For the next six months I'm taking a slightly different route. With partner, Sarah Howie and our 13 month son, Charlie, we’re taking time out of Sydney to be based in Thailand to live life differently and to travel Asia the slow way (especially when you have kids in tow).

Why are we doing it?

We’re from Bondi in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Its famous for its beaches, and for it’s expensive rent and hoards of tourists. Whilst we love our lifestyle there, when our baby joined our little unit last year, we decided to seize the moment and seek out the opportunities overseas for a while.

About four months before we booked our flights, we were having a drink, chatting about our current situation and how we felt about it.  Leo had just pulled out of investing in a property, and that opened up a discussion on what the opportunities might be.   Living on one wage in one of the most expensive suburbs in Australia was getting us down and we felt we could do things differently. As with any big decision it came from needing to make changes, we thought…what is it we both love doing? The answer is traveling and taking photos and sharing stories. So we thought, why not throw all of these together and do it? Our first obstacle to overcome was that babies like routine and take a lot of planning. So we decided – rather than travel, why not move somewhere…

We are both seasoned solo travelers with years of travelling under our belt, including the America’s, Europe and large chunks of Asia, however we haven’t traveled a lot as a couple and besides a quick 3 week visit to New Zealand last year with a seven week old baby, we haven’t traveled with a child before. So add all of these elements up and you can see there was a strong push/ pull from all directions for us to get our hiking boots on and jump on a plane and travel (slowly) around Asia.

Why Thailand?

The next question was where to? First we naturally thought of countries we haven’t been to. As a parent of a young baby, the idea of throwing your baby through a window on a moving bus to get to the next destination terrified me, so we decided to choose somewhere a little more sedate for our first go at this. Sri Lanka was our first thought but we feared it may be a little too much as our first attempt but we liked the idea of paradise on a shoestring budget…we listed some countries with similar features and Thailand popped into our heads.

It doesn’t hurt that Leo’s mum is Thai and he had been to Thailand with his mum as a kid and several times as an adult drinking buckets on an island with mates. Sarah had been once with her family as an adult (more of a premium holiday, stunning resorts and classy restaurants). We both felt we could go again and get something new out of it, plus Thailand is baby friendly – they love children and there is a Thailand for everyone….including seasoned travelers who are on a shoestring budget but like to splurge every now and then…..it doesn’t matter what you earn to be able to wake up in Paradise every day, live life just that little bit slower (we are here in The Green Season aka the Wet Season), learn the language, eat the local food, get to know the culture and spend time (proper time) with your child and avoid the hectic commute to work each day.

What to expect?

We are now on the road! Our belongings are in storage, our lease ended, we have packed (too many things – because ‘baby’ oh and ahh, Leo’s huge drone and underwater photography gear) and we are here in Thailand.

Please join along by reading our blog as we all discover this new life together. Just to manage expectations, we are not trying to change the world, just ourselves at this point. We hope to perhaps inspire you with some beautiful images, some colorful stories and laugh along at our toddler who does some funny things sometimes.