Welcome!
I’m Laura Phenix. Travel has been a part of my life since I was very young. When I was 4 my family went on a European holiday to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary and I haven’t stopped since. My high school guidance counselor always thought I should be a travel writer. Well, a few decades later, married with two small boys and living abroad, I’m finally giving it a go.
I never once thought having kids would stop me from traveling. When Covid shut the world down a few months into my first pregnancy, along with many other things, I mourned the impact on our future family travel plans. However, we found ways to make it work. Instead of hopping on planes, we turned to road trips. He visited nine states by his first birthday before getting on his first plane around 18-months old. My second kid, on the other hand, was on a plane by 3-months old and flew across the Pacific to move to Australia at 4-months-old.
I’ve been to 44 US states and 28 countries. At two and four years old my children have done a combined 12 trans-pacific flights, 9 roadtrips in 3 different countries, and have stepped foot on 3 different continents. I remember reading and researching all the tips for flying with little ones, and now I’m more comfortable on a 10-17 hour long flight than a 4 hour flight with kids. I still prep-like crazy and have to adjust things as my children grow and their needs change, but my kids are used to planes now so there is a level of stress that is no longer there.. That’s not to say we’ve never had an epic meltdown – looking at you flight from Melbourne to Auckland – but that’s a temporary moment of stress that is overridden by that same kid leaving every site in that same trip and saying “that was fun.”
With The Roaming Phenix I share our tips for not just surviving trips, but making them memorable and impactful for the kids. From beach vacations to a week in a campervan, we’re here to help you feel prepared for your next adventure. Much of this site will be geared towards family travel, but there will also be some solo-mom trips (and maybe a couples trip on those rare occasions we have extended family around). I dive into the mom-only trips because while I love my family, the journey through motherhood can be overwhelming, especially doing it far away from all your built in support, so carving out time for your hobbies is needed to fuel your own soul and travel is what fuels mine.
