad days, but in general our boy is pretty good with his moods, apart from when he is teething ( Disaster with a Capital D ) How is your little girl?
Jo
Hi Matt!
Thanks for your lovely comment.
First of all, congratulations of becoming a dad very soon 🙂
When my husband and I expected our son, one thing we said ; we will keep on exploring and living an adventurous life, and now, he is almost 2, and we still do it, with the 3 of us, and we absolutely love it!
I am sure you and your partner will absolutely rock it!
Where are you guys based? In spain or the Uk? or anywhere in between?
Jo
Great interview! We travel with our 2 children often and I completely agree that there is something magical about seeing the world through their eyes.
Awesome idea! How annoying to have done all of that work and then get that response. But it’s not wasted 🙂
And if I ever have kids or travel with someone else’s, I’ll know what to do!
So nice that you are able to travel with your kid. Normally people think that when they have children their travels end. Glad to see that it isn’t so. 🙂
Great Post! We love traveling with our little girl, but you’re right about not knowing whether they will have a good or bad day. Your kids mood pretty much determines how much you enjoy your day!
Love this and thanks for taking the time to do it. I’m soon to be a father and my partner and I are both keen travellers. I’m from the UK and she is Spanish so to visit family etc our little one will have to get used to planes quickly! Reading posts like this calm me down about the whole experience!
Hi Amanda.
You are welcome. We think everyone is able to travel with their kids in a certain way, although a lot of people dont know how. Thats why we are going to share our tips and tricks along all our adventures 🙂
Hi Bilyana, That is so sweet of you! And we totally agree, that’s why we wanna spread the word 🙂
Have a lovely day!
Jo
Haha I know right! 🙂 Thanks so much
Jo
Hi Sonam,
Thanks so much for your lovely comment 🙂 We hope to inspire more people to travel with their children as it is lots of fun!
I do wonder if I would be able to keep doing this lifestyle if and when I ever have a family and it’s good to know that with a little world I would be able to! Thanks for sharing.
I always admire people who travel with their kids. It’s so inspiring and shows that when you have kids doesn’t mean you stop living. Respect for all those families
I always wish there were 48 hours in a day! Great interview….
Thats such a great post especially for people who think you can’t travel with kids. Loved reading it. Thanks for sharing Xx