Thanks for joining us! We are the Wood family and 2019 is our family gap year. What does that actually mean? Well it means this is the year we decided to mix it up, to hit the re-set button, to focus on being fully present for each other, to learn more gratitude and find more joy through the growth of new experiences……to replace ‘normality’ with our own, freshly defined ‘normal’. That’s the plan at least! We are almost 4 weeks in and let’s just say….it’s a work-in-progress, but you’ve got to have a dream right?! I will write at another time, about our aspirations for this trip, what has driven us to do something that some might consider a little crazy (all the savings we are spending could have been put to use in many other ways). We will also share how we’ve organised all the details with only a three month lead time, because whilst the notion of a family gap-year had been floating around for a while it was only after I attended a Tony Robbins, Unleash the Power Within seminar in Sydney and came bouncing home full of energy (and all “action action action!”) that we turned the idea into reality. But first, here’s a very quick intro to us.

We are a family of five: myself Susannah (Sue, Suse or Susy), my husband Anthony (Ant) and our three children, Ashton (10), Lucas (8) & Isla (4). I’m from the UK (Essex) and Ant is from Wollongong in Oz, we met whilst both travelling in Vietnam in 2004 and since then have split our lives between our two home countries – it’s a real blessing having family & friends on both sides of the world but the dynamic does also present challenges (I’m hopeful this next year will offer Ant & I a fresh perspective on how to find the optimal balance….or at least plenty of time to debate it….watch this space!). As for the children, it’s fair to say they are all balls of energy with different passions and personalities, so it will be interesting to see how they each embrace the ups and downs of the next 12 months, I’m really looking forward to watching them grow.

You can follow us on Instagram @fully_bravely_beautifully and I will start to post what I hope will be useful resources on this page for anyone else thinking about a family adventure of your own. In the meantime, if you have read this far, thank you so much for taking the time, we are grateful to make the connection with you.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton