Means To Travel

02/22/2026

Yesterday was Gwen’s birthday and we have a 2️⃣ year old on our hands now! 🥳

She’s spunky. She’s smart. She’s sweet. She’s silly. And she snacks!

Gwen loves:
- baby dolls and stuffed animals
- helping take care of babies and pets (other people’s)
- counting to 10
- finger painting and coloring
- singing allllll the time - especially wheels on the bus or making up songs to the tune of frere jacque. She also does a great attempt at singing the ABC’s.
- playing peek a boo
- playgrounds
- being mischievous

We love her so much, even when she’s keeping us solidly on our toes. To celebrate her bday, we took her to the Shedd aquarium yesterday, followed by Mexican food for dinner - it was a perfect way to celebrate! 🎈🎉🎁

11/11/2025

Celebrating 8 years married to the best!!! Love you, babe! ❤️

We got to celebrate on Sunday night with an amazing dinner date in our neighborhood. What a special treat to get a parents’ night out! 😆🥰

10/22/2025

We’ve had a busy year so far over here at the Zacarias house! I can’t believe we’re already in the THICK of autumn! 🤩

In late summer, we took Gwen to Europe for two weeks and she loved it! (Not the actual long travel day part, but all the other stuff lol)

We went to Paris and The Netherlands, and we ate and played our way through the sites together. Such AMAZING family bonding! 🧔🏻‍♂️👩🏻👶🏻

Since Derek and I had been to both destinations before, it was fun to slow down on this trip and explore like locals. Toddler speed is QUITE a change for us…but it was so fun to see each destination through her eyes!

I’ve saved/posted our experiences to the Highlights section of my IG profile in case you need to see our travel stops, tips, and takeaways. Also, feel free to ask any “traveling with toddlers” questions, because I’m *starting* to become a pro! (I’ve probably just jinxed myself by saying that)

Cheers! Merci! Bedankt! 🇫🇷🇳🇱

And a huge thank you to .photography for capturing these magical photos for us on our trip! These memories mean the world! We love them!!!

05/11/2025

I know that most moms probably say this, but I (we) truly have the best baby 😘

Gwendolyn -
I simply love seeing the world through your eyes! Being your mom is a hug for my heart. Kisses love you. 💝👶🏻

P.S. thank you for 1) powering through our first-ever family photo shoot last month while fighting a virus and 2) going on an urban hike today with me and daddy to honor my Mother’s Day wish! 🙏🏻

03/29/2024

I have a new 🌷spring-themed🌸 video on YouTube!

Today, I'm sharing 10 PRO TIPS for visiting the largest and most famous Dutch tulip garden in the world: Keukenhof!

Watch at the link below! 🔗👇

Visiting Keukenhof Garden to see the world-famous Dutch tulips was SUCH a fun bucket-list daytrip for me and Derek last year!!!Since I had been wanting to go...

03/21/2024

Gwen is 1️⃣ month old today! What a wonderful month it’s been!

A few quick tidbits:

- She is still rockin’ her newborn clothes and diapers! 👶
- Her favorite genre of music seems to be “sea shanties” - and she especially loves listening to Fisherman’s Friends 🎶
- She LOVES cuddling and being held. This is especially true during her nap times 🥰
- She has attended many of Daddy’s M&A calls, and is slowly getting closer to understanding EBITDA 📈
- Kicking and punching are one of her favorite things to do, and we’re assuming she’ll be great at martial arts someday 🤼‍♀️

As for me, I finally feel like I’m past the postpartum pain and I’m feeling a little more energy after getting a better handle on sleep windows. Hoping month two will bring a little more balance into our daily routine! Fingers crossed! 🤞🏻

Thank you to everyone who has supported my maternity leave from YouTube / Means To Travel! This time together as new mama and baby have been so precious 🫶🏻💕

Best,
Eliz

02/28/2024

No better day than today - my 36th birthday(!) - to also announce the birthday of our daughter!!! 👶🏻🎉🤗👨‍👩‍👧

Gwendolyn (Gwen) Zacarias came into this world fast and furiously one week ago on February 21st!

All three of us are sleepy but in love. She is an absolute sweetheart, and we’re all living for our naps and snuggles together. Derek and I are definitely low on sleep, but we’re hanging in there and establishing our routines as a family of three. 🥰🩷

What a different but wonderful birthday for me to celebrate today!

As her swaddle says…adventure awaits!!! 🙏🏻🙌🏻
meanstotravel

01/08/2024

As Founder and President of the “Derek is the Freaking Best” fan club, it is my honor and pleasure to wish him a very happy birthday today!!!! 😆🥳🎈🎂

Although we must admit there were some tougher moments during his past trip around the sun, I think it’s safe to say that he still ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED his 35th year!

Cheers to the next year ahead, when Derek will become the BEST girl dad anyone could ask for! Feliz cumple y bueno salud, mi amor guapo! 😘

P.S. - I made an album on my phone of all of my favorite photos of him over the past year, and there were 85 to choose from, LOL! 😆 While I’m sad that IG won’t let me post them all for this bday tribute, I think these ten are some really good ones to showcase Derek’s 35th year of wonderfulness in 2023 🥰 Hope y’all like them!

01/02/2024

What an interesting interview that explains:

- The value of frequent flyer miles
- The new govt investigation into the airlines’ proposed changes to their award miles programs

I had no idea that up to 1% of the US’s GDP was charged on a Delta AmEx, resulting in billions of frequent flyer miles out there 🤯

Frequent flyer miles are one way airlines try to coax travelers to repeatedly fly with them. However, the Department of Transportation is examining whether a...

12/28/2023

With broken hearts, we are sharing that Derek's mom sadly passed away on December 14th after her 30+ year battle with Lupus.

Lupus is a destructive, life-altering auto-immune disease that manifests itself in different ways in different people. Its cause is still completely unknown, and it affects 1.5M Americans, with 16,000 new diagnoses every year (and 9/10 are women).

Currently, there is no cure.

And, there are very few effective treatments.

That being said, I am proud to say that Darlene battled every health twist and turn that Lupus threw at her valiantly! As she fought for her life over and over - especially over the past 1.5 years - her tenacity was truly unparalleled.

While Derek and I are devastated that Darlene will not be able to meet her new grandchild this February, we were so glad to be in the room by her side in her final days and minutes.

With that, as we head into Darlene's funeral this Saturday, I wanted to share that an anonymous donor is MATCHING(!!!) all end-of-year donations to the Lupus Foundation of America (the leading lupus research non-profit!).

What incredible timing!!! 💜💜💜

If you have the means to contribute, and/or you are looking for a wonderful tax-deductible charitable donation to round out 2023, it would MEAN THE WORLD to me, Derek, and our full Zacarias family to honor Darlene's strength, perseverance, and memory with any donation...big or small!

With luck, and hopefully with a better understanding of this disease, no other families will need to go through this same pain. 🙏

Online donations can be submitted here: https://www.lupus.org/give/ways-to-give

Best,
Eliz and Derek

https://www.fitchdenney.com/obituaries/Darlene-Marie-Zacarias?obId=30142589

View Darlene Marie Zacarias's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

12/19/2023

This past month has been pretty hard behind the scenes for us, and I took a couple weeks off to focus on family.

Today, as I get back into things, I’m thinking back to the relaxing sunrise yoga sessions on our hotel balcony during our babymoon in Cancun in November. Ahhh, peace ☮️🕊️

And of course, a quick cheers to feeling grateful for our healthy, growing Baby Z! I kinda cannot BELIEVE we are ten (or less) weeks away! 🫠 🙏🏻

Camera: iPhone 12 Pro
Location: Cancun, Mexico
Timing: November 13, 2023

11/23/2023

So much we are grateful for this year! Sending blessings to ALL OF YOU, our friends and fellow travelers! Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍁

With Love 🧡🤎💛
- Eliz, Derek, and Baby Z

Camera: Sony rx100 VII
Location: Lawrenceburg, IN
Timing: October 22, 2023