One of my favorite things about social media is meeting other families that love to travel and adventure. I like to dig in and find out what works for them and what draws their family to want to be "on the go" so we started a little series here on the blog where we spotlight other families who love to travel. We hope you will enjoy the next installment of the "Travel Family Spotlight" series.
Melynda Harrison is the face behind @travelingmelmt. Her goal as a travel writer is to help her audience make travel, outdoor adventures, and sustainable travel part of their lives. Mel writes destination guides, shares travel planning tips, and inspires her readers with stories of their family’s travel experiences. She is currently based in Montana and is an expert on Yellowstone, but also writes about her family travels all over the U.S. and world. You can find more from Mel at www.travelingmel.com and www.yellowstonetrips.com. We hope you'll enjoy our interview with Mel and her family!
Tell us about your family.
I am Melynda (Mel). I am a freelance writer and travel content creator, as well as mom and wife. Henry is a filmmaker, YouTuber, dad, and husband. We’ve pooled our talents (and our two teenagers) to merge into a professional content creating team. Anders is 15 and Finn is 14. We are an unschooling family and spend a lot of time traveling and being outside.
Where are you currently based? Has your family moved around at all? Where is your favorite place you’ve lived?
We are based out of Montana, not far from the Northern Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Both of our kids were born here and it is definitely home.
In 2016 we sold our house and most of our stuff and traveled around Europe for a year, spending each month in a different country. Since then we’ve been back to Europe for multi-month stints several times, and traveled around Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico.
How often do you travel with your family? Is it primarily domestic or international travel? How would you categorize the type of traveler you are?
We travel both domestically and internationally. We are generally “slow travelers” internationally and like to spend at least a month in a given area to get to know the place a little deeper. We move a little faster in the U.S.
Wherever we travel, we focus on outdoor adventure, sustainable travel, and getting to know the cultures we are visiting.
You do a lot of adventure travel with your family around Montana, Yellowstone, and the Western states. How do you find all of the fun activities you plan? What motivates you to get out so much and explore where you live?
I really like being outside in the mountains and rivers of the Greater Yellowstone Area, so I naturally started bringing my family along with me. I’ve used guidebooks and maps to find places to explore, but often “discoveries” come from chatting with friends. I write about a lot of our outings on my blog and Instagram so people can enjoy the same things.
These days, a lot of ideas come from my sons, especially my older kiddo, Anders. He really likes to climb mountains so we brainstorm which peaks we want to summit. In summer, we float the Yellowstone River in our raft and on our paddleboards with a flotilla of friends most weekends. In winter we are often cross-country skiing or hiking to a campfire with buddies.
There are so many benefits to being outside (whether in the wilderness or at a city park) and having unstructured time outside was the biggest component of my kids’ upbringing. Even though they are teenagers – especially because they are teenagers– we still make getting outside a family priority.
Why do you like to travel with your family? Did you travel with your own family when you were growing up?
Mostly, I love traveling with my family because it’s fun. It’s something my husband and I want to be doing so it makes sense to do it as a family. Of course, I want my kids to be open-minded, cultured, and have a deep understanding of the world beyond the Montana Bubble.
What's a memorable travel experience you've had with your family?
There are so many! The year we spent in Europe was chock full of memorable experiences – rafting in Bosnia, taking a train without a dining car or air conditioning from Montenegro to Serbia, jumping into the Adriatic Sea in December, wandering through Christmas Markets in Zagreb, Salzburg, and Germany, picking blueberries and eating Surströmming (fermented herring) at a Swedish summer house… I could go on and on. The great thing about traveling with a family is sharing so many new and wonderful (and not great) experiences. It creates a strong family culture.
What are the easiest and hardest parts about traveling at the stage you are in?
Traveling with teens is the best! They are smart, funny, invested, creative, can carry everything themselves, and can (mostly) manage hunger, thirst, and tiredness without falling apart.
I love hanging out with my boys and the older they get, the easier it gets. Since we work from home and unschool/homeschool time isn’t an issue for us. The hardest part is coming up with enough money to do what we want.
What are your favorite travel resources?
The internet. I don’t have a go-to resource. I get inspiration from Instagram, friends, books, and life in general. Then, we start researching.
What are three items you never leave home without?
Cell phone (with Google Maps, Google Translate, and a currency exchange calculator)
Electrical outlet converters
Hiking shoes
What's your next travel adventure? What are you looking forward to doing on that trip?
In September we are going to Italy for three months. The first part of the trip will be in the Dolomites and we are spending a week trekking through the mountains and staying a rifugios. I am beyond excited for that.
Then we will go somewhere in southern Italy for the second half of the trip, but that isn’t figured out yet. We got an open jaw flight so we arrive in Venice and depart from Rome and will spend a week or so in each of those cities.
What advice would you give to someone who is new to family travel and nervous about getting started and knowing what to do or where to go first?
Follow other family travelers on social media for inspiration. There are all types of travel families (big families, families with babies, part time travel families etc). Once you see someone like yourself doing it, it doesn’t seem so hard.
Make your first trip manageable. You don’t have to go to Europe for a year first thing! Choose a country where you speak the language and go for a week or two.
Anything else you think we should know about your family?
We love to connect with other families when we travel!
Follow Mel and her family on Instagram at @travelingmelmt or on her website at www.travelingmel.com.