How We Did It

Kevin here.

It's fairly often the we get asked how in the world we are able to take an 80-day trip to Europe with our kids.  This question normally follows some sort of mild (or not so mild) expression of surprise accompanied by either bewilderment (why would you want to do that?) or -- more likely -- envy (how could we do that too?)

Because let's be frank:  this is crazy.  80 days in Europe?  That's nuts.  Normal people don't do this.  Maybe they would like to.  But how?  Seems impossible.

But we've also had a number of friends with an even more thoughtful question:  Why are you doing this? And what do you hope to get out of it?  Many of them know why they would do something like this if they could.  But why would we?

I thought I would take a minute to share some thoughts on these questions.  Partially, I'm doing this so that I won't forget.  But also because perhaps it will serve to inspire some of you to do something similar.  Or just something.   Actually... I can tell from the thoughts racing through my head as I begin to type this out, that it's going to take more than a minute.  Perhaps you should grab some coffee...

But, I'll say this up front:  the process has not been linear for us.  We've come at it from different angles, moved forward and backwards, etc.  Our thinking and the steps we took don't lend themselves to any easy step-by-step blog post.  But... here goes:

Kelly and I had talked for quite awhile about taking a trip like this -- i'll get to the "why" in the next post -- but two things stood in our way:  my work and the kids' school.  Actually, I guess three things:  work, school, and money.  It's not cheap -- at all -- to go to Europe for any length of time.  But 11 weeks or so?  Insane.

The money issue and the work issue are tied together for us, so addressing work was key.  And here is one of the greatest benefits of my job:  I can work anywhere.  I am a software developer by trade -- and self-employed.  I do have one primary client, however: a, um, very large telecommunications provider with offices that cover the country.  So, I have team members who work from home as well as work all over the nation (Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis, etc.).  Given that context, I was in good shape to propose something to my client:  I would be taking some additional time off during the first part of 2012 to travel Europe with my family... but with my laptop in tow and prepared to work 40-50% of my time away.

Now... I won't go into all of the details, but my client is not known for it's flexibility in such matters, particularly as it relates to its contractors.  While you and I might think contractor = freedom, that's not what my client thinks.  It prefers strong oversight of contractors.  The result is that going to my client with this proposition was more risky than you might imagine.  It's not unheard of for a contractor to propose a different working relationship and have this particular client say "no, that doesn't work for us.  We'll find a new contractor."  Hardball.  It has its costs to the company, but it's their call, so fair enough.

Knowing this possible outcome, Kelly and I spent many, many hours and days discussing whether or not we should risk it.  I lost more than one night's sleep over it.  We worked through the worst case scenario which would be having the contract terminated.  I would be out of a job, no money coming in.  That's... not good.  Not good at all, frankly, especially with today's job market, etc.  This was quite worrisome.  It seemed foolish in some ways to put my work at risk at the same time we knew of so many others who did not have a job at all. So, we wrestled and we prayed... and then we decided to go for it.  Given all of the reasons why we wanted to take this trip, we decided to take the risk and see what happened.

My client's initial reaction was not encouraging.  Lots of hemming and hawing, "I'm not so sure company policy allows contractors to take company equipment out of the country," etc.  I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  So, my manager said he would think about it and get back to me.  And, of course, he did not.  So, I had to go back to him 3-4 weeks later and do it all over again.

Essentially, what I had to do was:
1.  Contact the corporate IT department and find out if what I wanted to do -- work from Europe -- was technically feasible.
2.  Contact HR and find out if there was any policy against contractors taking company equipment (my laptop) out of the country.
3. Write up my proposal more formally and submit it to my department's Executive Director.  I did that only to have him ask me to submit it to one of the the Vice Presidents for his approval too. Good heavens.  By now, I'm sure I've outed myself as a high-maintenance contractor who doesn't really want to be here, etc.

After several weeks of phone and email wrangling, all of the approvals came together.  Technically, there would be no issues and there was no policy against taking a laptop out of the country (which I knew their wouldn't be).  And the ED and the VP gave their approvals (although in a somewhat reluctant "let this be on your head if it doesn't work out" kind of way).

I was surprised and relieved.  I also needed to discuss this with my technical team leader to make sure he was OK with my plan.   He was and things began to fall into place.

But... what about the kid's school?  That seemed insurmountable.  So, we began to think of trying to do this in the summer, maybe for just 2-4 weeks or so.  We weren't thrilled with that idea though, since summer is high season:  crowds are terrible and costs for everything are much higher.  We could make it work, but we weren't thrilled about it.

I'll never forget the moment.  Driving in the car, out on a date night, when Kelly turns to me and says:  "you know, I think I could homeschool the kids for a year.  You know, so we could do our traveling during the school year."

Oh.  My.  Really?  Are you sure?  Oh, wow.  Oh. Wow.

This really blew open the doors on what was possible.  All kinds of ideas starting coming up.  Our 2-week trip became 4 weeks.  And then I was like "well, if we can go for 4 weeks, then we can go for 6."  And then it was 8 weeks.  And then it was 10 weeks.  And it finally settled at about 11 (mostly so that we could fit the trip after the worst of winter was over -- since we wanted to go to Scotland -- but before the summer began).  So, the time frame was driven now largely by the seasons and the calendar rather then by work and school.  And the we added a week-long trip to the beach in November.  And we added a trip to Orlando for 4 days.  And we added 2 1/2 weeks out west to the National Parks.  We've traveled more in the past 8 months than we have in our entire lives.

The homeschooling decision was not an easy one for us.  I'm not sure what the phrase "they're not really homeschooling people" means, but I think it applies to us.  The bulk of the work would fall to Kelly who is not a teacher by training and was nervous about it.  There was a good deal of trepidation in this for us.  But, thankfully we knew quite a few people who also homeschool who encouraged us and resourced us.

And -- as a side note -- it's gone great.  The kids are thriving.  They've been working through math and language.  Plus they are all voracious readers.  And.  And!!!...

...they've climbed through ancient Scottish castles, seen Napoleon's throne, walked Culloden Battlefield and studied the end of the Scottish/English civil wars, seen the Rosetta Stone, learned about the Parthenon, traced the family tree of the British Monarchy, seen Mummies, rode the Falkirk Wheel, visited St. Giles Cathedral where John Knox preached during the Reformation, viewed the Venus De Milo, walked Omaha beach in Normandy, fought their way through the crowds to see the Mona Lisa, touched a stone from the Bastille, learned the story of William the Conqueror, discovered Robespierre, learned a bit of British naval history and about trade with India, seen the rooms where Churchill fought WWII, viewed the bedroom of Louis XIV, and ran around the gardens that Monet painted.  Oh, and they've ordered their own meal in french, paid for books and souvenirs with Euros, planned and led trips around London and Paris using their maps, and learned how to navigate the Tube and the Metro.

There are other reasons we've taken this trip (which I'll get to in the next post), but this gives you some insight into one of the biggest: our kids.  Even though it is sometimes unclear how much of this has impacted them, changed them, informed them, etc.  It's been worth every minute, every penny, every hassle.  Not for a minute have we doubted that this trip would -- in some way, perhaps in ways we won't know about for decades -- be a gift to them that they will reflect on with joy.

Will we homeschool again?  No, I don't think so.  Never say never, but I think this one year has been enough for us.

So... that's how we've been able to do this:  I'm working here in Europe.  It's not all vacation, unfortunately.  But the bills keep coming, even across the pond.  So I put in 3-4 days of work a week.  We often head out to sightsee or something from 10am - 2pm or so.  And then I work from roughly 2pm - 10pm or 3pm - 11pm or whatever.  Occasionally we switch it up and I'll work in the morning through the early afternoon while Kelly homeschools and we'll head out for something in the evening.   Honestly, it's not easy to put in many hours of walking and seeing a sight or a museum or whatever with your family and then come back to another 8 hours of work.  Not every day is a restful wonderland of European experiences.  But it's worth it.

This has been a long post, so sorry about that.  But I hope it gets you thinking.  How could you pull something off like this?  Maybe you can work from anywhere too?  I have all kinds of technology-related tips to make it happen.  I've been toying with writing a short e-book about how we did all of this.  I've learned a lot.  Or... maybe you can take a leave of absence?  And perhaps consider homeschooling for a year?

You have to do what it takes.  And be willing to take some risks.  And... you have to have reasons for doing so that make it worth it.  Coming soon:  Why we did it.


Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood.  ~ Daniel Burnham