Adventures
South African Season:
As a family, we had many many wonderful adventures when we lived in South Africa before 2018. Clive had grown up in Zimbabwe as a young boy, but then came to South Africa with his family when he was 9 years old. Jolene had always lived in South Africa. We experienced incredible South African moments every single weekend (as Clive worked full-time in an office), as an outdoor loving family looking for and thriving on new experiences. Our kids have never been to a formal school; they have always been “homeschooled” by us.
Then one glorious day we decided to follow our Dream to Travel and explore the world: to Just Do It! In 2018 we sold and gave away everything we had, packed one big bag (and a backpack) each, and got on a plane to Spain with very (very) little money. We were determined to start our Worldschooling journey, to learn as much as we could from life itself (outside of our comfort zones)! We were filled with tons of hope.
Spain Dream Come True:
To find out more about why we decided to go to Spain and how it all happened in 2018, you can read our published posts on our other website (My Tip Offs) here: Introduction to Our Big Plan and the follow-up post Leaving on a Jet Plane, (and for added information our article Packing, Selling and Storing might be of interest to you). These all detail our preparations, packing-up, and then the flight out of South Africa and our arrival in Spain. This all happened very quickly!
We were shocked at the huge differences between South Africa and Spain (in so many ways!) when we “settled down” out of our “honeymoon” stage. It took a lot of getting used to.
We stayed in Torremendo, near St Miguel De Salinas, in the South of Spain, for a few months getting ourselves accustomed to the immense changes.
Look at this beautiful lake that was opposite where we were staying:
And then at the end of 2018 we moved to O Barco de Valdeorras, Galicia for a year, to get away from the very busy tourist season in the South, and for Clive to work at an Academy teaching English. Clive wrote a post which you can read here: O Barco de Valdeorras, The Treasure in Galicia, and the follow-up post Revealing O Barco.
After our first cold European winter was over in the North, in 2019 we decided to try a warmer Alcossebre, in Valencia, on the Costa del Azahar beautiful coast. Clive was now teaching English online on a platform called Palfish. Clive’s article about gorgeous Alcossebre (where we stayed for nearly a year, and during the first year of Covid-19) can be read here: Alcossebre, A Timescape of Empires Past.
From Alcossebre we travelled to Andalusia, Granada in 2020 to house-sit a farm in Montefrio for over a year. What an amazing time we had there in a sheltered safe healing environment, that we so desperately needed after the shock of Covid.
The article about this fascinating traditional Olive area is still to come…
Big Changes in Separate Directions:
Unfortunately, Covid-19 hit us hard and our life changed radically, and not for the good.
We eventually had to say goodbye to wonderful Spain and Europe at the end of 2021, and I sadly flew with the kids back to South Africa to be with our family. Clive went in the other direction to the UK (he has a British passport) to work there, to build up resources so that we can move forward together again.
At this stage in writing (November 2022), we are still apart on different continents, but planning to be reunited (hopefully) soon.
Our Websites:
In 2016 (when we were still in South Africa) we put together a website called My Tip Offs, a Review Website to point out the negative and inform families of the positive that we came across. Ranging from products to services to people, this site is full of tips, hacks, and advice on how to improve your lifestyle in every possible way. You can have a look at it here:
My Tip Offs
Then in 2018 we formed a site Nomad Community, which is a type of encyclopaedia for Nomads or Full-time Travelers. This website is a collection of links leading to information from blogs, websites and groups specifically for Nomads, to assist them with their full-time journey and to encourage a long lasting community to develop. This site can be viewed here:
Nomad Community
We have tons more adventures and projects on the horizon, and we will definitely keep you updated as they occur.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read all about our life up to this point! I hope that you understand us better as a family now.
If you have any questions, or would like to chat, you can email us at info@theadventuresof6.world or click here for our contact form…
