About Us

Hi everyone! I’m Barb. My Family Travel is a compilation of our travel adventures. My husband and I have two beautiful kids and we are purposeful about staying connected as a family.

My dream is for my husband and I to travel with our kids for as long as we are able to and explore the world together. It’s the best gift we can give to our children.

My hope is to inspire you to explore the world with your family too!

A little about me…

I was born in Canada. When I was 1 year old, we moved to the Philippines and lived there for 6 years. At age 7 my mom moved my brother and I back to Canada so we can have access to better education and better opportunities.

After moving back to Canada, my mom would take me on a trip to the Philippines almost every year. Although we didn’t have much, she made that a priority.

I remember the feeling I had each time we would go back “home”. I was always so excited to be on vacation because it usually meant 4 weeks of no school, chores and responsibilities. But I also couldn’t wait to be immersed in that culture again.

Visiting the Philippines was always such a culture shock no matter how often we visited but it was such a great feeling. I loved seeing the children in their school uniforms, the endless rice fields along the freeways, the homes that were tattered but filled with family and so much fun and togetherness, and the street vendors all lined up competing for your business.

It was so euphoric and I loved the feeling of being immersed in a different culture than what I was used to in Canada.

Each trip changed me.

I don’t know exactly when I caught the “travel bug”. In a sense, I think I have always been curious and interested in seeing and learning new things. I can’t stand complacency and monotony and I always have an itch to try something new or go somewhere I’ve never been to.

I believe that traveling at a young age contributed to the confidence I had to move to the U.S. on my own and build a life here. It is here where I met my husband and now we are blessed with two beautiful children. Best decision I ever made! 

When my husband and I got married, I often received comments like, “you better travel now before kids!” or “you wont be able to go out as much when you have kids.” You see, my husband and I LOVE to go out. We like to dine out, go on weekend getaways, staycations, vacations, you name it, we did it. We lived very freely. And then we had our first child. And then our second child.

Having kids did not make us want to all of a sudden stay home. We still had the same desires to travel and go on adventures.

Except now, we decided we were going to do it with kids in tow!

Of course it’s more challenging. Yes, its more expensive. It would be so much easier to leave the kids behind while my husband and I explore the world together but the whole time we would just be missing them and wondering what they were doing.

The reward of traveling with your kids far outweighs the difficulties and headaches you will experience. It is so worth every cringe worthy moment.

I want my kids to grow up adventurous and curious like us. Life is so much more fun that way! I want to instill in them the love for travel, exploration and learning about other cultures and customs. I want them to know that the world is BIG and there is so much beauty out there to see.

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts. It even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory. On your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain