I love my family! I was asked recently by a group of young men what was my favorite season in life and hands down parenting was one of the items at the top of the list. It came in a close second to living life with the woman of my dreams, but that’s for another blog on another day…

When our kids were little, my wife and I had a vision about raising kids that had the opportunity to travel, especially internationally. The vision of this decision was to attempt to raise kids that saw the world through the eyes of opportunity and not fear. We wanted our kids to live lives enriched by places and cultures that they have been to.

When my son was 10 years old, we took him to the Arizona Science Center (azscience.org). We decided to go and see an IMAX movie titled, “Kilimanjaro: The Roof of Africa.” It was a spectacular movie and followed a group of trekkers up the mountain 19,341 feet to the top of Africa. At the end of the movie, my son asked me if we could ever go climb Kilimanjaro, and without much thought, I agreed to this. Yep: I agreed to take my son on a trek to the roof of Africa.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a goal or idea that, in hindsight, is so preposterous that you wonder how you ever went about trying to break down how to even accomplish it. For one thing, at that point, I was 370 pounds. There was no way that I was going up that mountain (check out my weight loss journey to get to the roof of Africa here)!

Here is the other challenge: I didn’t have the money to accomplish this goal with my son. I had this idea ingrained in my head that all adventures are expensive. If there is one myth that I want to crush, it is this idea that all travel has to be expensive, and that any type of adventure travel is absolutely like trying to make it to the moon. I believe that the money idea kills so many dreams before they have even had a chance to grow. You owe it to yourself to investigate how affordable travel can actually be. Check out a great budget travel blog like NomadicMatt to get your start with travel hacking. It’s a real thing and it’s a travel game changer!

I want to share one principle when it comes to adventure travel that can save you thousands of dollars. It’s the idea of a network trail. You’ve got a circle of friends. You throw out your idea of the thing your wanting to do and see if they know someone. They may not, but they might point you in a direction. You keep working this train to see what you might uncover. In my story, I had a buddy named Richard Nungesser that leads a non-profit in Poland called Bread of Life. He has a buddy that works at an international school in Nairobi, Kenya. That buddy has a friend that leads trips with students to Tanzania with a local outfitter called the Marangu Hotel. Seems crazy, but this network trail saved me thousands of dollars. Most people will book an adventure through a U.S. outfitter that acts as the middle man with this local outfitter. The Marangu Hotel are one of the most established outfitters on Kilimanjaro. My son and I were able to travel hack our airfare, and paid a total amount for both of us to climb Kilimanjaro that would have been the equivalent of what we would have paid for just one of us with a U.S. based outfitter.

And so on January 5, 2012 at 6:23am, my son and I summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, all 19,341 feet of it! He was 17 years old, and I was able to say as a father that I had been able to keep a promise I made to my son when he was just 10 years old. We stood on that summit and I cried. I cried because I was fully aware as a father that the experience of travel is a gift. The experience of travel with someone you love, especially adventure travel, was priceless. I stood on that summit as the sun was rising and I realized that the courage it took to not believe the myths of travel gave me a once in a lifetime moment with my son that I will cherish til the day I die.

What are your travel dreams? Are there dreams of travel that you have blown off because you’re convinced that it’s just too expensive? Is there an adventure on your bucket list that you crossed of because you had someone make fun of it and call it impossible? Is there something that you’ve wanted to do with someone you love and you just can’t seem to get the idea out of Objection Central? Why don’t you take a moment and answer this question: What does it hurt to breathe even just a little life into those travel dreams? What would it hurt to even allow that dream to see a little sunlight?

My kids learned from an early age that it never hurts to poke at current reality a little and see if it is actually set in stone. You travel adventures may not be as far away from reality as you think. It just may require a small amount of courage to give the dream a voice and then watch it grow.

My son Nate has gone on to live out this adventure lifestyle and I think it might be worth it for you to follow his YouTube channel #AllSwartzofAdventure. It follows Nate and his wife Sarah as they take on new adventures each week. It’s a fun watch, and they are both amazing people that see the world through a lens of opportunity.

And if you’re interested in what Sarah is up to, check out her YouTube channel #AllSwartzofCrazy. She is a school teacher that’s vlogging her adventure in education.

My son married out of his league…just sayin…

Check out their channels and then click subscribe 🙂