Traveling Families #2 – World Trip Diaries
traveling is broadly associated with folks in their 20’s, people that are somewhere in or just out of their education, young people, free people, folks that are not having a family yet. But in fact, there is (almost) no reason for excluding longterm travels or journeys on rather unbeaten paths from your globetrotting possibilities once you’ve started a family.
In my series Traveling Families I am interviewing families that did not drop their traveling plans and neither ground down their wanderlust but decided to continue their journey together with their kids.
For the 2nd edition of the Traveling Families Series I am having the pleasure to introduce you to Thais, she and her family sold everything 9 months ago and are traveling ever since:
“When we decided to travel indefinitely with the kids, people thought we were crazy. Our blog came to show them that it’s doable and a great experience for everyone. We share our budget, travel tips, guides. We also talk about the kids’ education and working and traveling. At the moment we’re in Uruguay – the second country of our South America trip. You can find us at World Trip Diaries.”
Name: Thais, the mom from the World Trip Diaries family.
Home Base: Most of us were born in Brazil, but we’re NZers by heart.
Tell us about your family: We’re an ordinary family of 6, a bit geeky, but nothing out of the norm. We sold everything to start traveling, and it was 9 months ago!
What’s your preferred travelling style? We don’t know yet, we’re still finding out! We loved road tripping around NZ, slow traveling in Brazil and a fast paced tourism like we did in Japan. For now, we just like traveling. 😛
How are your kids schooled? They’re homeschooled. Mostly unschooled, but we haven’t that figured our yet. The kids grow and their needs change, so we’re constantly changing our approach to their education! Whatever fits the moment, I guess!
Which countries/regions did you explore with your kids so far? We’ve road tripped NZ’s South Island for 4 months, spent a tourist month in Auckland (even though it’s home), had
a busy month in Japan, spent 3,5 months in Brazil! Now we’re in Uruguay enjoying our South America trip – it’ll last until June!
Do you have any advice for traveling with kids? I’d suggest you start slowly. Start by booking a weekend vacation on a nice hotel. Then book a week-long holiday somewhere less fancy. Grab 2 weeks on an apartment somewhere. Start with places you know you’ll love until you’re in places you’ve never imagined. Take your whole house on your first trip and see what things you actually need – take those on the next. And never forget to spend time with the kids – that’s the most important thing in the world!
What is – for you – the biggest challenge when travelling as a family? The costs! Even when a destination is cheap, it’s never really cheap when you’re in 6 people. We do need to give things up due to the costs, but it’s still been a great experience!
Thank you, Thais!
24 Comments
I do what I want to
I love this series!! I’m going to be meeting and following new travel families!! You should check out the Zapp Family (they’ve got FB and YouTube channel only) they’ve been travelling the world for 17 years already covering all the continents
fouronaworldtrip
Thank you 🙂 Isn’t the Zapp Family the family from Argentina? We have seen a documentary about them on a german kid channel the other day 🙂
I do what I want to
Yes that is them, they are now in Spain finishing their world trip unfortunately
fouronaworldtrip
funny that they made it until german kid tv 🙂 I watched it together with the kids and we were all deeply impressed 🙂 Do you know them personally?
I do what I want to
Yes (check the blog we have a post about them) they stayed with us last year for a week. The crossed for the first time to Europe with us!!
fouronaworldtrip
cool 🙂 the word is really small 😀 I will check out your blog!
wordsandwanderlust_
This is very inspiring! My husband and I are on the process of buying a first home but part of me looks at the downpayment as something we could use for a travel fund instead. This family is very brave! Kudos!
fouronaworldtrip
Thanks for your comment 🙂 paying off a mortgage seems really like a big thing, I know!! We are looking into renting our place out when we are on our 1 year trip; hope it works!
A Busy Bees LifeSheri
This is great and I would love to see more like this. I traveled from age three and it has been amazing to be able to see the world and many countries, cultures and people…
fouronaworldtrip
Thanks for reading! 🙂 I will post the next part of the Traveling Families Series later today!
Wanderlust Vegans
I love reading about travelling families! What a great idea for a series. My family didnt do a lot of travelling while I was young, I’m glad to see others having the opportunity.
fouronaworldtrip
Thanks for your words 🙂
amsylvester@gmail.com
I’m always amazed and in awe of people who managed to make travel a way of life and its even more impressive when they’re able to do it with kids. This is awesome!