Mothers’ Day Special – Travel with Mum featuring YQ

Here in Singapore, we celebrate Mothers’ Day on 2nd Sunday of every May to show appreciation to our mums for their endless love, support and sacrifices.

This month, Pam goes travelling is running a Mother’s Day campaign in which travel bloggers from around the world share on their travel experiences with their mums.

In today’s post, I invited Yun Qing from YQtravelling, a Malaysian who resides in Singapore to share on her story. She is a traveler, writer, glutton and improviser. She is looking for the perfect balance between adventures on the road and at home.

Hello, I’m Yun Qing and my mum’s birthday is during the third week of May so she never has her birthday on the same day as Mother’s Day. Anyway, Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Birthday, Mama!

1) Where have you travelled to with your mum?

My first travels with my mum started when I was a baby. My mum was from Taiwan and when she and my dad got married, she moved to Malaysia.

When I was growing up, mum would fly back to Taiwan once every few years, bringing my sister and me along. I was the nightmare baby that cried and puked on an airplane.

I do not quite remember those first few trips with my mum. The more memorable trips I have had with my mum are pretty recent. In 2011, she invited herself to my trip to Japan where we were in Tokyo and the Kansai region.

Another time was when I quit my job to travel around the world solo, my mum joined me in Turkey and we travelled around the West and Central Turkey for 10 days.

2) How has your mum inspired you on your travels?

My mum was the first person that I told I would make a trip around the world. Well, she was stuck with me in our private room in the Kyoto hostel when I made that decision so she would be the first to know.

At first she was skeptical about it, but when my plans began to look more concrete, she was very encouraging of my trip.

My dad, on the other hand freaked out that his daughter was going to travel around the world alone.

3) What was the most memorable moment during your travels with your mum?

When we were in Turkey, our bus stopped at a rest stop on the way from Troy to Istanbul. Mum and I were swarmed by a group of Turkish kids who were very excited to see Asian people.

One of the girls gestured to us to stay at where we were. She brought a classmate with a DSLR and asked him to take a photo of us with her and her friends.

Later, their teacher chased them off and apologised to us. I found the children charming.

4) What kind of activities you both love?

I would say we both love history and art so we go to museums a lot. But with my mum being such a pleasant person, I am not quite sure if she is just going along with my personal itinerary or if she really enjoys them.

Oh, I just remembered. My mum absolutely LOVES eating sashimi. So if we could find a buffet place in any city that serves sashimi or sushi, she would be very pleased.

5) Where is the next destination you intend to travel with your mum and why?

I do not have any concrete plans to travel with my mum. But it is likely it will be one of the cities in the Southeast Asia region as I do not have much leaves left to travel far and wide.

6)  Do you have travel tips for people who are planning to travel with their mums?

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Comfort is the key when it comes to travelling with middle-aged folks. I enjoy a comfortable trip too so it’s suits me just fine.

I would suggest getting a packaged tour so you do not have to plan everything. Or at least get day trip packages from local travel agents. This way, you and your mum would not have to stand by the roadside waiting for public transport.

If you do decide to go DIY the whole way, then plans lots of rest stops or even head back to the hotel for naps. Naps are very important. Travelling for them is less about seeing everything but kind of like a vacation.

Thank you YQ for sharing your travels with your mum! Stay tune to the next post for interesting stories by other bloggers!

Have you travelled with your mum? Share your experience with me!