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Wanderlust Haaks
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Destinations
    • Americas
      • Guatemala
        • Antigua
        • Lake Atitlán
      • Mexico
        • Mexico City
        • Oaxaca
        • Quintana Roo
        • San Miguel de Allende
    • Asia
      • India
        • Delhi
        • Jaipur
        • Kerala
        • Udaipur
      • Vietnam
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
  • Travel Tips
  • Links and Maps
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Work With Us
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Destinations
    • Americas
      • Guatemala
        • Antigua
        • Lake Atitlán
      • Mexico
        • Mexico City
        • Oaxaca
        • Quintana Roo
        • San Miguel de Allende
    • Asia
      • India
        • Delhi
        • Jaipur
        • Kerala
        • Udaipur
      • Vietnam
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
  • Travel Tips
  • Links and Maps
  • Shop
$0.00
Wanderlust Haaks
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Destinations
    • Americas
      • Guatemala
        • Antigua
        • Lake Atitlán
      • Mexico
        • Mexico City
        • Oaxaca
        • Quintana Roo
        • San Miguel de Allende
    • Asia
      • India
        • Delhi
        • Jaipur
        • Kerala
        • Udaipur
      • Vietnam
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
  • Travel Tips
  • Links and Maps
  • Shop
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wanderlust.haaks

🌍 American family traveling the world
✈️ Helping busy parents travel more with their kids
📧 anna@wanderlusthaaks.com
👇Start Here Family Travel Guide

The number one thing is... LOCATION. If you’ve e The number one thing is...

LOCATION.

If you’ve ever bought a house you’ve heard that a million times and it’s just as true when you’re traveling with little kids.
Where you stay will either make you or break you.

If we’re in a hotel, we keep it simple:
⭐ 2 beds (please and thank you, Asia! 😂)
🚶‍♀️ Walking distance to a metro or public transit
That alone makes life so much easier.

If we’re in a vacation rental, I feel like there’s more flexibility since we’re usually staying longer, but I still look for the same basics:
🏘️ Family friendly neighborhood (yes this exists)
🌿 Quieter area
🥾 Walkability in general
🛒 Groceries and restaurants close by
🚇 Easy access to transit

I don’t need silence, but if there’s going to be a street party happening every night right next door, that’s probably not where I want to stay with kids. It sounds obvious, but it is VERY easy to overlook when you’re scrolling places online.

My favorite simple hack:
📍 Find a place on the map (use your favorite app)
➡️ Open Google Maps to again find this same area 
🛒 Map our grocery stores + food nearby
🚇 Look for public transit stops nearby
⭐ And read reviews in the area

If those things line up, the trip usually runs smoother from the start.
Location matters more than anything else when you’ve got little kids in tow.

✈️ If you want to know how we made travel like this possible for an entire year without stressing out be sure to comment TRAVEL for my free ebook!

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too.

#familytravel #travelwithkids #traveltips #travelfamily
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so I’m I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so I’m just going to say it:

Kids deserve to see more than the same three places over and over.

Some of my kids’ strongest memories are from trips we’ve taken and not because it was some epic bucket list thing, but because it was different.

And even when they don’t remember the moment, we do, and they learn more than we realize.

Parenting is hard everywhere: home, airports, restaurants, all of it, so waiting until it magically gets easier doesn’t always happen.

And I understand budgets and life circumstances are real. But if you’re still hesitating because it feels overwhelming, inconvenient, or “maybe later.”

I get it, but the window to go moves fast and one day you may realize you never got to go.

And if you’re wondering how we pulled this off, how we traveled for a year as a family of four without blowing our savings or losing our minds.

✨ Comment FAMILY and I’ll send you the system we used to make it actually doable ✨

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too.

#familytravel #travelwithkids #traveltips #travelfamily
I used to stress over planning trips with our girl I used to stress over planning trips with our girls.

I had limited PTO, too many “bucket list” places and everyone online showing the absolute best of their trip.

So I started going to what looked fun for other families. If their kids were living their best lives in Portugal or Thailand, surely ours would too.

Except… sometimes we landed somewhere and shortly after realized “This isn’t our place.”

And it wasn’t because the destination was wrong, it just wasn’t the right season of our lives to visit that place.

Every country has something amazing to offer, but not every country is amazing for your family right now.

Buckets for travel include: 

Rest.
Adventure.
Culture.
Ease.
Budget and so on.

And those buckets change depending on where you are in life.

Once I realized that, picking destinations got EASY and not because there were fewer choices, but because we finally knew what we were choosing for.

We stopped chasing someone else’s trip and started designing trips for our family.

If you want the exact system that helped us plan a full year abroad with little kids (and hit the right bucket every time),

✨ Comment TRAVEL and I’ll send it to you free ✨

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too.

#familytravel #travelwithkids #traveltips #travelfamily
When in Penang you have to check out this cat cafe When in Penang you have to check out this cat cafe!

It’s huge, bright, cozy, and there are cats just casually living their best lives everywhere you look. 😻

You leave your shoes outside the cat area and waiters bring your drinks and snacks in, so it’s super clean and organized.

Meanwhile the cats just roam, nap, stretch, people-watch… basically the dream life.

The drinks were so good (we tried a couple iced ones), and they even had snacks if you’re hungry.

This is the kind of spot we’re always searching for!

If Penang (or Malaysia in general) is on your radar, comment MAP and I’ll send you all our favorite spots.

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too.

#familytravel #travelwithkids #traveltips #travelfamily
THIS café wins the award for most fun coffee exper THIS café wins the award for most fun coffee experience with kids.

You walk in, grab your drink…and then go get your mug shot.
Yes, literally. 🤣

There are actually two sides to this place:
☕ one side is the coffee + drinks
🥐 the other side has pastries + food
📸 and tucked in the back is the wall where everyone lines up for their “criminally good” selfie moment

And for the record, our kids LOVED it. Anything that makes coffee runs feel like playtime? Yes please.

If Malaysia is on your list or on your “maybe one day” list comment MAP and I’ll send you all our favorite spots in Penang.

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too. 

#familytravel #travelwithkids #traveltips #travelfamily
This is the cup of coffee that converted me. I’ve This is the cup of coffee that converted me.

I’ve never been a coffee girl. Not at home, not on the go, not even during the “I haven’t slept in three days with toddlers” era.

But Vietnam changed me 🤣 One egg coffee in Hanoi and I was DONE. 

Vietnamese coffee hits different:
☕ insanely strong
🍮 sweet like dessert
💛 wiggly + jiggly like tiramisu
💸 and about $1

And THIS little spot, Café Đinh is tucked down an alleyway so hidden you’d walk right past it unless someone told you it was there.

✨ If you want to find spots like this on your next family trip, ones you’d never discover from a brochure we’ve mapped them out for you.

✈️ Comment MAP and I’ll send you all our favorite places from our month in Hanoi 

👋 Hi, I’m Anna, I left medicine to travel full-time with my husband and our two kids. I share what family travel is actually like: the real moments and practical tips. Follow along if you want travel to feel more possible for your family too.

Wanderlust Haaks

We’re a full-time traveling family, proving that you don’t have to wait for “someday” to explore the world with kids. From beautiful destinations to practical travel tips on slow travel, budget travel tips, and making it all possible—we share everything you need to turn your travel dreams into reality. Follow along for travel itineraries, travel hacks, and real-life family travel experiences that actually work!

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