A Look Back at 2017
Like many of you, I’m spending today reflecting back on 2017. At this time last year, our family was trying to balance a newborn and toddler while settling into our new home. We also were nervous for our first family trip. To say that it was a stressful time would be an understatement!
Barcelona, Spain is a vibrant city that is ideal for families. We traveled to Spain with some family friends who also have a 3-year-old. We found that the people of Barcelona are so friendly with children. Barcelona also offers many activities and attractions that are perfect for children of all ages. One of the most distinct attractions is Gaudi’s Park Guell.
The Arc de Triomphe is definitely a must-see attraction in Paris, France. However, it’s located on one of the busiest intersections in Paris and there are no sidewalks.
This can be intimidating for families with small children. I’m here to assure you that Arc de Triomphe with kids is not only doable, but it can be a blast even with babies and toddlers. See our full Paris itinerary here.
We took our 6-month-old on his first airplane ride earlier this month to Barcelona, Spain. From Seattle, this was quite a long journey involving 2 airplanes. Not only did he sleep a lot on the airplane, but he transitioned to the correct time zone almost seamlessly. We also brought our 3-year-old and traveled with another family. He did much better than the rest of us!
Wondering if it’s worth visiting Florence, Italy while pregnant? Let me show you all my top Italy travel tips for pregnant mamas!
Our toddler Owen has been so fortunate to have opportunities to travel the world at such a young age. He’s been to Thailand, Italy, Greece, Canada, Hawaii, Disneyland, and more. We know that he won’t remember most of these trips years from now, but he definitely remembers them vividly for months and has absorbed so much about other places and cultures. I believe that these global experiences will impact the person he becomes, so it got me thinking about a toddler travel bucket list.
Santorini was one of the stops on our Royal Caribbean Cruise around the Mediterranean. I’d wanted to see Santorini, Greece ever since I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It seemed like such an exotic island and the white houses and blue doors simply sold me!
On our cruise around the Mediterranean last summer, on of our stops was Athens. We arrived in Athens on the same day that their Prime Minister stepped down and Athens was a true ghost town. It was a bit eerie as we drove through the city.
We were invited to a family wedding in Tuscany last summer and we decided to do some cruise travel before the wedding. This was our first time taking our toddler to Europe so we really thought about where we’d like to go and how cumbersome it might be. The kicker is that the destination wedding was black-tie and involved several events where we’d need nice clean clothes, so we had to bring more than usual. Cruising with a toddler seemed like the easiest way to experience Europe with our luggage.