A single parent’s guide to travelling with children: tips and tours that ease the burden
Travelling alone with children in tow can be a daunting prospect. We get advice from experienced single- and solo-parent travellers who delight in showing their children the world
As a single mother with an only child, Dyan McKie often dreaded going on holiday.
“It can be really daunting going on a trip and having to plan everything yourself,” she says. “Then when you’re on the ground, you’re thinking about things like what kind of activities you need to do, how you’re going to get to the place you’re staying at in three nights’ time. As a single parent, the responsibly falls on you and that can put some solo parents off travelling.”
McKie started researching travel options for solo parents about 12 months ago and found that there was very little out there. As the brand manager for family adventures at Melbourne-based travel agent Intrepid Travel, she decided to take action. She set about creating a series of adventures to suit mums or dads who wanted to wander the world with their children.
“I found a lot of tours are for the nuclear family – two parents and two children,” McKie says. “I wanted to challenge that a little bit to say there are all different kinds of families out there.”
In January, Intrepid Travel launched tours for single-parent families to six destinations. The first trip to Vietnam wrapped up in July and McKie says it was a resounding success. So far, 48 people have signed up for the tours this year.
