When Courtney Hardie was growing up, vacation meant one thing: a week in her grandfathers remote fishing cabin in Ontario, Canada. The cabin had no electricity or running water, so the family used an outhouse and bathed in the lake.

While I have lovely memories of this, I always felt like I missed out on new experiences and new cultures, Hardie told HuffPost.

As a parent now herself, Hardie works diligently to plan trips for her own kids that expose them to unfamiliar parts of the world. The family, who live in Cincinnati, recently spent two weeks traveling throughout Australia.

Ive tried to give my children the experiences that I yearned for, which has led to me obsessing over making sure our trips are perfect, she said.

Like in many households, the work of planning these trips falls mostly to mom Hardie, in this case though she does take some of the blame for this imbalance.

My husband is not a planner by nature, she said. To his credit, he asks what he can do to help, but oftentimes I feel like it would take longer to explain to him what needs to be done than simply doing it myself.

While Hardie feels that her efforts are well worth it, and shes able to be in the moment once theyre actually on vacation, the intensive preparations do take their toll.

This hyper-planning has led to me always being very stressed out right before trips, she admitted.