Our family is about to travel the world. Yes, you read that correctly! After so so much prayer and research and soul searching, we feel like this is an opportunity that we just shouldn’t pass up!
Prayer
When we moved to New Zealand, we knew we would only be here for 2-4 years, but we were open to the idea of staying longer if that’s what was supposed to happen. So, after our first year here (and it was a jam packed full year of fun and exploration!), we started to consider our options. Our visitor visa was only good for 30 months, so we needed to start making plans for our permanent residency or for our departure. We started praying. And we started looking at our options and what we wanted for our future.
For a long time, we didn’t receive any thoughts or inspiration. But we kept at it. Little by little we would get ideas or thoughts and we would pursue one thing at a time. The idea of traveling before heading back to the States interested us, but we weren’t sure how our kids would do or how we could afford it.
A huge breakthrough for us was an invitation to housesit for a friend in Rarotonga. It gave us 2 weeks to really think and ponder our future. It gave our kids a taste of living in another place. It gave us an idea of what traveling as a family would be like.
After having a very successful holiday, we felt like we really wanted to make traveling work for our family. But the question remained about how we could work and afford this. So we prayed some more to have help to find a job that Cody could work 100{179783934889d100e7f719b3668747b043c6f5c7faae1d7c605a8698652824b4} remotely and be able to travel.
We looked into a few options and submitted a few resumes. But nothing was happening. Then we were inspired to reach out to his old employer in Phoenix. And boy was that divine intervention! We were able to secure a position where he works 30 hours a week completely remote and he gets to work with people that he already knows and respects. It was such a miracle and the perfect solution for our family. I can continue to work remotely for Maskcara and he can work remotely for his company. Win win.
Prep
Once we had secured a job, we started our traveling prep full on. What do you do to prepare to travel the world?? You have to sell everything! You have to plan out your travel route and flights and accommodations and car rentals. It. Is. A. Lot. Of. Work. When we’re not working or parenting, we’re planning and preparing for the move. My house is an absolute mess. We have piles and dust collecting in all corners. But I’ll get to the cleaning once everything is packed and sold. I can’t do it all, but I can take one step at a time.
Places
Where are we planning on going?? We leave New Zealand in January and return to the States at the end of June. We will be visiting the following places:
AustraliaBaliKuala LumpurThailandSingaporeLondonDominican RepublicItalySpain
Once we’re back in the States, we plan to continue to travel for a bit until we find a place to settle down. And we have absolutely no idea where we will be settling down! So, if you love where you live, convince me I need to move there! We want a small-town feel, nice weather, a little bit of land so we can have a garden and chickens, that’s not too far from family. We’re bound and determined to find somewhere we love!
So, our family is about to travel the world. Our life might be extra crazy right now, but we know it will all be worth it. We are so excited for the things we will learn, the experiences we will have, the memories we will make.
We are documenting our experiences along the way! We want to be open and genuine about our travels. We want to share how we’re making this possible and how we’re realistically traveling around the world as a family of 6. We will share the costs and the good and bad (our thorns and roses). You can find us at:
Website: Transparent Travelers
Instagram: @TransparentTravelers
Facebook: @TransparentTravelers
