In every culture around the world, there’s no denying that mothers are the backbone of the family. Whether honouring the special woman in your life with a bouquet of flowers, a leisurely brunch, or simply a grateful hug, every mother loves to know she’s appreciated. One of our favourites ways to keep the family bond tight is to travel together, collecting extraordinary memories along the way. In honour of Mother’s Day, we’re sharing some of our favourite, heartwarming stories of travelling with mom from around the globe. Happy Mother’s Day! xo
VENICE
“I never imagined this trip would mean so much to me. This trip was originally meant to celebrate my mother’s 60th birthday. My mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer three years ago, so naturally the trip was cancelled. My mother fought long and hard and at the beginning of this year she was told there was no longer any traceable cancer in her body. My older sister immediately replanned our trip to Italy. It was the trip of a lifetime, a trip we assumed would never happen. Being with my mother, who is now 63, and my sisters and getting to experience Italy while looking back on the uncertainty of the last couple of years was an indescribable experience.” – Jessica
PARIS
“My mom and I both had a milestone birthday this year so we decided to take a month-long Europe trip together. We visited five countries (UK, France, Greece, Italy, and Czech Republic) and 17 cities together! We took planes, trains, ships, boats, buses, and cars, but we made it through together. My mom is an avid cruise-taker, so we did our ‘Greek Week’ on a cruise together. I learned a lot about maximizing the half days we got on the islands. My mother also learned from me how to travel in the DIY way with a little planning ahead and a go-with-the-flow mindset.
“Paris was my personal favourite city and it was the first time my mom heard me speak French – I learned French growing up in Canada, but never spoke it at home since our family immigrated from the Philippines and I was the only one who went through the Canadian school system. She saw a new side of me that she had only heard about, but had never experienced.” – Judianne
DUBLIN
“My mother, sister, and I wanted to take one last trip together before my sister and I get married and move away, so we went to Dublin. Our favourite memory together was driving on the wrong side of the road from Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher.” – Mallory
SAN FRANCISCO
“San Francisco has been ‘home away from home’ to our family for decades now. My mom has lived in the Bay Area since the mid-90s and this year my sister made the move, too. We’re a small, non-traditional family composed of women. We’ve always been torn between San Francisco and Brazil. This year, we had many things to celebrate together: a new home in the Bay Area, our first Christmas together in almost ten years, our grandma’s 90th birthday, and in the upcoming months our 30th birthday and our mom’s 60th birthday.” – Ligia
VENICE
“I travel every year with my mom. Most of the time, we do beach destinations and we basically do nothing except have fun, eat good food, and drink excellent local wines, but this year was different. My mom was recovering from surgery and spent the last few months with chemo and radiotherapy. It was hard, but my mom is a strong woman and got through all of it very smoothly. When I booked a photography shoot in Venice (I’m a photographer based in Prague), I took mom with me so we could spend a few days together to celebrate a new beginning. We walked every day wandering around the city on our own without a travel agency — and it was so good!” – Eliška
PARIS
“My mother and I took this vacation for a variety of reasons. The first reason is that it was her 60th birthday and I wanted to do something special for her, so I surprised her with this trip. My father also passed away unexpectedly six months prior to the trip and it felt right to take this time to ‘seize the day’ and spend a week together. “One of our favourite memories from the trip was the photo shoot because we would have never found the areas where we took the photos on our own. It was a beautiful part of Montmartre and I don’t think we would have ventured into that area had we not had someone with us to guide us. We loved the café where we ate breakfast that morning and it was my mom’s favourite meal and part of the vacation.” – Tiffany
HONG KONG
“My mother and I often travel together and we don’t have many pictures together since one is usually taking pictures of the other. Now, we have a gallery of photos to cherish forever. The photos are PERFECT in every way.” – Kaisey
PLAYA DEL CARMEN
“Our extended family has taken many trips together: Washington DC, Colombia, and several trips to Mexico. The first trip was for my dad’s 60th birthday, but during each trip we found something to celebrate: a new home, a new baby, a milestone birthday. We always made up some excuse! Every time, the cast changes a bit: new kids, broken legs, divorces, surgeries, but every trip is special. This recent trip was taken for my mom’s 70th birthday and was the first trip we took together after my dad died. There were 11 of us in the tribe with four more extended family members who joined in for this trip. We had a great time. Six kids under 10, many adults, and two special grandparents. As a way of cementing the time together and creating lasting memories, we decided to arrange a photo shoot as a birthday gift for my mom. Our Flytographer shoot was the perfect way to say thanks to my mom for the trip!” – Cathy
LONDON
“Since I’m a solo traveller who doesn’t take selfies and is more comfortable behind the camera, Mom’s family album has a photo of my house instead of me. Her friends were calling me ‘the phantom daughter,’ so Flytographer was a fantastic way to treat Mom and get her that photo she wanted. Hector made me feel comfortable and my mom loved him! It was her first trip to London and I wanted a special experience and souvenir for her with historic London and a bit of fun with present-day London and its colourful street art. The bonus was the mother/daughter photos she now has and the fun memories of London, one of my favourite cities.” – Suzanne
NEW YORK CITY
“My four daughters and I have been coming to New York for years. We love to explore Central Park, spend time walking in the city, go to museums, and most of all, see Broadway shows. This time, my mother, the girls’ grandmother, joined us! The highlight of our trip was seeing our favourite show, Hamilton, together. We had an amazing time. The weather was perfect and our pictures captured our time in New York with my mom and girls forever.” – Jennifer
LOS ANGELES
“We had our first and only family photo shoot many years ago, when I was in high school. Ever since, my mom had been in love with a photo of me and my sister kissing her on the cheeks, a classic ‘kiss sandwich.’ Flash forward many years to when we booked Flytographer in L.A., my mom’s only request was to capture a new version of that photo – but the best thing about that first photo was that the kiss sandwich was a surprise. We knew we had to catch her off guard to recreate the magic of that moment, so Dipan helped give us a secret cue when the background was just right. It is now one of my favourite photos.” – Caitlin
PRAGUE
“I’m travelling the world on my own with my dog Mango and my mom decided to join me for a few weeks. My favourite memory in Prague was exploring the delightful Christmas markets for great shopping and delicious food.” – Laurie
NEW YORK CITY
“This was my first Flytographer shoot. It meant a lot, as it was for a special mother/daughter bonding trip in the Big Apple. From the beginning of the booking, we were so well taken care of by our concierge Shay. I appreciated the tips offered as it all made a difference in creating a positive experience. Lauren, the photographer in Brooklyn, was very professional, kind and creative. My daughter Hayden and I are so grateful, as she truly captured the essence of our mother/daughter relationship and the feeling of our trip in New York. We so love our photos!” – Dom
KYOTO
“The photos taken in Kyoto were a fantastic way to share my memories of life in East Asia with my mother. The photos made her feel like she was right there with me and we really appreciate the service Flytographer provides!” – Alex
LONDON
“After having a son almost seven years after I had my daughter, I really wanted to continue having the opportunity to be just the two of us again at least for a couple of days a year. I decided to begin travelling with her once a year. This year happened to work out for her 9th birthday while her father was away on a business trip. My daughter and I thought it would be a fun way to spend some mommy-daughter time together, a little break away from her crazy little brother.” – Shanna
PARIS
“My mom turned 60 on December 30th. It was her life-long dream to visit Paris, and how wonderful that she had the opportunity to do so with her whole family! We surprised her with a photo shoot on the actual day of her birthday. What a great way to remember such a milestone. The family pictures will be treasured forever!” – Adriana
BUDAPEST
“We haven’t had family pictures taken in over 15 years, and in that time a lot has changed in our family. I cannot thank Dana enough for capturing such beautiful photos from our vacation in Budapest. She was so fun to work with and instantly made everyone feel at ease. Without question, this was the best souvenir from our trip and I look forward to future Flytographer shoots!” – Sarah
DUBAI
“Thanks to the whole Flytographer team for everything! It’s wonderful having such beautiful photos from my mom’s visit to Dubai.” – Zoe
LONDON
“Our trip to London was a graduation gift from my mom to me. It was my mom, me and my twin sister’s big trip together. Aside from that, London has been a dream city for my mom as she has dreamed of going there since she was a teenager!” – Devina
WASHINGTON DC
“I wanted to capture how we as the Moore family love each other. As adults now, my brother and I love my mother in a quietly beautiful way that is less over the top and more kindly protective. Lindsey was amazing. I can’t wait for all the other Flytographer clients that will have her in the future – they are in for such a beautiful array of work.” – Meghan
WHISTLER
“This was my first trip with my son since separating with my husband. I wanted pictures as a memento of this time in our life; things will be okay, things can be beautiful. Such a significant time in this chapter of my life, and now I have precious pictures of it together with my son. “Our trip to Whistler, Canada was everything we needed and then some. I wanted to get away from the reality of all, and have a great time with my son in a winter wonderland. We had a blast! Not only did we laugh, play, and cry together, we conquered the highest and longest zip line in North America!”– Anita
FLORENCE
“We are not a family that is very comfortable in front of a camera, but Tania gave us great direction and the photos turned out looking natural and easy! We are so pleased to have such nice photos to remember our trip.” -Sarah
PALM SPRINGS
“My mom has Alzheimer’s, and as this disease tends to do, each year her health deteriorates a little more. I want to spend as much time with her as I can and remember her as she was before this terrible disease completely takes her. Just being with my folks, together with my husband and my kids is very important to me; we are a very close family! I love these precious pictures I have now of me with my parents. There’s one shot of me and my mom that I am just so happy to have. There’s another great one of me and my dad laughing. Absolutely priceless. I’m so glad we booked, and I can treasure that moment forever. You never know when we will all be together like that again!” – Julie
NEW YORK CITY
“My daughter just graduated from high school and is about to go on a mission for 18 months out of the U.S. She is one of four children and my oldest. This was a special time for us to spend together, just the two of us. She visited NYC when she was 9, so this time was a different experience. Some of our favourite memories were getting to see three Broadway plays and getting to meet some of the actors afterwards.”– Pauline
PARIS
“My son and I went to Paris and I decided that I wanted professional photos done while we were there. Our photographer, Olga, put us at ease right away. I am not very photogenic, but she did a great job capturing some good photos of us. I am so happy with how the photos turned out and I’m so glad we met her.” – Teri
WASHINGTON DC
“I enjoy taking vacations with my girls and we had yet to see our nation’s capital. As a city with so much history and as both of my girls are between the years in which they will take U.S. history in school, I thought this might be a good spring break to take them, to bring it alive when they learn about it in class next year. We loved it and had so much fun.” – Deborah
NEW YORK CITY
“My mom is my best friend and I really wanted to capture that. It was such a fun process and such an awesome way to solidify these memories. I can’t wait to professionally print them!” – Charli
PARIS
“This trip was inspired by my little girls and their dream to go to France. I decided since I had never been, it was time to make all of our dreams come true, and also bring my mother for the memories. This was an amazing trip for all of us girls! Our favourite memory was learning to make macarons together – what a treat!” – Betsey
