Three months traveling: Here's how to approach it

I have traveled quite a bit in my life, but somehow I never manage to be away for longer than a month. And yet I have dreamed my whole life of going away for a long time. Leaving everything behind, discovering who you are without the fixed routine of work, friends, and family, getting to know a country very well... I don't understand why I still haven't done it. Josine Vriend (37) has often traveled for longer periods. Five months to South America with a friend, three months to Asia with her boyfriend Kees, and recently she left with Kees and their two young children to Mexico for three months. How does she do it?

What is the difference between a vacation and a longer trip?

‘The advantage of going on a longer trip is that you can really unwind. Normally, when you go on vacation, you only start to feel a bit de-stressed after two weeks, and then you’re almost going home again. Now your friends, family, and work know that you are really away and that you won’t be back for a while. Three weeks is something everyone can still wait for; now they have to figure things out without you. With all that time and no one expecting anything from you, new ideas can emerge, you can figure things out about yourself or learn something new.’

Even with small children?

‘Especially with small children! I normally work 36 hours a week as an executive producer at IDTV. I manage multimedia productions, and that doesn’t all happen within office hours. I felt the need to completely disconnect with my family. The feeling that we had endless time for each other was such a luxury. In that respect, I didn’t care which country we would go to. I really wanted to be able to look my children in the eyes; before you know it, they’re already leaving home. It was of course less relaxed than when you travel alone. They don’t go to daycare, and you don’t have a babysitter, so you’re working hard 24/7. Kees and I therefore consciously chose places where he could surf and I could do yoga. Every day we both had a few hours ‘off’ and that was wonderful.’

How do you arrange it practically?

‘The longer you plan it in advance, the better. Both Kees and I have a permanent job that we wanted to keep, so we started discussing it a year in advance with our employer. I had saved up so many vacation days that I received three months of paid leave. Kees got unpaid leave, but because he requested it in time, it could be arranged. Of course, you can also quit your job and look for something new when you come back, but I preferred not to do that.

What also helps a lot is that we rented out our house with a small profit. Furthermore, I think it’s more advantageous to book your accommodations as far in advance as possible; that way you have the most choice. For us, with small children who need a lot of sleep, it was very important that we had a nice little house. If you also stay in one place for longer periods, you can make a good deal. It also depends on which country you go to. Mexico is a lot cheaper than Australia or New Zealand. All in all, I think this trip cost us fifteen thousand euros.’

You’ve been back for a month and a half now. Can you still hold on to the Mexico feeling a bit?

‘Before you know it, you’re back in your old rhythm, but I really notice that we as a family have become more connected with each other. Before we went on the trip, we sometimes felt quite stuck in circles, and we were able to break those nicely. The oldest (Juul, 4 years) often talks about Mexico. She says she wants to go swimming again and that it’s so cold here.’

Now I just want to travel even more. Especially when I saw one of the places where Josine stayed with her family.