Lessons Learned: Family Road Trippin'

I think the first family holiday must be some kind of rite of passage for a mother. It puts your planning and list making skills to the test and reveals the type of parent you really are. In my case, I was that mum who had the wall space above our spare bed covered in colour coordinated lists with squares instead of bullet points for easy tick-offing. The suitcases were open and piles of clothes and necessities were stacking up a week or more before the day of departure. This was going to be an almost three week trip. And I was going to be prepared. 

Overall, it was such a special time for our new family and the hundreds of photos we did take just don't do it justice. It's one of those times in your life you wish an invisible cameraman was following you and later, whenever you want, you could pull out the video archives and replay the memories. I'd like to think all the hard work I put into planning helped it be such an enjoyable time. Here are some valuable lessons I learnt throughout the process of planning, packing and travelling on that first family holiday. 

Photo credit, Jim Champion