Louise and Dan put their house on the market and booked a one-way ticket to Asia with their three children
A couple chose to sell everything they owned to take a ‘huge risk’ and travel the world with their three young children – and say they have no regrets.
After an evening sat on their sofa, Dan and Louise Liban made the decision to put their modest home on the market, flog their cars and pull their two youngest children out of school to hop on a one-way flight to Asia in July.
Since the move, which they are taking ‘day by day’, they are ‘living outside the script’ and have ‘never been happier’, with their three children now exploring temples in South East Asia, spending days on the beach and even meeting elephants.
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The pair are documenting their experiences on Instagram having first flown to Bangkok in August. Life in the UK, along with five-day working weeks limiting time dad Dan spent with his children prompted the family to make a major change and not look back.
Their eldest daughter Evie, although academically bright, struggled to fit within a mainstream school setting. Their son, Otis, who was born with down syndrome, failed to get adequate SEN support for his needs, with mum Louise becoming his full-time carer.
After selling their home, in Congleton, Cheshire, the family-of-five instead upped sticks with no clear itinerary, also getting rid of their car and furniture to travel the world to start fresh experiences across the globe. Their youngest, 11-month-old Ezra, will now walk his first steps in Asia.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Dan, 32, said: “Lou and I have been together since 2015, and we had always planned to go travelling together. We’d moved out of a rental property in Poynton and in with her mum when we got the first news that we were pregnant with our daughter Evie.
“We had the flights booked to Indonesia and our visas approved for Canada the week before. So all of that came to a stop. We settled down with the motions of having a family; finding a house and doing what parents do.”
In lockdown, Louise then fell pregnant again with son Otis, now aged five. They were informed that he had down syndrome, and said were met with ‘constant negativity’ about how his condition could limit his life and put parameters on his experiences.
“It it was a negative and strange experience, because we’d gone from the joy of giving birth to a baby boy, to being told all the things we needed to know and being handed an outdated pamphlet that felt like our world was crashing down,” Dan said. “Until you’re aware of down syndrome and are exposed to it, you presume it is a negative condition.”
The couple later upsized, buying a home in Congleton and settling down into parenthood. Dan’s job in recruitment meant he was working long hours during the week and restricted from spending quality time with his children.
Despite working hard and building their family, with the arrival of baby Ezra last October, they said they never felt fulfilled by the parameters and expectations of working life and still had the itch to travel – this time so that their children could experience the world alongside them.
The pair had struggled with finding appropriate groups and educational settings for Otis, that supported specialist SEN needs, with eldest daughter Evie, seven, instead being home-schooled and continuing with sports and social groups to spend time with her friends.
“Life just felt a bit limiting,” Dan said. “We came into a bubble that we accepted and fell into normal conformity. We got married, bought a house, did the family holiday once a year, and then had Ezra in October last year, which gives you more time to reflect and question your life.
“We’d worked so hard to save, get a house, make sure the kids were in a good school, and it was really everything we’d wanted and all the big goals ticked off.
“But then we realised it would stay the same every year. Working all week, only one family holiday, and it restricted us in our life. Especially with Otis, because places just aren’t geared up for children with specialist needs. Lou had to become his full-time carer.”
In the new year, Dan and Louise, 30, decided they could finally fulfil their dream of travelling, and so put their house on the market which sold almost instantly.
“We had been in our home for three years and questioned what we wanted to do next,” Dan said. “Typically, it would have been looking for a bigger house. Do we keep working 9-5 to pay the bills, or look at other options?
“One night, we had an open conversation on our sofa, that we’d worked so hard for, and was surrounded by nice furniture, a TV, a car on the drive, and realised it was all meaningless. We took nothing from it.
“We’d rather spend money and have experiences. Days that we had taken Otis out or been on holiday were when we had gotten the most out of life and forgotten our worries.
“We realised the home-schooling had worked for Evie, and it was the green light that said we could do something different. Taking Otis out of his specialist school was a huge risk. Lou had worked so hard to get him a space somewhere suitable, but he was refusing to go and we felt he’d benefit more from being somewhere else.
“Looking back at where we were, there were a lot of choices to make and worry of regret. Selling the house is material. You can always buy another car. But the space for Otis at specialist school was very hard to come across, so it was a huge gamble for us.”
Using the equity from their home, the couple then booked a one-way flight to Bangkok, stayed for a month there before moving to Chiang Mai and Phuket, and are now planning to travel on to Vietnam and Malaysia.
Dan quit the restraints of his job, and they are taking their travels ‘day by day’ and able to home-school Evie and Otis while enjoying new experiences they never could’ve afforded before, while documenting their new life online.
They have also joined a ‘world schooling network’ and met ex-pats along the way, with Evie now learning Vietnamese in Zoom classes. Youngest son Ezra will take his first steps in southern Asia.
Dan said: “As soon as we got the house sold, we could book the tickets and take the jump. Since we’ve been here, they have been bathing elephants, slept in the jungle, been on the beach making friends.
“For Otis, it minimises his language barrier too being here, because he is playing and having fun with children who don’t speak the same language. It has opened up so many new opportunities, and teaches the children so many other skills that the traditional school system doesn’t.
“The plan has always been for us to travel slowly and take it day by day. We’ve always been running around trying to see everything on holidays and cram it all in.
“These first few months are important to see how the kids adapt. If it is working we will keep going, and if they miss home and they want to go back, then we can.
“The only timescale really for us is that we know there is a limit on the money from the house. But we can balance the experience and get as much longevity out of it as we can. It’s about listening to the kids. We don’t want to drag them around Asia and Africa, it’s always a family decision.
“We know we are privileged to do this. It’s not an option for everybody. Without the house sale, we wouldn’t have this money. We know it was a huge risk, but it was a decision between owning some land and only spending time with my children a few days a week.
“But one month in now, it’s apparent is we’ve gained more than we’ve lost. Everyone’s loving it, seeing new places, and the kids having experiences and freedom. We have no regrets.”
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