Road Tripping Australia yet struggling to leave family behind.

[whitefeather]

Hi, My hubby and I have finally decided to take our family of 6 for a road trip around Australia within the next 6- 18months. However, in order to do this, we are leaving behind the only family members we are in a relationship with - my mum (53 years) and little sister (8 years).

Our life has been an emotional roller coaster the past 9 years with having to step out of both our families dysfunctional dynamics and dealing with multiple marriages falling apart (including my own parents).

My hubby and I have more or less put our lives on hold to help ourselves and my mum and little sister through this season and get healing for our broken hearts. We now feel that this season has come to an end and its time for us to move on. We don't to stay in our current home town and raise our family here, we want to move onto new land and build a new life and leave a new legacy for our kids and future grandkids. We want to travel in a caravan for 1 year first and explore our country while finding a new place to settle. However, we have to leave the only 2 people in our life who I know loves us so much, and are the only family we have that genuinely cares about us.

I'm not to sure what to gain from sharing this, but I have battled with this sadness and brokenness and emptiness alone for a long time and I'm just at a point where I needed to reach out. If anyone has similar experiences or insight they can share, I would be very grateful for your words and time. xx

[white knight]

hi, welcome

I know exactly how you feel Whitefeather. We built our own caravan in 2015 and toured the "lap" of Oz for only 13 weeks. We have close family on both sides but also I have an adult daughter with struggles so it wasn't easy.

A few suggestions-

• Consider a final residential location only a couple of hours from where you now reside. The reason is, you will feel just as free and different as you would a long plane flight away. Being within driving range is far more attractive for loved ones than boarding a plane which the latter feels like an ordeal.
• On your travels use Skype so you can see you loved ones talking. This will be particularly good for your sister. Tell them you wont ring during the day but in the evening after dinner once settled. Find an appropriate phone plan to suit.
• Explain to your mother that this next period is really important for your recovery so please keep all problems to a minimum. You don't want all her problems flooding you on holidays.
• Get a road side assistance membership. We had a breakdown in the middle of nowhere so it was worth it. I don't use a CB radio but if you get one you will be able to relay a need for a tow truck etc if out of phone range.
• You cant see everything. Choose your activities and leave some for a future trip if you have a definite period of time.
• Your sister and mum will enjoy postcards

So that's it, there are ways to cushion the changes. Put you and your partners needs ahead of others and enjoy.

TonyWK