Travelling Families
So hubby and I are not the settling type.
Having a house and being tied to one place isn’t really what either of us want.
Hubby’s job takes him to lots of different places all over Australia.
We have no debts, only our weekly rent, food, schooling, insurances ect.
We have 3 kids (2 under 4yrs + teenager)
Once this Covid has passed and the borders opened, we want to sell everything and get a caravan and live place to place.
It would mean we could all be together as a family, go to where the work is, set up and live, work hard and not be tied down. Pack up and relocate to the next job as required.
Teenager is all for it, great student, able to home school during travel and attend school wherever we may be. Little ones are still 2yrs off going to school so all good there.
Is it do-able?
We aren’t fully loaded by any means, but have enough to set us up and get us on the road to start at the first destination.
Have a life, explore, travel whilst still working, the ability to stay or leave if we want, who knows we may find the perfect place and decide to stay forever...
I also have qualifications and can pick up work. Would we be crazy 🤷🏻♀️
Would love to hear from other travelling families and how you make it work. I guess the fear of the unknown is what holds us back. Thank you ❤️
5 Replies
Despite the teenager being all for it, it’s going to be the hardest for him.
Going to school for short stints isn’t that easy. Each school will be at a different place in the curriculum, each school will have different subject choices and that may mean not having access to subjects he may like at the next school.
Then you’ve got the issue of a teenager in puberty, who won’t have his own bedroom and is struggling to make peer friendships.
I lived in a caravan, the walls are extremely thin and privacy is in extremely short supply.
Also studying via distance is easier short term harder long term, plus then the issues of when he either wants to enrol in higher education, or do a trade etc.
I’d strongly reconsider this plan, at the very least he needs to be able to do his last two years of school in a stable environment.
Yeah, the teenager will be the issue.
You can’t just enrol in every local school, that is unrealistic, they will be doing subjects in different order within the curriculum plus even subjects may vary (languages etc.). Also, not all states are doing the australian curriculm.Teenager will need to do school via correspondence.
Teenagers also need those close peer friendships as they develop, it helps them learn social skills and are so critical at that age. I’m 42 and my best friends are still those from high school. With the little ones, I think it would be fine. If teenager is studious, I wouldn’t want to do anything to jepodize their future career/study prospects. Maybe wait until teenager is at uni and younger kids are in primary school and do it 12 months and see what happens?
If you are not already, follow Trip in a Van on FB and Insta. They have been doing this for the past 4 years and actually make a living out of it. They have 3 kids under 7 and share how they make it work. Pretty sure they have a blog too. Might give you some insight.
TAWK- travel Australia with kids. Check out that Facebook page! Many families do it like that. I would love to one day too! Good luck!
I have always loved the idea of this but since everything has been locked down I've seen the negative side to it. I'm in a coastal tourist town that has many backpackers and nomads stay, it was frightening to see how many got stuck and are still stuck, free camping sites were closed and many can't afford to spend months at a caravan park, if they could find one open or not full in the first place also without work and not knowing when they will get work again. When all is well it would be great but when it's not well you would be one of the most vulnerable people in the country. Really research where you want to go to see if the local economy survived the shutdown and if the unemployment rate is high because I'm afraid finding a job may not be as easy as you think in all the tourist towns, a lot of businesses will not survive the shut downs and permanently close doors. Look at towns that have a good mix of industries like mining and tourism as they will be the ones that have prospered and should bounce back easily.