When Dean and I started ‘serious’ travelling, we did so alone. No one to disagree with (but yourself), no one to compromise with over what you saw and did, the ultimate freedom. Bliss. And bliss it was – for us both for many years. We would travel the world, unaware of each others existence, and loved every minute of it and the time we spent with new-found friends.

Africa beckoned, and separately we considered our options. We both decided to join a trip (organised travel being slightly nerve-wracking for us by this point as we were used to ‘going it alone’). In order to maximise our time in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, independently we decided this was the only way. Well the trip brought about more than views of the stunning Ethiopian Mountains – it brought about the start of The Smart Way Round. A future not only full of happiness but also a nice dollop of travel thrown in too. We could not have been a better match on that front.

So travel changed. And change for the better it did. I didn’t think it was possible to enjoy travelling with someone as much as travelling alone. I quickly found out it is. We travelled thousands of kilometres on a train. Owing to our slightly unconventional relationship (and Dean’s exciting job in travel) people questioned, “oooh what if you don’t get on?” How could we not? We met travelling, seeing each other at our best and our worst (imagine a week without running water in Sudan). Spending 24/7 in each others pockets. We can be apart for weeks at a time, but what we like best is when we are travelling together. The journeys that we have taken have been fantastic, and full of effortless compromise as I take Dean up yet another monument or to an Olympic Park (things he has grown to love too!) and he surveys every statue and takes me to historic or Roman sites. Each of us experiencing things that might have passed us by without each other.

With this, the biggest change of our travelling life is yet to happen. Travelling as a ‘we’ was big enough, but life is about to take another twist and turn. In September we will welcome the newest member of The Smart Way Round, as Baby Smart makes three. Travel will have to change, I have no doubt. Life will get harder, 48 hour weekend breaks will have to get longer. However one thing is for sure. I won’t be stopping going to see Dean at the start or end of his trips. Oh no. Baby Smart and I will have adventures together as we go and seek out ‘Daddy’ in different places. People think I’m naïve, and in truth I don’t know what the sleep deprivation will do to us, or how we will feel. However one thing is for sure. We have a long travel bucket list that we want to experience, but have saved some of them for ‘one day if we have children’. Well that one day is now here… and with that there are other places to explore and Baby Smart will be coming too!

So armed with my copy of ‘The Lonely Planet: Travel with Children’ (Thanks Hemingway’s!) and ‘Tales from a Travelling Mum’ I’m off to prepare for what people say will be the best chapter of our life. We don’t doubt it will, especially as we continue to combine it with a little bit of what we love….

– Natalie (Dean and Baby Smart)

Now just off to find a baby backpack!