I know we can’t travel right now, but we can still plan, can we not? In honor of Mother’s Day, I’ll give you a few of the reasons why your mother might be your best travel partner for when you do get to get on a plane or a boat again. If you can’t travel with your own mother, I’m sure mine will be ready to go and she will probably take you with her if you want to go.

If you’ve got a good mama, go with her. If she says she wants to go on a cruise, pack your swimmers and go. If she says she wants to go to the beach, grab your sand buckets and flip flops. If you need a travel buddy for a cruise, call your mother. I bet she will go!

Now lets just go ahead and get this out of the way. I’ve got a great mom (and dad for that matter) who loves to travel and will go just about anywhere we want to go. She’s been taking my brothers, sister and me along her trips our whole lives. More often then not, she would add a few extra cousins, maybe one or both of her siblings, the in-laws, a close friends and of course, her own mother and father. If you don’t have a good mama (and daddy) like mine, then just go with mine!

Now you may wonder why I would suggest taking your mother where ever you go. If you know me by now, then you know I’m going to tell you why. There are lots of reasons to spend some time on the go with the woman to whom you owe your existence. I will limit my list to ten because, well, we’ve got places to go!

1. You Owe Her!

You owe her really big. She made you. She kept you alive when you were a tiny human not even capable of achieving that on your own. She created your being. She shaped your mind, fed your body and paid for piano lessons you didn’t pay attention to. She made sure your socks matched. She found your good shoes for you because she knew you’d be on the front row for group picture day. She’s forgone meals to feed you, then probably ate what you nonchalantly left at the table. I believe she’s probably eaten enough macaroni and leftover dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets to last her a lifetime. You owe her.

The greatest part about owing her is that you don’t owe her money. Your debts can be repaid with your time. Your time will go much further than your money-every single time.

2. You Will Eat Better

If you go with her, chances are you won’t have to eat left over chicken dinosaurs. She might know where to get gourmet chicken nuggets. She probably has some good pretty good travel perks by now. She may have vouchers for Ruth’s Chris or comps for a cruise that includes that notorious all you can eat fare. And since she’s your mom, she will probably share if you’re nice.

3. She Knows All the Good Places to Go

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Remember that time in your life when you didn’t want to go anywhere unless you went with your friends? Everybody else was lame or embarrassing, so you’d rather stay home and be bored. During that part of the circle of life of parenthood/childhood when you as a kid don’t want to travel with the old folks, your old folks were taking advantage of their vacation time. What you don’t know, until you have kids of your own, is that they didn’t necessarily care if you went or not. A little adult time away from mini vans, muffin baking and making the world turn never hurt your mom one iota. What you also don’t know is about all the places she went without you. Chances are if she traveled without you during that particular phase, she went to some pretty cool places. She’s learned some great travel tips and hacks about places she’s been and will love taking you back.

4. She’s a Better Planner Than You.

Okay, so this one may not be exactly the case. But what if she is?? What if she is at least just as good of a travel planner as you? That might mean she has a different take on your destination that will add to your already well planned vacay. She will walk you around the corner to the cutest little diner for breakfast, lead you on an escapade through the streets of a foreign country, or to a hole in the wall joint in Memphis that only locals and your mom know about!

5. You Can Plan for Her.

If she’s not a great travel planner, you’ll have the opportunity to teach her a thing or two and who doesn’t love to grasp that opportunity to get one up on ol’ mom? You will also have the opportunity to do some things for her that she’s spent her whole life doing for others. Have you ever tried to plan and pack for a vacation for six people? You end up needing a vacation from vacation.

6. She’s Excited to Go

She’s always way more excited than everyone else to get going. She’s probably already in the car! What are you waiting for??

7. Upgrades!

Because of #6, she is going to be first in line. She will be the first one to get the upgrade on the plane, the hotel room or cruise cabin. She’s going to travel in style. You just know it. You can count on it. She has that ability to talk her way into what she wants. Better stick close by. If she’s enjoying upgrades, again chances are she will share if you’re nice.

On our most recent trip, because of a perk my mother had with her SkyMiles, she was able to get my bag checked with hers before anyone else could. Did I think my bag would make it back to Tennessee? Nope, not at all. But did I want to lug that bag around FLL for hours? Nope, I did not! I was positive that sending your bags through hours before your flight would surely result in them surely being lost. She was forever confident that her perks would make it all okay. So I was pleasantly surprised to see my luggage on the carousel.

8. She Gets the Good Seats

If you aren’t traveling with her, who is going to use those Chriss Angel Mindfreak tickets in Vegas? You know that’s not her thing! Who is going to take those Bourbon Street Balcony passes on New Year’s Eve? She’s not going to let that stuff go to waste. Somebody is going. It might as well be you.

9. Quality Time

Of course it’s a great opportunity to spend quality time with your mom and dad if you’re fortunate enough to have them. There’s no substitute for a good vacation to renew relationships, break bread together and have some fun. And just think, if your plane gets delayed, its just that much more time to spend together.

10. If You’re Lucky, She’ll Pay.

Last but not least by any means-if you are super nice to your mom, she MAY foot the bill or some of the bill. Hmmm, could that’s why my boys like to travel with me so much.

I love traveling with my mother! We are already planning our next adventure. There are lots of places I would totally have missed out on if it weren’t for my parents and their traveling selves. My parents handed down their wandering gene to me. She got it from her mother and I hope I’m passing it down to my boys. My mom and dad still rank at the top as some of my favorite traveling buddies right up there with the Sheriff of course, my own kids and grandkids. I love my mom’s sense of adventure and my dad’s willingness to go along with just about anything we come up with.

Do you travel with your mom? What about your kids? I’d love to hear your reasons why, see your travel photos and hear all about all of your adventures.