A British couple have revealed how they’ve swapped grey skies and a 9-to-5 life for backpacking around the world – and say their kids, seven and three, are having the times of their lives.
Sheffield couple Josh and Katie, both 33, said a holiday to Mexico was the final spur they needed to ditch their lives in the UK – and they decided to put their homes on the market.
When it sold within 24 hours, the couple began planning their nomadic new lives, deciding to take just one backpack each with them.
They’d previously enjoyed a similar adventure before having children, taking a year off to travel to Australia in 2015.
However, their jaunt to Mexico in January saw them realise that they could ‘get so much more for the same money’ if they sold their three-bedroomed home and moved abroad.
After putting it on the market in April it sold in just 24 hours, and now the family’s globe-trotting adventure has begun in Thailand.
Selling ‘everything you can imagine’ on sites like Facebook Marketplace and Vinted, they left for Asia from Manchester on August 22nd.
With no plans to return, Josh and Katie, who document their travels on @4backpacksmanymemories on TikTok, estimate they’ll spend between £1,500 to £2,000 per month funding their new way of life using money from their house sale.
They will spent £500-a-month on accommodation and the rest is just spending money with a daily budget in Thailand currently around £35 per day.
Living the Thai-life! Couple Josh and Kate, both 33, pictured with their children, aged seven and three, after they made the decision to sell up and enjoy a new life abroad
Josh and Katie say they’ll use online resources to homeschool their children, seven and three
The couple estimate their monthly spend back at home was £4,000 – almost double what they are spending currently.
Josh, an exterior cleaner, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: ‘We’re taking four backpacks and that’s literally it.
‘Everything we own we sold. We’ve been on Vinted to sell the clothes, and sold our beds, sofa, TV and vehicles.
‘We just kind of sat down and thought one day, the amount of money we spent on a two-week all-inclusive you can get so much more for your money if you look into it.’
Katie, a hairdresser, added: ‘When we left the UK it was as I suspected.
‘The day before saying bye to my mum was hard but as soon as I got on the plane I was fine. It just feels surreal and it’s an adventure – even now sat here we don’t feel like we’re thousands of miles away.
‘It’s like ‘god, we’ve done it, we’re here’. The kids are just thriving already as well.’
Originally the couple considered emigrating to Australia on a sponsored visa with Katie’s original trade as a hairdresser but the ‘amount of hours’ she would need to work put them off.
And we’re off! The family pictured at the airport, backpacks at the ready, as they headed off to Thailand on the first stage of their adventure
The couple realised they could get more bang for their buck after they had ‘researched’ on holiday in Mexico and found ‘how much money they could make stretch’ on their travels.
She said there really is no plan and that’s why there adventure is proving so much fun.
Katie explained: ‘I didn’t want to work five days a week and not see the kids.
‘In places like southeast Asia you can stretch your money.
‘We haven’t got a route planned. We just want the simple way of life and to spend quality time together as a family.
‘I’m pretty chill with it, the only bit I worry about is missing my family.
If I could pick them up and take them with me, I would. It’s the unknown to us all but that’s what excites us.
‘We know as a family as long as we have each other we can conquer anything.’
After thinking they would settle in Australia, Katie said the couple decided against it because her original trade as a hairdresser meant she would need to need to work a huge amount of hours to make it work
The plan is there is no plan! The couple will travel to their next destination at the end of the month
It’s the unknown to us all but that’s what excites us’ says Katie – although the couple admit they miss their families
The plan for their children is to ‘learn other things’ outside mainstream schooling.
Josh said: ‘We’ll be following Oakwood Academy – a site who are supplying us with online resources and we’re having a private tutor checking in with them weekly.
‘I’ve actually got a friend who’s done this kind of thing before.
‘They were spending £1,500 to £2,000 per month including accommodation, food and activities which is considerably cheaper than what we pay now.’
The family are set to visit their next destination in southeast Asia on September 29 but are loving the ‘free’ life they have and have not got anywhere booked.
