Digital nomad family to the max: traveling with grandparents

There is one major downside to traveling full-time: the distance between your family and your parents, aka the grandparents of your kids. When we first left in Septembre 2015, I knew it was going to be hard for my parents. They are – as most grandparents are – so proud and loving, really the best grandparents a kid can imagine (I know, I’m biased since they are my parents). It turned out to be even worse: they literally got sick. So we found a solution: traveling with grandparents as one big nomad family!

Saying goodbye is hard

My parents visited us a couple of times when we were on the road. Saying goodbye after a week of joy with their grandchild was heartbreaking, though. When we returned to The Netherlands after six months, they were beyond happiness! And even better: we decided to stay for at least a year (I’m pregnant and want to deliver the baby here) so they now have lots of quality time with our son.

On a campsite near Almería, Spain, was a lot of wind. My father made a kite of a plastic bag: our toddler loved it so much!

It is not only my parents who missed their grandchild; I’ve missed my parents as well. We were always very close and being away from them for a few months had been difficult for me too. But we have plans to leave again after our second baby has been born. So, what to do then?

How to fit in your parents in your travel plans?

We haven’t come up with a precise plan yet, but there have been some important changes that give room to possible solutions.

First of all, my parents retired this summer. This gives them the time, energy and flexibility to travel more. That has been their wish for so long!

Second, we travel with a caravan from campsite to campsite. My parents have been campers since very young and the idea of traveling with a trailer appeals to them as well!

Traveling as one big happy nomad family

The idea is simple: they’ll buy a caravan and travel along with us. Maybe not everywhere we go. We travel very slowly because of the kids and our work, but our paths will then cross as often as we all like.

As a digital nomad family, why not travel with the whole family?! 🙂 It has so many advantages:

• the kids and the grandparents can be together much more,
• the grandparents can babysit once in a while to give us time to work or some quality time together,
• and – most importantly – nobody is homesick anymore.
• Extra advantage: my parents are both teachers and they can chime in when we start roadschooling.

I also have a sister who suffers from a serious case of restlessness and a travel bug infection. So it is only a matter of time before she joins us on the road.

What do you think about our plan to travel together? Would you like your parents (or parents in law) to join your traveling family?

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