Questions we actually get

James I work remotely in tech. That's the engine. We don't have a trust fund or an inheritance. We sold our house, sold most of our stuff, and redirected what we were spending on a mortgage, utilities, and two car payments into travel. The Airstream costs less per month than our old apartment. The math works if you're willing to live smaller. I wrote more about the logistics in Work-Life Harmony on the Road.

Carol Colletta is our 1979 Airstream Sovereign. She's 31 feet of aluminum, gutted and rebuilt from the frame up. The name comes from the Italian word collecta, meaning "a gathering of people." We found her at a restoration shop in Utah in 2019. She'd been sitting in the Arizona desert for over thirty years. James spent months bringing her back to life. She's home. You can read the full story on our Colletta page.

Carol We call it worldschooling. The world is the classroom. National parks became science class. Grocery shopping in Portugal became math. Calvin learned fractions by helping James measure for Airstream repairs. We also did three months with Boundless Life in Portugal, which gave the kids a structured learning environment and gave me a break. I wrote about what it actually looks like day-to-day in Worldschooling: What It Actually Looks Like.

Calvin There's no way to compare any of them. Every place is different, so there's no actual way to pick one. That said, if you made me choose, Alaska. The midnight sun, the wildlife, the scale of everything. Mom wrote about it in Alaska Changed Us.

Amelia Hawaii. The lagoon, the warm weather, and the Dippin' Dots. Hawaii is like sun with sprinkles of rain. Scotland is like rain with sprinkles of sun.

Calvin I miss having my best friend just around the corner. But I also have friends on like four continents, so that's cool. I wouldn't trade what I've seen for a normal school. Also I don't have to wake up at 6am, so...

James We carry a high-deductible health plan through the ACA marketplace, registered through our Utah address. Telehealth covers most things. For anything hands-on, we find a provider wherever we are. It's not perfect, but it works. The UK visa process included health coverage for all four of us in Scotland, which was a relief.

James James Bond. No, seriously. I've always wanted to see Scotland because of Skyfall. We visited in 2023 and something clicked. The landscape, the pace, the people. We bought a cottage on the Isle of Skye six months later. Carol thinks I'm insane. She's probably right. But the cottage is coming along. Read about it in We Bought a Cottage in Scotland.

Carol If you're passing through the Isle of Skye and want to say hello, reach out. We love meeting people who follow our journey. Just give us a heads up first. We're usually covered in plaster dust.

Carol The goodbyes. Every time the kids make a friend at a campsite or a co-living program, they know the friendship has an expiration date. That never gets easier. James wrote about the emotional side of it in This Life Changed My Marriage. It's not all sunsets.

Carol We'd been talking about it for years in that "wouldn't it be cool if..." kind of way. Then COVID hit right when Millie was born, James was working remotely anyway, and suddenly the only thing stopping us was the decision itself. We sold the house, bought an Airstream, and left. Five years later, we're still going. Read the longer version in An Object in Motion.

James We kind of already did. We bought a cottage on the Isle of Skye and we're renovating it. But "settle down" doesn't mean "stop moving" for us. We're building a European home base, not an anchor. The plan is Scotland as our center of gravity with travel built around it. We just bought a Sprinter van for weekend adventures around Scotland and Europe.

James Depends on how long we're staying. Three months in Portugal? We didn't buy a vehicle, just used transit and walked. Hawaii? We rent a car and a motorcycle every time. Scotland? We bought a Mini (Fern) and now we're converting a Sprinter van. The cutoff is roughly: under a month, Uber and transit. Over a month, rent. Over six months, buy.

Calvin For flights: my Kindle, a device for video games, headphones, Foxy (Cal's lovie), and some Hot Wheels cars for when I need a break from screens. For day trips, I bring my Lay-n-Go Lego bag and a pencil case with colored pencils and a notebook.

Amelia Legos, my Yoto and headphones, coloring stuff and my pencil case. And sometimes Tinkie (Millie's lovie).

Carol Since December 2020. Calvin was five, Millie was a baby. We've been on the road or living abroad for over five years now. We've hit all 50 states, 20+ countries, and four continents. The adventures map has the full route if you want to see everywhere we've been.