"They Won’t Remember It." (Why We Go Anyway)
5 minutes
Oct 17, 2025
It is the sentence every parent hears the moment they book a flight with a baby.
Usually delivered by a well-meaning relative or a friend who prefers staycations, it lands with a dull thud:
"Why spend all that money? They won’t remember it."
And strictly speaking, they are right.
Etta won’t remember the sunrise we watched in Budapest. Thea won’t recall the specific taste of the pasta in that square in Italy, or the way the light hit the ocean on a Tuesday evening in Dubai.
If we were treating travel as a data-collection exercise for their future brains, we would fail.
But we don’t travel for the memories they will access in twenty years. We travel for who they are becoming right now.
The "Bedtime Story" Logic
We have never understood the logic that an experience only matters if it can be recalled later.
We read them bedtime stories every night, even though they won’t remember the plot next week. We hug them when they cry, even though they won’t remember the comfort in a month. We buy them ice cream, even though the taste lasts ten minutes.
We do these things because they matter in the moment. They shape their sense of safety, joy, and wonder.
Travel is no different.
It is sensory immersion. It is the sound of a different language, the smell of different food, the feeling of sand instead of carpet. It is the realisation - however subconscious - that the world is huge, and different, and kind.
We see the change in them when we come home. They are more adaptable. They are better sleepers. They are less phased by new noises or new faces.
They might not remember the trip, but the trip changes them.
We Are Parents, Not Just Caretakers
There is another reason we don’t wait until they are "old enough."
We do it for us.
Parenting at home is a job. It is a cycle of logistics: the school run, the washing pile, the meal plan, the bedtime routine. It is a beautiful life, but it is a relentless one.
When we travel, the cycle breaks.
Yes, we are still parenting. We are still changing nappies and managing tantrums. But we are doing it with a glass of wine in hand, looking at a view that isn’t our back fence.
We are more patient when we travel. We say "yes" more. The version of us that exists on holiday - the version that is relaxed, curious, and present - is the version we want our girls to know.
The Lightbulb Moments
And while they might not remember the itinerary, they remember the feeling.
They remember that for a week, Mum and Dad weren't looking at their emails. They remember that we spent four hours in a pool throwing a ball. They remember the feeling of being a unit, moving through the world together.
We have a photo on our wall of the girls on a trip last year. They are dusty, tired, and laughing.
They might look at that photo in twenty years and need us to tell them where it was taken. But we will remember.
We will remember the noise of the city, the heat of the day, and the fact that we didn’t wait for the "perfect time" to start living our life with them.
The perfect age doesn't exist. There is only now. So we go.
