Miranda: Hey, welcome back to Practically Happy Podcast. You’re listening to episode number 293. This is, now we’re a couple episodes deep into my Pass the Mic series. You’re familiar with it if you’ve been listening in. While my show over the last six seasons has been primarily a solo show, I’m taking advantage of all of the resources of incredible women in my circle of influence to pass the mic around and share some ideas, get some tips and advice and inspiration from other women, and also give myself some time off this summer so that I can enjoy all of the fun travels and family time that I have planned for this episode today.

I’m passing the mic again back in time to a previous guest. Preethi Harbuck is a mom of six children living abroad in London, who is an expert on world traveling and family adventures. She helps your fam travel, get outside, budget, pack, think of itineraries, no fun things to do. And intimately get to know the local customs, cultures, and travel sustainably around the world.

Preethi and her husband Daniel have been to 94 countries, 79 with kids, all 50 states, and all 63 national parks. I mentioned they’re currently living in London. When we recorded this episode for season 4, it was mid 2020. They were living in California. And you’ll hear in this episode, some tips for exploring locally, which was the only option available to us at that time during the pandemic, when it really wasn’t safe or advisable to travel outside of our communities, mostly spending time outside in nature.

So, you’ll get some great tips for that. We also were looking forward to the future and Preethi gives some advice and ideas for traveling, near and far. With a family. Her website is local passport family.com, and you can find her on Instagram at Local Passport Family, where she’s continually sharing tips, advice, lots of information about traveling with kids of all different ages, with a car seat with strollers without the best travel gear, and some sustainable travel ideas for the entire globe.

I think that this episode is going to be a fun one to share right now, because it will give us some insight into a couple years ago and the way that we needed to travel and stay close to home during the pandemic. Also, for those of us who are dealing with a current budget that doesn’t allow for big, expensive travel, some of the ideas that Preethi shares about traveling nearby can be applied right now in our lives in just a season of trying to stay a little bit closer to home.

That said, there’s great advice for traveling all over and the different ways to approach that. And I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to Preethi teach us about traveling near and far. And I’m super excited to pass the mic back in time to her. I hope that you’re going to enjoy this episode. Let’s get started.

Preethi, I’m so excited to talk to you today. How are you? I’m great. Thanks so much for having me, Miranda. Oh my gosh. It’s such an honor. Before we jump into the different aspects of this show to share with people about traveling with their families, I wanted to just have everyone learn a little bit about you who you are, a little bit of your background, and why are you the person that I’m talking to about travel?

So, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Preethi: Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, my name is Preethi, and I am the writer over at Local Passport Family, both the Instagram and the blog, and I am a mom of five. My husband and I have five kids who are ages 10 down to 10 months, and we love exploring. We love exploring around the world as well as from home.

We feel passionately. about learning from other cultures and other ways of life. And travel has been an incredible opportunity for us to be able to do that in our home and in our family. My husband and I started traveling right from the get-go. We knew that was important to us.

About a year after we got married, we took a summer, and we built in this season of travel for ourselves. I had just quit my job to go back to grad school and my husband had just graduated and was about to start a job. So, we built in a few months where we could explore the world, thinking that would be our one main hurrah and our chance to explore before we got into kids and family life and all of that.

Little did we know that we would spend a lot of our time parenting traveling around the world as well. So, I’ve currently been to, I believe it’s. 62 or 63 countries. And 43 of those have been with kids. We’ve also explored 49 us States. We are missing Alaska. We’re hoping to get there at some point soon.

And we are hoping to see much more of the world more than anything though. We love the experience of education that comes from seeing the world and getting to know its people. That’s always been important to us.

Miranda: Oh my gosh. Okay, first, so inspiring. I love hearing that you started traveling as a young couple and that just became something that you did.

That you just continued to do it and you add one baby and then you add another baby and then you add another and another a 10-month-old. You, I feel like it’s just the prime example of You can do this, like to those moms listening that are like oh my gosh, traveling feels so overwhelming, or I have a baby, what do I do?

Preethi: I think it’s important to remember too that we didn’t start traveling with five kids. We started traveling with four kids. said with one kid. And then we started traveling with two kids.

It’s incremental. It’s never like someone’s going to hand you five babies and you suddenly start traveling. Say go explore Europe with your babies.

Miranda: Yeah. No, it’s so true. It’s so funny, Dave and I had a similar kind of start. I grew up traveling. I traveled a lot as a kid with my family and Dave traveled because he played rugby. And he was able to travel. He went to Europe and Africa and Australia, New Zealand as part of a rugby team. And so, when we met, we both were like, oh, we have this in common and we really want to make this a priority. And so, we had a similar sort of gap summer. We just took a month, but I had just graduated.

Dave hadn’t yet started law school. And so, we felt okay, here we go. Let’s do it. And we went to Thailand. It was so fun. And it felt like that last hurrah.

We wanted to keep traveling and then when we did our first big trip when we had our first baby Milo was 10 months old and we took him to Jamaica and it was like the funniest, most like comedy of errors trip, everything went wrong. Milo was just cried basically for six days straight that you, everything was hot and humid and Sandy, and it was hard to find food that we liked it. It was just like, we tried to take a baby and insert him into like our shoestring, backpacking style of travel that we had done as a couple and realized that it did not work, that traveling with kids was very different.

Logistically, financially, there were so many differences because you take, like you said, you can’t just take five babies and hand them to someone and say, okay, go travel like you always have. Traveling with a family is different than traveling alone. And I am so excited to hear some of your favorite tips for how to travel well with kids, because it isn’t just inserting kids into your normal adult travel lifestyle.

It’s a little bit catering the way that you plan and think about traveling to your family, right? 

Preethi: Yes, there are for sure differences to traveling with kids and without. I will say though that the things that are important to you and travel don’t have to go away necessarily totally when you start traveling with kids, I think a lot of people think that when you start traveling with kids, you’re limited to Disneyland at that point, and you can only do kid friendly activities.

To me, anything kid friendly is anything that kids can develop an interest in, which to me is basically anything. Everything. As a parent in general, whether I’m traveling or not, I tend to cater to my interests in parenting. I think you recently mentioned Miranda, Elf on the Shelf and how you have no interest in Elf on the Shelf.

And I feel the exact same way. I have zero interest in Elf on the Shelf, so I just don’t do it. A lot of people have zero interest in museums. So, if you don’t have interest in museums, there’s nothing that says that you must take your children to museums. I love museums, so we take our children to a lot of museums.

Miranda: Such a good reminder that you stay in the driver’s seat as you’re planning, take consideration for the options, but don’t do things that you feel like you must do.

Preethi: Yeah, you might need to modify schedule or logistics, but the essence of what is important to you in travel doesn’t have to go away.

Miranda: I love it. So smart. Okay. So, like I mentioned in the beginning of the episode, we are breaking this down into three sections. So, the first section we’re going to talk about is traveling with kids in the traditional sense where pack up either in the car for a big road trip, or you are, flying across the country or across the world and taking your kids out into the world on a trip.

Now, because of COVID, we know that right this second, that is not what we should be doing. It’s not recommended. In fact, we, both Preethi and I would say, please do not consider this episode an invitation to travel right now. Don’t travel now but refer to this episode when you do want to travel for some ideas.

And then the second section, we’re going to talk about how you can travel. Within your own community right now, and maybe we wouldn’t call it travel so much as explore or discover, loving where you live. And I’m so excited to hear Preethi’s tips on that. And then we’re going to finish off the episode talking about traveling from your couch, from your computer, from being home.

And Preethi, you’re such a good example of this, how you’ve pivoted during this time where you can’t be out traveling the world to be still learning about the world and having those experiences from home. So, let’s start with the first section. What are some of your favorite Tips that, assume that one of our listeners wants to travel with kids, hasn’t ever done it, and doesn’t really know what she should be thinking about or what considerations to take when planning a trip with young kids.

Preethi: Yeah, absolutely. So, the first and most important piece to me is learning about wherever you are going. I mentioned before that the education piece is hugely important to us, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion education. That is a big focus of my work and what I try to help people learn about in their own families.

And anytime we can gain that education, it just becomes so much more exciting for all of us. I know that when I learn about a place before going there, I’m so much more excited to go and explore it. Floor and see things and kids are the same way. When they have a little bit of a taste before they get to a place of what it entails, then they get a lot more excited about it.

Kids especially thrive on familiarity, and so the more we can tell them about it on in a repeated way to get them excited, the more they’re going to enjoy the experience once they’re there because it feels familiar. It feels exciting to them. They like being in the know. Kids so often feel like they’re not in the driver’s seat, like they’re not in the know, like everything is new and overwhelming.

So, when they feel like they’re empowered with that knowledge and that excitement, then they can really get into the experience as well.

Miranda: That’s such a fun first tip, and I know you have more, and I just want to riff on that for one second, because when we very first met, you and I, online, I had just shared that my family was going to go on this trip to Italy.

This was a few years ago. And you were preparing to take your kids to Italy, and you messaged me and said, hey, we’re planning a trip to Italy. Can we talk to you about it? And we didn’t end up doing a call with our kids like we thought we might, but just you were like, oh, here’s like a way to interact and teach my kids about Italy before we go.

And some of the things, here’s another family that’s going to do it. And you’re very proactive about that. about the, before you go, learn so that the experience can be enriched. And I thought that was such, it was just such a good example. And it was fun that we connected that way, and we were able to then become friends.

And there’s just so many ways to do that, too, to learn ahead of time. And in fact, that, that exact trip, that Italy trip, we gave to our kids for Christmas, and we didn’t go on the trip until April. And so, in the interim, we had these five months of countdown, where every week we did an activity, or went out and got gelato, or listened to an Italian opera, or we did all these little activities.

Related to Italy and I feel like that was the first time that we had done that much preparation Mostly because I was trying to kill time so that it felt like they got a Christmas trip, you know Even though we didn’t go until spring break and it really did Enhance like it took the whole experience to a whole other level than I, than even I as an adult had experienced because we, I felt like we were so prepared.

We recognized things. Everything felt a little bit familiar in the most wonderful way. So, I think that’s such a great tip.

Preethi: Absolutely. I think that’s such a great point, Miranda. And I know you and I both feel strongly about experience gifts. We’ve both written about that. And I think that’s part of the fun about it.

You get to, gift this time together and you get to gift this opportunity to learn together and connect. The learning is not just individual, it’s connective. When we learn as a family, it brings us closer together as a family. And like you said, it doesn’t have to be these huge grand things. You don’t have to go check out the entire library section on Italy.

You can do simple things like going to get gelato, like turning on some Italian music while you’re cooking in the kitchen. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.

Miranda: Yeah, so fun. Okay, what’s another tip you would give for someone an overwhelmed mom feeling oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can travel with my kids.

What if they’re, what if they’re so hard?

Preethi: And I think that’s a great point. What if they are so hard? They probably will be hard. I think so. Setting your expectations is so important because it probably will be difficult at times. In fact, I will be shocked if it’s not difficult at times. There will be times when your kids cry.

There will probably be a time when you will cry. There will probably be a time when you’ll miss a train, or lose your tickets, or you’ll get into an argument. There will be things that go wrong. Like you said with your Jamaica trip, there are things that will just go wrong. That’s the nature of travel, whether you’re doing it with kids or by yourself.

But I think the joy is in knowing that you can still gain so much from the experience, even when things go wrong, not despite things going

Miranda: wrong. So smart. Yeah, it’s so true. Just set your expectations where you know that the good will outweigh the bad and there will be bad and that’s okay. And that’s life, right?

That’s life that you carry into travel. I think some of us think that you like, pass through this magical fairy dust when you board a plane or when you like land in another country or another city that like somehow, you’re protected from being in real life because you’re on a trip.

Things are supposed to all be glorious. And I’ve seen those people on vacation that look mystified that things are that they missed a train or that something goes, that something’s wrong because they’re like, I’m on vacation, dang it. Things are supposed to be perfect right now. I’m supposed to be happy the whole time.

And you’re like, no, it is nice to remember that you are you and your kids are them everywhere you go. And so, if you have a little bit of a whiner or a sensitive soul or someone who doesn’t like yogurt, I guarantee that will be the way that they are. Traveling as well, and that’s okay, you just must mentally prepare for that.

Preethi: Absolutely, and I think that’s great training for everyday life, too, to remember that we can still take joy from our circumstances, even when they’re not perfect, and that we can learn from those experiences, we can work through them, and that we can still, it doesn’t make the experience not worthwhile just because something went wrong.

Totally.

Miranda: How would you, give someone advice on where to go if they haven’t done a lot of travel, maybe someone stayed, in the same town or state, they haven’t done a lot of travel, but they want to they’re interested. How would you invite them to? What would you take, have them take into consideration as they’re deciding where to begin?

Absolutely. I think

Preethi: that goes back to thinking about what your interests are. Because you could look at all the reviews in the world that say, go to Italy, go to Japan, go to wherever. But if you’re not interested in the things that are available in those places, it’s probably not going to be a very fun trip.

So, I would say first and foremost, think about what you like to do. And then beyond that, be willing to try new things because a lot of times in travel, that’s the great part that we get to experience things that we don’t do on a normal day to day basis. And it, you might find that it’s something you really enjoy.

Maybe don’t go to somewhere that has only beaches if you hate sand and hot weather. But, if you go somewhere that has a ton of museums, or that has a lot of walking around cities, you might want to consider a day trip to a beach. Take your interests under consideration and look for places that have those things, but don’t necessarily limit yourself to only those things.

Miranda: Do you ever consider, like, how easy it will be to communicate or what the transportation might be like if you’re comfortable with buses and subways versus renting a car or those types of things. You’ve gone all over, but do you think that some of those logistics people would consider, too?

Preethi: We personally don’t take that under consideration, just because we know that we are comfortable driving a rental car, we are comfortable on public transportation, we are comfortable using Google Translate on our phones, and we’re okay with that, but if that’s something that’s going to really stress you out, and you haven’t done a lot of traveling, maybe ease your way into it.

Think of if communication feels stressful to you. Then maybe consider somewhere where you either know the language or maybe just get a device that will enable you to be able to communicate more easily. Google Translate is super easy. You can just download it on your phone. It will literally allow you to just type in what you want to say and then you play it for the person.

And then it will decode whatever they’re saying back to you. Look for things that will make those things easier. Potentially stressful situations a little bit easier for you. And then just do it, which is another big tip I have for travel. Like you’re the best way to get better at it is just by doing it, which is the nature of most things in life, right?

We get better at the things that we practice doing and travels like that as well. It requires practice. I think about the first trips that we took, including that very first summer. Dan and I traveled with; I believe it was four different pieces of luggage. Two like full sized suitcases. So, we each had a full suitcase, like a checked bag, and we each had carry-on bag, like a duffel sized thing.

And looking back, it like almost gives me heart palpitations even thinking about that.

Miranda: That’s what you travel with now, or even more than you travel with now as a family of seven, right?

Preethi: That’s probably double what we travel with now, which is just rewarding to think about. But we just didn’t know then.

We hadn’t done it a lot. We didn’t know what we would need, what we could get by without. We didn’t know what kind of situations we would, we had, we would encounter. We had both been to Europe and Asia before, but we hadn’t traveled extensively on our own and we hadn’t ever gone for that amount of time before.

So, we just prepared for every use case. And now we don’t know that we’ve done it, or now we don’t do that. Rather, we have traveled a lot more. We’ve practiced a lot more. And so, we have a better feel for what we personally need. And that’s true for. going places as well. We recognize what we are personally comfortable with.

So, I feel like if you are uncertain about something, give it a shot. The worst that can happen is that it’s a stressful trip and you will probably make it back home and you’ll recognize okay, that was probably not the best trip for me. Let me try something else next time.

Miranda: Yeah, it’s so true.

That, thinking about that silly Jamaica trip, I, one of our big takeaways, because we had always tried to travel super shoestring. We loved getting into the culture. So, we wanted to stay in hostels or in guest houses. Dave and I had never chosen to stay in a resort or a fancy hotel. We always had traveled together to these we want to eat the real food and I imagine that’s a big deal.

How you are too, that you want to be in the culture with the people. And so, we had, we’d planned this trip and it was a seven-day trip, which was, we’re like, okay, we have, we pay the same amount for plane tickets and the guest house isn’t that expensive, so we might as well make it worth our money.

That’s what we were thinking. And we got there and then it was just like so much trickier than we thought, and Milo didn’t sleep, and the guest house was hot, and we didn’t, we, I was fine. Like I could sleep, but my 10-month-old had never not been in air conditioning before. He was so confused.

Like, why am I so uncomfortable? The poor thing. And we realized when, as we flew home, the funny thing is that was like one of our most memorable trips. And we, looking back, we love it. But in the minute, there were lots of Really aggravating things about it in the as we were there, but we, on the flight home, I remember that we had this discussion and we spent the whole flight home talking about, okay, now that we know this, like we have, we just learned so much.

That was a crash course in international travel with kids. What will we do differently? And we realized we might not want to choose a non-air-conditioned guest house with babies. We might not want to do seven full days. Like we would rather take that same amount of money, but we Put it into a little bit nicer of an air-conditioned hotel on the beach, and maybe do three days.

And that way, if everything goes wrong, we’re home quicker, and if everything goes right, we leave wanting more, rather than leaving oh my gosh, I’m so happy to get on this plane. Absolutely. Just, I think that your point of do it, and you’ll learn, and you’ll find out, and as you go, you become better and better at it, and you find that you get to a point where you’re like, Oh, okay.

I like, yeah, I get this. I know how to do this. And that’s a fun place to be, but you don’t just jump from A to Z. Like you must go through the stages of learning. Absolutely. To be able to do better.

Preethi: You can read all the blog posts in the world about what has worked for other families when traveling, and that might not be the case for you.

There are probably some 10-month-olds out there who will sleep just fine in heat and who wouldn’t be bothered at all. And there are probably some families out there who will want to, who will feel a lot more comfortable with taking a bunch of baby gear. We personally feel more comfortable leaving the gear behind and dealing with it, and you won’t really recognize what works for your family until you try it out.

Miranda: Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s great advice. Okay. So, to wrap up this first section, I would love to just talk briefly about finances because I think that so many people feel like finances are the barrier to travel, especially once they have kids.

Okay, I want to travel. I have this dream of traveling the world and I’m, I, in my head I’m a globetrotter, but my bank account says that I am a stay at homer. How do you plan financially for travel, and what advice would you give to others who want to travel but feel like finances are the reason that they don’t?

Preethi: So, I have two thoughts on this. First, how to come up with the money to do the big expenses, like accommodation, flights, those kinds of things. And then second is what to do about the funds while you’re in wherever, in the place where you are, wherever you are. First, accommodations and flights, those are the big expenses no matter where you’re going.

So those are the ones we try to focus on when we’re trying to reduce costs, because obviously we’re traveling as a family of seven now, and so that clearly is more expensive than traveling as a family of two. However, I will say that it is not seven times more expensive to travel as a family of seven than it is to travel as one person by yourself.

Obviously, it is more expensive. It’s not seven times more expensive. Yeah, that’s a

Miranda: good point. I guess I, I really do. I’m like, oh, that’s an aha moment for me, because sometimes I do think, okay, like I multiply everything, but no, that’s true flights and maybe some of the food, but one hotel room, two hotel rooms.

As many people as fit,

Preethi: exactly. And a lot of times, for accommodations, we almost always stay in homestays or home exchanges. We have stayed in Airbnb’s, we’ve stayed in VRBOs, we’ve even done a home exchange. We were in Europe for the entire summer that was Two and a half years ago?

Yeah, summer of 2018. We spent the entire summer of Europe, and one month of that was in Paris. And while we were in Paris, we did a home exchange. So, this Parisian family stayed in our home here in California, and we stayed in their home in Paris. It was in the 20th arrondissement, so it was right by the subway.

We got around everywhere, and our accommodations were totally free for a month. It was neat. And we also had all the benefits of a home. We had a full kitchen. We had kid toys when we were there, we had multiple bathrooms. So, we were all crammed into this tiny hotel room. And so, I would encourage people to think outside the box for what you might be willing to do.

If you might be willing to stay out a little bit further, so you can get maybe a two bedroom apartment that you were renting instead of a tiny little studio hotel, right in the middle of a city, consider if you can reduce changing where exactly you’re staying, how far you’re willing to commute, the type of accommodations you’re using, whether it’s a hotel or a home exchange or an Airbnb, there are lots of different options.

Consider whether you can reduce costs by making some of the food, because even if an Airbnb, for instance, might be a little bit more expensive than a hotel, you might have two bedrooms instead of one, and you might have a kitchen, which means you don’t have to eat out every meal. We also tend to Airbnb our place while we are traveling.

Obviously, that’s not as true. During COVID, we bought an RV this year, so we were gone for several months, quarantined in our RV. And for some of that time, even, we left some extra time in between guests and in between the cleaners, so we were even still able to Airbnb our place while we were gone then.

And by your

Miranda: place, you mean you Airbnb your physical home that you own in California. While you travel to offset some of the cost of travel.

Preethi: Yes, absolutely. We’ve managed to offset most of our accommodation costs through Airbnb being our own home. And I have lots of tips on that because it is a learning curve.

So, I’ve written a couple of posts on that because it takes a little bit to get into, but once you manage to figure out the system, it can be an amazing source of income to subsidize your own travel. Then with flights. Nowadays, we tend to not use points as much just because there is enough of us that it’s hard to get enough points to cover, either six or seven tickets.

But if you have a smaller family, that’s absolutely an option. We traveled on miles and on points through credit cards for years and years. Until we had probably our fourth baby even with three kids, we managed to do miles a lot. And you’d be amazed at some of the like miles hacks that people come up with through credit cards.

And there are tons of blogs out there that will, Teach you all about that. So those are wonderful options. We have no qualms with traveling budget airlines. Like we love flying Norwegian air, which is dirt cheap. In fact, I think it was last fall. I think it was just about a year ago. We flew to Eastern Europe, and we went through London.

Our flights from our home here in the Bay area and California to London were like 170 each one way, like dirt cheap. So, then we obviously had to Us paid for one checked suitcase for all six of us at the time. 50 bucks or something, which is ended up cheaper than carrying on luggage because they charge you for that.

So, we just checked one suitcase. We bought these dirt-cheap tickets. We brought our own food. Like we have no issues with just picking up Chipotle on the way to the airport and eating that on the flight, instead of paying extra for a nicer airline to bring you airplane meals that we don’t really care to eat anyway.

So, you don’t necessarily have to have the very fanciest of accommodations or of flights or whatever. Think about what is most important to you. Obviously, if you’re going to be uncomfortable and miserable the whole time, don’t do that because it won’t be very enjoyable. But if there’s something that you don’t care about that much, think if you can, Eliminate that.

Miranda: Yeah, it’s so smart. Again, it goes back to what matters the most to you. What is the purpose of travel for you and your family? And then think outside the box for making those things happen. If you want to just get places and see things, then who cares about where you’re going? Where you stay or what flight you take, if you want to have a luxury vacation, then maybe you will, fly on a nice airline and sip the beverages and sit on the beach at the resort, and the, and both are totally great options, they just are for totally different styles of travel.

And so, you just must know what it is that you are looking for. And know that, that it’s possible that it’s available for you to do that. We have Usually planned, I’ve been talking on the blog a lot about planning, in fact all of November was focused on the different, time schedules of planning, annual planning, quarterly planning, monthly planning, and weekly and daily planning, and one of the things that I mentioned was that Dave and I like to, and for years, since, I mean for 10 years, over 10 years, we have planned Tried to plan almost all of our travel for the entire upcoming year in November of the year before for whatever reason just like around Thanksgiving That’s when we are in the everyone’s a little bit like okay end of the year Let’s like what’s coming up and that’s enabled us to think if we want to go on a big trip Like in August or October we can start putting away money for that monthly In December or January and we are a family that totally budgets like I know actually I’ve been surprised lately Actually, I’ve had this conversation with a couple friends and family lately that I’m like wait, you don’t use a budget What does that even look like?

Like I just don’t we’re such planners that like I have like a grocery budget. I have some clothing, like We really pay attention to where our money goes, I guess maybe more than some people that I didn’t I thought everyone did that but

Preethi: I don’t think everyone does things the way you do things You

Miranda: And then your mind blown that I’m like, I don’t even know how it would function if I didn’t have money going the places that I tell it to go, not that’s wrong. I think, my friends and family that don’t have budgets are doing well. They’re, even though I was authorized. But what’s so nice is that we can make the, we can look and say, what do we want to, like, where are we going to make room for this? So that might be less eating out or less activities.

at home because we know that money is going to this trip that we’re doing later in the year. And it’s just having a little bit of foresight. It also helps us buy tickets in advance. It helps us, get excited about where we’re going and do all the like learning and anticipating.

And so that’s just been nice too. not feel like, we didn’t decide yesterday that we’re going to Hawaii tomorrow. Like generally you do a little bit of planning, preparation, and budgeting. Really anything that you want to do is possible.

Preethi: Absolutely. And I think

Miranda: that

Preethi: budgeting can sometimes have a negative connotation.

Oh, we must budget for this, or we must stick to a budget. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It can be a wonderful freeing thing to know that you have these certain constraints, and you can work within those constraints.

Miranda: Yeah. I’ve never thought of budgeting as negative, but that is interesting that some people might think of it as meaning you don’t have enough money.

I think of a budget as the sort of spreadsheet that, that I choose where my money’s going. Absolutely. So interesting.

Preethi: I did want to quickly touch on saving money while you are wherever you are traveling. Yes. Because I think that people can sometimes feel overwhelmed by that oh, we must buy all this food, we must do all these things.

And when I started my blog and my Instagram a couple of years ago, I specifically named it Local Passport Family, because it’s important to me that wherever we are, that we try to act as locals would. Like you said, that when we go a place, we want to experience the real food there. We want to talk to people who are from there.

We want to have more of a local experience and feel immersed in the culture, wherever that is, whether it’s domestic or international. And so, I don’t think that we always must be tied to living as tourists, because obviously living as a tourist, whether you’re in your own city or somewhere else, is going to be significantly more expensive than living as a local would.

And a lot of times we are not spending a ton more money on food, for instance, when we’re traveling than we would at home because we’re cooking some of those meals, we’re not eating out every meal, we’re doing sandwiches for lunch as we’re on the go, we’re eating oatmeal at home before we leave for breakfast, and we might eat out one meal a day or something, or we might not eat out a meal a day depending on how long we’re somewhere.

So, I think it’s important to recognize that you don’t necessarily have to always act like a tourist. You don’t have to go to every single tourist site. We went, when we were in London a couple of years ago, we didn’t go on the London Eye, because I didn’t particularly want to spend a ton of money to go on the London Eye for this view that I didn’t, I think was really all that fantastic anyway.

For me, it was more important to put my money toward other things. For someone else, it might be important to go on the London Eye. And you can work that into, like you said, your budget for what is important to you and put your money there and cut back on something else.

Miranda: Totally. And the other thing that I’ve realized in traveling with other people, a lot of people think of traveling as a, the jumping off point of a shopping trip.

Like anywhere you go, they like land in the city and spend days and days shopping and buying souvenirs and. Packing this a whole other suitcase and with things to take home. And obviously I am not much of a shopper, generally, and I, so souvenirs have never been that big of a deal to me.

So, I thought that it was interesting to realize my favorite example of this was that when I was in Germany a couple years ago with Dave, he was traveling for work and I tagged along because the hotel room was paid for, it was, Cheap flight for me. So, we took advantage of the opportunity for me to go.

It was my birthday too. So, I invited myself on his work trip. And I spent most of the time by myself because he was in meetings and in the courtroom and stuff. I did a lot of wandering through boutiques and through cool German shops. I was in Munich, and I just fell in love with these local boutiques and shops.

And I didn’t really buy anything. Like I think I bought one or two small things, but I didn’t like, I didn’t pack. I could have. Because I loved that many things that I was like, whoa, this is so cool. But I enjoyed the browsing and the looking as like a cultural experience more than as a shopping and consuming experience.

And I felt the same good feelings. That I would have if I had brought a bunch of stuff home, and yet I didn’t come home and have to figure out where to put all this stuff and take care of it, and I didn’t spend the hundreds of dollars I would have spent, so I think that just inviting people to consider, just like you don’t have to go out every day, you also don’t have to buy t shirts from everywhere you go, you don’t have to bring home, bags of stuff from shops, like You can enjoy the experience of being there without all the extras that might feel like they’re a financial strain.

Preethi: Absolutely. I think that’s such an important point that it doesn’t, we don’t have to have a physical memento of the experience. The experience is the wonderful part of it. We don’t need something else to add on to the experience. And I think about this with experience gifts as well, because I think a lot of times there’s a tendency to give something physical to accompany the experience gift, which can be wonderful.

Sometimes it’s something that really goes along with the experience or is important to have for the experience, which can be great. Other times, though, sometimes I think that we’re still giving a physical gift and tacking that on to the experience gift. So, then you end up having two gifts and you still have this stuff, which sort of takes away from the whole purpose of the experience gift in the first place.

Yeah.

Miranda: Yeah, this is so true. Okay, I love it. So those are such great tips. I am now just so excited for when the world opens again, hopefully in the next six months or so, that we can start to safely travel again outside of our own homes. So, let’s move into the second section, where you can. Love where you live, even right now in COVID, and travel safely, locally, explore your own city and state.

Give us your, you’ve been such a good example of this, but not everyone has an RV, so you’ve traveled the whole country during the last six months in your RV, because it’s, we were just talking before we started recording about how your, you can be stay at home orders. Anywhere you go because the RV is your home and so you can go to the bathroom there and you can make your meals there and you’re literally like not interacting with anyone ever because you have this self-contained unit What about the rest of us?

Teach us how to travel and how to explore during this Time that is quarantine pandemic friendly.

Preethi: So, I feel so strongly, and I think this applies to both exploring locally as well as exploring from your couch. But exploring to me is really a mindset so much more than a destination. When we have that feeling of curiosity and excitement for new experiences and new events and new activities, then everything becomes exciting even when we’re right at home.

We moved to the Bay Area about four and a half years ago. And the first two months that we lived here, we were living in corporate housing right in San Francisco itself. And it was amazing. It was before my oldest started kindergarten, so I had three little kids at home, none of whom were in school. So, we just explored every single day in San Francisco, and it was incredible.

We found all these tiny little hidden gems. We went into Probably, I don’t know, 30 different churches in the city of San Francisco. We went into mosques when we were able. We went into synagogues that had incredible stained glass and all these beautiful different depictions. In fact, there’s one in the middle of San Francisco.

That has this incredible stained glass of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, except instead of Mount Sinai, it’s Yosemite. That’s incredible. So, it doesn’t have to be something huge to be incredible in your city. Even if your city is a smaller city and you don’t have tons of museums or gardens or whatever, I guarantee that there are incredible things to go, and it might just be an area of the city that is a little bit overgrown.

It might be fun for your kids to go run through. It might be a flower garden. It might be a museum. It might be a tiny museum that isn’t necessarily world renowned, but it might have some really, it might have some hidden gems in it that you might be able to learn about and explore a little bit more with your family.

So, there are so many opportunities to get out and to explore right within your own community.

Miranda: Yeah, that’s so great. I remember laughing a couple years ago. My older sister is quite a traveler, like she, she just, that is her, she eats and breathes and sleeps it, like she loves it, that’s all she wants to do.

And we were joking, and her husband was joking with her about what if you couldn’t travel and I said yeah What would you do if you really had a whole year that you couldn’t go anywhere? And you had to just focus on loving where you lived and being in your city and this is of course three or four years ago when the idea of that happening that you couldn’t go Anywhere was just ludicrous.

Like what in the world would happen to make that a reality? And we fleshed out this whole I guess if I couldn’t go abroad, then I would do what you’re saying. Like I would there’s so much here. And I grew up in Salt Lake and that’s where she lives. And we were like, think of all the things like Antelope Island and, There’s like a railroad thing and there’s so many different canyons and parks and national parks and state parks and lakes and rivers.

And there’s so much right there that even growing up there, even being an active family and outdoorsy family, there, there are so many things to discover that because sometimes when we’re so focused on-going other places, we forget. What is just like within arm’s reach and it’s really enriching to start to like place where you live by the things that it offers the small histories, the little Like you say, hidden gems, like what is it that makes where you live, your city, your town unique?

Why did it even form? What did it start with? Who were the first people that were there? Why were they there? What were they doing? I’m sure that everywhere has something about what makes it unique. A place that’s different than somewhere else, and those things are so fun to find.

Preethi: Absolutely, and even if it’s not something super old or historic, it can be something that’s special to your community.

Maybe it’s a fun bookstore. Maybe it’s like a tower that you can go and climb. Maybe it’s a hike. Maybe, there’s so many different options.

Miranda: What do you think, what is your favorite way to find those places, just Google searching or like hashtags on Instagram, like how do you’re such a seasoned explorer, local and abroad, how do you discover those places that you want to go experience?

Preethi: Yeah, I mostly do Google searches, and then when we go to places, we try to talk to the people who are either working there or visiting there or whatever and get other ideas. I have a giant Google spreadsheet where I just track everything, so then if someone mentions something else, I’ll immediately put it in there.

That way, when we’re wondering oh, what should we do, where should we go, we want an activity, I can just go to my list, and we can go to that place, so then we don’t forget as much. As you start to explore, you start finding so many more places. I feel like that’s the biggest thing with exploring locally, especially.

When I start looking for hidden gems, you don’t run out of them. You just end up finding even more.

Miranda: Yeah. So, do you systematize this for your family especially now that you’re like home? Do you try to go on an adventure every week? Do you try to discover something new once a month? What is the way that you keep yourself motivated and accountable that you don’t just, I know that you.

personally, probably don’t have the problem of slipping into a routine where you’re not doing it because your routine is to go travel. How would you recommend to someone, or is there a way that you keep yourself motivated and excited about it, even though sometimes it’s a lot of work?

Preethi: Yeah. So pre pandemic I would say probably about once a month we would go into San Francisco and try to find something new or something that we’ve loved before. That’s our nearest like big city that has a lot of stuff to do. So That’s what’s fun for us during the pandemic. We have made weekly hikes part of our family routine.

So typically, on Wednesdays, I’ll like, I have a running list of hikes that are either close by or maybe a little bit further. But all within probably about 45 minutes of our home and I just have a running list. And so, we try to do one a week and that at least gets us in the habit of getting out and feeling okay, like we have something else to look forward to something to go and do.

Miranda: We’re the same way. So, we do an hour, we do a weekly hike on Sundays, and I’ve been sharing a little bit about them on Instagram. And the other day, someone asked me about how I find the trails and I said, Oh, I just Google search like family friendly hikes around Richmond. And I had maybe a dozen people say, you must use all trails has all the trails.

And I was like, oh, I’ve never heard of that. That’s a resource that is new to me. And apparently lots of people like it. So, if you want to find hiking spots, that’s a good resource for that. And yeah,

Preethi: great. And it’s nice. Cause you can look within a very small area, and it’ll give you a bunch right in that region.

It will also tell you the distances and how difficult the hike is. Based on most reviews. So that’s nice.

Miranda: Yeah, nice for kids, too If you have beginner hikers, if you haven’t done a lot of hiking your older kids may not be super, they may not have a ton of stamina. So just yeah, I think it’s a good idea to just start easy

Preethi: There is no shame and starting with a half mile hike and I think you’ll be amazed that as you do it consistently that Stamina really does build up before we left in the spring.

Our hikes were generally around Two miles. If we did a three-mile hike, we’re like, oh yeah, we did a three-mile hike today. And we’ve been hiking for years as a family, but still not doing like long ones, yeah. And this summer we were hiking so consistently as we were going to different public lands that we were doing nine-mile hikes with, 20, 2000 feet of elevation gain.

And our kids were doing that. And it felt like a wonderful accomplishment. And it’s just amazing how kids really can build up the stamina and how you can too.

Miranda: Yeah, a good example, just another good example of when you start doing it, you get better at it. It becomes easier. It becomes more fun. Yeah. So that’s amazing.

And I love the idea of putting a general like monthly or quarterly exploration date on the calendar and starting to build that into a family’s calendar. It’s routine to just know that, okay, what are we going to, what are we going to discover this month? What are we going to discover this quarter?

That is about the way that we’ve been doing it too and it’s fun because we’re consistently looking forward to something that even in the pandemic, I feel like that is something that has saved me mentally and emotionally to just know that there’s always something good coming up and I’m the one who puts those on the calendar.

Yeah, it’s fun. So those are some great tips for exploring locally and reminding people that even in the pandemic, there are safe ways to explore outside in your communities, in your cities. Obviously, follow all the guidelines for your own area. I know they’re a little bit different state to state and city to city.

There’s so much good. And even in the winter maybe Preethi, do you have any suggestions for, I know half the country is cold. Cold and snowy in the winter and maybe going on outdoor adventures isn’t quite as easy. Do you have any tips for how to handle weather when you want to explore but it’s cold?

Preethi: Yeah, good gear. And I think that’s true for travel as well. Whether you’re exploring locally or whether you’re going somewhere to travel, it’s worth figuring out the right gear. And it doesn’t always have to be super expensive gear. We went to Zion National Park last February, so February of 2019.

So cold. So cold. We also went to Bryce, which is even colder. Like the high the day we were in Bryce was probably like, I don’t know, zero degrees or something. It was so dang cold. Zero Celsius, I think it was like just about freezing for the high. So yeah, so cold, but we had our wool base layers, we had big coats, we had snow pants so that we weren’t getting soaking wet.

And we didn’t have fancy snow pants, I think I got 15 Walmart snow pans, but they work and they, we, it kept us from getting soaking wet. So, we weren’t like refreezing. And it makes it so much more enjoyable when you have that gear and you’re able to play and experience and have fun in the cold instead of just constantly being annoyed that you’re in the cold.

Miranda: Yeah. I think that’s so true. Someone the other day mentioned this it was like a Scandinavian word that I said something about hygge, about that cozy feeling, and she said, wait, have you heard this one? And I don’t remember what it is anymore. Something with an S, but it basically is Norwegian for no bad weather, only bad clothes.

Yes, absolutely. They’re like getting outside every single day, no matter what, because the weather shouldn’t dictate the way that you connect with nature. And I was like, oh my gosh, I love that idea. And I also have a friend locally here in Richmond who is just a great example to me of sustainability and eco friendliness.

And she she’s been on the show, Sustainably Rupa. And she just shared An Instagram picture. It snowed in Richmond. It doesn’t normally snow here. Maybe once a dusting a year. But all the kids, of course, wanted to go play outside in the snow. And she had a picture of all her three kids in thrifted secondhand snow gear.

And it was either borrowed or secondhand. Super inexpensive but loved. And she’s it’s, you can totally have all the gear, even if you don’t want to invest in invest a ton of money or invest in all new things. Like you can, there are ways to do this just with a little bit of intention.

So, I think that’s a good

Preethi: reminder. Some of the snow gear and we had our base layers from travel already. We purchased some of the snow gear because we had already gone to the snow a couple of times and we had borrowed friends gear, so we knew that our kids loved the experience of playing in the snow.

We knew that we would get use out of it. And that we had enough kids that we could pass it down. And so, we waited, and we tested out. We borrowed first. We, so I think that you don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of stuff right in the beginning. You can borrow, you can test it out. And then if it works for your family, then you can consider investing in that gear yourself.

Miranda: Totally. I love it. Okay, so I am now also excited about continuing to discover things locally and just give myself the little boost that I need for the wintertime that like we can still discover amazing things and have all those fun-like connective feelings even at home. So, let’s move into this third section which you have been such a fun example of all the discovery of travel from home.

Literally your couch, creating ways that you can connect with cultures and people throughout the entire world without leaving your home because of the pandemic. So, tell us how you’re doing this. What are some of your favorite ways to travel and discover from home?

Preethi: Absolutely. So, this past summer I created what’s called the global children’s book club.

So, the purpose behind it was twofold. First, we were missing travel. We wanted to be able to connect with the world. We wanted to still learn from the people of the world. And secondly, we really wanted to put more effort into anti bias, anti-racist, inclusive, diverse education in our family and in our home.

We wanted to diversify our bookshelf. We wanted to. Diversify the perspectives that we were hearing from people who grew up in different circumstances, who had different ways of life, and we wanted to learn about that. So, I created this book club, which was 26 days of global education, and we went through every letter of the alphabet.

So, 26 days, one letter for each day, and each day had a different country. So, A for Australia, B for Brazil, C for Cambodia, and so on. And it was such an incredible experience. We listened to picture book read aloud for each of the countries, most of the authors of the books did the read aloud themselves, which was great.

So neat to see and then we learned about foods. We learned; we did craft projects. We learned about dance and other movement activities, and it was such an enriching experience for our family to be able to connect with the world in such a fun way right from home.

Miranda: The Global Children’s Book Club is so incredible because it’s a full immersive experience for each of these 26 countries.

And guess what, listeners? Preethi did all the work, so you don’t have to do it. It, what an incredible free resource. 26 countries. With activities, crafts, like you said, those read aloud are so cool. It was fun to hear the authors themselves read their books, and I imagine it was really a fun experience for the authors to do that as well.

And I think that not only do you have all these different countries and different free resources for people to be able to travel from home, but I also love that you each one of them is like a blueprint of what you want to do. We can do if there is something that we’re interested in, a different country, a different culture, a different place, even if as specific as like a city or something that you really want to get into, how to access that place through, multimedia and crafts and activities and music and those different things, how to do that all from home.

You show us how to use speech, videos, like you recommend some videos, you recommend books, you recommend music, you recommend food, there’s some recipes included, there’s some specific crafts included, and I think that it’s such a great blueprint of, oh, I actually don’t have to just be home, I can, through all of these different mediums, find my home.

incredible things and places and cultures and people, even though I can’t go there physically right now.

Preethi: I love that idea of the blueprint Miranda, because yeah, these aren’t intended to be completely comprehensive forms of education for a country. Obviously, you can’t learn everything about a country from a blog post, but hopefully It’s an opportunity to figure out like, hey, I’m really interested in that form of dance.

Maybe I can learn something else about it. Or maybe this food, I really love the flavors in this. Let me look up some more recipes. So, like you said, it’s a jumping off point right now. We’re doing the global service advent. So very similar format with the books and the crafts and all that, but every country has a nonprofit that we are learning about and supporting each day through this time in December as well.

Miranda: Yeah. And all those donations are being matched as well. So, you donate 5. It ends up being what? 20? Because it’s matched by a couple of

Preethi: our businesses. It’s matching and then my husband’s employer is matching as well. And anything that you want to donate to these organizations will get quadrupled.

And so hopefully it does some good all around the world during this time of year.

Miranda: So awesome. You just are such a rock star and really living your values, which I am so inspired by that, like choosing what matters and then really making space to, to live it out, to create resources for people to be doing and exploring and donating and learning and helping others along the way as well.

So, thank you so much for all the good that you do and all the way that you help the rest of us explore. And learn about the world and its people as well.

Preethi: That is such a kind thing to say, Miranda. It has been an incredible opportunity for me. And I have to say, our community over on Instagram and on my blog, it has been remarkable hearing people’s experiences and the way that they have contributed.

I feel like, I have started some of this, but so many people have contributed, so many people have added their perspectives and really pushed me to dig a little bit deeper, especially when it comes to anti bias, anti-racist work. The conversations that come up the questions that people ask, I feel have been really thought provoking and enriching for me, and so I’m appreciative of that, and I hope that other people can come and join in on that conversation as well.

Miranda: Yeah, you make it so accessible for everyone, so that’s so awesome. Okay, so I feel like we have just done a really good job of giving people some ideas for traveling with their kids. I hope so. Getting out there, exploring locally, and then also traveling the world just from home with some of the resources that we have.

Preethi has made available for you and the ideas that she gives you to even be able to, then launch and explore a little bit more on your own. I have a couple questions for you as we close at Preethi that I just want; I think they’d be fun to ask. So, tell me, what is your very favorite place to travel?

I was worried you wouldn’t have that. You can’t say, you can’t say everywhere. You must choose something.

Preethi: Oh man, I know. I feel like I get asked this question a lot. And it’s a really difficult question to answer. I feel like whenever I’m learning about a place, I’m like, oh yeah, I really loved that place.

Let’s go back there. I will say a few things. Favorite favorites. London, I feel is just an all-time favorite because London’s amazing. I love France because I studied abroad there and so I feel connected to it. And you

Miranda: speak French fluently, right?

Preethi: I do speak French, yep. Huh. Beyond that though, Cambodia is just an incredible country with such a beautiful history.

The people are so kind, the food’s amazing so that’s a great one. India, I love because my families from India, so it just feels special to me. Jordan is another one that I feel like is not on a lot of people’s radars but is amazing. So, family friendly, the people are so kind and welcoming.

And it’s just beautiful, like such an incredible place. So those are some favorites. Morocco was such an amazing experience for our family, like the colors and the food and everything there is like busy and crazy and just stunning. And yeah, really, there are just too many to name, though.

Miranda: That’s a good handful. Even though I asked for one, I guess I’ll take five. I

Preethi: know. It’s nothing about

Miranda: five. I love it. Okay, so here’s another question. I think I know the answer. Wait, can I put a

Preethi: question on you, though?

Miranda: Oh, you want to, you want me to say my favorite place? Yes. Let’s hear about yours. Oh my gosh.

The first thing that comes to mind is Paris, and I don’t speak French, but I just feel like, and that’s such a cliche answer, I’m almost embarrassed that I would say that.

Preethi: But Paris is amazing,

Miranda: Paris is, there is something palpable about the, oh, the something, the X factor in Paris. And I just I really love it.

And I think I also have been, Plum and I are planning a trip to Paris for some time in the next couple years, whenever it’s safe, and we decide to, plan on it financially. And so, I think that it’s been on my brain because I, I’m excited about taking her and showing her and thinking about what are the things that I want to do with her there.

So, I think that would, I would say that right now is like the first thing on my list for I love that.

Preethi: When you go to Paris, make sure you take a jaunt down to Leon, which is the study, the city that I studied abroad in. I feel like a lot of people don’t necessarily go there, but it’s. It’s beautiful.

It’s like a smaller, more accessible version of Paris, but still, it’s maybe even more French feeling than Paris.

Miranda: Ooh, okay. I like it. Okay. So next question, and I think I know the answer, but I’m just going to ask you anyway. If you if you only had one more place to go, one more, one more week or month to travel, would you go to somewhere totally new, or would you go back to places that you love?

Preethi: New for sure.

Miranda: You’d go somewhere new. Which I probably do. Yes. Yes. Okay. What are your favorite books, not about travel, but books that you’ve read that help you feel like you’re somewhere else? Do you have any books that you love that you feel like you’re escaped to a new place when you’re reading it?

That’s a great question.

Preethi: I really love picture books for this reason because even though they’re short, I feel like they really pack a punch in terms of feeling like you’re immersed in the world. this culture for just a short period of time. There’s something about having the illustrations along with the words that can feel just really like fun and immersive.

So, I’m thinking of a few from the Global Children’s Book Club that have been really like fun to read. One of them is from Morocco, actually. It’s called the Storyteller and it just takes you through this almost magical journey. And you know that it takes place in Morocco, but it’s not necessarily teaching you about Morocco.

You know what I mean? So yeah, you feel like you’re there. So, I love that. We did, for the letter N, we did Navajo Nation which obviously is, within the United States, but it was so fun to learn a little bit more about Indigenous culture and history, and we read the book Fry Bread, which is an absolute favorite, and again, I feel like it just takes you into the culture.

You feel like you’re within these families and these communities, and so I love books like that sort of help you feel immersed.

Miranda: Yeah, I love that. Okay, great. So, the answer to that question is go look at the Global Children’s Book Club because there’s 26 of them. You’re going to love it.

Preethi: And every single one of them is amazing.

Every

Miranda: single one of them is great. Okay, amazing. So last question, where are you going to go next? The first place that you’re going to go when COVID is over, the world opens again. You’re going to, you and Dan are buying flights. Where is the first place you want to go?

Preethi: So, this last summer, my husband had paternity leave.

He gets about three months of paternity leave, which we feel fortunate for. So, the plan was to travel that entire time. So, we had three different kind of areas that were on our docket. And we hadn’t decided which ones are which order or whatever. So, I’ll mention those. The first is Alaska.

Like I said, it’s the last state.

Miranda: You’re 50th state. I can’t believe you guys are just going to RV up there. Like why not just road trip it?

Preethi: So that’s what we’re thinking now that we have this, 2020 COVID RV, which was not in the plans. I will say not even a little bit. We are thinking that we might RV up to Alaska.

Oh my gosh,

Miranda: please do just so I can watch.

Preethi: I just want to follow along

Miranda: on Instagram while you do that. That’s. So, fun.

Preethi: So, we are super excited about that. We’re hoping by next summer that things will be open enough that we can do that. Beyond that, we are hoping to go to Eastern Africa, to Kenya and Tanzania in particular, to go on safari and to explore some there as well as to the Balkans.

We’re hoping to explore around there a little bit, like Croatia and Albania and those areas. So yeah, those are some on our list.

Miranda: Okay. I love it. I can’t wait to watch you catch your first Alaskan salmon. When you’re there next summer. When did the salmon run? Is it in the summer or the winter?

Oh, I guess I don’t know.

Preethi: Clearly, I need to put together an Alaska. We all need to learn about Alaska.

Miranda: I love it. So, fun. Thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom and your incredible tips. And. and your inspiration with us just for being an amazing mom who is out there not only doing good at home and sharing about global cultures and diversity and anti-racism education from home but also be an example of someone who can get out there and see the world and take your kids along and not feel like it has to be perfect in order to do it and have it be amazing and I just am so grateful to know you and to have you on the show.

Preethi: Oh, you are so kind, Miranda. Thank you so much for having me and for all your amazing contributions as well. I feel like you have done such a great job of building travel and experiencing the world and learning about the world into your own family culture. So, I loved hearing from you as well.

Miranda: Oh, thank you.

Hopefully this episode inspires some of you who are listening to start traveling now at home, get prepared and nestle into the idea of exploring other cultures from your couch and exploring your own neighborhood. And then in. In a few months, in 2021, when the world doors fling open again, you’ll be mentally prepared and hopefully maybe financially prepared in some little ways to get out there and travel with your kids.

And hopefully Preethi and I will be right behind you. Okay. Wasn’t that such a fun interview? I’m so grateful to Preethi for her time, and I hope that you enjoyed listening to the show. Has it got you as excited about traveling from home and real traveling abroad as it has me? Now, I wanted to give you a quick and funny update because I had to go look up what was that Scandinavian term that I had heard.

The word is friluftsliv, which roughly translates as open-air life, and I found a book written all about this concept and idea, so I’m going to link that in the show notes. It’s called, There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather, A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids, which sounds right up my alley and goes well with the concepts that we talked about in today’s show.

So, find that in the show notes at livefreecreative. co slash podcast. I also want to remind you to subscribe to the show if you are a new listener. I release an episode every Thursday morning at 6 a. m. Eastern, all-in hopes to inspire you to live a more creative, adventurous, and intentional lifestyle. And in addition to that, if you haven’t yet left a rating or review for the show, I would love to invite you to do that over at iTunes.

It only takes a couple minutes and makes a huge impact. I appreciate every single one of those reviews, so thank you so much. Thank you again for lending some of your attention here today for this Pass the Mic episode. I hope that you enjoyed it, and I’ll catch you again next time. Have a wonderful week.