An anthology of 20 amusing travel tales

In this funny anthology, Laroye has curated tales from award-winning travel writers from the US and Canada. These stories take us to faraway lands, ranging from adventures in Bhutan, to the northern wilds of Canada and Soviet Russia, Hawaii to Costa Rica, Kenya and beyond. Through family travel, Laroye says, we discover new things about ourselves, our world and each other, creating precious memories that will live on long after the suitcases are unpacked.

Although she conceived of the book prior to the pandemic, the editing was done during quarantine, and launches this year on September 1, 2022.

“Curating and editing this book during the pandemic was a bit of a gift,” Laroye says. “As we couldn’t travel, keeping busy working on my ‘pandemic baby’ book project was the next best thing. In reading and editing the stories, I was transported to times and places through the wonderful words on the story pages. I appreciated anew the power of storytelling, and the absolute value and importance of travelling – with or without family – that was denied to us by the global health crisis. I will never take the gift of health and the ability to travel for granted ever again.”

All the stories speak to connection, shared learning and several made me laugh out loud. Some of my favorites include: “The Night the Scorpion Came to Dinner” by Grant Lawrence; “Bittersweet in Banff” by Claudia Laroye, “On the Trail to Civil Rights” by Heather Greenwood Davis, and “Summer in the time of COVID” by Jennifer Bain.

What our children (and grandchildren) learn through travel

According to Laroye, her son says his family travel adventures have sustained his optimism, especially during darker times.

“My 24-year-old son recently sent me a note on my birthday that illustrated what he has learned from our family travel adventures, and how important they’ve been to him,” she says. “It encapsulates everything that as a parent, I’d hoped he would glean and feel from our family travels over the years.

I was overwhelmed with emotion reading his words. “As I have told you before, the best memories I have are of our travels; of wood sword fighting and castle exploring in Switzerland and Germany, blood-orange juice and spaghetti birthdays in Capri and Napoli, riding trottinettes in Adelboden, booze-cruisin’ in Costa Rica, camping at Rathtrevor, hiking at the Gemmi Pass – the memories are endless. I am drawn to those places, that familiarity of the locations, the faces and the views. But something I am discovering is that going it alone is unfamiliar. I do miss the big family trips we do together. They have made up who I am, they are the moments where I felt the happiest, the most engaged, and the things I look back on when things are dark.”

In my case, the learnings from the Kenya trip took a few weeks to manifest but resulted in an abrupt change in direction, which I shared in my story:

“On our last night in Kenya, Alyx and I wonder how we can bring our learnings from Kenya to the real world. We are ready to be the change; we just don’t know what to change. As we fly back to Nairobi over the lush, green hills, watching giraffes run below us, I wonder how I can ever share the effect of this experience with friends and family.  

A few weeks later, back in Toronto, I have an opportunity to do this in a way I never imagined.

Much to my surprise, my house sells suddenly. It has been on the market for months, and I gave up hope. But then, I receive an offer with a six-week closing date. This gives me an opportunity – a chance to reinvent my life.

As I look around my home, I realize that I’ve been trained to acquire material possessions. I am overcome with guilt, realizing that I have wasted precious time I could have spent with my daughter, or writing, or practicing self-care. In that moment, I decide I want to be free. I decide to get rid of everything I own.”  

Do you have a mother-daughter travel story to hear? We’d love to hear it!