I celebrated 40 years in Safari with children, then Paris with friends

It started with a trip with my family to South West Africa

– Where are you going? everyone asked when we announced our intention to drive 1,500 miles around Namibia in 15 days.

I smiled at their reactions. The first trip was in April and had been planned for months, with several iterations of the route exchanged between us and our tour operator. It was timed to fit between my husband’s 40th in December and mine in June.

We’re tired of kid-centric vacations that often involve water slides and family resorts. It was about us and it had to be something different.

Of course, any trip with kids requires both mental and logistical preparation, but a trip with this amount of driving was next level. We downloaded hours of age-appropriate audiobooks and programmed a variety of activities to match their physical stamina as we scratched our travel itch.

We climbed the dunes around Dead Vlei early and descended the slopes towards 1,000-year-old petrified black trees in the salt flats, but were content to spot Sossusvlei’s tallest dune, Big Daddy, from a distance. In Swakopmund, we found child-friendly restaurants, took a 4×4 tour instead of windsurfing lessons, and browsed gift shops instead of dolphin watching.

In Etosha National Park, we spent most of our time devouring ice cream at the campsite shelter. Elephants stood heavily from north to south in front of us, while giraffes made their way to the water and cautiously lowered themselves to drink.

For accommodation, we kept it varied, sandwiching B&B stays between nights in the tents that unfolded from the top of our car. Every evening we would gather around a grill or fire pit to journal, roast marshmallows, or simply watch the flames dance in the fading light.

It felt like a perfect balance between our pre- and post-kid travel identities. My family’s trip to Namibia in 2019, booked with Namibia Tours and Safaris, cost $5,000 excluding flights.

For the second holiday, I met up with friends in Paris

Ten weeks later, and five days after my birthday, I was on the move again, only this time on my own. I was heading to Paris for a reunion with my besties from school: three girls I’d known since I was 5 who now live in the US, UK and France.

I was excited to travel alone again. The raid into France would conclude my birthday celebrations.

We all met at my friend’s house in Saint-Germain-En-Laye, a quiet suburb of the French capital. The plan was just to sleep there – for the one day we could be together, we wanted to walk around the City of Lights.

Our only commitment was the evening dinner reservation. Beyond that, the day was ours. Never mind the scenery, in terms of planning and travel companions, this was about as far from Namibia as I could have imagined.

The sun set as we explored Montmartre, where winding, cobbled streets were lined with pastel-painted buildings and capped by the gleaming white walls of the Sacré Coeur Basilica.

There, we sipped glasses of crisp rosé wine, watched them pass the market, and gorged ourselves on onion soup topped with gooey layers of melted cheese.

From Montmartre, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe, then strolled down the Champs-Élysées – complete with a tourist-priced cocktail to fuel us through a tree-lined Jardin des Tuileries and on to the majestic Tower Eiffel, all while enjoying some extended time to properly catch up.

We found our restaurant tucked away in a street behind the Louvre Museum, basking in the bright evening light. The only feeling better than dining on perfectly cooked steak frites was the overwhelming satisfaction of lasting friendships. Sparkling chilled champagne for toast after toast.

The two trips in three months were an extravaganza that I felt lucky to experience. The differences between a 15-day adventure in Africa with my family and a one-night stay in Europe could not have been more striking – yet they were the perfect way for me to celebrate.