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Travel after babies

Emma De Fry | November 18, 2013 | 11:45 am | Comment

Most PWG viewers wouldn’t know me, but I’ve been ‘behind the scenes’ for a few series now. As Marketing Director and Series Producer, I have had the joy of being part of the action for the last few years, and enjoyed the privilege of being able to combine my career with my passion.

Saigon travel after babies
Pho in Ho Chi Minh City as an independent traveller

Travel is definitely one of my true loves. As soon as I finished secondary school, I got on a plane to Europe by myself for a year and never looked back. Between trips and various stints living overseas in a few different lands, I have managed to complete a uni degree and squeeze in some great jobs, all in the fields of travel, marketing and the media.

I’ve travelled extensively for both business and pleasure, always trying to keep my itchy feet satisfied and clocking up six of the seven continents along the way. For me, the more culturally diverse and challenging the destination, the better.

When I reached my late-twenties, and friends around me started to wed and have babies, I started to stress. What would that kind of life mean for my travel addiction? Would it mean a future of kid-friendly resorts only? I started announcing defiantly to anyone that would listen that I would very happily ‘stick my baby in a backpack and trek around India’ if I ever found myself in the family way. People who already had kids would look at me with a bemused (and sometimes horrified) smile. I was determined that kids would not affect my travels, but deep down, I think I knew that they could.

emma de fry travel after babies
On the road with Jen

Last year, I returned from a trip to Canada filming for Places We Go, and a few weeks later discovered I was pregnant. It was not a big shock, I actually had a fiancé, a mortgage and had managed to live in the same country for more than five years, but it was the reality that I had always feared anticipated. Did this mean Canada had been my last trip for the foreseeable future? How could I possibly combine my passion with my new reality?

I made it through a further two trips with Places We Go before my pregnancy began to hinder my productivity. Plus having to forego some of the perks of the job, such as fabulous seafood meals and lovely wines in many destinations, just made it pure torture. So from January this year, I relegated myself to purely ‘office’ duties and sent each crew on their way to incredible destinations that I would only see on the footage they brought home when they returned.

I don’t think I am alone in my thoughts. Whilst many people happily give up globetrotting for a family, satisfied they have got it ‘out of their system’; I didn’t feel the same way. For me, travel is a way of life and if anything, I was even more determined that it should be something I could gift and share with my child.

IMG_3160 - Version 2In July of this year, I had my baby and I can happily say that she is now the one true love of my life. And as she grows, and we become settled with our new family, I am now beginning to give some thought as to how travel will look with her in tow.

We are starting off with ‘baby steps’ (pardon the pun) – a long weekend in Queensland coming up for a friends wedding. Already I am envisaging taking the little one for her first swim in a warm ocean and feeding the resident dolphins, and have been busy ordering swim nappies and baby rash vests online. It will be her first plane trip, and I am sure the following thoughts occur to all first-time mums….will the pram be easy to take on the plane? What about the port-a-cot? And finally, will the airline actually allow me to take the twenty suitcases I am guessing I will need to fit in all of our gear?

As I prepare for this trip, and the subsequent trips our little family has planned to North Queensland, Tasmania and a (rather ambitious?) trip to Sri Lanka next year, I will be blogging on my thoughts, plans, experiences and what I learn about travel after babies along the way. Hopefully it might resonate with fellow parents out there, who can perhaps share their own experiences with me so we can all learn a thing or two and make ‘travel after babies’ accessible to us all!

Share your thoughts: How were your travels affected by the arrival of little ones? 

Emma De Fry

About Emma De Fry

Emma has been exploring the ends of the earth since she was a teenager, notching up adventures in more than 60 countries and living in 5. Now, with a 5-year-old daughter and baby son, Emma is passionate about family adventures. As producer of Places We Go, Emma helps dream up where we go next, and loves to share our adventures through our stories.

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Instagram post 2188905399464292962_460970782 Landed smack bang in heaven
Instagram post 2167120426885704568_460970782 Published this book 5 years ago today, have since published a revised version.... but the first “anything” always feels the best doesn’t it? .
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our initial 4 month filming trip around Australia kicked off 10 solid years of exploring, filming and helping the incredible people who dedicate their lives to bringing us all those amazing travel experiences that we excitedly share around dinner tables for years to come. .
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It was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives that culminated in a 13 part tv series that year .
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I want to personally thank my partner in life @clintbizzell our amazing cameraman Gary who was on this shoot @fidelia_films @kristimcdonough who was always up late in the caravan helping bring it to life, our mums Eileen and Carol, our friend (and driver Denise )... our brilliant editor Kevin and our talented producer Emma @babyinabackpack who not only worked on helping plan the shoot, but helped us bring this book to life.... and finally, our beautiful daughter Charli Grace who turned 2 under the rainbow serpent in Arnhem Land. .
Here’s to us all thanking those who have helped our journeys - we hope for those of you who have picked up our book sometime over the years that you’ve been inspired to explore somewhere perhaps you hadn’t thought of... or revisit an old favourite you have always loved .
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Jen x
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(Ps I hope we can take our son Harry, who is now 3 on a trip that even remotely comes close to this one day....... )
Instagram post 2165281587715979998_460970782 Don’t you just love shining the light on the wonderful stuff in the world? .

For anyone that believes in the good in the world, or has been to Africa on your travels - I wanted to share and celebrate the initiative our old friend Megan Castran @jewelchic 
is doing with @house.online.
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She has come up with this FUN homewares range where she is donating ALL proceeds to DR Tererai Trent to help educate girls in Zimbabwe. (Tererai was Oprah’s all time favourite guest in her 25 years in TV because of her passion and determination to break the cycle of poverty and lack of education that had been passed down through the generations in her family and culture. .

I just bought some very cool rainbow water bottles for Xmas presents ... knowing they are good for the environment and good for the girls on the other side of the world. .
Thinking of you all right now as we raise a glass to you all tonight... and here’s to all doing what we can do to support each other.... wherever we may be.. near or far 
Xx
Instagram post 2145634830623403482_460970782 As we reflect on the adventures we have had and shared this year, we can't help but think about our time in Tasmania's Western Wilds... We thought we had uncovered most of Tassie's secrets on all of our previous trips around the state, but boy were we wrong - the west coast of Tassie just has so many gems, so much history, and so many EPIC and wild landscapes that we simply have to return to see more.
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If YOU are looking for an experience through some of the most untouched, uncrowded and unspoiled regions in the country, check out our full guide to the Western Wilds. We have put all of our blogs and videos (including the TV episode) into one dedicated place on our site so you can find all the inspiration you need! LINK IN BIO 🔗
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#westernwilds #tasmania #discovertasmania #wild #adventure #tassie #tassiestyle #behindthescenery #behindthescenes #drivingadventure #roadtrip #realpeoplerealtravel

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