Recently, we’ve decided that we want to make a change – a rather big one – and start to travel more as a family. Slow travel – so that we can really get to know the places we visit. With kids, especially as a special needs family, it makes more sense in any case to stay at one place for a longer period – packing up and moving on to a new destination every few days might just steal the joy of the whole travelling experience.
But where did this love for travel come from? Is it a new craze in the Strydom family? Definitely not! We love seeing new places, experiencing new tastes, cultures and countries. We believe that this whole amazing world couldn’t have been created for us to only experience a tiny little part of it.
Even though we love to travel as a family, we also traveled as a couple without the kids, and on our own with other people before.
One of the most memorable trips was when we explored Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a Camper van when Anika was only 5 months old. Some people thought we were crazy to take a 5 month old, special needs baby on a vacation at such a young age, but as always, she was just a breeze!
The fact that we have an awesome support network also made it possible for us to travel as a couple. In 2013, we went to Greece, and Anika stayed with her grandparents for two weeks when she was 2 and a half years old. We missed her terribly, but this allowed us to explore and do things that you can’t always experience with kids – and of course it gave us a chance to also spend some quality alone-time together.
Sometimes, circumstances or finances just doesn’t allow a family vacation at thespecific time. For my 30th and my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday, the two of us went to Italy – alone! Tertius stayed at home with Anika, and I found out that I’m pregnant with Reuben in Italy. So yeah… for Tertius the timing was great, as looking after one child alone is much easier than looking after 2… which means that when Tertius gets his turn I’m getting back double the trouble at home!
We’re really looking forward to making even more new memories as a family, and this time, we want to capture and share our journey, so that other families, especially special needs families, can be inspired and encouraged to do the same!
