I was pregnant with Ethan when I wrote my first family travel story about a spa for pregnant women in Dallas, Texas for The Toronto Star. The story ran on the front page of the section and the editor at the time asked me if I’d like to write a regular column as a result of it.

I was clear with him that while I’d love to, I didn’t want to focus strictly on family travel. I didn’t want to be labeled.

with mom nyc

For me "Family travel" is just as valid when I go with my mom instead of the kids

He agreed and for the last eight years I’ve written an assortment of articles all of which I hope have told fantastic stories about the people, places and things that you discover when you travel.  Many of them have been traditional family travel stories (i.e. me + kid)  but the fact that they were about family was secondary to the fact that I felt there was a great story to tell.

Fast forward to last Thursday when my first official “family travel column” and “family travel deals” columns appeared in the print edition of The Toronto Star.

Between those columns, my ongoing work with Best Family Travel Advice, My monthly travel columns for urbanmoms.ca, my stories in Canadian Family Magazine and of course here at Globetrotting Mama, you could be forgiven for thinking

I’ve changed my mind.

I haven’t.

I have just redefined what family travel means to me.

For me “Family travel” is about travel that affect families. It can mean traveling with a partner, a partner and the kids, with just one of your kids,  your parents,  your siblings, to visit a cousin, or all on your own.

So that’s what you’ll find from me in this new column – a lot of what I hope you found in the old one: Great stories and tips about travels you take with or without the kids, ways to celebrate the relationships that matter most and advice on how to make the most of the limited time we all get together.

Hope you’ll enjoy it and let me know if I can help.