So I guess we’re living in the south of France right now.

A few weeks ago, we bid adieu to the US and chartered a plane to the land of baguettes. After a blur of trains, exhaustion-induced naps, and a fitful night of jet lag, we woke up to soft glow of Provencal sun thawing our frozen Minnesotan bones.

For my wife and I, it’s been a breath of fresh air for our "parent-tired" souls.

Resurrecting Adventure

Personally, it’s been the synthesis of two seemingly-opposing sides of me: Adventurous Brett and Parent Brett.

For Adventurous Brett, the need for big, unique experiences lies somewhere between oxygen and food. But just as I was hitting my stride with world travel in my twenties, I kicked off my thirties by having three kids in two years (Three kids. Two years. … yep).

In the blink of an eye, I transformed from world-traveling-wannabe-real-estate-mogul to housebound-changer-of-diapers. There’s been joy these last five years but let’s just say Adventurous Brett has been on life support.

So despite the real challenges that traveling with little people presents, we decided that now was the time to emerge from the “baby years cave”, peek out through our dark-circled eyes, and see if the world was still there - even though we’ve still got three kids under age six.

For some, a big trip with young kids is obvious (“OF COURSE that's a great idea. We're on our way to Patagonia with two toddlers in tow right now!") For others, particularly parents in the throes of potty training, pre-school, and all the rest, the value may be less obvious.

Isn’t a trip with kids 10x the hassle (and cost) and 1/10th the fun?

I won’t sugarcoat it - this trip is not sipping Rosé on the beach all day while my kids fan me with cool air and appreciation. But as a man who types this sentence with hot espresso in hand and a cool Mediterranean breeze on my face, I can tell you that it's been worth it. Here’s how we thought about it.

Why We Traveled with Kids (Four Reasons)

1. This is the Time!

*Two super-Grandmas overlooking the Luberon Valley*

In my last post, I made the point that windows of opportunity don’t last forever.

Would it be easier to travel with older kids? Maybe. Sure, flights without tantrums and minute-by-minute-needs would be nice.

On the other hand:

How long until summer basketball and can’t-miss friend birthday parties takes over? (“I don’t WANT to go to Paris! I want to go rollerskating at Jonny’s party!”)
How long will your remote work situation last? How long will credit card companies dole out insane bonuses? How long until the next pandemic/invasion/etc/etc makes your trip impossible?
How many more years will grandparents have the ability and desire to tag along?

The trip you’ve been dreaming of for your family might be easier tomorrow - or it might not.

2. Parent Space

Life is tough. For me, my thirties have been a transition from "innocence to experience".

*Hint on* *our town: It’s where a certain famous painter famously cut off a certain hearing organ…*

Whether your life includes a year with reflux-laden twins or just surviving the isolation of a global pandemic, life puts all of us through the grinder at some point.

How do you stay positive and intentional in difficult times? How do you keep your marriage afloat when date nights have been replaced by passing screaming babies back and forth? How do you avoid the learned helplessness that threatens whenever we feel a loss of control in our lives?

A book could be written on the topic of walking well through life’s difficulties (here’s a good one).

For me, a good place to start is simply with space. When we travel we get a chance not to escape our lot in life, but to step back and evaluate what our lives have become- the good, the bad and the ugly.

As I watched the sun rise over the Rhone last week, I remembered back to those difficult early days of being a parent. I reflected on how far we'd come. I asked God what might be next - and I was open to an answer.

How do you get that kind of space to work on and not just in your life?

3. Opportunity to Grow

After 20 hours of trains, planes, and automobiles, my family was exhausted. We had arrived minutes earlier in our destination city’s train station. The last leg should have been a peaceful 20 minute walk along the river to our new home. Only it wasn't peaceful. It was raining. And it wasn't twenty minutes. Turns out with kids (especially tired, wet kids) you need to triple the Google Maps estimate.

To make it with all of our luggage, we needed our boys to not only make the 1-mile walk in the rain but also carry their suitcases while doing it. If this had been a few years ago, my boys would have simply sat down on the sidewalk and cried - and we would have been screwed.

Instead, our hardy little men recognized what we needed them to do, dug deep, and they made the walk. Through soaking rain, through up-all-night-weariness, they did it. I was amazed and I was proud.

On this trip, we’ve all been forced to be flexible, try new things, and even rely on one another. This has been a major life experience for all of us.

And with shared experiences being the glue that bonds people together, what greater gift can you give your family?

4. Beware the Coast

I'm not talking about the Cote D’Azure here.

The first chunk of life is usually where all the action happens. The nature of the school years is one of constant dynamism - a constant barrage of new friends, locations and lessons learned.

Beyond the classroom, things tend to slow down. Whether it’s marriage and kids or just the slow inevitability of age, the vigorous spontaneity of youth often gives way to an unplanned, unspoken "coast" as we float down whatever stream our twenties have brought us to.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if there was a way to stay flexible in the face of monotony? To stay intentional even while more and more of our days give way to obligation? What if we could reverse the shrinking of our idea of “possible” - not just for us, but for our whole family?

Traveling with kids is more than just a few fun pictures next to the Eiffel Tower. Travel jars us loose from the idea that our lives are some passive tram ride (which, let’s be honest- parenting can totally lull you into). A new place is often all that we need to remember that we are active participants on the open road of existence, partnering with God to make a difference in our families and a make dent in this world with the years that we have.

Conclusion

Have I convinced you to consider the crazy idea of traveling, even and especially with those high-maintenance love sponges we call our kids?

I hope so. But even if you are brave enough, I should tell you - there are some essentials you’ll need if you want to avoid mid-flight meltdown or regret in Rejkjavik.

That’s what we'll tackle in our next post.

Travel With Young Kids - Why?