“As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen.”
Travel, in and of itself, offers a chance to get outside of our ‘normal’. For mother-daughter duos, traveling together is an especially poignant opportunity to shake off the ‘stuff’ of daily life and stir up the very special dust of adventuring down a new path. At Adventures in Good Company, the occasion to support this kind of meaningful female experience - mothers and daughters traveling together - is one of the most fulfilling things we are able to do.
In celebration of Mother’s Day, we asked some of our mother-daughter-traveling duos to share with us their experiences. These stories, woven together from memories of their time together, demonstrate the unique and moving significance of mother-daughter journeys. Certainly, they will be there to support each other but what are the greater, more dynamic rewards of adventuring together? We’ll let our travelers Chanda, Cheri, Jan, Sarah, Jessica, and Emma tell you!
A Great Excuse to Get Together + Concentrated Catch-Up Time
When our children become adults, sometimes relationships with family, jobs, partners, location, etc. can impede the time we spend together. Planning a trip is a great excuse to get together and a way to connect when life makes that hard.
Chanda and her mom, Cheri, traveled to Provence with AGC in 2019. She shared, “I have to travel for work, and my Mom lives over an hour away, so before this trip, we didn't get to see each other as often as we'd like. However, once we planned this trip - we met every weekend to train to make sure we were ready. Once we were on the trip - we really enjoyed having so much time with each other. . . . My Mom and I enjoyed hiking together so much that we've started hiking the Ice Age Trail - a 1,200-mile national trail in Wisconsin.”
“As adults, you don't get to spend as much time with your parents as you once did - so all the time that we spent with each other hiking, chatting, and caring for each other was really special. It rekindled how much we love spending time with each other and we still talk about the Provence trip all the time . . .”
Jessica and her daughter Emma recently completed a trip, and Jessica told us, “I was so fortunate that my daughter was able to accompany me on the trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. She is a young mother of two children and it was only a set of unusual circumstances that allowed her the time away from her full-time job and her children to spend a week with me. So, it was a very special week for me to have so much time with my daughter and be with her day and night, just like it was back when she was a teenager still living at home. We had so much fun talking in the hotel room before dropping off to sleep each night. It has been years since that happened."
Find Your Shared Inspiration + Get to Experience Something New - Together
Finding a reason to travel that resonates with you both and then getting to experience new things together is a terrific way to grow and evolve together as adults. When reminiscing about her trip, Chanda said: “neither of us had ever been to France and we loved the idea of discovering it with a group of fellow hikers and a French guide. It was a glorious trip - we could not have been happier with our choice.”
“The scenery was incredible - but what I remember the most was our lunch breaks. We'd stop in the middle of a hike - and they were often strenuous - and sit down in a perfect spot, rest our weary legs, and eat the most incredible food. One day we all shopped at the market in Saint Remy de Provence and then shared all of our goods during lunch.”
Jessica was honest about “hiking down into and back out of the Grand Canyon on two separate days was challenging for both of us. I pushed myself to keep up with her and we were both so proud of ourselves when we reached the rim at the end of the hikes. Those were moments of pure satisfaction and it felt even more special to experience those moments with my daughter and vice versa for her. “
Jan and Sarah chose to enjoy a week of the dude ranch life together: “We have a similar travel style in that we like to have a list of activities we are interested in, some of which are firmly scheduled, but others flexible so that we can be spontaneous. Living the Cowgirl Life was a perfect fit because we had a variety of activities to choose from each day, which provided options and flexibility. Since it is an AGC trip, we did not have to plan any of the logistics!”
Some of the highlights Sarah shared with her mom include “Riding in the open fields at full gallop. The beautiful scenery. The stars at night and the Milky Way. Our cozy cabin. The delicious food. The caring Vee Bar owners, Brent and Kari, the wranglers, and the staff. Cowboy music around the campfire. Comradery with the women in our group. Experiencing it all with my mom!”
Jan also left with a new set of memories she made with Sarah that she obviously cherishes: “Sharing a cabin with my daughter. Coming in after the evening activities and turning the little electric fireplace on, and getting all warmed up while we talked about the day. Watching the horses come across the bridge to the barn in the morning. The Milky Way. The moose that made the ranch his home. Teaching Sarah to fly fish in the pond and have her catch her first, itty bitty, trout.”
"Also, an extra special moment was riding with Sarah and learning to lope! Sarah is an experienced rider and I was not, yet she chose to ride with us less experienced horsewomen so we could share the experience.”
Learn About Each Other + Make An Amazing New Kind of Memories
Travel together also offers the opportunity to connect in new and beautiful ways as your relationships as adults evolve. New things stand out! Perspectives change. Moments are even more precious.
Chanda shared the terrific experience: “I loved seeing my Mom interact with other women - I think we often see our parents through the lens as their child and can forget that they are fully formed adults with interesting lives and stories. It was fun to see my Mom get to know everyone and how people love her as much as I do. She's an amazing woman.”
One of the special moments that Sarah remembers is “riding to the top of a mountain with my mom and having lunch together at the top and taking in the views. My mom didn't have much riding experience; she took to it immediately and was fearless!”
Jan also finds such respect for her daughter as an adult: “Now that Sarah is an adult, I find it a great experience to have a real equal travel partner. We listen to each other's interests and what we want to get out of our trips and then do our best to incorporate each other's ideas. Plus, she looks out for me! She had kept me from getting run over by a scooter in the Netherlands, kept me from repeating inappropriate chants at a May Day festival in Munich, and carried my backpack when I was tired. We still get lost. We make lots of U-turns, but we do it together!”
The Unique Mother & Daughter Bond + How Remarkable Travel Together Can Be
Chanda shared, “I think female relationships are the most important relationships in women's lives. If we are lucky, we have women we can count on as friends who help us through everything in our lives. For me, the first woman I could count on was my mom. She's an amazing woman who has always inspired me and has always provided me with great comfort. Traveling with her was a blast - and the trip and the time together helped us re-prioritize spending time together.”
Sarah observed that “moms and daughters understand each other better than any other relationship, which is why traveling together is so much fun! They are the closest of any relationship.“
Jan shared her experience: “I think I was surprised to see how other people reacted to Sarah as an adult and how easy, but also comforting, it was for me to let her be that adult! I would travel anywhere with Sarah! I think our mother/daughter travel experience is special because we can go with the flow and listen to each other. We complement each other.”
Mother-daughter relationships are a beautiful thing, and we are honored that we get to participate in some way. Spending time with your mom or daughter is special, no matter what you do. So when women choose AGC to make that time a meaningful adventure, we are honored indeed!
Thanks to the mothers and daughters who shared their stories, and cheers to more stories from women like them.
