Just recently we’ve had a few comments about our decision to uproot the girls and take them travelling. We don’t mind polite questioning (a lot of people have been genuinely curious as to whether it is legal to remove the girls from school, how we will educate them etc), but we have also encountered a few people who believe we are making a terrible mistake, or even endangering our children.
So…what about the girls?
The girls are very excited about all they will do and experience whilst we are away. We have considered them very carefully whilst planning our intinerary, trying to encompass the needs and desires of us all. We are travelling relatively slowly with several stays of 2 weeks or more in one area just for rest and stability. We are not aiming to see everything in every country we visit. We want to experience life and culture, not just be tourists.
The dangers are no more than those of living in the city that we do now. There will be no daily extreme sports or leaving the girls with anyone other than us. In many ways, the same rules and boundaries that we have now will apply just as much (if not more) whilst we are travelling.
School have been very supportive of our plans. We will continue to follow the maths curriculum for each of the girls. English – well, they’ll be keeping a journal and blog. That will take care of the grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, reading and writing skills etc. The rest? Plotting a round the world route, considering different climates, climbing a live volcano, hiking part of the deepest canyon in the world, exploring the Galapagos – we reckon geography and science is covered there! They’ll be learning and using Spanish. The list goes on…
Yet the academic aspect is not of true importance to us really. The girls are just starting to form their own independant opinions and beliefs about the world and the people in it. Their morals and attitudes towards others are taking shape. We are biased we know, but we have two fantastic girls who are as absorbant as sponges. They are funny, articulate and sensitive towards others. We believe that there is no better time to take the girls on such an adventure. At the moment they enjoy spending time with us and actually want us to be with them – fast forward four or five years and they will naturally want to spend more time with their peers (who will also shape their opinions and attitudes).
Now feels like the ideal time to go out there as a family and explore the world together. John and I hope that this time with the girls will be something they remember forever, because we certainly will.
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Homeless - In a Good Way
So…that’s it.
We’ve moved out of our home, the sale is complete. Although the advice you read tells you just to rent out your property, we decided that we needed a clean break. When we move back, we’ll probably move to a different area.
How does it feel to have no mortgage, property and have gotten rid of most of your belongings? Surprisingly good! We were almost disappointed that we didn’t feel more poignant leaving the house. Even the girls were absolutely fine about it too. Maybe it will hit us later? Or maybe it’s a sign we’ve made the right decisions?
So now…there’s no going back (woo hoo!). Time to pay for the tickets, book some accomodation and pack our bags. In 8 weeks and 1 day we’ll be on our way to San Francisco!!
We’ve moved out of our home, the sale is complete. Although the advice you read tells you just to rent out your property, we decided that we needed a clean break. When we move back, we’ll probably move to a different area.
How does it feel to have no mortgage, property and have gotten rid of most of your belongings? Surprisingly good! We were almost disappointed that we didn’t feel more poignant leaving the house. Even the girls were absolutely fine about it too. Maybe it will hit us later? Or maybe it’s a sign we’ve made the right decisions?
So now…there’s no going back (woo hoo!). Time to pay for the tickets, book some accomodation and pack our bags. In 8 weeks and 1 day we’ll be on our way to San Francisco!!
Tuesday 10 May 2011
The Next Big Step - House Sold & Equity Released!
So…the house is sold, contracts have been exchanged and we move out in 5 days time. Our dream of going travelling is very quickly becoming a reality and we have a lot to do before November 8th! School has been informed, packing lists begun and equipment purchased. The vaccination schedule is underway, flights firmed up and accomodation identified.
Wow…this is really happening!
Leaving our home will be sad in a lot of ways. It is a lovely house filled with great memories, but life moves on and it feels like the right time to spread our wings.
One thing packing up our belongings has taught us is that we have a lot of clutter and belongings, but feel emotionally attached to very few of them. We have recycled/ sold/ dumped the majority of our things, only keeping the real sentimental stuff that could never be replaced. When we come back to the UK we will be starting afresh – what a wonderful opportunity in itself.
Wow…this is really happening!
Leaving our home will be sad in a lot of ways. It is a lovely house filled with great memories, but life moves on and it feels like the right time to spread our wings.
One thing packing up our belongings has taught us is that we have a lot of clutter and belongings, but feel emotionally attached to very few of them. We have recycled/ sold/ dumped the majority of our things, only keeping the real sentimental stuff that could never be replaced. When we come back to the UK we will be starting afresh – what a wonderful opportunity in itself.
Hello World
‘Hello World’ seems like quite an appropriate title for our first post!
The house is sold subject to contract, at least half of the boxes are packed, and we’ve provisionally booked our round the world tickets leaving at the beginning of November. The girls’ school know of our plans, John is going to leave his job and I have turned down several jobs (I’m just about to qualify as a midwife). Life is becoming very exciting, if not a little scary (in a good way!).
Maybe the title should be ‘Watch Out World’ not ‘Hello World’. If you’d asked us 8 weeks ago, we’d have told you we were planning to begin our travels in September 2010, but spontaneity struck us and we decided to bring it forward..by a year.
Ask our family – we’re not ones for doing things the right way round :0)
Join us for the ride…we can’t guarantee it’ll be smooth though!
The house is sold subject to contract, at least half of the boxes are packed, and we’ve provisionally booked our round the world tickets leaving at the beginning of November. The girls’ school know of our plans, John is going to leave his job and I have turned down several jobs (I’m just about to qualify as a midwife). Life is becoming very exciting, if not a little scary (in a good way!).
Maybe the title should be ‘Watch Out World’ not ‘Hello World’. If you’d asked us 8 weeks ago, we’d have told you we were planning to begin our travels in September 2010, but spontaneity struck us and we decided to bring it forward..by a year.
Ask our family – we’re not ones for doing things the right way round :0)
Join us for the ride…we can’t guarantee it’ll be smooth though!
All About Us
We are a young family of four. Two grown ups + two kids (although I’d hate to state who deserved which role the most!). This blog details our RTW trip from November 2009 to May 2010. We wanted to share our experience and hopefully inspire other families to take the leap into family RTW travel.
I am a midwife, absolutely loved my job but wanted to travel before settling down to a career.
My husband is a grown up (but hates to admit it!). He’s had quite a few jobs but hasn’t yet decided where his career lies – ‘there’s got to be more to life than work’. Since returning home he has gone back to his previous teaching career.
We have two very energetic and adventurous girls. They both really enjoyed seeing wildlife in it’s natural habitat. They were also very excited about not having to go to school for nine months!
We’re an outdoorsy kind of family. We enjoy camping, walking and exploring new places, although we’d never done any significant travelling before. It was an adventure for all of us.
Our motto?
Life is too short to wait for the ‘right time’ – just do it now!
We hope you enjoy reading about our adventure. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
I am a midwife, absolutely loved my job but wanted to travel before settling down to a career.
My husband is a grown up (but hates to admit it!). He’s had quite a few jobs but hasn’t yet decided where his career lies – ‘there’s got to be more to life than work’. Since returning home he has gone back to his previous teaching career.
We have two very energetic and adventurous girls. They both really enjoyed seeing wildlife in it’s natural habitat. They were also very excited about not having to go to school for nine months!
We’re an outdoorsy kind of family. We enjoy camping, walking and exploring new places, although we’d never done any significant travelling before. It was an adventure for all of us.
Our motto?
Life is too short to wait for the ‘right time’ – just do it now!
We hope you enjoy reading about our adventure. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
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