Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirsten Maxwell.
Kirsten, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
From a business perspective or personal perspective? Short version re: business. In 2014, I started my first family travel website, Kids Are A Trip (kidsareatrip.com). Over the last 12 years it led to numerous travel opportunities for myself and my family, and as my kids aged, I transitioned from writing about travel with kids to travel with teens.
In 2019 we moved our family from Chicago to Dallas, 6 months before COVID, which was an awful time to transition. Since then, I’ve sent 3 boys off to college, only to have to bring my middle son home after one semester at the University of Arkansas with a cancer diagnosis.
Our son Finn bravely fought an aggressive cancer (alveolar rhabdomysarcoma) for 15 months, including a 5 month hospitalization. Sadly, he passed in May of 2025. Since then, we have continued to spread his love for reading through partnerships with his elementary school, donations to local schools in DFW, and established a nursing scholarship in his name at Children’s Health Dallas. We are on a mission to fulfill his dream of visiting every continent (he made it to 5 before he passed) by leaving one of his stones on each continent (these are stones made from his ashes).
While I am still working on Kids Are A Trip, I also have a second site, Groups Are A Trip, and have recently become a travel advisor. I’m using our family’s love of travel to fuel me through my grief and keep the memories of all of our wonderful times together to keep my heart full.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in sharing an authentic POV when it comes to family travel. Since I’ve been doing this for the past 14 years, I have quite a bit of experience traveling with children. I’ve traveled to 35 countries with my kids and I am proud that I can show others that it is possible to explore beyond your own backyard. I have won awards for my website and I am the president-elect of SATW (aka Society of American Travel Writers). At the end of the day, I want to be remembered as kind and authentic. I’m sharing my knowledge about travel from real experiences, not an AI version of the world.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I am actually a huge fiction reader. They help create a good work/life balance. I’m also a big believer in the world being larger than the space we exist in, and Laura Lynne Jackson’s book “Signs” has really helped me navigate the grief journey of losing my son.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kidsareatrip.com and https://groupsareatrip.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/travelswithkirsten
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/luxuryfamilytravelideas
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstensmaxwell
