When my kids were younger, I decided that I would rather show them the world instead of spending the money on birthday parties so we started the tradition of birthday trips! They started small, local, domestic travel but eventually, we just took it to the next level. Because I was a single parent at the time and the boys were so close with my parents, the five of us always traveled together. After a couple of years with my now-husband, he joined in on the fun. Now, it’s usually just the six of us but sometimes, we add in my sister and her boyfriend too just to make sure we have the extra fun of seven or eight travelers from the teens to the seventies.
My boys are 13 and 16 and are as different as day and night however, they are each other’s best friend. It does make life easy to have two kids that get along so well. When they are annoyed with us, they have each other. When they are annoyed with each other, they have us. Both are tall, lanky baseball players so traveling has become more difficult as they have year-round travel baseball teams.
My parents are the best; also as different as day and night. My mom is easy going and will just pretty go wherever I tell her we’re going. My dad is the energizer bunny and wants to be doing all the things, all the time. Recently, we did break them on our trip to Europe but after a short nap, they were joining us at a Roma football game.
Now my husband, he is a saint for putting up all of us. When it’s just the two of us, he’s a laid-back, take it all in guy. When it’s all of us, he is our definitely our high-strung traveler but he wants to keep things on track. He’s a project manager of travel after I project manage the planning. He makes sure we aren’t late to the party and don’t miss our reservations.
Thanks for joining in my travel journey and hopefully I can help you out as you plan your future travel whether alone or with a group of eight!
Kelly Garman
Focus on the Garman Family Travel 