Living The Life We Love

It’s been nearly 6 years since we said goodbye to our suburban life, sold it all, and moved into a 31 ft travel trailer, we’ve lovingly named ‘Story’. With 3 kids in tow we started exploring the USA and Canada at our own pace. 

So far we’ve seen 42 states, 9 provinces, hundreds of national, provincial and state parks, swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, hiked 4 deserts, numerous mountain ranges, countless forests and rivers, hugged the giant redwood trees and so many more incredible places that have given us a sense of adventure, health and happy memories. We traded ‘security’ for freedom, routine for adventure, gyms for hiking, mundane for the unknown, and school for ‘roadschooling’. 

Our life is very different from what it used to be and that was exactly our goal. In fact, making sure we are together, healthy, happy, enjoying the present moment all while exploring the world around us and learning while doing is our soul’s desire. Needless to say we have no regrets and are super grateful for our lives that we genuinely love and wake up daily excited for. It wasn’t always like this though. 

Six years ago I looked out my window while nursing my youngest of three and thought how incredible would it be if my husband and I could actually spend each and every second with each other while raising our kids together? I caught myself looking up nomadic families and saw there are people out there actually doing just that! Traveling with kids while making a living. When I brought this idea up to my practical husband I thought he’d laugh at me but instead I was met with interest because guess what? He hated being away from his family 12 hours a day and living for the very full weekends. So with passion in our hearts and minds we continued to research what traveling full time would look like for us. 

First we thought we would travel Europe renting monthly Airbnbs across Europe and such but then we discovered RV life! Why not buy a tiny home on wheels and go across the USA and Canada? It’s a great way to get our feet wet in a full time travel lifestyle in a familiar setting, especially with 3 wee ones in tow. We were hooked! We toured RVs , looked up all the national parks we wanted to visit, found out the cost of all the things and made a spreadsheet full of budgets to give my hubby, the planner, an idea of what it would look like. The housing market was also hot and though we loved our Burlington home, our neighbours and the nice suburban life we created, we knew that travel and being together all the time was our destiny because of the fire it had ignited in us and we felt truly alive!! 

At first many people, friends and family did not understand our decision. We were told we are nuts, crazy, selfish even because what about the kids? How are they going to be socialized? You’re doing this for you not for them etc.. The more those comments came in, it made me realize how going against the flow of normalcy really scared people, yet it excited me even more. Don’t get me wrong I was sad and balled my eyes out when we sold our home that I birthed our children into the world in. Signing those sold papers was freeing but also terrifying! Choosing how we wanted to live and spend our time and with whom we wanted to spend our time was invigorating and freeing. 

The first year we hit the road there was so much fun, learning and figuring out how to fix the RV, we ended up going way over budget! We loved watching our kids learn about the natural world around them, they were outside all the time, we were fully present with one another and everyone slept amazing because we were together, safe, happy, with no stress and all that fresh air! The cash flow however, needed attention.

So we came back to our hometown to reconnect with our people and Alex got serious about creating his own consulting business, doing what he did before, continuous improvement but this time for himself and not a corporation. After 7 months of being back home in a rental house we all really missed the road life, freedom, lack of schedules, being, instead of being busy and all that nature! 

We were so excited to hit the road after our brief pit stop. We also had learned from other full-time families (a term used for those that live, work and school in a RV permanently like us) that there is a group online of other fulltime families out there and meet ups, campground memberships to save you money and a way to camp beside other fulltime families. This was a great way to meet other kids for my children to hangout with who lived the same lifestyle and could relate. We met a dozen close friends this way and now we will spend weeks or months together like a caravan and our kids have a little community which is priceless, especially with a teenage daughter who is very extroverted. 

Though we thoroughly enjoy the RV lifestyle we do have some adjustments and struggles; such as missing our own laundry machines (we use the campgrounds or laundromats), a bath or a hot shower that is more than 6 minutes long. Stomach bugs in a tiny space are a nightmare, RV repairs can become constant so learning how to maintain the trailer is a job in itself and luckily my husband has become very good at that. 

Working for oneself also brings on a new kind of stress and pressure without those biweekly paychecks coming in, storms in a trailer can be terrifying so watching your weather at certain times of the year is important as well as booking campgrounds in highly popular areas in time to avoid being disappointed. There are times that our kids do miss a house and their own bedrooms, however making sure we stay connected with their people from back home as well as plenty of travel time with their RV buddies fills their bucket. 

Next year, for our daughters first year of high school (still roadschooled of course) we plan on expanding our route by traveling Europe and we are starting to learn about the different countries we want to visit and plan how European travel will look like since ‘Story’ cannot come across the pond with us. 

This lifestyle has so many blessings, like learning to adapt, raising well rounded kids who appreciate nature and value time with their family but it’s not for everybody. If you need lots of alone time, it’s not for you. If you’re not ok with going with the flow (say something breaks in your rig and you need to change plans, or a campground cancels etc.), if you hate long drives or nature this is not for you. The important thing is to find what is for you and what you like. For us it is simple living, no schedules, lots of family time and lots of travel and of course spending most of our time in nature. 

It is important to note that going against the norm of society can feel weird at first but also liberating! To use your time the way you actually want to use it, to do the things and see the things and surround yourself with those who enjoy living unconventionally is such a great lesson for our kids. To choose their own path of happiness whatever that means for them and to show them there is so much more to the world than soccer practice, big homes and obligations on every weekend. That maybe thinking outside of the box and chasing your idea of happiness can bring you so much more joy and personal growth and happiness, not to mention the cool people we meet along the way. Life is meant to be lived and not just wasted on being busy. I’m so glad I listened to my unsatisfied soul 6 years ago and made that awesome, drastic, change to living the life we love!

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