You don't need to go far to have a great time, but you can take advantage of school holidays to sneak in trips of a lifetime to whatever is at the top of your bucket list. Plan local day trips and weekend getaways as you bide your time for the big summer, Spring Break and Christmas getaways.
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Some days school just feels like the end of it all. The end of adventure. The end of fun with your kids. The end of flexibility and the freedom to do what you want, when you want. Your kids feel it when they wake up in the morning and hit the snooze button. What they don't know is that you are secretly feeling the same way.
Why can't you just be in Paris with a pain au chocolat right now?
School schedules don't have to be the end of your explorations; they just change the way you need to do them. True, you can't run off to Europe for six weeks at a time without the school calling to find out if everything is OK. What you can do is explore your town or the closest major city to you. Book a weekend getaway that you can drive to. Grab a map and draw a three-hour ring around your house. Pick a new spot within that ring to explore once a month.
Explore local
While you are out exploring the next town over, find the hidden gems to tell your friends about back home. It doesn't have to be rocket science to go outside and play with your kids and find something new together. You don't even have to trek too far from home. You know that new restaurant that just opened? Go try it out. Travel through your taste buds to Thailand, Vietnam, India, Italy, France, Ecuador and Ethiopia. Dare Dad to lick the ghost pepper on his plate. The kids will love watching him turn beet red. Get up close with the masters at the art museum where you can visually travel through history and different cultures. The possibilities are endless, as long as you don't get stuck thinking that nothing is new at home and that travel can only happen with a new stamp in your passport.
School's out
This doesn't mean you stop dreaming about an epic adventure you have always wanted to take with the kids. No. This is the prequel to that trip. By staying local, you are not only being kind to your children's teachers by not taking them out of school for too long, but you are also saving money so you can travel during the high season to Europe, or splurge on airfare for your family of six to South America to ring in the New Year in Rio de Janiero. These dreams can be a reality. You just need to build your dreams around school holidays.
Christmas, Spring Break and summer holidays are when you book the big trips. If you need an extra few days, especially around Christmas break and Spring Break, the teacher might not mind if you leave on Friday and come back on Monday. Your kids are missing a minimal amount of school. Life will go on. Seriously. How many of us are still benefiting from perfect attendance in elementary school? No one I bet.
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You don't have to go far to travel with your kids. It may feel like you have to get on a plane to escape your life and really reconnect, but you can do that just as easily close to home. If your choices are to not travel at all or to travel locally while you wait for the time and money to travel farther away, you better believe you need to get out the door, hop on the Metro and check out that new museum exhibit that just opened. No more excuses. Just get up and go.
The snooze button on your clock isn't going to turn into a French baguette anytime soon.
