On an overcast day in May 2014, we said goodbye to my family in Christchurch, New Zealand and boarded our flight for San Francisco.
We thought we might be gone for eight months or so. We also thought we would be based primarily in Mexico and Guatemala but we changed plans mid-way and re-routed to Europe where we’ve been since July 2014.
This is the longest period of sustained travel I’ve done, previously my record was five months.
Over that time my baby has grown into a little boy.
My husband has become a gym-junkie and I’ve attempted to become a better writer. More importantly, we’ve decided we can never go through the awfulness of an Irish goodbye again.
Every time we’ve left Ireland before without a return date. 2-3 years would pass between visits.
Everyone in the family dreads the day of our departure – it is anything but a happy time.
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Now that we’ve made the decision to try to move to Spain, we know we’ll be able to visit Ireland much more frequently.
Here’s some of the other things I’ve come to realise during our year of travel:
1. I am the very worst version of myself on travel days.
On the day we were packing to move to Spain I called my husband a very, very bad word because he asked me if we should bring a broken adaptor with us to Spain.
A broken adaptor is no good to anyone, so of course we would not be bringing it.
He was probably just protecting his butt in case I had some master plan to repair it (I did not).
He was adding to my enormous list of things to think about before we left for the airport.
Like how we had tripled our luggage in eight months of buying almost nothing.
I want to tell you that I’m a pro at this travel business but honestly, it never gets easier. I dread travel days.
There are almost always tears (some from me, loads from Dylan) and screaming. Part of the reason I love slow travel (my best travel tip is to travel slow) is because I reduce my exposure to stressful travel days.
I also love train travel for that reason. Train travel is one zillion times less stressful than air travel.
2. I suck at travelling light
We left New Zealand with one 20kg bag. Now we are up to three 20kg bags.
On European airlines each bag must be paid for.
My penchant for hauling crap around is costing us a lot of money.
Admittedly one bag was full of Irish tea bags and nappies which are surprisingly expensive in Spain but that still leaves over 20kg unaccounted for.
3. Sometimes travel is not the answer
Travel does not solve all of life’s problems. We took off partly from frustration in dealing with a slow-moving insurance claim on our earthquake damaged house.
We are edging closer to a resolution every day, but the frustration has remained. At times the stress of dealing with this problem from afar is overwhelming.
It would have been easier to stay home, but then our mental health would have suffered.
Other things travel does not enable:
Toilet training – man oh man have we struggled with this. I’m sure my son will be able to use the toilet sometime before his 5th birthday.
4. People are good
Other than the dick who tried to menace my husband while he was carrying our son to preschool last week here in Spain we have only experienced kindness and empathy everywhere we have travelled.
This is why people must travel. It restores faith in humanity.
The media don’t often run news stories about kind men holding doors open for a mother struggling with a toddler and bags full of shopping.
Or the waiter at the cafe magically producing a lollipop the second before a tantrum erupts.
The people on the train that keep your son entertained with peek-a-boo.
The millions of smiles, holas, hellos. People are good.
5. Time to think is important
I’ve come up with ideas for three passion projects since we departed.
I’ve always known I wanted to work for myself but I had no idea how I would pull that off.
Here is the secret – give yourself time to think.
I’ll admit I had some help from a workshop I took in Barcelona but I now believe we are capable of anything if we give ourselves the time to generate ideas.
It was during the summer in Ireland that I came up with the slightly mad plan to chase the summer around the world. I’m still figuring out the details of how that’s going to work but having the idea in the first place is the hard part, right?
6. I need to do fulfilling work
I like working. I like the structure and having objectives to achieve.
Before I had my son I worked up to three jobs at a time. Not just because I like money.
I get bored very quickly, I hate sitting around the house.
I don’t think I could say it any better than Mr Money Mustache himself “My best days are the ones where I accomplish something truly difficult, preferably in both mental and physical realms. And my worst days are those that I just spend sitting around. So I’ve learned that work is an incredibly powerful source of happiness.”
We travel slow. There is a lot of downtime.
And with a toddler our evenings mainly consist of Netflix or reading. Using that time to work makes sense.
I hate the term ‘digital nomad’ because it sounds wanky and entitled but there is something to be said for a life combining fulfilling work with the freedom to change your surroundings whenever you choose.
7. Kids are not a barrier to travel
Dylan has visited nine countries in the last 12 months. He has slept in over twenty different beds.
We have not had any sleep problems. Why? We co-sleep.
He sleeps fine anywhere as long as he is next to Mummy.
He loves adventures and his most common request is to ‘go out for a little walk’.
This kid loves to walk around (well, actually bike around on his balance bike at the moment) and explore.
He also likes to stare at ants for a really long time. He says ‘Hola’ to everyone on the street.
Including dogs. He’s smart, funny and charming as hell.
I’ve yet to meet someone who could resist his gorgeous little smile.
The kid has adapted to travel better than we expected. Please show this post to anyone who says you can’t travel with kids. The only barrier is your attitude.
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I know long term travel isn’t something everyone can achieve and I am very lucky to be able to do this. My savings account is the lowest it’s been in five years.
That scares me a little but as a very wise man (once my manager, still a great friend) told me when I admitted I was terrified of leaving my job to have a baby “…you can always make more money but can never make more time”.
I have to admit I’m looking forward to going home and setting the wheels in motion to get our master plan operational by 2016.
We’ve had one amazing year of travel and I know I want this to be my permanent lifestyle.
At times I’ve wanted to call it quits. But having a whole year to explore the world with my 2 favourite people is an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life. I am truly blessed.