Welcome Travelers!

It’s been a while since I’ve written so let me reintroduce myself to the blogosphere and provide more background as I prep posts about our Japan trip. I’m Simone, a sewist and collector of hobbies. I’ve been blogging since I was a teen and sporadically picked it up again after having kids. I’m married to a computer nerd, Andrew, and we have two kids, Jadon and Isabelle.

We’ve traveled with our kids since they were babies and, though our trips have evolved from road trips to international trips, we implement the same tips and tricks as they’ve grown into teenagers. We’ve learned a lot in our travels and my desire to document and share that information is strong so here I am. I hope you find something useful!

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How We Plan

I used to be the over-researcher of trips, but my desire to do so has waned quite a bit since the pandemic. I used to find and read the perfect travel guide, gather all the places I want to visit, and then work with Andrew to make an itinerary. Now, Andrew plans everything while I focus on prep and ensure we have everything we need. He’ll tell me about things and ask for input, but the big picture is still too daunting. A week or two before the trip is when my excitement usually overrides my anxiety.

Because Andrew’s the big picture person, he’s gotten really good at planning and I’m grateful for the time and effort he puts into our adventures. I like having a general idea of our plans, but I don’t need to know all the details. I think setting realistic expectations has helped a lot for me and I find myself happy to be along for the ride.

I know some people highly recommend working with travel agents, but we like to have control of our plans so we haven’t felt the need to regularly use one. It’s a lot of work for us to do on our own, but Andrew usually enjoys it and we tend to get more excited as we plan.

Tips for Planning a Trip:

• Book directly through the company. In most cases, we have a better time overall when we don’t have to go through a third party.
• Borrow travel guides from the library. I put holds on as many as I can get my hands on and then look through them to find my favorite to purchase.
• Look into getting a travel card. We prefer cards that can be used across different brands.

Our Travel Philosophy

Convenience and practicality rule around here. We prioritize the needs of our family which means we’re likely turning in early to ensure enough sleep for everyone and getting as regular/balanced of meals as possible. Keeping things structured is a necessity to keep everyone at their best.

Travel Tip: No matter how strict your itinerary is, the ability to pivot due to unforeseen circumstances can make or break your trip.

We don’t usually follow a strict itinerary, but it really depends on the trip. In the UK, a strict itinerary was very important and helpful. In Japan, we loosely followed an itinerary and then figured it out as we went. One thing we have learned is that we like to have things to do and that we’re not content being idle.

When it comes to documenting, I take a lot of photos of our family and worry less about getting the perfect shot than I do about getting everyone to look at the camera. Getting pretty pics for social media is not my biggest concern and I try to stay off my phone while traveling, only sharing whatever I have on my camera roll afterward. I am not a professional travel blogger or photographer. Most of the pics you find here have been taken by me with my camera phone unless otherwise stated.

Travel Tip With Kids: Give them a packing list!

I’ve been giving my kids individual packing lists for years and recently switched from handwritten to printed. (I’ve saved the printed list in my Google Drive so I can make tweaks for each trip.) They’re in charge of checking off the list of items and then I usually go through the list with them one last time before packing everything away.

Travel Essentials

When it comes to packing and luggage, we pack on the lighter side and aim to do laundry if we’re staying for more than a few days. Here are our must-haves for any trip:

• Hard-sided luggage. I know soft versus hard-sided luggage can be a personal preference, but we tend to prefer our hard-sided Samsonite luggage. The one we have works well for carry-on and has held up to being checked many times. This one is a newer version of the one we have. Whatever you get, I highly recommend getting one with the following features: 4 wheels (spinner wheels), a handle on the side, and an expandable zipper. We recently purchased these ones from Target and they’ve held up surprisingly well too. The outside isn’t as sturdy as our Samsonite and the handles aren’t as easy or comfy to use, but they’re slightly cheaper and have held up nicely.
• Packing cubes. I’m slightly obsessed with our packing cubes and love how easy it is to pack and separate our clothes. I find that it helps me gauge how much I really need too. The kids and I can fit most, if not all, of our clothes into a single medium-sized packing cube while Andrew usually needs 1-2 cubes. I’ve recently added the small packing cubes to our supplies, but we still use the mediums most often.
• Portable charger. I prefer to take the larger charger most of the time, but I also have a smaller charger when I only need backup power for one device.
• Power strip. Nowadays, we find plenty of outlets to use, but we always bring a power strip just in case. We use this one and this one most often. The latter one has enough USB ports that we use it as a family charging station at home.
• Packable duffle bag. I like to pack a duffel bag in my carry-on luggage whenever I know I’m going to be buying things. I bought a few of these duffle bags recently and love them. They have a sleeve to fit over the handle of your rolling luggage, hold up well against weather, and handle being checked. They have more pockets and pack better than my other duffles so I’m switching to these going forward. For road trips, we use duffle bags exclusively..
• Reusable bag. This is not a necessity, but I tend to take at least one packable reusable bag with me wherever I go. More often than not, we’ll have some use for it: holding dirty clothes, grocery shopping, etc.

Packing For Road Trips: Opt for duffle bags instead of your typical airline luggage. They’re flexible and easier to pack into a car.

Allons-y! (Let’s go!)

Now that we’ve covered the basics and you’ve gotten a better idea of the kind of travelers we are, I’ll start sharing our most recent trip and hopefully keep the blogging momentum going. If you’re interested, you can also look back on our previous travel posts. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for reading!