Choosing our Fall Travel Destination

Before I share with you guys where we decided to go, I thought I would share our considerations for choosing a destination in case some of you are thinking of traveling soon. Obviously there is a ton of additional things to think about when traveling with kids, but we’re in favor of the short term inconvenience for the long lasting memories and experiences. We still talk about driving out to the middle of nowhere to see the amazing Northern Lights in Iceland, or when we hiked to see the turquoise waters and wolf-shaped scenery of Peyto Lake in Banff. I love sharing those memories with my little family! We just make the necessary adjustments to make it a great trip for all of us.  If are able to make it happen from a time and monetary perspective, I say go for it!  There is so much beauty to see in this world!

John and I always talk often about what we want to see and do around around the world.  Before baby, we had a bucket list for travel.  Actually, we just used the Smithsonian’s Places to See Before You Die list, and just started crossing off each location year after year.  We’ve since put that list on the back burner now that with our busier family and career lives. But the one thing that has remained was our resolve to travel each year in November to celebrate our birthdays.  I think it really is just a good time to go out of town and take a break from the hustle of the holidays.  

With our timing set, our other main considerations are as follows…

1. Best location for the season – November is a good time to travel for many reasons.  It is a shoulder month for travel, which means rates across the board are lower and crowds have lighten.  And its a great time to take advantage of the holidays to maximize vacation days.  But…you have to choose between cold or hot.  Going to Europe and anywhere in North America, you’re likely to run into winter weather.  If you go to South America, South Pacific or anywhere below the equator, you are headed for summer sun! For us, since we get warm temps for much of the year, the colder areas are always on the top of my list. 

2. Liesure & Relaxation vs. Sight-seeing Adventure – I love hanging by the pool with a drink, and John loves to see the culture and history.  The thing we both love is seeing and experiencing EVERYTHING there is in the city we’re in.  Our itineraries are usually pretty aggressive, but we strive for a good balance.  An opportunity to see a Roman ruin and then sit back at a fancy hotel spa would be our ideal vacation.  The absolute best of both worlds.  But with Little J in tow, we’re now more of…”let’s make a plan and be prepared to change it up a few times based on baby’s mood” kind of people. ha!  Jaxson is a pretty good traveler, but we learned that we need to be flexible and just go with the flow.  I’m more of a planner and less easy going, so this was a hard one for me.  

3.  Family Atmosphere & Accessiblity – I always look for a destination with a variety of hotels and livelier areas.  It just means there is more to do, more places to accommodate kids, and if ever there was an emergency, we are close to a hospital, airport and anything else we may need.  Larger cities always have bigger hotels, and amenities are key to entertain a busy little boy.  Whether its a hotel with an indoor pool (for winter travel) or tons of open space and outdoor activities, whatever it is, I like to be able to picture our days being comfortable as a family.  I would love to stay in the countryside of Italy or deep within the Alps, but it probably wouldn’t be too comfortable for us at this point in our lives.

This year, we narrowed down our plans to a three places – Europe (again!), Australia and Indonesia.  We originally planned on Indonesia because my cousin is getting married there and we could kill two birds with one stone.  Bali is also an amazing destination for a relaxation beach trip.  But we couldn’t make it work with John’s work schedule to be there at around the same time for the wedding.  So we opted against it.  

We loved Australia when we were there last (almost 10 years ago!).  And I’ve always wanted to go back and spend more time in specific areas like Cairns and Melbourne.  John travels there for work occasionally so he was on the fence about it, especially with the extra long flight.  But I convinced him, and we were so very close to booking a flight to Sydney with visions of a super beachy trip around the Gold Coast when I read a horrific article about the extremely poisonous Box jellyfish, which reaches its peak in the Australian waters in November.  My mom-paranoia kicked in and I started to worry about Jaxson, who would most likely want to be in the water 24/7.  So we decided against it since it wouldn’t be fun to always have to worry about what’s lurking in the water.  

Soo…we were left with Europe…again…but I’m totally OK with that because entire continent is full of beauty and basically amazing!!  We’ve been to just about every country in Europe but I did find some areas of Italy, France and Switzerland that we’ve never been to….or at least been to together (John travels frequently Internationally so its hard to find a place he’s never been to!).  

I am still finalizing your trip details, but you can look forward to seeing places like Milan, Verona, Annecy, the Swiss Alps and the Matter Horn on my Instagram feed soon.  🙂  I am looking forward to experiencing Fall and Winter in some gorgeous destinations. 

If you guys have any recommendations of things to see, eat and do in any of those areas, definitely let me know!!

I can’t wait to share more!  Here are a few snaps from last year’s trip (a mix of iPhone & DSLR photos :))….