We’re so used to the daily grind of normality that just picturing something is different is a challenge. Not the being-somewhere-different bit – anyone who’s been on holiday can picture that! It’s the lack of “home” that takes true imagination.

So, it’s a big mental – and emotional – leap. And that takes mental preparation. Prepare the ground. Assess the surroundings. Check for the landing spot. But finally, deciding when to jump.

For a family with children, there is one key decision. Extract from the middle of a school year, or aim for September when they naturally change classes anyway? The latter is neat and tidy; but realistically this amount of upheaval means it’s not really that important in the short term. Where it would matter is upon returning – completion of a given year’s curriculum sets the scene for re-entry to the education system.

There are other things to align: jobs, disposal of belongings, storage of belongings, and of course selling the family home. Move out too soon and there’s the need to rent before departure; depart first and selling in-absentia could be tricky.

So, July-September is a good window for the kids. It takes 25 weeks to sell a home on average. Right now it’s January, and so that means we need to go on the market by March…

Shit.

This is of course a question of balancing cost, culture, weather, safety and reward.

The reality of this adventure is that we’re looking to live in and explore the countries we visit rather than just daisy-chain holidays together. This means slower land-based travel from base to base and only flying when necessary – much like Race Across the World, though more “meander” than race! To achieve our goal we’ll need to be spending months in countries rather than days or weeks.

It seems logical therefore to list our desired countries into continents and regions; and then plot a route between those over a macro timeline.

Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, South-east Asia; but with two young children we can rule out Antarctica; and North America and Scandinavia can cover off the Arctic.

We don’t want to go to the USA while it’s in its current turmoil, and Canada, Central and South America are too close for comfort given the Venezuela/Canada/Greenland thing.

China and Japan are a tough cultural hurdle to start with, and expensive; and similarly Africa would be a tough start, particularly with young children.

That leaves Europe, South-east Asia or Oceania as a starting point.

Europe would be culturally comfortable and a soft start, but expensive; and similarly Oceania would be familiar to get up and running.

So with the need to truly take a leap, explore different cultures, and not break the bank… South-east Asia will be the first leg.

The wanderlust never subsided though.

In April 2025, Alex took redundancy and spent the rest of the year setting up a business. While that should pay off, it will take some time and so job applications inevitably continued.

The job market is shit. Employers and employees alike are lost amongst the enshittification of industry.

What has become apparent however is the juxtaposition between feeling obliged to re-enter the workplace, and the actual desire to do so – just to pay ever-increasing bills.

With the insane AI bubble in full-force, UK taxation increasing to crippling levels, PE-backed business environments driving a spiralling cost of living, and US politics driving global instability – it is no longer actually desirable to work a regular job here at any level.

In short we no longer have an answer to the question: Why not?

It’s terrifying. Just thinking about such a departure from the norm seems self-indulgent; but with three grandparents now departed, I can only think forward fifteen or twenty years and ponder: will we look back on this moment and regret having taken the leap?

The answer is a resounding no!

Like many families we’re predictably normal – a mum, a dad, a boy and a girl.

Like many other families we’re a little less predictable. Our children are both adopted – since birth – and have family histories of their own that they share neither with us nor each other.

Dad (Alex) is a technologist. Decades of coding, and about half of that leading teams from the top of the career ladder.

Mum (Claire) is multi-talented and currently a teaching assistant.

Joseph and Sophia are 11 and 6, and love reading, food, geopolitics, and unicorns.

We all love travel.

Like many in the UK we’re frustrated. Cranking the handle of daily life is increasingly boring, and we feel diminishing returns where the fruits of our labour are becoming financial liabilities rather than rewards.

We have decided to take a leap. To go forth and explore the world.

Here lies our adventure laid bare for all to see.