A lady in our Living Differently group was telling me yesterday how a photo I shared had stuck in her head and constantly inspired her to keep working towards her own dream lifestyle. It was the one below, taken in Richmond Upon Thames, London. Home, after too many years away.
It was incredible to be back walking familiar streets once more, and what screams “Britain” louder than a game of cricket on The Green.
So I thought I’d take time to indulge my own memories and find my favourite images from the last almost 4 years of travelling round the world with my kids. They are the ones that maybe show the best things about our travel lifestyle. They are the moments of pure joy, of freedom and of learning. I hope you enjoy them and they inspire you to live your own dream.
They’re all from our Instagram account, which I don’t use so often, but there are some nice pictures over there illustrating our physical journey and our path to financial freedom.
But what is the dream? What is it that we’ve achieved that we’d like you to move towards too?
What are the Best Things About Travelling the World With Kids?
It’s freedom. Freedom to go wherever you please, tomorrow if you like.
It’s really getting to know your kids and they you.
It’s learning greater self-confidence and self belief. It’s knowing that you can.
It’s being your own boss.
It’s freedom from big debts and big bills, no more working to pay them. Instead work to fund adventure and your dream lifestyle.
It’s trusting in the universe, enjoying an abundance mindset and moving forward towards your dreams.
It’s not being tied by anyone else’s schedule, no 9 to 5, no school run. Every day is a weekend day.
It’s being able to spend time with the people you love, when they need you, or you them.
It’s physical freedom, you can sit still, lie in a hammock or move and use your body. You can eat and rest as you feel. You can run, swim, bike or climb, with no restrictions. My husband has the freedom to train for and compete in his triathlon events on any continent.
It’s freedom to be the guide on your kids’ educational pathway. You don’t miss one second with them and they learn what they want or need to learn. You will know exactly what they’re learning and what they’re experiencing. No bullying, no peer pressure, a closer bond.
It’s their freedom to learn what they want, at the pace they want.
It’s freedom to rise with the sun or stay in bed. Whichever you prefer.
It’s job satisfaction.
It’s meeting new people and making new friends who think more like you.
It’s deep global understanding and knowledge.
Some of my favourite photos from the last few years of travel.
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As always, we’d love it if you’d say hi in the comments. Are you new here, do you have big dreams or plans of your own?
I haven’t posted much recently, bogged in technical problems. Our next posts will be on useful and essential plugins for new to intermediate bloggers, on that trek to Tengboche Monastery with my 11-year-old, on solar-powered chargers, or on what? What would you like to read?
If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!
We also suggest you take a look at this company to get a quote for all kinds of the more tricky adventure or extended travel insurance.
Try Stayz / VRBO for an alternative way to find rentals on homes/apartments/condos in any country!
Great to read your blog, we are travelling with our kids too, Time to move on from Grenada at the moment, off to Mexico next to experience the whale shark migration and learn about Mayan culture. Time I also started blogging and trying to make this lifestyle pay, always great to see a family are successfully doing that. Our aim was to sail the world but we discovered so many places we want to see are inland so now we are without a boat and wandering wherever we can. Happy travels!
Thak you Rosie! Lots of whale shark luck.
I love reading about your travel experiences. Great post, indeed!
Wow – loved seeing all those photos! As a family that is currently living traditionally at the moment (and not hating it), it definitely makes me want to sail away again. Still trying to figure out what “Living Differently” looks like for us…seems to have periods of freedom and adventure and other times of routine, but still adventure. I love the photo of you on your 50th – your smile tells everything. Thanks!
Thanks Alyson, Great photo’s! I have been following your bog for the last year or so and we are now 3 weeks into a 12 month backpacking trip with our two children. We were well travelled before the kids, and had managed a 10 week Europe trip and 3 week Indonesian trip in the last few years. You gave us the confidence to see that it can be done on tight budgets with kids. We are now living well on NZ$50 per day (US$35). You also got me started blogging and understanding more about amazon affiliates. Thank you!
Nina
http://www.strikingthebalance.weebly.com
I’m glad to hear that Nina particularly as so many people think these low budgets are unobtainable. I’ve had a couple of people question a $100/day budget. It can be done and it’s really not so hard. Good on ya!
I love your pictures!
Genuine question here. What are your thoughts on savings and investments? For example, saving for the kid’s college or just being able to contribute to a 401K?
Thanks and may you all continue to enjoy your great adventure.
Kid’s college and 401K are alien to us Irene sorry, we’re not American. I don’t actually know what a 401K is. We have a 3/4 million dollar house sitting in Australia, that’s our investment and nest egg, we have no need to save extra…..we hope! We also have various bits of pension here and there that will probably be worthless by the time we get to them. I’m not pushing them towards university, if they decide they want to go we’ll make it happen, but degrees are of decreasing value and the cost is crazy. I went to university, had a lot of fun but my degree certainly never gave me job satisfaction, I was much happier once I started being creative through art, graphic design, websites and photography, all skills self taught. We’ll see how their interests develop as they get older and figure it out from there. Thanks for your question.
Thank you for the inspiration as usual. We are heavily focused on discovering Australia while we have our gorgeous old bus. But this has made my feet itchy to get our backpacks out and get over to somewhere. ‘Maybe Croatia next 🙂
See you in croatia ! If you brought the bus over here it would be awesome, so many countries to drive to, even Asia or Africa. It’s something I think of doing a lot.
It’s funny how we crave the opposite things. We’ve lived all our life in a cold, snowy climate in Romania-like circumstances. Off to that tropical Queensland next week, whoohoo! 🙂
Thanks for the post. All’s 100% true.
Yep, well it seemed like a good idea at the time LOL!
We are discovering Qld at the moment in our vintage bus. It’s stinking hot at the moment but spectacular. Enjoy 🙂
Go check our house is OK for us would you, almost opposite the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas 😉
Wow. What wonderful pictures. Thank you for the recap. You and your family are truly inspiring. So glad to have found this blog and Living Differently.
Thank you Gale, so kind.