Traveling can be stressful. Traveling with kids can be Hell. But on the contrary, traveling with kids can be such an enriching experiencing for everybody involved that it is worth the challenges. Most of us have been on an airplane surrounded by screaming children and embarrassed parents trying every trick to stop the wailing. Many parents avoid travel altogether to avoid stressful and embarrassing situations. Savanna and I are certainly not experts in the field of traveling with kids, but we do see the value in weathering the storm when we have a chance.

We left our quiet home on January 20th to enter the madness of travel with the destination being the chaotic city of Kansas City. Is Kansas City the ideal place to travel? Probably not. While it may not be a European tour, a South American road trip, or a ski-trip to Montana- we are here to visit family, potentially buy a house, and get to know our own country in a new way. It’s pretty funny, because almost every person we told about leaving home to come to Missouri they said, “Misery… ha… why would you go to Misery for vacation?

Savanna sometimes tells the story about their only family vacation when five sisters rode in a car with mom and dad from Kansas City to Florida. It was such a stressful experience that it was the only family trip they ever took. We don’t want that in our family. Savanna and I vowed to continue traveling even after having children, whether it means camping for the weekend just down the road, visiting another country, or returning to Missouri to visit family. Because we see the value in travel, we set money aside each month into an account named “Adventure” with the hopes of creating new experiences, even if it’s only a few bucks.

So what is the point of traveling, and why the heck would we work hard, save money, and voluntarily enter the stressful world of traveling away from home? Building resilience by adapting to new and difficult situations. Gaining compassion by eye-witnessing struggles others’ face while working to change the world positively. Growing gratitude by seeing that not everybody has the same advantages, conveniences, and opportunities. Finding and nurturing relationships between people within the family, country, and world. Creating purpose by finding hobbies that provide joy, whether photography, journalism, volunteering, or bungee jumping. It builds confidence, reliance, trust, open-mindedness, resourcefulness, and appreciation of place. It sparks creativity, conservation, preservation, and healing. And last, but maybe the most important, traveling can be so much fun!

(My seven year old nephew just walked up to me and read a joke card that said, ”What kinds of streets do zombies prefer?” “I don’t know, you tell me.” “Dead Ends.” And he giggled and patted his leg. I would have never heard this joke if not for traveling.)

Every family is different. Some families don’t have the money to travel, others don’t have the time. Some families don’t see the value in travel. Some families are forced to live on the road, others do so by choice. We are grateful to have our roots planted in Alaska and to have the resources to make a trip every once in a while.

We use every trick in the book to travel with our kids. We pack a bunch of snacks to prevent hanger pangs, to ease popping ears, and to fill the mouth when crying starts. We walk around the airport to exercise before long flights. We keep the kids up as long as possible before getting on the plane with the hope that they will sleep on the plane. We prepare the kids mentally for weeks before making the trip by talking about what we are going to do. We show them pictures and tell them stories about the places we are going and why we are going. And we try to stay calm when we are feeling claustrophobic, embarrassed, and tired. Are we perfect? No way. Sometimes we are short with each other and our kids, but we have learned that the best thing we can do while traveling is to stay quiet.

My mother used to always say, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” And that is the general rule for us while traveling through airports and airplanes.