Is the travel chapter of our lives over? From DINKs to Parents

In a few short weeks (but who is counting?), we will end the Double Income, No Kids chapter of our lives and relationship. I have always been a travel lover. When I met my husband five years ago, I knew I had met my energetic adventure match. We have been going non-stop.

When we lived in California, we spent most weekends in the van he converted. Between weekends in Central Coast wine tasting and longer trips hiking in Arizona and Utah, he was constantly sweeping me off my feet with West Coast adventures. He took me to Mexico for dinner! I backpacked for the first time through the mountains of Kauai! We went snorkeling in La Jolla Cove! We spent summers tubing in Oregon!

Then we had to outdo ourselves and move to Italy. In a completely new continent, despite both working a great deal, we took advantage of living in such a beautiful country. We brought out paddleboards and drove to Calabria for the weekend. We glamped in Puglia. We did an evening hike on the Path of the Gods and ate dinner in a cave carved out of the mountain as we watched the sunset.

Not only did we adjust to living life in Italy, we also enjoyed the very discounted RyanAir and EasyJet flights around Europe. We went swimming in the freezing cold water of Slovenia, held vicklefish in the Rhine river in Switzerland, hiked on Grecian islands, swam in ice in December in Finland, and dipped in saunas in Budapest.

I can say, with confidence, we left absolutely no stone unturned on our quest to adventure through the world we live in.

So what will happen now when we have a little crying bambino who needs to eat and sleep on his own schedule?

When I was trying to figure out what “gear” we needed, the most important things to us were about travel. Do we need the travel pack and play? What stroller fits in the overhead bin? Can we travel without bringing a car seat?

Seasoned travel parents gave us lots of tips - hotels and Airbnbs have cribs, babies are very portable in the first year, and you can rent car seats in most major cities. More importantly, they are telling us to keep living our lives and not to “dim our shine.” Keep doing the things you love, just bring the kids along with you.

We have dreams of putting the baby on the paddleboard, adding a second seat to the van, and baby wearing this kid around Europe.

It’s easy to dream about how great it will be to show the baby the big, beautiful world out there, but it’s hard just to know how comfortable we’ll be taking the baby on the road. I imagine childcare will also take up a significant portion of our budget. I also know babies and kids need stability and sometimes strict schedules in order to feel their best.

Moreover, it’s a sentimental end to our relationship as just the two of us. I am so glad we had this time together to tackle so many adventures together. How many people can take spontaneous ski trips to the Alps?

A part of me is fearful about how our lives will change - even when I wanted this so badly. At our three-year wedding anniversary this year, I felt so happy just being together, just the two of us, having breakfast together in our home. I feel a sense of peace doing simple, mundane, everyday things together and enjoying each other’s company. How will having a child change that?

As much as I’m slowing down and starting to prepare for this transition, I also want to bottle up this time together and appreciate how wonderful it’s been.

Did you travel more or less once you had kids? How can you prepare for something so life-changing as adding another family member to your household, having your hormones go haywire, and not sleeping? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…