I know single guys or childless couples adventure into “vagabonding.” Most sane people abandon the idea once kids enter the picture. Not me. And Wendy and I are returning to some of our more radical ideas of our younger years.
The definition of a vagabond is “a person, usually without a permanent home, who wanders from place to place.” Its a rather broad term, definitions including “tramp,” “vagrant,” “without means to support oneself.” It may sound bad, but I admire the lifestyle. Freedom to explore and experience the world. That’s intriguing to me.
Children get in the way. Do they, really?
I think back to my most adventurous travels with my children, and there really wasn’t much in the way of the wonderful experience. I recall our first time “vagabonding” in 1999 and 2000 when we traveled from coast to coast in two summers. In 2004 we bought and reconditioned a school bus (called a “schoolie” in the bus renovation world) and traveled across half the country. Tournament season sets us on the road many times through the year, already to California with plans to go to Missouri, Texas, Utah and maybe another venture to California.
All with my children. I think parents use children as an excuse to divert liberty, convinced that somehow freedom was lost with family.
Wendy and I are considering a year’s trip to Australia. We went March of 2015—just the two of us—but wouldn’t it be great to bring all the children? Maybe homeschool them for an entire year (like this family), visiting our daughter and son-in-law in Melbourne, our friends in Toowoomba, and adventure around the continent visiting Berth, Darwin, Sydney, Tanzania and “hopping the pond” to New Zealand.
Finances, planning, opportunities back home will all likely get in the way. But this excuse won’t: children.