How to Travel Full-Time with Family: 7 Essential Tips
Income, Schooling, & Slow Travel Tips
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Family selfie in front of Big Ben & the Palace of Westminster.
I'll never forget the look on my neighbor's face when we told her we were selling our house to travel the world with our two kids. "But what about school? What about money? What if something goes wrong?"
Two years later, I'm writing this from a friend's horse farm, where my kids are enjoying quality time outside with nature, chickens, and horses. We've lived in 11 countries, watched our children become confident global citizens, and built a life that once seemed impossible.
If you're researching whether full-time family travel is actually doable (not just an Instagram fantasy), you're asking the right questions. The answer is yes, but it requires more preparation and less spontaneity than you might think. Whether you're considering a family gap year or committing to long-term travel indefinitely, here are the seven essential strategies that have transformed us from dreamers into a successful traveling family.
Build Location-Independent Income BEFORE You Leave
This is where most families fail before they even start. We almost made this mistake. Six months before our planned departure, we had savings but no sustainable income plan in place. My husband optimistically said, "We'll figure it out on the road!" I'm so glad I pushed back, because what we learned changed everything.
The Reality: Trying to build income while managing culture shock, homeschooling kids, and navigating constant logistics is nearly impossible. You need at least one proven income stream generating money before you board that first flight.
What Actually Works for Full-Time Family Travel:
Freelancing: Writing, design, programming, consulting in your existing field
Remote Employment: Many companies now hire remote job positions (start investigating 12–18 months out)
Online Business: E-commerce, digital products, blogging, vlogging, etc.
Portfolio Income: Combine 2–3 smaller income sources (this is our approach)
In 2023, we engaged the services of a highly successful financial planning team in Houston, Texas. Together, we created a strong income plan to support our full-time family travel lifestyle. As a retiree over the age of 59 and a half, Kevin was able to withdraw a small portion of his IRA portfolio to create a base income before we started our world travels.
We also started this blog two years before we left. Not just posting occasionally, we published weekly on our blogging website, built an email list of subscribers, and tested different monetization methods. By departure day, we knew we could drive income through affiliate marketing, ad revenue, and sponsored content.
In addition, my husband continued to earn income from trading futures options as our third source of income, gradually reducing the gap between what we wanted to spend and what we were bringing in each month.
The families who succeed at long-term travel have income figured out FIRST. Those who struggle are trying to build businesses while also navigating European train schedules and dealing with jet-lagged children.
Your Action Step: Identify the top 2–3 potential income sources by testing different options. Choose one skill you already have. If you haven't found the right angle, keep testing until something works. THEN plan your departure date.
Test Your Family's Travel Rhythm Before Committing
A two-week vacation to Disney World tells you absolutely nothing about living abroad long-term.
Before we committed to full-time family travel, we took two "test trips": a three-week cross-country road trip and a three-month trip through France. These weren't just vacations. They were experiments to see if we could actually live this lifestyle and whether our family members could handle extended time away from our home base on the East Coast.
What We Discovered:
We thrive on adventure, but we need a consistent routine no matter where we are in the world.
We get anxious with constant movement and need at least 3–8 weeks in one place to feel settled.
Our girls crave weekly video calls with friends back home.
Kevin needs a dedicated workspace. Not just a one-screen laptop setup, but a portable three-screen layout that can be used anywhere in the world.
These insights entirely shaped how we travel. Instead of the city-hopping lifestyle of vacationers, we live a nomadic lifestyle of slow travel with predictable patterns, and it works beautifully for our family.
According to the MBO Partners 2024 Survey, over 65 million Americans expressed interest in becoming a digital nomad. However, it’s estimated that only 7-9% will actually follow through. Clearly, stepping into the unknown is a real and difficult action to take.
Your Test Trip Strategy:
Choose a destination with a different time zone and language from home (push outside your comfort zone).
Stay 4–6 weeks minimum (long enough for the novelty to wear off).
Rent an apartment, not hotel rooms (you need to grocery shop, do laundry, and establish routines).
Both parents need to work remotely during the trip (test the reality, not vacation mode).
Keep detailed notes on what worked and what made everyone miserable.
Remember, test trips can be expensive, but they're way cheaper than unwinding your entire life because you discovered too late that your spouse hates living out of suitcases. Short trips during long weekends aren’t enough. You need extended time to test your travel plans truly.
Master the Art of Slow Travel (This Saves Your Budget & Sanity)
Tourist-speed travel will bankrupt you financially and emotionally. When we started, we had visions of exploring a new place every week. We tried this pace for exactly three months in France… only to find that our kids were melting down, and our bank balance was dwindling.
The Slow Family Travel Approach that Changed Everything:
We now stay 6–12 weeks per location. This single decision reduced our accommodation costs by 40-60% (monthly rental rates are significantly cheaper). It also gave our kids time to homeschool and allowed us to discover local grocery stores, parks, and rhythms, rather than constantly eating out and visiting tourist attractions.
In Kuala Lumpur, we stayed 10 weeks. Our kids still talk about the spicy noodles, the foosball table in our apartment (we are competitive), and the amazing 54th-floor view of the city skyline. We discovered the best coffee shops, explored the winding walking paths, local transportation, and immersed ourselves in the local culture. We felt genuinely sad when it was time to leave, not exhausted and ready to escape.
The beautiful nighttime skyline in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Slow Travel Also Means More Profound Experiences:
Shopping at local markets and grocery stores instead of restaurants near tourist areas
Kids visiting their favorite local dentist for Invisalign fittings and an unexpected tooth extraction (the extraction was $28, MUCH less than in the United States)
Creating a solid routine of work, homeschool, socialization, and fun activities
Understanding a place beyond its Instagram highlights (the best part)
The Magic Full-Time Family Travel Formula:
Stay long enough that you have a "regular" coffee shop, park, and grocery store. When the barista knows your order, you've stayed long enough. This approach is one of the biggest challenges for new traveling families to embrace, but it’s actually a great way to experience a destination.
Slash Your Stuff Smart: Keep What Matters, Ditch the Rest
We downsized from a 3,600-square-foot house to five carry-ons and five backpacks. However, what surprised me is that I don't miss 99% of what we sold or gave away.
The Strategic Approach to Downsizing:
Most advice says "get rid of everything!" That's too simple. We kept three categories:
True sentimental items (stored in a small climate-controlled unit: photo albums, kids' baby books, my mother's quilts, etc.)
Quality furniture and sporting gear (for now, though we’re rethinking this)
Two used vehicles in storage space (for now)
Nothing else.
We sold or donated everything else: furniture, kitchen appliances, decor, 80% of our clothes, sports equipment, toys the kids hadn't touched in months. We used Facebook Marketplace, which netted us $4,000 to help fund our first three months of travel.
Where to Invest Your Downsizing Money?
Excellent Luggage: We use compression packing cubes and lightweight, durable suitcases (this matters when you're hauling bags up narrow European staircases)
Reliable Electronics: Quality laptop, backup hard drive, universal adapters that actually work, and a VPN service
Versatile, Quality Clothing: Fewer pieces that work in multiple climates and can be dressed up or down
The Mindset Shift That Helps:
Anything you can replace for under $50, you can rebuy if needed. Learn from us, storage units are a trap. We calculated that storing our furniture, clothing, and other items costs us around $400/month. Over 12 months, we spent $4,800 rather than buying quality used furniture if we ever settle down again. Don't follow our mistake; this is a lot of money that could fund months of family travel.
Insider Tip: If you're keeping car insurance on stored vehicles, check if you can reduce to storage-only coverage. You can save a little bit each month this way, and every dollar counts when you're planning long-term travel.
Create Your Financial Safety Net Early (This Determines Success or Stress)
What is the difference between families who travel joyfully and families who return home broke and stressed? The financial safety net.
We spent two full years saving aggressively before we left. It felt like a long time, but it's the reason we're still traveling two years later without financial panic.
Our Proven Full-Time Travel Formula:
Emergency Fund: 6 months of expenses (based on your travel budget, not your home expenses)
First-Year Travel Budget: Fully funded before you leave
Income Replacement Buffer: 3 months of expenses in case income drops unexpectedly
Insurance: Purchase quality travel medical insurance to eliminate significant, unexpected health issues when traveling abroad
The goal isn't just to afford travel, it's to travel without constant financial stress so you can actually enjoy the experience with your family.
The Ongoing Full-Time Family Travel Money System:
Travel Costs Less Than You Think in Many Places: Our monthly budget is actually less than the cost of our old suburban lifestyle. Southeast Asia and parts of Eastern Europe are ideal for the family travel lifestyle. Last year, in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, we managed to save a lot of money compared to our budget.
Credit Card Strategy: We strategically use credit cards with travel rewards, earning points on all travel expenses that translate to free hotel stays and flights. This has saved us tens of thousands of dollars over two years and is an excellent advantage for digital nomad families.
The goal isn't just to afford travel, it's to travel without constant financial stress so you can actually enjoy the experience with your family members.
Solve the Kid's Education Question Now
"But what about school?" will be the first question everyone asks. We had been stressing about this for months before discovering that homeschooling on the road is actually better. Our kids are learning geography by living it, practicing math by calculating currency exchanges, and becoming culturally aware through new languages with phrases like "hello," "please," and "thank you." Things no traditional school could replicate.
Three Proven Approaches We Use for Homeschool:
Worldschooling: Learning through travel experiences, cultural history, religious sites, and how locals live each day. We incorporate learning into daily life. Museum visits, cooking local foods, and interviewing people we meet. It all counts! This is a great way to educate young kids and little kids alike.
Online On-Demand School Programs: We use an accredited online school to provide educational structure, relevant subjects, and official transcripts. The girls spend 2–4 hours a day, 3–4 days a week on formal schoolwork. This gives them consistency across different places we explore.
Passion Schooling: We let our children learn based on their interests and experiences. This offers learning opportunities for the girls to pursue passions outside the formal school structure.
Our Hybrid Approach Homeschool Schedule:
Thursday to Sunday: Online on-demand school programs, including Math, Science, English, and more.
Monday to Wednesday: Exploratory learning, museums, nature, cultural experiences, socialization with friends, and fun activities
Every Week: Grocery shopping, preparing meals, walking and playing for exercise, and most importantly, enjoying dinner together as a family.
Note: Legal requirements. Research your home state's homeschool laws, as they vary widely. Most require filing a simple annual notice. Keep a portfolio of your kids' work, if necessary (photos, art projects, trip journals), as documentation.
The Surprising Truth? Our kids are thriving academically. Each year, we measure their progress against their national peers, and they consistently outperform their age groups.
They ask incredibly thoughtful questions and possess a depth of cultural knowledge that standardized tests don’t measure.
For families with small children, this flexibility is even more valuable. Traditional school calendars do not bind you, allowing you to travel during shoulder seasons when destinations are less crowded and more affordable.
Build Your Remote Support System While Traveling Full-Time as a Family
This is the secret struggle nobody posts on social media. By the third month of full-time family travel, we were lonely. We missed our friends and community. Our kids asked when they'd see their cousins and extended family again.
The Full-Time Family Travel Support Systems That Saved Us:
Maintain Meaningful Connections at Home: Schedule weekly video calls with the same family and friends (not random). These small rituals keep relationships strong with extended family and create a sense of continuity for young kids who need that connection.
Embrace Local Connections: We've learned to say "yes" to local ex-pat groups and digital nomad family meetups. We have also built friendships with local families whom we connected with while traveling. They taught us their language and showed us their city through their eyes. Finding the right place to connect with other families is crucial.
Create a Digital Community: We started a private WhatsApp account for close friends and family, providing regular updates. It keeps people invested in our journey and maintains those bonds. Social media can be isolating, but intentional communication tools help us feel connected.
One of the biggest challenges of long-term travel is maintaining emotional connections while constantly exploring new places.
We've learned that finding a safe place emotionally, whether through online communities, local ex-pat groups, or maintaining strong ties with people back in the United States, is just as crucial as finding physically safe destinations.
Important Emotional Tip: The families who quit aren't usually running out of money; they're running out of emotional resilience because they're trying to do this alone. Humans need community. Build it intentionally, wherever you are.
Your Full-Time Family Travel Journey Starts Now
Can you really travel full-time with kids? Absolutely. But it requires honest preparation, not just inspiration.
The families who succeed don't wing it; they build income streams first, test their assumptions, save aggressively, and establish support systems before facing challenges. They embrace slow travel over Instagram-worthy wanderlust. They solve the hard questions (money, education, loneliness) before those questions become crises.
Whether you're planning a family gap year, considering becoming a digital nomad family, or committing to international travel indefinitely, the fundamentals remain the same. You need income, a plan, flexibility, and community.
Three years ago, we were exactly where you are now, dreaming, researching, and wondering if we could actually do this.
The difference between dreaming and doing? We chose a departure date and worked backward from there, executing each of these seven steps methodically. We pushed past our comfort zone and discovered that full-time family travel was not only possible but transformative.
You don't need to be wealthy, fearless, or have perfectly behaved children. You need a solid plan and the willingness to test, adjust, and persist. A good idea becomes a great reality when you take that first step.
The world is waiting for your family. Let's make this happen!
What's your next step? Drop a comment below and tell me: Which of these seven tips feels most challenging for your family right now? I read and respond to every comment, and I'd love to help you work through whatever's holding you back.
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