When I was a kid, I had this huge study table that I’d pretend was a train coupe. My sister and I would pack dad’s old suitcase and fill it up with materials that felt important. Just imagine, if faking traveling felt so wonderful, how fulfilling would our experiences have been?

Well, apart from getting lost everywhere I traveled to, (sorry mom), traveling has been the most imaginative period of my life. And trust me, in your childhood, everything is magnified and seems better than it already is.

And so, when I heard about Prachi Kagzi’s Little Passports, it got me thinking. A woman planning trips for little kids, eh? It would be a land of imagination.

Prachi calls herself lucky to have found a partner who loves traveling, too. And then their little one is also a travel junkie.

Me: What is one country you’d love to live in?

Prachi: I’d stay close to home, somewhere in the South-East Asia, because the cultures are similar to India, and food too, in a lot of ways! So maybe…. Singapore.

Me: How do you tackle naughty and nagging children?

Prachi: I feel that naughtiness is a part of childhood, and hence I let the kids be themselves. Plus, since they are traveling and occupied by the amazing adventures, they don’t find much time to nag. *wink*

So, children eating inside the van wasn’t allowed because of the mess it makes. And one time, this kid said he was hungry. His guardian told him that they’d eat when they got off the van. The child said, “I think we should take off the sign, then we can just tell them that we didn’t know!”

LOL! I think I would’ve been a child like him.

Me: One travel moment that made you want to take the first flight back home?

Prachi: NEVER! And, I really mean it! Of course, sometimes trip experiences are good, and sometimes they are not so pleasing. But let me tell you about something that scared me enough to stay locked inside the room.

As I child, I had visited Malaysia, and I’m somewhat reptile-phobic. There were some fifteen iguanas outside of my room. I was locked up in a corner and yeah, really did refuse to come out. Haha!

Me: What was your favorite stamp on the passport as a kid?

Prachi: I really liked the shiny holographic VISAs. You know, kids love shiny things!

Me: Do the kids ever get homesick?

Prachi: Since a guardian is always around them, they rarely feel homesick. Plus I think instinctively every child loves to travel.

Me: What’s one thing you’d do differently if you were taking the kids on the trip without their guardians?

Prachi: I’d encourage them to try new cuisines. I’d make them experiment and develop taste buds.

Me: What is one childhood dream you’ve fulfilled with the kids?

Prachi: I think I’ve fulfilled all my childhood dreams as a kid! And, of course, most of the credit goes out to travel.

Me: What is one thing you’ve learned from the children on the trips?

Prachi: An eye for details. It’s either above or below our eye-level. It’s in the foreground for us, and something that you’ve never noticed.

For example, they’ve read about a place and the crops it grows, or the kind of climate it has, and they share it with us, and we’re stumped.

Prachi, sadly I’m neither a kid, nor do I plan to have one anytime soon, but your trips sound like so much fun! Maybe I’d sneak in one day with my dad’s old suitcase and pretend I belong.

Do you want to take your little one on a trip with the Little Passports? Visit here for more information.

This article was first published on November 22, 2017.