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Traveling with an Infant + Beyond

Where We've Gone, Where We're Going, and Where We Hope to Go One Day

By Brittany InskeepPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Ever since my son was born, actually I take that back, ever since I found out I was pregnant, I fantasized about taking Presley on road trips, and traveling, and letting him experience life the way other people live it.

He's actually already fairly well traveled, considering his age. When he was just about a month old, my great-grandmother, Grandma Joyce, passed away in Pittsburgh, PA. We drove all the way from Hutchinson, KS to Pittsburgh, with one overnight stop on the way there. It went fairly well, especially since he was in the age where he just slept, and slept, and slept some more, so really, he was asleep most of the ride.

We drove nine hours the first day and stopped to sleep in St. Louis, MO. The next day we drove the seven hours to Pittsburgh. The second half went by pretty quickly, I think because we got started early and we were pretty anxious to get out of the car and see our family. It was fairly bittersweet, the visit was due to unfortunate circumstances, but we don't get to see my mom's side of the family that often because they live so far away. It was nice to get back east for a little while.

On that trip, we drove through six states. We started in KS, over to MO, IL, IN, OH, and finally PA.

Since then, we've gone on short trips, to places in the Wichita, KS area, and the KC, MO area. Most recently, last weekend my dad, Presley, and I drove up to Shawnee, KS to stay with my aunt and to go to a music festival in Kansas City. Presley didn't get to enjoy the music festival, but that was probably for the best, it was in the high 90s all day long.

Now, this coming weekend, we are going to Edmond, OK to visit my best friend from middle school to see her and her baby boy, Olan, that was born just two days before P. We are leaving Friday night after work and should get there easily before 8 PM. At this point, at a mere three months of age, Presley will have already been in seven states. We are off to a pretty good start, just 43 more to go!

Then, next month, July 13, we are flying to Chicago, IL to visit my long-time Twitter friend, Senna, for the weekend. She grew up in Ohio and then got a job in Chicago after graduating from college. We are flying out of Wichita at 5:30 PM and have a one-hour layover in St. Louis and then fly the rest of the way to Chicago and should get there around 8:30 PM.

I know he's not old enough to remember any of this, but I like the idea of traveling with him. Especially as a single mom, there are going to be lots of tough times, and the budget will be tight, and we won't always get do fun things, but my hope is that we will always get to travel, at least once a year. I want him to see the ocean, the mountains, the Grand Canyon, I want to go camping, and go to concerts with him.

I want him to feel loved, and I want him to feel love towards the rest of the world. I want him to experience and appreciate other cultures, whether that's in the US or abroad. I want him to get a taste of what it's like outside of your own backyard.

I feel this is one of the main issues we are having in America right now is that we've become comfortable and sedentary and change or difference is bad. I want to do my part at the very least, by opening up Presley's worldview and letting him experience life outside of the Midwest.

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