Well, the story goes a little like this…
All those years ago, while we were in the mist of making BIG decisions, (BIG like exchanging all of our worldly possessions in the chance of chasing a dream!) I was continually faced with a myriad of questions, concerns, and down right negativity around travelling with my 2 young children. I even had a bank teller say to me, (while I was excitedly telling her about our upcoming adventure) ‘God, why the bloody hell would you wanna do that – I’d rather swim naked in a croc infested water hole than travel with toddlers!’ (well, maybe she didn’t say the latter part but that kinda explains the expression on her face!)
Please, don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of supportive and encouraging folk out there but there was this sad, fearful thread of negativity that came through.
The common feedback was
‘Why now, why not wait until the children are older and can remember it all?’
‘What about their schooling, will they ever fit back into our schools?’
‘What happens if they get Dengue fever, malaria, dysentery, or God forbid, bitten by a monkey!’
‘You’re not going to Spain are you, that’s where kids get kidnapped!’ (don’t laugh – that one was actually put to me with a genuine concern!)
I didn’t really understand these concerns, I often had no answers simply because this way of thinking just slides right by me, but I was faced so often with this fear based thinking that it was impossible to ignore the paradigm that was in front me.
And that’s when I had my epiphany, you know one of those defining moments that most often excites you, maybe even saddens you or like in my case, it moves you to change something. Without much thought, I subconsciously decided, then and there, to change the perception of parents everywhere. I had a deep desire to share our experiences of travelling as a family, and to expel the myth that travelling with kids is difficult, to undo all the reasons WHY NOT, and create a library of reasons WHY TO!
So … Where to from here – where and how do I take this subconscious desire to an actual, tangible reality?
THIS BLOG for a start,
sharing with the world our adventures through a collection of written and pictorial tales – the good, the bad and the ugly.
With that, sharing tips and recommendations to make your journey easier.
Then there’s this idea … that came to me very early on, before we even jumped on that first flight. It still lives in the depths of my mind (and as quite a collection in my photo library!) it is … drum roll … thunder cracks … lightening strikes … a coffee table, pictorial book suitably titled