I want to tell this story without rehashing the pandemic, without getting into politics, without sharing all our deepest struggles publicly (but you were there for 2020…so you get it).
We’d always been the people who said we’d travel with our kids when they were older; so we’d never taken a real vacation with our kids, partly because we thought it’d be a waste of money, and partly because a pandemic had been going on for half of their lives.
(We had taken a few quick trips by ourselves when our kids were little – we were actually in the Dominican Republic on March 11, 2020… and our kids were at home with their grandparents.)
In late 2021 the pandemic seemed to be endless and we hadn’t seen my husband’s family in a few years. We were getting very nervous about the unspecified length of time that was stretching out between the present and the future date when we would be able to see them again (as travel was becoming more and more difficult around the world).
At the time, our family didn’t all share citizenship in the same country, which meant that some countries were open to some of us and not open to others. Leaving a country was possible in most cases, but re-entering it was not possible for everyone, and the rules were changing as fast as we could comprehend them, either way.
In mid-October, Canada changed their rules again, and we decided (very quickly, over the course of a few serious conversations in just a few days) that the most reasonable solution to our present reality was leaving Canada and waiting in (hopefully) easier places until England would be open for entry to all of us.
We didn’t know when we’d all be able to get back into to Canada… but there didn’t seem to be any other alternative.
Planning for our “Long Adventure”
My husband gave his notice at work, I got the house as organized as I could (to be left alone for who-knew-how-long), and set about creating a plan on how to pack for a trip like this one:
For an unknown length of time
To unknown destinations
In a world full of changing rules and extreme emotions
With two kids under 5 (who had never been on plane in their memory)
We decided that we would travel as light as possible, because more things is always more hassle.
2 car seats, 1 large suitcase, four backpacks and a fanny pack.
(And one computer, of course, because I am blessed to be able to work from any location – so my job came with us.)
I learned that packing for an unspecified amount of time is about the same as packing for a two week trip (my family packing list for a two week trip is very similar as what we packed for this “long adventure”, actually).
We booked one way tickets to Orlando, because we had friends in Florida who had invited us to stay, and the USA was not as challenging entry-wise as some other destinations.
(It didn’t hurt that if I could have planned a trip anywhere in the world with my kids, it would have been Disney World, lol.)
Orlando was a direct, easy flight.
(To enter most countries as a non-citizen, you have to have a departure planned – so we used the temporary departing flight hack.)
We decided not to tell the kids until we got to the airport, because we didn’t even really believe that we’d be able to get on the plane…
My parents dropped us off at the airport, and took our car to park at their house.
We explained to the kids that we were getting to go on a “Long Adventure”, not the kind of trip that most people take for a week or so where everything’s planned out, but one that would have so many surprises, and eventually, God willing, would take us to see our family in England.
3 Months in Florida
Landing in Orlando felt like physical weight lifted off my shoulders.
The kids were tired, the line up to collect the rental car was literal hours long, but after a year and a half of pandemic, even just standing at baggage collection felt surreal.
We had a week of hotel and rental car booked, and despite the fact that my husband and I had always agreed that we would NEVER waste money or time taking little kids to theme parks (Seriously! We said that!), in our pandemic-altered state of mind we knew we couldn’t take the opportunity for granted.
(I am SO grateful for this weird silver lining of the pandemic – theme parks with my little kids are some of the best memories I’ve ever made – it doesn’t matter to me if they don’t remember it… I will!)
We spent two days at Disney (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom). We spent a day at SeaWorld. We went mini-golfing, we we floated in the pool.
We watched the kids have more new experiences and learn more new things in one day than they had learned in the past year – over and over again.
And I was family travel hooked. lol.
A week in Orlando is always fantastic, but it’s exceptionally fantastic when it’s breathing new life back into you after a year and a half of pandemic stress. I’m sure everyone has a post pandemic moment when they feel like the light is coming back in…
For me, it was this:
When our time in Orlando was over, we drove down to North Port where our friends lived, and they so graciously cleared out a room in their home for us, and lent us a car.
We were waiting for British government to open it’s borders to non-citizens, but it didn’t feel like waiting.
It felt like the adventure of a life time.
We explored the beaches, the little towns, and the springs all over Florida’s southwest coast.
We visited children’s museums, aquariums, trampoline parks, and the odd Dave and Busters.
We learned every hack to make beach days with kids as easy as possible, and I learned to feed my family on the road on a budget.
We celebrated American Thanksgiving with our “Florida Family”.
We celebrated a birthday.
We celebrated Christmas in a hotel room, and as weird as that was, it was also wonderful in it’s own way.
We fell in love with our “Florida Family”, and before we knew it, our time in the USA was over (3 month tourist visa), but England still wasn’t open to all of us.
3 Weeks in Mexico
A 3 month Florida “vacation” is something most people won’t get to experience in this life time, and as truly amazing is it had been, the reality was that we were 3 months out from where we had started and no closer to our goal.
We couldn’t go to England, but we had already invested thousands into getting there, so we weren’t ready to give up yet.
Mexico seemed to be the next logical destination, due to ease of travel and proximity to home. (Air travel rules were getting stricter all the time, but crossing back into Canada by land seemed like it would remain possible… so we didn’t want to separate ourselves from our home by water just yet.)
We booked three weeks in the cheapest but least-sketchy-looking all inclusive resort we could find, and flew to Mexico.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for all the covid happening in the background, Mexico would have been a literal dream come true.
(Even with covid, we had a pretty good time.)
It REALLY opened our eyes to all the reasons an all inclusive is the EASIEST way to travel with kids.
We stayed at the Catalonia Yucatan in Puerto Aventuras – which is in a gated expat community (so it felt super safe).
(It didn’t have a classic white sand beach – but there’s lots of reasons to choose a resort that DOESN’T have a white sand beach – don’t let that scare you!)
We could walk outside of the resort down into the community, count the lizards we saw on the way, and watch the fishing boats coming into the marina.
We spent hours playing at the edge of the water, watching the fishies near the volcanic rock formations, and the kids delighted in the Agoutis that snuck around our chairs at the pool. (Note: Agoutis bite, don’t feed them!)
We got to know the ladies who worked at the kids club and made friends with other families at the pool.
For our covid-era littles, who had spent half their lives in a shut down world, it was so eye opening to meet and communicate with people who spoke different languages.
Just as we were approaching three weeks in Mexico, and trying desperately to find a local rental in Puerto Aventuras, England opened their borders to non-citizens.
1.5 Months in England
As soon as we heard that the borders were opening we started making plans to leave Mexico.
We had to arrange (and pass) covid tests, pare down our luggage to just the one big bag, and plan winter clothes for our arrival (I went online sent a few things from h+m clearance section ahead of us). We also had to clean the mold off the car seats, which was a bit unfortunate.
4 months (and one ridiculously long 8 hour delay in Cancun – which is it’s own kind of special adventure with children) after we left home, we FINALLY made it to England.
February in England is not the same as December in Florida or January in Mexico. (It’s more expensive for one. It’s colder for another. A more “indoors” destination lol.) Full disclosure, if I could choose a time to visit England (or anywhere in Europe, I suppose) with kids, it would not be February.
But, it was just as full of new experiences and new things to learn and see, and for our family, it was full of long awaited reunions.
The kids got to meet all their cousins, to hug the people they talk to on Zoom, to see where their dad grew up, and to visit the places he talks about so often.
Getting In All The Family Travel We Can
Looking back, it’s wild to think that if it weren’t for covid my kids wouldn’t have had these experiences.
I would never have known what I was missing out on, waiting until they were older to travel.
We would have gone on with our lives and waited until they were a “better” age.
Until car seats weren’t necessary, maybe, or until we thought they could handle a 12 hour travel day without being emotional.
Or maybe until we had missed the “window of wonder” all together, without even knowing it was passing us by.
I know God can use everything for good, but I never cease to be amazed that one of the good things He put in my life through covid was family travel.
Now, we make it our goal to travel with our kids as often as we reasonably can, and to make the most of the family bonding and learning experience that it is.
I hope I can share some of the best tips I’ve learned over the years, to make your family travel plans as easy and budget friendly as they possibly can be!
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