When my oldest son was almost 11, I went on a trip with him to Craiova, Romania, his first time ever leaving our country, his first time ever on a plane. My other kids wanted to go on trips with me as well, and I told my kids that the summer before they turned 11 I'd take them each on trips. Not long after I took my son to Romania, I took all my kids to Bulgaria because I found really cheap tickets as part of a Black Friday sale.
Then life got complicated with COVID and everything else, and I wasn't able to take any of my other kids on solo trips; my youngest daughter turns 11 this March, which means I owed the rest of them a trip abroad as well. In the meantime, I took all my kids last February to Cyprus so I could take them to the American embassy for passports because the situation with the embassy where we live is ridiculous. (And then my oldest son went to London and then the US to work at an American sleep away camp.)
Now, only 4 years late, I am finally taking my second kid on a mother kid bonding trip. Our destination is Georgia, a beautiful country with so much history, culture, beautiful nature, and more. We have a stopover on the way to Georgia overnight in Larnaca, Cyprus, and are flying out in the wee hours of the morning. Like really wee hours. It's 11:30 pm now and we are leaving this Airbnb at 4 am. We only left the airport at 10:30 pm. In the past I might have just tried to sleep in the airport, but I know my body and I know I need sleep, and comfortable sleep at that.
Next update-
Georgia!