My Global Travels Helped Prepare Me for Motherhood in Unique Ways

I’ve given baths to elephants in Nepal, played tug-o-war over pancakes with a monkey in Guatemala, and spent sleepless nights on roach-infested buses through Brazil.

I’ve been humbled, amazed, and tested on my travels, at times wishing I could just go home and other times feeling more alive and overjoyed than ever before — kind of like a day in the life of a mom. After all, if you are a mother, perhaps you, too, have bathed an unwieldy, toddler-sized elephant, tussled with tiny monkeys over pancakes, and had your share of brutal sleepless nights.

In my mind, moms and other dedicated caregivers are true adventure travelers, even if they barely leave their neighborhood. I should know. Over the last 27 years, I’ve traveled through more than 70 countries across five continents, and motherhood is the wildest, most wondrous adventure I’ve ever known.

I gained inspiration from gorillas

Before I had my daughter, I worked seasonal jobs in ski towns and national parks to save up for months-long backpacking trips all over the world. This itinerant life led me to a career as a writer and editor for national travel magazines.

Then, the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a wild mountain gorilla mama and her twins in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park inspired me to want a different, deeply primal adventure — something that I couldn’t get to on a plane, bus, or train. Instead, I longed for the meaningful, internal exploration of life as a parent.

Good thing my husband, Mike, was also up for the trip.

There are overlaps between adventure travel and life with a baby

The first days after my daughter came home from the hospital, the experience of early motherhood felt familiar, but only because I’d been that bleary-eyed, overwhelmed, and at the same time absolutely enthralled before — in India. Riding an old-fashioned yellow taxi through Kolkata on our first day there had exposed me within minutes to more desperate poverty than I’d ever seen, but also more beauty, humanity, and the mind-blowing knowledge that this other, intense way of living went on every day, all the time, despite my ignorance of it. So goes life with a newborn.

As I navigated those first months of motherhood, I felt the same sense of adventure, fear, wonder, and excitement I had while traveling alone to the Mayan ruins in Mexico, whitewater rafting amid crocodiles in Zimbabwe, and climbing the cable ladder up Half Dome in Yosemite. It took the same kind of courage and tenacity to get through it as well.

But the fierce love I felt for my baby journeyed beyond any place in my heart I’d ever known.

My new travel partner helps me see life with fresh eyes

By the time my daughter was a toddler, I’d come to see her as my pint-sized travel partner, transforming everyday events into fresh adventures.

Hunts for ladybugs and snails were our safaris. Chats with the diverse crew of nannies and parents at a local park became intercultural exchanges. Trips to the zoo were rainforest hikes, filled with macaws and monkeys. Wherever we went, she helped me explore the world anew through her eyes.

Along the way, when things fell apart or I felt like a failure, I remembered how many times I felt the same way on my global journeys.

There is no way to get an “A” grade in motherhood, just as there is no way to ace traveling through a complex, unfamiliar place. You will get lost and make mistakes. You will also depend on the generosity of strangers and the friendship of fellow travelers or other parents traveling through their own wild, amazing, unmapped terrain. You can only do your best, guided by your own internal compass.

Now that my daughter is 12, it’s clear to me she already possesses a traveler’s mindset of courage, curiosity, flexibility, and kindness. Wherever life takes her, she’ll be ready for the adventure.