Hello and welcome! I’m Melissa, The founder, writer, and photographer behind The Navigating Mom! I’m an avid traveler with a passion for the outdoors, sustainable travel, and sharing those experiences with you!

I am here to help you travel together as a family and see this wonderful planet we call home, all while protecting it at the same time!

I started my first travel blog back in 2017 as a fun hobby, and it quickly grew into something much more meaningful. As my passion for conservation and eco-friendly travel deepened, my content naturally shifted toward helping families experience the world in ways that respect nature and preserve it for future generations.

The jaw dropping beauty of the destinations I was visiting inspired me to change how I was living and traveling, and I hope you will allow me to help you do the same!

More About Me

I grew up in a small town with not a whole lot going on! As a child and teen, I was not able to travel much, but I can remember sitting around, talking about the places I wanted to go, and using the internet to fuel my day dreaming.

Despite the hours spent doing this, my love for travel was not fully realized until my late 20’s. I slowly began expanding my travels, and it really took off after my favorite little travel partner came along!

I started traveling with my daughter when she was a toddler, and her interest in traveling and gaining new experiences has only grown. “Where are we going today?” quickly became a common question I received from her! Together we have visited 5 countries and a good portion of the United States, but plan on growing that number quickly! 

As my passion for travel grew, eco-tourism and conservation began to grab my attention. Visiting beautiful destinations in the Caribbean to find beaches littered with empty food containers and bottles and hiking jaw dropping trails in the Adirondacks to find trash lining the trails made me stop and think.

Why do people do this? Why do they not appreciate the natural beauty around them and why do they not want to preserve it, keep it clean for themselves and others, and protect the creatures we are so lucky to share these places with? More importantly, I asked myself, what can I do about it? What can I do to help-both in my personal life and to inspire others to do the same?

And from this, The Navigating Mom was founded! I not only wanted to help families travel together stress-free, I wanted to help them plan trips that were sustainable, focused on an active, outdoor lifestyle, and provide resources that would quickly grab the attention of kids of all ages.

My First Career

Travel blogging was not always my dream job (at least not to my full realization). From a young age (somewhere around 14?) I wanted to become a nurse. That’s exactly what I did! Straight out of high school, I attended a local college and got my associates degree in nursing and became a RN at age 21.

I continued my educational journey and obtained my bachelors of nursing in December 2014, with plans to continue on for my masters and become a family nurse practitioner. And so I enrolled in a masters program.

While completing my degree, choosing between staying home and studying or going out and traveling became a difficult choice. I would spend time while traveling holed up in a hotel room preparing for or taking exams. I spent nights on a cruise ship completing final projects for one of my courses. All the while realizing that what I really craved, what I really wanted was to pursue my interest in travel and running my own business.

After attending school for my masters in nursing, I enrolled in business school to obtain my MBA. I successfully completed the coursework for this, bringing me to the present day. While I still spend my days working as a nurse (once a nurse, always a nurse!), I spend my free time researching, writing, developing resources for families, and sharing my own personal travel experiences.

As my business continues to grow, my hope is that you will join me on this journey and learn how you to can not only experience stress-free travel as a family, but also contribute to the conservation and eco-tourism causes.

My Travel Partner-Olivia

I could not introduce myself without mentioning my favorite travel partner-Olivia! Olivia has accompanied me on many of my journeys, and has grown to develop her own love for travel. At 11 years, she rivals my list of travel experiences, and it is my absolute pleasure to be able to give her those experiences!

She is a spunky, determined, and fun-loving kid who, although at times would prefer to sit inside on her tablet, always enjoys exploring new places, watching wildlife do their thing in their natural environments, and of course-the occasional shopping trip!

Olivia is also the voice behind the kid friendliness rating scale. For each destination we visit, she gives her feedback on how kid friendly the destination is so it is easier for you to choose where your next family vacation will be!

Aside from travel, Olivia has a great love for all things music and dance. You will often find her jamming out to Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and of course, the trending KPOP Demon Hunters songs. If she’s not doing that, you can find her reading to shelter animals at the local humane society.