Yes, Your Mom Is Actually the Best Travel Buddy — Here's Why!

Updated on 7/21/2016 at 12:00 PM

My mom and I took our first solo vacation as adults two years ago, and I admit I was nervous before committing to the trip. My mom is awesome, there's no doubt about that. But I'm the type of person who can only be around other people for so long before I just can't handle it anymore; this says more about me than the people I'm around. However, my mom and I went to New Orleans and had an amazing time, thus our yearly adventures were born.

Traveling with your mom as an adult is totally different from traveling with your significant other and much more closely related to traveling with your bestie. But as similar as it is to that, there's just nothing quite like going on vacation with Mom. Take a page out of my book, and check out these 13 reasons traveling with your mama is the best decision you can make — as told by GIFs of our favorite mother-daughter duo, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.

It's a great way to thank her for everything.

Your mom spent a lot of time, energy, and money to raise you into the beautiful human you are today. Going on a fun or relaxing vacation together is a wonderful way to say thank you.

She'll protect you if things go awry.

Got turned around in a foreign city and ran into some unsavory people? Mom's got your back. Taking a twilight stroll and someone starts hitting on you even though you clearly aren't interested? Mom's totally got your back.

She can fix anything.

It's that special mom thing where they always have the answers and always know how to fix something. If you get lost during your travels or forget something important, Mom will take care of it.

She won't judge you when all you want to do is eat.

All right, listen: my favorite part of vacation is eating all the food. My mom is the first person to tell me it's OK, "because you're on vacation!"

If you do something dumb, she won't even care.

Embarrassing things are a part of life. Your mom's not going to care if you're in a place where they speak a different language and you're trying to fumble through a conversation just to get some dinner. You might be embarrassed about your lack of language skills, but just know that Mom's behind you silently chuckling but giving you an A for effort all the same.

She's your best friend.

For some people, it comes down to traveling with your best friend or traveling with your family. For me, my mom is my best friend, so two birds with one stone right there.

You'll be on the same page when you accidentally get too judgy about other tourists.

I don't mean to criticize other tourists, but sometimes they're so obvious that it slips. Mom's always there with me, agreeing and feeling just a bit bad about it.

She doesn't care when you're gross.

Gross things happen, even on vacation, OK? Mom's not going to care if my period comes a day early and stains my shorts and I beg her to clean them up for me. Thanks, Mom.

She'll let you sleep in before setting out for adventures.

She spent long enough waking you up for school every day. Your wakeup call is no longer her responsibility, so if you want to sleep in before hitting the beach, Mom's definitely going to let you.

She will definitely buy you stuff.

And who doesn't love stuff?

You won't always have this chance.

As a millennial, the time is now for me to travel with my mom. My mom is retired and itching to get out of the house. I have no family of my own (aside from my cats, who get to stay with my dad). We both have incomes that allow us to see new places, so we're taking full advantage while we can.

It'll bring you even closer.

There's nothing like a vacation where you spend nonstop time together in an unknown place to bring two people closer together. You think your mom already knows everything about you? It's about to get next level.

She loves you no matter what.

At the end of the day, she's your mom, and no matter how much you annoy each other, she's still going to love you unconditionally.