Monday is now becoming my favorite day of the week to blog – not because I do not need to find something to write about (have heaps to still catch up on!) but because I get to read about other families that are travelling. And share it here on New Life on the Road.
Featured Travel Blogger Monday
Every Monday we have our special “Featured Travel Blogger” – where I source other families and ask them a few questions about Why They Are Travelling, or Where They Are Travelling To. I love the inspiration that the other travelling bloggers are providing as well as their travel journey. Todays Featured Travel Blogger is Suzi Bowles From Two and A Half Travellers.
Very proud to share Two and A Half Travellers amazing journey…..
Q:- Why are you travelling with your Family from Australia to the UK and then returning to travel to Australia?
We’re both originally from the UK, but we’ve lived in Sydney for the last few years. We’ve both always had a strong desire to travel and had been keen to make a trip like this, but with our lifestyle the way it was, we couldn’t ever really see a way of making it happen. In early 2011 Tilly had some worrying health complications which made us start to re-evaluate life and what was important.
Then a close family member back in the UK got cancer and we wanted to be there during treatment. Both have since made excellent recoveries, but the misfortune ended up being a spring board for us to fulfil a dream. Once Tilly’s health issues were under control, we spent around six months in Europe, using the UK as a base and giving Tilly the opportunity to get to know her family on that side of the world, while taking several side trips.
We headed back to Australia to see family and so we could complete the rest of the trip in the warmer months. We also tend to buy flights when we see a good deal, so we bought the flights back to Australia before we really knew how everything else would fit together!
Testing out the magic corners in the Room of Secrets at Duras Chateau in France ~
How cute is little Tilly!!
Q:- Who are you travelling with? Did you travel before Family or did you travel after having children?
There’s my husband Paul and I and our two and a half year old daughter. We both travelled quite a bit before having a child as well as since she was born. We lived in the US for a while before moving to Australia, time off work has always been the cue to pack the bags and take a trip somewhere, and when we’ve had to make business trips in the past we’ve always taken the opportunity to tag a personal stay on for the weekend whenever we could.
Riding our bikes through the forest back to our cabin in Centre Parcs in France ~
Now that is the coolest Bike set-up I have ever seen!
Q:- To be able to travel from Australia to the UK and other countries did you sell off everything you own, or did you store it?
We sold most of our furniture, had a big sort out and packed everything else into approximately 40 boxes which are sitting in my (very kind) brother-in-law’s garage at the moment. We’re a bit last minute and disorganised, so the last couple of days before the shippers arrived was a frenzy and I have a feeling that once we go back we will no longer want half of the belongings we kept.
We put a lot of things out onto the street too, which is one of the things I love about Australia – people aren’t too proud to take perfectly good things that are put out on the street, so less ends up in landfill – one persons trash is another person’s treasure!
It was a bit surreal though as we were driving away from our house for the last time and we saw a homeless lady sitting on the bench down the street wearing my slippers and digging into Paul’s teeth whitener (which I wasn’t supposed to have thrown out incidentally- oops). My mother in law is babysitting our car for us too, so she has mixed emotions about us travelling/returning!!
Standing in front of Fox Glacier on New Zealand’s South Island ~
Wonder how cold it was….amazing 🙂
Q:- Do you think there is a right time to travel…with children needing to be a certain age, or do you think that travelling is good for children at any age? Do you also think that Children can remember where they have been even from a young age?
I think it’s important at any age. It’s a bit daunting taking the first trip with a young child, but once you do it, you realise it’s really not that hard. I’m sure each age has it’s challenges and benefits. I’m not convinced that very young children can remember much from their travels – Tilly has a vivid, unprompted memory of people and places from three months ago, less so from nine months ago now, although she does still point out ‘our bridge’ (the Sydney Harbour Bridge) when it’s on television or a poster and visiting Peppa Pig World in the UK last July appears to have made a somewhat disturbingly lasting impression too!
At this age it’s all about experiences – riding a bike through a dark forest, choosing a Christmas tree in the freezing cold and herding a wandering sheep out of your garden are all relatively simple things, but we wouldn’t have done them in Sydney.
I think that travel at a young age has a big part to play in shaping opinions and outlook, through building up such a diverse range of experiences. I’m hoping this trip will encourage flexibility and an acceptance of diversity. I’m curious about whether it will give her the same wanderlust that we have, or whether it will have the opposite effect.
Q:- Have you got any travel plans, or do you just travel and hope that it all works out?
We’ve got loose plans,and they’re subject to change without warning! We plan to go to Hawaii then the US and Canada, followed by Iceland then back to the UK, then we are heading back to Australia. We tend to book flights months out, whenever we see a good deal, but generally leave where we’re going within a country and accommodation bookings until the very last minute.
You get some great deals if you wait right up until about three days out generally, but every so often we’ll succumb to some random deal and make a booking months out which then tends to shape our plans because we’re committed!
Pushing the stroller through the CBD in Seoul during lunch hour ~
we were in the minority for so many different reasons that day
Q;- Have you and your family got a bucket list, of places that you want to see? If so what is the one place that you are all looking forward to exploring (or have you already explored it?)
We don’t have a family bucket list – we really should make one!
About Monday Featured Travel Blogger:-
Suzi, her husband Paul and their toddler Tilly used an unfortunate set of circumstances as the catalyst to start a trip around the world. They’ve left behind jobs in the corporate world and are spending eighteen months travelling around the world before trying their hand at something new when they settle down later in 2012.
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Thanking Suzi and Paul (plus their daughter) for sharing their reason for why they are travelling! Love reading about the “Why” and “Where” they are going to!
Do You Have Any Questions For Two and A Half Travellers?
Cheers
Lisa
New Life on the Road
PS:- Here are our previous “Featured Travel Bloggers”
Travel Blogger – Jess from With 2 kids in Tow
Featured Travel Blogger – Jan from Budget Travel Talk
Featured Travel Blogger At New Life on the Road – Lisa From Gone With The Family
This Week Featured Travel Blogger – Keryn from Walking On Travels
Health scares make life choices clear cut don’t they? Love the photo of Tilly in the corner!
jan recently posted..Easter Camping and Waterskiing in North Queensland
Hi Jan,
Tilly is so very cute 🙂
Health Scares sure make any ones life choices so clear..there is no time to second guess so people usually make their first decision their only choices!
Cheers
Lisa
They really do Jan – they remind you about what is important and the rest of it just seems to fall into place.
Suzi recently posted..Whakarewarewa; Rotorua’s living thermal village
A homeless lady wearing your slippers!! That is just priceless!! When will you guys be in the US?(Assuming you’ve planned that bit!)
Tracey – Life Changing Year recently posted..Budget Update After 72 Days On The Road!
I had to laugh at the slippers – glad they went to someone who would really feel the benefit though! We’re planning to be in the US/Canada for June/July/August, although that is about as far as the plan goes so far 😀 Aren’t you headed that way too? What are your plans?
Suzi recently posted..Whakarewarewa; Rotorua’s living thermal village
We have been here for a week or so. Currently on our way to Texas in a $1 per day RV!! Score!! Then we are going back to San Francisco to do a loop up north and around to finish in Vegas early July!! So fun being here! Tonight we are staying in Tombstone, Arizona!!!
Tracey – Life Changing Year recently posted..Why Take A Two Day Slow Boat Journey from Thailand to Laos? Part 2
Whoop whoop to $1 a day RV’s – I think we need to track one down 🙂 Looking forward to reading all about it!
Suzi recently posted..Whakarewarewa; Rotorua’s living thermal village
Ahhh…check out standbycars.com. They do relocation deals. You have to pay $1060 on your credit card plus $25 booking fee but the $1069 gets refunded as long as you don’t crash!! Otherwise we were going to be up for $100 per day!! They do these relocations in Australia too – there seems to be a huge list to choose from there!!
Tracey – Life Changing Year recently posted..Why Take A Two Day Slow Boat Journey from Thailand to Laos? Part 2