Travel with Emily Brooks, Mrs. ND International 2021

 

Traveling with my Family

                Since this month’s blog post is my choice of topic, I wanted to share a little insight with you about my family life. Specifically, I’d like to share one of my family’s greatest enjoyments. Traveling together is something we love tremendously! We’ve had the privilege of venturing to 6 out of 7 continents, and creating memories together that will last a lifetime.



                My husband is a Geographer by trade, which has contributed to my family’s interest in knowing more about our world. From very young ages, my husband and I have taught our children about different cultures. We want for them to know what life is like beyond our community. When we’re not traveling, my family enjoys watching travel videos together and discussing why we’d like to visit new destinations.



                This love of travel has blended well with my background in writing. I’ve been a featured writer for Creek Living Magazine since 2018 for the Travel Tales section. Creating these articles has been not only rewarding professionally but has personally given me the opportunity to reflect on our adventures together. My husband and I have also started a travel blog called Fly Away Fargo. You can read insights about some of our travels at www.flyawayfargo.com.



                In 2019, my entire family along with my brother-in-law took a trip that brought us on a full lap around the world. We started in Australia, continued onto Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Morocco, and Portugal before returning to the United States. We were completely immersed in foreign cultures. Some of the experiences we had on this trip, we still discuss on a weekly basis.



                I’m so thankful that we took this trip when we did. The next year, our lives changed greatly in many ways due to the pandemic. Our travel options became extremely limited because of safety concerns, and foreign countries closing their borders to visitors. To fill a bit of the void during this time of the pandemic, I ordered a subscription to Universal Yums. This subscription provides new treats, trivia, and in-depth information about a different country each month. It didn’t completely fill the void that travel usually occupied in our lives, but it kept the spark alive for learning about other cultures and customs.



                Now that travel has opened back up a bit with the introduction of COVID-19 vaccinations, my husband and I decided to surprise our children with a trip to Hawaii. It had been a year and a half without any plane travel for us. We were so excited to finally be back up in the air! There were three destinations on our itinerary: The Big Island of Hawaii, O’ahu, and Seattle. My family had an amazing time together on a much overdue vacation. Other highlights of our trip for me were catching up with one of my childhood friends and her husband in Hawaii, and visiting my college roommate on the West Coast.





                What I think my family appreciates the most about traveling together is the chance to focus on each other. We are all so busy in the day-to-day lives that travel gives us pause to spend time together. My hope is that we will continue to create these amazing memories through travel even as our family grows and changes in the coming years.                

Sharing a mother’s love,

Emily Brooks

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