The act of traveling itself has brought Dagan and her child joy — something they started after that first year of grieving. The act of traveling itself is what has brought Dagan and her child joy — something they started after that first year of grieving.
Before she had Gal, she lived in the United States, and traveled to India and Ibiza.
“To have adventures and to explore — this is freedom to me. Dagan told CNBC Travel that Gal is now in a place where she can share her passion for exploration and adventure with him. “That loss made me realize that I just had to go do what I love to do. “
Dagan who owns her own marketing company in Tel Aviv has been traveling with Gal as much as she can for the last year and a quarter. They have also done a safari in Tanzania and visited Bulgaria last summer. Roni Dagan, Gal’s mother, said that her son was difficult to travel with when he first started. But now, he is super easy. Source: Roni Daga
The two just returned from a six-week stay on the Greek Island of Syros, with Boundless Life – a travel agency for “slow traveling” families. The trip was a challenge, but it met three criteria: She had time to work and her son participated in social and educational activities during the day. It also gave them the impression of “living” somewhere else. She said, “You need community and coverage when you travel alone as a single mother.” “Here you’ll always find someone to help you if you ever need it. Work, school, and play
Dagan, a single mom, is one of many single moms rediscovering their self and reconnecting with children through travel. Boundless Life’s trips, which include accommodation, coworking spaces and schooling, are popular with single moms. Across its locations in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Bali, the company is also seeing more bookings from moms voluntarily traveling solo with their children, and divorced parents either traveling together or splitting the trip into two parts.
What it costs
Boundless Life’s six-week summer package for a two-bedroom apartment and one child in school is around EUR9,050 ($11,540). This includes Wi-Fi and weekly cleaning as well as access to coworking spaces, yoga classes, and a coworking space. The packages are cheaper during the winter, and they get cheaper proportionally the longer you stay. We’re always welcoming new people. “
We hear often from single parents who say that they need a community to enrich and make traveling more fun for their children — and themselves. Single parents already have a lot to deal with. “They show strength, resilience, and connection but want more for their kids,” she said. Travel’saved’ me
Like Alison Lewis, a single mother in the U.S. turned to travel as a way to cope with heartbreak. She escaped to a friend’s apartment in Hawaii for three months with her then two-year-old son, O, after the breakdown of her marriage in 2018.
The pair have since traveled all over the United States, taking in lakes, mountains, beaches, hot springs, dinosaur relics and diamond-digging.
“I love traveling — it kind of saved me,” said Lewis, a digital design consultant who now lives in Texas. “My child always had something new to enjoy and look at that wasn’t on his screen. “
Two-year-old O (who is now seven) with a family friend in Hawaii.
Source: Alison Lewis
But traveling hasn’t been easy, she said.
“It challenged me to my limits as a human being to travel alone as a mom with a two-year-old,” she said. She said, “It was a challenge to my limits as a human being to travel alone with a two-year-old.” “I had to start all over again. “
Like her friend Dagan, Lewis, and her son (now seven) also spent a six-week stay in Portugal’s medieval hilltop city of Sintra with Boundless Life. She said that she is not looking forward to going home, where she often feels the odd one out as a single parent. Lewis says she doesn’t look forward to returning home because she feels like an outcast as a single mother. “I don’t know what to do to give O the joy and happiness he has now, when we return home,” Lewis said. She said that being a single mother is a factor, as
families tend to stick together and single mothers are left out. They are just living in their own little world. “
Breaking free
Traveling after a relationship ends resonates with Catherine Chinatree, an artist based in Margate, U.K. She embarked on a three-month trip with her child, Sonny, then aged four, when she separated from her partner five years ago. They rented an apartment in Bangkok, and from there traveled around Thailand as well as Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Nepal, she said, visiting temples, hiking and seeing wildlife.
Catherine Chinatree, with her son, Sonny.
Source: Catherine Chinatree
“I wanted to break out of the life we had built up in London. Sonny started school and I was studying for my Masters of Fine Art in university. It was a pretty intense time,” she recalled. “I wanted to… spend three months just focusing on him. She said they returned to the U.K., and put off travel during the pandemic. But that feeling of wanting to get away again soon resurfaced.
This time, though, Chinatree had a major solo exhibition to prepare for, so she needed facilities for Sonny while she worked. She joined Boundless Life on a trip to Sintra for three months in spring 2023. “He joined immediately, and we instantly had this community of Portuguese soccer kids,” said she. “My social life was also bigger than at home. But I could also consciously decide to do things alone.” Dagan, Lewis, and Chinatree, feeling re-energized by their travels and confident as solo mom travelers, are already planning their 2024 destinations with their children. Lewis is interested in visiting an old friend living in Costa Rica. Chinatree is open to her next travel destination, as long as there’s a community for her and her son.
Regardless of where they go, Dagan is painfully aware that traveling with her son may have a shelf life.
“By the time they’re teenagers, kids can be done with you and want to be with their friends instead over the summer,” she said. “I want to maximize this opportunity. “