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I mean c’mon there is not one reason, look at th I mean c’mon there is not one reason, look at this view from the top of the Kloof Corner hike! The biggest way we’re able to afford traveling so much is by letting the deals dictate where we go. Cape Town has been on our bucket list forever but with flights typically costing $1,200-$1,800 it hasn’t been a priority. But when Scott’s Cheap Flights (now called Going, I don’t like the new name but that’s besides the point) dropped this Cape Town deal for less than half of what it normally costs we jumped on it!

So often I hear “but there are no deals during school breaks”, YES THERE ARE! We went to Cape Town for Thanksgiving and the girls get the entire week off of school so they missed no days. Plus since there seasons are opposite it was late spring and the weather was amazing. Scott’s emails deals directly to your inbox for the airports you choose (we select our home airport and airports we can easily fly direct to and always have cheap flights because sometimes it’s worth flying to a city for a deal (known as a repositioning flight). They offer a free version but you don’t get all the deals so we have the Premium subscription which costs $49 for a year and you can tap the link in my bio and use code TRAVELINGCHILD20 for 20% off. They have an Elite membership level for business class seats. Because someone always asks, yes they give deals for nonstop flights but please remember you can’t fly everywhere nonstop. Beloved if you’re going to Thailand from the US you’re going to have a layover.

Anyway when in Cape Town you must hike, there are so many amazing ones! This Kloof’s Corner hike is perfect for sunset. It’s not stroller or wheelchair accessible as there are stairs but if Jordyn and Kennedy can hike it in 40mins (one way up) I promise you don’t have to be super fit!

P.S. when booking a flight from the US you have 24 hours to cancel & get a refund (on flights booked 7 days in advance). So many ppl told me they hesitated on this deal because they had to see if they could get off work/what dates worked for their travel partners. Always book first, think second & just cancel within 24hrs if you can’t make it work! What’s the best flight deal you’ve booked?
Hello from Cape Town, South Africa! Here’s every Hello from Cape Town, South Africa! Here’s everything you need to know about getting into South Africa (save + share this post):

1. Your passport must be valid for 30 days after your scheduled date of departure.

2. You must have 2 consecutive empty pages in your passport.

3. There is no visa required for US citizens for visits less than 90 days.

4. There are no shots required to travel to South Africa, unless you are traveling from or transiting through yellow-fever deemed countries, then a yellow fever shot is required. You can find a list of these countries online.

5. South Africa has opposite seasons than the US so our winter is their summer. December to February are peak travel due to the weather but if you visit in November like we did you’ll get good weather and avoid the massive crowds of peak season.

Have you visited South Africa? If so, which part? If not, is it on your list?
Because why do y’all do this to us trip planners Because why do y’all do this to us trip planners? Are you the one in your group that plans the trip or do you just show up? If you’re the planner tag your friends 😅. If you just show up do you look at the itinerary or ask all the questions even though the info was given to you 👀?

Original reel idea credit goes to @kryssedeal, sis really nailed exactly how I feel!!
#sponsored Last year we were able to cross some am #sponsored Last year we were able to cross some amazing places off our bucket list. We want you to do the same so we’ve teamed up with @vrbo to give you the opportunity to win $3,500 and turn your bucket list trip into a book-it-list one! 

Just head over to the giveaway post on @vrbo, make sure you’re following them and tag 3 people you’d want to join you on your trip! 

So what is your book-it list vacation this year?

*T&Cs apply – link in bio

 #VrboTogether #BookItList
Things to do in Istanbul (save and share this post Things to do in Istanbul (save and share this post):

1. Visit the various houses of worship like Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque. Suleymaniye Camii, Ortakoy Mosque, Chora Church and the Camlica Mosque

2. Tour palaces like Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace

3. Climb the Galata Tower for amazing views of Istanbul. You can even enjoy a meal here at the restaurant on the top floor.

4. Take a cruise of the Bosphorus to see both the European and Asia side of Istanbul.

5. Visit the cities Bazaars, the Grand Bazaar where you can shop your heart out and the Spice Bazaar where you can eat your heart out. Don’t leave without trying a Turkish delight!

6. If you want to go shopping Istiklal is the place to do so. They have a wide range of stores including international chains like Zara.

7. See a Dervish show at Hodjapasha.

8. Walk across the Galata Bridge to see fisherman at work and then walk under it to taste their fresh catches.

9. Take a day trip to the Princes’ Islands.

10. Experience a Turkish Hammam.

11. Explore the neighborhood of Balet, enjoying the colorful building and have some traditional Turkish tea or my favorite Apple Tea.

12. Turkey has some amazing food so go on a food tour or take a cooking class. If you don’t do either just make sure not to leave without having a traditional Turkish breakfast!

I recommend at least 5 days in Istanbul but you can easily spend a week or more exploring the city.

Have you been to Istanbul? If not is it on your list? For those that have been what was your favorite thing to do?

#istanbul #bucketlistadventures
Our Egypt Itinerary (save + share this post): 3 n Our Egypt Itinerary (save + share this post):

3 nights Siwa: Shali Fortress, 4x4 safari in the Great Sand Sea, sunset on Fatnas Island, emple of Amun and Temple of the Oracle, take a look or a dip into Cleopatra Spring, Mountain of the Dead, House of Siwa Museum, float in the salt lakes.

5 nights Cairo: Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx,  Egyptian Museum, Saqqara, Khal Al Khalil, Old and Coptic Cairo: Hanging Church, Mohamed Ali Mosque, Al Azhar Mosque and the Fortress of Babylon, see an Al Tannoura Egyptian Dance Heritage Show at Wekalet El Ghouri. For a break from the historical things with kids spend a day at Dreamland Park, Kidzania, or Ski Egypt. Stay at Marriott Mena House.

3 nights Luxor: Hot air balloon ride, Luxor Museum, Mummification museum, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Temple of Karnak, Temple of Luxor, Colossi Statue of Memnon and Hatshpsut

3 nights Aswan: High Dam, Temple of Philae, Nubian Villages, Sail on the Nile by Felucca, Nubian Museum, Abu Simbel

On the way to Aswan from Luxor you can also stop to see the Temple of Horus and Kim Ombo Temple. If you have extra time visit Alexandria, Bahariya Oasis, and White Desert National Park to see the White Desert.

Have you been to Egypt? Is it on your list? There is so much to see outside of Cairo! 

#bucketlisttravel #cairoegypt #luxoregypt #aswan
OUR MOROCCO ITINERARY (save + share this post):

🇲🇦2 nights Chefchaouen- painting class, hiking, enjoying the Blue City and more.

🇲🇦3 nights Fes- Royal palaces, Moroccan dance class, visit the tannery and more

🇲🇦6 nights Marrakech- Majorelle Gardens, explore the Medina, explore the various mosques, stay in a riad, take a Moroccan cooking class and more.

🇲🇦3 nights Sahara Desert- ATV tour, sand boarding, Bedouin experience and more.

For all the details of each trip tap the link in my bio for the itineraries of each city. Have you been to Morocco? Is it on your list?

P.S. the girls were 3 and 5 on this trip

#moroccotrip #thisisafrica #travellingwithkids

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Tips for Taking Family Vacation Photos

April 22, 2020      Tips on Traveling with Kids, Travel Tips, Trip Planning Tips

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.

As family travel bloggers we’re always taking pictures of our trips. Still, long before we started documenting our travels and sharing on our website and Instagram we cherished family photos. People are always asking how we capture such beautiful photos on our trips so here are all our tips for taking family pictures on vacation.

How to Capture Your Family Photos on Vacations

Bring a Tripod

The number one question we’re asked is how do you get pictures of all of you together? Answer: we bring our tripod! This allows us to all be in the picture without needing help from anyone else. We’re able to set up the shot exactly how we want! To take the picture you can either use the timer on the camera or you can use a bluetooth remote or app on your phone that controls your camera shutter.

I love this option because often when we’ve asked people to take our picture it’s bad. Then I feel bad to keep asking them to retake it so I just say thank you and wait for them to walk away to ask someone else. Here are some pictures we’ve taken with our tripod!



This particular photo was taken on my solo trip to Tulum, Mexico where I took all my pictures by myself!

Don’t Think You Need Expensive Equipment

A question I get a lot is what camera I use. While I do have a “fancy” camera I use my iPhone a lot. Most smart phones have the portrait mode and it gives a really nice effect. Basically it blurs the background and focuses on the subject you want. This is one of my favorite pictures and it was taken from my phone with no fancy equipment.

Hire a Professional Photographer for Your Family Vacation Photos

If you don’t want to deal with taking your own pictures for whatever reason you can hire a professional photographer. Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing work and that’s ok, you are on vacation. We’ve hired professional photographers for various reasons. In Morocco we hired one because getting around the medina is difficult so not only did our photographer know the best places to take pictures they knew how to get around without getting lost.

While visiting Costa Rica we were doing a lot of action activities: surfing and zip-lining included so hiring a professional is best. These activities are much harder to capture on your own, even with a tripod.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico I hired a photographer because it was my birthday and I just really want nice pictures of myself without much effort on my part.

So how do you find the perfect vacation photographer? For my photoshoot in San Juan, I hired my photographer on Airbnb Experiences. Here I was able to read reviews and see samples on my photographer, Rual’s, work. Sign up here and receive up to $55 off your first experience and book him here.

For our photographer in Morocco we searched hashtags on Instagram. Search #CityNamePhotographer and you’ll easily find photographers in that area. The search will lead you to their Instagram accounts and you can contact them via the website in the bio, email or DM. 

Ask a Stranger But Look For Qualified People

As a last resort we ask other people to take our picture if our tripod can’t be set up where we are or we didn’t hire someone. When asking strangers first look for people who look like they may know how to take a picture. These people usually have nice cameras, are using tripods themselves, or have a lot of camera equipment with them. We lucked out in Paris and this photographer saw us trying to capture our family and without us even asking, he offered.

If you don’t see anyone around that looks like they know what they’re doing don’t worry. You can still ask a stranger you’ll just need to do a little more work. Be sure to frame the photo exactly how you want it! Set up your family exactly where you want them to stand with a space left for you. Then stand exactly where you want the person taking the picture to stand and have the camera pointing exactly where you want it. Then switch places with the friendly stranger and ask them to just snap the photo with no need to move around.

When to Take Pictures for the Best Family Vacation Photos

When it comes to taking the perfect family photos on vacation, timing is everything! If you want a picture of an iconic landmark with no one in the background I’m sorry to say you will have to wake up early. Yes, you’re on vacation but so is everyone else and they’re trying to get the same shot as you. Everyone asked how we got our photo at Escadaria Selaron while in Rio de Janeiro and at The Bean in Chicago with no one in the background, we took both at about 7AM.

mom and daughter sitting on staircase

If empty backgrounds at iconic landmarks aren’t important to you avoiding harsh sunlight will also give you the best photo. Taking your pictures at what photographers call “golden hour” will give everyone a beautiful glow. This picture was taken during golden hour on our trip to Marrakech.

Also remember natural light in general is the best setting for photos so get outdoors to take your pictures!

To Pose or Not to Pose When Trying to Capture Family Photos on Vacation

When trying to capture the perfect family photos on vacation variety is key. You don’t want every picture you take to be exactly the same, so change it up!

Full frame, looking straight into the camera photos are always nice and a classic but to make these really pop try laughing. I know it sounds ridiculous but I promise it prevents tired smiles and that stale look on people’s faces in pictures. 

We also love action shots: running, jumping up in the air, any picture in motion usually comes out great. Action shots are also usually the best way to capture kids because they hate sitting still. So get them running around and playing and you’ll be amazed at what you capture.

You don’t always have to look directly at the camera! Take some pictures looking away, I promise they will still look great!

Take your pictures from different angles. Don’t feel like you have to standing up in a picture. One of my favorite family photos of us is where we’re laying down and the picture is taken from above.

Don’t forget about the candids, while it’s harder to get these of the whole family unless you’ve hired a photographer you can still get them of parts of your family. These end up being some of my favorite ones.

Scope Out Photo Locations (and poses) Ahead of Time

Am I giving you homework just to get nice family photos on vacation? Yes I am! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to spend my entire trip taking pictures. I want to enjoy the moments too. Still there are certain places you go that you know you want a certain shot, whether you saw it on Instagram or in a magazine you want to recreate it. I remember when we went to London I wanted a picture in a red telephone booth with Big Ben in the background but with so many telephone booths how would I know the right one. You can look all of these things up online ahead of time and often find the exact coordinates or google maps link to the location, talk about a time saver. Search for best photo spots in XYZ location or get specific like my Google search: location of the red telephone booth and Big Ben in the background.

Sometimes there are places with cool optical illusions like the Pedra do Telegrafo cliff in Brazil. These places mean you want to have creative poses but coming up with them on the fly can be hard and a waste of time. So what we’ve done is look up poses online to get an idea of what we want to do. I did this for our trip to Italy when we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It especially helps for places where you know there might be a long line to get a picture! I usually just search the places hashtag on IG and then save those images to a collection!

Where to Get Matching Outfits If That’s Your Thing

We wear matching outfits a lot! Some think it’s cheesy and some love it, we’re obviously in the latter! From swimsuits to rompers to dresses we’ve got it all. Sometimes it’s just the kids matching, sometimes it’s mommy and me and sometimes it’s the whole family. We get our mommy and me and family matching outfits from this online store. Shipping typically takes about two weeks so just be sure to order on time! These are some of our favorite matching outfits from there.

Other times we match it’s just putting similar items together or wearing the same tones that we already have. Stores like Old Navy and H&M typically have a family matching section where they show all the items they have for various age groups that while they aren’t an exact match they’r are similar. We did this for our trip to Marrakech.

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A post shared by The Hambrick Family (@thetravelingchild)

For mommy and me outfits I’ve even gone as far as to shop in the kids section myself to match my girls. I can usually fit into a kids XL and did exactly that when I took my daughter to Wisconsin Dells for our annual mommy and me trip. She really wanted us to wear matching pj’s and waited until the night before our trip to tell me so and Target was the only option!

Edit Your Pictures

So often people ask me what camera I use, it’s a Sony A7iii by the way, but it’s so much more than a camera. Believe it or not about 80% of the pictures on my Instagram feed were taken from my iPhone XS. It’s all about the edit of the photo afterwards. It can really turn a dark, not so great looking image to perfection! I’m not the best editor by any means but I use Lightroom Mobile to edit our photos, here is a tutorial from an expert. You can even buy presets on Etsy or from photographers which basically will edit the picture for you. Just remember depending on your skin tone, where the photo was taken (natural light, indoors), etc. will all play a role on how well a preset works. You may need to buy multiple ones to use on different images. Just look at the difference between the two photos below and you can see how much of a difference editing makes.

Hopefully these tips will have you well on your way to capturing the perfect family photos on vacation. Did you find this article helpful? If so please share it!

The Traveling Child is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

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Comments

  1. Panjene says

    April 23, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    Those are great tips, thanks for sharing.

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Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

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