EER101: Working online & international family travel with five kids

Working online. Living in Alaska, Mexico, and beyond. Plus plenty of international family travel with five kids. These are just a few of the topics covered in today’s episode of Epic Education radio.

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Work, Play & International Family Travel with Five Kids

Meet Alisa. She and her husband have been a traveling couple even before they started a family. Long before international travel with five kids, it was travel with one. And then with two. And then three, and then….you get the idea. A native of Kansas, Alisa met her husband in Alaska, where they lived before moving to Mexico and then traveling the world with their kids.

Now with a home base in Oregon, Alisa tells me about living in Mexico, starting a business in Alaska, and their recent three-month trip to New Zealand. Are work and international travel with five kids possible? Alisa proves that it is.

Working online while you travel with five kids

Alisa goes into detail about their work and how they found a way to make money online and travel as they go. As a sales rep, Alisa and her husband have found a variety or products to sell. From jewelry in Mexico to cards made in Vietnam, they have found a way to diversify their income streams and travel with five kids as well.

It started with wooden watches — you read that right — while in Alaska. Gradually, they have picked up a number of other clients. How? Alisa unpacks their work a bit in the show.

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The Dynamics of Family Travel with Five Kids

As you can imagine, international travel with five kids is quite different than travel with only one or two. However, traveling with five kids might not be as difficult as you might think. The time and trouble don’t compound itself with each new little person, she explains. The two oldest love to help and take care of their three younger brothers and those brothers adore their older sisters. The result: Alisa and her husband frequently have help, and the kids always have friends and playmates around.

That said international family travel with kids has changed for Alisa and crew over the years. “The more kids we add, ” she says, “the more comforts we want.”

Travel Gear for a Family of Seven

Alisa details some of the must-have items they bring with them when they travel — as well as the things they buy when they arrive. There were two that were particularly interesting to me. On was the addition of a noise maker. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of this myself. Her reasoning and implementation in the podcast.

The other was small travel blankets. The story of how she ended up with them will warm your heart.

IN THIS EPISODE

• 02:20 Intro & origins
• 03:35 New Zealand family travel with five kids
• 09:08 Large family travel
• 14:53 Work & funding family travel with five kids
• 21:10 Walkthrough of being a sales rep
• 24:29 Travel Gear
• 39:33 Resources

ABOUT

• Names: Alisa L, her husband and 5 kids (12, 9, 6, 3, and 1 year old at time of recording)
• Hold passports from: USA
• Type of travel: Living abroad, long-term travel and short-term travel with a US base. International family travel with five kids
• A few places they’ve been: Lived in Mexico, traveled across Europe and Asia. Most recently 3 months in New Zealand

IN THEIR BAGS

• 2 MacBook Pros
• 1 Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera with interchangeable lenses (“I prefer my 18-200mm.”)
• 1 pair of tennis shoes, one pair of sandals
• Church clothes for all (“For girls: wrinkle-free simple skirts that match with any top we pack.”)
• 3 Eagle Creek Rolling Suitcases (“Purchased in 2012 and still going strong)
• 2 Osprey 40L backpacks (“They also must not make it anymore, but this is closest to our style.”)
• Eagle Creek Packing cubes (“We have quite a few sets of this, plus additional makes/models…I sewed ribbons to the handles of each to make it easy to distinguish whose was whose!
”)
• Levana Jena Digital Baby Video Monitor
• Bag clips: Dollar store 🙂
• An Alaskan Ulu knife (disclaimer: This is SO not an authentic Alaskan knife, because they’re usually wood/steel, and I like dishwasher safe and a big handle! I’m an ulu snob and used to sell these in Alaska!)
• Extension cord
• Norwex microfiber cleaning cloths (The “travel” ones are the perfect size!! I love not worrying about cleaning products while on the go!)
• Vitchelo V800 Headlamp
• Travel blankets: Neighbor bought a King size fuzzy blanket and cut/sewed it into 4 blankets for us!

For Sleep

• myBaby SoundSpa Portable Noisemaker
• Klymit Static V
• Portable Bed for baby/toddler (“We bought one like this used off of eBay 12 years ago, and have used it for all 5 children! It folds flat and is flexible enough to put it flat at the bottom of your luggage for easy packing.)
• At least 3 of these AirComfy Daydreamer neck pillows that inflate with a push-button pump
• We also take at least 2 of these AirComfy Multipurpose Pillows (“These are great for impromptu pillows, back/lumbar support, and I absolutely insist on using them in the car. Since we do a lot of overland travel at our destinations, it is a MUST for me to put one on my car headrest!”)

For New Zealand

• For New Zealand, we also took this smaller baby one with us (“It was great for smaller spaces, except for we found it impossible to fold back flat and we broke it. We still packed it flat and used it every night, however it just took us maneuvering the wires more than we would have liked. We cover EACH of these tent/beds with a lightweight, dark sheet to block out light and cut down on distractions (which help them sleep longer).  It’s so great to be able to put a little one down in the SAME bed each night, with the SAME view — ie. no view — so they don’t struggle to go to sleep in new locations.”)

LINKS & RESOURCES

• White Noisemaker app
• I mentioned using Brain FM
• Time4Learning
• Trail Guide to Learning

FIND THEM ON

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means, at no extra cost to you,  we might receive a small commission if you make a purchase or book using those links. My opinions are my own and I only recommend places/services that I believe will genuinely help your travel.