Not long ago we encountered the Hudson Family, Michael, Nadine, Desmond (10) and Lenny (8), when they left a comment on one of our posts. Their international family is on an open ended world tour that currently has them in Mexico. We’d love to introduce them to you!

Tell us a little bit about your family

We are a Swiss/British family who loves to travel (even when we are settled we feel that it’s part of our travels) and believes that we can all make a difference in this world.

What are you doing that is fabulous?!

I actually don’t think we are doing anything fabulous… I prefer to call it unusual.

When it comes down to our every day life, we are a pretty normal family.

• We worry
• We have doubts
• We wonder
• We argue
• We rejoice
• We question
• We look for answers
• We feel frustration and happiness
• We love and laugh
• We try our best, but feel that it’s not always enough.
• Even though we travel, we keep some sort of a family routine, with more or less set school, meal, play and bed times.

So what makes us unusual?

It’s our passion for a life on the move. And maybe our urge to let go of what we have and plunge into something new, learning to have faith even when we are out of our comfort zone (and that’s not always easy).
I travelled quite a bit as a child and later by myself. My husband and I met in India and got married in England. Together we travelled again. And we still travelled when I got pregnant with Desmond. Once both children were what we considered old enough, we left again and we have been on the road pretty much since then.
Asia has become so special to us that we were very pleased to be offered the management of a small hotel in rural China. Since leaving Asia, we have travelled again.

• When we travel, we move slowly, preferably by public transport (at the current moment in a camper).
• We are keen to interact with local people, prefer an afternoon at a local playground to a world-famous sight.

We try to put ourselves into the shoes of other human beings and still hold the innocent belief that we can make a difference by sharing the stories of the world, the love and generosity that is given to us by the people of this Earth and hope for a better future.

Touching other human beings with a smile, with profound happiness or a helping hand can make such a difference.

Tell us about your family vision

Leading a simple life is important to us and has become a crucial message to our boys:

• Living with little water
• Valuing electricity, if we have any
• Living in a small space
• Respecting nature
• Making do with what ever sources we have
• Appreciating luxuries when they come our way

We lead lives with little material collateral when at home and each time we travel again, we let go of what we have and leave without any limitations.

We travel without much planning, let the moods of the moment lead us to unknown places and when ever we think we are at the end of a chapter in our lives, a door opens and shows us a new way.

Why do we like the life of travelers? It makes us vulnerable and humble.

We enter the territory of other cultures as unknowing and fully exposed strangers and we are forced to approach our hosts, to trust them and accept their help, even if we feel like hiding in a hole.

I once read in the wonderful book Brida by Paulo Coelho:

“She was on the beach with her father and he asked her to go and see what the temperature of the water was like. She went to the water’s edge and tipped in a toe.

“I put my feet in and it was cold,” she told him.

Her father picked her up and carried her down to the water again and, without any warning, threw her in. She was shocked at first, but then laughed out loud at the trick he’d played.

“How’s the water?” asked the father.

“It’s lovely,” she replied.

“Right, from now on, whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in.””

… and it felt like Mr. Coelho had described our family better with only a few lines than I ever could.

How did you get started?

I think it all started about fifteen years ago, when I ended up in India (which was totally not planned, but happened through some weird circumstances) and bumped into my future husband who had also ended up in Kerala through a mistake at a ticket office… I liked Michael straight away and told him that he would make a good husband to some woman (NOT me) one day… two hours later he proposed to me and I agreed and we got married!

What have been your biggest challenges or successes?

In the last few years our biggest challenges (and at the same time successes) were to run a small hotel in rural China (not always easy, believe me…), to home school our boys (even less easy) and to go through the first few weeks of our new adventure, travelling from the USA southwards, staying positive even when things didn’t go the way we wanted.

What would you do differently if you could go back and do it over?

I would teach our boys with an American homeschooling curriculum in order to get some support – something that is not available for Swiss homeschoolers.

And I would try to be even more humble.

What is one myth you’d like to dispel about your lifestyle?

That it is only wonderful!

Because like any other family, we have difficult moments too.

A friend of mine once wrote, “Just because we travel, doesn’t make us all angels.”

Our lives are wonderful; most of the time.

Challenging at the other times and the price we pay to lead the lives of gypsies is high. Starting with nothing every few years is exhilarating, but also tiring.

What would you tell other families who want to do what you are doing?

Not to plan much and to take LOTS of time, travel slowly (no airplanes if possible) and meet the local people.

Children usually prefer “basic” to “fancy:”

• They are happier on a busy and dented public bus full of chickens than in a sterile taxi
• They would rather stay in a small family hotel (even though it’s a bit dirty and there is no a/c) with friendly locals and little kittens than the non-personal five star alternative

Take time to let go of your lives at home, detach and meet the new and strange with open eyes and an open heart.

You can follow the Hudson Family’s blog, or post a question for them in the comments section!

About Jennifer Miller

Jennifer Miller has written 55 post in this blog.

Married to my knight in shining armor, Mama to the fabulous four, I must write to breathe. I'm homeless by choice, a nomad by birth and am most at home sleeping my tent, shopping in the souqs of North Africa and wandering the highlands of Guatemala. My life is an "edventure!"

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