Family Gap Year Post #8: Planning Begins (Again)
Those of you who have been around these parts for a while know that I was planning a Family Gap Year to start in June 2020.
We all know the punch line to that joke!
Now that Matt and I are fully vaccinated and our children are nearly vaccinated, we are talking about the possibility of a Family Gap Year again, starting next year.
Here are the things that are different from our original plan:
- We would go to only one country instead of 13. This change makes me the saddest, but I just don’t feel comfortable traveling all around the world spreading germs right now. We can get to a place and self-quarantine. Also, travel restrictions are too unpredictable.
- We would enroll the boys in school instead of homeschooling them. COVID gave us plenty of experience with homeschooling THANKYOUVERYMUCH.
- I would continue working full-time (remotely) and Matt would work part-time.
We’ve gone back and forth about which country to pick, and our frontrunner is NEW ZEALAND! It looks absolutely breathtaking.
Our plan would be to base ourselves outside the Wellington area and go on road trips during the major school holidays in December-January, April, and October. We would head there in late July.
New Zealand has kept their borders pretty sealed up. However, they have made some recent announcements about opening them up in 2022.
We shall see!
If you want more detailed updates about this process, I tend to share more in my weekly newsletter…
7 Comments
Justine
Have you heard of Mama Doctor Jones? She is an American OB/GYN with 4 kids and they just moved to NZ. She has a family account where they’ve talked about their experiences https://instagram.com/jonestravelingcircus?utm_medium=copy_link
Sara Cotner
Her family looks super-cool. Thank you so much for sharing, Justine! I will definitely start following them.
Clare
Fingers crossed that you are able to make this happen! When COVID trapped us in New Zealand, it ended up being a good thing, as we were able to explore so much more of the country than we would have if Australia and the Pacific islands had been beckoning. There’s something to be said for really getting to know one country on a deeper level versus getting a somewhat shallow understanding of several countries.
Also, it seems like NZ has realized it’s going to have to live with COVID and is now prioritizing high vaccination rates instead of completely locking down whenever there are community cases (which tended to make travel planning challenging).
Definitely reach out if you need any NZ advice—we are back in the States now and I miss NZ terribly, so I’m always happy to talk about it!
Sara Cotner
You are so kind, Clare! It’s actually looking like we aren’t going to make it into NZ during the 2022-23 school year based on their most recent border announcements 🙁
Natasha
Yay!!! I think you’ll love it here. The boys will be exposed to Māori language and culture here by going to school (it’s embedded in the NZ curriculum) which is neat! While flying around NZ is really cheap and easy, something fun could be catching the train from Wellington to Auckland – you get to see so many sights you might otherwise not see, and it still only takes a day. If you can either start or end your trip in Christchurch, they have an amazing Kidsfest in the July school holidays with so many free or discounted activities! I’m Hamilton (NZ) based but any queries you have, feel free to flick me an email!
Sara Cotner
I love all of these ideas! Since I wrote this post, NZ has made some border announcements that are not looking good for me 🙁
Katie K
I would be curious to know what visa scheme you will be using. My understanding is the New Zealand has some pretty tight immigration restrictions, so I’d love to know how you will work remotely and be able to enroll your boys in school.