Welcome to my life

A throwback to Shriya’s first birthday.

We spent time in Barcelona with the Amruthur family and of course, the Natarajan parents!  Family is awesome and it’s a blessing to travel together for birthdays.

Question: Can toddlers/kids enjoy “famous sights” such as monuments, places of worship, and museums?

Lakshmi’s Learning: Yes, they can! We found that monuments (e.g. structures like the Colosseum in Rome) and places of worship (churches, temples, mosques) are a hit.

From their perspective, these places are open areas to walk around versus paying attention to a tour. Trying to formally tour a museum (e.g. Louvre in Paris) requires more of an attention span. It’s definitely doable, but will feel rushed!

And when none of this works, I am sure the kids will find pigeons to chase and be very happy!

What are your favorite travel experiences with your family?

One of the questions I always receive from EVERYONE I speak to is... “How do you and the kids survive the flights - whether short or long?”

My Insights: Here is an introduction of a series of videos that I will share on how my kids prepare for their flights and do not act out on planes. They have been great (majority of the time) and I do consider them “experts”. They have been on hundreds of flights across the US and 5 continents! Longest flight to date was 20+ hours to Thailand.

You may wonder, how is this possible? Welcome to the airplane game which we have been playing for years!

So, who wants to learn more??? 

A throwback to our first international trip with a newborn!

At only 6 weeks old, our first daughter, Shyla visited the US and British Virgin Islands. I often receive questions from many parents on how we (and me alone) travel so frequently with our toddlers - what to pack, where to go, what medicines should we take, do we need a car seat, first class or economy, entertainment on the plane, managing jet jag, controlling tantrums, and the list goes on!

Guess what - you will be able to manage all of this and create these experiences for your family too!!!  Stay tuned for insights to all these questions plus so much more!

Remember, traveling doesn’t stop when you have kids, it actually has a new beginning!!

When life throws you a curve ball, there are a few ways you can play it. In the moment, it does all happen fast! But what I realized is that I already hit my home run. My loved ones are my permanent home run!  And we are blessed to do what we love so our kids can see the people of the world!

Even if you are unable to travel, diversity is all around us. So, take the time to share with the next generation. It’s the only way they can be more accepting than the world we are living in today.

Positive energy even spreads to animals - the camel (technically dromedary) is smiling and gave me some big kisses!