- Monet Hambrick is a full-time travel blogger who enjoys visiting new destinations with her kids.
- Monet has two daughters, Jordyn, who is 10, and Kennedy, who is 8.
To some, children spell the end of certain freedoms, including travel wherever and whenever one pleases.
But that's never been a problem for Monet Hambrick, a travel blogger and mom of two.
The 36-year-old runs The Traveling Child, a blog about traveling with children, partly inspired by her adventures with her daughters, Jordyn, 10, and Kennedy, 8, and her husband James Hambrick.
The couple met at the University of Florida, where they bonded over their love of travel, Monet told Business Insider.
When Monet had their eldest, she recalls loved ones telling her and James their days of adventures abroad were over.
"We were like, "Have you met us?" This is the lifestyle that we, as husband and wife, created," she said. "We wanted to continue that lifestyle whether we had kids or not."
From taking Jordyn along with her on a girls' trip to Sydney when she was 8 months old to bringing Kennedy to Colombia when she was 10 weeks old, Monet made one thing clear from the outset of motherhood: her life wasn't changing in the slightest.
She started planning 'Mommy and Me' trips for each daughter
Shortly after the birth of her youngest, Monet started planning "Mommy and Me" trips. She books a trip for her and one of the daughters, leaving the other at home in Florida with her husband.
"I started it when Jordyn, who's my eldest, was two," she said. "When Kennedy was around three or four months old, I felt a little comfortable going away."
"I was spending so much time with Kennedy because I was nursing, and she's an infant," Monet added. "I just wanted Jordan to know: 'I did not forget about you!' So this is our special time; we're just going to spend it together."
For their inaugural Mommy and Me trip, Monet took Jordyn to Las Vegas, which she said has more to offer than its famous strip of clubs, bars, and casinos.
"Get off the Strip, guys!" Monet said jokingly. "It's beautiful —amazing parks and so many fun things to do."
The girls pick the destination and get Mom's undivided attention
The Vegas Mommy and Me trip was such a success that Monet kept up the tradition for the last eight years. She started getting Kennedy involved when she was two.
The older the girls have gotten, the more they've been involved with planning their one-on-one trips, Monet said.
"They choose where they want to go," Monet said. "They let me know the things that they want to do there, and it's a time for us to have that undivided attention for them."
They may be sisters and close in age, but Jordyn and Kennedy aren't carbon copies of each other, Monet added.
"They do not have the same personalities. They do not enjoy all the same things. So it's a time where they don't have to compromise what we're doing on the trips," she said. "It's catered specifically to them."
And while staying at home while your sister is on an adventure with your mom may sound rough, it's not all that bad, Monet said.
The daughter left behind gets undivided attention from James, who Monet said plans activities at home and occasionally organizes separate "Daddy and Daughter" trips.
"He and my eldest went to Australia last year," Monet said. "My youngest daughter is trying to convince him to take her to Japan for their Daddy and Daughter trip."
Whether it's with Mom, Dad, or the whole family, travel is shaping the girls' lives
Besides individual trips with her daughters, Monet and James also plan multiple family vacations throughout the year, most of which take place during the girls' school vacations.
Taking advantage of airline miles and following the best airfare deals, they've ticked over 35 countries off their girls' bucket lists.
Along the way, they've also seen the impact travel has made on the children's lives from infancy.
"While they may not remember the trips when they were one year old or six months old, they're still being surrounded by that environment — learning patience, adaptability, flexibility," Monet said.
Equally valuable is how open-minded her kids have become through their experiences abroad.
"There's just so much that you can learn about the world, about yourself," Monet said. "You become appreciative for certain things that you have in your own life."