Interview with Courtney Adamo – by Karine Candice Köng, BODIE and FOU
One Instagram account I truly enjoy following is Courtney Adamo’s (34), co-Founder of Babyccino Kids, who is currently on a family gap year with her husband Michael (45) and their four children: Easton (10), Quin (8), Ivy (6), Marlow (3).
Leaving London in July 2015, they have so far visited the U.S., Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and New-Zealand and will soon head to Australia, Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and then back to Europe for the summer.
With four young children, a career and a house, uprooting and embarking on such an adventure takes some serious planning. I got in contact with Courtney to pick her brains on how she organised such a journey.
A fascinating read…enjoy!
How far in advance did you start planning this amazing trip?
Michael and I made the decision to embark on this year of travel back in the autumn of 2014. We put our house in London on the market and it was sold by February.
From this point, we started thinking about our trip and narrowing down the places we wanted to visit. With four kids, we had to do a fair amount of planning of course, but there was no way we could work out everything in advance — plus we wanted to leave some room to improvise.
Our ‘Around the World’ fare tickets are very flexible on date changes so it has allowed us to be flexible too.
When we fell in love with surfing in Uruguay we shifted our time from Argentina to Chile, where the surf is great. We discovered a little surf town called Pichilemu by googling ‘best Chilean beach towns’, booked a house on Airbnb and stayed for three weeks. So while many things were planned in advance, we’ve also done a lot of on-the-go planning as well.
How did you budget everything?
Thankfully Michael (who is a film producer) handles our finances! I would be terrible at this. He is organised and very good at creating budgets and ensuring we stick to them. I don’t think he uses a special app, though he does spend a lot of time looking over our expenses in the online banking site, and again using spread sheets to keep us on track.
How did you sort out visas for each country?
We all have both UK and US passports and this has proven helpful for all of the countries we have visited. Where some countries require a visa for UK citizens, we then use our US passports to travel there, etc. So far we haven’t needed any visas during our trip.
Where are you staying in each country?
We have mostly booked houses or apartments through airbnb or other similar services. We have only stayed in a hotel a couple times, both during quick city layovers en route to different destinations.
In Los Angeles we stayed in a wonderful family home we booked through Kid & Coe, and we will soon be staying in another of their properties when we get to Australia. It’s so much nicer to stay in a house or apartment where you have a kitchen to cook meals and a washing machine to do the laundry, etc. With Kid & Coe you have the added benefit of staying in kid-friendly properties, so there are usually toys for the kids to play with, children’s highchairs and beds, and it makes you feel right at home.
How did you fund this trip?
We sold our newly renovated home in London, which turned out to be a good investment for us. With the earnings from the house sale, we knew we could afford to travel for one year, as long as we did it on a budget. This trip has not been sponsored in any way. Except for the odd discount here and there, we have paid for everything out of our savings.
What did you do with your belongings and furniture?
We sold a lot of things on Ebay or gave things away to charity shops (about a half-dozen minivans full) and kept only what was meaningful to us…the sentimental things that couldn’t be replaced or things we were 95% confident we would use again.
We kept our 1950s piano because I love it and know it will be difficult to replace. We also kept our paintings, art prints, and our pottery and sculptures. I kept the nicer table linens and bedding, but gave away the rest and of course we kept all our family keepsakes, like the children’s artwork, photos and journals.
To make sure all our treasured belongings were kept safe whilst we were on our travels, we rented a storage unit* on the outskirts of London.
*A self-storage company like Shurgard offers units from 10 to 240 square feet. Check out promotions on offer as often, various promotions and discount apply including £1 storage for the first month for first time users.
How are you staying in touch with your family?
Getting access to wifi has been a daily struggle, especially now that we are in a camper van in New Zealand and are constantly on the move. Some campsites have good wifi and others don’t have anything at all.
I bought a SIM card through T-Mobile when I was in the US this summer, and it has been quite good throughout our travels – with low rates and unlimited 3G wifi. Instagram has been a good way to stay in touch with my family. I try to update daily so they can keep track of us, and I can also see photos of all of them. When we have a good 3G mobile phone connection we can also do FaceTime calls which are fun.
What do you find the most challenging and the most uplifting?
Michael and I haven’t shared a meal without the kids since this adventure began – we literally do everything together as a family. 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 would all benefit from a few hours of alone time here and there, but it’s just not always possible.
On the flip side, this time together as a family is most definitely one of the biggest joys! Spending all this time with the kids and Michael is so wonderful!
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 them individually and to connect to them in a deeper way.
Lastly, if we have to be brief, it’s the experience of travel. We have learned so much during the past six months, but we have not even begun to sate 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.
Have you been on any great adventures with your family?
We would love to hear your stories and how you organised your trip and if you have any tips and suggestions, please leave them below in the comment section.
BODIE and FOU
Karine Candice Köng, is a French Blogger, Stylist who lives in London. She is passionate about modern design, white interiors, well-being and shares all her inspirations and Expert advice in English and French on the BODIE and FOU blog, which is like your “little black book of style”
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