How to travel the world full-time with kids and on a budget

TRAVELLING full-time is hard enough without your kids tagging along. But some families have mastered the impossible and explained how they do it.

THE trend of full-time travel is alive and well, with more families taking their own gap year. Here’s how they do it.

Ever thought of packing up the house, the kids and quitting your 9-5 in lure of something better? Have you dreamt of seeing sights, visiting countries and taking the time to immerse yourself and your family into a new country and culture without the thought of returning home?

As Kidspot reports, the trend of full-time travel is not a new concept but more families are now jumping on the bandwagon alongside gap year students, nomads and retirees.

Travelling as a family full-time poses a lot more challenges and hurdles, just ask these families.

CLARE BARNES FROM HER TRAVELLING TRIBE

Claire and her family (husband and two children aged 10 and 12) have always loved travelling and after returning from a short holiday they felt the need to plan something bigger.

With their eldest daughter 18 months away from beginning high school they felt their time was now.

This prompted the sale of their house and Clare’s husband booking in his long service leave.

The family homeschool their children and are using the savings and salary to fund their trip. The proceeds from the sale of their house is tucked away for when they return to Australia.

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The family, now four months into their year-long journey, have visited Vietnam, the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

“If it is something you really want to do, if you can find a way, go for it. You’ll never regret it,” Clare tells Kidspot.

“Just remember full-time travel isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. We have our challenges, just as we would back home. We’re just in another country. The kids bicker, we all get cranky. Travel can be stressful at times — but the good always, always outweighs the bad.”

ROBYN AND MARK PERRIN FROM WORLD TREK FAMILY

Robyn and Mark have three children aged 16, 12 and eight, and have been travelling full time since July 2017 with the plan to travel full time for 12 months.

They were motivated to experience a year of full time travel after realising that they had got stuck in a daily rut and wanted to get more out of life.

It may sound clichéd but that is exactly how Robyn and Mark felt, with their eldest child approaching graduating year, it really was now or never.

“Our chances of long-term family travel would become less and less. Kids would be grown and doing their own thing. We wanted a chance to show them as much as we could of the world while we could,” Robyn tells Kidspot.

The family has funded their trip with a great result in the property market in Vancouver, which enabled them to sell their home, purchase a smaller one (which is currently rented out) and place their belongings in storage during their sojourn.

Budgeting was a big learning curve for the Perrin family and Robyn admits that while there was a “loose” budget in place when they started, the stress of keeping track of accommodation and food expenses for a family of five was starting to take its toll.

“Halfway through our trip we finally sat down and really checked how our budget was going,” Robyn tells.

“We realised that it wasn’t exactly near our mark and so since then we now have become more strict. We record every dollar spent now daily and have it all on a spreadsheet. Now that we’ve gotten strict we are kicking butt with the budget.”

The Perrin family don’t work remotely during their travels. Robyn, who works in education, has taken a year off, and Mark was able to put his business on hold for the year. This has meant they travel on a tight budget, mainly choosing Airbnb or hostels for their accommodation. But they feel that the benefits of travelling are certainly outweighing these adjustments.

“I’d say to any parent out there that may be considering full-time travel to go for it. Our kids have seen so much of the world. They have learned about different cultures, animals, currencies, modes of travel, history and so much more,” Robyn adds.

CODY AND JOELLEN AT TRANSPARENT TRAVELLERS

Cody and JoEllen began their full-time travel journey in January 2018. They had moved from the United States to New Zealand for two years and explored a lot during that time, giving them a thirst for more.

A fortuitous search for a remote job led Cody to secure work with his former company that was not tied to a 9-5 office job. This meant the idea of travel got closer.

“Our main reasons for wanting to travel were to experience more of the world, to give our kids an opportunity to see that there is more than one way to do something, to learn to love people from all over, to learn about more cultures, to serve, and to grow closer as a family,” JoEllen tells Kidspot.

The family considers themselves “slow travellers” as Cody is committed to working 25 hours per week as an IT Analyst and JoEllen runs three blogs, as well as working for an American makeup company — all of which she can do remotely so long as the internet connection is good.

As for financing their travels, the family tries to eat-in most days and tends to skip a lot of the touristy, expensive sights instead opting to experience the culture and place of each destination.

Their main costs are airfares, car rental, and accommodation however seeing as they don’t own a home or cars, they don’t have expenses back home to worry about.

They also offer services while travelling to help ease the costs such as providing images or pictures to an Airbnb host for a discount.

NATHAN AND MARISSA FROM LESS JUNK MORE JOURNEY

Nathan and Marissa have been travelling for three years full time, with their daughter Hensley who is also three.

After struggling with infertility for quite some time, the couple was blessed with the arrival of their daughter and it sparked a mission of a life “Less Junk, More Journey”, hence they decided to sell their home, purchase a camper and begin living and travelling together.

It is a decision they have never regretted.

The family shares their journey on their YouTube channel, which is now how 95 per cent of their income is generated. Nathan was working remotely but as their channel started to grow it was a great shift to make.

“We are having a blast creating amazing memories and spending a generous amount of family time together while travelling our beautiful country in our home on wheels. In the process, we decided to start filming our lives and created a YouTube channel in hopes of being helpful, encouraging, and inspirational to others who also want to live a life of “Less Junk, More Journey,” the couple tells Kidspot.

The couple admits that travelling full-time is exactly as it sounds — you are a full-time traveller, full-time parent, full-time spouse and you have be aware of that and nurture it with the knowledge that out of it comes so much growth and possibility.

“The memories we are making and quality time we spend together has been incredible for our family. It is a bond that cannot be broken,” they say.

This article originally appeared on KidSpot and has been republished here with permission.