We are a wanderlust family of 6: myself, Rachel, my husband, John (both 43), and our 4 children, Savannah (9), Aurora (7), Easton (5) and Tiago (3). We are currently stuck on pause in Spain following the Coronavirus lockdown, at the end of a year-long road trip in our motorhome (a Classic Hymer from 1991, lovingly referred to as Hazel), which has taken us all around Western Europe and over to Morocco. When we can, we hope to pick up where we left off and continue with more van living adventures over this coming year.
Our passion for travel started long before our children were born, indeed before we even got together. I have inter-railed as a teenager, spent extended time in Greece and Spain during my university years, as well as spending much of my childhood touring around France, which is arguably where my passion for travel was ignited. I had decided that I wanted to see the world after university and, like many others, decided to embark on an around the world adventure. Fortunately, John had also spent some of his childhood holidaying around Europe and was also keen to see more of the World. After we got together we set off in 2006 on an 11 month tour of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
We had an amazing time and this only confirmed our desire to keep seeing more. So, after our wedding in 2010, we spent a 5 week honeymoon exploring the West side of South America. Highlights included completing the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, cruising the Galapagos Islands, and exploring the amazing Rapa Nui (Easter island), to name just a few. We really wanted to spend more time away on this trip but jobs wouldn’t allow.
We have continued to explore and quench our thirst for travel during our holidays since. I am a secondary school science teacher and John has previously worked for the Environment Agency, being able to work flexible hours to boost his annual leave, so our holidays have afforded many weeks of travel each year. We have currently visited 56 countries across all continents bar Antarctica, which remains high on my bucket list!
There was no way we were ever going to let having children change our desire for travel and seeing new places. So, when Savannah (her name itself inspired by our African adventures) was born, there was no way we’d be missing out. We planned and successfully pulled off driving to Switzerland just 2 months after she was born for a family Christmas skiing holiday, much to everyone else’s surprise! Driving gave us flexibility over the journey and travel times, the ability to see more places on the way, and to take lots of baby stuff with us. To be honest, now I wouldn’t bother with it all, but on our first trip I felt we needed it.
When we took Aurora (named after the Aurora Borealis – or Northern Lights, inspired by our trips to Iceland) to the same skiing resort at the same age two years later, we flew and just took hand luggage – this despite having a toddler and a baby, full winter clothes for all, and our snowboard boots! See our post on travel tips and essentials.
In fact, having children and the associated maternity leave has at times enabled us to travel for longer and during term time which I couldn’t normally do. We have also made use of shared maternity/paternity leave to creatively extend our holidays. Savannah and Aurora had both visited 11 countries during the first years of their lives.
So, onto van living. All those years ago, while touring New Zealand in a hired campervan, we talked about what travel we might like to do in the future. I was keen to tour all around Europe, mainly to the less visited corners, in a motorhome some day and so, when I was pregnant for the first time, we bought our first Hymer. Our first trip away was a tour around Scotland. We have since spent a month in Italy, and later, a month in Scandinavia, with numerous UK short breaks in-between. You can read more about previous trips in our travel posts.
When we found out we were expecting our third child, we decided that after maternity leave we would take sabbaticals from our jobs and travel for a year. We really wanted to be able to spend more time with our young family and have experiences that would be unforgettable for us all.
Now, with a fourth child just born in Spain, we hope to continue with more of our family travel adventures together.
What will the future hold? Where will be be going next? Who knows… One thing for sure though, there’s a lot more of the world out there still waiting to be explored!
