The world is shifting the 9-5 as we know it. AI is threatening job positions, there are layoffs, recessions are looming, and meanwhile, the price of everything is going up.

We’ve been saying this for years, but your life experience, your passion, and your skills might be your biggest safety net, and your best opportunity for income going forward.

If you’re not profiting from what you love doing and what you already know, then you could be leaving a lot of potential on the table!

We’ve been huge proponents of starting something of your own — something that’s yours and can’t be taken away from you.

This is what we’ve believed since the start of Goats On The Road — wayyyy back in 2012 (yeah we’ve been around for awhile!)

But, it’s especially relevant these days.

The truth is, a lot of what we used to rely on — stable jobs, steady income, predictable growth — feels pretty shaky right now.

But, don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom! There’s a way for you to overcome these challenges, which is what I’ll get into in this article.

Most people think they need more credentials to start an online brand. And actually, this is where most people get stuck —spending time on certifications, waiting until they have a bigger following, and taking more courses to learn more about the topic that they already know!

But the truth is:

You’re already sitting on something people would pay to learn — you just don’t realize how valuable it is (yet)!

We’ve helped more than a thousand people start online brands around their passions, skills and experiences, based on what they already know.

Meaning, they didn’t have to spend tons of time adding more to their plate…we simply helped them unpack the gold that was already there.

Your niche. Your amazing idea. Your next move…it’s found inside your skills, your experiences, and your passions.

If you’re thinking about creating something of your own (as a side hustle, or as a full-time gig), and are looking to turn your expertise into profit, this is where to start.

The 3 Buckets: Start With What You Already Have

If you’re unsure about what niche to pick or what kind of business to start, here’s the framework we’ve personally used to come up with our profitable ideas over the years, and it’s what we teach our clients as well.

It’s built on 3 ‘buckets’ that we all have access to — no matter your background, job title, or level of experience.

Note: we go deeper into this and really help you narrow down your idea in our Niche Clarity Program.

Bucket #1: Skills & Knowledge

This is the knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years. Skills you’ve learned through your career, school, certifications, training, self-education…or even just trial and error.

You might not think of it as special, because it comes naturally to you now. But to someone else, it’s exactly what they need help with.

Here are a few examples:

Maybe you’ve…

1. Mastered Excel spreadsheets, and you’ve built custom templates that save hours every week.
2. Become an expert in designing logos, editing resumes, or organizing digital files.
3. Figured out how to run a profitable Airbnb
4. Cracked the code on how to grow a YouTube channel.
5. Figured out a productive workflow and how to repurpose one video into a week’s worth of content.
6. Been (or currently are) a project manager, realtor, professional chef.
7. Been certified for teaching, coaching, being a personal trainer, or a yoga instructor.
8. Mastered data entry, bookkeeping, or using accounting software like QuickBooks.
9. Trained new team members and loved breaking down complex tasks into simple steps.
10. Ran internal events, team-building activities, or even organized office potlucks — and people saw you as the “glue.”

All of these skills, all of this knowledge that you have, can all be turned into your own business. It’s just taking what you already do and already know, and deciding that you want to create something of your own.

Here are a few real-life examples from our clients:

1. Self-Made Millionaire and Finance Mentor turned personal coach to help beginners invest in the stock market and build wealth
2. Certified Yoga and Breathwork Instructor and Personal Trainer coaching women in midlife to find physical, emotional and spiritual harmony in the next chapter of their lives.
3. Real Estate Investor and Landlord of 15 years coaching new landlords on getting started and manage their properties with confidence

Other Examples:

• Morgan Overholt was a burned-out graphic designer and quit her 9-5 to freelance full time and turn her design skills into a $100,000 per year business.
• Ali Abdaal was a doctor who had to use productivity hacks just to survive his demanding work. When he realized other people could use his tools in all areas of life, he quit his job to teach it online and now earns over $4 million per year.
• Greg Langstaff was a career advisor and recruiter who quit his job to teach othe people what not to do when going to job interviews. Now he makes relateable and funny videos on tiktok and now runs a multi-6-figure business offering resume reviews, and selling courses and coaching.

Here’s the thing:

What you know how to do — whether it’s from your job, your side hustle, or your own curiosity over the years — can become the foundation of your niche.

What feels obvious, easy, or boring to you, could be life-changing to someone else who’s stuck, confused, or overwhelmed. And they just don’t know where to start.

We see this all the time. People turning everyday skills into businesses — teaching what they already know. You don’t need to learn something new to get started. You just need to learn how to package what you already know in a way that helps others.

Bucket #2: Life Experiences & Your Personal Story

More often than not, the most powerful business ideas don’t come from a job or a degree — they come from what you’ve lived through…your story.

For us personally, there are a few key life experiences that we’ve already turned into profit — and could easily do again.

The biggest one was taking the leap to become entrepreneurs. To be our own boss. We knew we were meant for more and believed there had to be a way to do meaningful work we actually enjoyed.

And that belief is what draws people to our story — because they feel the same way.

We took our lived experience of building up 4 online brands, and turned it into an impactful, profitable coaching business that helps others do the same.

That’s exactly what we teach inside our Creator Kickstarter Coaching Program. Your lived experience can become the business you profit from—just like ours did.

We all have chapters of our story that shaped us (whether good or bad), moments that forced us to grow, adapt, or rebuild. Use those to your advantage and help others who have been in your situation.

Trust me, there are people searching for exactly that kind of guidance.

Here are a few examples:

Maybe you’ve…

1. Moved across the world and had to navigate a new culture, language, or legal system from scratch.
2. Changed careers multiple times and learned how to reinvent yourself — even when it was scary.
3. Gone through burnout and overwhelm (in life or in your business).
4. Survived a divorce.
5. Been through a trauma and have found hope and healing.
6. Had a major identity shift and found your way through.
7. Lost a bunch of weight and are happier, healthier and more confident than ever.
8. Learned how to manage money after debt.
9. Figured out how to co-parent peacefully.
10. Learned how to live a fulfilling life with chronic illness.
11. Navigated menopause and all the physical, emotional, and identity shifts that came with it — and came out more grounded, confident, and connected to yourself.
12. Left a high-demand career to prioritize your mental health, and learned how to rebuild a life with more time for family, peace, purpose, and presence.
13. Took a leap into solo travel after a major life change and discovered a deeper sense of confidence, joy, and self-trust.
14. Supported a loved one through addiction, illness, or grief and became a steady source of strength in their unstable times.
15. Decided to stop people-pleasing, set boundaries, and rewire the way you show up in relationships, work, and your own life

Here are a few real-life examples from our clients:

1. Downsizing her home and life for a retirement full of opportunities and coaching women how to do the same.
2. Having the trait of an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) and coaching women on how to navigate that.
3. Being a child-free couple by choice and building a community for others like them.
4. Being an immigrant in the USA and coaching others to build credit and choose the right credit cards.
5. A devout Christian since the age of 7 helping families experience a deeper relationship with the Lord through coaching, reading and memorizing Scripture

Other Examples:

• Lisa Johnson was a single mom in the UK, with £35,000 of debt. She got through it and now sells courses and programs teaching other people how to earn income. She’s now earned over £16 million and has assisted more than 50,000 entrepreneurs.
• Nadine Muller transitioned from a nursing career to becoming a personal fitness trainer, eventually moving into online coaching. By leveraging her experiences and challenges, she built a multimillion-dollar coaching business.
• Kiki Ayers faced homelessness in Los Angeles but utilized her background in entertainment reporting to establish a public relations firm. By sharing her story and experiences, she built a business that generated about $3 million in 2024.

Here’s the thing:

These life experiences aren’t just personal things that happened to you…what if they happened for you?

These times in your life are packed with lessons, frameworks, and real-life tools that other people desperately need. It can become a shortcut, a roadmap, or a spark of hope for someone else.

You don’t need to be perfect or polished, you just need to be honest. Not pretending you have it all figured out, but being a few steps ahead and turning your journey into something that helps someone else.

Having an impact and helping others find solutions to their problems is what building a brand is really about.

3. Passions & Interests

Sometimes, your best idea isn’t the thing people would find on your résumé. It’s not your skills and all the knowledge you’ve accumulated…it’s actually the thing you could talk about for hours without getting bored!

It’s the topic that lights you up when someone asks the right question. It’s something you’re always learning more about — not because you have to, but because you actually want to.

Take Nick for example, and his passion is fly-fishing. It’s something he’s been doing since he was a kid and would spend weekends out on the lake with his Dad and Brother.

Fly fishing is something that he’s always learning more about and perfecting. You’ll find him holed up in his “mancave” tying flies, chatting with other fly-fishermen in his Viber group chat, or down by the river casting his rod!

It’s the interest that he could talk about for hours.

So, he started a fly-fishing brand around his passion in 2020 and grew it to a six-figure business. Now, he makes money creating content while he’s fishing at the river! Definitely living his dream.

Here are some examples:

Maybe you…

1. Geek out over matcha rituals and can’t get enough of it.
2. Love travel hacking and finding budget travel hacks.
3. Are obsessed with meal prepping.
4. Love all things to do with makeup and beauty, or styling outfits.
5. Are totally interested in biohacking, astrology, or productivity tools — and your friends come to you because you explain it in a way that makes sense.
6. Are the go-to person in your group for planning the perfect girls’ trip.
7. Are the best at organizing small spaces.
8. Are interested in all things craft beer and have learned how to brew and make it yourself.
9. Love deep diving into human design and helping friends understand their charts in real life.
10. Are obsessed with cozy home vibes — from candle making to perfecting your Sunday reset routine.

These interests and passions are all things that you could turn into something that helps others and makes you money.

Here are a few real-life examples from our clients:

1. A couple living in NYC with a love for travel and their city, running a travel planning business and creating curated itineraries and trips to NYC for busy professionals
2. A travel-hacking expert helping others plan trips and experience the world while spending less
3. A couple obsessed with quick getaways and not wasting any time off, they share the best itineraries for 48 hour quick turn adventures
4. A cat lover helping other pet parents with their cat’s health and weight loss
5. A lover of holistic strategies and overall wellness helping remote workers escape digital overwhelm and simplify their life

Other Examples:

• Nick (of Goats On The Road) turned his passion for fly fishing into an online brand that helps beginners pick the right gear without breaking the bank. That business earned $8,440 on its 12th month after launching!
• Joshua Weissman was a burned out chef who turned his love of cooking (particularly fermentation) into a multi-million dollar YouTube empire.
• Sandra James was laid off from her £50,000/year job in financial services so she decided to turn her love for cats into a business. She founded The Cat Butler, an exclusive cat-sitting service in the UK. She launched it in 2015 and now it earns about £200,000 annually.

Here’s the thing:

When it comes to passions and interests, you don’t need to be an “expert”, you don’t need to have a degree or a huge following.

You just need to be a few steps ahead of the person you’re helping — and know and care enough about the topic to guide them.

If you love the topic and you’re SO passionate about it, and you’re willing to show up and share what you’ve learned, someone out there will be so glad you did. People are looking for someone real, someone who gets it, and someone who makes it feel possible.

Stop Overthinking and Chose One Thing to Start

You don’t need to be an influencer, good at tech, or into marketing. Most of our clients aren’t. And actually, most of them started without having any idea of what they could share with the world!

Our clients are regular people just like you — aged 24 to 70. They’re travelers, moms, immigrants, couples, retirees, creatives, side-hustlers, and 9-5ers who finally said:

“I’m done wasting time building up someone else’s business. I want to create something that actually has an impact. Something I love doing.”

If you want to go deeper with everything you’ve learned in this article, we’re here to help. The first step is coming up with your perfect niche and idea…one that’s aligned with you. One that gets you excited!

That’s what we help you figure out inside our Niche Clarity Program. You’ll learn how your skills, life experiences and passions matter, and how they can be packaged up and turned into an impactful brand and product that you can sell.

It’s your first step toward building something real — from the life you’ve already lived.

If you’re the type of person who’s ready to take the leap, bet on yourself, and finally build something that reflects who you really are…you’re exactly who our full coaching program was made for. Click here to email us for information on our Creator Kickstarter program.

Travel has become really expensive. Post-COVID, the entire world seems to be traveling again and prices just keep rising. I am astonished at how high they have gotten. But it’s a product of rising costs and out-of-control demand. Everyone just wants to travel. We’re all looking for an escape.

Fortunately, it’s not all bad. Airfare has started to go down again, there are more deal-finding websites online, free walking tours in more cities, and more opportunities to bypass the traditional travel infrastructure and connect directly into the local way of life via the sharing economy.

As we navigate the post-COVID world of high prices, I want to share some tips and tricks on how to travel on a budget this year!
 

1. Change Your Mindset

Changing your mindset might not be a traditional budget tip, but it’s important nonetheless. Constantly remind yourself that travel is possible while taking concrete steps to make it a reality. Action begets action — even if it’s just baby steps.

Start with a “yes, I can” mindset. Don’t think “I can’t travel” — think “What’s one thing I can do today to make my trip closer to reality?”

Life is a mental game. Do one thing every day that gets you closer to your trip and you’ll find yourself building unstoppable momentum.
 

2. Come Up with a Savings Plan

Unless you’re Bill Gates, we all need to save more money. But how do you do that? While life is expensive, I do believe there are always ways to save a little more. There’s always something you can cut. A little bit of savings adds up a lot over time.

First, start by tracking your spending. Write down everything you spend money on for a month. Groceries, rent, eating out, Netflix — everything. You can’t figure out where to save if you don’t know where your money is going.

Next, start a savings account specifically for travel. That way, you’ll have a dedicated space for your travel fund and you can watch it grow. That progress will keep you motivated. Even if it’s just a few dollars a week, every penny counts. The more you save, the more you want to save.

Finally, start cutting. Maybe it’s going to Starbucks, maybe it’s saving on gas by carpooling to work or cutting back on eating out. We all have things we can cut. Find yours.

Here are some posts on how to save money:

3. Score a Flight Deal

One of the things that people always tell me holds them back from traveling more is the cost of flights. But, let me tell you, there are a lot of deals right now.

All the airlines are trying to fill planes and are offering a lot of deals for summer and fall travel right now. After all, they need to make up for a lost year and are desperate to get people on planes.

The key to finding a cheap flight is to be flexible with your dates and your destination. If you have your heart set on “Paris in June” you’ll be forced to pay whatever the flight costs. But, if you open that up to “France in the summer” — or even “Europe in the summer” you’ll be able to find much cheaper flights since you’ll have a lot more wiggle room to test dates and destinations.

I like to use Google Flights and Skyscanner to browse my options. I type in my home city and then pick “everywhere” as my destination. I then base my plans around where I can fly to for the least amount of money.

Both websites also let you sign up for price alerts so you’ll get an email if the price for your ideal trip happens to drop.

And if you really want to find amazing flight deals, consider joining a flight deal site like Going. It’s the best website for finding flight deals from the US and has saved me a fortune over the years. It’s not free, but new users can get 20% off a Premium membership with the code NOMADICMATT20.

Other helpful flight deal sites are:

• The Flight Deal – Incredible deals for flights all around the world.
• Secret Flying – Another site with amazing flight deals from around the globe (they find a lot of Asia/Africa/South America deals not found elsewhere).

4. Get Points!

Collecting points and miles is a great way to travel on a budget. By getting point-yielding credit cards and using a few simple techniques, you can get hundreds of thousands of miles — without any additional spending (you can even earn points just by paying your rent!). These points can then be cashed in for free flights, free hotel stays, and other travel rewards.

I’ve earned countless free flights, upgrades, and hotel stays from my points and miles. By optimizing my spending and paying attention to which cards earn the most points where, I’ve saved thousands of dollars — and you can too!

Here are some resources to help you begin:

Even if you aren’t American, you still have options, as points and miles have gone global:

Once you have points, use platforms like point.me (for flights) and Awayz (for hotels) to manage them. These platforms help you maximize your points and miles so you earn more free flights and hotel stays.
 

5. Use the Sharing Economy

The sharing economy has led to a plethora of new money-saving and community-building platforms that have made travel even more affordable, personal, and accessible. It’s never been easier to get off the tourist trail, connect with locals, and experience their pace of life. I live by these websites when I travel! You should too.

Here are some of the best sharing economy sites to help you get started:

• Trusted Housesitters – The most comprehensive website to find house-sitting gigs. You watch a place on vacation while the homeowner is on vacation.
• EatWith – Allows you to eat home-cooked meals with locals (it’s the Airbnb of food). It always leads to interesting encounters, so it’s one of my favorite things to do.
• BlaBlaCar – A ridesharing app that pairs riders with verified locals who have a spare seat in their car.
• RVShare – Allows you to rent RVs and camper vans directly from locals.

6. Find the Free!

The world is awash with amazing free travel resources (like this website) that can help you travel on a budget. No matter where you are going, there’s probably a blog post on what to do and see there for free or cheaply. Someone has been there and they’ve written about it! Make the best use of all of them to help you plan your trip.

My favorite search term is “free things to do in X.” You’ll always get a result!

Additionally, don’t be afraid to walk into a hostel — even if you aren’t staying there — and ask them what to do for cheap. Their clientele is budget-sensitive, so they always know what to do and where to go for little money.

Local tourism boards will also have tons of info on free things to do as well (more on that below).
 

7. Stick to Public Transportation

If you’re on a budget, skip the taxis and rideshares like Lyft or Uber. Unless you can lower your cost by sharing a ride with other passengers, public transportation is going to be the most cost-effective way to get around. Not only will it save you money but you’ll get to see how the locals travel too.

Google Maps usually can give you a basic overview of the public transportation options and prices available. You can find information about day passes and/or multi-day passes from your local hostel/hotel staff (as well as from local tourism offices). For cheap intercity travel information, check out Rome2Rio.
 

8. Use Local Tourism Offices

Local tourist offices are a wealth of knowledge. They exist solely to provide you with information on what to see and do. They often have tons of discounts not found anywhere else and can also keep you updated on local events, free tours, and the best spots to eat. They can help you find public transportation discounts and/or multiday passes too.

Don’t skip the local tourist office! They are a severely underutilized resource.
 

9. Get Cheap Accommodation

Accommodation is one of the biggest fixed costs travelers have, so reducing that cost can lead to big savings on the road. I’m sure many backpackers would sleep in a barn if it were the cheapest accommodation they could find! Heck, I’ve slept in hammocks in national parks to save a buck!

Since you have to stay somewhere every night, reducing this expense can save you a lot of money on the total cost of your trip. Stay in hostels, use Couchsurfing, stay in empty university dorms, camp, or try an Airbnb.

Since there are a lot of ways to cut your accommodation costs, here are my posts on how to get accommodation deals:

10. Eat Cheap

Other than accommodation, food is one of the biggest travel costs. After all, everyone needs to eat. But there are lots of ways to eat on the cheap:

Also, use the five-block rule. There seems to be this magical wall that surrounds tourist areas. Most people don’t go past it. It’s been my experience that if you walk five blocks in any direction from a major tourist area, you end up losing the crowds and finding the local restaurants.

In my experience, tourist restaurants don’t care about quality since those tourists aren’t coming back. Residents do care so places catering to them need to be better — and more affordable – or they go out of business. Those are the places you want to eat at. Use the above resources to find where the locals eat and avoid crappy food!
 

11. Travel Like You Live

The majority of people in your destinations don’t spend lots of money per day like tourists do. Neither do you in your day-to-day life. So take that mentality with you. Walk, take public transportation, grocery shop, spend a day in a park, and look for deals. Do the things you do at home every day to keep your costs down.

Too many people get into this mindset that when they go on the road, they just have to spend, spend, spend, spend. That’s not true at all. There’s no law that says you have to spend more. Be smart with your budget — just like you are at home. That will help you save money and prevent you from going home early (and broke).
 

12. Work & Volunteer to Lower Your Expenses

If you’re a long-term traveler, consider volunteering or doing a work exchange to lower your costs. There are tons of options out there such as farm stays, working in hostels, teaching in schools, and more.

You’ll usually need to commit for a week or more, however, these opportunities enable you to get a much deeper and more nuanced travel experience. Here are some websites to help you find suitable opportunities:

• Worldpackers – Worldpackers offers travelers a chance to find volunteer experiences overseas. In addition to hostels, they can help you find experiences with NGOs, homestays, and eco-projects all over the world!
• WWOOF – WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is a program that connects you with farms all around the world where you can work in exchange for room and board.
• Helpx – Like Worldpackers, Helpx offers exchanges such as farmstays, homestays, B&Bs, hostels, and sailboats.
• Workaway – Workaway is a lot like HelpX, except it has more paid job opportunities (though it has volunteer opportunities too).

All you have to do is take that first step. Remember, action begets action. Once you start moving, everything else gets easier. So don’t wait!

How to Travel the World on $75 a Day

My New York Times best-selling book to travel will teach you how to master the art of travel so that you’ll get off save money, always find deals, and have a deeper travel experience. It’s your A to Z planning guide that the BBC called the “bible for budget travelers.”

Click here to learn more and start reading it today!

For those still on the fence about which airport lounge they want to join, Yelp’s new report on the most loved ones could provide some great insight. 

Having access to an airport lounge makes the whole travel experience a little better, according to everyone who has lounge access. The process of choosing one isn’t super simple though; everything from your home airport to how much you’re willing to spend is a factor. But the most important factor is: which one will be worth the effort?

One way to help narrow down the options is to know who seems the most satisfied with their lounge access. Yelp’s Most Loved Airport Lounges for 2025 list, which was meticulously ranked, comes after the platform saw an 18 percent year-over-year increase in search between 2023 and 2024. Yelp gave each brand a score, based on total pageviews, searches, photo uploads, reviews, and average star rating. Then, each metric was weighted equally in the final calculation to determine the six best airport lounges. 

At the top of the list, American Express’ Centurion Lounge, which is also the only credit-card based lounge on the list. According to Yelp reviews, Centurion is the best because of its spaciousness, comfort, and “regional, Michelin-starred chef-driven food and drink menus that highlight local flavors and rotate by location.” Some of these features are also offered at new Delta One Lounges, including focusing more on locally sourced high-end foods. 

These are the six most loved airport lounges, according to Yelp:

1. Centurion Lounge
2. Delta Sky Lounge
3. United Club
4. American Airlines Admirals Club
5. Minute Suites
6. Air France Lounge

The great news about the rise in airport lounge options means that the competition has raised standards across the board. Now, it is expected that lounges will have full-service bars, high-speed WiFi, workspaces, and private call rooms. 

Minute Suites stands out as the only lounge on the list that doesn’t require a high bar for entry. You can book one hour stays starting at $65, and get access to private nap pods. Minute Suites doesn’t come with some of those other amenities — you won’t find an endless supply of cheeses or fresh cups of coffee, but with no credit card membership required, it’s an option for those who are lounge-curious. 

If you’re looking for even more intel on the world of airport lounges, we’ve got information on how to get into them, which lounges T+L editors really love, and the new lounges to get excited about. Plus, check out the details on the Priority Pass, which gets travelers into 1,700 different lounges all over the world. 

For Travel + Leisure’s column Traveling As, we’re talking to travelers about what it’s like to explore the world through their unique perspectives. We chatted with TV host and anchor Christianne Klein of FoodFamilyTravel.com, who packed up her life with husband Dan Sattel and then-six-year-old daughter, Livia, and lived aboard Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Explorer for nearly two months, documenting their adventures along the way in their series, “Life Over Seas.” Here’s her story…  

I have been cruising since I was a child, mostly through Mexico and the Caribbean, and I always loved it. My family also took vacations to Europe, so when we learned about the Mona Lisa or Tower of London in school, I already had a touchpoint as I had been to these places before. As a result, it was important to me to have these experiences with our daughter, Livia, too, because I knew it was such a wonderful way to learn.

We had been on cruises as a family before, but the longest one we’d done was about a week. I had heard about people living on board a ship, and I started thinking, my husband and I both work remotely and we homeschool our daughter, so why not extend our time away, move aboard a ship, work on those days at sea, and then explore the world and have amazing adventures when we’re at port?

So, I reached out to Regent Seven Seas Cruises to see if something like that was even possible, and they immediately said yes. We stayed on board for three legs, two that were about two weeks and another that was closer to three. I thought this was a magical, brand-new idea I’d come up with, but between the second and third legs, I was surprised to learn 167 other people were doing the exact same thing.

When you go on a two-week vacation, and you’re traveling halfway around the world, you essentially have six days where you feel functional. But this gave us the chance to be gone for almost two months from start to finish. We started in Sydney, went all around Australia and through New Zealand, including the International Antarctic Centre, where we experienced an Arctic ice storm. We were in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Rotorua. 

Then, we came back and went around Australia again, up to Cooktown and Darwin, where we saw a jumping crocodile. Then, up through Indonesia, including Komodo Island, where we witnessed Komodo dragons walking around in the wild in a place you can’t easily reach. And then Surabaya and Bali, before going to Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, and finally ending in Singapore. 

One of the reasons we wanted to go with Regent was because the excursions were all included, so we could determine what our lesson plan was going to be for our daughter. Many were these eco or animal adventures I knew would appeal to her, as well as cultural experiences. I wanted her to see how people around the world live and how we’re all different, but we’re also all the same.

So, we talked about Antarctica and how dry it’s one of the driest places on Earth, and went through Fiordland National Park, which is all glacier runoff. We walked through rain forests and learned about the different types—an Australian rain forest is significantly different from something in Indonesia, where there’s tropical heat. We experienced everything from extreme cold to extreme heat. It was really a hands-on way of learning that is different than going through a book or tablet. We were able to physically show it to her. 

She is completely obsessed with animals. We had talked about dinosaurs in the past, and she wanted to know if crocodiles were around when dinosaurs were roaming the Earth. We saw cassowaries, these gorgeous birds that look like dinosaurs. She noticed their claws looked like a velociraptor’s. These are just the kinds of things a 6-year-old observes. Once, she suddenly asked about the gestational cycle of penguins, completely catching us all off guard.

What was so special is we were learning along with her. I had not seen a cassowary in real life, either. It was a lot to take in, and the best way for us to digest it all was by taking journaling—not just for our website, but for us, too. Livia absorbed so much in such a short period of time, and I know she’s going to remember a lot of it for the rest of her life.

Of course, I was concerned about her being away from family and friends for that long. But it didn’t become an issue. She immediately made friends on board, and even became best friends with the captain’s son. 

She also FaceTimed with her friends back home. It was so cute watching her friend from ballet, who was asking about all the things she did and animals she saw. She said to Livia, “It’s just not the same without you here.” You have that moment as a parent hearing something like that. But then Livia was telling her friend about being able to see white tigers and clouded leopards. 

At one point, Livia said to her, “You have to try escargot. It’s snails, and you’ll love it!” Of all the things in the world, that was not something I thought we were going to hear from her. But she discovered it on board and had it every single day. It’s her favorite food now. For her birthday, I contacted Regent and the chef was kind enough to share the recipe from the Compass Rose with us, and we made it at home.

The first two weeks of the journey, we felt like we were on vacation. When we first got on board, we completely unpacked, and our daughter filled the space with her toys. It really made the switch in our minds that this is home for now. We live on the Explorer. We became close with the crew and other travelers on board. We were exactly where we’re supposed to be.

One thing I was afraid I was going to miss was cooking, but the food on board was incredible. Plus, I noticed I had so much more time for self-care and work because I wasn’t cooking, doing errands, or taking my daughter to and from any of her activities. You have this extra built-in time for yourself. 

We’d use the time to go to high tea, explore the ship, enjoy music, and get dressed up for dinner. My husband loved hanging out on our balcony and working out in the gym.

We also had time for spontaneous activities. We spent an extra day in Sydney and saw “Jesus Christ Superstar.” We were accidentally in Melbourne during the Australian Open. My husband is a huge fan and we got to see [Novak] Djokovic play—and win.

But every day was a surprise. When we woke up in the morning, we might have known we were going to the Singapore night safari, but we didn’t know we’d be feeding an Indian rhino and kangaroos, having meerkats jump on us, and petting a koala.

Seeing our daughter play with other kids in Sydney outside the Opera House, or in Surabaya, Indonesia, running up and down these tiny streets and having fun together, we realized the importance of travel. It was so cool to see people from around the world all wanting the same thing.

To be a parent, have these experiences, and see the world through my daughter’s eyes—it wasn’t just educational for her, it was also a huge learning experience for us. It was so interesting to see what she picked up on, how she’s changed, the confidence she built. 

On our last night, I had to comfort my daughter until 3 a.m. because she didn’t want to leave. You always wonder about that as a parent. How is my child going to feel when this is all over? It was equal parts heartbreaking and powerful. We’ve established in her a love for travel, seeing the world,  meeting new people, and having these experiences that we were able to create together as a family.

Watch their adventures on FoodFamilyTravel.com, and stay tuned for “Life Over Seas: The Seaquel,” coming soon.