Summer camp, even for the toddler set, starts in January for us.
I’m talking multi-device setups, constant refreshing, a Ticketmaster-style queue, and retyping forms in triplicate. I’ve got a detailed spreadsheet listing each week of the summer, which camp we’re attending, the hours available, and the cost. Missing out on camp because I refreshed at the wrong moment felt like unlocking a Mom milestone, and not one of the good ones.
Did I mention this was at 6 AM?
That was just the prep. If I arrive at 8:28 AM to camp drop-off instead of 8:30 AM on the dot, they make me circle the block and wait 30 minutes in line. Ditto for camp pickup, except that if you’re late, you get charged by the minute. At least my kid is having fun?
All this to say: When I saw Katherine Goldstein’s post about summer camp abroad…I was intrigued, to say the least. I try to block out information about how great raising children is in Norway or Denmark or wherever there’s an actual safety net and engaged parents and playgrounds with bars attached to them or whatever the trendy-but-completely inaccessible expat fantasy du jour is. Right now, living abroad for an extended period of time has been just that: A fantasy. A bucket-list item.
Katherine Goldstein on Travel with Toddlers
Katherine’s work makes spending a longer time abroad with kids way more accessible than I’ve thought. As a NC-based journalist focusing on community-building and social connection, I love her stories. I immediately DM’d her to come on, though, after reading this piece on summer camp elsewhere and why it’s just so frustrating here in the United States.
“The stories I heard from parents in other countries really highlighted for me how the US has a unique set of circumstances that make summer so challenging. I was not able to find any other Western country that has the combination of long summer breaks, no mandated paid vacation time, minimal subsidized options, and a dominant cultural belief that kids need constant supervision, especially in public places. Clearly articulating all of these factors really helps me understand how we find ourselves in Hunger Games-like registration battles and spending thousands per kid per summer, just so parents can continue their jobs.” – Katherine Goldstein
Enter: The great opt-out summer camp plan for her six-year-old twins and 10-year old. What I love about her work is that it’s deeply grounded in research, but also in lived experience. This seems like a fantasy, just like back in my ‘20s the idea of quitting my job and living as a digital nomad seemed like a fantasy, even to someone who loves travel as a hobby more than anything (well, except maybe Disney.)
Read on to learn about her travel strategy, plus a special deal on the opt-out plan if you’re deep into summer camp season and regretting every minute!2
Do you travel often? What’s your travel “style” before and after kids?
I travel occasionally for work, and my “travel style” for pleasure has changed dramatically, especially since having three kids. Before kids, my husband and I loved going places we could really unplug. We did Airbnb before most had heard of it, as well as home exchanges (trading our NYC apartment) to make travel more authentic and affordable. We got free places to stay in Barcelona, Greece, and Costa Rica.
Now we are much more focused on ease, convenience, and amenities.
Have your abroad summer plans changed your overall travel strategy?
Yes! We don’t have a huge travel budget right now, so we’ve decided we are all in on a 1-month summer trip, with basically no other family trips the rest of the year. This strategy lets us use all of our credit card points for airfare for this one big trip. Our families are local, so we don’t have to travel to see family for holidays, which helps us pull this off. We are going back to Costa Rica in summer 2026, but plan to try somewhere new in 2027.
I’d love to hear how you managed to take your summer camp idea from “this could be cool” to “we’re doing it” and how you convinced the rest of your family to come along for the ride.
My husband and I went to Costa Rica together twice before we had kids. Before we were even married, I fantasized about bringing a child there one day because the nature is so incredible. I think how we were able to go from “this would be cool” to “we’re doing it” was when I started to actually find concrete details about what camp our kids would attend and what the associated costs would be. Once I could show to my husband this was a financially realistic option based on what we would be spending on summer camp in the US, he got excited about it. Our kids had never been out of the country or time zone before this trip, but part of my confidence in pulling this off came from having been to Costa Rica multiple times, so I knew a bit about what life would be like there.
You write a lot about gathering and community. I’m curious if you’ve ever traveled with another family (or extended family) and any advice on making that a) happen and b) work?
We thought it would be nice to have another family we knew join us for our Costa Rica trip in 2025, but we decided we’d do it even if we couldn’t get anyone to come along. We were delighted that we did end up getting a family we knew from home to come. It made the experience 1000 times better to have some built-in friends for the kids and for us, especially since we didn’t know others in the area.
A key to making this work was that we each had our own houses, which gave us space and privacy. The houses were within easy walking distance, so it was very convenient to do things without planning. I wouldn’t share a house with friends for a whole month, no matter how much I loved them. This experience has really strengthened our friendship, and we’re all going back to the same place this summer, and we’ve invited a third family from home to join us.
I think making this work with friends or family for a trip like this requires someone to have a pretty clear vision of the trip and see if others want to sign on. Being able to have clear communication and honest conversations is important, and not feeling obligated to do everything together 24/7 makes it more sustainable in the long term.
Do you find that traveling a lot makes it easier or harder to build community? How do you prioritize relationships and “home” life while considering travel, as the kids get older and they have more activities and events anchoring them to your hometown?
I actually think traveling often does hurt your ability to build in-person community at home. You can’t build relationships if you are never around. That’s why the one-month trip with people we know from home feels like the best of both worlds: having an adventure and also strengthening relationships with people who are part of our daily life at home.
What’s your biggest piece of travel advice traveling with kids?
My recommendations are be very realistic about how a trip with young kids is not a “vacation.” I highly recommend investing in childcare support on your trip, whether it’s bringing a childcare provider along with you or finding someone locally.
The best place to stay with kids is…
Beechwoods Resort in Kitty Hawk, NC is great and extremely affordable off-season. They have townhouse/condos with well-equipped kitchens which are so nice for traveling with kids when do you don’t want to eat out all the time. They have a great indoor waterslide/hot tub/ lazy river, as well as a game room. My twins loved this place.
The top pieces of gear Katherine doesn’t leave home without…
I made a whole list for my guide to international travel with kids on a budget, which you can see here. For adults, my number #1 go-to is this toiletry bag, and for the whole family is this sunscreen, which I did SO much research on before going to Central America with a very fair redheaded child.
What’s your best travel memory with your kids?
We didn’t let our kids bring any electronic devices to Costa Rica, and on our first day driving up a Costa Rican mountain, looking out the car window, we saw beautiful views and animals in the road. My 10-year old exclaimed, “Wow, this is way more entertaining than watching my iPad.” Life made. 🦥
Thank you so much, Katherine! As a bonus, Katherine is offering Travel with Toddlers readers 25% off purchasing the summer camp opt-out guide with code KAYLA.
Thanks for being here.
You may have noticed Katherine’s kiddos are a little older than toddler age.
But the reason I asked her to come on is that community-building is really on my mind lately—I can already feel the pull of extracurriculars and school and camp and and and. I mean, Mom friends I used to hang out with multiple times a week are now weekend-only friends, which means I barely see them between extracurriculars and family events. I remember a close high school friend constantly left on the weekends to go skiing, and we drifted apart because she was never home.
I know our travel strategy will continue to change as my toddler gets older. Not just what activities we choose, but how often we travel, and where we go. Right now, we do a lot of outdoorsy New England things, and very kid-centric “plop” vacations. Before kids, every trip was an adventure, trekking somewhere rugged. It’s my goal to look at the school curriculum each year as my toddler gets older and plan trips around it, just like my parents did. Big (I literally cannot wait for the Roman empire, aka the best excuse to go to Italy) and small (the aquarium, after an ocean unit.)
Soon, we’ll be trapped by the school calendar. And extracurriculars, which are important parts of learning who you are and what you like. But for now? I want to show my toddler the world. Every time we go places, they make a huge leap. Even if the rest of the summer I’m schlepping them to and from camp, inching along the pick-up line and circling the block for being one minute early.
To an escape hatch always booked,
Kayla
If you liked this post, please consider supporting my work. I’m just a mom in the thick of the toddler years trying to create core memories for our whole family while minimizing meltdowns—I sincerely hope this helps you do the same.
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