Rochelle on Having a World-Traveling Family

This is my childhood bff Rochelle. I still remember her parents' old phone number (7468793), and I think I learned to spell her name before my own. We were inseparable until the summer between Grade 6 and 7 when her parents broke it to us that they were moving to Kelowna. Our hearts broke, our worlds shattered, but we survived! (and wrote books full of letters to each other.) She's a heck of a lady, and it always blows my mind when I think of the amount of moving and traveling she's done with her own brood. Her and Mike have 3 kids and make moving back and forth across the world look easy.

1 - Tell me 3 things about yourself outside of having a world-traveling family.

1) I absolutely LOVE musical theatre. 2) I am currently studying full time towards my Certificate IV in Youth Works, with a dream to complete a degree in Social Work. 3) I am ashamed to admit that I have never learnt how to drive a standard. That is really embarrassing.

2 – Who is your family?

Me – age is just a number My husband, Mike - 34 Isabella – 10 Zachariah – 7 Amelia – 4

3 – What are three words to currently describe your crew?

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!! But also, Loud, Wonderful, Infuriating.

4 – Where have you all lived and traveled?

For lived I am going to say I have to have been there for a minimum of 1 year, because that helps to narrow it down.

Rosenort, Manitoba Kelowna, British Columbia Newcastle, Australia Adelaide, Australia Wilmore, Kentucky And now Adelaide, Australia again.

Traveled – Australia extensively USA extensively India Malayasia Tawain Mexico Japan

5 - Tell me about a great moment you’ve had as a traveling family recently.

Probably the best holiday as a family of 5 thus far was when we were relocating from Kelowna, BC to Adelaide, Aus. We took a week long vacation in Hawaii. It was perfect.

6 - How did you come to be a family on the move?

That is what happens when you marry someone from a different country. It is inevitable. And I will make sure my children never marry anyone who doesn’t live within 5 hours of me. (Because obviously, I have that power….)

My husband has also done a lot of study and that has brought us to places like Wilmore, Kentucky, which, under different circumstances I can’t imagine we ever would have ended up there. But, it was AWESOME.

7 - What do you love about having lived in different places?

I guess it has broadened my perspective on life. I hope it has made me a more understanding, empathetic and compassionate person. If it hasn’t yet, I hope it will. I love that I truly have friends ALL over the world. It is a wonderful feeling!

8 – What are some of the difficult parts of living in different places?

Definitely the most difficult thing is being away from my family. I love them dearly and with every move away from them it has hurt.

It is also a very expensive way to live. Moving is not cheap. On that note I should mention that within the 6 different places we have lived, we have actually moved house 14 times!! And let’s face it, buying and selling can be expensive. (and stressful)

9 – What has surprised you about moving with your family from place to place?

How incredibly resilient and adaptive my kids are. They settle into new environments much quicker than I do. They have new friends within weeks and I am still crying into my coffee.

I also find it amazing how much junk we throw away with each move, and yet, there is Always. More. Junk.

10 - How have your family and friends responded to you being a traveling family?

I know it has been hard on my parents. They adore my kids. (and I like to think they are fond of me, as well.) It makes me kind of sad that with the last few moves my parents just kind of nod. Like they were just expecting it to happen once again. That being said, they are so supportive. And we are pretty good at communicating. And most importantly they are coming to visit in December!

My friends and I seem to keep in touch pretty well. We were just back in Canada over the Christmas holidays, and it was as though we had never left.

11 - Who of your friends and family are the most supportive of your moves?

They really all are. No one has ever said anything negative regarding the constant moves. They do have some jokes about us and the number of houses we have lived in. But all in all, everybody is truly supportive. 12 - Do you come across people who are a bit funny about you having moved a few times?

People definitely think it is insane that we have moved so much. But it is insane that we have moved so much, so I certainly can’t hold that view against them. I can’t imagine a life where we just stay in one place and stop seeing the world. Although I am a little over the constant house changes.

13 - What is the best part about living in different places as a family?

I feel like it has brought us closer together and strengthened our family unit. So many hours spent together on the road, on planes, packing and unpacking. It’s definite quality and quantity time!

14 – What keeps you strong through the settling-in times?

I think knowing that we have made the right decisions, and if we haven’t made the right decisions, knowing that we can make something good out of something difficult. Knowing that we are all together. My faith has certainly helped. There are times of such uncertainty and there is very little to cling to. It’s important to have a strong foundation. And yet, so often I have just wanted to cry like a baby. And that is often all I need. A good cry.

15 – What have your kids said about your most recent move?

They were pretty nervous about it at first. Isabella was in grade 2, Zachariah was in Kindergarten. They were making some good friends. But that was 20 months ago, and I tell you what, they would be hard pressed to find something negative to say now. They love their school, their friends, their music and sports and dance lessons and the BEACHES!

16 -Describe a day in the life of your family, in your current home.

We are currently renovating our home, so it is chaos, but aside from that we have a pretty nice routine going on. On a weekday the older 2 are out the door with Mike at around 8:20 and then I take Amelia to preschool at 9. Then I go to my school. Eventually we all end up back at home for dinner of some type. Weekends are busy with basketball, dance and socializing, but it is all pretty awesome. 17 - What have you learned about yourself from living in different places? That I am a lot mentally tougher than I thought I was. But that I am also just as emotional as I always knew I was.

18 - What have you learned about life in general from living in different places?

What a loaded question….I could go 2 ways here. Deep and philosophical, or surface and safe. I want to go into how life isn’t really that fair. That we are actually just lucky to have been born in Canada (or Australia etc…) and that so many people in this world didn’t get lucky and are living in conditions that most of us can’t even imagine. But I feel like this will then turn into an essay. So instead I am going to go with….groceries are super expensive in Australia, much cheaper in Canada, but dirt cheap in Kentucky.

19 - At the end of your life, how might these world-travels have made a difference for you?

I truly hope that they have made me a more patient, compassionate, empathetic, humorous, laid back, easygoing, kind, roll with the punches kinda gal. But we shall have to wait and see about that!