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How many of you have heard you will no longer be a How many of you have heard you will no longer be able to travel once you have kids? I find most people who say these things don’t even have kids or if they do they have never traveled with their kids!

I’m not really into counting countries and we enjoy visiting places more than once, seeing the beauty all over the US and right in our state too. You don’t have to travel far to give your kids amazing experiences but you can also take them wherever you want. Y’all know my motto, if kids live there kids can visit!! 

Where have you been that people said you were crazy for taking your kids (or your parents for taking you) but you were so glad you didn’t listen to them and went anyway.

#travellingwithkids #familytravel
Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Itza, one of the 7 Wonders of the World (SAVE + SHARE this post).

Chichen Itza is 2.5 hours from Cancun, 2 hours from Playa del Carmen, and 90 minutes from both Tulum and Merida.

You can get here by renting a car, booking a private tour on Airbnb Experiences like we did, coming on a tour bus or for budget travelers taking the ADO bus. 

Most tours from Cancun are all day long, leaving as early as 7/8 am and as late as 9 pm drop off. This is because you’ll visit cenotes outside of Chichen Itza and the town of Valladolid. Since we only had 4 days in Cancun we didn’t want to spend a full day on the road but also really wanted to visit so booking private transportation allowed us to skip all the other stops and just go there and back. We were picked up at 9 and back at the hotel by 4 so we could have a relaxing evening.

Current admission is $533 Mexican pesos for adults, $80 for kids 3-12 and free for kids under 3. That’s about $30 US for adults and $5 for kids.

Once inside there is the main attraction that everyone comes to see but there are also other Mayan dwellings and a cenote. I recommend coming with a guide or hiring an official guide once on site so they can give you information on the history.

Have you been to any of the 7 Wonders? If so, which one(s)?

Hubby and I climbed the Great Wall of China together in 2007, Jordyn, James and I have been to the Colosseum in Rome, the girls and I have been to Petra and we all visited Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Chichen Itza and the Great Pyramids of Giza together!

#chichenitza #7wondersoftheworld
Today is the last day of school and I could not be Today is the last day of school and I could not be more proud of Jordyn! Look at all those awards she racked up at her end of the year ceremony. She’s reading 3 grade levels above hers, was only 9 points away from a perfect score on her state reading test and made the Honor Roll every quarter of the year. It’s time to celebrate, let summer begin!!!
We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t v We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t visited them all yet these are 4 states you should consider visiting this summer. (SAVE + SHARE this list for inspo)

📍Idaho- Last year we explored Southern Idaho and it blew us away. City of Rocks National Reserve, Kayak to Shoshone Falls, white water rafting, and walking behind Perrine Coulee Waterfall are musts!

📍Alaska- We visited the South East part of Alaska, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan and WOW talk about stunning. You’ll love exploring ice caves, walking on glaciers, canoeing through ice bergs, seeing the volcano and hopefully spotting some bears!

📍Utah- From the famous national parks like Zion and Bryce to the lesser known areas like Kanab, Utah is stunning. You can’t miss sand boarding through Coral Pink Sand Dunes and ATVing through the gorgeous landscape.

📍California- Where else can you surf and ski/snowboard in the same day? California has the most national parks in any state so you know the beauty is beyond amazing. Having lived there for 3 years I’ve explored so many cities and there is something for everyone!!

Would you like me to share my website link for our itineraries for each of these trips in stories? Have you been to any of these? Which state intrigues you the most from this list? What city/state would you like to see us cover?

#visittheusa #bucketlisttrip #travellingwithkids
We have been traveling with our girls since they w We have been traveling with our girls since they were 6 weeks old. Is traveling with kids always easy? Nope! Are there added costs to traveling with kids? Yes! But having status with World of Hyatt has helped elevate our travels, making things a little easier and saving us money, here’s how (SAVE + SHARE this post).

1. Being a family of 4 standard hotel rooms can be kind of cramped. Having status with World of Hyatt means we’re eligible for free upgrades when available including suites as a Globalist.

2. Eating out for breakfast everyday on a vacation starts to add up really quickly. As a Globalist we get free breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children.

3. At hotels with club access Globalists also get free access which includes drinks and snacks, the perfect way to hold kids over until dinner without spending money.

4. I don’t know who decided 9 or 10am was a good time for check-out, hello we’re on vacation, we want to sleep in! Having status with World of Hyatt means you qualify for late check out at 2pm or 4pm depending on your level of status. So whether you sleep in, hit the pool or use the other amenities at the hotel you can enjoy a little longer. It especially helps us when we have flights later in the day.

5. After paying for our hotel room we hate having added fees. Thankfully when you have Globalist status with World of Hyatt resort fees are waived on free night awards and/or eligible rates.

6. Free hotel nights! There is nothing like booking a hotel and not paying a penny! Having joined World of Hyatt we rack up points (on more than just stays) and the higher your status, the more points you earn to get free stays faster.

7. As World of Hyatt members we even earn American Airlines miles on our Hyatt stays, getting us free flights faster to save even more money!

From being more comfortable to finding more ways to earn, you’re missing out if you haven’t joined World of Hyatt!

@hyatt #HyattPartner
4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways t 4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways to Earn World of Hyatt Points & (SAVE + SHARE):

Ways to Redeem
1. Redeem points for rooms at Hyatt hotels. There’s nothing like experiencing luxury without the cost, so glad I could redeem Hyatt points for this stay with one of the best views of Tokyo.

2. Redeem points to cover your meal at participating restaurants at Hyatt hotels.

3. Redeem Hyatt points to cover your spa treatment at participating spas at Hyatt hotels. 

4. Redeem points through World of Hyatt FIND experiences. With over 200 experiences like cooking classes, tastings, & walking tours there are so many activities to choose from!

Ways to Earn
1. Are you an elite member with American Airlines? If so, you can earn 1 Hyatt point for every $1 spent on AA flights. These are in addition to the normal miles you’ll earn on American, just sign into your AA account & link your World of Hyatt account.

2. Rent a car through Avis & can earn 500 Hyatt points per rental. Just provide your Hyatt membership number when making the reservation & use AWD code K817700.

3. Book a FIND experience by World of Hyatt and earn 10 points per $1 spent. Hyatt offers over 200 experiences such as culinary classes with celebrity chefs, hot air balloon ride in Arizona, guided bike tour over the Golden Gate bridge and more.

4. Even if you aren’t staying at a Hyatt property, if you eat at the hotel restaurant or book a spa treatment you can earn 5 points per $1 spent. We actually ate at a Hyatt restaurant in Kyoto & even though we weren’t staying there I gave my World of Hyatt number & received points!

5. Earn points on everyday spending with a World of Hyatt credit card: 2 points per $1 spent on restaurants, airline tickets, local transit, rideshares, & gym memberships plus earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

6. Transfer points earned on other credit cards who partner with Hyatt such like Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Unlimited & Freedom Flex. 

7. Book a cruise with Lindblad Expeditions & earn 5 points per $1 spent.

Are you doing any of these?

📍Andaz Tokyo

@hyatt #HyattPartner
If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portug If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portugal I highly recommend adding a trip to Madeira! It’s an island off the coast of Portugal, actually closer to Africa than Portugal. Here’s how I spent 6 days in Madeira (Save + Share this post):

🇵🇹Day 1: Pool day at my hotel (NEXT Hotel) for most of the day and then I went running up the crazy hills of Madeira to see Funchal by foot.

🇵🇹Day 2: I explored the NW part of the island visiting Seixal Beach, Ponto Moniz, Fanal Forest and Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela.

🇵🇹Day 3: I went on a sidecar adventure where I explored Valley of the Nuns, the Cabo Girão Skywalk, and the fishing town of São Pedro with @madeirasidecartours.

🇵🇹Day 4: Whale and dolphin watching tour but we only saw dolphins. In the evening I did an Airbnb Experience at a locals farm house where he cooked a great dinner where 90% of the items were picked directly from his gardens that day. He also taught us how to make poncha, a favorite local drink. The tour should already be linked in my Maderia story highlights.

🇵🇹Day 5: I toured the SE part of the island visiting Ponta do Garajau, Monte Palace, and ended the day at the most beautiful views from Pico do Arieiro (the shots of me on the clouds).

🇵🇹Day 6: I watched the sunrise from Miradouro Ponto do Rosto and then did an 8 mile hike of Levado do Caldeirão Verde. After the hike I relaxed at the pool!

If you want photos taken in Madeira I recommend @robframing.

Honestly Madeira was everything and I don’t see it dropping out of my top 5 international destinations anytime soon.

The Traveling Child

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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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