Alaska & British Columbia: A Mom on a Solo Mission to Get Her Girls to Alaska

Alaska & British Columbia: A Mom on a Solo Mission to Get Her Girls to Alaska

So when my daughter’s 9th birthday started getting closer, I decided we were going to Alaska.

Here I was trying to figure out how to (mentally) take two little kids to another country alone because my husband couldn’t come on this one. More on that later.

But I knew I couldn’t miss this opportunity. The problem was figuring out how exactly I was supposed to manage flights, ride shares, Airbnb’s, rental cars, cruise ports, ships, hikes, adventures, and two kids by myself. Then I had to laugh at myself a little because honestly… I’m a homeschool mom. I already do most of life solo during the day anyway. We already spend our days adventuring around our area together. I’m already carrying the backpacks, the snacks, the backup clothes, the medicines, the chargers, and all the random treasures my kids collect along the way. Really, this was just parenting in another location. Minus one extra set of eyes. And honestly, my girls are incredible travelers. They genuinely love the process of travel. Airports excite them. Random conversations with strangers during travel days excite them. New places excite them. They are adventurous, adaptable, and honestly tougher than most adults I know.

So at 3 years old and 8 years old, I booked us on a 7 night Alaska Inside Passage cruise for my daughter’s 9th birthday in August 2025.

The months leading up to Alaska flew by. We continued doing our normal family trips and every single time we came home, I found myself wanting more. Ready to plan the next trip before the current one was even over. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve booked flights while sitting in the airport waiting to go home from another vacation. People always tell me that’s crazy. But maybe travel feels different for us because we homeschool. It isn’t really an escape from our life. It’s an extension of it. Our kids don’t stop learning because we leave the house. If anything, they become even more alive out in the world. I don’t go into these trips expecting relaxation. I fully expect to spend time with my kids. Learning with them. Exploring with them. Being fully immersed in the experience alongside them because these are places I genuinely want to experience too.

I want to go dog sledding and snuggle the puppies just as much as they do.

I want to get lost in the backcountry of British Columbia searching for waterfalls to cool off in.

I want to walk across terrifying suspension bridges while my children laugh and run ahead completely fearless while I silently question every decision that led me there.

I want us to figure things out together, including the time the rental car company casually handed me a Tesla at the airport like I somehow knew how to operate it.

That’s the thing about traveling with kids though. It isn’t really relaxing. It’s chaotic and loud and exhausting sometimes. You’re overstimulated, carrying too much stuff, somebody always needs a snack, and half the time you’re just hoping everyone makes it to bedtime without a meltdown. But at the same time, it’s also the most alive I’ve ever felt. And somewhere between planning Alaska and road tripping through British Columbia, I realized this trip was becoming about more than just a birthday cruise. It was about proving to myself that I could still do hard things. That motherhood didn’t have to mean staying small. That my girls could grow up seeing the world instead of just reading about it.

And maybe most importantly, that adventure was still possible even when life didn’t look exactly the way I thought it would.