Feature Family Friday - Route Unknown •

Tell Us About Your Family!

We are a family of 6, father Wesley, mother Kim, Pux 9y, Rebble 7y, Zinzi 3y and Maddox 1y. We are from the Netherlands. 12 months ago we sold our house and most of our belongings to see what else life has to offer us. First we lived in a wooden house in the woods while we were renovating our van and 6 months ago our traveling adventure started. Wesley is a carpenter and Kim is a photographer. We believe in natural parenting and we aim for a simple lifestyle.

What led you to the decision to become a traveling family?

Kim dreamed about traveling with our family for years, while Wesley was a little bit unsure about it in the beginning. He was a little bit afraid to give up our certainties and corporate jobs. But he became more and more enthusiastic along the way. The biggest motivation to start our traveling adventure is that we wanted to see what else life has to offer us. We wanted to find out what we need and even more what we don’t need to be happy. We wanted to live more minimalistic and in alignment with nature and we wanted to have more quality time with each other. Most of our friends and family members were happy for us and said that if this really was our dream, we certainly have to go for it.

What are some of the highs and/or lows of being a traveling family?

The greatest high of traveling is that we meet so much fantastic and likeminded people which for sure we otherwise never would have met.

We had a lot of triumphant days, this is the one that really keeps with us: I (Kim) started the day with swimming in the ocean at sunrise, afterwards we ate breakfast while the kids played with their new friends, we went to explore the neighborhood with another family we met and when we walked back to our van at sunset we spotted a group of wild dolphins playing and swimming in the ocean. For us it really is the little things that make us happy and that we will remember forever.

Of course we also had some lows, the first weeks of our traveling adventure we had nothing but rain, it was cold and we all needed to get used to our new lifestyle. We all were a little bit grumpy and sometimes we doubted our choices to start traveling. In this time we learned a lot about ourselves and about each other and the most important lesson for us was learning to let it go, to trust the process and to stay positive.

Our kids don’t like traveling days and because of that we really are slow travelers. At most we drive 1.5-2 hours a day and we certainly don’t drive every day. If we like a place very much we stay for weeks at the same spot so that we and our kids have enough time to adjust to the new environment.

What are some places you think every traveling family should visit? Are there any places you wouldn’t recommend?

We are most enthusiastic about Spain, and in particular Tarifa in the south of Spain. Spain is very versatile, the environment is breathtaking, the people are very nice and child friendly, the food is delicious and the language is beautiful. Tarifa has a really cool, and a bit alternative vibe and a beautiful beach.

We are less enthusiastic about France, but it could be that way because we had a lot of rain while traveling there. So for us France deserves a second chance.

What advice would you give to other families looking to take the leap into long term travel?

If this is really what you want, then go for it. It is scary to leave everything behind, and maybe you doubt and you think about everything that could go wrong. But in our opinion, it is better to doubt the things you did do then the things you didn’t do. If you stay positive and you trust the process everything will fall into place.

How do you afford to travel long term?

We can afford to travel long term because we sold our house and most of our belongings. We mostly live from our savings at the moment. We live a very minimalistic lifestyle so we don’t need much. We are starting up our (partly online) photography business, we sell our Lightroom presets, do online photography coaching and also offer authentic content creation and photo shoots. In the future we want to keep traveling but then part time. Our ultimate goal is traveling 6-8 months a year and staying in one place the rest of the time.