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.
The first international trip for both of us was our honeymoon. Tim and I were in our twenties when we bought a house, got married and had our children. At the time we were living in a small town and thought we were happy with the way life was. When planning our honeymoon, we actually said “We should go overseas while we can before we have kids”. With no idea about where to go, we headed to the local travel agent who gave us options for the typical honeymoon packages in tropical places. We chose a short stay at a beach resort in Koh Samui, Thailand.
When our son Fletcher was one, we went on our first international family trip to Japan. On a 12-day itinerary, we stayed in Kyoto, Takayama and Tokyo. With a rental car we drove from Nagoya to Takayama, stopping at Inuyama Castle on the way. We also drove to Shirakawago and along a scenic road. Our stay in Takayama was in a ryokan and included a traditional kaiseki meal.
At 2 years old, Fletcher was again travelling with us to Japan. This time it was a 10-day trip staying in Osaka, Hiroshima, Shizuoka, Kawaguchiko and Tokyo. We also visited Himeji Castle, Miyajima Island, Kamakura and Enoshima. With a rental car, we drove around Mount Fuji and the Five Lakes area. We packed so much in because for some reason we thought it would be our last trip there (when will we learn that travel will keep calling us).
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 two 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 self-driving Malaysia 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. Tim’s Mum and Grandmother stayed with the kids and we booked a non-stop flight to Rome. It ended up being changed to add a stopover and I wasn’t mad to get off the plane for a bit. As we didn’t have the kids with us, we were able to pack the itinerary with train trips between cities.
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 are obsessed with Pokemon. 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 itinerary was Nagano, Matsumoto, Kiso Valley and Tokyo with lots of side trips.
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.