A mother-of-two has hit back at trolls who send her online hate for choosing to go on holiday without her children, saying it helps her ‘keep sane’.

Ania Grabowska, 43, makes full use of her two months of vacation as a self-employed teacher and often heads to far-flung destinations without her two boys, Kuba and Maciek, who has autism.

The teacher, from Olkusz, a town in Poland, says she has faced many challenges while dealing with her son’s condition and going on child-free holidays helps keep her from going ‘mentally crazy’.

Travelling is her true passion, Ania says, as well as a ‘huge mental escape’.

‘It allows me to recharge my batteries and become someone else for a moment, and that’s invaluable to me,’ she says.

‘I travel to avoid going mentally crazy; it’s my way of dealing with stress. Life can be tough. I have my own worries about Maciek, but also those everyday, ordinary problems we all know.

‘Travel recharges me with so much energy that when I return, I can once again fight for Maciek and for a better world for him.’

But her need to spend time away from her children has attracted online criticism from people who say Ania is ‘irresponsible’, she reveals.

‘I hear all sorts of comments, some absurd and sometimes downright malicious. People often don’t understand that when you have a sick child, you can and should take care of yourself to be in a position to help.

‘I’ve heard that I’m “irresponsible” and that I’m “abandoning my children” because I’m going away, completely untrue and hurtful judgments,’ she says.

But Ania insisted that taking her solo holidays regularly have given her ‘the strength and peace to be a good mother’.

‘Sometimes people fail to understand that support and time for myself are the foundation for loving and helping even better,’ she adds. ‘You have to be a little selfish to avoid going crazy.

‘If we have a happy mother, the children are happy, that’s why it’s important to think positively about ourselves and find time to pursue our passions.’

Ania explained that being self-employed, she has to ‘make the most of’ her two months of holiday time.

‘My teaching budget isn’t a fortune, but it’s enough to fulfil my travel dreams thanks to saving, planning, and buying tickets in advance.’

Ania’s solo trips, which sometimes include her partner Marek, are in addition to travelling with her whole family as much as possible.

She believed that it is ‘incredibly valuable for children to travel’, so that they can ‘experience other cultures and places, learn the language in natural settings, and gain memories that will stay with them for a lifetime’.

It was especially important for Maciek to travel, Ania added, because he ‘thrives in an environment of change and novelty’.

She describes travel as a ‘strength and inspiration for the entire family’, and clarified that she travelled most often with her partner and children, but mainly with Maciek.

‘He’s not content with just packing; he wants to fly right away!’ she said, whilst her eldest son Kuba prefers to travel ‘in a more leisurely way’.

Ania adds: ‘The most important thing is that everyone is happy, and so am I.’

Her travels took her far and wide across the world and she has already been to ‘almost every country in Europe’, as well as the US, the Dominican Republic and Bali in Indonesia.

She added that a weekend trip to Dubai in November was in the midst of planning, and that for Christmas, she had plans to fly to Egypt with Maciek.

In terms of her travel goals for 2026, Ania says she would like to go to Sri Lanka and the Seychelles, but that ‘the final decision will be made later’.

Ania’s advice to people who want to travel as much as she does is that ‘ good planning and saving are key’.

‘I buy my tickets in December for the summer vacation because that’s when they have the lowest prices,’ she said.

‘I have my own struggling teaching finances, but that doesn’t stop me from fulfilling my dreams.’