Hi, welcome to our family travel blog, Strolling Adventures. A place where we share our family adventures, big and small. Travelling and sightseeing with children can be challenging yet immensely rewarding. I think seeing places from the perspective of a child is pretty awesome. Our children always help us remember to appreciate the simple things.
We are Elisha, Tim, Fletcher and Declan from the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. We love going on international trips to experience new places and cultures. When these aren’t possible (work and school) we enjoy exploring places close to home.
Our travels started after kids.
We got married young, and our only international trip before having kids was our honeymoon in Koh Samui, Thailand.
When our son, Fletcher, was one, we took our first international family trip to Japan. On a 12-day itinerary, we stayed in Kyoto, Takayama and Tokyo. We loved Japan so much that we returned the next year, packing so much into a short trip, including a drive around Mt. Fuji.
When Fletcher was 3 years old and I was pregnant with our second son, we drove to the Gold Coast, Queensland, with my parents. Meeting Tim’s parents there, we all stayed in a big house and visited the theme parks.
Our third trip to Japan (still not really world travellers) was when Fletcher was 4 years old and Declan was 9 months old. My parents came along on this trip, their first time overseas. They had heard how much we loved Japan and wanted to experience it themselves. With no idea of how to plan an international trip, they left it all up to me. I wanted them to see the highlights, so we stayed in Kyoto, Tokyo and a ryokan in Gero Onsen.
The next year, we didn’t travel because we moved to the suburbs of Melbourne, Tim started a new job, and Fletcher started kindergarten. I think our travel experiences and getting out of our comfort zone gave us the confidence to do this.
Declan was 2, and Fletcher turned 6 on our Singapore and Malaysia family trip. We booked a great deal on return flights to Singapore, but realised we couldn’t afford to stay there for two weeks. So, we added a Malaysia road trip holiday to our itinerary.
Fletcher had already missed two weeks of school, and Tim was turning 30, so we used this as an excuse to go on a
kid-free trip to Italy.
In 2019, we again jumped on a sale, booked return flights to London and decided on destinations afterwards. Our 3-week itinerary ended up being London, Paris and Germany by train.
After this, we of course could not travel but we did embrace changes. Our time in lockdown made us realise how much we value time together as a family. We also developed a habit of walking/hiking and deepened our love of nature and being outdoors. The biggest change was Tim quitting work to begin our own business, something we are still running today. This allowed him to be home every night for family dinners for the first time.
Our next big trip was in 2023 to Thailand. Three weeks was the most time we had ever spent in one country. This was the first trip that both kids were old enough to get involved in the planning. Everyone was really excited to experience the culture, eat local food and see the sights.
At ages 12 and 8, our kids were obsessed with Pokémon. They’ve also watched other Japanese anime shows and love Studio Ghibli movies. So, we knew they would be amazed by Japan. They gave us ideas on what to do and helped us decide where we would stay. Our 2-week Japan itinerary included Nagano, Matsumoto, Kiso Valley and Tokyo with lots of side trips.
Our most recent travels were 2 weeks in Northern Vietnam and a trip to Borneo.
If we can travel, you can too, and it is always worth it!
I hope that by writing honest blog posts about our family’s experiences, I can help other parents prepare and plan great adventures for their families. We have a non-online business to run, our kids go to school, and we have a small budget. Travel has become a priority for us, so we will always find a way to make it happen.