Couple Sells 90% of Their Possessions and Travels the World with Two Kids

Moms and dads out there, think you could do this? Last night, I came across the story of a married couple, Cindy Bailey and Pierre Giauque, who decided leave the comforts of their home (which was Silicon Valley), sell most of their stuff, and travel the world…with kids! Now, it’s not rare to hear about such stories. In fact, my brother and his wife did the same thing last year. There’s even a term for these individuals: digital nomads. However, my brother and his wife don’t have kids. To me, taking a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old out of their environment and home schooling them while traveling the world takes on a whole new level of responsibility.

The family first set off for Lausanne, Switzerland, where Pierre had relatives and then have stayed in spots throughout Europe, Canada, and Southeast Asia.

There’s a website called Live Family Travel that conducted a good interview with Cindy about how they seem to manage it all: their financing, schooling, and fears and logistics of traveling with kids. As for their finances, the couple saved for up to two years in order to travel. Pierre had to quit his job as a manufacturing engineer while Cindy works on the road as a content strategist and writer.

So the million dollar question is: how do they handle the kids’ education? The kids are now 10 and 4, which is a wide gap. Cindy did a lot of research on homeschooling before they left. For their 10-year-old son, they teach him through interactive computer programs and real-life excursions while their daughter uses Starfall.com and ST Math. They even offered up their own online resources list. They keep their kids busy with lots of activities: scooter rides into town, swimming in the ocean, boat rides, museum visits and street fair outings.

So what has she learned about herself and her family? (I like how this quote applies to life in general.)

“I think the main lesson we’ve learned (which on some level we already knew) is that change is hard, but once you have journeyed through it, the other side is as beautiful as you imagined it would be, and more than worth it! The experience of realizing a dream teaches you confidence and helps you grow: you’ll face other challenges with greater ease and assurance. And you get to skip regrets later.

Also, once you make the commitment to do something–and make it real by resigning from a job or announcing it to friends, for example–everything really does find a way to fall into place.”