Family Picture time in the Vatican Museum – October 2015
Meet the Zeliff Family
Derrick, Dana, K (20) and Lucy (17) are Americans living in Virginia Beach, VA. We’ve been traveling with our kids since they were young and have strived to foster a global understanding in our children.
To date, we have visited 40 counties and 4 continents as a family.
We love exploring Europe and the U.S. as well as cruising, relaxing in family friendly all-inclusive resorts, and touring new destinations. We hope to explore Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and South Africa within the next few years.
About Dana is the writer, photographer, social media director and visionary behind The Talking Suitcase. Dana is a professional blogger and has been sharing travel guides for over 14 years. She is the master of researching, planning and mapping out the best places to see, stay and eat in a new area. As of 2024, she has also become a certified Travel Advisor.
About Derrick is a supervisor at NAS Oceana and an amateur videographer. He jumps on board whenever Dana gets a crazy new travel idea.
In 2015, we sold it all and moved from Virginia to Nice, France! It wasn’t easy, but it’s been a rewarding experience for the entire family. We traveled Europe for 4 years learning all about the culture, language and food in your favorite and little known European destinations. The kids excelled in France soaking up the language, making friends from all over the world and turning into little foodies.
Derrick & Dana both grew up traveling. Dana’s family enjoyed a more luxury travel lifestyle traveling within and outside of the U.S.A., while Derrick’s family enjoyed the great outdoors, camping and hiking the Western U.S. National Parks.
Mom (Dana) and Dad (Derrick) at the Hoover Dam in June 2012
One thing about family travel, it’s not always about the kids! We’ve enjoyed many couples trips to destinations such as California, Las Vegas, Cancun and the Bahamas.
Our goal is to travel in comfort while staying within our means. Travel is no fun when you come home to a huge credit card bill. Learn what luxuries are a must for your family and which you can go without. That way you can travel more often!
Dana is a hotel snob, so skimping on accommodations isn’t possible. We have also learned that guided tours can make traveling easier. To balance, we don’t eat out every day. We cook in (if possible) and limit our eating out at each destination. We get a taste of local food, but also learn what it’s like to live like a local – shopping at the markets and grocery stores. It helps that hubs is a good cook!
We also walk instead of jumping in a cab. It’s easy on our wallets, better for our health and we see more of the local area. When staying at a destination for a week, we usually rent an apartment. It’s cheaper and there is more room to spread out and cook meals. That saves us money for nicer hotel accommodates when necessary. We’ve also learned tricks to save money on the things we want to do.
For example: Don’t pay full price for a cruise! Travel in the off season or search for deals online. Balance is key to family luxury travel. Set a budget before you travel and stick to it. It’s not the amount of your budget, it’s how you choose to spend it. Do you agree?
Monkey (age 9) and LuLu (age 6) finishing dinner on board the Disney Fantasy cruise ship in 2012 – yep that’s a Mickey Bar!
Bordeaux, France – summer of 2014
About The Talking Suitcase
The Talking Suitcase is dedicated to showing parents that they can still travel the world with kids. Travel doesn’t have to end just because you’ve added kids to the mix! We focus on travel with older kids – teens and tweens while highlighting our favorite kid-friendly destinations, share some our experiences as expats in France, provide tips for traveling well while staying within your budget, and even make you drool over some the food from our adventures.
Many people feel that once they have kids, their days of seeing the world must come to an end. Yes, traveling with kids can be challenging. BUT it’s also a rewarding experience for both parent and child.
Come travel with us!
Questions? Email me: [email protected] or use our contact form HERE
