How to Travel Long-Term With Kids
By: Ana Ruiz
Traveling long-term with your children. Is it really possible? And if it is, how can you make it happen?
You see, I also thought once, that traveling for longer than 2 weeks with my family was something meant to live only on my dreams. The jobs, the money, the house, and all the fears made it hard to imagine it really happening. Still, there was not a day I did not think about it. Waking up in different places without rushing, living life slowly around the world.
And as if I had manifested it, in November 2021 it happened! My family and I boarded a one-way ticket to Ecuador and stayed on the road for 10 months.
Today I’m gonna tell you how we made traveling long-term with our kids possible, and why I think you can do it too.
Let’s start with the bigger question…
Is it really possible for you? The best way to summarize it is yes mama, it is possible, if you think it is. The moment you believe it, things become a lot easier. Your brain will start finding proof of what could be, instead of what couldn’t be, and it’s really just logistics after that. Long-term travel with kids is possible no matter the age of your kids or where you live. It takes some planning, tons of dreaming and a good amount of courage which are all things we’ll be covering here.
Why should you do it?
If you’re here because long-term family travel interests you, but you haven’t decided if it’s the right move for you, this may help. This is a list with our biggest family learnings and things that we loved the most about traveling with our kids for almost 1 year.
- We had time to immerse ourselves in different environments.
Instead of spending a couple of days in each place, we tried 1 month+ stays in each country we visited. In fact, we stayed in Ecuador for 5 months and in Brazil for 3 months.
2. We learned how to slow-travel.
Thanks to this, we were able to enjoy our family routines no matter where we were. This is the true essence of living life around the world.
3. Our kids were exposed to many incredible experiences.
Especially while being so young! There are many things that my daughter, Nala, remembers about our trip, and sights that have deeply stimulated Luka’s development. I’m confident this trip will have lifetime benefits for them.
4. We connected very much as a family.
Without the rushes of a quick trip, we had time to just be with ourselves. Learning, exploring, contemplating. This is definitely a gift we did to ourselves and it lives with us every single day.
Let’s Define Long-Term Travel
I think it’s important to clarify that long-term is really subjective. For one traveler it could mean 3 months of travel, for another it could mean non-stop travel. For the purpose of this article, I’d love to define long-term travel, as any type of travel that is longer than a usual 2-week trip, and that is strongly focused on longer stays at each location.
Best Time to Travel Long-Term With Kids
Although I don’t think there’s an absolute best time to travel long-term with kids, you’ll find it is a tad easier to do it when your kids are younger (babies/preschool age). Not only will they be more “portable”, and your trip will become more budget-friendly, you also won’t have to think much about school and your kid’s education.
If your kids are older, with some planning, flexibility and out-of-the-box thinking, I’m sure you could make it work too. Down below I’ll share some useful info for you.
So, how did we do it?
How did we actually make it possible to travel long-term with our kids? Well, aside from the specifics, which I’ll share right here with you, the very first thing we did was pick a date. We were terrified, we had no idea how everything would turn out or how long we would stay out on the road, but we took massive action and booked a one-way flight to Ecuador.
This step was key for us because Ecuador is a country we know very well. My husband and I are both Ecuadorians and we have friends and family there. Choosing this familiar stop to kickstart our journey, made the jump a little less scary.
Now, into the nitty gritty of the logistics part that allowed our trip to last as long as it did:
- We had some savings
Although we didn’t plan our savings specifically for this, nor we had chosen a savings goal in advance, our past jobs had allowed us to save enough money for us to be able to step away from our full-time jobs and have this adventure.
I don’t believe you need a specific dollar amount to travel-long term but having savings is very important to be able to sustain it. You want to enjoy your trip without struggling financially and this part is gonna help you with that.
- We chose budget friendly destinations
It may not come as a surprise to you but yes, there’s a big chunk of the world where life is cheaper than in the US. There are specific regions and countries where the gap will be bigger, and we used this to our advantage during our trip.
By choosing budget-friendly destinations, we were able to stretch our dollars further, spending a lot less than what we were spending living life in California.
- We stayed with family and friends
As Ecuadorians, we took full advantage of our ability to not only visit family and close friends, but also stay with them. While in Ecuador, we only spent money on accommodation while visiting The Galapagos Islands and while staying at a friend’s hostel (which was offered at a discounted rate), saving tons of money during our 5 months there.
We also saved a lot by staying with a friend while in Spain. We visited her in August, one of the most expensive months of the year! and stayed for almost 5 weeks. This alone saved us at least $3000.
- We focused on earning income online
This helped us slow down the usage of our savings. As an online coach and travel creator, I had been working online before our trip so my plan was to increase this income source while traveling.
Although my online income alone was not enough to stop the use of our savings, it definitely helped us lengthen our trip. I was also able to work all over the world, like I always dreamed of, partner with incredible women and have pretty amazing collaborations.
This also helped me set the foundations for my online brands for the next time we decide to take on the world.
- What about our house?
Something that worked incredibly in our favor, and that we sort of planned out, was that before our trip we were sharing a house with my parents. We always knew we would travel long-term, and having a lease or mortgage to pay was something that we were aiming to avoid. So when we decided to leave, we basically put our part of the rent “in pause”, while still having a place to keep some of our stuff.
This is not something that may repeat itself, so our goal is to have a property (rental or owned), that we can rent while we are away next time.
Additional Tips to Make Long-Term Travel With Kids Attainable
- Consider homeschooling or worldschooling:
This can work great if you’re not set on a traditional education for your kids. If you love traveling, you’re probably well aware of the benefits of travel, including how much we can learn by living a life fueled by experiences.
There are many resources for homeschooling families out there and in recent years (post pandemic), a lot more families who’re trying worldschooling and sharing great info about it online.
2. Plan for it in advance:
Your trip doesn’t have to happen overnight. The most important thing you can do now, is declare it to the Universe, write it down somewhere you’ll see it every day, and know that this is already in the works for you. After that, you just have to take steps towards it. Identify your personal situation and what you need to work on. Perhaps it is managing your monthly income so you can clearly identify your savings potential. Maybe it’s choosing the type of education that will work better during your time away. Or maybe it’s deciding your destinations. As long as you keep taking action, this trip will keep getting closer and closer to you.
Ana is a Certified Family Travel Coach, Travel Writer & Creator, Speaker, and Online Business Owner. She’s been traveling the world with her wild little ones for the last 4 years, and now helps other moms do it too. She believes travel is magic and motherhood is magic. One should not exist without the other. She recently came back from a 10-month family trip that took her from snorkeling with sea lions at The Galápagos Islands, to sleeping at a camp at The Merzouga Desert. Yep! All of this with her kids.
Follow her adventures live at @monosviajeros on Instagram and on TikTok, and learn more about Family Travel Magic at www.monosviajeros.com.
