So many people have asked us why we are making this trip I thought I would include it here. Above all, we want to have time as a family unit without the distractions of work, housework, house maintenance etc etc. Phil and I were blessed with nine months of travelling together not long after we married and we loved the luxury of time and exclusivity which just can’t be replicated within everyday life. Ever since we had children we have wanted to be able to have this same luxury with them.
We are also really keen to show the children that the world is a far bigger place than rural South Norfolk! We want them to understand through our actions that they can do whatever they want, even if it’s something that other people think is mad. They need to understand that the world is interlinked and that increasingly our actions in the UK impact the lives of others elsewhere in the world. You can only truly understand how fortunate you are by seeing how others live.
The primary reasons for the timing of the trip are practical. I get the six week school holiday anyway so it requires less time off work to overlap with the holiday and it minimises the kids time out of school. Because Susie is not yet five, Phil is entitled to four weeks of parental leave and we are utilising this to facilitate his work being happy to let him take such an extended period of time off.