Have you ever spotted an animal hiding in the clouds? There's a word for that. It's called pareidolia, and it's your brain's hardwired habit of spotting faces and familiar shapes in everyday things.

This week I'm sitting down with Erin Campbell. Erin has spent 20 years studying what really motivates people. Today she's a fractional CMO, mom to an 11-year-old, and co-founder of Pareidolia, a family board game built around one simple question: What do you see?

Erin walks us through her family's 10-day trip across Iceland's west and south, a three-generation trip. We go from the bottom of a dormant volcano to the top of a glacier, with whale watching, Arctic river rafting, and thousands of puffins playing in the wind along the way. Then we dig into pareidolia: why our brains do it and how a simple game of "what do you see?" teaches kids that people can look at the same thing and come away with different conclusions. We close on working mom life and the three words Erin's never forgotten: embrace the chaos.

Iceland and pareidolia turn out to be a natural pair. Erin spotted faces in the icebergs (a woodpecker head! a proud seal!), and Iceland has its own long tradition of seeing more in its rocks than meets the eye. Just ask a local about the hidden people said to live in them.

This episode isn't sponsored -- I just love this notion of observing, and how well it fits in with traveling with our kids!

DESTINATIONS COVERED — ICELAND

• Keflavík International Airport (KEF)
• Reykjavík
• Þríhnúkagígur: volcano tour
• Snæfellsnes Peninsula: a scenic coastal drive and a boat ride to spot whales and seals
• Hvammstangi: bird watching
• The Golden Circle: Gullfoss (waterfall), Geysir, and Þingvellir (where two tectonic plates meet)
• Hvítá River: whitewater rafting
• Sólheimajökull: glacier hike
• Jökulsárlón: zodiac boat tour on the glacier lagoon
• Ingólfshöfði: puffin colony tour
• The Blue Lagoon

MENTIONED

• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
• Johns Hopkins Magazine: The science behind why we see faces in nature
• iScience: Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity (2022)

ABOUT THE GUEST

Erin Campbell has spent 20 years inside the retail and marketing world, trying to understand one thing: why people buy what they buy. She's done it from every seat at the table: as a strategist at Saatchi & Saatchi X, where she ran a $20M digital and retail media portfolio for brands like Walmart, Procter & Gamble, and Spin Master; as SVP of Customer Insights at Hy-Vee, where she built the company's first-ever attitudinal customer segmentation; and as a consumer product founder herself, co-founding and exiting the beverage brand GEN Z Water within three years.

Today she's Managing Partner of The Circle Foundry, a human capital investment firm she co-founded to back founder-led consumer brands she believes in, and a Fractional CMO who has advised more than 100 first-time founders. She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband, Brandon, and their son, Everett.

• Pareidolia Games: play.pareidoliagames.com
• TikTok: @pareidoliagames
• IG: @pareidolia.games
• Follow along: IG- @untethered_childhood

Look up. Ask what they see. Keep raising explorers. Memories don't burn, and neither does imagination.

Packing for Europe with kids doesn’t have to mean hauling half your closet across the ocean.

Let’s get real: one of the most daunting parts of international travel with kids is the bags. I’m a little maniacal about my lists in the weeks leading up to a trip, and it’s taken a whole lot of trial and embarrassing error to land on a system that works for our family. You should see my checklists and post-it notes and highlighters. I've spent years fumbling through suitcases, car seats and obsessing over supplies for "what if somebody gets sick".

On our July trip to Europe, I jotted down tips in real time, as it was happening, and built this solo episode from my notes. It's a good one to save and listen to before you roll out your luggage.

I’m walking you through how I build our family packing list for Europe, from that very first list to the last zipper. I wanted to give more meaning and context, so this one goes beyond the suitcase. We talk about the mindset that turned packing from a dreaded chore into a fun challenge for me (something our wildfire taught me), and how to get your whole household ready before you peace out for the airport.

It's a lot about cognitive offload, lightening your mental load (you know, my love language as a millennial mom): being purposeful about putting pieces in place ahead of time so you can stop second-guessing. The goal here is to get you to the "settle in and enjoy it" phase faster.

IN THIS EPISODE

• “Forced minimalism”: what losing every possession in our wildfire taught me about packing light and choosing fewer, better pieces
• Start with the type of trip, then set your goal: how your bag count shapes decisions from there on out
• Why I start two to three weeks out (I love to ease into a trip)
• The questions I ask before packing medicine plus where I don't cut corners
• What to bring vs. what to buy when you land
• My capsule wardrobe for travel, and why it doesn’t have to be all neutrals. Life is too short to leave your pretty dresses at home!
• Planning for laundry so you’re not packing for two full weeks
• Kids’ clothes, shoes, and the bright-color trick for spotting each other in a crowded airport
• Peace-of-mind safety steps: AirTags, an ID bracelet for little ones, and the itinerary I send to our emergency contacts
• Getting kids excited before you go, kids’ activities for long flights, and the toiletry-bag hack that keeps all those little pieces from exploding in their backpacks
• Household prep: depleting the fridge, checking passports

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Hatch travel sound machine
• Anker battery pack
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
• Dr. Bronner’s soap (I love the lavender)
• Seventh Generation laundry detergent sheets

CONNECT

• Instagram: @untethered_childhood
• Email: hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com

Stay light where you can, bring what makes you feel like yourself, and let the rest work itself out once you land. Keep raising explorers.

Ischia: Italy's laid-back island, waiting to be discovered.

Off the coast of Naples, there's an island with over a hundred natural hot springs, a castle that lights up the night sky, and a pace of life that makes you forget where you left your phone.

Ischia is the lesser-known island in the Bay of Naples: lush, volcanic, and wonderfully unfussy. The people pull you in like you're one of their own, and the kids on the beach will have yours playing ball with them before lunch hits the table.

In this solo episode, Jordan cracks open her travel journal from five days on Ischia with her husband, two kids, and her in-laws, the slow, sunny ending to a faster-paced trip through Italy. The first half gives you a feel for the island: the spa day, the castle, the food, the little fishing village. The second half covers the nuts and bolts: where to stay, how to get around, and what she'd do differently next time.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Where Ischia sits in the Bay of Naples, and why it's a natural fit for families who want to settle in
• A full day at Negombo: 14 thermal pools carved into rock and caves, a cove full of yachts, and a lunch "kiosk" that turned out to be something much better
• How a grilled chicken leg and an orange Italian Fanta made a little boy proud as a peacock
• Giardini Ravino, a garden built from a sea captain's 40-year plant collection, with peacocks roaming the grounds (plus a heads-up for toddlers and cacti)
• Sant'Angelo, the car-free fishing village where kids can roam and play
• Castello Aragonese, first built in 474 BC: pirate stories, dungeons, and how to tour it
• Coniglio all'ischitana, the slow-braised rabbit dish + the island history behind it
• Three fave restaurants
• Rooftop aperitivo with a castle view
• Getting around: walkable streets, a stroller-friendly town, cash-only taxis, and a very memorable rental car
• What's on the list for next time -- yay for learnings!

DESTINATIONS COVERED — ISCHIA, ITALY

• Ischia Porto (Via Roma, Corso Vittoria Colonna)
• Ischia Ponte and Castello Aragonese
• Forio and Giardini Ravino
• Sant'Angelo
• Negombo thermal park

WHERE WE STAYED + ATE

• Villa Durrueli
• Dortas
• Auras
• Porcavacca Steakhouse

RESOURCES

• Coming soon: our episode on navigating Italy's ferries with kids
• Instagram: @untethered_childhood
• Email: hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com

Some places ask you to keep everything running. Some just let you be there. Keep raising explorers. Memories don't burn.

Okay, y'all. You voted, and Argentina won! So we went deep. We're building a three-week trip to Argentina together, and by the time we hit the end of the world (Ushuaia, that is), you're going to want to book it.

Argentina is one of those countries that's almost impossible to encapsulate in one sentence: jungle waterfalls, wine country at the foot of the Andes, glaciers, penguins, a lake town that looks like it was picked up out of Switzerland. So we're not summing it up. We're going stop by stop, and I've got the two best people to walk us through it.

Kathleen Hall and Melanie Marsell are the powerhouse duo behind Explore the Americas, a women-owned family travel company built around Latin America. Together they've designed more than 3,000 trips, personally tested over 500 properties, and been featured in Travel + Leisure, HuffPost, and Authority Magazine. Melanie is a proud tica who grew up on a farm in rural Costa Rica and has been working in Costa Rican tourism since 2011. Kathleen started out as a biologist, came to Costa Rica to study abroad eleven years ago, took a job at the beach, planned to stay a year... and never left!

What keeps things extra interesting is they have opposing viewpoints on some travel areas, so we really get some flavor here. Kathleen's a Brazil gal, Melanie's a Chile gal, and it makes for the most fun conversation. Oh, and Melanie recorded our episode 38 weeks pregnant. I always say mamas on the brink of delivery get stuff DONE, y'all!

I pulled up my map, we got to work, and I only butchered a few pronunciations along the way. (Kathleen gave my "Buenos Aires" an 8 out of 10. I'll take it!)

In this episode:

• The Buenos Aires neighborhoods they send every family to
• Estancias, gauchos, and asado, just an hour outside the city
• Iguazú Falls: why the Argentine side puts you in the falls, the boat ride that's a whole lot more than mist, and the famous walkway not to plan your trip around
• Mendoza, which Melanie calls a hidden gem for families: horseback riding in the Andes, the Vendimia harvest festival, and a winery tour that sends you home with a bottle your kid designed
• Bariloche and Northern Patagonia: lakes, paddleboarding, and a chocolate tour with major Willy Wonka energy
• El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier, and why you don't have to be an "ultimate trekker" to do Patagonia
• El Chaltén for you hiking families
• Hopping over to Chile for Torres del Paine (and puma tracking!)
• Ushuaia: the End of the World train, penguins, and the Beagle Channel
• Why Argentina is a jet lag win for US families: one time zone, about an hour off Eastern
• Getting around a very long country, including the two-airport mistake in Buenos Aires
• Babysitting, when to go, visas, and vaccines
• We briefly get into a Disney comparison, and I promise it's not the same ole tired comparison argument you've heard over and over again

Destinations — ARGENTINA (+ A LITTLE CHILE & BRAZIL)

• Buenos Aires: Palermo, Recoleta, tango dinner shows
• Estancias outside Buenos Aires
• Iguazú Falls and the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo)
• Mendoza
• Bariloche
• El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier
• El Chaltén and Fitz Roy
• Torres del Paine, Chile
• Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego National Park, and the Beagle Channel

Guests:

Kathleen Hall and Melanie Marsell, co-founders of Explore the Americas

exploretheamericastravel.com | Instagram: @exploretheamericastravel

Email: info@exploretheamericastravel.com

Follow along on Instagram: @untethered_childhood and email - hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com

¡Vamos! We're raising explorers together.

Have you ever been curious about the science behind novelty and child development? Why a food they've never had before, or hearing a language they don't recognize, can light up their brain? Well today, we're breaking it all down!

Dr. Jacqueline Harding is an internationally recognized child development expert whose career spans advising the UK government, practitioners, and parents, and shaping the children's TV shows kids grow up on, from Peter Rabbit to Teletubbies! In this conversation, she and Jordan dig into the science behind her latest book, The Brain That Loves to Laugh: A Visual Guide to Humour and Human Connection in the Early Years — why laughter drops cortisol and reverses the stress response, and what she calls the "triangle": the shared attention, eye gaze, and closeness that build real connection between a parent and child, whether you're across the table or across an ocean.

From there, they get into novelty: how new places, new people, and new languages activate a child's brain in ways familiar routines can't, and why that novelty is what makes travel memories stick. They talk about why resilience is something kids learn by watching how the adults around them handle a setback (canceled flights included!) and why it's never too late to reconnect with a child.

Of course, we had to save some time at the end to get Dr. Harding's list of favorite spots for a family trip to England (her homeland), from a whirlwind day in London to slower days in the Oxfordshire countryside.

• Hope, humor, and human connection as what Dr. Harding calls essential nutrients for a developing brain
• The "triangle" (shared attention, eye gaze, and close proximity)
• The brain's "Velcro for negative, Teflon for positive" wiring, and why kids need an abundance of good experiences
• How novelty from traveling opens up a child's brain from a narrow "spotlight" of focus to a wider "lantern" of creative awareness
• The NASA-funded creativity study
• Neuroplasticity and why it's never too late to reconnect with a child
• Modeling resilience for kids during travel setbacks
• Why children need to feel safe before they can be creative or take social risks
• Dr. Harding's recommendations for a family trip to England: London highlights (Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben, Oxford Street, the Thames at night, Hyde Park, London Zoo) and slower days exploring the Oxfordshire countryside

Dr. Jacqueline Harding is an internationally recognized child development and education expert who advises the UK government, practitioners, and parents. She's the founder of Tomorrow's Child and TCTV, chair of the Bright Start Foundation, and an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at Middlesex University, and previously served as a BBC Education Editor, government consultant, and headteacher. She's worked on children's TV shows including Peter Rabbit, Teletubbies, Clangers, BBC's BeddyByes and My First, and CBeebies Parenting, and recently consulted with Disney and Mattel on the Toy Story 5 toy line. She's the author of more than 40 books, including her trilogy The Brain That Loves to Play, The Brain That Loves to Laugh, and Little Brains Love to Talk, alongside children's books. She's a mother of four and grandmother of nine, and lives just outside Oxford, England.

• Dr. Jacqueline Harding's website: drjacquelineharding.com
• Follow Untethered Childhood on Instagram: @untethered_childhood

The island that overwhelms you on arrival — and is nearly impossible to leave.

There's a place where restaurant staff hold your baby so you can finish your meal, where kids aren't just tolerated but celebrated, and where six months planned turned into three years lived. That's Bali, according to today's guest.

Alison Emerick's family spent three years living in Bali — sandwiched between two years in Singapore and their current home in Lisbon — moving there when her kids were just three and five years old. She's walking through everything a first-time family needs to know: how to survive the flight, where to actually stay, which beaches are worth it (spoiler — not many), and what happens when your kid splits her chin open!

Meet Alison Alison is a writer, photographer, and American mom of two now living in Lisbon after nearly seven years abroad — first in Singapore, then three years in Bali. She's the founder of Semicurated Life and the author of a comprehensive Bali Family Guide covering neighborhoods, sample itineraries, and safety information for families. Before any of it, she studied French and International Studies and teaching English in Japan through the JET Program.

In This Episode:

• Where Bali is in this great big world, and how to get there
• Surviving the long-haul flight: overnight legs, screens without guilt, and why Singapore Airlines tops her list
• The airport "taxi mafia" and why a prearranged private driver is worth arranging in advance
• Health and safety on the ground: dengue, rabies, motorbike accidents, and the reality of pay-before-they-treat-you healthcare — including the day her daughter split her chin open and needed stitches under anesthesia
• Area-by-area breakdown: Sanur vs. Nusa Dua vs. the South Bali resort towns vs. Ubud
• Why Ubud disappoints more families than it delights, and where she sends people instead
• Island-hopping options: Nusa Lembongan for the beaches Bali itself doesn't really deliver, and Flores for Komodo dragons and some of the best snorkeling of their time in Indonesia
• What things actually cost: villas, private drivers, food delivery, childcare, massages
• The daily offerings (canang sari) woven into everyday Balinese life, and what they taught her kids
• When to go: the wet-versus-dry season breakdown, and her least-favorite month to visit

Links + Resources

Follow Alison’s adventures on Instagram: @semicuratedlife

Alison’s Bali Family Guide: https://stan.store/semicuratedlife/p/get-my-bali-guide-for-families-now

Semicuratedlife site: https://semicuratedlife.com/

Questions or episode ideas? hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com Follow the show: Instagram @untethered_childhood

Italy is one of those countries you dream about taking your kids for years....because, it's Italy! If you're itching for a family trip to Italy, we have some ideas and starting points for you.

There are 20 distinctive regions, and today we're zooming into Southern Italy - the CAMPANIA region! This "happy land" is the region that gave us Amalfi Coast, Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento.

Luigi Panella is a Southern Italian luxury chauffeur who was born and raised in Campania and has spent the last 15 years guiding families through the region he knows through and through. He's the kind of guide who doesn't just drive you somewhere, he tells you what you're standing on. I've trusted him with two of my own Italy trips, including one with two very small kids, and he is a big reason those trips worked so well for us.

This episode is a window into what a Southern Italy trip for a family could look like, the sweet hidden stops along the coast, the food, and how to approach it with kids. It's an insider's guide. I truly think if you go with your kids, it'll leave a lasting impression on all of you.

Wherever you are in your planning — just dreaming or actively researching — we hope you leave feeling inspired. Andiamo!

• Why the Romans called Southern Italy's Campania region Campania Felix — the Happy Land — and why it still earns that name
• The mindset shift Luigi says will make or break your Italy trip: come as a traveler, not a tourist, and choose one or two regions to really sink into
• The case Luigi makes for ditching the car and seeing the Amalfi Coast by boat with young kids (from the man who's driven that road hundreds of times)
• Where to base your family on the Amalfi Coast, and how to hop between villages by ferry like a local
• The layers hiding underneath the coast's 13 towns — including an ancient Roman villa buried beneath a church in Positano, the cave at Conca dei Marini (La Grotta dello Smeraldo), and why Ravello inspired a Wagner opera
• Why Luigi calls Naples a "giant playground of history and flavors" — and what it takes to see it that way
• Sorrento as the ideal family home base: stroller-friendly, walkable, connected by train, and deeply local
• Why kids love Pompeii (the volcano backdrop, the Romans' big cobblestones, the sense of a city frozen in time)
• Making the case for Matera — a UNESCO World Heritage city where people lived in caves until the 1950s — and its neighbor Alberobello and its iconic trulli stone houses
• Luigi's cheat sheet for spotting a tourist trap restaurant vs. the real thing (short menu, slow pasta, dinner at 7:30)
• What Southern Italy's food culture teaches kids about slowing down, lingering at the table, and what it means when someone says prendiamoci un caffè

🌐 Luigi Panella: luigipanella.com 📱 Instagram: @LuigiPanellaLuxuryChauffeurs

📩 Questions or feedback? hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com 📱 Follow along: @untethered_childhood

You go to Italy for the views. You leave with something deeper. Keep raising explorers.

You did not come this far to leave without knowing about luggage forwarding.

Part 2 of our Japan series with Jo MacGregor is here — and this one is all about the stuff that actually makes or breaks a trip. Phrases to teach your kids before you land. The konbini experience that her kids sprint toward the second they touch down. Omakase with children (yes, really). Playgrounds that look like they were designed by a giant who loved Godzilla. And the luggage forwarding system that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about traveling with kids.

If you missed Part 1, go back and start there — it's a full three-week itinerary, city by city. This episode picks up where that one left off.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Two mistakes families make when planning a Japan trip (and one of them will surprise you)
• Why Jo says strollers are non-negotiable
• Are kids actually treated like celebrities in Japan? Jo gives an honest, nuanced answer
• What to do if your family has gluten-free needs — including a Facebook group Jo recommends and a kitchen hack that changes the equation
• How to read a room, Japanese-style: the cultural motto Jo uses with her own kids everywhere they travel
• Japanese phrases to teach your kids before the flight lands (including the one that will make every waiter light up)
• Konbini culture — what it is, why whole YouTube channels are dedicated to it, and why it might become the highlight of your kids' trip
• Omakase explained: what it actually means in Japan versus what we think it means, and how to do it smartly with a family
• The playgrounds. We talk about the playgrounds.
• Sumo and baseball — the seasonal schedule you need if either of these is on your list
• Luggage forwarding: the system that lets you travel like a local and pack like a human being
• What Jo would say to a family the night before their first Japan trip if they called her in a panic

LINKS + RESOURCES thetokyochapter.com — Jo updates her area guides constantly with new finds. Bookmark it!

Jo on Instagram @thetokyochapter

Find me at @untethered_childhood or hello@untetheredchildhoodpod.com