Who are we?

We are four mixed breeds (NZ/US dual citizens), who call New Zealand home, but for the foreseeable future, we’re off travelling the world.
We’re two adults (mostly) and two kids:

• Nathaniel (aka Nat, Nato, Dad).
• Alice (aka Alo, Mum).
• Alpha (aka Miss Pants, Alpha Dalpha Brussel Sprouter) currently age 9 in March 2016.
• Lennox (aka Speedy, Hot Rod, Lenior, Mr. Hands) currently age 6 in March 2016.

We’re leaving New Zealand on May 18th, 2016 with an open return date. Our current intention is no longer than 2-years, but who really knows.

Some common questions we get asked:

“How are you paying for this?”
We run www.dirtandrust.com an online marketing and web development company. (Spread the word). If the business does well, we can stay longer. Running the business means one of our main criteria when choosing countries is internet access. Weird to say that, but it’s the truth, no internet = no business and we cut our trip short.
“Why are you doing this?”
If we don’t do it now it won’t happen. We’re in our 40’s the kids are at a good age for travel and we live in an age where we can work anywhere in the world at any time. It’s a wonderful thing, so we better make the most of it before we decide that it’s too hard (it’s hard enough as it is.)
We’re doing this for our kids too. We want them to see the world through the eyes of multiple cultures. We want them to grow up understanding that there is more than one right answer and for them to see that their answer isn’t necessarily the best answer. We want them to grow up with great problem-solving skills and the confidence to talk to anyone at any time. We want our kids to grow up to be independent, considerate, responsible, resourceful and respectful. Can they get all that in New Zealand? Of course, but we believe that travel gets you there faster.
On a selfish note, Alice has wanted to travel since she’s been 8-years old. She has wanted to experience history and culture first hand, smell the smells, see the different lights, touch REALLY old things and just sit and watch. Now she gets to experience that with the family. How super cool is that?  Nat, on the other hand, has brought into this dream big time and is super excited to experience languages, music and culture first hand. He can’t wait to try out Google translate at every opportunity and fulfill his musical world tour. (Anyone want to jam?!)
“What about the kids schooling?”
This was a dilemma at first. We initially thought about homeschooling until we realised that there was a huge learning curve to this and we didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. We may decide that homeschool/unschooling/road schooling is the way to go, but until then we’ve enrolled the kids in Te Kura which has been a wonderful experience so far. Can you imagine fully qualified teachers developing a teaching plan just for your kids? A plan that is based around their interests and our travels? And it’s free?! We are all going to be learning how to deal with each other in this role, and that will be the hardest part I think. I’m sure you’ll hear all about this as we go. The kids will be contributing to this blog too, so you’ll see what they have to say.
“Where are you going?”
We only have a few places booked before leaving New Zealand: US, Norway, Latvia and Estonia. Once we hit Latvia we will figure out what happens after Estonia. We want to spend a minimum of a month in each country with a few blocks of 3-month stints in countries such as Spain, Italy and Scotland. We would love to do the entire world – South America is missing – but we can’t do it all and we’re ok with that (mostly). We’re hoping the business will go gang-busters, and the kids will get the travel bug and want to keep travelling. Which will mean after we return to New Zealand and settle back in, we’ll do shorter 6-12 week stints of travel to the countries we’ve missed. We’ll see.
Thanks for reading to the bottom. Feel free to jump in and ask questions, comment or tell us we’re crazy, we’d like to know what you want to read more about.