When people hear about our upcoming plans to spend a year visiting 5 different parts of the world with all of our kids in tow, they usually have 1 of 2 reactions. One being genuine curiosity and then a slow kind of acceptance, sometimes with a bit of enthusiasm. The other being...skepticism. A general not understanding. Not understanding why we're doing this or how it can work without our lives being ruined.
Here are some of the responses/questions we've gotten, followed by my answer to each.
1) They [the kids] won’t appreciate it.
First, while they may not necessarily remember every trip we’ve ever taken or place we’ve visited, they can/do most certainly appreciate the lifestyle.
A lot of their core memories are from places we’ve traveled to.
Lyss learned to swim in Costa Rica.
She took her first cruise to Cuba.
Zion’s “favorite vacation” was when we spent the weekend at a super fancy NYC hotel.
We all almost died of heatstroke on the train to Pompeii.
Amore was the ONLY baby hiking The Narrows at 6 months old.
These things stick, ya know?
But beyond that, the world is wide open and accessible to them. When I was growing up, the idea of getting on a plane and going anywhere was like a far off fantasy. But for my kids, they look at the world map and point to places they’ve been to and other places they want to visit, knowing with full conviction that they can/will get there. I mean my 5 year old is teaching himself a whole new language in prep for a trip overseas. So while he may not remember many details of the trip when he’s older, he will for sure remember when/why/how he learned to speak Italian.
2) Why don’t you wait until they’re older so you can go enjoy it alone with your husband?
Well for one, I don’t live my life waiting for a “better time”. I make NOW the best time. And now we have young children. Now, we want to and are able to travel, so now is when we’re going. While it won’t look the same as a solo vacation for just us 2 lovebirds, it will be a different kinda beautiful that we can only experience for a short time. So we’ll do both. We will travel as a family for now and enjoy it. And also, we'll travel just the 2 of us when they’re all grown up and we’re able to. The world is a big place and I'm not worried about running out of places to go.
3) It’s a waste of money.
We love to travel. Money spent on something you love is never wasted. But aside from that, while we are most certainly not wealthy, we are hardly dumb either. We’re not going into debt for/on this trip. While we like to live comfortably, we can and almost always do so without expensive luxuries. We’re renting homes in every destination that are in areas where we can enjoy our time locally and without a car in most instances. We’ll be cooking the majority of our meals at home. And both Zack and I will be working for the entire year we’re away so that we can afford life.
While we’re gone, our house will be rented and paying for itself. So really it’s just a matter of working to pay rent and transportation expenses in another country instead of working to pay a mortgage and utilities in the US. The bonus is that we get to experience life in 5 different parts of the world WITH our children.
4) What about school for the kids?
This one makes me laugh. First of all, school. Hard no.
But second of all, to think that our kids would be better served spending a year in college or kindergarten than they would living in South Italy, Ireland, the UK, Northern Italy and Puerto Rico… that’s… dumb.
And if you think I’m wrong, I’d love to know why.
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