Little Footsteps in the Big World

I'm far from spontaneous. I'm obsessed with organization. I honestly admire people who can decide in a second where they're going the next day, sit down and buy a ticket, pack and fly the same moment they decided what to do. I'm far from that. It's not only because I'm now a mother, I never was spontaneous even as a young single traveler. I need lots and lots of planning, for a sense of security, but also for financial reasons. Now that we travel as a family with a toddler (and with another baby on the way), planning ahead help us with providing babygirl an enjoyable stay she enjoys as much as we adults do. I still wish that one day for once we could be one of those families who travel super spontaneously, but for now, this is the way of traveling that works for us. Organization is the key of a success vacation for us I have limited days of vacation. It's 26 working days a year. That's basically five weeks of vacation, which I can take whenever...

There are so many places in this world that my husband and I want to visit and experience. But like other people, we have our limitations. Mostly, financially. Sure there are stories of travelers who work and earn on the road, living for and from traveling; but we never actually plan to live that way. We have steady jobs and don't plan to leave. Traveling is not cheap, but let's be honest, it's never been more affordable. Plane tickets prices have never been lower, the number of low-cost carriers have never been higher. Countries get more and more "border-less". More agreements and treaties allow citizens to cross borders without visas, or, even more, without passports. Community-sharing options have never been easiest to find like today. We now share our living space with travelers (options like Airbnb and Couchsurfing), and we share our vehicle with travelers (options like Uber and Blablacar). These are our tips on cutting expenses while traveling with your fa...

If you fly frequently, whether for business or pleasure, you're probably familiar with miles collecting program. There are the ones that are provided by alliances that consist of many airline companies such as Miles and More program from Star alliances and Frequent flyer program from Skyteam; or individual programs by companies such as Miles and Smiles from Turkish airlines or Skywards from Emirates. My husband and I prefer Miles and More simply because it consists of the air companies we frequently fly. Mostly we fly Turkish airlines for Indonesia, or Croatia airlines for domestic flights, or Lufthansa for European flights; and all of them are member of Star alliances, so we collect miles from all their flights. So it works this way: whenever you fly with any of their member companies, you're awarded with certain amount of miles depending on your booking class. If you collect enough miles, you can use them to buy another flight, to book hotels, to rent cars, or to buy things...

Baby girl started to go to the daycare right after her first birthday because my maternity leave ended on the day she turned one. I had to go back to work, and we didn't really have other choice except daycare. It took us two full weeks to get used to life in the daycare. She was still breastfeeding (she still is), and she spent her whole first year of life only with me, more or less. It's not that my husband didn't get involved with the upbringing, but it was me whom she spent every single day with, when he was at work. She was extremely attached to me, still nursing many times a day and never was watched by anyone. After two weeks of a delicate adaptation plan (meaning she came and stayed for half an hour for the first day and then half an hour was added every day for the next days) she and I managed not to cry during our morning separation on the first day of week three. She attends daycare from 8am to around 4pm since, willingly and happily. In July last year, we went...