4 Humans 1 Bedroom: It's Not Always Roses For A Traveling Family
Sharing one bedroom occurs often for us nowadays. It's one of the less glamorous sides of family travel that I want to share with you.
On a day when we're all crammed into one space, you'll see us leaping like frogs on lily pads between suitcases and air mattresses, avoiding shoes, toys, and sharp corners of a bed frame.
So, here's a glimpse of what real life looks like on the road:
On a great day- kids have their own bedroom
On a good day- kids have their own bed, and share a room with us
On a regular day- kids share an air mattress and blanket
I don't know about you, but we like to sleep with a fan and with the AC set to 70 degrees. We find we sleep best if we slow all our bodily functions in subarctic temps.
But depending on where we're at, that may not always be possible.
Recently, we stayed with my mom and her husband, who is a senior citizen living in the Arizona desert. He liked to sleep with the house temp set at 78 degrees! Miserable for us!
On a great day- we have total control over temp settings and we have a ceiling fan!
On a good day- we have a fan.
On a regular day- we toss and turn a little more than we would normally, and sleepily discard clothes throughout the night. (This is one of the hardest things being on the road: not always having the comforts and preferences of home!)
So, as you can see sharing a space can be tough; these inelegant details aren't always translated in our happy beach pictures on Facebook. But I want you to know that they are there.
And we're not complaining.
It's just that if you think it's always rainbows, lollipops, and cotton candy clouds for us, you'd have an inaccurate picture. This life is still bulging with daily sacrifices. One day, I'm sure we'll tire of them, and when we do, we'll settle down, hang up our passports, and buy a "Welcome" mat.
But for now, I'm planning a trip where after I leapfrog through the disaster area of our shared room, I'm going to be able to walk 5 minutes to the most beautiful beach in Aruba.
Yeah, for now...I'm ok with the discomforts.
How much would you be willing to give up to live a life of full-time travel?