Sara Young, 42, and her partner Carl, 48, have always been keen travellers. And when their two young boys came along, now 3 and 1, they didn’t want their adventures to end.
The family now travels for around nine months of the year, exploring Europe, South America and the Caribbean. They are currently in the middle of an eight-week camping trip across Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Sara says that everywhere they go as a family, people come up to them – typically younger in their 20s – and ask how they do it.
“I want to prove that you can have kids and have this awesome lifestyle. We used to travel before we had children – Carl and I had been to 80 countries between us – and we didn’t want to stop. We have a dog, a house, jobs and two children – and still make it work.”
Travelling families
If you want to travel a lot, the first consideration is obviously what you do to earn money.
Sara works three days a week in the sales team of a tech company and is able to do her job remotely. She is just coming to the end of maternity leave with her younger son, Dylan. Carl is a yacht captain, which means his work is seasonal and they spend almost half the year in the Caribbean because he works on a yacht in Antigua.
The rest of the year they split their time between living at their three-bedroom home in Hamble, Southampton, and travelling to other countries.
Then there’s the cost of travelling itself. Sara says they typically set themselves a total budget of £100 a day, including accommodation. The family don’t tend to eat out in restaurants while away to keep costs down. They make their own packed lunches and buy snacks from the local supermarket. They’ve even bought a travel freezer so they can store meat.
Last year they spent eight weeks going from Portugal to Morocco and back, mostly camping in a tent and using Airbnb.
For their current Scandinavian trip, the couple have bought a camping pod with a double bedroom inside, a kitchen on the back, and a pop-up roof tent and awnings. Through the right to roam, you can wild camp anywhere, although there are certain caveats, such as you can’t be nearer than 150 metres to the nearest home.
In total their current eight-week trip will cost them about £6,000, but Sara says they’d still be spending money at home, on food and trips to soft play and activities for the children.
“We’re fortunate that we earn enough money that we don’t necessarily have to save ahead. We’ll buy our flights or ferries ahead of time. Then every day we’re away we stick to a budget and choose free activities wherever we can, just as going for walks or bike rides.
“Our £100 daily budget is typically the same wherever we are, unless we decide to do something special, like rent a boat. …if you were staying in a hotel every night, you couldn’t stick to a £100 daily budget,” says Sara.
Many nomad families will base themselves in a cheap place for a length of time, balanced with paying more travelling to other more expensive areas. When in Antigua, the two-bedroom apartment the family stay in is relatively expensive at $2,000 a month, and food and groceries are also high, but they spend most of their free time at the beach so don’t spend much money beyond essential living costs.
Currently Sara’s three-year-old son, Cameron, alternates between pre-school in the UK and pre-school in Antigua, but Sara’s not yet sure what will happen when he officially starts school in the UK in September 2025.
Making the finances work
Visa costs can be a key factor when considering where to travel to as a digital nomad family, where one person earns money working online for a company based elsewhere. All countries have their own rules about whether you need a visa to work in the country, and how much these visas cost.
Some countries offer digital nomad visas for free and have low-income requirements, but others have high income requirements. In Georgia, for example, the visa is free, but in Caribbean countries, including Antigua, the cost is $1,500 per individual, and you need to earn $50,000 a year to qualify.
Because Sara doesn’t live in one country for more than six months at a time, she remains a British taxpayer. And because she’s employed, tax is deducted by her employer before she’s paid, so she doesn’t have to worry about doing a tax return.
“Carl’s work is basically the driving factor for where we go, and then obviously the flexibility of being able to work wherever I want to means we can follow as much as possible,” she adds.
“Because Carl is classified as a ‘seafarer’, he technically doesn’t pay any tax. He does the odd bit of work in the UK when he’s home, but as this is below the personal allowance of £12,570, he doesn’t owe tax in the UK.”
The pair own a three-bedroom house that they choose not to rent out when they go away, although they sometimes do casual arrangements with friends who are looking for a short-term place to stay. They are also members of Trusted Housesitters, so people can look after their dog if they leave him behind while away.
Despite happily spending money on travel, Sara says she is a saver at heart and overall the pair are still managing to save money. They keep their savings in cash Isas because they need money easily accessible in case of emergencies. If they needed urgent medical assistance abroad, costs can run into the thousands of pounds.
Sara says even though they have travel insurance, there can be a delay getting the money so you need money to hand. They have a packaged bank account with travel insurance included, which costs us around £50 a month.
Sara says a tip if you travel frequently is to get an American Express credit card where you can accrue Avios points that can be used to get discounts on flights. Through the British Airways Amex card, you can also get a ‘companion ticket’ if you spend a certain amount (currently £12,000) on the card each year – meaning a person flying with you can travel for free.
“Everything we pay for in the UK – including fuel and food shopping – we put through that BA card to get Avios. So you can find ways to make being a digital nomad work financially,” she adds.
Future plans
Sara and Carl are about to put down a deposit to buy a bigger four-bedroom house, with the plan being to rent out their current home to earn income from rent. Carl does not have a pension, and Sara only has a small one, so the plan is this will give the couple an income into retirement.
“The long-term plan is to carry on travelling. By blending work and travel, we are create opportunities for our children to learn about different cultures, languages, and ways of life. When the children are adults and leave home, Carl and I will travel full-time and rent out both homes. We absolutely love to travel and want to do this for as long as we can,” says Sara.
Sara blogs about the family’s adventures at www.bigadventureswithlittlefeet.com.