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- We wanted to freeze time with our daughters. So we rented out our house and sent them to school in 3 countries in one year. (businessinsider.com)
London Family Ditches Daily Grind for Year-Long Global Adventure
London, UK – Lisa Lucas and her husband, like many modern parents, found themselves overwhelmed by the relentless pace of family life. Juggling school, work, extracurriculars, and social commitments left them feeling “worn down by the logistics” and “scraping by.”
Their solution? A radical “adult gap year” that saw them rent out their London home and embark on a 13-month journey across the US, Japan, and the Netherlands with their two young daughters, living out of just two backpacks and a carry-on.
“We were racing to keep up with our packed family schedule,” Lucas recalled, detailing a moment of peak multitasking: reading with her 6-year-old while making breakfast and applying eyeliner. The couple longed for “wide-open days to actually connect,” a stark contrast to the fleeting relief of short school holidays. Fearing the years would “slip by, buried in logistics,” they hatched a plan to “freeze time” and embark on a “wild adventure together as a family.”
In July 2024, their dream became a reality. After storing their belongings, the family headed to Heathrow Airport with their minimalist luggage. Their journey wasn’t aimless; they meticulously planned to live in three distinct locations, with five-week travel periods before and after each stop.
Lucas, a marketing consultant, transitioned her work to travel writing and speaking, while her husband’s academic research guided their choices for residency, which also allowed their daughters to attend local schools. They selected Tsukuba, Japan, for its “completely unfamiliar culture”; Great Neck, New York, to connect with family and give their daughters a taste of American life; and Leiden, the Netherlands, to experience its unique “bike- and water-centered lifestyle.”
The experience offered diverse educational insights for their daughters. In Japan, an unexpected request from their 8-year-old led them to enroll both girls in a local school.
There, they embraced Japanese customs, walking to school alone, changing into indoor shoes, and participating in lunch service and classroom cleaning. Their time in New York, spent with family, introduced them to yellow school buses and the sobering reality of active-shooter drills.
In Leiden, the girls attended a small international school, cycling along canals and tending garden plots as part of a Dutch gardening program.
Living out of backpacks enforced a strict minimalism, which Lucas embraced. “I loved escaping the endless to-do list of home life and focusing on actually living,” she stated, noting she wore a single black maxi dress for much of their time in Asia. She even suggested bringing less next time, attributing their expanded “mental bandwidth” to fewer possessions, allowing them to “focus on fun, without guilt.”
The initial announcement of the trip was met with tears from their youngest daughter, who loved her friends and the familiarity of home. Despite tempting them with volcanoes and snorkeling, the girls always harbored a desire to return. The parents prioritized making them feel “safe and secure,” emphasizing adaptability as a life skill while reminding them of their love.
The journey fostered a strong family bond. “Most days, we’d say, ‘We’re still on the trip,’ and it made us feel like a team,” Lucas shared.
The girls learned to navigate new environments, make friends, and adapt to unfamiliar routines, discovering that “you can reinvent your life more than once.” The family collected unforgettable memories, from secluded waterfalls and wild snow monkeys to celebrating a January birthday on a Thai beach and being present for significant family moments, including a grandfather’s passing in the US.
Their return to London after 13 months was “surreal,” with their 6-year-old (now 7) even kissing the ground at Heathrow. The trip profoundly changed them, providing shared memories and, more importantly, clarifying “what matters: slow time together, not renovations or packed calendars.” While happy to be home, the family is already “dreaming about our next extended adventure.”