In 2010, my parents and I took, Jack, my 18 month old son to Florida for a family reunion. During this trip, we spent an incredible day at the Magic Kingdom, watching my toddler take it all in with wide eyes. The next day happened to be my birthday and we had reservations at a restaurant at Disney’s Beach Club Resort.

Because we were staying at a very inexpensive and extremely noisy chain hotel in Orlando, we had to drive to the Disney property. When we arrived, dad dropped us off and went to park our rental car. To reach the restaurant he had to walk through the hotel and somewhere along the way, he got turned around. So he did what he always did — he struck up a conversation with someone nearby who happened to be the woman working the Disney Vacation Club sales booth in the lobby. Eventually, after a lengthy discussion, he followed her advice and met us at the restaurant.

Upon arriving at our table, he announced, “I think I’m going to buy a Disney timeshare” while my mom and I scraped ourselves off the floor.

Family standing in front of Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World holding a toddler — *The 2010 Disney trip that launched our travels*

Now, to understand how wild this pronouncement was, you have to know a bit about my dad: his idea of a vacation usually involved speed and the possible risk of death — motorcycle racing, downhill skiing, mountain climbing, paragliding. Disney timeshares were not exactly his thing.

Photo of a man leaping over a chasm in Utah — *THIS was dad’s thing!*

A man with downhill skis and gear in the 1970s — *And this was too — circa 1979 in Colorado*

But he did his research and followed through and that simple moment of connection with a kind Disney cast member kicked off a new chapter for our family. After buying the timeshare, we began vacationing at Disney regularly joined by my sister, Christy, and her son. Eventually, both Christy and I added another boy to the mix, and all eight of us began traveling together. We stayed everywhere from Saratoga Springs to the Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Lodge and even Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.

Four boys in swimsuits standing in front of pool at Walt Disney's Beach Club Resort in Florida — *The boys enjoying Disney’s Beach Club resort, 2017*

In 2018, with the PGA Tour coming to a nearby town, my dad decided to rent out their lake home for golf visitors. He made a deal with Christy and me — if you help me list my home on Airbnb, I’ll put whatever I earn into a vacation savings account. We did and he rented it to a group of USA Today photographers for a pretty penny.

What did we do with the money? We took the boys to Europe. No particular reason—just a hunch that it would be unforgettable and it was.

A multi-generational family with luggage at Ohare airport — *At O’Hare, headed on our first European adventure, 2018*

Of course, traveling wasn’t new to us. As kids, we’d spent a month sailing the Virgin Islands, and we routinely visited grandparents in Florida and Newfoundland. When I was six, right around the time Princess Diana got married, we lived just outside London for the summer while my dad taught computer science at a Department of Defense school. Later, he did the same in Switzerland. As a professor at UW–Whitewater, Dad had summers off and our family leaned into those seasons with full hearts and open itineraries.

Some of the best memories came from when things went wildly off the rails, like the time we found ourselves stranded in a gondola on Mont Blanc and had to be rescued by helicopter. These misadventures became part of our family culture: laugh through the mishaps, treasure the detours, and chase the joy.

When my second son was born and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, adventure felt like the furthest thing from our minds. But eventually, we realized how badly we needed something to look forward to. Our first trip as a CF family was a road trip from our home in Wisconsin to Georgia for a cousin’s wedding. It was, in many ways, a complete disaster and Christy and I nearly turned around in northern Georgia (seriously). But it proved something important: with a little planning and a lot of flexibility, travel was still possible.

A man in a business suit looking at his cell phone and holding a baby in a sailor suit — *Dad and Will — one of the few photos we managed to take during our hectic Georgia road trip in 2013*

Our family took two major trips to Europe, starting in 2018 with a 7-week journey through Austria, Croatia, and Switzerland. My dad was always game for anything and on the trip he played with his grandkids like he was the biggest kid in the group.

Travel was still hard — accommodating different interests, schedules and managing to pack extra medical gear was not for the faint hearted, but we did it. And it was better than we even hoped for!

In the summer of 2023, just after we returned from a trip to Newfoundland, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He faced chemo without complaint, stayed active with tennis and pickleball and still dreamed with me about “just one more trip.” Dad, Christy and I spent months planning our next big adventure — part therapy, part joy, all heart. With his oncologist’s blessing, we took the plunge and spent three weeks during the summer of 2024 exploring the Netherlands, Germany (my dad especially wanted to see the Rhine) and the French Alps.

Kids and grandparents in a German alley — *Exploring Rüdesheim am Rhein, 2023*

We zip lined, rode mountain carts, and climbed mountains — all activities that probably would've horrified his doctor, but he kept up every step of the way. No naps, no slowing down. We laughed, made new memories, and even visited the same spot on Mont Blanc where we’d been stranded two decades earlier.

My sweet dad passed away in November 2024. He was the best of us—curious, kind, fearless and full of wonder. He was also a faithful Christian and his quiet strength, generosity, and sense of purpose were rooted in that faith. He believed in loving people well, living life fully and trusting God through every season.

Three people with a piece of birthday cake — *Celebrating dad’s birthday in The Netherlands, 2024*

Dad’s love of adventure lives on in us. It’s in every road trip playlist, every midnight laugh in a foreign hotel, every moment we choose joy even when things get hard.

That spirit is the foundation of We Travel Anyway. It’s what drives us to help other families, especially those navigating medical or accessibility challenges to find freedom and joy in the journey, no matter how messy or unpredictable it may be. Because the truth is, travel doesn’t have to be perfect to be unforgettable. Sometimes the detours are the best part.

Why We Travel Anyway