Today we’d like to introduce you to Montoya Hudson.
Montoya, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always loved to travel but as a kid, I didn’t get to travel much. I swore when I had kids of my own, I would take them all over the world. I lived up to that promise and started traveling with my little one when she was around six weeks old. However, traveling with kids is a different dynamic than traveling alone or with other adults. It’s almost a learned skill set to be able to pack the right things, plan the right activities, and to do everything at the right time for their schedule.
Your own schedule can seem prohibitive as well. The average American only receives two weeks of paid leave from work a year. Maximizing that time while minimizing the kids missing school is an art. Also, budgeting is always a major factor. As my husband says, movement is money, so all financials need to be aligned to make a successful trip.
As our family grew, we struggle to piece together all these components until one year it all just fell into place. We had finally figured out the formula that works for us! Now we take our kids to an international destination at least once a year (usually during Spring Break) and several other domestic vacations throughout the year.
We wanted to save other families from our growing pains and decided to share any and all information we could. From there came the birth of the Spring Break Family website.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
So far, it has been a smooth journey into the online world. However, you always struggle with exposure. Your content can be great but it isn’t useful if people don’t see it. So, we are constantly pushing to get our stuff out there to help equip other families to travel with their kids, too.
Please tell us about The Spring Break Family.
When we started to share our travel adventures, we noticed that other working families all had the same questions for us: How much does it cost, how do we balance travel with school, how do you have enough vacation days, and again – how much does it cost?
So, we decided to launch our travel website The Spring Break Family. We have many articles related to family travel to answer those questions and more. Our budget, details on our finances, destination guides, and more are all featured on our website. We even publish the exact costs of our trips on our Trip Toll Reports.
We aim for complete transparency. If there is something we didn’t provide, ask us and we will get back to you ASAP. Knowledge is power and we want to empower other families. Travel with your kids is possible and here is the information to do so.
As a secondary motive, we noticed that even within the family travel niche there were very few families of color. Representation matters so we aim to show that families of color can travel too!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite childhood memories was taking a south Texas road trip with my mother. She had a business trip scheduled in Austin, so she took us with her. We got to tour the city, visit the capital, and hang out in a hotel. After her work event, we drove to San Marcos, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi. We ended up spending a week on the road — just myself, my sister, my brother, and my mom.
Compared to the trips we take now, it was a very simple excursion. But it reinforced my favorite part of family travel: uninterrupted quality time with family.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc.?
With the spread of social media, the world is becoming a much more accessible place and travel is transforming from a dream into reality. Specifically, in the family travel realm, I suspect there will be more families pursuing careers that are location independent. This will lead to more children being “world schooled”, instead of being in traditional schooling. I must say that I’m all for it! I’m sure there are other changes in the pipeline but one thing I know for certain is that the travel industry is here to stay.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thespringbreakfamily.com
- Email: us@thespringbreakfamily.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thespringbreakfamily
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thespringbreakfamily
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/thesbfamily
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