Josh and Katie got the travel bug in a really big way – and they’re loving it
A family sold their home to travel the world – taking just one backpack each with them. Now they are living off a budget of just £35 a day.
Couple Josh and Katie, both 33, Josh and Katie got the ‘travel bug’ after taking a year to travel Australia in 2015 before they had their kids – age seven and three. The decision to sell up was made while the family was on holiday in Mexico in January, after the pair realised they could “get so much more for the same money”.
After putting their three-bed house on the market in April it sold in just 24 hours, and now their globe-trotting adventure began in Thailand – using their funds from the sale. Selling “everything you can imagine” on sites like Facebook Marketplace and Vinted, they left for Asia from Manchester on August 22.
With no plans to return, Josh and Katie estimate they’ll spend between £1,500 to £2,000 per month funding their new way of life using money from their house sale. They will spent £500-a-month on accommodation and the rest is just spending money with a daily budget in Thailand currently around £35 per day.
The couple estimate their monthly spend back at home was £4,000 – almost double what they are spending currently. Josh, an exterior cleaner, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: “We’re taking four backpacks and that’s literally it.
“Everything we own we sold. We’ve been on Vinted to sell the clothes, and sold our beds, sofa, TV and vehicles.
“We just kind of sat down and thought one day, the amount of money we spent on a two-week all-inclusive you can get so much more for your money if you look into it.”
Katie, a hairdresser, added: “When we left the UK it was as I suspected. The day before saying bye to my mum was hard but as soon as I got on the plane I was fine.
“It just feels surreal and it’s an adventure – even now sat here we don’t feel like we’re thousands of miles away. It’s like ‘God, we’ve done it, we’re here’.
“The kids are just thriving already as well.”
Originally the couple considered emigrating to Australia on a sponsored visa with Katie’s original trade as a hairdresser but the “amount of hours” she would need to work put them off. The couple realised they could get more bang for their buck after they had “researched” on holiday in Mexico and found “how much money they could make stretch” on their travels.
She said: “I didn’t want to work five days a week and not see the kids. In places like southeast Asia you can stretch your money.
“We haven’t got a route planned. We just want the simple way of life and to spend quality time together as a family.
“I’m pretty chill with it, the only bit I worry about is missing my family. If I could pick them up and take them with me, I would.
“It’s the unknown to us all but that’s what excites us. We know as a family as long as we have each other we can conquer anything.”
The plan for their children is to “learn other things” outside mainstream schooling. Josh said: “We’ll be following Oakwood Academy – a site who are supplying us with online resources and we’re having a private tutor checking in with them weekly.
“I’ve actually got a friend who’s done this kind of thing before. They were spending £1,500 to £2,000 per month including accommodation, food and activities which is considerably cheaper than what we pay now.”
The family are set to visit their next destination in southeast Asia on September 29 but are loving the “free” life they have and have not got anywhere booked. You can follow the family on their travels @4backpacksmanymemories on TikTok and on YouTube @4BackpacksManyMemories.