How a Family of Six Traveled the World : Q&A with Courtney Adamo of Babyccino

July 28, 2016

We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Courtney Adamo from Babyccino, who sold most of her family’s belongings and decided hit the road for a year. Her family of six has been traveling the world since 2015, fully submerging themselves in the city’s cultures and customs. Below are several questions we’ve asked her:

What inspired you to take a year off traveling with your family?
A family gap year is something I’ve wanted to do since I was young. I have always loved the idea of traveling with our children and introducing them to different people, places and cultures. I’ve also always been attracted to a simple, bohemian lifestyle – barefoot children and carefree adventures. After twelve years in London, with our eldest turning ten, we felt like it was the right time to take a year off and to explore different parts of the world, hoping it would inspire a different way of life moving forward. We welcomed a slower pace of life, and hoped this year of travel would open up opportunities to find a new place to settle.

photos by Courtney Adamo

What has been the greatest joy in traveling with your kids?
Spending all this time with the kids and Michael has been the greatest joy. Time was a huge motivating factor in taking this journey. Kids grow so quickly and modern life is so busy that it’s easy to miss vast swaths of their childhoods. Having this time together as a family has allowed us to really understand the kids individually and to connect to them in a deeper way. Homeschooling, though challenging some days, is also incredibly rewarding. It has allowed us to get to know our kids as students and to understand how they each learn.

And of course there is the travel. We have learned so much during the past eight months, and it has only just whetted our appetite for travel. The world is so big and the differences between countries are so great that we just want to experience and learn more. When you travel between countries in South America, for example, and see the differences in the people, in their language, their homes, their traditions and their landscapes, things start to make sense in a bigger picture way. We see people enjoying simpler lifestyles, making more of less, and that has provided inspiration for our lives.

photos by Courtney Adamo

What has been the hardest part of traveling with them?
Being with the children every single second of the day can have its downsides. Apart from trying to squeeze in 20 minutes of yoga in the morning (or on the beach while they’re playing), I have hardly had any time to myself. And Michael and I have only had one date night in the past eight months! We are literally always all together! This means that if one of us is in a grumpy mood, it affects all of us. Or if it’s been raining a lot and we’re all cooped up inside together, it can feel quite cramped. We try to have perspective on these ‘grumpy’ days though -- it’s not easy, even for a three year-old, to spend every waking second with five other people. I think we would all benefit from a few hours of alone time here and there, but it’s just not always possible.

Our journey with homeschooling has also had some challenges along the way. Our eldest, Easton, has responded really well to being taught by his dad, but Quin and Ivy, both great students in the classroom, have been difficult to teach at home. It’s also challenging to teach three students at the same time when their levels are so different and they each have different areas of need. We’re slowly getting the hang of it though and it has been extremely rewarding to watch them learn and progress. I would even dare to say that their progress has been more noticeable than any other year in traditional school!

photos by Courtney Adamo

What is one piece of advice you would give to parents traveling with young children?
Just do it! Don’t overthink it. Don’t overpack. Don’t worry about what you’re leaving behind or what you might need while you’re away.
In terms of planning, we found it helpful to stick to a theme. Ours was ‘follow the sun’ (from the northern hemisphere south and back again). This insured a year of warm weather and outdoor activities. We also decided to favour rural/quiet places over cities and to stay in each place as long as we were able -- usually around 3 weeks.