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What It's Like to Travel the World for 13 Months as a Family of Four

  • Writer: clemoliveras
    clemoliveras
  • Apr 30
  • 3 min read

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Imagine trading in routines, school drop-offs, work deadlines, and dinner menus for over a year of constant movement, discovery, and the unknown. That’s exactly what we did. For 13 months, our family of four packed up our lives and set off on a round-the-world adventure — one that tested our limits, deepened our bonds, and completely reshaped how we see the world and ourselves.



The Dream vs. the Reality

Let’s start with this: traveling the world with kids isn't a vacation. It’s messy, exhausting, unpredictable — and completely worth it.

We had dreamt of this for years. The idea of waking up to new languages, landscapes, and cultures was thrilling. But it wasn’t all dreamy sunsets and postcard views. We had tantrums in airports, laundry disasters in tiny apartments, and nights where all four of us shared a room and nobody slept. But we also had days that felt like magic — hiking through emerald forests in New Zealand, getting caught in a downpour in Colombia and laughing the whole way home, or watching our kids make friends with strangers despite not sharing a single word in common.


not alwyas easy not always fun...;)
not alwyas easy not always fun...;)

Life Becomes the School

One of the most rewarding parts of traveling with children is watching the world become their classroom. History isn’t something they read about — it’s something they walk through in ancient temples and Roman ruins. Geography isn’t theoretical — it’s felt through long bus rides across deserts or boat crossings between islands. And empathy? That comes from meeting people with wildly different lives and realizing they’re not so different after all.

Our kids, then almost 9 and 11, learned to adapt quickly. They tried new foods (sometimes reluctantly), picked up bits of new languages, and began to see diversity as the norm. They learned patience (eventually), flexibility, and how to entertain themselves with nothing but sticks and stones on a long hike.


The Art of Letting Go

Thirteen months of travel teaches you what you can live without — and what you can’t. We lived out of backpacks. We wore the same clothes on repeat. We missed birthdays and holidays back home. But we gained so much more: time together, unfiltered and uninterrupted; memories stitched together from chaos and wonder; and a deeper connection not just to the world, but to each other.

We also let go of control. You simply can't plan everything. Trains are delayed. Weather changes plans. Kids get sick. You learn to adapt, to laugh at what would have driven you crazy back home, and to trust that things usually work out — even if not how you expected.


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The People You Meet

One of the biggest surprises? How many kind, curious, generous people we met. From a grandmother in Belgium who invited us to her home for tea, to fellow travelers who shared tips, toys, and snacks with our kids, the kindness we encountered was humbling. We were constantly reminded that the world is not as scary as headlines suggest — it’s filled with people just doing their best, just like us.


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Coming Home Different

Coming back was harder than we imagined. After 13 months of constant motion, being still felt strange. But we returned richer — not financially, but emotionally. We came home with sand still in our shoes and stories in our hearts. And maybe the biggest lesson of all: you don’t need to travel the world to live fully — but stepping away from your comfort zone, even just for a while, might change how you live forever.



 
 
 

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