9 Things We’ve Learned Easing into Full-Time Travel

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since we said goodbye to our old home and hit the road!

Our first stop on our Great Big Adventure is a small city known for its wineries and olive groves — Paso Robles. It’s the ideal location for us, as it’s within Steven’s work territory, close to the Central Coast and offers a lot of family-friendly activities nearby.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a chance to adjust to a new way of living… and learn a few new things along this journey. Here are nine things we’ve discovered so far!

1. We Need to Pace Ourselves

Maybe it’s the fact that we just did a healthy sprint to our deadline — renovating the van, selling our possessions and home, etc. Or it could be attributed to the excitement we have for our new lifestyle. Either way, our first week was jam-packed with activities.

Every day I had a 2-3 activities planned — hike, then library, then playground, then beach, etc. For me, it felt like we weren’t doing enough. After all, I’m still fresh off of that 8-5 corporate life, where I thrived on fast-paced projects, back-to-back meetings and interactions. Here, I’ve found myself asking “OK, what else can we do today??” I didn’t want our time on the Coast to pass by and not have anything to show for it, if that makes sense. And with Steven working full-time during the week, I wanted to stay out of his hair with the kiddos so we weren’t adding any complexity or distractions to his day. I was in for a surprise though. After the first week, Steven and the kids were begging for a chill day with nothing on the agenda!

We’ve found that we’re able to do one “big” thing a day — whether that be going on a hike, checking out a children’s museum or hitting up a concert in the park. We’ve even contemplated if we should change the pace to every other day, with chill-at-home days in between. We’re still trying to find the right pace for our day-to-day activities. Some days are better than others, but we’re learning as we go!

2. Expect the Unexpected

In trying to keep our days busy and explore everything the Central Coast has to offer, I didn’t account for one thing — when you’ve got a sick kiddo.

During our big move, poor Harvey was having all sorts of health stuff going on. First an ear infection, then an eye infection. A few days into our Great Big Adventure, we woke up to the worst coughing fit. Harv had caught something, and it wore him out. Over the next several days, he battled a low fever and slept… a LOT. Even on the days we thought he’d be good to go, Harvey would end up falling asleep in the van or wanting to be carried everywhere. And when your four-year-old is 40 pounds, that adds up! I knew it was a sign to change plans when we went to the Dinosaur Caves Park, a place sure to bring a smile to his face, and he cried out, “I don’t have the energy to run, Mommy!” My heart broke in that moment, and I knew we needed to shift gears.

Regardless if you’ve got a sick kiddo, or even the healthiest of children, things happen. Kids get irritated, and can have cranky days. Shoot, even this Mama has a cranky day or two every now and again. When in doubt, you just have to go with the flow!

3. Being #VanLife Ready has been a Lifesaver

You know what makes it easy to slow down, and change your plans? Having a vehicle with a bed (and most of what you own) in it. The day Harvey cried out at the playground, I knew exactly what the doctor ordered. He and I went back to the van, which we had backed up nicely to face the playground. I opened the back doors, we crawled on the bed and cuddled up under the blankets. I had a watchful eye on Levi, who was still at the playground, but was able to chill with Harvey. Because we have a fridge and a little pantry area in the van, we had a picnic lunch right there on the bed. The day ended up being perfect, and as soon as Levi was done playing, we packed it up and headed home.

The ability to just hang out — comfortably — in our van has brought us some of the best memories on our journey so far. It allows us to be places for a longer duration, and allows us to be flexible. Tired kid? Hop on the bed and take a nap! Not up for exploring today? Open the back doors and cuddle up with a good book, or simply just take in the views.

4. Traveling with a Dog is Hard

I think Steven and I both knew this part of the adventure would be tricky, after all, any Airbnbs or campgrounds we stay at need to be dog-friendly. But I think we underestimated how hard it really is, day in and day out. It’s almost like having another kid, but this kid can’t go most places. The Central Coast is pretty progressive as far as dog-friendliness goes, fortunately. But not always! The other day we drove an hour to Montaña de Oro State Park, where they had a great little dog beach. Awesome, I thought! I wanted to hike a bit that day, and I LOVE having my four-legged pal keep me company as I explore. Wrong! Despite having 40 trails within the park, there were none that allowed dogs. Thankfully we had the dog beach — and the van to hang out in — but it definitely put a damper on our plans to explore.

Ultimately, we ended up ordering a pop-up kennel from Amazon that Ruby can stay in when needed, which has worked out extremely well for us. We definitely wouldn’t trade Ruby for anything, but we do have to be more mindful of our plans (and where she fits in).

5. Slow Travel has been a Good Transition into Full-Time Travel

Steven found us a cute little Airbnb in Paso Robles, which the kids call our 30-day house. A tiny one-bedroom, one-bath, this place has been the perfect transition for us! It’s tucked behind a historical home on Vine Street, and is only a 5-minute walk to Downtown Paso Robles.

Living in a tiny space has its perks, but it forces you do to things a bit differently. (Everything I’m about to say is a no brainer — I get it. But it’s how we deal with it that is the learning experience!)

Sometimes it feels like we’re on top of each other. I find myself reading outside or going for walks, especially if the kids are watching Teen Titans Go (why????) or Steven has a work call. There’s no “private” sanctuary to retreat to for quiet time. WiFi is sporadic, so our TV and electronic time has been cut down quite a bit. We encourage the boys to play outside as much as possible, or make the short trek to the downtown playground to blow off some steam instead. If we don’t immediately pick up after ourselves, it feels like a tornado ripped through the place. (Fortunately, it takes about 20 minutes or so to clean up the entire house, so that’s a bonus!) There’s only one bathroom, so waiting your turn is a real thing. ?

When we get closer to traveling out of our van, all of these things will be second nature to us — but we really needed to figure it out in a bit of a bigger space than 86sqft! Plus, having a semi-permanent home base affords us the opportunity for Steven to work remotely with ease, while we set off to explore during the day.

6. Communication is KEY!

This one is fairly obvious, but it’s something that we gently remind ourselves of on the daily. If one of us isn’t feeling it, needs a break or is feeling emotional (usually me!), it’s time to sit down and talk it out. This lifestyle doesn’t leave any room for suffering in silence. Little issues can feel magnified if they fester for too long. This doesn’t just apply to hubby and wife, but our kids too. We routinely check in with Levi and Harv to ask them how they’re feeling, if we should be doing things differently or if they just need some downtime. More often than not, they’ll just ask for more trips to the ice cream shop or a toy from Target! ?

Regardless, it’s imperative for us to have open dialogue, and frequently. Steven and I have implemented a Sunday planning session, which involves us sitting down with our 7-day, 30-day and 60-day calendars to work through schedules and planned activities. As much as I teased Steven leading up to our first “meeting,” I’m grateful that he pushed us to have these sit-down sessions. It’s a great opportunity to pause, reflect on the previous week, as well as the upcoming timeline. It’s also where a lot of these learning points we’re sharing today were originally discussed!

7. We’re Getting Used to a Minimalist Lifestyle

Living with less is actually a concept that has become pretty easy to us over the past few weeks. I thought it would be SO HARD to pare down to my wardrobe to two weeks worth of clothes, give or take. Now I look at my little drawer of clothing and think, I don’t really need that, that or that. Same applies when I look at the boys’ stuff. We made a ton of space for a small tub of toys for each kiddo, and they rarely play with everything. More often than not, the boys pick out one small item and take it everywhere we go. For Levi especially, he’s more interested in observing the world around him, collecting nature’s little trinkets like cool rocks and shells.

Even when it comes to food, we’re able to do a lot with a little. We pack up sandwiches and snacks, as well as the occasional charcuterie and cheese board, for our outbound adventures. We cook a lot more than we ever did before, placing an emphasis on whole, natural foods and time together around the dinner table.

8. The Best Experiences are Free

It really goes without saying, but some of our favorite things to do around the Central Coast have cost us absolutely nothing. For me, I’ve found that taking Ruby for early morning hikes around the San Luis Obispo area has been physically, mentally and spiritually stimulating. Or finding a stellar new book at the library! For the boys, discovering a new playground in new neighborhood has been a highlight. As a family, we savor the time when we’re just hanging out beachside, lounging on the bed in the van or exploring a quaint little town. They say that the best things in life are free, and we believe it.

9. We Really Miss Our Family & Friends

This one goes without saying, but it really is the thing that has impacted us the most. We’ve always had family and friends nearby our entire lives, and routinely saw the people we loved a lot. It’s a massive transition to just being the four of us (plus Ruby, of course)! We also had grand ambitions for lots of FaceTime and letter writing. There’s still plenty of opportunity for that, of course, but it’s hard not sharing these new experiences with our loved ones first hand. The good news is that we’ve built in a few trips back home over the next few months, so we know we’ll get plenty of quality time in then. ?

It’s been said that time is the greatest teacher of all, and we have so much more to learn along the way. What surprises you the most about what we’ve discovered on this journey?