Fernweh Families: The Salty Vagabonds

We are excited to continue our “Fernweh Families” interview series highlighting worldschooling families, offered to help inspire current and future travelers and foster a sense of community. 

Our fourth worldschooling family are The Salty Vagabonds: mom Amanda (36), a retired Air Force Veteran, dad Alex (36), and their children Addison (15), and Audrey (8).

Please tell us a bit about your journey.

If I’m being completely honest, our journey has been somewhat of a roller coaster. We originally went into this lifestyle on a one-year plan that started in 2018…not knowing we would move onto our boat and have our lives flipped upside down (literally) within three months. Our journey started in Panama City, Florida, and took us across the country to Olympia, Washington, after Hurricane Michael changed the entire trajectory of the life we thought we had planned. We spent a year and a half finishing a new boat for our family to live in, moved onto it during COVID in 2020, and sailed it down the entire U.S. west coast in 2021 and into La Paz, Baja California early 2022. This last year we went to Europe and spent a few months there, a few months road-tripping the United States, and just recently got back from spending a couple of months in French Polynesia. We travel full time and home base from our sailboat seasonally, with plans this summer to head to Asia for a few months. We’ve found that our family does best with slow travel, which fits well with our “boat life” lifestyle. 

What’s outside your window right now? What fascinates you about where you are?  

Currently we’re back in Baja California, living in a marina with the most beautiful sunsets. We leave this week to travel up the Sea of Cortez to explore the coast. We’re most excited to see new species of sea animals that we’ve never seen in real life and to continue learning Spanish as a second language for all of us. The Gulf of California is said to be the aquarium of the ocean, and we’re so excited to get to experience it hands-on. 

Can you describe a time when learning for your kids or family happened organically and profoundly…when you learned outside the “plan” you started with?

We recently got back from a trip where we spent some time in French Polynesia. This trip was different because I usually have the girls do their planned school work while we actively travel, but this time I decided we would completely leave it behind and just fully be present in whatever we did for the day. One afternoon, we decided to check out a museum specific to learning about the Tahitians. We were offered an add-on option to get the audio tour, where you plugged in the number for each exhibit and then listened. I normally skip these things, but this time we decided to get it. Literally the best decision ever! I was so surprised how both girls went off independently and experienced the museum in their own way. Audrey would come back to me excited and want to tell me an interesting fact she just learned. Addison enjoyed taking a deeper dive into the topics that interested her more, too. At the end of the audio tour, we all got together and then discussed things that we found surprising throughout the rest of our trip. It also helped us better understand the culture and relationships between things we found scattered throughout the islands we visited on this trip. 

Is there another traveling family you are particularly inspired by? Why are they inspiring?

Worldschooling looks different for many families, and there are so many families that inspire us to travel to new places. I particularly enjoy watching the adventures of the family With the Blinks: Find the Magic in the Everyday. Diana is always sharing some pretty awesome packing tips, as well as interesting travel she takes her kids on. Another family I enjoy is @topflightfamily. While sometimes unrelatable to us because of their family’s luxury travel, I enjoy Carmen’s travel tips that she shares weekly on her Instagram stories. They’re also a POC family, and it’s inspiring to see other families like us out there following their travel dreams, too. 

What do you wish a fellow worldschooling family had told you before you left home?

That you’re leaving this lifestyle behind for a reason–be mindful about not getting stuck in the same routines that will essentially limit you and box you right back in. 

What I mean by this is that there will be so many people who will not understand why you’re choosing this lifestyle for your kids. There are going to be questions second-guessing your parenting, as well as questions regarding your choices on how you will educate your kids. The implied judgements may make you feel like you need to stick with the traditional structure of schooling. However, in my opinion, sticking to a completely strict schedule that mimics the traditional school system to quiet the questions is not realistic. It’s somewhat unattainable when traveling full-time and will make you miserable trying to keep up to this standard. Enjoy the time it takes to adjust and be gentle with yourself during the transition to find what works best for you and your family. Worldschooling looks different for many families, and that’s okay. 

Metaphorically speaking, what is something you’ve lost and something you’ve found during your journey?

The more we worldschool, the more I learn, and the more I learn, the more I realize there’s so much I still don’t know. Our whole family is learning together. I think my kids being able to see that Alex and I still learn right along with them shows them that their parents are just as human as they are. The dynamic in being seen as only a parent by your kids is bridged, and the joy in learning as a family has just been really cool to experience. 

What’s your favorite story to share about this experience? 

This one’s such a hard one to pick from because I can literally give you a huge list of instances, but there’s an experience from last year that will always hold a special place in my heart. It was definitely a life-changing moment for us where we knew we made the right choice in choosing this lifestyle.

We were taking our boat down the coast. About five months into this journey, we stopped at this tiny island off the Pacific Coast of the Baja California peninsula. Cedros Island is known to be a small Mexican fisherman town with dirt roads, rundown buildings, and really nothing to do. One day we were walking into town with the goal of finding Wi-Fi. A small restaurant had it, but they weren’t open yet. Randomly this person calls out to Alex in English from his car, asking if we needed anything for us or our boat. Alex hesitantly told him we were good and I was just looking for Wi-Fi. I was immediately nervous at the realization that we completely stuck out as foreigners there, but the conversation continued, and the man then insisted that we come to his house to use his Wi-Fi. 

He told our whole family to get in his vehicle and that he would take us to his house right around the corner. I wasn’t comfortable at all with that, quickly trying to dismiss the whole idea and insisting that we really were okay. The conversation ended with him telling us where his house was, and that if we felt more comfortable later that the offer stood to come by whenever. After he drove off, Alex said he felt like he seemed really nice and genuine. The girls said they wanted to go to his house, and after talking it out for a few minutes, we decided to cautiously go and give it a chance.

As we got to his house, he was outside working on a boat, where we learned that Luis makes a living by taking customers out sports fishing. He quickly introduced us to his wife (Mai) and son. They did not know any English, so there was a huge language barrier as we knew very little Spanish… but even with that barrier Audrey got along great with their son. Over the next four days, they kept inviting us back, and his wife made many dishes specific to their island to try: abalone salad, mako shark ceviche, seafood tostadas, fish tacos, posole… the list goes on. I was so nervous the girls would instantly say no to trying these new foods and potentially offend our hosts, but I was pleasantly surprised watching the girls enjoy everything because they intrinsically knew how special this was.

Luis translated for his wife and son when our Google translate app wouldn’t relay the correct context for what we were trying to say, and after a conversation, we found out that they had never tried food from the United States. So we insisted that we wanted to cook for them the next night. After much debate, we decided to make a Thanksgiving-type dinner. We cooked fried chicken, stuffing, green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, and even brought over a bottle of Chick-Fil-A sauce for them to try. 

Another day Mai invited Addison to have her hair braided. It’s something the girls do where she’s from, and in exchange, Addison gave her a henna tattoo–that was a first for Mai, too. Luis learned that we were struggling to catch fish, so he explained what we needed to do in this region and gave us the appropriate lures to use for future success. Luis’s son ran around their house asking how you say certain household items in English, and then he would tell the girls the Spanish name for them. Addison also hand-translated a few recipes Mai wanted; she really loved the cornbread casserole. 

Reflecting on the amount of learning and life lessons our family gained from having one week with this kind family gets me somewhat emotional. It was random, and had we not said yes we would have never had these experiences. Their family will always be a part of our journey in making this worldschooling life so rewarding and special. 

What are you excited about seeing/doing/learning next?

We’re currently working on our summer plans, and as of now we’ll be leaving the boat behind to head to Asia. That will be a completely different cultural experience for us, and we’re excited to experience it. We’ll be taking military Space-A hops, so we’re not exactly sure where we’ll end up, but we’re looking forward to the mystery of what this adventure will bring. 

Amanda was also kind enough to contribute to our upcoming book, and we’ve loved learning about her worldschooling family’s journey over the past couple of years. If you’d like to follow along with them, too, you can find their adventure-filled stories and gorgeous photography here:

Website: https://saltyvagabonds.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saltyvagabonds

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saltyvagabonds

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_30o2ZvRAMatf0IdSRTXkg