Empty Nest...It's Fabulous!! ~ Campervan Castaways

Empty Nest is Fabulous!

So, we have an empty nest, yes the fledglings have flown the nest! It’s so strange after 25 years of……. pregnancy; babies; toddlers; tantrums; first days of school; last days of school; hobbies; activities; highs and lows; girlfriends and break ups; first day at Uni; Graduation; gap years; job hunting; interviews; selections; assessments; job offers; celebrations; house hunting and finally flying the nest, quite literally to the other side of the world!!

All is not lost, it’s not all doom and gloom, though it would be easy to wallow in our own emotions. Those feelings of the raw truth that our baby boys are now all grown up.

Empty Nest means Time for Us!

Well, fear not! Our job is done, we’ll always be there for them but let’s celebrate, hooray!!!……..now it’s time for us…..Let’s get ready for action!!

Life After Raising The Family

So here’s my take on what comes next for us, empty nest should be exciting! The build up has been evident for a few years now, I suppose every once in a while, we all have that rush of adrenaline that catapults us into a fairytale. That make believe land of hopes and dreams, bringing a complete change in our lives.

We certainly did, on a regular basis we thought of a land where our imagination could run away, to a different place. A new, magical world full of everything that were wanting to change. Relief, from our crazy full on, groundhog day that was our real life.

Dreaming of Change

There’s a difference between those that dream of change, who do nothing or those, who by contrast, let nothing stand in their way. The path to a better future, a happier life and a healthier mind is probably as little as one or two actions. It’s certainly key that we have a positive outlook, we’ve always had this in bucket loads, instead of the negativity, that so many bring upon themselves, passing on to others around them.

travel with children — Waiting to board a flight to New Zealand in 2004

Making Change Happen

The success of those who succeed, often stems from a simple inner belief in themselves. Fueled by this positive outlook and that ultimate, brave and persistent battle to make things happen. Persistence, Persistence, Persistence…..a favourite word of ours and one that got us to where we are today!

The strange thing is, even when we really started to question where we wanted to be in life, it was still so difficult, to actually make that first step into doing something about it. So, in some ways, I can see why, so many people just trundle on through life without grabbing the real opportunities, that we often now have.

For us, our business was doing well, we’d expanded and we were at the stepping stone to grow further. Although, after 30 years of full on work, we were often on the 24/7 treadmill. Despite being fortunate enough, to take breaks away in the van, they were never without work being included.

Work Always Came With Us

Those phone calls, e-mails, problems that needed sorting out. It all went with the territory and always left the work place with us. In truth, the candle that burned at both ends, was about to melt into a tiny little puddle. The wax was broken and worn out and we were ready to throw it in the trash.

When you start to see that work is no longer an enjoyment, other cracks soon then appear. It seemed as if the world around us had gone mad and we were trapped in the middle, mad sentiments silently shouting at us to stop the merry go round, and get off.

Travels with the Children In our Caravan — Pitched up in France with our Caravan Back in the day!

On the Threshold of Freedom

These thoughts rumbled on for a few years. Whilst our children were still in education and university, our hands were tied. The moment those constraints were lifted, our eyes and ears were focused on us, in a way that we hadn’t been able to look at before. We had an opportunity, an empty nest was to come , but we now had the goose that laid the golden egg – We had freedom!

We’ve always been close and supportive with our boys, sharing so much fun and laughter as a family. Some of the most memorable times together, have been whilst away on our adventures. Travels in a caravan or campervan, starting our trips, when the boys were just a few months old. So, it came as no surprise, when they too, chose to have their own global ventures, travelling alone, as soon as adult life allowed.

The Children We’re Exploring More Than Us!

Their returning tales of incredible cultural experiences in far away lands, triggered an extraordinary desire in ourselves, to follow in their footsteps and start seeing even more of the world. After all, if our children could afford months of travels, to various continents that appealed to their inquisitive natures, then what on earth was preventing us from doing our own version, of extended gap year travels?

It’s funny looking back now, at our travels with small children in tow. Often, other parents thought it was rather odd thing for us to do! Many fellow parents, looked upon travel in a confined space as being rather too much like hard work!

I lost count of the number of times parents let me know this! Quite openly, admitting that they wouldn’t take their own away for “a few more years yet”! To me, even if it involved packing up the caravan for a weekend away, the shortest of time, became an education for the boys, well, actually, for all of us!

Travels with Children — Ready for take off over the Great Barrier Reef with our younger Son

Travel Was An Extension Of Education

Those early years taught us how to communicate together, giving the gift of patience too! From spending several hours, or even a few days on a road trip or long flight or both! We entertained ourselves through games, walks, bike rides and learnt invaluable, educational lessons in history and culture. From visits to the most amazing historical sights and museums, to great castles and geographical sights.

Maybe, we were fortunate back in the early to mid 90’s. We were raising our boys in the pre-mobile phone era. It’s now hard to believe, that there were no distractions from iPads, laptops and other mobile technology. Back then there was nothing, yet so much is available today.

We didn’t even have an X-Box for the boys until their teenage years, that soon got confiscated for the amount of time being spent on it. In many ways, we were the last generation to be raising children in a tech-free environment, a blessing in disguise perhaps.

Pre-Tech Parenting

Looking back, this was a huge gift to us. We still had the full attention of our boys, and they also had our full-on dedication to them. When we spoke, we had eye contact, facial expressions and body language between us. These simple human gestures are so often lost now, to the attention of the mobile screens we choose to look at. Staring down for hours a day at these clever gadgets that control the modern way of life, without even glancing up, to acknowledge or respond to what’s going on in front of us.

We’re all guilty of succumbing to some form of the latest technology. It’s an incredible advantage in so many ways, I’d now feel lost without it. Those same mobile devices, that we didn’t have back in the 90’s are now an invaluable asset to our own family life.

Our little boys are now grown men, ambitious and outgoing, but with an incredible gentle side and compassion. These qualities have helped them start new lives on the other side of the world. We can’t imagine a day without our group FaceTime and messenger or other social media outlets. Our conversation threads complete with photos, emoji”s, GIF’s and links to shared news stories across the world.

Thankful For Modern Technology

So, how the tide turns, from being pleased in the knowledge that we’d missed out on the mobile era as parents of younger children, to being completely grateful to its existence now they are adults.

It’s easy to look back at those good old days, and think things were so much better, but we have so much now to be thankful for, in our modern world. In all honesty, I think our world is better than it ever was. There’s so much progress and so much ahead, where new inventions and discoveries will ensure that we keep moving forward.

There’s the positive outlook coming through again! For now though, it’s time to stop the moaning and just get on with it! Be thankful for the opportunities available to us as we live in one of the best times historically, where freedom and expansion of travel, allows us to explore more than ever. With the gift of that technology bringing a gadget for every purpose and we just love it!

Stepping back to the title of this piece, “Empty Nest” and the reminder of why I’m here today. We’re here, in our campervan, exploring far and wide, to some beautiful destinations. We’re grateful to visit our boys down under, where they have new lives! Giving us a very good excuse to spread our wings even further!!

It’s been an exciting year for us. Selling and packing up the family home and downsizing to a tiny place. All to fulfil our own goal of some well deserved “us time”, immersing ourselves fully into travels of the vanlife kind.

Full Circle

So, we have come full circle. From our adventures, with our boys being engrained in their upbringing, which in turn, has developed into their own love of travel and onwards into their chosen career paths.

It makes me think, of all those negative comments from other parents back in the day. The disapproval of travel with our babies and young children. The dread they spoke of and excuses for not travelling on a flight, or a long car journey. For us, it was a natural part of family life. Thank goodness we embraced the challenges of those early parenting years.

Travel, especially overland in a campervan is one of the best experiences. It brings out the most in our human spirit. So, here’s a toast to all those travels we enjoyed, with: prams, toys, puzzles, potties and goodness knows what else in tow!

Most of all the love, laughter, excitement, knowledge and education gained. Finally, the memories that we will forever hold dear, for a lifetime. Let the empty nest be a start to the next chapter! Bring it on!!