“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” – Charles M. Schulz

Every fall for the past three years, my mother and I have been fortunate enough to take time to go on a girls trip together! While COVID postponed both our Plan A and Plan B trip options, we are still brainstorming how we can continue our now annual tradition together!

With my mom’s birthday being in September, I thought it would be fitting to share my favorite reasons why your mom or mother figure should be your travel buddy (at least once)! Trips from the past few years including a failed attempt at leaf peeping in New England, North Carolina adventures where I traveled for work a lot at the time, and the happy island of Aruba!

Depending on your relationship with your mother/mother figure, I recommend you pick the length of the trip that works best for the two of you and go! This trip could be an extended weekend to a new city or a two week trip abroad somewhere, simply choose the appropriate length of time so you don’t try to kill each other by the end of your trip. Now let’s get into the 9 reasons why your mom should be your travel buddy:

1. GIRLS TRIP!

There’s something about a good ole girl trip that I enjoy! You can make sure your itinerary is packed filled with things just for the girls and never have any men around to worry about!

2. Hours quality time together to strengthen your relationship

These days everyone is buried knee deep in work, school, technology, you name it. There’s always something on the to do list. Taking a vacation with your mom will allow for hours and hours of quality time together and help you strengthen your relationship. Enjoy the one-on-one time, disconnect from technology, move at a slower pace, whatever you do be present with your mom and without interruptions from other people or everyday distractions.

3. You’ll laugh a lot together

The silliest things happen on vacations, random mishaps, an old map takes you to a destination on private property, you try on goofy tourist shops, people watching is always a good time, the list goes on for days. Enjoy this time to relax, sit back and LAUGH! A LOT. Find yourself laughing at the weirdest things and try to fully enjoy that moment.

4. If you’re a similar size, you can share clothes

When you only travel in a carry on, it’s nice to have a few extra options to mix up your wardrobe. Thankfully my mom is about my size which makes it fun because our wardrobe options basically just doubled on vacation!

5. If you forgot something, odds are she came prepared

How many times have you forgotten something on your trip and you need to go to the store to purchase a backup? Well look no further because the odds are probably in your favor! Mom’s always come prepared which is very helpful when you are traveling and happened to have left something at home… Don’t rely on her to bring all your ish, but if you forgot something she may come in to save the day.

6. She’s very understanding

Often times when we travel with other people, there will be disagreements and someone is going to have to make a compromise. Thankfully, when you travel with your mom, she will be very understanding and will be less likely to get frustrated with you than another travel buddy might be. I find this to be a great tip because it makes the trip much more enjoyable and results in less disagreements aka everyone is happier :).

7. Personal photographer

We all love our photos and have probably taught our parents a thing or two when it comes to how we want our picture taken. Thankfully, I’ve taught my mom to use my camera and she does an incredible job taking plenty of pictures with me actually in them (I often get in the zone of taking pics I forget to get one of myself). Now I have a great lil photographer with me to help document my travels.

8. You’ll have new inside jokes together

Probably one of my favorite reasons to travel with your mom or mother figure is the inside jokes. Being outside your everyday routine with new people all around, the funniest and weirdest things tend to happen. These are the weird things that oddly make your bond stronger because they belong to only the two of you. One of my favorites from the trip was when I convinced my mom to go to the Great Vermont Corn Maze (alongside a full school bus of third graders running and screaming). At first she joined in because I wanted to go, but by the end the elementary school kids thought she was the Corn Maze photographer and she got pretty into the role lol.

9. You’ll have memories to last a lifetime

Memories to last a lifetime (now that’s a LONG TIME). Months have passed since our trip and we still reminisce on this adventure all the time. Whether you have the hard copies of the photos in a scrapbook or you remember the conversations that you had with people on the trip, those are memories that you can share together for the rest of your life. I find these to be very powerful memories that will hopefully bring you closer to your mom and spark the next adventure together.

I hope this post inspires you to explore a new city with your mom or mother figure and go create unforgettable memories with your new travel buddy. Note these photos were from our trip a few years ago at this time. As always, continue to fill your life with experiences and stay tuned for more adventures coming your way!

With wanderlust,

Haley