I have previously written about slow travel vs fast travel in general -all while admitting that the concept itself was new to us. Until about a year ago, we did what most people do when planning a holiday: Asking ourselves where we want to go, checking the kids’ calendars for school holidays, inset days, teacher training sessions etc, checking with our work and then trying to find something affordable that looks like it will allow us to spend meaningful family time together, provide adventure, relaxation and everything in between.
One could argue that the holidays we took as a family up to 2018 were indeed following the slow travel ethos- we took our own car, stayed in one location and explored often on foot, bike and never drove much more than an hour each way. We visited museums and watched local craftsmen and artisans create wonderful pieces (one of my favourite vases was created in front of our own eyes on the Isle of Wight) and we shopped local where we could afford/ where it made sense.
We never wanted to be absent from work for longer than 2 weeks because we (somehow?!?) thought that is the best… As a result, our trips were usually 7 to 10 days. The amount of planning involved for those vacations was manageable and did not add too much additional strain to our (mine because planning was my thing) already busy schedule.
This way and pace of travelling did provide us with some level of relaxation and we cherished the time spent together as a family- without distractions from work, school, appointments etc. We definitely loved the memories made and the adventures had. We actually thought we benefit from it the way it was – in fact, shortly after each return, we started talking about where to go for the next trip to rinse and repeat.
With the wisdom of hindsight do realise just how stressful this way of vacationing was:
If we stayed longer than 7 nights it was slightly better, but you can appreciate the general level of stress and organisation that was involved to enjoy a few days of summer vacation as a family.
We are also disregarding the fact that during our standard work days the calendar looked actually more like the one below:
Summer holidays of 2022
We had not been on a proper holiday for 3 years due to pregnancy, Covid, lockdowns, job change etc. It was easy to decide on Scotland as the destination for our first summer vacation with the littlest, since we have never been there, always wanted to go and in fact even considered relocating there for quite some time. (We did have dreams after all!)
Scotland is vast and there is a lot to see and do, I found it hard impossible to pinpoint where we wanted to stay for our 7 to 10 days worth of holidays so naturally I went online to see what others recommend and do. It was then when I got obsessed wanting to do the NC500 – who wouldn’t?
In case you haven’t heard of the North Coast 500: It is a scenic route which is roughly 500 miles long, starts and ends in Inverness and combines many different roads into one touring experience. Many roads are single track with passing places, some roads are too narrow or steep for motorhomes though! As we read more blogs and articles and viewed more videos, we figured that our typical 1 week would definitely not be enough (although some people do drive the whole 500miles in 3 days!).
@rayonajourney thought that I am nuts. A road trip through Scotland? In a car? With a teen and a toddler and two dogs? And to top it all off spending 3 whole weeks on a trip? This would be the longest holiday anyone of us ever took… I can’t say for sure but I think watching The Grand Tour episode “Well aged Scotch” which is filmed on the NC500 helped to make him agree to give it a go.
We definitely want to share our amazing experiences from the NC500 and we will do so in a separate post in due time, but for the purpose of this blog post and how this trip of a lifetime changed everything for us, allow me to sum our adventure up:
Breathtaking scenery, rugged landscapes, ruined castles, an abundance of waterfalls, mountains, lochs, caves, beaches, friendly people, great hostel stays meeting travellers from all over the world and so much more is what we experienced – and all by going on one single road trip!
We loved every minute of our Scottish travels, even the rainy days.
OK, maybe not the midges. We hated the midges. But we even learned how to avoid them / deal with those pesky things.
We changed location every few days and actually covered way more mileage than usual during our holidays – in fact our total came up to way more than 500miles. We obviously had to get from Cheshire to Scotland and back home, but we also had plenty of excursions and even added in a visit to the Isle of Skye.
So why does this all matter?
“Is that it”, I hear you ask? You are sitting here, reading this blog waiting for a big revelation and I tell you how great Scotland was? That we adjusted our pace, travelled faster but for a longer period and liked it? Well…
Something happened, we still don’t know precisely what, but Scotland has changed us.
Maybe it gave us the freedom and time to allow thoughts that lingered for a while?
Was it the remoteness, the being away from it all that enabled true reflection?
Were we surprised to see just how much of a positive impact it had on the kids to be on this 3-week long road trip?
Was it the fact that we reached the most northerly point of mainland Britain and yet heard our hearts yearning to go further? By no means are we talking about going down the cliffs like some selfish people do and disturb the birds or worse but in a more figurative sense.
We returned home early September 2022 from our Scottish holiday – we tried to get back into our old routines but seemed to hate it all, everything felt wrong. We came to the realisation that we are not enjoying our life and, even worse we (adults) seem to be working so many hours only to be able to afford child care so we can work all while missing out on the kids growing up, often being too tired to even spend quality time with them.
Annoying colleagues at work, racist teachers in high school, Brexit and politics, a UK which is becoming more and more hostile and unstable, horrible weather, rising energy costs, us missing our families which are dispersed across the globe yet nobody else living in the UK. As the days went by, we found more things to add to this list and it made us miserable and depressed.
Yes, all those were there before, we just accepted them as the norm but now, we were not able to do so anymore.
51 days of reflection
By the 25th of October we had not only had many discussions, sleepless nights but also some research on possibilities and believe it or not, we then took the decision to not only make ourselves jobless but also homeless and hit the road. That’s right, without ever having been away for longer than 3 weeks, without ever having had planned to become globe trotting world travellers and without owning a van or motorhome, we decided it is best for all of us to more. or less”just” up and leave.
And because we work best with tangible targets we set ourselves the 1st of March 2023 as the date for departure, leaving us 127 days to get ready. Sounds bonkers? It probably was.
Sounds rushed? If you don’t set target dates you won’t do it and in the end we felt just 1 or 2 days short (Those 127 days will get their own post, too so you can indulge and judge).
Sounds like we had a big car boot sale? Kind of, we sold a lot on facebook and gave away the rest for free.
Our journey ahead
Wanderlust in it’s most direct translation would mean “feeling the inner urge to wander”. We do love hiking, especially combined with beautiful nature and some geocaching, but while we are driven by the want to experience new cultures and countries, the wish to have some adventures and to try new food. Last but not least, we are also travelling to discover our roots, to show our children where their grandparents or great-grandparents were born and to ensure they grow up to be good global citizens.
We knew that we do not want to live in England anymore, so our quest will also be to find a spot we love and where we want to settle. The latter was the reason for our initial choice of a relative fast travel: 1 week at a spot and then move a bit further to see where in the world we will enjoy life most. We wanted to stick to that rhythm for a while and return to the best spots for a few months at a time. This would allow to try to live like a local as best as possible.
5 months and almost 14,000km travelled by car (we don’t even count the air miles to Morocco and back) we know now this is too fast for us. We learnt that we need to slow down even more and that we need to stay slightly longer in places when we can. We are slowly overcoming the feeling of FOMO and learnt to avoid big tourist hotspots and cities. We don’t like those, so why go?
It has been one year since we headed off to the NC500. A lot has changed in our life and we will see where the journey leads us. We adjust our plans as we go but most importantly we already are making memories together, as a family. Not only the children learn so much – every single day with the world being our class room. No regrets from us and thank you, Scotland!
What’s in it for you?
We would love for you to join us on this journey either here, on instagram or in fact: why not meet up? We are currently in Ireland and will soon be heading to Malaysia. Octiber onwards we will spend half a year in New Zealand, so give us a shout if you are in one of those places!
If you follow this blog, we will be able to share our journey (good and bad aspects), our experiences in the different countries, how much this lifestyle costs, how we cook, learn and play on our open ended travel around the world and so much more with you.
Do you travel with your kids? Do you have a favourite pace of travel? Do you tend to go to the same spots?
Maybe consider shaking it up just a little bit for your next family trip. You never know, you might like it or it might even change your life.
Share your thoughts and feedback with us, we would love to hear from you!