Welcome to Family Travel Fever.  We are a large unconventional family, that was bitten by the travel bug!  We travel with kids and sometimes grandparents, aunts uncles and cousins too.  I, Shauna, even take the kids by myself sometimes because I don’t mind flying solo with my crew discovering the coolest places to play near and far from home.

We know modern families are frequently unconventional –  blended, multigenerational, single, large or small.  We believe all families should travel together.  It’s just that simple.

We want to share that passion with you!  That’s why we are here.

I am Shauna, the mom, logistics coordinator, travel guide, cook, writer and accountant.  

When I was growing up, my Dad worked for the airlines, so my brother and I traveled all over the world.  As we got older, we had more freedom to jump on a plane and explore new places.   We traveled non-revenue standby, back before online check-in, seating charts or cell phones.   

Charles is the Dad, driver, handyman, photographer, and pack mule.  

Our blended family consists of 5 kids, one grown and 4 that still travel with us. The youngest, traveled to in Costa Rica before she was born and to Canada soon after.

Charles and I, enjoyed camping, road trips, and international travel before the kids came along. After the first and second babies were born, the idea of travel was daunting.  We scaled back to car camping and short road trips.

Then, when I was pregnant with the 4th, we ventured to New York at Thanksgiving.

I prepared for the trip like we were going to the moon for a year.  Which was a smart idea, since we were going through Chicago O’hare in November.

Our flights had so many problems we ended up spending 2 days in the airport.

At 6 months pregnant, I curled up on the airport floor with my 3 and 4-year-olds.

The blessing was that my whole perspective changed.  We went through all that and lived to tell the tale!   It couldn’t get much worse.  Plus, we had enough in flight vouchers to plan 2 family trips after the baby was born.

Our family enjoys traveling and we get along much better on a trip that at home.

I find that I referee more fights at home than on the road.

Traveling on a tight budget with a large nontraditional family requires some creativity.  

We already outgrew renting a small car, having enough beds in one hotel room and eating out every meal.  We have to continually budget our time, money and patience.  

Family travel fever is contagious and we hope to inspire you too! 

We will be sharing our adventures and tips and tricks we have learned for traveling together.  You will see, I write about my errors, miscalculations and our mishaps so that you can learn from my mistakes.

 I am always trying out new ideas for traveling with our crew and different creative ideas for fun near and far from home.