It’s the end of yet another year – how are we here again already?!

The end of a year always seems to be a time for reflection. So much has happened this last year for us. Z and S have grown up so much.  I finished my teaching diploma and got my first teaching job. J moved into contracting roles after losing his job right before Christmas last year which has given us more income and allowed us to change our lifestyle.  We have moved back to our beloved inner city Melbourne, and we are finally travelling more frequently again!

Since this is a travel blog, I’m going to concentrate on the last point – travel!  We finally had some long trips again for the first time since having kids.- 7 weeks in Asia and 7 weeks and still going in North America.  This has really changed my outlook of travel and what I want it to mean to us as a family, at least in the short term.

I travelled A LOT before having kids, but once I had them, I thought I would have to wait until they were a fair bit older before we would be able to travel much.  I just didn’t think it would work.  I am so glad I was wrong!  I am thankful to the travel bloggers who I stumbled across last year who showed me that I was wrong and gave me the courage to give it a go.  The main ones were with 2 kids in tow, it’s backpacking we go, Travel with Bender and our Travel Lifestyle.  I hope that this blog helps to encourage others as well.  This is all not only possible with young kids, but fantastic!

I am not the only one who has loved all this travel either.  I asked S what her favourite part of the trip has been, and she said “All of it! It’s my best favourite thing in the world!”

Anyway, here are my top ten travel moments of 2013!

10. Exploring Charleston’s Historic District and the USS Yorktown

Charleston is now one of my top places in the USA. We had a great day exploring Charleston’s Historic District and the USS Yorktown – a US aircraft carrier.  Charleston’s historic district is just gorgeous and made for walking around exploring which is my favourite activity while travelling.

Our visit to the USS Yorktown was fascinating.  It was very interesting being able to walk all around this vessel and getting an idea of what life would be like living on such a ship.

Streets of Charleston

9. A perfect day checking out the National Aquarium and a water park in Santo Domingo

Last week, we had a perfect family travel day in Santo Domingo visiting the National Aquarium (or Nacional Acuario if you would prefer) and Agua Splash Caribe.  We all had a great time visiting this low key, but perfect for families, aquarium, playing in their park and then splashing around in the water park across the road.  It was awesome!

8. Eating in the night markets in Taipei

We love food and we love travel, so the night markets in Taipei are a perfect combination for us!  We loved eating our way through Taipei, the best city in the world to visit for food in my opinion.  Despite rarely knowing what we were ordering, we only ate good food here.  And it was lots of fun!

Shilin Night Market

7. Staying in an over water chalet in Malaysia

I’ve always wanted to stay in an over water chalet.  I am not exactly sure why, I guess it just seems like the ultimate in luxury to me.  It is just gorgeous having the sea lapping all around you and we loved our stay here in Port Dickson.

Our over the water chalet

6. Exploring the French Quarter in New Orleans

I had high expectations of New Orleans and they were exceeded!  The French Quarter is just gorgeous and covers a fairly large area.  Just walking around this quarter was lovely and we loved our stay here.

French Quarter

5. Taking a Caribbean cruise

Say what you like about cruises, but it is nice to not have to worry about barely anything.  This is the first time travelling with kids that I have actually felt like I have had a break. It was so nice not to worry about where our next meal was going to come from or keeping our room clean.  I can’t stop daydreaming about doing another one.

Mini golf was a hit on our cruise

4. Spending Z’s first birthday in Boracay, Philippines

My little baby turning one was obviously a big moment for us and getting to spend it as a family on Boracay was just magical.  I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday for my baby boy.

Picnic dinner on the beach from local stands

3. Dancing in the Angelina Ballerina room at the Little Big Club in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

This may seem random, but I often think about the absolutely fantastic time S had in this room.  She is a massive Angelina Ballerina fan and the look on her face was just priceless.  She often asks if we can go back.

Hanging with Pinggu at Little Big Club, Malaysia

2. Driving down the interstate in the USA on our USA Deep South Road Trip

I have wanted to do a US road trip seemingly forever, and it was a great feeling to finally accomplish this!  It was so much fun and the kids got into it too.  S actually cried when I told her it was over.  I don’t think I will ever not smile when I hear the song, “On the road again”.  We played this song at the start of every car journey!

Entering Alabama!

1. Arriving in Kuala Lumpur back in March at the start of our Asia trip

The best travel moment this year?  Definitely when we arrived in our KL hotel at the start of our Asia trip with our 11 month old and 2 year old.  We had just flown the 8 hour journey from Melbourne – KL and caught the bus in from the airport.  We had not only managed to do this with the kids, but it had actually been enjoyable.  It was such a great moment, not just because of the sense of achievement, but because we realised that we had no reason to avoid future travel because of having young kids.  We all loved family travel!!

Enjoying the view from our KL hotel room

What was your top travel moment this year?