Meet Kadi

Welcome to The Passport to Paradise!  Here you will find travel guides, tips and itineraries for the average, everyday family.  We believe the gift of travel and experience is one of the best things we can give our children and family travel is the main focus of our blog. Although, I do like to sprinkle a few girls trips or couples trips here and there! 

Do you dream of taking vacations with your kids but don’t know where to start?  Or maybe you think that just because you have small children you aren’t destined to travel the world?  I used to think that too, but I am here to tell you that that is simply not the case!  It is within your reach to take a family vacation that is affordable, filled with lots of family fun, and where you can still experience some of the finer things!

Hi!!! I’m Kadi and, along with my two children, I currently reside in Pennsylvania.  I am a single mom with a passion for travel, ice cream and cute clothes!  I am constantly creating our family travel itineraries and pitching them to anyone who will listen! 

I never had the opportunity to travel much as a child, and most of the traveling I have done has been within the last several years.  When my daughter was born I, like many other new parents, thought that I needed to put my travel plans on hold and I missed out on a lot of memories that I could have made with her.  I want my children to experience many different places, people and cultures.  I believe that experiences and the memories you create with your children are the best gifts that you could ever give them. I don’t want you to miss out on these opportunities with your kids! 

How did I get here:   Well… it wasn’t easy, but my passion for travel has been burning for so long it was just time to take the plunge.  I graduated from The University of Scranton in Scranton, PA (The Office, anyone?) in 2011 with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. I had no idea what I wanted to do with that so I settled on going to law school. My plans took a hard left because two weeks after I graduated with my bachelors, my daughter was born.  I gave up going to law school (which looking back was the right choice for me) and I took the first job that came to me, working in the human services field. I kept thinking about how much I wanted to travel, but I had a new baby and didn’t think I could go by myself, let alone with a baby, so I sadly just accepted that travel wasn’t in the cards for me. 

Fast forward, 5 years later I was still working at this job that I absolutely hated. I woke up one morning and decided I had to make a change. So I decided to leave my job and go back to school for a Masters degree.  In 2019 I graduated with my Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology from the University of North Dakota.  But… I still didn’t feel like this was my calling.

Anytime I would have a conversation with anyone about what I wanted to be when I “grew up” or what I was going to do with any of my degrees I would just laugh and my response would always be “I just want to travel”.  I simply cannot see myself in a 9-5 job.  For me, it’s the feeling I get when I experience new places that gets me excited about travel blogging.  I have finally found my true passion. 

I had my first experience with international travel in 2010 when I went to Uganda with a bunch of other students from my university.  We spent 3 weeks traveling the country and immersing ourselves in the culture and I absolutely LOVED IT!  My next international experience was Greece in 2017 where I took my mom on a little mother-daughter getaway. 

Together, as a family, my kids and I have been checking states off our bucket list one by one (Kentucky, Missouri, Connecticut, Colorado, just to name a few) . I also have had the opportunity to take a couple child-free getaways to  Aruba and Maui. Of course, we still have a TON more on our bucket list and some plans for the very near future (so stay tuned!).  

My goal for this blog is to share my family’s personal travel journey while helping others recreate these experiences. I know it can be very stressful when you are trying to plan your trip itineraries, especially when you have children.  I am here to help!!  I truly want the average family to know that you can go on awesome trips without breaking the bank!! We aren’t trying to keep up with the Joneses, we are just your average family who loves to travel, just like you!!  

So here I am today, taking the step forward towards doing what I truly love and my journey to find myself and what makes me happy.  Thanks for joining us and welcome to our adventure!!