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We always planned to travel with our kids. We want them to be exposed to different cultures, to be curious about the world, and to experience the discomfort and growth that comes from being away from home.
Some parents wait until their kids are older before they travel with them, so that they remember the trip more but are also more independent. We’ve decided to do the opposite: To travel with them while they’re still young enough that it’s not a problem for them to be away.
We started when our oldest daughter was eight months old. We went to a wedding in Tuscany, and extended the trip to spend six weeks in Europe. Travelling with a baby can be relatively easy compared to travelling with toddlers - kids under two fly for free, most Airbnbs and hotels have travel cribs, and we found the culture in Europe extremely baby-friendly. All of this, of course, depends on your child’s temperament.
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Now our daughters are aged two and four, so not only is it more expensive - we have to pay for their own seats on the plane, for example, and cover 50 per cent of our home daycare fees to hold our daughter’s spot - but it’s more logistically complex. Two toddlers can be a lot at home, let alone in a new environment when they’re out of their routine.
But our friends with older children have highlighted how difficult it becomes to travel for any extended period of time outside of planned school breaks. The older your child gets, the harder it will be for them to be absent from school, and the more they won’t want to miss out on social activities and extracurriculars.
Friends with kids as young as grade two have told us they’ve hesitated to plan trips during the school year for fear of teacher judgement and concerns about what their child will miss.
I don’t want our trips to be limited to overcrowded March break, or in July and August when we want to be enjoying the Canadian summer at home.
So when friends invited us to spend part of the winter in Cartagena, Colombia, something they’d been doing for several years, we said yes. We’re currently in week four of six in the city.
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Cartagena is a relatively affordable place. It’s a five-hour direct flight from Toronto, so it isn’t as expensive or as trying as a longer overseas flight. While there are upscale restaurants and expensive five-star hotels, the Airbnb-style accommodations, groceries, transportation, and services are more affordable than in Canada and in popular European destinations.
We’re also saving on some expenses while we’re away, such as gas to utilities we’re not using. And we decided not to enrol our kids in extracurricular activities this winter, so we’re not forfeiting any classes or fees at home.
In terms of kid-related costs, we enrolled both kids in a local English-language Montessori-style school three days a week, which costs the equivalent of $70 a day for both kids. They are also in swimming lessons twice a week, which works out to $16 per private lesson, much less than the average rate in Canada. Because I’m working remotely, we have a local nanny, who is wonderful. Her fee is about the equivalent of our younger daughter’s home daycare in Canada.
We prioritize saving for travel instead of doing things like buying expensive consumer goods or a second car, doing home renovation projects, or renting a cottage in the summer months. We would rather spend on travel than just about anything, and we’re happy to sacrifice other things to do so.
We’ve also considered ways to offset trip costs in the future, such as renting out our home in Ontario while we’re away, something we did when we went to Europe in 2022.
Travel is not without challenges. Very few people speak English in Cartagena, so we’ve been relying on my limited Spanish and Google translate. Our younger daughter has struggled to adapt to the routine change, so bedtimes have been a consistent battle.
But it’s been worth it to experience the culture and beauty of Colombia. Not only is every day a sunny 30 degrees, it’s right on the Caribbean so our daughters have spent countless hours in the ocean or the pool at our apartment building.
The food is fantastic, and they’ve tried local specialties like arepas - my rule is they have to try everything once. And they’ve learned new Spanish words (their “muchas gracias” is pretty cute).
Despite the financial investment, the moments of discomfort, and the logistical challenges of adapting to a new city, I’m already thinking about how we can save up for next year.
Erin Bury is the co-founder and CEO of online estate planning platform Willful.co. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband and two young children.
