Typical day of a digital nomad family with baby (traveling full time in an RV through Europe)

A lot of people asked us how our life looked like when we lived and traveled in an RV last year. We noticed that the idea of traveling full time gives people an idea of 24/7 holiday. Or 24/7 chaos and instability. Well, our life in an RV was very similar to a regular life in a brick and stone home. It was even a bit boring from time to time. Curious how (boring) exactly? I will give you a typical day of a digital nomad family with a baby, traveling full time in an RV.

One nap during the day

When we left, our baby was almost 10 months old. He still drunk 3 bottles formula and did two naps during the day. Short after that, he stopped drinking formula and shifted to one big nap in the afternoon. The largest part of our trip we only had to take into account this one big nap per day, so that’s the schedule I will tell you about.

Breakfast and some working

We didn’t need an alarm in the morning. Our baby waked us up every morning around 8am. We had breakfast, got dressed and did some cleaning up.

After that, one of us worked for a few hours while the other took care of the baby. Taking care of our baby meant walking around the campsite, playing with rocks and leaves, going to a playground, saying hello to almost everyone on the campsite, petting all the dogs on the campsite and enjoying how our little one experienced all the small things.

We also ate some fruit during the morning. This was the morning break of the one who was working.

The one taking care of our baby tried to do some chores as well. When it was my turn, I did the laundry or vacuumed the RV. My husband put out the trash or emptied the toilet. That sort of things.

Lunch and nap time

We had lunch around noon and did the dishes afterward. Our baby found this so fascinating!

Then it was nap time for our baby and working time for both me and my husband. Our baby slept on average 2 to 3 hours.

Sightseeing, groceries and dinner time

When the baby was awake, we had a bit of fruit or a small snack. We then went for some sightseeing like hiking along the beach or visiting a town nearby. Every 4 or 5 days we did the groceries.

Around 7pm we prepared dinner while our baby played in his cot. After dinner, it was time for the go-to-bed-ritual including tooth brushing, putting on pj’s and reading a book.

Typical day of digital nomad family with baby: reading a book before going to bed

Practicing Spanish words before bedtime

When our baby was asleep, we worked one or two hours, watched a movie or read a book.

Where is the traveling?

Not a very wild and adventurous daily life right? And now you are probably wondering where the traveling is? Well, there was a lot of traveling, but since we did the slow travel thing, we stayed at the same campsite for two weeks or even two months.

We went on big sightseeing trips once or twice a week. The typical day I just described went on for 3 or 4 days, then we went on a day trip and after that 3 or 4 of these typical, quite days followed again.

We sometimes skipped working in the morning and went for a half day trip. We then tried to be back before lunch so our baby could do his nap ‘at home’ (aka in his cot in the RV) while we could get some work done as well.

Day trips with our baby

We went on some amazing day trips with our baby! For example, we hiked along the beautiful coast of the Algarve in Portugal, visited castles in the Algarve (Portugal) and Andalucia (Spain) and went to the Alhambra in Granada (Spain). We also explored lots of cities, small towns, nature parks and beaches.

But we did this all at a very slow pace. We needed time to work and our baby needed time to just be a baby. Families living the 9 to 5 suburban life go to the zoo, playground, and beach on the weekends. Our life was more or less similar, although we didn’t go on trips specifically during the weekends and we went to playgrounds and beaches all over Portugal and Spain.

Not so much chaos

Now you know all about a typical day of a digital nomad family with a baby. Maybe it’s not very exciting, but this is reality and not a fantasy. And as you can see, not that chaotic and unstable. It felt, however, as a holiday most of the time because we went on (small) sightseeing trips to new places multiple times a week. And living on a campsite adds to the holiday feeling, especially when there was a swimming pool.

We are currently in the Netherlands, awaiting the arrival of our second baby. After she is born and we are a bit used to being a family of four, we want to continue our travels. Probably at a slower pace than we first did, but I expect our typical days to look the same.

Would you like to travel like this with your family?

This post is linked on the Monday Escapes link-up!

I’m joining the linky #fearlessfamtrav with Wandermust Family

Comments 18

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