Families on the Move
We have been blessed to connect with many amazing families online, all of whom have adapted a travel lifestyle in one form or another. We wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you to them here and highlight the positive aspects travel has had on their families. Welcome our interview series called Families on the Move. Miro & I are honored to a part of this global community we consider our extended family.
Meet An Amazing French Traveling Family
Could you tell us a little about your family.
I am Tiphanya, the mum. I’m 30 years old and I am addicted to foreign languages, I love to learn them, but don’t travel enough to keep them fresh in mind all the time.
Sylvain, 27 years old is the dad, but more important he is the cook ! Every corner of the kitchen belong to him.
Nine celebrated her second birthday last November in Greece. She loves music and seals. She is curious and always ready for our next adventure.
The three of us are French, born and raised in France.
Where are you now, where have you been and how long have you been traveling?
Right now we are in France, visiting new and old friends living in places we’ve never been before (nearby Nantes and nearby Lyon). We have been traveling since September 2013, so a little more than 6 months.
Why do you travel as a family?
That’s a weird question. I’m not going to leave my boyfriend and daughter at home. I’m not going to stop traveling because I’m a mum. It’s a part of who I am.
I have a friend crazy about tea. She tries all the tea rooms in Paris, knows name, taste, which cake suits the most… She has a 3 years old daughter, who have visited more tea room in Paris than anybody else. Why does she drink tea with her daughter ? Because she did it before, she loves it, and her daughter is part of her life and is going to learn from her mum’s life.
It’s the same for us, but with less tea and more travel.
What are some of the benefits your family has experienced as a result your travels?
I read a lot about how it is easy to meet people when you travel solo. I traveled solo and met other travelers but found it very difficult to be in touch with local people. As a family, we travel slowly (we like to stay a full month in the same town), we do our grocery shopping and spend hours in playground. A a family we meet local people and start to have a real idea on how life is there.
What inspired you and your family to incorporate travel into your lifestyle?
When you are parents for the first time, you try to do the best thing for your kid. For me, it means looking at how other act, what solutions did they find. Thanks to a friend, who was traveling in Australia with her 4 kids, I met people traveling with kids, for real, and not just for 2 weeks in summer. Talking with them, who do it as if it just normal and easy, help me to find new possibilities for my own family. But I was already crazy about travel, so it didn’t pop out from nowhere.
How do you address education while you are traveling?
Nine is only 2. Already 2 ? We decided before we left to unschool her. We have all the time we want, so we offer her all the time she needs when she find somebody of her own interest. But we learn a lot too.
Right now she loves music, so we stopped in all the music stores we saw in Tunis to get old papers, to cut pictures of instruments. Then she creates a small book, collecting instruments by groups. It can be done anywhere. Now we hope to find concerts but France is not the best place to include toddlers in cultural activities.
How do you and your family experience being global citizens?
It’s a hard question, as I never think at the idea of « global citizens ». I feel like small ant, discovering the world, a small french family that has so much to learn before being stronger and more in touch with reality. Maybe I should try to answer next year…
Can you share one of your family’s most memorable experiences?
Breakfast in Athens. I know it seems a bit weird, but we did some couchsurfing there with a french speaking family. It’s amazing how it’s easy to feel like at home, with great friends. It was our first experience of such a nice and warm meeting. We felt like with relatives we haven’t seen for ages.
Then we learnt that it is easy to feel comfortable with generous people, and that we can find this people everywhere. But I think we’ll never forget the first one to teach it to us.
What’s next?
Scotland in april. After a winter in sunny country like south Italy and Greece, spring in north of Europe. Then, we’ll work in France for 4 months and travel again but where… Why not Asia!
Name: Tiphanya
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