Aussie family reveals the 'uncomfortable truth' about travelling full-time

More than two years ago, Kelsey and Tom Wauchope and their young daughters headed overseas to travel indefinitely. Left: The family in Paros, Greece. Right: Back in Australia. Source: Supplied/thewholeofus

While sitting on a beach in Greece with her husband and two young daughters by her side, Kelsey Wauchope looked around at their “perfect” surroundings and slowly inhaled.

Six months earlier, the Aussie family had decided to sell most of their belongings, rent out their Noosa home and purchase a one-way ticket to Thailand with the goal of travelling abroad indefinitely.

“We had a healthcare practice on the Sunshine Coast and then my husband got burnt out, so his mental health declined,” the mum explained, referring to her partner of over 13 years, Tom. “He was really sick. It was life and death.”

However, it wasn’t long into their trip before the couple and their children, aged 6 and 8 at the time, were confronted by the “uncomfortable truth” of leaving everything behind to chase an unconventional life.

“It’s the dream to travel the world, but you take yourself with you. This is a dream you could never imagine… but we sat there, we just felt so lonely and broken,” the 35-year-old mum told Yahoo News, reflecting on the family’s “wake-up” call on the European beach.

“I look at these families who are full-time travelling, and it’s really hard, because you could never say that ‘it’s hard’. Most people don’t want to share that it’s hard because it looks like a dream, but the reality is, you’ve stripped away all your safety, your identity, your family, and you’re rediscovering you and just each other. 

“It was quite fascinating.”

The family (pictured in the Sahara left, and right in Zion National Park) has opened up about the sometimes painful reality of full-time travelling. Source: Supplied/thewholeofus

When the Wauchopes first embarked on their journey over two years ago, they hoped to reconnect as a family and “heal” mentally and physically, but the reality of slowing down and leaning into the uncertainty was much more difficult than they anticipated.

“We had a lot of trauma and pain to work through that first year,” Kelsey said, describing the intense self-reflection that followed as “brutally beautiful”.

“We started going at a slower pace, which meant we had more time to process things, and it was so uncomfortable.

“But when you learn to sit with the discomfort, I think healing really happens, and real beauty comes because you start to notice why you’re living the way you are, and how your life is shaped from the decisions you’ve made, which you don’t notice if you’re just steamrolling and trying to distract and avoid all this pain.”

While it was tricky at first to accept that such a beautiful opportunity could also be linked to such discomfort, leaning into the feeling “transformed” the entire family, making their second year of wandering the globe easier, Kelsey explained.

“We became a team and learnt about each other. As a family it was the best decision we ever made,” she said. 

“Individually our overseas trip expanded our thinking, challenged our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us, gave us a deeper understanding of different cultures and religions, and gave us the gift of seeing that people are people.”

Kelsey, a former nurse turned life consultant, and Tom, whose savings funded much of their travels, are now sharing what they learnt on their website — The Whole Of Us — in the hope of reaching others who are contemplating a similar adventure.

After two years, the family returned home and now plans on taking smaller trips around Australia. Source: Supplied/thewholeofus

While abroad, the Wauchopes travelled to 20 countries. Turkey, Scotland, Egypt and Greece were some of the “standouts”, although each country is alluring in its own way, Kelsey said. 

After spending two years on the go, the couple and their girls, now aged 11 and 9, returned to Australia five months ago, seeking the familiarity of community and loved ones.

“We are so grateful for the opportunities that we’ve had, [but] there is a cost to it, as there is for everything. I don’t think this life is for everyone,” Kelsey said, noting her husband’s mental health is “still recovering”.

After returning to Noosa, the family sought to “fall back in love” with Australia. They recently teamed up with the Outback Queensland Tourism Association, who orchestrated a six-week trip through some of the state’s most remote areas. 

Travelling in their 4WD, Kelsey, Tom and their daughters have spent several nights camping in swags in bushland, fossicking for opals, and observing various wildlife like emus, bilbies and echidnas.

They are currently in Far North Queensland and will now head back down the east coast. They will continue to travel in the future, just for shorter periods.

“Going into the outback has really helped us define more of what the [Aussie] spirit is — that resilience and mateship. There’s so much of Australia to see,” Kelsey said.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo News Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-family-reveals-the-uncomfortable-truth-about-travelling-full-time-061603816.html

Post Related