Here We Go!

Our wandering pod.

You’ve found The Wandering Pod, this adventuresome dad’s take on family travel. If you’ve come from “Are We There Yet??” my family travel blog for Parenting magazine, thanks for making the leap. If you’re lucky enough to have happened on the site, welcome aboard (and go play Lotto).

In these pages, I vow to cover every aspect of family travel: rants, raves, reviews, features, news analysis, Q&As, and more.

Some of my pieces might make you cry. Some of them might make you think I’m an asshole. Hopefully most of my work falls somewhere in between. If I’m doing my job, you might even learn some stuff.

My philosophy
My philosophy on family travel is simple: I believe family travel is about creating new adventures at every turn. It’s about exploring uncharted territory. About trying different things.

Put simply, I think family travel is about transcending the familiar, as a group.

It’s important to note that my philosophy doesn’t require you to log thousands of frequent-flier miles. Heck, it doesn’t even mean you need to leave your home city. Any time you experience something new, any time you introduce your children to an environment that’s new to them, you’re committing an act of family travel. It’s something all of us parents do, often without even knowing it.

My pod
Why did I name the site, “The Wandering Pod?” After reading the few paragraphs before this one, the “wandering” part should be self-explanatory.

Understanding the “pod” part is a little trickier. It’s all about cetaceans (that’s a fancy word for whales and dolphins). Personally, I’ve been obsessed with these animals for as long as I can remember. Scientists call cetacean family groups “pods.” So that’s what I call mine, too.

In case you’re wondering, my family is not actually composed of cetaceans; (thankfully) they are all humans. In order to protect their privacy, when I write about them I will use fake names. I also won’t publish many pictures that show their faces; sure, you might catch a glimpse of my wife (a.k.a. Powerwoman) from time to time, but my two daughters, L (who turns 4 in May) and R (who turns 2 in September) will remain anonymous.

What’s next
At this point, parts of the site are a work in progress—in the next few weeks I’ll be holding a contest with a major design company to crowdsource a logo. I’ll also be doing more with partnerships and sponsorships; if you’re reading this and you represent a company or organization that might be interested, please give a shout.

Otherwise, the most important part of this blog—the content—begins today. From here on out, expect no fewer than two posts per week. Please read them. Please share them. If the spirit moves you, please engage with me in the comment fields (or on Twitter). See you ‘round.