Adventuring as a Solo Mom
Here at Run Wild My Child, we’re big fans of moms! We genuinely believe moms can do just about anything they put their minds to. We want to help moms make the most of their time with their kids and make it easier to get outside and make memories together in nature. One of the best ways to do that is through solo adventures with kids. We know that having another parent/adult around might make adventuring easier, but we can do hard things, and moms shouldn’t have to wait for their partner before adventuring with kids. Today, Tine Voeten, Belgian mom of two, is here sharing her most recent solo mom adventure with her daughters. She’s sharing the tips she learned for traveling with kids solo while exploring Belgium in search of spring blossoms. She just might convince you to try a solo mom adventure with your kids.
Solo mom adventures
Whether you are married/co-parenting or not, at times, we moms find ourselves parenting solo. Whether you’re solo parenting full-time or part-time, because of divorce, your partner’s demanding work schedule, deployment, choice, or other circumstances, you can still have amazing adventures with your kids. Adventuring on your own solo with your kids might sound overwhelming and scary, but I’m here to assure you that you can do it! It may not go perfectly (it won’t), but your solo mom adventure will be a fantastic bonding experience with your children and make you feel more confident and comfortable in your parenting skills.
Seeking adventure may not be on your priority list when you’re solo parenting. But it should be! Let me take you along on my most recent solo-mom adventure, which started with chasing pretty spring flowers and ended with us going on our first campervan trip ever, heading for the blossoms in Dutch Zeeland! It was terrific and something we’ll remember forever, but I will assure you, it didn’t go exactly as planned!
My solo mom spring experience
This past March, my husband went to the U.S. to visit his family for nine weeks. It was the first time that I was alone with the girls for such a long time. So here you have it, a solo-mom seeking adventure! As a family, we are very active and love to explore. We didn’t want my husband’s absence to slow us down or keep us from doing fun outdoor activities. I made a plan for the whole nine weeks, with tons of fun adventures and some time to slow down at home, too.
Springtime in our area is magical, with all the spring blossoms and tulips. I knew I would make the girls happy to go see them, so I planned some time to visit our nearby blossom fields. However, I forgot that looking for blossoms or flowers in spring can be tricky since it often depends on the weather. The weather in Belgium and Holland can be very unpredictable and unstable, especially during springtime! One day it is 70°C and sunny; the next day, it snows!
Spring blossoms in Belgium
The first solo mom adventure I planned was to see spring blossoms in the beautiful region of Limburg in Belgium. If you ever get to visit Belgium, you should definitely explore this area! This region has so many child-friendly, nature-based tours of art and culture. Plus, it boasts some of the most beautiful fields and forests. It is a special region where you get the sense of time slowing down and life just flows at you. It might sound crazy, but you should experience it for yourself!
Unfortunately, a visit to the blossom fields didn’t work out for us due to weather. So, what does a mom do best? Postpone and change plans! Weather conditions didn’t keep us from going on an adventure! We visited some amazing museums, had fun at an indoor playground, went to the forest, and took off for a shopping afternoon. Not exactly what we had in mind (and we were disappointed), but we made the most out of our experience and still managed to have fun. This probably sounds familiar to a lot of moms! Solo mom adventures require a lot of flexibility!
Moms can do hard things
I will tell you a secret. I have an enormous urge to prove that I can do everything alone. Do you have this feeling too? I used to hate asking for help. I was upset with myself when I was overwhelmed but would never admit that I couldn’t do everything on my own.
I have learned throughout this past year that this is a foolish way of thinking, especially for a mom. My children benefit more from a mom who can regularly ask for help (and graciously receive it) and is more relaxed than a mom who is often exhausted, easily stressed out, and nervous all the time. I’m getting better at asking for help when I need it, which means my children get a better version of me.
Setting a solo mom mission
However, there are times when moms need to do everything on their own. And solo mom adventures with your kids are the perfect time to prove to yourself that you can do hard things! It’s not about proving to myself how much work and pressure I can handle, it’s about me discovering how much fun I can have by myself with the girls. I also wanted to show that solo moms can seek adventure with kids in all kinds of fun ways completely on my own!
So, we came up with an adventure plan and this is what we did! The mission of the weekend: enjoying our first campervan trip ever, looking for the most beautiful blossom fields on the coastline of Holland.
Solo mom adventure in a campervan
For our camping adventure, we rented the most beautiful and practical Hymer Campervan with a sleeping roof from Rent and Away. The sleeping roof takes your experience to the next level and it’s a true campervan escape. Traveling by campervan through Europe has been on my bucket list for years and I’m so proud of myself for taking on this adventure by myself with my girls. I think it proved to all of us just how capable we are of adventuring!
Seeing Europe in a campervan
If you are ever traveling in Central Europe and you love exploring with a campervan, I advise you to start in Belgium! Get your well-equipped campervan from Rent and Away, which is run by a beautiful young family. Jo and An will make sure you will have everything you need for an unforgettable stay in Europe and take great care of you. We had the best experience with them.
Start your adventure by exploring Belgium – its such a beautiful country and conveniently located in central Europe. Drive south, passing through Luxembourg and France. Next, you can head further southeast to Spain or Portugal, or southwest to Italy via Switzerland. Both are amazing options! If these itineraries don’t inspire (although, how could they not?), you can also head up north, via the Netherlands to Scandinavia, passing through Denmark to magical Scandinavia. And I didn’t even mention how beautiful Croatia, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia are! There are so many possibilities!
Solo mom campervan adventure starts here
Unfortunately, none of the above exotic multi-country trips were on our agenda, as we only had a weekend to travel. But that’s ok! Again, we made the most out of the time we had and had a wonderful time adventuring a bit closer to home.
We started out in Herzele, a beautiful municipal in the province of East-Flanders. An and Jo and their two lovely daughters welcomed us into their beautiful domain of Rent And Away. The perfect start for any mom seeking adventure. They are such a lovely family that loves adventuring, and this shows in their vans. You notice instantly that they have thought about every little detail. These vans are the perfect family (and solo-mom) traveling vehicles.
After a very complete and thorough tour in the van with all the necessary explanations, we were ready to go! Since it was already nightfall when we got going, we opted to stay there and spend our first night in the van in Herzele. This way, we could leave early in the morning and go and search for flowers in the beautiful nature of Zeeland. The girls were so proud of their campervan. The only thing they weren’t very fond of at first was the indoor toilet. But I can guarantee you, it was an incredible luxury to have our mobile toilet with us!
Chasing blossoms in Dutch Zeeland
Heading on to the Dutch coast, we made plenty of stops for picnicking and taking some beautiful pictures. I was surprised at how easy it was to park with the Hymer campervan. The size of this van is so compact that you will always find a spot to park. For a van with a kitchen, shower, toilet, table space, and sleeping space for four people, that’s pretty incredible!
The only thing we didn’t find were the blossom fields! I completely miscalculated my route and trusted on faith and luck to find one. We did not. However, instead of being stressed out about it, we just went with the flow, drove to a destination called Cadzand, and enjoyed the beach for a couple of hours. It was not what we planned, but it worked out for the best! The girls completely forgot about the flowers and enjoyed the trip. They were so proud of their campervan that I could have taken them to an industrial zone to run around and they wouldn’t care!
We stayed for the night at a camping area of an asparagus farm in Ede, where they also grow blueberries. No flowers, no blossom, but instead a beautiful area with a playground and an incredible quietness. No need to seek adventure. We had a crazy fun night on the campervan’s sleeping roof after an amazing sunset.
Embracing a change in plans
So, what about the flowers? Well, we just had to let go of this idea for the weekend and make the most of the other moments. Once I was able to let go of my expectations and follow the speed of the children, everything got easier and felt less stressful. When adventuring as a solo mom, sometimes even the best laid plans just don’t work out and the best way to stay calm and have fun is to embrace the change.
I planned our trip with only one destination in mind, the Dutch coastline, which left us a lot of room for flexibility. And this is key when you travel with kids. I don’t believe you can push children too much in what you want to do with them. You can dream of climbing a mountain during your trip. But even if you only get halfway, you also can still have an amazing experience.
Trust yourself and your kids
One of the most important things you learn from doing solo mom adventures with your kids is to trust yourself and your parenting abilities. Pulling off a solo adventure (even if it goes wrong), is empowering! Every time you adventure with your kids, you strengthen that “mommy muscle” and want to see what else you can do.
Plus, adventuring with your kids also makes you trust your children more. I believe that kids are able to do more than they (or most grownups) think. Kids are very capable if we let them be, and solo adventuring sometimes means that they have to step up and help out more. This is a great opportunity for them to grow and learn. Getting them out of their comfort zone a bit and experiencing new things together will strengthen your family bonds. Together you will find the most magical moments and incredible places, without tight planning and high expectations.
Best places to view spring blossoms in Belgium and Holland
Since I’ve lured you here with the promise of spring flower blossoms in Belgium and Holland, here’s a short list of some of the most beautiful places to visit when you go to Belgium or Holland, each described in more detail below:
- Rivierenhof Park – Belgium
- Arboretum Kalmthout – Belgium
- Hoogstraten – Belgium
- Royal Serres – Belgium
- Hallerforest – Belgium
- Keukenhof in Lisse – Holland
Magnolia blossom at Rivierenhof Park – Deurne (Belgium)
Rivierenhof Park in Antwerp is a beautiful extended park with a digital Magnolia route to explore the magnificent Magnolia trees in the park. Even though a lot of these trees are still young here (and thus relatively small), there are some larger trees spread around the park with big gorgeous blooms. I even found one with a low-hanging branch to sit on!
If you want to practice some camera skills in order to capture your adventure and tell your story, this is the perfect spot! You will find other blossoms and flowers as well here, like cherry blossoms and daffodils. So this park is definitely a must-visit if you want to experience spring in Belgium.
Bloom period: mid-March – mid-April
Arboretum Kalmthout (Belgium)
The garden of Arboretum Kalmthout is one of the most impressive gardens in the North of Belgium. The arboretum, as the name refers to, is a sum of different trees and plants that were all planted with a scientific purpose. Research is always ongoing in the park, and it results in a beautiful scenery of vegetation. During blossom season, you can find colorful flowers everywhere.
Bloom period: April-May
Blossom route in Hoogstraten (Belgium)
Hoogstraten is a city in Belgium famous for its strawberries and beautiful hikes between the prairies. Most people don’t know that during the blossom time, they have beautiful routes to follow between the apple trees, blueberries fields, and pear and cherry flowers. This hike of 9km takes you through magnificent areas where you don’t find anything else but nature and quietness. It’s amazing!
Bloom period: Beginning of April through the first week of May
Royal Serres in Brussels (Belgium)
Once a year, when the flowers and trees are blooming, the king and queen open the doors of their Royal Garden for visitors. You can walk through the ancient park used by all Belgian Kings and Queens. At the end of this route, you enter the Royal Serres with many tropical flowers and trees.
Opens to the public: three weeks in April
Hallerforest in Halle
Once a year, some of the Belgian forests turn completely purple thanks to the purple hyacinths that bloom from mid-April till the first weeks of May. This, of course, depends on the weather. When the weather is warmer, the hyacinths bloom more. But, the sun also makes the leaves of the trees grow faster. This robs the flowers from the light. Without sunlight, the small flowers disappear.
Bloom period: mid-April through the first weeks of May
Keukenhof in Lisse
The most beautiful flower park in the Netherlands is het Keukenhof in Lisse, the North of Holland. Here you will find a colorful show of all kinds of flowers. Each and every year, you will find different creations and art pieces made of flowers. The park is located in between the tulip fields of Lisse. During this time of the year, you will find tulip fields all over.
Opens to the public: mid-March through mid-May
Flower fields and more
These are just a couple of places to visit in Belgium and the Netherland, but we have many more during spring. Too much to see in one season! But it is so worth visiting these two countries during this colorful season. Check out the website of Kids del Mundo for more adventures in Europe!
Solo mom adventure? Yes, you can!
So, to all of you strong women that want to go on more adventures with your kids, don’t stop going outdoors with your kids just because you don’t have someone to adventure with! You can do it! Solo mom adventures are empowering and powerful! Your kids will love seeing you being brave and courageous. It’ll plant seeds for them to grow up as independent girls and boys, too!
Just remember: Start with a plan on what to do, but don’t be afraid to let go of the idea of how to get there! Embrace the change and be flexible. You might just find an even better adventure! You can do hard things, mama! Let your inner child come out and play, sing and dance with the kids! They will love it, and you will too!
Have you ever taking your kids on a solo mom adventure?
About the author
Tine is a natural-born adventurer from Belgium. She met her husband, soulmate, and the father of her two girls while working and living in the Dominican Republic. Nine years ago they moved back to Europe and are still exploring European grounds. Her happy place is wherever her kids are, but she spices up life by discovering unknown places, planning new adventures, and going outdoors as much as possible. Having kids added a big value to her life, because seeing life through the eyes of her little ones lifted it to a completely different dimension. Their family goal is to travel the world, living a location-independent lifestyle. The family is now working on a couple of projects to make this dream happen! In the meantime, they keep on exploring and Tine keeps on writing and inspiring other families to explore just like them.
You can find more from Tine online in the following locations:
Instagram: @kidsdelmundo
RWMC posts: Tine Voeten
Website: http://www.kidsdelmundo.com
