Louise, 38, on her family’s life-changing decision to travel the world
In the summer of 2017, Louise Chapman and her family dropped everything to embark on a six-month around-the-world trip
LOUISE Chapman, 38, is a writer and communications officer and lives in Lincolnshire with husband Nigel, 47, a press officer, and son, Kian, eight.
In the summer of 2017 Louise and her family embarked on a a six-month around-the-world trip, leaving her job and taking Kian out of school.
Here Louise tells Fabulous about her family's life-changing adventure.
“As the elephant plodded past us on the narrow path, he was close enough for me to see the wiry hairs on his grey skin. If he suddenly got spooked, we’d be in trouble – and I couldn’t help but share a half-worried-half-exhilarated smile with my husband Nigel and son Kian.
It was the promise of moments like this – at an elephant refuge in Thailand – that led us to book a six-month around-the-world trip in the summer of 2017.
We’d had the idea a couple of years earlier, but we brushed it off pretty quickly. How could we afford it? Although Nigel and I had travelled when we were younger, we always assumed that our next adventure would be after we’d retired.
But as we juggled school, housework and our jobs, the idea kept on niggling. Wherever I looked, there seemed to be stories of people who’d worked all their lives only for ill health to strike in retirement. What were we really waiting for?
One of our biggest concerns, aside from the cost, was leaving behind our family, including Nigel’s 19-year-old daughter Tia. So in December 2016, we asked them what they thought of the idea. They didn’t hesitate to tell us to go for it.
We had a few thousand pounds put aside for a rainy day so we used that to plan our trip, and decided to rent our house out for extra money.
We would start by exploring the UK before travelling on a round-the-world ticket to America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
We worked out our route and just booked a few nights’ accommodation so we could still be flexible. The only arrangement set in stone was that we’d be in Australia for Christmas.
Nigel quit his role as news editor of a local paper as he was already considering a career shake-up, and as a freelancer I knew I could still work remotely.
When we told Kian, he was so excited. We had to de-register him from school, and a teacher friend helped with lesson plans so we could home-school him while we were away.
We set off last summer, with just two backpacks and a small suitcase containing three outfits each, a few toys and a laptop.
After six weeks exploring Devon, Wales and Yorkshire, our first stop overseas was a tiny hostel room in San Francisco.
The area was grittier than we’d expected, but when a few days later we were wowed by the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park, we knew we’d done the right thing.
Even spending a night at a campsite 7,500 feet up Mammoth Mountain – where it was so cold, I had to wear every item of clothing I had with me – was a memory I’ll always cherish.
In New Zealand, we spent six weeks exploring in a tiny camper van. The lack of privacy and space frustrated us all at times, but waking up to a view of snow-capped mountains more than made up for it.
Of course, some days I’d worry about our families and feel anxious that Kian was missing his friends. And home-schooling him proved challenging.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t always want to do lessons, and sometimes we were so busy with everything from finding a launderette to planning routes that we barely had time.
I also had to fit in at least a day’s worth of freelance work each week to make sure we had enough money.
We spent December in Perth, where Tia visited us for two weeks. It was so lovely as we swam with wild dolphins and spent Christmas Day on the beach.
By early 2018 we were seeing the sights in Malaysia and Thailand, from golden temples to entire families riding on mopeds, babies squashed between the knees of adults.
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In February, two weeks before we were due to return, our trip came to a crashing end when my dad died suddenly aged 74.
I was heartbroken, but I was comforted by remembering what he’d said on the phone a few weeks before: ‘Do the things you want to now, you’re soon old.’
Being back in Lincolnshire was strange, especially as it was so cold and snowy. And Dad’s absence made it feel even more like a parallel universe.
In some ways we’re still adjusting, but in others everything’s back to normal.
Kian’s thriving at school and Nigel and I are both in work. We appreciate our home comforts more than ever, but we wouldn’t rule out another adventure. Nigel’s kept his beaten-up backpack, just in case…”
Find out more about Louise’s adventure at
BTW
The family travelled more than 35,000 miles in total.
For information and advice on taking a travelling sabbatical with children, visit