Category: Blog Posts

Where to start? From a plain itinerary perspective, we left Panama, spent three weeks in Dublin and then another three weeks in Salamanca. Then we came back to Panama. That is a little simplistic however given the wide range of emotions and experiences that we all felt, having very briefly returned to our home cities…

Our year away has brought quite a few reflections in terms of living sustainably, both in terms of ourselves personally, and of the world around us here in South America. So here goes… When we chose to begin this adventure, we left behind a way of living that is probably relatively common in the world…

Having made the personal choice to change to a plant-based (vegan) diet four years previously, our decision to travel South America in a camper van brought with it plenty of dietary-related challenges and concerns. The most common asked questions were always: Before answering, I think it is pertinent to briefly detail the transition I made…

Many people have asked us how we have managed the education of our children during the year on the road. A year is a long time, certainly a long and crucial period in the development of two kids less than 10 years old. We fully appreciate the importance of learning and so have tried to…

Our beloved camper van, christened “Grandullona” by the kids, has taken us the length of South America this year, covering a distance of 25,000km. It has brought us to the end of the world in Ushuaia, through the majestic Andes Mountains, across the Argentine pampas and across the Altiplano in Bolivia at altitudes close to…

Lots of people have been asking me what a typical day looks like for us. Well it is certainly different to our life before we started this adventure! There we used to rush out the door most mornings, juggle school and creche drop-offs and collects, ferry kids to after-school activities, throw a dinner together as…

Having decided to continue our family adventure into Central America, we had the not so minor logistical task ahead of arranging shipping for our house-on-wheels. As previously mentioned, while Colombia and Panama share a physical border, there is no road connection due to the dense jungle separating the countries. As such, shipping would be our…

As we travelled north alongside the immense Pacific Ocean and through the majestic Andes Mountains, a relatively important decision loomed larger and larger in the background. It was something we had discussed both prior to beginning this family adventure and along the way at various stages. But as time and kilometres ticked by, this was…

Arriving in Cartagena de Indias (to give it its full name) could best be described as arriving in the middle of a raging inferno, just without the actual flames. We have been to many hot places on this adventure, but a combination of the heat and humidity made the city as challenging as we had…

Having spent ten days in the hectic capital city of Bogota, proceeded by a couple of months of fairly full-on tourist activity, we felt that a change of dynamic was required for us all. We could see that the kids had been having too much stimulus via tours, trips, sights and attractions. We had been…