The Ones to Follow: Taylor Hearts Travel

If you love travel and want to travel with your children, go for it. There’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored!

Hello again, welcome back to our series of interviews from our The Ones to Follow program. This week, we will be interviewing a great blogger with a fresh approach to travelling and exploring the world with your family: Taylor Hearts Travel. Char Taylor has been adventurously travelling the world with her children. She has kept a record on most of their experiences in her blog and her Youtube channel. You shouldn’t miss all the insight that she has when it comes to travelling with children. Furthermore, as she herself says, we hope that this interview, and of course her distinguished content, will inspire you to go out there with your mini-explorers and discover a new destination.

Char was very kind as to take some time and answer our questions. Even Though her backpacking days are in the past now, she provides us an amazing, new and positive, stress-free take on travelling with her mini-explorers. If you are looking for some inspiration and tips in order to finally book your next trip with your little ones, your search is over!

As you can easily figure out from her passionate blog posts, she is keen to explore the world even further! So we had to start with a fairly direct question:

Q: Imagine this, you win the lottery and are able to travel for 1 whole month. Only thing is, you are only allowed to visit one continent. Which one do you choose and why?

Char: North America because I am in love with Canada! I went to Edmonton and Jasper National Park in 2015 when my first mini-explorer was just six months old. Our little family absolutely adored the trip - it’s one of my best adventures ever - even pre-kids!

We recently went again, but this time with an additional mini-explorer and to Vancouver, Tofino and Whistler. Kit was nine months old and Nova was two years old, and again, we just had so much fun and the country’s beauty blew us away. I’d love to spend more time in Canada.

Q: We’ve seen pictures from the epic trip and it looks amazing! We wish we could book a ticket to Montreal tomorrow! Travelling alone could become a bit of a bore for such a long period, so you’re allowed to bring along someone for the ride, who would you bring?

Char: I’m going to cheat a little and say my family! Family travel is so much fun and I love making memories with them.

A post shared by Char • Taylor Hearts Travel (@taylorheartstravel) on Feb 14, 2018 at 6:00am PST

Q: We love how in your blog, the fact that family is the most important thing in life is up front and centre. Sharing your travels with people you care about will only enhance the experience if you ask us. Let’s continue with our hypothetical scenarios. Woohoo, ready to go! But sadly, your flight gets delayed by more than four hours or gets cancelled. What’s your worst-case scenario: an delayed flight for, let’s say, 6 hours or a cancelled flight?

Char: Definitely a cancelled flight. I hate missing out on adventures. I’d much rather go for a shorter time, than not at all. Plus, I quite enjoy shopping at the airport and fuelling up!

We can, without a doubt, relate to the frustration of losing precious time when visiting a new city or country and the additional stress and frustration when you have young kids. Like you said, especially when you miss on an adventure you were excited about. This is the perfect time to remind our readers that if you’ve ever been delayed or your flight has been cancelled whilst flying from and to Europe, you may very well be entitled to compensation. You can check your flight by filling in your flight's details below and we will let you know, almost immediately, if we think that you're eligible to get compensated.

And now, we continue with the interview.

Q: Have you ever had something even worse happen to you? If this wouldn’t be considered as your worst delay ever, which one would be?

Char: My worst delay ever was when I was travelling around Mexico, Guatemala and Belize there was a landslide as we were driving from one stop to the next. We could see the mud and rubble falling behind us as we negotiated the hairpin turns. I don’t think I realised how scary it was at the time, but looking back I realise we were incredibly lucky to escape.

Q: Agreed! That sounds very scary and dangerous. We are very happy that you and your little ones are safe and sound. Now, let’s assume that the aircraft needs to make an emergency landing. You end up on a deserted island. If you can choose anyone in the whole world to join you there, who would this be?

Char: I wouldn’t mind being stuck on a deserted island with Bear Grylls. I’m going to need someone to hunt my food and build me a shelter!

A post shared by Char • Taylor Hearts Travel (@taylorheartstravel) on Mar 29, 2017 at 5:06am PDT

Q: We can all learn a thing or two from Bear. Thankfully help wasn’t too far off and you’re able to make your way back to the mainland. How do you continue the journey? Would you go backpacking, maybe relax at a luxurious hotel for a couple of days or perhaps you’d be thinking about just heading back home already?

Char: Oh a luxurious hotel for sure! Probably not a big 5* resort though. I’d prefer a small boutique design hotel with a spa and amazing vegetarian food.

Q: A quiet corner of the world to take a rest sounds perfect to us too. While this trip might have taken a couple of turns for the worse, it might even be your favourite trip ever! Let’s compare notes with a previous one you’ve had.

Char: My favourite trip ever was… Probably the one I mentioned earlier to Canada. Jasper National Park just totally captured my heart. We stood on a glacier, saw wild bears, took a boat ride out to Spirit Island - everything we did there was just so magical and memorable.

Q: We will make sure to put a picture here (see below :p) so that everyone is able to look at how amazing Canada is.Is there something else you would like to add?

A post shared by Char • Taylor Hearts Travel (@taylorheartstravel) on Jun 6, 2016 at 1:09pm PDT

Char: Family travel often gets a lot of negative press and people think it’s all about outdated B&Bs or mediocre 3* resorts, and that travelling with young kids is a total waste of time, but I wholeheartedly disagree. We travel with our two mini-explorers throughout the year and love affordable stylish travel. There are some pretty gorgeous family-friendly spots out there and lots of exciting things to do with kids. It’s not all museums and soft play!

If you love travel and want to travel with your children, go for it. There’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored!

Thank you so much for the inspiration Char. There you have it, do not let the preoccupations of travelling with your whole family get in the way of discovering the world. You and your little ones deserve that trip that you have been planning for months now! Take the chance and create some unforgettable memories with your kids.

Here are just some of our favourite blog posts from Taylor Hearts Travel:

Travelling with a 6 Month Old and 2 Year Old – Puglia Lowdown

The First Trip With A Newborn and a Toddler

Flying With a Toddler: Free Airplane Seat Vs Paid Seat