Meet Katie Restrepo | Family Travel Blogger

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Restrepo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what’s the most important thing you’ve done for your children?
The most important thing I’ve ever done as a parent that’s had the best impact on my children is traveling with them. You can see the excitement on their faces, watch them learn and grow, set up a foundation for cultural awareness and respect for the natural world. It’s truly an amazing and humbling experience.

We hike an average of once a week, and go camping about once a month. It’s easy to add in monthly adventures especially if you add in visiting zoos, museums, theme parks, and local events. Travel to different states and countries get added to our schedule often as our vacation days allow.
Most parents shy away from traveling with their kids. They don’t think they have the time or energy and then once their kids are older they have trouble scheduling travel around school schedules.

The biggest limiting beliefs I run into are waiting until the kids are older and justifying not traveling with young kids because they “won’t remember.”
Travel gives you permission to take away daily stressors that usually make travel with kids seem so improbable (work, cleaning, laundry, responsibilities) and really focus your attention on what’s most important: family.

My travel blog aims to inspire families to adventure together, showing them the family bonding that’s possible at any age through practical tips and ideas.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The journey has been fun but not easy. Creating a profitable travel blog takes time, determination, and ambition. When negative comments or lack of any responses gets you down, you have to give it more time or adjust your approach.

Blogging is a roller coaster of ups and downs, and if you don’t take the small wins as big wins you’ll quit right away.

Working full time as a parent gets you thinking that there needs to be a better way to support your family. A way that doesn’t trade over half your time for a salary. With the other part of your time split between kids, spouse, family, friends, and housekeeping (cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.) the work-life balance just doesn’t always add up.

When it gets tough, I find inspiration in reviewing the overall growth on my blog and social media, review what I learned from flopped ideas, and listen to podcasts to spark my creative energy. Then something works or a project gets completed, and I feel completely capable again. You just have to keep your faith through the trials of the learning curve.

I’ve found the most success in focusing content on how I see travel.

It’s not just how much the tickets cost, where you bought the gear, what facts about the location you can dig up, but WHY you travel together. What amazing moments do you get as a family?

Experiencing adventure together is the best feeling in the world, and I try to translate that to every review, photo, and video I create. The whole process can be fun and exciting as you plan, enjoy, and remember your trips. It’s not just dragging along whining kids, it’s about bonding together as a family while seeing the world.

My proudest accomplishment so far is actually my Kids Travel Journal (available on Etsy). I literally created it for our girls to use for our trip to Canada, added in extra templates, and uploaded it to be available for other parents to use too.

My journey is far from over as my Travel Blog is still in the beginning stages, but I can easily visualize long term success. In the meantime, we keep working full time, blogging part time, and traveling with our kids as much as possible.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We are lucky to live in San Diego. It’s full of great tourist spots and adventures.

Typically people want to visit the Zoo and SeaWorld and the ocean while they visit, which are some of my favorite places to hang out, support wildlife, and have family fun. We try to go to the Zoo as it is more centrally located than the Safari Park (and doesn’t get quite as hot), but it depends on what our visitors want to see. SeaWorld is perfect for both animals, thrill rides, kid rides, and Sesame Street characters.

Our go-to beach is La Jolla Shores. This is a family friendly beach that also has great tide pools and is close to the Cove where you can see sea lions (and walk down a bunch of stairs to a sea cave!) and Seal Beach where the seals hang out. It’s also a great area to go kayaking, and you can easily get a rental kayak or opt for a full kayak tour.

Definitely add Balboa Park to the list. It’s right next to the Zoo and Downtown San Diego. Lots of great architecture, museums, and gardens.

Old Town is the first European Settlement in the area and has historical buildings, shops, and amazing food. Be sure to get your fresh, homemade tortillas with butter on them as you walk around.

Next would be Seaport Village. Cute little shops, lots of food, and the amazing Seaport Village fudge factory. Stroll along the waterfront, ride the nostalgic carousel, and just enjoy the San Diego atmosphere.

Hiking trails are everywhere in San Diego county. If you want a slot canyon experience, there’s actually a small one called Annie’s Canyon in Solana Beach (north county). Oceanside Bluffs are great at Torrey Pines State Park. Iron Mountain or 3 Sisters Falls would be great options more inland.

For those who may have done the big tourist spots in San Diego, we like to take them to Julian, an hour east of downtown. This quaint little mountain town is famous for its apple pie (for good reason! Go eat at Mom’s Pie House). Lots of boutique shops, a great used book store, and a beautiful tea house. It makes a great day trip, or rent a cabin for a couple of nights on your visit.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Heather and Pete Reese from It’s a Lovely Life had a free travel blogging webinar that started it all.

It really showed me how possible it was to actually earn an income from a travel blog. Since then their blogging course and a handful of other creatives have helped shape my approach to blogging.

Also, my family and friends have been amazingly supportive the whole time, especially my husband who shows so much patience when I need to take extra time on our travels for photos and videos. None of this would have been possible without his support.

Website: https://familytravelfolio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/famtravelfolio/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FamTravelFolio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familytravelfolio/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF7PtOVpq-PWi5axYj3_YlQ

Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FamilyTravelFolio