The Travel Bug bit me a while ago and I have yet to recover.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a pick-up-the-kids-and-go-nomad-for-a-year.  I am not the backpack through the jungles kind of girl either. I love to travel and even more, I love to travel with my kids.  This kind of puts a restriction on how far/long/frequent we can do this but we accomodate and do it as often as we can.

I grew up in South America and most of our family travels were to the USA.  I loved it and decided to attend college here.  It turned out that a plane ticket to Europe from the US was much cheaper than one to go home. I had friends in Europe and so i started visiting.  I took advantage of school sponsored trips and made it as far as Warsaw and communist Moscow.  After graduate school I backpacked with a friend and we hit every country on the European continent.  Then came my job in telecom and it sent me to places like Israel and Brazil.  I also went home to South America frequently and my husband and I traveled for pleasure, so traveling just became part of my life.

Then came the quiet years. Child 1, Child 2 and Child 3 arrived in quick succession.  Our travels narrowed down to visiting family.  Two or three times a year we would make the two flight and a layover trip to go home. This is how our kids became pros! By the time they were 2, 4 and 6 they knew the ropes of airport security and airplane behaviour.  I felt we were ready for the big leagues so we did Disney, then New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Santa Marta and some others.  

Spring Break of 2010 we decided to take them to England (and Paris for one day).  We planned for 6 months, we thought of every contingency.  We had plan A, plan B and plan C.  The one thing we did not count on was having the time of our lives! Obviously we were hoping to have a good time, but we were prepared for it to be a lot of work as well.  The thing is, it just didn't feel like work at all.  I remember coming home and thinking "wow, we can really go anywhere now"! And so we have- within reason.

Our travels have a purpose.  We are not interested in whirlwind trips just to check a city off our list.  We want our kids to get to know the world.  To feel comfortable where ever they go.  We plan, we prep and we have fun.  There is no greater gift that we can give them and no better way to learn!

Since this is the age of social media, I have kept friends and family updated during our travels through Facebook, Travelblogs and Instagram.  Some have asked for our itineraries or have requested help in planning a vacation so I decided to put it all in writing.  That is how This, That and the Passport was born. I hope it takes you places.  Travel far, travel safe.

Ana

Have backpack, will travel!