How To Travel Internationally as an RV Family
Our family of four started traveling full time in an RV back in 2018. We figured we’d explore as much of the U.S. as we could and grow closer as a family while making life-long memories. We fell in love with travel, and started meeting lots of interesting people with amazing stories of more extensive travel, which sparked an interest in us for international travel.
Our first RV international trip - Baja, Mexico
We started with Mexico, as it was easy to drive our home on wheels across the border. We immediately saw a shift in lifestyle as soon as we crossed the first time! People were more laid back, everything moved at a slower pace, and we realized there was the benefit of a lot less stress with slowing down like that!
It was a little daunting at first to research everything we needed to know about crossing the border, so we were sure to document everything so that we could become a source of information and inspiration for any other RVers who were interested in RVing in Mexico.
11 Things We Did To Prepare For RVing in Baja
Our 9 Stops Down The Baja Peninsula - A Summary
After several visits to Mexico, we specifically fell in love with Baja California Sur and purchased property in Cerritos Beach! It is now our winter home. Realizing how different life was in Mexico and how much we loved it made us start thinking about doing more International travel - and we started looking into going overseas!
Overseas Travel
There are ways you can ship RVs overseas, but we didn’t want to do that. As much as we love our home on wheels, we thought it would be fun to try something different. We found a place to store our RV for a few months for a great price and embarked on a new kind of adventure!
Living in Greece for 3 months
We had friends who had participated in a program called Boundless Life, which allows families with kids to move abroad for 3 months, and they set them up with housing, an education center for the kids, a co-working space and planned activities. It sounded perfect for us, so we signed up for the Greece cohort in spring of 2023.
We lived on the Greek island of Syros with families who became like family to us! We made so many incredible memories that we will treasure forever. We can’t recommend Boundless Life enough!
We flew from Los Angeles to Athens, Greece with a stopover in Istanbul. When we arrived in Athens, we were so excited but also so exhausted! (Hello, 14 hour flight) We LOVED Athens and saw a lot of the historic sites there, also taking in the city by simply walking around as much as we could through the different areas. We enjoyed 2 days in Athens before taking the ferry to Syros.
Living in Syros was a dream. There is basically no crime there, the city streets are well lit and made of marble, and the people are friendly. It is the ideal place to raise a family and we met more than one family that had moved there just for that.
Read more about our time in Syros.
Visa Requirements
Once again, we were refreshed with the slower pace of life and laid back vibe of the island. People seemed very content and pleasant, without the stressed hustle and bustle that we typically see in the U.S.
Our cohort wasn’t a full 90 days, so we had a few days to play with before we ran out of Schengen days (U.S. citizens can visit Schengen countries such as Greece for 90 days without a visa). We decided to save our remaining days for Paris, which had been on our bucket lists for a while!
If you are a citizen of a country outside the Schengen Area, you may need a Schengen visa to enter some European countries. The specific requirements can vary, so it's essential to check with the local embassy of your destination or Visa Express well in advance of your planned trip.
Visiting Albania
Before jetting off to Paris though, we decided to visit Albania, which is not a country that is part of the Schengen Agreement, and stay for about a month! Albania once again, reminded us of all the great aspects of foreign countries. Another perk was the low cost of everything there! Once again, we fell in love and hope to return to explore more one day!
Read more about our time in Albania.
Paris & London
After exploring Albania, we flew to Paris and SERIOUSLY fell head over heels for that place. Our daughter vowed to move there one day and we’re here for it!!
Check out a little video snapshot of our time in the city of lights.
We took the train from Paris to London for an overnight stay there where we explored the city via hop on hop off bus, and then flew back to L.A.
2024 Travels scheduled for next year
Our 2023 European adventures changed our lives. They inspired us to commit to more international travel- so we’re heading back in spring of 2024!! We will move to Portugal for just under 3 months for another cohort with Boundless Life, and we will also spend time in:
Barcelona
Amsterdam
Belgium
Germany
…and who knows where else!
We have officially been bitten by the international travel bug and have seen the benefits firsthand of how steeping outside your comfort zone can stretch you and make you grow as a person. Drop any questions you have about our experiences in the comments below!