Why New Parents Should Embrace Solo Travel

Kyla Denanyoh
3 days ago
4 min read

Parenting is a fantastic role, and it also takes up a lot of your time. So I've taken three solo trips before my daughter was two years old. The first trip was a hotel room and a visit to see The Nutcracker in Chicago. The second trip was spent sleeping and enjoying room service. On the third trip, I visited Atlanta and saw the Black Panther costume exhibit.

I lounged in the pool. I had brunch with a bridesmaid. I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing. I watched a lot of Food Network. I don't even remember if I brought my laptop. This trip was not intended to attend an event. It was not a corporate function. Nothing like that. The trip was solely for me to take three days to myself, enjoy, hang out, and get some sleep.

The first reason to embrace solo travel as a new parent is that you're traveling for yourself. These trips have no purpose other than relaxing, sleeping, not thinking about food, ordering takeout or room service, and unwinding. That is really important because, as a parent, you are constantly sharing your time. Even when your kid is asleep, we are watching her on the monitor. We're working with one ear out to hear if she's still sleeping. She's an excellent sleeper, but you don't stop being a parent.

I was a new mom. My husband and I were first-time parents, but he seemed to be dealing with the transition better than I, OR because he was working full time, he had enough things to distract him or entertain him when he wasn't working. I worked full-time until my kiddo was one year old, then became a stay-at-home mom, and it wasn't easy to spend all day without too much adult interaction. Honestly, it was January 6, 2021, and I was watching my kiddo try to stand while the U.S. Capitol was being stormed, and I realized life was too short to spend all day at work. I had asked to become a stay-at-home mom, but that didn't mean that I didn't miss the witty banter with adults. I missed having a reason to get up and get dressed.

I couldn't turn off my mom brain. When I get hungry, I wonder if my child is hugry.

And as a mother, I could never turn it off. Even while traveling, I still thought about my daughter. I'm FaceTiming her. I'm FaceTiming my husband. I woke up this morning, and I looked at her on the monitor. You cannot turn it off. And the solo trip is not for you to turn it off. It's just for you to have a weekend, have a day, and just unwind, be with your own thoughts. I'm walking through the airport, and I'm like, I don't have to think about if anyone is hungry or what. Do you not want to sit down and do some work? Do you want to run around? Do you need to use the restroom? I don't have to think about any of that. I get to go back to:

Kyla, what do you want right now? Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Do you need anything? Do you just want to sit down? And that is refreshing.

So the second reason new parents should embrace solo travel is that it gives me uninterrupted time to work. And that sounds weird even saying it, but I produce a podcast, I write blogs, I write for other organizations, I have different clients, and I am pulled in a lot of different directions.

I've also started consulting part-time. And there's very little time for me to just sit down, dig through all of it. Or even this weekend, I spent the time, and I just caught up. I brought my laptop. So I'm not really a person who sleeps in. I still woke up at 08:00 because my daughter usually gets up at 8:15 in the morning. So I still got up at eight, but I just wrote a whole blog and then I started to outline a second one.

My solo trips aren't for me to not work at all and completely unplug.

It's just for me to run my own schedule however I want to. If I want to blog in the morning and not do anything in the afternoon, I can. If I want to go to brunch, come back and blog, I can. If I want to edit a podcast episode early, I can. There are no other demands on my time. Additionally, if I want to sit and read the four magazines I bought at the airport that were overpriced, I can do that too.

The ability to dictate your time, however you want to is really important. And I do not need that all the time. I was a willing participant in becoming a parent. I absolutely love our little family. But it's also nice to get away for the three days. And so the last reason that it's essential for solo travel is I consider solo travel self-care. 100%. This trip here, seventy-two hours of absolutely nothing but relaxing and getting ready to hang out with a homegirl and have brunch. That's it. And then you know what? I'll come back to the room, lie down, and do nothing.

Solo travel is really important for new parents because you don't have any other demands on your time. You can set your own schedule and do whatever you want. You can spend time on yourself and relax. And also, solo travel is a form of self-care. Hanging out with yourself, finding out what's going on, how are we feeling, how are we enjoying life, how are we enjoying the solitude of this trip, and then getting back to it. I hope you enjoyed this.