Terry Ward began her love affair with Europe at age 11, when her parents used gelato and Haribo gummies to bribe her and her sister to visit castles in Bavaria and museums in France.
She still remembers her parents’ excitement when they came home from work and told the kids that, thanks to a Pan-Am deal, they’d booked the family’s first international vacation. “We rented a mini European-sized sedan and hit something like five countries in two weeks, in true American style,” she says. “I kept a diary of our adventures. That’s a trip to look back at now.”
When Terry’s kids are old enough she’ll encourage them to keep journals on their trips together, too. Writing runs in the family. Terry’s great aunt was one of the first female staff writers for National Geographic magazine; her father is a climate change journalist for Yale University. Terry has worked as a freelance travel writer since 2001, when she quit her job as a copywriter at a Florida advertising agency and spent a year traveling in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Indonesia with her surfer boyfriend.
These days, she lives in Florida and travels with her Cuban husband, Javier, and their two kids, Nico (3) and Gabi (2).
“Seeing the world with my husband, who had never left the Caribbean before we met, has been as eye-opening as seeing things through our kids’ eyes,” she says.
Terry shared her tips on traveling from a balmy climate to a frigid one, her secret spots in Florida, and what she can’t wait for her kids to learn.
The first trip I ever took with my kids was…
to Northern Norway. I live in Tampa, but I love cold places. We took advantage of Scandinavian Airlines’ kids fly free deal, which comes around at least once a year and offers insanely low tickets from the U.S. to Northern Europe—you more or less just pay their taxes. We traveled to the Lofoten Islands, above the Arctic Circle, in March. You can still see the Northern Lights at night, but the days are getting long enough to enjoy daytime activities like snowshoeing and fishing for the migratory Arctic cod called skrei.
We always go back to…
Cuba. It’s a difficult place to travel with kids in some ways but easier in other ways. My husband is from there, so we usually fly to Holguin twice a year to visit his family. We have to bring everything with us—diapers, wipes, formula, medicines for emergencies, band-aids, etc.—because things that you can just pop down to the store for in much of the world are terribly hard to come by. But Cuban culture is very kid-friendly. Little ones are welcome anywhere. There’s always a family member or friend willing to lend me a hand with feeding the kids, bathing them or just taking them out to see the chickens in the backyard.
My best travel advice is…
if you’re traveling to a place with a different climate, hit second-hand shops to buy seasonal gear when you get there, instead of paying top dollar for it back home. As Floridians, we don’t have a lot of cold-weather gear—and definitely no snow boots and snow suits. When we took our kids to Finnish Lapland a couple of winters ago, I scoured thrift stores during our two-day stopover in Helsinki and scored deals on wool socks, snow boots and these nifty, one-piece snowsuits that don’t let a single flake inside—all for a fraction of what I would have paid back home.
When flying with babies I always…
carry our car seat to the gate. If there are no empty seats on your flight, you can always check it at the gate. But if there happens to be an empty seat (wait until the end to board for the best chance of that) or the agents agree to block the seat next to you, you can strap the baby into the car seat instead of holding a wiggling kid in your lap for the entire flight.
I can’t wait till my kids learn to…
scuba dive! I’m in love with diving and the ocean, and I can’t wait to see the underwater world through my kids’ eyes. The first time I took my niece snorkeling, on a trip to Key West, she was shrieking with joy through the snorkel tube at the parrot fish and jacks clouding all around us. I’ll start my kids with snorkeling as soon as they’re confident swimmers. Florida has some beautiful freshwater springs that are as clear as swimming pools (Rainbow Springs State Park is a favorite). And when they’re 10—the age you can start PADI—we’ll strap on some tanks.
When I travel I almost always…
rent a car. I’ve done it everywhere from Morocco to Germany. It just gives us the most freedom and flexibility—no trains or busses to risk missing—and it’s also a built-in nap vehicle between destinations. In the age of social distancing, having your own car also means you can avoid public transportation.
The destination at the top of my bucket is…
Portugal. We were supposed to go in May, but: pandemic. My husband’s never been and I haven’t seen it with kids. A friend who traveled there last year said it was one of the most kid-friendly and welcoming places she’s been with her girls. The Portuguese people welcomed them everywhere like mini celebrities. I’m all about traveling to family-friendly countries and cultures. I’m also dying to see the country of Georgia. And I have a tentative trip to Thailand and Indonesia (excellent scuba diving!) booked for March 2021—but that’s all wait-and-see for the moment.
I’d like to get from The Expedition…
Tips on unexpected destinations for family travel, as well as advice on great lodgings and vacation rentals I won’t just happen upon with a Google search. Local advice, too. Where do Coloradans love going in their state for stargazing? What lake do Minnesotans treasure for a rustic family vacation? Where’s the best beach in North Carolina to hunt for sharks’ teeth? I’m all about the experiences, and I hope my kids will be, too.
I’d love to give other members…
Insight on a rewarding vacation in the real Florida. Florida gets a lot of attention—good and bad. But the state is full of natural wonders that most visitors never get to see. I can share where to rent the coolest Airbnb made from containers in posh Jupiter, where to snorkel for bay scallops on the Gulf Coast, and the best places in the Florida Keys to feed tarpon right from the fishing docks. (Hint: it’s not the famous spot at Robbie’s Marina.)
