The Sun-Chasing, Adventure Mom: An In Depth Interview

Looking for a little travel inspiration? Look no further! Nikki from Wild Ride Travel Fam is my go to resource for all things adventure and family travel. She is the adventure mom I aspire to be!

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Adventure Mom Nikki By The Numbers

Nikki is a busy mom of two who manages to balance raising kids, ages 7 and 9, with homeschooling, frequent travel and starting her own business. You read that right, her own business! She recently launched Wild Ride Travel Gear, where she sells foldable, packable, travel totes called The Splash + Stash exclusively on Amazon.   Her family is a little obsessed with tropical travel so in the last few years we’ve been to Costa Rica 3 times, Hawaii 6 times, Belize, Honduras, the Virgin Islands, Key West, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

Have You Always Loved Traveling?

I grew up traveling a lot as a competitive athlete, but I always longed to explore more than the inside of gyms.  Early on in our marriage we traveled to the Virgin Islands a couple of times and I had my mind blown. This trip sparked a love of sun, sand and turquoise blue water that eventually led to our family pursuing our dream of full time travel via sailboat though the Caribbean.

How Do You Find Time For Travel?

We homeschool for lots of different reasons – but a huge one is time freedom and therefore, the freedom to travel together when we choose.  Travel was really important to use before we had kids and it continues to be a core value for our family.  We love using travel as a pillar in our homeschool to learn about other people, cultures, food, geography, and animals.

What is one piece of advice you would give families who are nervous about traveling with kids?

Create a travel day playbook.  When the adults know what to expect from each other it cuts down on travel day stress.  Nothing kills the vibe of a family travel day when you have not communicated expectations with your partner and it leads to resentment.  Boooo.  Kids mirror us adults; the more regulated the adults are, the more regulated our kids tend to be.  For example, a simple part of our playbook includes me being responsible for our passports at all times.  But my favorite part of our playbook is our airport routine: my husband drops the kids and I off at the airport while he parks the car.  I get our luggage checked in so by the time he gets back to the terminal we’re ready to go through security as a family.  We’ve been doing this routine long enough that the kids know it’s their job to help mom with the luggage.  Having a playbook really helps us start off our travel day smoothly!

Favorite travel destination and why?

Costa Rica is my favorite family destination because it’s the first place that we dove into adventure travel as a family.  Rappelling 165′ waterfalls in the rainforest of La Fortuna was the most challenging and rewarding adventure we’ve ever done together.

What’s one travel mistake you’ve made? So we can all avoid it!

Packing too much into one day.  We have learned that, for us, mornings are the best time to get out and explore/book excursions and we save the afternoons for more chill activities like pool time.   

What Advice Can You Give To Families Who Want To Be More Adventurous But Don’t Know Where To Start?

This is so cliche, but be realistic and start small.  For example, don’t book an all day snorkel excursion where you’re going to be stuck on a boat all day if you don’t even know if your kids like snorkeling (or won’t get seasick!).  Practice snorkeling off the beach to build confidence and work your way up.  

Any misconceptions about being an adventure family you’d like to clear up?

People think that we are constantly traveling and adventuring and have endless amounts of cash to do so.  The truth is that we make a lot of sacrifices to live a travel and adventure filled lifestyle and we’ve also spent time learning how to maximize credit card reward travel.  We drive old cars, we don’t eat out much, we buy used gear for our travels and adventures. Basically we don’t subscribe to the “keeping up with the Jonses” mentality because we’d rather travel as much as possible.

How did you come up with the Splash and Stash?

The Splash + Stash was born from our own wild ride.  A few years ago we sold it all, quit our 9-5’s, bought a sailboat in the Caribbean, and moved aboard with two teeny, tiny humans (and our 90 pound yellow lab in tow!) to travel full-time…Then two massive category 5 hurricanes barreled straight at us.  We learned a few life lessons on that Wild Ride.  And also…we learned not all beach totes are created equal.  We constantly struggled to find the perfect beach tote that stored small, packed and traveled well, was mom friendly, and just made beach days easier.  So after years of beach travels and adventures around the world and living on a sailboat, we created the Splash + Stash Travel Beach Tote! 

What’s been the best and worst part of starting your own business? Any tips you’d offer to other moms who want to pursue their dreams?

The best part of starting a business is the freedom to create a workday that aligns with my family values and our lifestyle choices.  The worst part is hand-down the self doubt.  I have struggled with perfectionist tendencies my whole life so jumping into entrepreneurship (aka falling down daily) has challenged my mindset in big ways and pushed me to consistently take imperfect action.  My advice is to do it scared.  Take action even when you have zero confidence.  Confidence will come from experience, it’s courage that will get you started.   

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I loved getting to know Nikki more. She has been such an inspiration to me on Instagram, I hope she has made you feel like being an adventure mom is within reach!

If you’d like to learn more about adventure mom Nikki check out her Instagram profile or visit her store on Amazon. Looking for more travel mom inspiration, don’t forget to learn a little bit more about me too!