Happy New Year! 

I’m sure your social media feed and inbox are full of all the ‘New Year, New You’ kinds of things right now. It’s that time, for sure.  And while everyone is busy making massive lists of things they want to do, that negative thought pattern of ‘new year, same old me’ can creep it’s disgraceful fist right on in and squash those dreams fast.   

We’re doing our own yearly reflecting and making some family goals for 2020 that of course include MORE TRAVEL! And we wanted to pop in and share some ideas with you to help you make goals that will stick. Goals you’ll achieve fast because you’re empowered with some simple strategies for success.

First things first: It’s time to Imagine.

Imagine who you want to be at this time next year. 

Imagine yourself having achieved the things you said you would. 

Imagine your family flipping through your family yearbook for 2020 (let’s be honest, it’s your camera phone gallery ‘cuz you haven’t had time to make a photobook yet for all the fun you’ve been having), reminiscing about all the fun memories you made together. 

Breathe those feelings in. Really notice what your kids are saying as they point out those silly selfies you took in front of the Eiffel Tower, those underwater shots of your son’s first attempt at snorkeling at that quaint little beach you found, or that scary-looking dish you ambitiously ordered and then dared each other to sample. Surprisingly delicious or horribly wretched? Ha!

Now that you’ve imagined something totally amazing, it’s time to Write It Down. 

Grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper and just write. Write down all the things you want to do this year, next year, in five years, JUST WRITE!  Don’t let fear get in the way. And don’t worry about the How. The how comes later. Just write the What you’ve been dreaming about.

Ok, now Choose A Goal

This step is mostly dependent on your family situation. You may be able to choose a couple destinations or just one right now. But choose one thing, circle it, post it on your fridge and make it the focus of your thoughts and actions this year. You’ll be surprised at the affect of having your goals listed front and center: SUCCESS!

This next step can sometimes sound like the hardest, but it’s actually the simplest. 

Take some kind of action.

Ask yourself, What is one thing I can do today that will get me closer to taking that trip to Hawaii. Your answer might be to open a savings account and call it Hawaiian Snorkel fund. Your answer might be to research what it will cost your family to travel there (hint, what you find might pleasantly surprise you). Your answer might be to book a workshop with us so we can help you get the biggest costs like flights, hotels, car rental, for free. But whatever your next action is, do like Nike says and JUST DO IT!

Now that you’ve taken one step, take another and another, until you wake up and you’re packing your bags for that family adventure you dreamed about that one day in January. 

AHHH! Can you feel the excitement? I’m over here with goosebumps, waiting to hear what travel goals you’re planning for this year! 

We saw a fare sale to Kuala Lumpur the other day and wondered if it was a decent deal.  At just over $650/pp from SLC, it sounded like a relatively inexpensive way to hop over to the other side of the world and explore a part of Asia we’d heard about but never really considered. 

But before we could jump on the deal, we needed some additional information. We knew about the iconic towers and the incredible views, but what about the food? The transportation? Is it safe? What else is there to do and see?

 We didn’t have the day to spend travel dreaming, but we could carve out a little bit of time, so I challenged Garrett to see if we could find enough info in 30 min to determine if the flight deal would be great enough to convince us to click the BOOK button. Then, we’d have another 24 hours to determine if the trip would be a good decision for us to make before we’d lose our option to cancel.

How did we spend those next 30 minutes?

First Step: We Set a Timer.

As I mentioned, we really didn’t have a lot of time to ‘waste’ down a travel-rabbit hole. We’ve been guilty of spending hours researching a location so many times and enjoy every minute of it. On this particular day, we had other things needing our attention, but we did want to know if Kuala Lumpur might be our next vacation spot before the deal was gone.

Next, We Begin Our Search.

We searched Pinterest and Google for anything we could find about what to do in KL. Pinterest is our greatest resource for travel planning details, but we also came across a new resource we’ll tell you about soon. 

We asked questions like: What to do in Kuala Lumpur, What to eat in Kuala Lumpur, Sample itinerary Kuala Lumpur. In just a few quick keystrokes, there’s a wealth of knowledge available to consume. The top pins will pop up first, but if you’re looking for something more specific, check out the suggested terms at the top and you’ll find even more tidbits to read about.

Thousands of travel bloggers journal their adventures and many do a pretty great job convincing us to visit the places we research, but we really appreciate those who catalog their journey honestly.  We look for blogs with sample itineraries, food recommendations, top tips, etc. and avoid those who seem to just fill their pages with pics of themselves in ‘gram-worthy poses, those who likely didn’t truly explore the city or go outside the 5-block radius. But I digress…

Next, We Take Some Notes In a Google Spreadsheet. 

We don’t worry about making if fancy, creating daily plans, or color-coding it (yet, lol). We just jot down top recommendations from the blogs/websites we visit. Where to go, where to stay for easy access to top destinations, how to get around, what to eat, what not to do… This sheet generally stays pretty simple at this point so that we don’t get sidetracked planning our every move, but we like to have a general idea if there is enough (or too much) to see before we make our decision.

Then, We Research Costs. 

How much does a typical meal dining out cost? How much do groceries cost in the city and on the outskirts of town? What are the best ways to get deals on transportation costs and does the city have a safe, reliable mass-transit system or is walking the best way to get around? What about souvenirs? We like to buy a few things during our travels so we make sure to include them in our budget, too. 

Next, We Assemble the Budget. 

We choose the top sights we actually want to see, add up the entrance fees, figure out a daily meal allowance, estimate for transportation costs, and then put this info into a simple budget. We’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how much we can handle, so even though a seasoned travel blogger might suggest a packed itinerary, we know that 3 museums in one day just isn’t going to work for us. We also know that we’re pretty easy to please and don’t require ultra luxury accommodations, we are savvy with subways and metro lines so we don’t use cabs often, and regular food breaks are non-negotiable, which means our food budget might be higher than other families. No apologies from us; we often travel for the food!

Time To Analyze.

We add everything up and ask some questions. Is the estimated cost something that we can handle? We typically use our rewards points to cover flights and hotels, so in this case, we estimated a 5-7 day trip for two (we decided we’re way overdue for a kid-free trip) to Kuala Lumpur and a few surrounding cities would cost us less than $1,000. That’s not bad for a trip to Asia, if you ask us!

Now It’s Decision Time.

Are we going to snag the deal and spend the next 24 hours making sure we can make this trip happen? Or are we going to wait for the next deal and do this all over again? Stay tuned to find out.

Didn’t read to the end? That’s okay. Here’s the TLDR summary: 

How to know if a travel deal is right for you:

1. Set a timer. Don’t spend too long researching.
2. Research the city and surrounding areas using Pinterest to cut down on time spent searching travel blogs and databases.
3. Note your details on a google sheet or simple notebook. Keep it simple.
4. Research the costs. Lodging, transportation, food, activities, and don’t forget the souvenirs!
5. Assemble your budget. 
6. Analyze your data and make a decision. Is the total cost something you can afford at this time? If not, no worries. Now you’ve got another location to add or remove from your future bucket list.

And that’s it!

Simple enough?  We’d love to hear what you think. Do you have any tips to share with our community? Let us know in the comments!

I had one of those rare, quiet, nobody-was-calling-MOM-a-hundred-times moments the other day (they do happen, I promise!) And I started thinking about how my oldest son has one more year of elementary before we send him off on his next big adventure in middle school.

Yikes!

To say I’m terrified is an understatement.

Nevermind that I hated middle school–that’s a post for another day. But it hit me like a ton of bricks when I started thinking that we’ve essentially got a year to teach and support him–to create a sense of belonging to our ‘team–before he gets funneled into a gathering that will expose him to so many new, sometimes frightening, situations.

I realize that my middle school experience is different than his will be. While I was struggling to fit into a box that he probably won’t struggle with, he’ll have other, possibly more difficult, hills to climb. As well as big decisions that will determine his trajectory for years to come. I know, it sounds a bit dramatic to say, but I really believe my choices as a moody 13 yr old affected me for a decade…and maybe more.

I feel like we’re cramming for a really big test that begins next fall. Cramming in all the daily summer stuff like afternoons at the pool or hikes around the lake, trips to our local theme park, and late night chats when it’s just too hot to sleep. And because we love to travel, we’re taking in those adventures, too.

But we’re cramming to say the least.

Summer vacation is over and I feel like we’re running out of time to do the things that great connections are made from.

One thing that puts my mind at ease is all the fun adventures we’ve been able to revel in over the last few years. Trips to Europe, Hawaii, Florida, California, The Pacific Northwest, etc.

At the end of these adventures, do you know what we have?

Memories!

Moments we chat about all the time! We’ve got photos on our wall of those ‘together’ moments that our kids can fall back on when they encounter thoughts of not being enough or that nobody understands them. We know that when those tough moments come, and we know they will come, it is our hope that those memories will be enough to keep them rooted, grounded in a sense of belonging and being enough. A sense that they can get through whatever life throws their way. And that we as a family can make it through together, if we trust and stay close to each other.

We have a vested interest in your family creating those same moments.

Your kids will hang with our kids. Your kids and ours will become the next generation of strong individuals who will make a difference and change the world!

We hope you’ll turn those ‘someday’ travel goals into ‘right away’ travel plans with us!

-Mandi

We’re just days into our first international trip as a couple and we’re already fighting on a very public corner of a very busy street. It’s easy to guess what the locals are thinking by now – two overloaded tourists, soaked in sweat, and yelling at the top of our lungs.

Fists aren’t swinging, but the words flying are enough to cause heads to turn. Nothing is going to solve the problem at this point, so we start walking again, just blocks away from our lodging.

Guess what we discover upon arrival?

The elevator’s broken and we have to carry all our big bags up several flights of stairs. Are you kidding me?

No more words are needed, as I’m sure my face conveys my utter disdain for yet another physical trial I have to endure on this trip.

To make a very long story short, we made it up to our room, unloaded a few things, took a brisk shower because hot water wasn’t abundant, and then ventured out to discover one of the most beautiful cities we’ve visited to this day. Wonderful memories were made and we ended up modifying our trip plans to skip Milan and come back again near the end of the trip to discover more about this beautiful city.

The journey was overflowing with lessons for these two unseasoned travelers.

And while there are tons of tips I could share with you as a new world traveler, the theme of this post is OVERPACKING.

Reasons (read: excuses) why we overpacked:

• Lockers we intended to rent at the train station were closed
• Garrett was staying in France for a study abroad after the Italy leg and ‘needed’ additional stuff for the month
• I thought it would be a good idea to pack extra shoes, fashion, jackets, etc. because you never know what you’ll feel like wearing on any given day, am I right?!
• Most importantly: we had not done enough research to even consider packing lighter in the first place

So let me save you the stress of lugging too many bags on your next trip and give you…

My Best Tips to Avoid Overpacking

Research the Weather 

Check the weather patterns and current local forecasts. If it looks like rain is settling in for your trip date, take a small-but-durable umbrella.  If you travel in the summer, you won’t likely need a heavy jacket, but just something to shelter you in the case of a random rainstorm. Here’s our tried and true favorite: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UR0EFEK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But no need to pack so much for ‘just in case’ if you have an idea what the weather usually looks like.

Consider Layering 

In places where the temperature fluctuates throughout the day, you may only need an extra layer every so often. Instead of packing bulky sweaters or long sleeves for each day, utilize a jacket, hoodie, cardigan (whatever fits your style preference), and pack lighter shirts that will take up less space.

Wash your Clothes Mid-Trip

We’ve had mostly positive experiences with laundromats in the US and abroad.  If you plan a day mid-trip to relax and recover, you can use some of that time to do a load of wash or two.

Select your shoes carefully

Search for sturdy shoes that will serve many purposes. No need to pack high boots, low booties, sneakers, sandals, and heels. Pick one supportive pair that will suit your venturing style, plan your outfits around those shoes, and then consider a simple sandal for beaching or walking from the pool. Your feet will thank you later.

Try Capsule Dressing

You’ll be able to mix and match outfits without bringing a top and bottom for every day. Here’s an awesome blogger who has changed her life and the lives of many others with her capsule dressing project: https://bemorewithless.com/project-333/

Packing Cubes

Combined cubes with the simple art of Marie Kondo folding, and you’ll be able to fit a weeks worth of stuff into one small cube. There are lots of products out there that solve a similar need, but we prefer these for durability and value: https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Creek-Pack-It-Cube-Set/dp/B00F9S71YQ?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_2590949011

And most importantly 

Realize that when you travel, you’ll always forget something. But chances are, you’ll use your amazing brain to come up with a solution, or you’ll hop over to a local shop to get what you just can’t live without. Most pharmacies have similar products you’re used to back home, so instead of packing your travel drugstore ‘just in case’, take the few items you know you’ll need and leave the rest to chance. 

Bonus packing-with-kids Tip

We used to pack all kinds of entertaining things for the kids to do. But guess what – they never used them. There was always so much going on and so much to see that they never got bored. So pick one or two small items to entertain, and then see how the trip goes. Who knows, you may learn something about your child you’d have never known if they were zoned out to one of their many devices.

For those who skimmed to the end for the TL:DR recap:

Lesson Learned:    Pack fewer things than you think you’ll need.

You’ll likely be fine without them and you’ll be unencumbered as you travel the world and make new memories together. You will be less frustrated by having to buy something you could have brought than hauling your closet around only to use less than half of it.

Happy Packing!      

-Mandi