Happy St. Patrick's Day !

        A year ago today my husband and I were making our way home from a pub in Dublin at 3am to pack our bags and head home after an amazing trip to the England and Ireland. A trip that just happened to end with us celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin! Today we are rushing around the house getting Benjamin ready for his one-month check-up at the Doctor’s office. A lot can change in a year.

            Our trip last year was one of many adventures Scott and I went on before the birth of our son. We chose London, Stratford, Bath and Dublin as our major stops, taking a four-day detour on the Isle of Wight to visit my best friend who moved across the pond a few years ago. The trip was amazing! One of those trips that we are reminded of often; especially when we hear Irish music or while enjoying a hearty bowl of Guinness stew (a new favourite of ours). What I know for sure after a few years of travel is that we are so happy we did it.

            For Scott and I travelling has been a major part of our relationship, something that defines who we are as individuals and as a couple. I am so glad that we had the chance to do some travelling as a couple before the birth of our son. While I do not think it’s impossible to travel with children, I can say that I know it will be different. For example, the 3am walk home from the pub might not be on the itinerary.

            I don’t really like to offer too much advice on the blog, but after talking with my younger sister about her desire to travel through Europe, I feel like I need to say a few things about the importance of travel. If you have any desire to travel, do it! Travel while you are young if possible and travel as often as you can.  Try to travel with a loose itinerary, leaving room for curiosity. While I do plan out the majority of my home-life using lists, calendars and daytimers (yes I have a daytimer that might also be my bible) I love to venture off the beaten path when travelling. Lucky for me, Scott is amazing with maps and though I was convinced that we stumbled upon Big Ben while in London, he told me later that he planned our route there. With that said, if every part of the trip is carefully planned you might miss out on the adventure.

            As a result of our travel experiences Scott and I are able look back on these trips fondly, cultivating those memories often and enriching our present lives with the things we learned along the way. Travelling before children was something we both felt was important; however, I do not think our travel days our over, but that the trips will change with our growing family.

            Since Ben is only a month old, we have not made any solid plans for our next trip. Instead  we have a loose plan to go on at least one trip in the next year or so and hope that what we learned from our past adventures may give us the confidence to travel with our son. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself though, since our first trip to the grocery store was on Sunday and if the past month has taught me anything about parenting, that is to expect nothing and just go with the flow. So far Ben seems to love moving, taking walks in his stroller and of course, car rides. Maybe he will love travelling as much as we do. We will have to wait and see.