10 Minutes with Leah from Kid Bucket List

Recognising the stark differences between her childhood experiences and that of her own kids, Leah decided to actively see and do more with her young family. Recording her own adventures and providing a fantastic resource for other families, the Kid Bucket List was born.

Interested to find out more about the blog and some of  her top travel tips, we got in touch with Leah from the Kid Bucket List. Check out her interesting responses below:

Tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

We are a family of four whose curiosity leads us to embark on all kinds of adventures together. We developed the Kid Bucket List as a resource for parents to utilise as a springboard to selecting activities and experiences for their family in Sydney, other parts of Australia, and abroad.

Whilst the Kid Bucket List documents our adventures, it also provides explicit details to assist families to replicate the experiences themselves.

What led you to start blogging about your adventures?

Skipping stones across the dam, horse riding, raising orphaned wildlife, camping with friends, rolling down hills and learning to walk on stilts were some of the activities I engaged in as a child. It was during a trip home and a discussion with my mother that I realised that my own children, growing up in Sydney, would never experience these types of activities organically unless I explicitly planned or provided an environment outside our home for these activities to happen.

This led to the Kid Bucket List where I listed all of the different activities and experiences I felt a regular, everyday Australian child should experience before they left home. The list evolved to include travel destinations and attractions around Australia and abroad.

What is your favourite thing about travelling with kids?

Seeing destinations through our children’s eyes has reframed how we travel. Rather than cramming as much as we can into a day or two, we have learned to take breaks, to dawdle, to take the slow route, which has ultimately led to us acquiring a much richer depth of experience during our travels. Travelling with your kids forces you to look around, to notice the small things, to see destinations as more than an image through our camera lens.

And your least favourite?

As a solo traveller, I relished the opportunity to curl up and feast on a movie marathon during long haul flights. Long haul flights and small kids aren’t fun. There’s the need to occupy them in activities, the paranoia that you are bothering other passengers and the endless trips to the bathroom.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to travel with young kids, what would it be?

Embrace the opportunity and just do it. We can get caught up in wondering if our kids will remember the trip or whether it will be truly beneficial, just let that go and do it. Travelling with your kids is an adventure unlike any other and you will reap the rewards of exposing them to new and interesting experiences. Harness their curiosity and let it drive what you do. You may be surprised where it leads you.

What do you look for in a holiday destination? Is there a personal criteria that you run through before booking?

Rather than a single destination in mind, we typically juggle a number of possibilities and then spend an inordinate amount of time stalking Webjet for airfares that fit within the budget we have set for our trip. Where we head is typically determined by which destination comes up with the best fares first!

The initial possibilities are chosen through family discussions at dinner and often led by our kids curiosity about a particular natural or cultural phenomenon. Norfolk Island, for example, came about after we visited Port Arthur in Tasmania and the kids were interested in exploring all of Australia’s 11 UNESCO convict sites.

If you could head anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

This would lead to a huge debate within our family, however I think if we could go anywhere right now, with an unlimited budget, we would probably head to Canada with a stop over in New York.

Where are you travelling next?

We have a few local trips planned here in Australia before we head back to Japan in October. We’ve also started a family tradition after the success of our adventures in Broken Hill which sees us taking a yearly road trip to a new Australian destination with the kids’ cousins. Next up is Lightning Ridge!

Ready to set out on your own adventure? Find and compare cheap flights, hotels, and more, with Webjet!

Feature Image Credit: Kid Bucket List.