9 Lessons One Family Learned Traveling During Parental Leave (With a Baby and a Dog)
When most people think about parental leave, they picture slowing down: settling into life with a newborn and spending those precious first months at home. That’s exactly what my family did. We stayed home, found our rhythm as new parents, and I even shared how we self-funded our parental leave so we could spend more time together. But what if those months could look completely different? What if parental leave could give you the time and space to experience something you wouldn’t normally have time to do?
Riana Ang-Canning from Teaspoon of Adventure took a path I honestly never considered. Instead of staying home, she and her husband packed up their baby and their dog for a nine-month adventure across Canada and Europe. Here are nine lessons from their nine-month adventure and the mindset shifts that made the biggest difference.
Read on for the nine lessons, or listen to the full conversation below.
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1. Track your spending while traveling
Riana and her husband have done monthly “money dates” for years, and that habit helped them track this 9-month, $56,000 trip.
“I’m so glad we do these monthly money dates because we have all of the data, we have all the numbers in front of us… this is what we budgeted for, this is what we saved for, this is what we’re earning towards.”
Seeing the numbers monthly meant they could course-correct or consciously decide to keep spending — instead of finding out everything all at once when they got home months later.
You don’t need a complicated spreadsheet. The important part is knowing what you’ve spent, what you’ve committed to, and how that compares with what you planned.
2. Build a buffer into your travel budget
Once their France visa fell through and they had to shift the trip to the UK instead, they knew their budget was going up. The takeaway: build a financial contingency into your travel savings not just for emergencies, but for the unexpected decisions and changes that can come with long-term travel. A buffer gives you room to change your plans without immediately putting the entire trip at risk.
3. Slow travel isn’t always cheap
While slow travel gives you more opportunities to save, it doesn’t guarantee you will. They spent four of their nine months in the UK, including two in London, and that’s where the majority of their overage came from. Accommodation estimates of $2,000–3,000/month ballooned to $5,000–7,000/month, and eating out added up fast.
Slow travel can be cheaper if you cook at home and choose lower-cost destinations. But if you spend several months in an expensive city, your budget needs to reflect that.
4. Buy travel-friendly baby gear from the start
If you know travel is part of your family’s life, don’t wait until the first trip to buy travel-friendly gear. Because this trip was planned before Riana was even pregnant, they registered for travel-specific gear from the start: a compact travel crib (still in use at 18 months old), a travel-friendly stroller, and a collapsible travel highchair. Their daughter used the gear from day one at home, so there was no “home version vs. travel version” to manage.
For clothes and toys, they kept it deliberately minimal — a few lightweight books, a couple of toys, and using items they could find around their accommodations for entertainment.
5. You can pack lighter than you think
They started the trip with three checked suitcases and got it down to two by the time they reached Europe.
“I do think it’s possible… especially if you’re staying at a place where they can provide the crib, the highchair, all that stuff.”
If a destination or Airbnb can supply baby gear, use that as an opportunity to travel lighter.
Overall, they didn’t figure out the perfect packing system before they left. They learned what they actually needed once they were on the road.
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6. Let logistics shape your destination choices
Because they had already brought their dog to Prague in 2019, they understood the paperwork, vet visits, and rabies shot timeline required to bring a pet into Europe, and it directly shaped where they chose to travel this time.
“The UK was very much like, here’s the exact process you need to follow; as long as you do this, you can get in… there were some countries where people would say like, oh it’s no problem, just bring in the dog, and someone else is like, oh no, we got stopped.”
If you’re traveling with a pet, prioritize destinations with clear, consistent, well-documented entry requirements rather than relying on conflicting anecdotes from other travelers.
7. Choose the easiest route, not necessarily the most scenic
To get from France to the UK, they planned a two-week road trip, including a rental EV they struggled to charge and multiple unplanned hours-long stops. It did not go well.
“That was something we would’ve done pre-baby, no dog… we really had to say, okay, like that is not the kind of trip we’re on.”
After that, every transport decision shifted to “what is the easiest way to get there” — one train, one taxi, no unnecessary stops.
If you’re traveling with a baby, optimize routes for simplicity over scenery.
Read Next: Tips For Road Tripping with a 6 Month Old
8. Redefine what counts as a successful travel day
The travel style that worked before kids may not work after kids.
Every piece of advice they’d read said to plan for just one activity a day with a baby. What they didn’t expect was that even one planned thing could get cut short midway or that “the one thing” some days would mean groceries or laundry.
A successful travel day with a baby might be a museum. It might also be finding a cozy laundromat.
It took Riana months into the trip to fully let go of the expectation that plans would go as scheduled and to stop mentally cataloging the cafés and sights she walked past but didn’t stop for.
9. Focus on what traveling with a baby makes possible
Rather than focusing on the museums and city highlights they missed, Riana eventually shifted to noticing what the trip made possible because of their baby.
“What is she allowing us to do? What is she opening up for us? Rather than, here are all the things we couldn’t do because of a baby — because that’s just a negative mind space to live in.”
For example, on their last day in London, instead of the “epic” outing she’d hoped for, they ended up doing laundry and visiting the library where a group of older kids they’d seen repeatedly spent the afternoon reading to their daughter and doing puzzles with her.
They didn’t get the epic London finale she had imagined. But in its own way, it became one of the trip’s most memorable days.
You Don’t Have to Give Up the Things You Love After Having Kids
Riana’s story isn’t only about traveling for nine months with a baby and a dog. It’s about questioning what we assume becomes impossible once we have children.
Maybe it’s long-term travel. Maybe it’s taking a gap year, pursuing a creative dream, moving abroad, or simply doing something that doesn’t fit the version of parenthood you pictured.
Having a child will change your life. It may change how you travel, how you spend money, how you plan, and what a successful day looks like. But changing the way you do something isn’t the same as giving it up entirely.
So before you decide that something you love is no longer possible because you have a child, ask yourself: Is it actually impossible, or will I have to do it differently?
If you’re considering a trip like this during your own parental leave, these related guides can help you think through the financial side of taking time off:
Thinking About Long-Term Travel With a Baby? Start Here
- Build more financial cushion than you think you’ll need.
- Track your spending throughout the trip.
- Buy travel-friendly baby gear before you leave.
- Expect your itinerary to change.
- Give yourself permission to redefine what a “good” travel day looks like.
- Focus on what traveling with your child makes possible, not what it makes harder.
Danielle Desir Corbett is an award-winning and 6x grant-funded travel writer and podcast host who went from financial struggle to visiting 27+ countries all without waiting until retirement. Her story is proof that budget doesn’t limit adventure. Tune into The Thought Card Podcast for practical strategies to travel smarter and live on your terms. Say hello: thethoughtcard (at) gmail (dot) com.
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