Do you know that traveling with young children teaches you something no guidebook ever will? In this article, we’re talking about how Jenna Bush Hager discovered that family travel isn’t about sticking to plans — it’s about learning when to let go.
In Italy, surrounded by history, art, and impossibly high ceilings, Jenna watched her son Hal do what children do best: experience wonder and exhaustion at the same time. Inside the Vatican, as the beauty stretched upward and time seemed to slow, Hal drifted in and out of sleep. His small body was tired, but his curiosity refused to fully shut down. Each time his eyes opened, he grabbed the moment, as if he knew something special was happening and didn’t want to miss it.
That’s when Jenna realized something quietly powerful. Traveling with kids isn’t about perfect photos, smooth schedules, or seeing everything. It’s about surrender. Surrendering to missed naps. To slow steps. To moments that don’t look magical from the outside — but feel magical when you’re in them.
Back home, Italy followed them. Not in souvenirs or photos, but in Hal’s voice. His cheerful “Grazie mille!” and “Buongiorno!” echoed through the house, turning ordinary mornings into reminders that children absorb far more than we think. Even half-asleep, even overwhelmed, they take pieces of the world and make them their own.
Jenna’s reflections revealed the real heart of family travel. It’s in the messy moments. The off-schedule meltdowns. The tired walks. The unexpected pride when your child uses a new word or claims a place like it belongs to them.
In the end, it wasn’t the landmarks that stayed with her. It was the feeling that, for a brief moment, Italy belonged to Hal — not as a destination, but as a memory stitched into who he’s becoming.
Sometimes the best trips don’t give you perfect memories.
They give your children a quiet sense of wonder —
and remind you that that’s more than enough.
