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Kristen Helmstetter

(Brisa Starr)

digital nomad kid

Ukulele Music Lessons for Our Daughter While World Traveling (Digital Nomad Family)

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We homeschool (worldschool) our daughter while we travel the world.

As a digital nomad family, we are continuing our daughter’s education by homeschooling (including plenty of worldschooling). Music lessons are now part of the curriculum. Ukulele, anyone?

You’d think it might be difficult to world travel as a digital nomad family, while taking music lessons, packing an instrument, and maintaining minimalism.

In other words, we travel the world with backpacks and only one checked suitcase in an effort to decrease travel drag. How can we travel with a musical instrument?

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Train Travel vs. Plane Travel in Europe – I Like Trains!

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Digital Nomad Family in the UK
Digital Nomad Family in the UK

I love train travel in Europe.

As a digital nomad family, we move around and live in different countries. When we’re deciding whether to fly or take a train, from one country in Europe to another, we lean toward train travel.

I think it’s such a cool way to travel. I love walking on the platform, looking for our coach.

train travel luggage and carry-on
Loaded up: luggage, two backpacks, camera case… no problem

Train travel has a more relaxed atmosphere, overall, experienced by both passengers and employees. There’s not much rushing and security doesn’t seem as intense. You never feel cramped. I’ve yet to hear a baby cry on a train, or be forced to sit with my arm brushing up against a sweaty stranger who’s hacking his lungs out.

But, isn’t train travel longer?

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Back in the USA After 6 Months of Travel – My Reflections

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Mom's colorful backyard - or "garden" as they'd call it in Europe
Mom’s colorful backyard – or “garden” as they’d call it in Europe

We are back in Arizona to visit family for six weeks.

I hesitate to say that we are “back home” because I believe that home is wherever my family is. Whether that is in Denmark, Thailand, Mexico, or Arizona, I make my home wherever we land with our belongings and proceed to live our day-to-day life.

Some people said that at the six-month mark of traveling they wanted to go back to the United States from home-sickness, but I personally didn’t feel that. When my brother-in-law unexpectedly asked me, while we were in the United Kingdom, what I missed the most about the USA, I quickly replied, “nothing” (save for family).

However, I did think it was good for my daughter to come home and see her Nana and her grandma. Long-term travel was harder for her than it was for us parents, though she’s adapting and enjoying it more over time. So, we decided to come back to Arizona, earlier than originally anticipated.

Repacking Bags for Optimal Travel

Turned out I started looking forward to coming to AZ because I’ve learned a lot about what I want to have with me while I’m traveling the world. During the past six months I found that there were things I brought that I did not need, and there were things that I wanted and did not have. So I will take advantage of this time here to restock my backpack before we set out on another world travel adventure. (That’s a future blog post.)

The First Thing I Noticed

When we came back to the U.S., the first thing I noticed was the wide roads and large vehicles everywhere. Coming from Europe where the roads are narrow and most of the vehicles are small, it was an interesting (and obvious) thing to compare.

I’m also noticing how accessible everything is and the number of choices are so plentiful here. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, as I don’t really have a feeling or opinion on it. But I know that if I want to get some ground beef, I have about six stores within 2 miles where I can buy it.

That was not the case in Europe. But you know what? We did just fine with one store – never needed so many choices.

Cheap Steak for My Carnivore Diet

I still eat a carnivore diet – still loving it – skin still glows, tummy still flat, PMS still awesome.

So, I will admit that I am very excited to be back in the land of the cheap ribeye (and T-Bone) steaks because I did miss those a bit.

Hello lovely T-Bone Steak - Carnivore Diet
Hello lovely T-Bone Steak – Carnivore Diet

When we landed, I immediately went to mygrocerydeals.com and searched for the best sales on steaks. I was instantly presented with many options, of course. I didn’t waste any time and went right out and stocked up.

But, I Love

Funny thing, I went about a week or so without my favorite ground beef patties, and when I made them yesterday I realized how badly I missed them – lol – humble ground beef. I’ve been eating carnivore but eating different things such as fish and sausages and steaks the past week. The ground beef was a welcome frugal carnivore option.

In Awe When Landing

When our air plane was landing in Phoenix and we were taxiing on the runway, I had this overwhelming sense come over me of how expanded and resilient I realized I had become in six months of travel.

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My Daughter Is Officially a Digital Nomad Kid

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digital nomad kid
Writing her first blog post – digital nomad kid

My daughter has officially become a digital nomad kid. She started a blog! I am proud and excited for her, because she wanted to do this on her own.

Following footsteps…

I’m not surprised. It’s primarily what she sees, because we all spend so much time together. I’m always writing, her dad is always writing (or illustrating our children’s book series). Oftentimes while we are housesitting our way around the world, we all do our work in the same room. For example, while I type this in Southampton, England, we’re all set up in the kitchen. Greg is at the kitchen table with his laptop and drawing tablet. Kamea and I sit at the bar on bar stools. She’s privy to all of our business conversations and she actually chimes in with suggestions often.

digital nomad kid iPad mini
K moved to the dog bed with her iPad

Her inspiration for writing comes from her travels.

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Keeping My Kid Entertained While We Travel the World as a Digital Nomad Family

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Digital nomad kid loving pups while housesitting – iPad not far from her.

As a world traveling family (specifically, a digital nomad family), we don’t have a lot of “stuff” and we’ve been moving around at a fairly speedy clip. I aim for our future (2019) to slow-travel more. I’d like to land in a country and stay for 2 to 3 months before moving. But that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t carry a lot of things.

As you can imagine, this applies to our daughter as well.

We can’t bring bins of Lego blocks or multiple dolls and stuffed animals. She doesn’t have a lot of toys. Close to none pretty much. However, she keeps herself busy.

What in the hell does my young kid do without toys?

She survives. Heck, I like to think she thrives. We do the best we can so that she doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on things.

Here’s what my digital nomad kid does for entertainment as she travels the world. The list applies to things she’s doing where we “live.” (That’s housesitting or renting an apartment via Air BnB.) It does not include the times she meets kids in the local neighborhood or parks or camps she takes. Those things happen regularly, too, but not always on a day-to-day basis. Below is what is daily.

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