We took our children on trips abroad when they were little; I wish we would wait

• My husband and I lived in Canada in our twenties and brought our young children there a decade later.
• Our children were 4 years and 8 months old, so they don’t remember the trip abroad.
• With two young children, we had to skip or adjust many activities we had planned or hoped to do.

My husband and I lived in Canada in our twenties and couldn’t wait to return a decade later.

Some of our fondest memories were those of live in Banff in the Rockies, meet other young people, experience epic outdoor adventures and explore Canada’s national parks.

But this time we took our 4 year old and 8 month old children with us. During our overseas adventure, we planned to visit my brother in Vancouver for his 50th birthday and take a road trip through British Columbia and Alberta.

After our grueling 17-hour flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Vancouver, we took off. In total, we I spent 10 days exploring Banff National Park in an RV and took a road trip through Hope and other parts of Canada.

We’ve had some great moments along the way, but we’ve also learned some tough lessons.

We couldn’t do the same things as before

On our first trip to Banff, we had no responsibilities. This time we had two little people to take care of – and they came first.

I quickly realized that having young children prevented us from doing some of the things we loved in the area.

Before we arrived, I had naive visions of being able to go on epic hikes with the kids strapped to our backs. In reality, they didn’t want to climb a mountain (on their backs or otherwise).

Instead, we took short walks with a stroller and made many stops along the way to watch butterflies, pick flowers, and eat snacks.

One evening, our roommates kindly offered to watch the kids, so my husband and I snuck out for cocktails at the restaurant where I had worked ten years earlier.

After two sips, they called to tell us that our little girl wouldn’t stop crying, so we rushed to their house as quickly as possible. Overall, having young children meant we had a very different travel experience.

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Next time we will wait until our children are older to travel abroad

Banff wasn’t quite the same the second time around, largely because we were in a new stage of life with different priorities: our young children.

In hindsight, it would have been better to wait until our children were both older to take them abroad.

I was hoping our 4 year old son would at least remember this trip, but he is now 9 and many of those memories have faded. Sometimes I ask him about Vancouver or a particular lake we visited in Canada, and he gives me a blank look.

He was just a little too young to appreciate the privilege (and expense) of traveling to another country. I am convinced that if we took him abroad today, he would remember it much better, because I still remember the trips I took abroad with my family when I was about near his age.

We now have three children and our youngest is a toddler. So right now we are just focusing on exploring our garden and doing domestic transportation vacation in Australia.

However, in a few years we would like to take the kids on another overseas expedition – ideally one they will remember.