Why mother and daughter love traveling the world together
By Lisa McKinley, 2-time traveler & Vacation Ambassador, Minneapolis, Minnesota
My sisters and I began traveling with my mom, Dottie, 14 years ago. And although we all enjoy traveling together, my mom and I have discovered that we are interested in exploring the destinations that are a little more exotic … places that take us out of our comfort zones, where we don’t necessarily know the language.
My mom and I live on a farm in Minnesota and that keeps us pretty busy. Every once in a while, we want to step away and enjoy a place different than what we see every day. Since I’m interested in anthropology (and so is my mom), we decided we wanted to see Egypt on our first adventure together. But we also knew that if we wanted to see everything on our list, we needed to go with a tour group—which is where OAT came in.
Lisa and Dottie at the “Sunset Bar” at the top of a hill in Guanacaste.
After that initial trip to Egypt, we knew we wanted to explore again. My mom always wanted to visit Costa Rica because of the wonderful stories she’d heard in the past. But for me, the decision to travel to Costa Rica came on a cold day in January. Mom and I received a catalog with a brightly colored tree frog on the cover announcing OAT’s Real Affordable Costa Rica trip. And with that, we knew where we’d go next.
We went places during this trip that two shy Minnesota girls would never have visited on their own. I felt protected and cherished from the moment mom and I exited customs in Costa Rica and were escorted through the throngs of people at the airport by our wonderful driver, Victor. It was the perfect start to a magical journey that would keep us busy every day.
Dottie enjoys a ride on a safari boat during her visit to the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge.
When I think about our trip together, my favorite memory may seem a little silly. I have this personal life goal to ride as many four-legged creatures as I can. I’ve already been on an elephant at a fair in Minnesota, a horse in Iceland, and a camel in Egypt. And during our adventure to Costa Rica, I was able to add one more to my list. During an impromptu discovery stop at a sugar cane plantation, our group witnessed two men leading a group of steers that were crushing sugar cane. I must have been incredibly engrossed in the moment, because one of the men approached me and encouraged me to get on the steer … and I did!
But our favorite memory from our trip provided my mom and I with another "first." During our stop at Manuel Antonio National Park, we were able to swim in the Pacific Ocean—our first time ever swimming in an ocean. My mom and I tried to body-surf as best as Minnesotans can, but wound up with more sand in our suits than anything else. Mom got caught in the surf and rolled in about three inches of water and laughed longer and harder than I’ve heard her laugh in years. It’s an experience the two of us will never forget.
Lisa and Dottie rest inside a large tree they found during a stop in the Guanacaste Province in northwestern Costa Rica.
Although my mom and I live on the farm together, we are busy all the time. Our experiences traveling together give us these special moments to get away and truly enjoy our time together. These new experiences—like Costa Rica—allow us to reconnect in a way that simply isn’t possible back at home in Minnesota. I can’t wait for our next mother/daughter adventure.
Explore the beauty of Costa Rica’s tropical forests and soothing thermal mud baths on our Real Affordable Costa Rica adventure.