We did this last summer as well but stayed in the U.S., spending 12 weeks bouncing between Seattle, Alaska, and all over the Oregon Coast, mountains and Portland with the kids and the dog. 7,000 miles of driving later we made it home a week before school started. 15/10 would do again, and are planning 6-8 weeks next summer in Europe.
Sure! The kids were 11 and 12 and don’t have phones yet so did not feel completely removed from social life for a whole summer. We did work remotely, but because it was the Pacific Time Zone and our jobs are Eastern Time Zone we were done around 2:00 or 3:00 every day and able to spend long afternoons exploring as a family. We also pre-planned a lot of long weekend trips in Oregon from our base in Portland and were able to do the coast two weekends, the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood, Bend, and all of Portland. We treated the first 2 weeks in Seattle as more of a working vacation and did every tourist thing possible there, full vacation for a week in Alaska (flew and boarded the dog), and then more of a chill week and long weekends for 7 weeks in Oregon. Stayed at Airbnbs in Seattle and Portland, Home2Suites on the way out and back because they are dog-friendly. Drove round trip from Des Moines, IA.
I love this idea, and currently have a cousin living abroad with his family full-time because of access to remote work. Do you have suggestions for those of us who don’t have access to remote work? I don’t know many folks who work remotely full-time these days.
I have heard of people who if they are required to be in the office a certain number of days per week taking those say two days per week as vacation days in order to stretch the time they can be away or making a short term deal about remote work with their boss. If your job is fully in person, I think a longer trip would either require a bunch of vacation time or a sabbatical. however, you might be able to do a few weeks on Just vacation time.
Purchased! So grateful to you for this idea. I’ve long wanted to take my wife and three kids to live abroad for at least a month. Closest I’ve gotten so far is two weeks. Activities for the kids will help a lot.
There is definitely going to be internet variance. You should definitely reach out to program operators if you are looking at a co-living place or do research on reddit about the internet reliablity where you are considering going. most places I've listed "have internet" but definitely look into how fast it is and how often it goes down. I found in costa rica I decided to go into a co-working space when i knew I needed fast reliable internet for a video call or substack live etc. We lost power and internet a few times during our trip because "monkeys were playing with the power lines." who would have guessed? Good luck!
Thank you so much for doing this! I bought it right away. I still don't know if I can make it happen, but at least I can daydream :)
I hope your dreams come true! If not this year in the future
We did this last summer as well but stayed in the U.S., spending 12 weeks bouncing between Seattle, Alaska, and all over the Oregon Coast, mountains and Portland with the kids and the dog. 7,000 miles of driving later we made it home a week before school started. 15/10 would do again, and are planning 6-8 weeks next summer in Europe.
wow that is amazing! i'm curious how old your kids are and if you were working remotely during that time.
Sure! The kids were 11 and 12 and don’t have phones yet so did not feel completely removed from social life for a whole summer. We did work remotely, but because it was the Pacific Time Zone and our jobs are Eastern Time Zone we were done around 2:00 or 3:00 every day and able to spend long afternoons exploring as a family. We also pre-planned a lot of long weekend trips in Oregon from our base in Portland and were able to do the coast two weekends, the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood, Bend, and all of Portland. We treated the first 2 weeks in Seattle as more of a working vacation and did every tourist thing possible there, full vacation for a week in Alaska (flew and boarded the dog), and then more of a chill week and long weekends for 7 weeks in Oregon. Stayed at Airbnbs in Seattle and Portland, Home2Suites on the way out and back because they are dog-friendly. Drove round trip from Des Moines, IA.
I love this idea, and currently have a cousin living abroad with his family full-time because of access to remote work. Do you have suggestions for those of us who don’t have access to remote work? I don’t know many folks who work remotely full-time these days.
I have heard of people who if they are required to be in the office a certain number of days per week taking those say two days per week as vacation days in order to stretch the time they can be away or making a short term deal about remote work with their boss. If your job is fully in person, I think a longer trip would either require a bunch of vacation time or a sabbatical. however, you might be able to do a few weeks on Just vacation time.
Do you have an article specifically discussing your Costa Rica trip. I’m curious. Thanks!
i discuss it a bit here, https://thedoubleshift.substack.com/p/traveling-abroad-with-kids-vs-us-summer-camp
Purchased! So grateful to you for this idea. I’ve long wanted to take my wife and three kids to live abroad for at least a month. Closest I’ve gotten so far is two weeks. Activities for the kids will help a lot.
so excited for you! lmk what you think of the guide. I can’t imagine doing a big trip like this with my three kids WITHOUT programming for them.
There is definitely going to be internet variance. You should definitely reach out to program operators if you are looking at a co-living place or do research on reddit about the internet reliablity where you are considering going. most places I've listed "have internet" but definitely look into how fast it is and how often it goes down. I found in costa rica I decided to go into a co-working space when i knew I needed fast reliable internet for a video call or substack live etc. We lost power and internet a few times during our trip because "monkeys were playing with the power lines." who would have guessed? Good luck!