The Cultural Enthusiast Travel Mom: An In Depth Interview
Looking for a little travel inspiration? Look no further! Karina from kt3plustravels balances a busy career with raising three kids and still manages to fit in tons of amazing vacations!
Travel Mom Karina By The Numbers
Born in Guatemala, Karina has been to 5 continents, 51 countries, and 17 states. In addition to running her amazing social media account and raising her three children, ages 9, 7, and 4, Karina works a full time as a Nurse Practitioner. Karina’s professional life can get crazy so she uses travel to slow down and relax.
Have You Always Loved Traveling?
When I was younger, I always wondered about how other people in the world lived and was curious to experience it for myself. My first international trip (aside from traveling back to Guatemala and visiting family) was Paris, France when I was a Junior in College. I got hooked and returned to Europe the following year. Ever since then, my passion for travel has grown and keeps growing!
How do you make time for travel with work and school schedules?
We have always made travel one of our priorities and travel whenever we can. I get 5 weeks of vacation (which is a luxury in America lol) and my husband works remote 4/5 days. Our 3 kids are in school, so we travel during school vacations, long weekends and summer. We are ok with taking the kids out of school for a few days, either before or after school breaks to be able to take longer vacations and save on flights. Traveling is a great teaching experience
for our kids and teachers have always been supportive of this. On long weekends, we love to explore different parts of New England and plan weekend getaways as often as we can.
What is one piece of advice you would give families who are nervous about traveling with kids?
My one piece of advice for families is to “Just do it”, you will soon realize that the more practice you get the easier it gets. Kids are very adaptable, and they soon become comfortable with the idea of traveling. It is not always easy but it is always rewarding.
How to Afford travel with a big family?
Traveling can be very expensive, especially for bigger families! Our tip to afford travel is to use points whenever you can. We have credit cards that earn points and we have managed to save enough points to book flights for our last few trips. We also try to book hotels with kitchens, or Airbnb’s to save on eating out. One of our biggest expense when traveling is food and cooking our own food has saved us tons!!
Favorite Travel Destination And Why?
Aside from Guatemala, it is really hard to just choose one destination since we have visited some incredible places as a family. But I would have to pick Peru and Ecuador. Experiencing Machu Picchu and the Galapagos with our kids was incredible and both countries exceeded our expectations.
What Is One Travel Mistake You Have Made?
One travel mistake is not renewing your passport when you have less than 6 months of validity, since most countries will not accept it. I had a trip booked and realized my passport would expire in 3 months. I ended up having to book an appointment for same day passport renewal the day before my trip.
BONUS: Favorite new England Destination?
New England has so much to offer, and we try to explore different towns whenever we can. If I could only pick one it would be Bar Harbor, Maine. It is a beautiful coastal town offering great seafood and outdoor activities with access to Acadia National Park.
I loved getting to know Lauren more! If you are looking for inspiration for another international transplant check out my interview with Brazilian travel mom, Priscila.
