Whew! What a start to our year! We took a step back from our travel lives, as we welcomed our daughter into the world on January 7th. After a few months of quality time (if sleepless nights and changing diapers counts as QT) and adjusting to our new life of three, the dust has settled and we are ready to get back to seeing this beautiful world.
We're excited to take on the challenge of bringing our daughter, Selima along for the ride. We've spent significant time carting her around New England, in order to get her more comfortable with experiencing new places and not necessarily being tied to a schedule. We've certainly had our share of bumps, bruises and sleepless nights, but we have learned TONS already. One of the largest benefits is how it has taught us, as parents, to behave and adapt when we go places. We've realized that our baby isn't going to be effected by our travel, but we will definitely be impacted by how SHE travels. In essence, we are the ones who suffer when she doesn't eat, sleep, or get her diaper changed. So being flexible and planning ahead are paramount to a low stress travel experience.
Our first trip as parents, with baby in tow, was down to Austin, Texas, for our friends Ian and Chelsey's wedding. It was an amazing, whirl-wind of a weekend spent honoring the bride and groom and an awesome first adventure with Selima. Not to mention a great opportunity to see a new part of the US. We'll be sharing more details on our first "travel-with-baby" experience in future posts (including how she fared with a total of 8 hours in flights delays).
California July 2018: Napa has always been on our bucket list, so we figured what better time to hit wine country than when our daughter won't remember it. This Cali trip will kick off our first week-long adventure as parents, but we're also going to be closely escorted by a myriad of family members. My cousin Mike and his wife Julie are venturing out from Georgia and three of Selima's grandparents will be joining as well. We're looking forward to a couple days exploring San Fran, and then heading north to drink and eat our way through the valleys. Who knows, we might even find a brewery or two.
Iceland September 2018: This is one we've been eyeing for a long time. With an affordable, direct flight right out of Boston, it seemed like a no-brainer. So we decided to join my cousin Jennie and her husband Sean, with their two kids on an Icelandic adventure. We'll be staying in Vik, Gulfoss and Reykjavik as we tour the country to explore its natural beauty. Fingers crossed we get a glimpse of the northern lights!
Cheers!
Kyle