It’s easy to sugarcoat (or even hide) how hard traveling with young children is. Post a happy photo with a caption something along the lines of “having the best time” and boom: you look like Mom of the Year; a master of something many understandably avoid all together. But the reality is that it’s a lot, and behind every happy family photo, there’s a story. (Some we can laugh about right away; others we’re not quite ready to laugh about. 😂)

Mitch and I personally feel that traveling with youngsters is worth it. We don’t want to miss out on incredible family experiences simply because we’re nervous it could be hard. But some days/entire trips are better than others, and some are big fat disasters. 😉

Our first day in Tulum was one of ’em! From a forgotten passport at 3 a.m. and sprained arm to a potty accident at the worst possible moment and a middle-of-the-night meltdown that surely woke up the whole resort (sorry, everyone), it nearly broke us, haha. But we woke up the following morning determined to have an awesome day. And while the children initially resisted, guess what? It WAS awesome!