Join our family and find out how we navigate life, school and work (or lack thereof), on this amazing, unique and challenging journey.
Who are we?
We are a family of five, who decided to make some grand changes in order to sail and travel the world, with our three kids. We have been sailing and traveling since 2018.
We lived on two sailboats for four years; sailed the US and abroad; lived in Bulgaria, backpacked through Asia and are loving world-schooling three teens.
Our experiences, successes and struggles are the true creators of this fun and useful traveling blog.
About the author
Hi, my name is Mina. Most of the time my family calls me Fun Police. To the kids I am also Mama.
I am a native Bulgarian who loves traveling and telling stories.
You can always reach me here.
The true story of our sailing and traveling family
Around the distant winter of 2015, the Captain (aka Joe, my husband) had a crazy idea to move on a boat and sail away to see the world. It happened after a fishing trip in Florida.
I blamed it on too much sun!
18 months after that sun exposure (which persisted despite timely treatment and tantrums), things finally clicked into place for me as well. We would become a full-time sailing and traveling family.
Why not?
Our families were shocked!
A brief timeline of our journey:
April 2017 – We bought our first boat, Graceful, and practiced sailing and exploring the Chesapeake Bay for 18 months.
Our families were still hopeful.
November 2018 – We all jumped aboard Graceful and pushed off the docks as a full-time-live-aboard cruising family! Almost everyone hated it!
Our families, “Told you so.”
June 2019 – We asked the kids if they wanted to continue sailing, or return to land-life. The wanted to travel, but on a catamaran! We sold the house.
Our families began to worry.
June 2020 – We bought our second boat and sold the first Graceful. We could not agree on the name, so we named the catamaran Graceful.
Our families were confused.
March 2021 – The captain resigned from his career of 15 years and we sailed away to see our amazing world!
Our families gave up.
September 2021 – We spent a few months in Bulgaria and bought a very broken house.
Our kids declared us crazy.
June 2022 – We decided to sell the boat and try to start a family business in Bulgaria – making beer! Neither of us had ever made beer before!
Our families are used to it.
October 2023 – We are living in Bulgaria, learning how to make beer and start a small business without losing our minds, in the system!
Our families must be telling tales of their crazy kids.
February 2023 – We are off traveling again! This time on land, backpacking through Asia.
Our families are subscribers.
February 2024 – Our oldest is off to college soon; our middle one is swimming in the 2028 Olympics (he does not know that yet); our youngest is building rockets. We are enjoying more local travel and dreaming of our next boat (with three hulls).
Do not tell our families!
The irresponsible parents
Hi, we are Joe and Mina.
We have decided on an unconventional way of raising our family. It is a bit scattered, risky, adventurous, fun, occasionally very boring.
Traveling the world requires a certain mindset and some planning, and downsizing, which anyone can do.
The wild and unsocialized kids:
Our three kids turned into teens while sailing and traveling the world.
When we left in 2018, our children were young and with very mixed feelings about living on a boat and traveling the world.
Check out our videos to see just how confused and miserable everyone was when we started.
They were each given a shoe box to only bring what would fit inside! Turning into a full-time sailing and traveling family was far from easy!
More than five years later, having visited many new countries, and having met all kinds of people, they have turned into highly adaptable, curious and easy-going teens.
Wondering what sailing and traveling with kids feels like? Take a look at our posts dedicated to:
Travel with Teens – no texting & tacking
Will they “get it” one day? We pray and hope so.
From our family to yours – what we do, you can do too!
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