Taking the Leap: Long-Term Family Travel with Kristen Dennett
Curious about traveling the world long-term with your family? Kristin Dennett did just that, sharing insightful travel tips and expertise along the way. We’re taking notes.
It was an exchange about spending Christmas in Vietnam that did it.
I was in the beginning of this platform build, and was looking out for other families that had traveled as intrepidly as we had. I posted something about being in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park over the holidays, and the mom-of-two— who had been on the road for about eight months at that point— replied. We traded notes about China, flying with babies, and Saudi Arabia (totally normal topics of convo) where she happened to be at the exact same time as my husband, who was their on assignment. and I took it as a sign that it was meant-to-be.
For the world-travel curious, this is the interview to read. Kristin Dennett, the brainchild of the ever-informative, budget-friendly world travel blog Inclined2Travel, shares welcome insight here as well— the process of embarking on a year-long trip with her husband, Alex, and their two children, Clara and Connor (ages eight and five). From the decision to sell their house and hit the road during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ups and downs of being away from home, and of course, the adventures and family bonding, we’re here for it all.
We check in with her in their new home in North Central Washington on the east side of the Cascades where, judging by their Insta, they’re always out and about in the outdoors exploring this beautiful region of North America. Welcome, Kristin!
Exploring Pokljuka Plateau, Slovenia.
HT: Ok, so we found each other because of a post about celebrating the holidays abroad.Tell us how you first became such a world traveler and how you translated that into traveling as a family.
KD: My husband and I both started traveling internationally when we were in our teens, but without our families. My first international trip was a school trip to Germany when I was 16 and I quickly caught the travel bug. We later met each other when we were both living abroad in China. Travel was at the core of our relationship and has always been a common hobby of ours!
About two years after getting married, we took a three-month backpacking trip to Southeast Asia and that’s where the idea of long-term travel was born– three months ended up feeling too short but it was something that never seemed like a reality.
When we had our daughter in 2013, we knew that travel wasn’t something we wanted to push to the backburner, so we continued traveling. My daughter’s first international trip (outside of Canada or the U.S.) was to Costa Rica when she was 13.5 months old and our son’s was to Cuba when he was 4 months old. When we arrived in El Salvador earlier this month, it was Clara’s 30th country and Connor’s 26th country. It even astounds me sometimes when thinking about it-– I didn’t get to that many countries until I was in my 30s!
Travel is a deep love and priority for us, so it was something we just made happen. It’s not always easy, and it takes a bit more planning to travel as a family than as a couple, but the experience is totally worth it.
We truly feel we have gotten a much better feel for some of the places we have been because we have experienced them with kids. People around the world have such a soft spot for kids, especially babies. It also gives you a much bigger appreciation for places that we never would have experienced, such as play areas as part of restaurants in Turkey or really unique or interesting playgrounds in Europe.
How did you decide to embark on a year-long trip?
When Covid hit in the spring of 2020, one of the things we missed most was travel; however, we continued to explore areas closer to home. In Spring 2021 my husband got put on a partially paid leave from his job due to circumstances from Covid, the housing market was a seller’s market and we were waiting on some immigration paperwork to come through so we could make the decision on where to live next. We knew that we would eventually need to sell our house, so we decided while the market was favorable we would sell.
However, with too many other variables we weren’t sure where we would end up long-term and we needed a bit more time for those things to work themselves out. Therefore, we decided this might be our opportunity to downsize and travel full-time while waiting for some of these things to play-out and make the right decision about our next plans. Traveling full-time was always something in the back of our minds that we wanted to do, so it was just ironic that it was changes due to Covid that eventually made this all into a reality for us.
You’ve traversed some incredible countries together— Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, to the UAE and Central America. I know I should never ask, so I'll ask it from your kids' perspective (which is hard— my kids' favorite thing is always the thing they are currently doing). Do they have a favorite experience or two?
It is so hard to just nail down favorite experience – each one brings its own unique aspects and memories! However, for the kids, releasing the baby sea turtles on the beach near Monterrico, Guatemala was definitely memorable! They both couldn’t get over how cute they were and they loved how they could release them from the coconut shell & watch them as they made their trek to the ocean.
Other experiences that have been memorable for them were: roasting marshmallows on Pacaya Volcano outside of Antigua, Guatemala; playing in the waves at the various beaches we have visited around the world; meeting and playing games with the neighborhood kids outside of our accommodation in the Nubian Village outside of Aswan, Egypt; hiking the Sucha Bela trail at Slovak Paradise National Park which included chains, platforms, bars and ladders as they explored this canyon path of waterfalls; visiting Expo 2020 when we were in Dubai; and of course, going to Legoland Dubai which was a birthday present for our son’s fifth Birthday. We also try to build in visits to zoos or children’s museums in different countries. They really seem to enjoy those type of experiences as well and helps them feel like we are continuing to do ‘kid things’!
Standing in the hand at Hobbitenango, Guatemala.
It's so great your kids are immersing themselves in Spanish. How is the language-learning experience positively affecting them?
We did a one-week course in Spanish while we were staying in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and they had a really great teacher who put together some fun things to do. It was fun to see them add in parts of the basic Spanish they learned into their play and speech. We had hoped to do at least another week in Lake Atitlan, but our plans changed last minute and we weren’t able to make it work due to catching Covid-19.
However, it’s amazing how kids pick up parts of a different language fairly easily. Clara (8 years old) really started coming out of her shell and now likes going up to various vendors to ask how much things are and completing small transactions – normally she would have never done that.
But learning small parts of the language has given them more interest in the places we are visiting, as well as confidence. We will be spending the next 3 weeks in Mexico and because we missed out on the Spanish classes for the second portion in Guatemala, we are hiring a local teacher to work with us there. I’m excited to watch them further grow!
Kristin’s Top Tips for Planning World Travel
// Allow extra time for everything and lower expectations— plan to see one or two things per day (instead of 3-4), to avoid being disappointed.
// Pick the right accommodation— choosing lodging that has bedrooms separate from the living area and a kitchen can be especially helpful. Keep an eye out for places that provide Pack ‘n Plays.
// Consider time zone changes— wait until at least 5:30-6 p.m. in the new time zone to go to bed. (Even if we arrive at 11 a.m. and it’s the middle of night at home). For young kids, we let them nap, but try to have 2-3 hours of awake time right before going to bed. We have also found kids Melatonin (when old enough) to help reset their internal clocks.
// Choose kid friendly destinations—it’s important to pick activities where it doesn’t matter if your kid has a breakdown (i.e fancy restaurants or museums). We have found that destinations with lots of outdoor activities are something we all enjoy! We love playgrounds, too!
// Packing— while it seems you need ‘everything’ when traveling with an infant, you can really get by with much less. In reality, you can always run to the store if you find yourself needing something unexpected.
How have your kids adapted to long-term travel?
Kids are fairly resilient and they have been pretty flexible and accommodating throughout the journey. Because we have traveled a lot in the past prior to traveling full-time, they were used to sleeping in different beds and staying in different places. They actually look forward to going to new accommodations and checking them out, as we move from place to place. I think the biggest positive adaptation they have gained is their flexibility with different situations (and us parents too!). They have just learned to roll with the punches and in this post-Covid world there have been various changes to plans. We previously promised them things, but it didn’t happen as planned and they would be quite disappointed; now they have been much better at accepting those changes.
The other major positive has been the opportunity for them to see these important historical sites and natural wonders in person. They’ve learned about the Jewish Holocaust when visiting Auschwitz, released baby turtles to the sea, seen smoke from a volcano, experienced their first earthquake and seen the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Although I don’t think they fully grasp all of these to their full extent at this point; I am positive that later in life when they learn about things in school, it will seem much more real for them because they experienced it in person.
The hardest part about traveling full-time for the kids has been being away from the familiarities of home. They missed their toys, especially when we were traveling in Europe & the Middle East. (However, I found it amazing how creative they got with making toys though – my daughter would draw & cut out accessories for her Barbies for instance.) Therefore, when we decided to change our mode of travel to a road trip from the U.S. down to Central America we let them pack a tote of toys to bring down with us in the back of the truck.
This definitely seemed to help improve their travel demeanor. The other aspect that has been the hardest, especially for my daughter, is that she misses her friends and going to school. We have been doing a small of homeschooling while traveling, but she really enjoyed school and has commented several times that she misses it. However, for our 5-year-old son he didn’t know anything different; so that hasn’t been an issue for him.
What will be the thing you bring home with you from this experience— family bonding, memories, the effect travel has on your kids?
While this past year has brought us so many incredible opportunities, it has brought its own set of challenges as well. However, we are very grateful that we had this uninterrupted time to explore and not have to worry about all the other daily tasks that come along with life. The memories will definitely be a big thing that will come from this trip, as well as the time we had together. My children are only five and eight years old, but already it feels like their childhood has gone by in a flash. I’m grateful we had this time with them when they are young and I hope years from they will look back on it fondly.
