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How's this for an itinerary?
Malaysia (the beach you see on the left)
Bali
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Singapore
Australia
That's just a few of the places that Colin and Tracy Burns and their two children have traveled to over the past two years. An envious travel tour. (I know I started dreaming of travel while I was looking at their blog.)
Currently? They're living in New Zealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific, known for it's incredible scenery (think Lord of the Rings). The landscape and coastlines are magnificent.
There's plenty of adventure (like mountain biking, backpacking, kayaking and skiing); an abundance of nature, flora and fauna; lost of culture (the Maori are the tangata whenua, the indigenous people, an integral part of Kiwi life), with their traditional Maori arts, war dances and performances; world-class wine (120 vineyards along the New Zealand wine trail) and unique cuisine (known as Pacific Rim).
(Ooooh...are you thinking what I'm thinking? Let's plan a New Zealand holiday?)
Despite the beauty and adventure of this country, next they head to Canada... because they love the snow and want to do some more skiing. (Personally, we try to avoid the snow, but to each his own.)
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In 2009, the Burns decided to 'uproot' their family from their comfortable Austrailain home, and take their 2.5 and 4.5 year old children to travel the world.
They chose to do this for several reasons:
- every couple they spoke to that had done something similar never regretted it
- every couple they spoke to that had thought about doing something similar, but never did, had huge regrets
- your kids are only young once, and you should make the most of it (it was their way of forcing themselves to spend more time with their children)
- to spend their money on something else besides expensive Australian real estate
- to leverage their income (earn in Australian dollars and spend in Asian currencies)
So how do they earn an income, even while they're traveling? They are both web designers (one the programmer, the other the graphic designer), so they have the freedom to work anywhere there's a reliable internet connection.
In his interview, he'll be sharing the details about how they created their business, with principles that you can apply to creating your own freedom income.
They are a part of a movement that's happening all over the world - individuals and families who are tired of following the formula prescribed by society, and are now charting their own course. You can do it too!
You can follow Our Family Lifestyle on their family travel blog, and make sure to check out their full length interview.
What would you ask Colin if you could sit down with him?
Comments
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We are also family travelers from USA currently living & working in Malaysia. If I recall correctly we met Colin, Tracy and family last year in Penang, Malaysia.
We really enjoy Malaysia so far. We were in Manila, Philippines 2010-2011. So far we’re finding we like Malaysia better.
@Mike Stankavich Very cool, they seem like a very neat family. Hope to meet them in person some day — and travel to Malaysia and the Philippines. Enjoy!
We are seriously thinking about travelling for a while. Two years ago we lived in a farm 5 hours from the nearest village. We received guests there who came to enjoy the wonders of nature on horseback. For four years we run the place untill our eldest complained he didn’t have any friends. Then we decided to move back to Bariloche and give them (and ourselves) a social life. Since then we haven’t been able to find a job that inspires us as we were at the farm. Lots of ideas have passed our minds and the first was to travel the americas with the kids. As we thought we needed stability we stayed and also the question of how to earn a living on the road kept us from going. Now that I read your story and those of others we do see a possibility and we have many questions that we’d like to ask you if we may? I realize most of our questions are practical, trying to find a daily rhythm that could work for all of us: – how do you give homeschool to different ages at the same time?- at which moment do you manage to work (write etc) on the computer with the rhytm of the day (schooling, cooking, excursions) etc. I have a 4 hour a day online job. Would it be realistic to continue this while on the road?- do you find you have good internet access with your 3g phone in south america? Which areas are more difficult?- what kind of food do you cook in the back of your car? Do you buy everything fresh daily? Or do you have some way to conserve it?- our kids go to a waldorf school here. Do you know of any waldorf homeschool curriculum?- have you by any chance met any hispanic families doing what you are doing? Looking forward to hear from you and wishing you a great time wherever you are preparing for Christmas! Gwen and Nico
@GwenHulsegge Hi Gwen, Thanks so much for your comment and your email. I’m composing a response which I’ll email to you 🙂
@GwenHulsegge Here is that post in response to your questions: http://discovershareinspire.com/2013/01/questions-about-traveling-with-kids-education-and-homeschooling-more-than-one-child-cooking-on-the-road-and-more/
Hey Rachel, this was an incredibly and inspiring post. We love travel as well, and I wanted to share our website for any interested travellers out there. We frequently post our photos, videos and stories from our trips around the world. We hope it may inspire some people to get out there and explore this wonderous world. Check it out: http://www.outpostmagazine.com/
Thanks!