How do you plan your next adventure?

How do you plan your next adventure? When my kids were little, we talked about our families diverse background. We decided the only way to learn more about our culture was to visit the places and immerse ourselves in local culture. We based our vacations on those locations. Some of these places to get there meant, flights, ferries, cars and trains. To be prepared for these adventures with little ones meant looking at maps and talking about how we were going to get there. For them, this was part of the exciting adventure. We had their backpacks ready with snacks, activities and their comfort items. Definitely having them travel at 3 months prepared them well on how to travel and modes of transportation.

As the kids got older, our vacations were chosen by activities and new places we wanted to see, some were recommendations from our expat community. Depending on our duration of our vacation time, meant going somewhere close or going further from home in Saudi Arabia, where we were living at the time. We had bucket list of things we wanted to see and we also learned our ways of travel. We would see pictures on Instagram and then learned that picture was just a snapshot of that location that made it look so iconic but the rest of the city or town really didn't have much for us or was way to touristy for us, filled with crowds. It was still nice to visit these places, but instead of filling most of our time there, it may be only a day trip adventure.

For some of my friends, vacations mean down time. That means, beach, resort activities, golf, tennis, dining only at the resort. They can give you every insight into the hotel and activities. We have learned that on a short vacation that may only be 3 to 4 days, this was ideal for our family. On one Eid holiday, we decided to go to Dubai and stay at the Atlantis resort on Palm Island. We rented a cabana that had air condition and personalized service by the pool or waterpark. The kids always knew where to come back to from their swim, play or when they were hungry. The resort had restaurants and so many activities that we never had to leave the resort.

Is there a wrong way to vacation? The answer is no, your travel should be done your way and what works for you. Everyone will give you advice on their trip based on how they love to travel, it may not suite you, but you can still do that trip but do it your way.