LK – My kids are 9 and almost 7 and I have had similar struggles on doing the “right thing” and also living out our intentions. Travel is something I have decided to prioritize over many other things in life and yet sometimes it is still hard to pull the trigger! About 15 years ago, when my husband and I had been dating a year or two, his extended family did a short Disney cruise togther. I was invited, but the “expense” (though pricey, I could have afforded it) and the logistics (I had limited vacation and the travel timing was tricky) were both dauting and I said no and I have always regretted it. They’ve never done anything like that since and I don’t forsee anything similar in the future. I have a few destinations on my bucket list (taking my kids to Germany where I lived on an Army base as a kid) but a lot of my opportunities pop up and I want to be financially and mentally ready to say yes! I’m going to Ireland in August with my two sisters (just the 3 of us!) because one sister was going, the other decided to tag along and well, I had to join too! I turn 40 this year and my children are finally old enough to be good travelers so I too am trying to be proactive about making these adventures happen!

@LK – I think homeschooling can be a great idea if you’d like to travel for longer periods of time. You’d need to make sure you had your district’s curriculum goals and standards for the time you’re missing but for a 7-year-old it’s more feasible than, say, trying to teach calculus to a high schooler. This sounds like a lot of fun travel!

In January, I’m on sabbatical, so we are going to Mexico for 3 months. I will have to plan home schooling, and I’m sure the district won’t be crazy about that, but I feel like, we only have one life, and slow travel lets you get to know an area and people instead of being a tourist, and that to me is more important than following the rules, expectations, and routines set by someone else. And I am perfectly capable of teaching second grade for 3 months. My sister is getting married in Italy in May, so I’ll have to take him out then, too, and if we’re going all the way over there, I want to show him the sites, like the ruins – he is really into Percy Jackson right now and learning about Greek and Roman gods.

In 2025, I’d like to go to Harry Potter world. We are on the fourth book now, and I’d like to go see it with him while he’s still into it. At the end of this August, I’m hoping to go to Legoland in New York with him, too, possibly just the two of us. I feel like the window of time when he will like these things will close one day.

I think one thing I’ve been struggling with since turning 40 is making all of the sensible choices and following rules and expectations at the expense of failing to put adventure and joy at the center of our lives. I’ve worked a lot, and delayed gratification, and been frugal to build security, all the things they tell you to do. We’ve done some great camping adventures and local things, but there’s such a big world out there that I want to see and show him, and I don’t feel like squeezing it into weekends and prescribed breaks. School and work are only a part of life. They’re not the center. And I have to remind myself that money is meant for enjoyment, not just security. It’s ok to spend on adventure.

@Kate – let this be a nudge to start thinking about it! It’s almost impossible to totally commit to stuff 5 years out. But when it’s a goal, then you can start thinking about it and getting excited (and saving for it if needed).

@Robin – see here, Jaime — https://www.facebook.com/jamieweitltravel/

@Irene – I hear you on the weekend trips. We have taken several of them but boy is it a lot of work for not a lot of time! I guess 2 night trips are slightly better than one night trips – those are the worst in terms of the amount of packing and prep necessary but you don’t get much time at the destination…

We also take another week-long car trip in summer, where we rent a cabin/lodge and cook our own meals. Again, since we are in Midwest, it takes about a day to get out to see something exciting and new. We take one plane trip in spring, when we go to Cancun (because of non-stop flights from our city).

Other than that, I my husband and i travel for work when needed (i usually go to couple of conferences each year), but we don’t do any short weekend trips. I feel it is too much work with packing/unpacking, thinking of the meals, and then we fall out of our rhythm for doing groceries/Sunday food prep. We just learned that with our personalities, the short trips are way more stress than fun, so we don’t. We also have one kid with very specific allergies, he cannot eat most of the fast food, so it is just easier for me to attend to his needs when we are at home.