Family Travel & Living Abroad in Mexico with Cara Kobzeff

This travel journal is part of our TravelStore Passport Diaries Podcast. Watch the full episode below, and for more episodes, visit our Passport Diaries Podcast page or follow us on your favorite podcast platform.

As travel lovers, we all fantasized about a childhood spent abroad. We dreamt of family vacations to far-off places where we could meet strangers with exciting accents and taste dishes we had never heard of. On this episode of Passport Diaries, we get to live vicariously through a family that actually did get to live and travel abroad!

Join us for our chat with Expert Travel Advisor Cara Kobzeff and her niece and nephew, Ana and Eli, as they share a first-hand account of what it was like to travel at a young age to places like Jamaica, Fiji, and Europe. In 2020, the family of three even lived abroad in Mexico when the travel industry came to an unexpected grinding halt. As Cara tells it, the kids had no idea the move was to weather a storm of uncertainty; they were having the time of their life in Mexico: making friends, picking up the language, and exploring the natural wonders of the region.

“It was crazy,” says Cara. “We were there for eight months. We just had to pivot with the pandemic, and I said OK: why don’t we just move temporarily to Mexico until travel starts to pick back up again?

“We decided that the Riviera Maya, outside of Cancún, would be best due to the culture and the activities. And I think that Caribbean blue sea with its turquoise water definitely played a part in the decision making.”

Cara also couldn’t say give enough praise to the community of their temporary home in Mexico. “It really truly is a melting pot – you have a lot of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Argentina, France…I mean, we were having gelato daily in Mexico!”

As for the kids, Ana and Eli, they thought they would be leaving the U.S. for a few weeks at most. “It was kind of hard at first” says Ana, the older or the two siblings. “Because we didn’t really know the language. But then we started making friends and connections.” “They made friends with local kids that went to school out there,” adds Cara. “We met [a family] that was French and owned a restaurant, so I’d go to eat and the kids would all go play.”

“We decided that the Riviera Maya, outside of Cancún, would be best due to the culture and the activities.”

Looking back on their time living abroad, Cara notes quite a difference in perspective between her and her niece and nephew. “It’s interesting when we think about our time there…for me, it was pure survival. It was, ‘How are we going to survive and make it together as a family?’ But when I ask them, it was, like, the greatest thing that ever happened!” What started as a temporary haven turned into a long-term arrangement. While uprooting was difficult, Ana and Eli adapted and found many benefits to their new way of life. “Even during school, once we finished our online meetings, we could just go to the pool – or sometimes we’d be at the pool and doing out meetings there!” shares Ana.

And there’s nothing quite like learning a language in situ, where the world around you becomes the classroom itself. “I was already doing Duolingo and stuff, but then we went [to Mexico] and we had to learn the language to get around. It was like, even if we weren’t trying to learn, we would pick up everyday words and catch phrases” says Ana. Cara was impressed by how fast the kids soaked up the language: “I was surprised at how quickly Ana picked it up. I would find that Ana would walk to the taco stand and she had learned how to say, ‘I want meat and cheese only,’ then knew how to order for grandma and Eli who wanted onions. So that’s how it all began: it was just a preference of her not wanting anything on her food – she had to learn how to ask for it.”

“We had to learn the language to get around. It was like, even if we weren’t trying to learn, we would pick up everyday words and catch phrases”

While not their first trip abroad, at this point the kids were old enough to appreciate their surroundings and the opportunities living abroad afforded them. They were able to see and explore places unique to their corner of Mexico, like the local cenotes: natural lagoons and sinkholes where locals and visitors flock to go swimming in the freshwater. “There is a Ruta de Cenotes that’s closer to Cancún” explains Cara. “It’s like a highway, or route, and on both sides it’s dotted with cenotes that are owned and operated by different people. Some of the cenotes connect underwater, so you can swim underground with the stalagmites and stalactites and see a whole different, underwater world.” She says these popular natural marvels are actually a recent development, too. “Even like 30, 35 years ago when I first went to Cancún, there were no cenotes. Nobody knew of this. And then as they started to uncover them, it became a big part of the region.”

After their time in Mexico, Cara wanted to share even more of the world and its very different cultures with her niece and nephew. Their next big trip together was to France where Ana and Eli got to experience the pinnacle of luxury. Cara shares that while normally the family is very conscious of a budget and will often scale back their hotel accommodations so they can go big on the experiences, that was not her approach when it came time to introduce the kids to Paris. “Paris is one of these destinations where it matters where you stay. The Le Maurice Hotel is where we got to stay and it is just one of the most iconic palais in all of Paris, right across the street from the Tuileries Gallery and the Louvre Museum. It is just the most amazing place.”

“Paris is one of these destinations where it matters where you stay”

Ana couldn’t hide the stars in her eyes when she shared her memories of Le Maurice and its sister property, the Plaza Athénée. “It was so amazing. We had a view of the Eiffel Tower, we had our own chauffeur that opened the door for us, they had photos of us in the room and little gifts on the bed…” But her favorite memory came from the Michelin-starred breakfast they had at the Plaza Athénée: “I can’t get over the hot chocolate! It was like they took a really nice chocolate bar, melted it down, and put it in the cup. It was just like pure chocolate!” And of course, the pastry basket was the stuff of legends. “They had the most incredible pastry basket” says Ana. “They had chocolate pastries, regular croissants – because you can’t go to Paris without getting a croissant.”

If that weren’t enough to make Ana and Eli fall in love with Paris, Cara had a surprise for the kids after breakfast: a retro sidecar tour of the city. Even Cara was blown away by the experience: “It was so cool. I’ve been to Paris a million times but at that vantage point, weaving through traffic…and everybody, everywhere you go is pulling out their phones taking pictures and videos of you like you’re a celebrity!” She says it was so much fun that she now recommends it to all her clients. To this day, they all come back with gushing reviews, both for the views and for the insight into the city from the tour guide.

Cara, Ana, and Eli continued on to visit Lourdes, France and San Sebastian, Spain on their European excursion. They also share their experiences in Fiji and Jamaica where they were early-on exposed to deeply loving, family-centric cultures. Watch or listen to the episode to hear the rest of their amazing stories and tips for family travel, including some fantastic recommendations for food lovers.

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