I might not answer super personal questions, but feel free to ask.
We travelled Aus full time for 2.5 years and are now travelling Europe, before heading to the US in November.
I have a lot of travel hints and tips to share, but it's better if people ask the questions for me to answer.
Firstly congrats on living the dream -at least mine :-) (I had some similar plans - 4 months travel with young one each year idea but there was a major health issue out of the blue which changed everything)
1) Did you or the Mrs travel heaps as a child- or there was no travel at all? How did you get this travel bug?
2) How old are you and the Mrs?
3) What are your plans once the kid is in school at 6.
4) Just curious what kind of stuff have you got in storage? ($6000 yearly is on the expensive side)
5) What countries have you done so far?
6) As you rightly pointed out - living a slow life anywhere changes your viewpoint completely. What were the bigger differences that you found?
No Worries! Bugger.
Lucky kid man, they'll be greatful for the experiences as they get older.
What's been your highlights or 'best experiences' so far?
How does travelling in Aus compare with Europe (costs, facilities, and value).
Thanks!
Probably camping at South Lefroy for a month on the beach and snorkelling every day is still up there.
Disneyland Paris was epic, really good with the kid.
Travelling Aus is significantly cheaper, we budgeted around $1500/week there. Lots of free camping etc.
Europe has a LOT more density, so there is essentially no free camping allowed anywhere, it's the main reason we didn't buy a motorhome here. (Squished in with 100 others isn't our style)
Are you worried about your child not living a normal childhood and making lasting connections with children their own age?
A little bit, but I don't think we really make those connections until late Primary early HS. We will probably stop before then.
Good thinking. I moved to the other side of the world in very late primary and it was fine (and I didn't have cool travel stories like your kid does).
What is the meaning of life?
Sniffing other dogs’ bottoms? I guess the simple things in life really are the best
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take
Do you own a home outright that you are presently renting out?
Nope
Looks great. We just did a trip around Cairns but we love travelling to different parts of Australia and checking new places out.
Questions:
- What equipment do you use to produce your content? I can see you have a drone, what other camera do you use?
- Whats your favourite place in Australia you would recommend going to ?
- What are the challenges travelling so much with a 5 year old?
Drones and GoPro. I wouldn't recommend GoPro though they are pain in the ass devices that consistently break and don't work properly.
The Ningaloo reef in WA.
Her attitude sometimes. We have found that with all the constant changes in place and routine it's made her very resilient, BUT, if we don't start the day off with schoolwork and then getting dressed, teeth etc, the day turns to shit when we ask her to do her schoolwork later in the day.
Do you check for bed bugs every time you move or just deal with them when they eventually occur?
Just deal with them IF they occur.
No problems yet, thankfully. We don't stay in Hotels except the very odd occasion, so hopefully we don't end up with them.
What kind of visas did you get to travel long term overseas?
None, just the normal visitor waivers etc.
We just move around to satisfy the 3 month arrangements.
Saying that, getting a king term tourist visa for France from Australia would have been a good idea, but it was a headache to try and deal with at the time.
Why do you address your child with they? It is super confusion to know if you have 1 or more children beyond going through the comments.
It's 5yr old girl, yeah hard to figure out.
Do you like Dags?
Ozbogans
As I was reading your comments I was thinking, I reckon I know who these guys are then I saw your youtube link.
We were staying next to you in Seisia whilst you were getting the Ivecio fixed after drowning it. My wife has been following you on social media ever since then. Speaking with you has put us on the path to take next year off a do the lap as well.
Dan's landscape photography skills are off the charts. Hope you're enjoying the next part of your adventure.
Ahh cool mate, glad to hear!
"Influencer" is such a dirty word now, but it truly is what keeps us going and spending the time to do all the socials and YT etc. It's great to hear that you will be able to do a lap!
This is great, hope to do the same one day. What's your tip for when you are van-less with finding decent, well located short term rentals that doesn't break the bank? AirBNBs are becoming more and more expensive that they are not much less, and in some case a lot more expensive than hotels
A good question!
Essentially we use AirBNB 90% of the time. There's no way that it's more expensive than hotels, especially when you consider the cost of constant eating out, vs having a kitchen. (Unless that's your thing) We have done hotels in Vietnam, and it was ok, because eating out was really cheap, but compared to the space you get in an apartment, I can't imagine having to spend a week with the 3 of us in a hotel room, let alone if you had more kids.
We are looking at House Sitting as an option also.
When using AirBNB I do tend to use the price slider and filter it down to the bottom 5% of prices in the area we are looking at, sometimes that means staying further or somewhere different.
For the UK for example, any AirBNB near York was extraordinarily expensive, (like $1600+ for a week), but an hour up the road in a smaller village a nice apartment was $750 for the week.
Interesting seeing this pop up, we have been discussing over the weekend taking off for a year of travel overseas in 2025 with our 3 kids.
Originally we were going to try and avoid flying as much as possible but now may switch to cherry picking
1) How long did it take you to start earning income from the influencing and which is most profitable?
2) Is it easy enough to avoid expensive tolls in Europe? Was looking at car and camping but campsites near cities seemed extremely expensive
3) Are you going to do motorhomes or car/accom is the US?
1) over a year to earn an income and it's still not that much. You may try it and jag it with the algorithm and become an overnight success, but I wouldn't plan on earning income from it, and it is a full time job for one partner.
2) Kind of, sometimes you can't and France was the worst for that so far for us, but Germany has none, UK has almost none.
3) Car/accom in the US, because again purchasing something as a visitor, registering and insuring it is a pain in the behind, plus we want to do Snow Sports and they just aren't set up for it at the major resorts.
Flying is a bit of a necessary evil unfortunately, mostly to deal with Schengen Visas.
Australia has a bilateral agreements with a lot of European countries which allow you to stay longer after the 3 month schenegen visa is finished
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/how-the-schenge…
Yep, but finding people who have actually used it is difficult. We are considering it, but it's not easy.
Thanks for the link. I have been looking at the best way to deal with the Schengen 90 day restriction for a future trip. It does look like you will need to either be very careful, or clever to try and make the loopholes work for you without risking overstay fines.
More research required.
@fenric: The main reason we haven't done it, is because it relies on the discretion of the border agent you get, whether they decide to allow you in on the non Schengen.
It's much much easier to just follow Schengen rules, or get a French long stay tourist visa.
@insane: Maybe carry a copy of the bilateral agreement to show them? a lot of those agents may not be aware about it.
What app/website do you use to show a visualization of your prints in different locations? Some really beautiful shots & locations there.
Is business good for your photography print business?
Considered upgrading to Fuji medium format?
Did you design the photography website yourself?
Thanks!
1) Shopify. Thanks :)
2) Yep
3) Yes, but decided against for the extra bulk and expense of the gear, and I wasn't seeing much of a difference in peoples work between the GFX100 and the A7RIV.
4) Yes. This is V3 after 10 years.
We could do this but decided not to, in order to give the kids a stable schooling and upbringing situation - how do you solve this issue? just free range their education?
Not sure about "Free Range", its still reasonably structured and my wife is a teacher. Saying that, we don't think it's that important until late Primary/early High School. At that stage we will probably settle down.
Interesting, thanks for the input. I'm in the same camp - eg I'd rather pay for private school in high school than primary, but many believe the younger formative years are critical for personality formation etc. Anyway great to see you making it work - I wanted this for myself but wife and I couldn't get our heads around it.
Can you give me some tips on how to financially fund the trip? Also can you give advice on alternative income sources that are easy to start?
I have the vehicle ready to go and we love camping so happy to go on a budget.
Currently the biggest mental tie down is the financial aspect.
My properties rent will cover mortgage and expenses.
My savings are to cover 6 months of normal life expenses.
But we don't have anything else.
So if we spent money it will be our emergency fund for general life expenses.
I don't have extra savings but I'm super keen to work on it and hit the road.
I can't really sorry, but you definitely need something coming in.
Our major tip for people is to not spend too much on a car/van setup.
There is also plenty of work on the road if you want to take a plunge and just try it out and stop and work for a month here and there.
1- Do you get sick and what do when you require medical attention?
2- Will you be having more kids?
3- Have you picked up other languages?
4- What does the little one enjoy/like from all this?
Good questions mate.
1) Sometimes, we haven't needed medical yet though. It is definitely a pain in the bum to organise if you do, especially longer term problems. The systems in Australia in particular are horrible for people that move states. You have to basically start at a GP referral again every time you move states.
2) Probably not
3) Only bits and pieces, we haven't stayed in a country for long enough to pick up more than hello, please and thank you. And I can order a coffee, croissant and baguette in french successfully :)
4) What little ones always enjoy! Just being alive, seeing things. We went and saw jousting at a castle the other day with real horses and knights fighting etc.
As you are heading to US in November, I suppose in future in might even travel to Mexico. I am planning to go there in December itself. So what are things mainly you look for while travelling other country?
What are the places in VIC, NSW, SA. You will recommend where there are less tourists.
An interesting article to consider as your kid gets older https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/25/suzanne…
yeah, it's quite interesting article.
As I have mentioned earlier, I am planning to travel to Mexico with my family, I have few more questions to ask.
1. Even the most vigilant parents can lose track of their Children. As we all know, kids will be kids. How do you ensure something bad doesn't happen?
2. What are the right travel skills? I was checking an article regarding this https://littlefamilyadventure.com/tips-travel-safety-family/ these got Choosing proper accommodation, surrounding awareness, health issues, travel insurance, medical kit covered. Do I need to keep something else in mind to ensure their safety?
3. Do you pick public transport or get private cars/cabs?
4. What's your opinion about tour guides to better of their local culture, heritages? Got some pros and cons here https://gowithguide.com/blog/hiring-a-guide-in-mexico-city-p… is the added cost really worth it?
5. Should I let my kids choose their activities?
Do you miss your family and friends?
How are your longer-term friendships going?
Do you have a religion?