This family may not be members but they will be busnuts! I only wish I could too

[Busted Knuckle]

This was sent to me by my search engine that scours the web for articles about motorcoaches! I think it's way cool and wish I could also do something like it someday too! BK 

The family who are giving up everything to travel the world
by MORAG TURNER - More by this author »

Last updated at 09:29am on 21st June 2007

Ever wanted to leave your old life behind and set off around the world? Next month, the Atkins family from Dorset will spend 18 months circling the globe in a coach they have converted into their home.

Here, Amanda Atkins, 44, tells MORAG TURNER why she, her husband Joe, 42, and children Luke, 15, Harry, 12, Beth, nine, and Arthur, seven, have decided to sell everything - including their home - to pursue their dream.

My 12-year-old son Harry yelled: "Mum, we have to go to Rome," as he burst through the kitchen door. "We had a lesson about Julius Caesar today and I want to see the Colosseum."

Handing him a pen, I said: "Pop it on the list on the wall."

"If we're going there, can we visit Pompeii?" asked my daughter Beth, who's nine.

I told her she could go anywhere she wanted, and the pair began brainstorming about all the places in Italy they'd like to see. Ten minutes later we had six additions to the list.

This 'list' is not some pie-in-the-sky, maybeone-day file of summer holidays; it's a chart of the places we intend to visit in a round-the-world trip my family is taking.

On 14 July my husband Joe and I, along with our children - Beth, Harry, Luke and Arthur - will head off for the adventure of a lifetime: 18 months travelling around the globe.

We will be going in any direction we want and stopping wherever we like.

Instead of flying from one location to the next, we will be driving in a specially converted Leyland Tiger coach which will be our home for the entire time.

Since we got married in 1990, Joe and I have talked about seeing the world - not just spending four weeks a year to sight-see, but travelling in the old-fashioned sense of trekking across continents and experiencing local cultures for months.

It's always been a question of 'when' we'd go, rather than 'if'.

When our children were younger this idea had to be put aside.

We were just glad of annual holidays to France or Italy, but Joe and I still talked about places we wanted to see.

It was a fantasy world in which we'd discuss walking along the Great Wall of China and snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. Even though it seemed far off, we knew our plans would one day come to fruition.

In 1999 we sold our home in Twickenham in London, and moved to Swanage in Dorset.

We were tired of city life and the children to grow up in the countryside.

We both have flexible careers. Joe is a lighting designer for events and plays, and I'm an actress. The change of lifestyle and pace was great - we were waking up to bird song and it was lovely to feel part of a friendly local community.

Yet, our urge to travel prevailed, and in 2005 we began planning our round-the-world trip. First, we needed to raise funds - even though we weren't sure how we intended to travel.

That November we sold our seven-bedroom home for £425,000 and moved into a rented house. We used the profit from the sale to pay off our loans and debts, and were left with £70,000.

With no use for all our furniture, we held a huge house sale which raised about £1,000 and gave the rest away.

All we've kept are photos and a few possessions with sentimental value - my jewellery and some of the children's toys.

To many, this must seem drastic - to let go of the financial security we've built up over the years for an 18-month trip, but we've felt it is worth the sacrifice.

There is a small window in your life when you can have such an amazing adventure with your children and we are aware ours is coming to a close.

In a few years Luke will want to go off and do his own thing, so it is a case of now or never. Both Joe and I are resourceful, so we're not worried about how we will survive when we get back.

We'll work and we'll rent or buy another house.

By this time, we'd been discussing our thoughts with the children, bouncing ideas off them.

It was great to see the children so enthusiastic about how we'd go about it. We wanted to know how they felt about our proposal; their response was overwhelmingly positive.

We all sat down and made a list of where we wanted to go and why, and agreed that we could add to it as time went on.

Everyone was so excited; it was great to see the children so passionate about the idea.

Next, we considered logistics. We knew it would take 18 months to squeeze in everything we wanted to do, so that meant the kids would have to come out of school.

We set a leaving date of July 2007 because by then Luke would have sat his GCSEs and the other children weren't at crucial stages in their education.

We'll teach the children ourselves and incorporate our travel experiences into lessons.

Dealing with currency and exchange rates will be part of maths, and there will be lots of foreign languages and cultures to absorb.

History and geography will play a big part, too.

We then started thinking about how we'd get from A to B. Ideally, we would have used an RV (recreational vehicle) motor home or Winnebago, but at £100,000 they were too expensive. It was Joe who suggested converting an old coach.

This might sound daunting but, being a designer, Joe is incredible at creating things and has always been a whizz at DIY. I think he relished the challenge.

In May 2006 we bought a 1987 Leyland Tiger Coach online for £4,500. We began stripping it back immediately. The people who owned the field behind our house were happy to let us keep the coach there.

Joe designed a layout with six beds at its rear, a kitchen and four desks at the front at which the children could study.

The desks hook up to a satellite phone and internet connection, so that the children will be able to access an online learning programme wherever we are.

There is also a shower room and toilet.

Lights are powered by a generator in the coach's original luggage compartment under the bus, which also houses two water tanks.

It was an ingenious design and within a few months our mobile home began to take shape. Joe worked on it in his spare time, and the kids and I spent time on it whenever we could.

I'd look out my kitchen window on a Saturday morning to see Luke helping Joe weld together fittings, or Harry and Arthur painting the woodwork.

Beth kept a photo diary of it all. We've always been a tight-knit family, but working towards this goal brought us even closer together. Even on cold, rainy days we weren't deterred - I just made sure there was a flask of hot soup on the go. It gave us a shared sense of purpose.

Even so, we're not the Waltons. There were frustrating times - when parts have turned up late or Joe didn't have time to focus on the bus for more than an hour a week because of his job, but gradually everything fell into place.

We then started drawing up the route.

This hasn't been finalised because we keep adding places. So far the plan is to tour Europe, then head down the east coast of Africa to South Africa, taking in Kenya and Mozambique.

In South Africa we will catch a boat to Brazil - a voyage that will take several days - then drive up through America and Canada, where we will catch a boat to New Zealand, another week-long journey.

From there we head to Australia and then up to the Far East, taking in Thailand and Malaysia. On the home straight to the UK we'll stop off in India and Oman, then work our way back through Europe.

It will be a huge adventure, and we don't want to be too rigid about our timescale.

If we really like one place, then we'll stay there longer.

We've researched campsites and places to park the bus, so we do have a rough idea of where we can sleep. We know where we can catch boats to cross water.

Of course, there are safety questions to consider, especially in Africa, but we are well aware of the risks.

For most non-European countries we have to request visas. Some of these can be picked up at the border; others need to be applied for three months in advance, which means finding a consulate for those places wherever we are at the time.

We don't want to be too rigid about timescales are at the time. I have looked into this, so we know where to go when we need to.

Other concerns are more basic, such as clean drinking water - we've fitted a water filter on-board for this.

We've also got a first aid kit in case of accidents, and comprehensive health and travel insurance to cover anything serious.

We've had all our vaccinations - at a staggering cost of £1,800 in total - so we are all covered.

Joe and I have also both passed our category C driving test, which is essential as the bus is classed as a private HGV, for which you need a special licence. We will split the driving.

In the beginning we wrote to local businesses that specialise in motor homes for advice and sponsorship. We were overwhelmed by the response.

One company gave us parts, while another donated a cooker and toilet. We received invaluable advice and help with the plans for the renovating the coach. I think these people were excited and intrigued. We can't thank them enough.

Breaking down is a worry, but we'll carry spare parts. Anything else we'll have to order and wait for it to arrive. These vehicles are used all over the world, so I'm sure we'll be able to find what we need.

There's a sense of venturing into the unknown, but we are doing it with our eyes wide open. We have a guide book for every place we intend to visit, and will be constantly checking the Foreign Office website and keeping in touch with family to find out about danger zones.

Lots of people have said that we are mad to embark on such a massive trip, leaving behind everything we've built up back in England. I realise this kind of lifestyle wouldn't suit everyone, but I'm sure it will work for us.

I have visions of us all swimming in the crystal clear Indian Ocean or seeing a lion for the first time in the wild in Tanzania.

This is the stuff of documentaries, the kind you settle down to watch together on a Sunday evening - but instead of being in our living room, we'll be getting a thrill from first-hand experience.

I've no doubt there will be hard times when things don't go to plan. Yet we're all flexible and resourceful enough to deal with whatever comes our way.

In today's society people are conditioned to accumulate wealth houses, cars, possessions - and to plan the rest of their lives.

We have no plans past the next two years, but that doesn't bother us because by the time we get there we'll have figured something out.

It's liberating to be able to take off like this. For every person who has been sceptical, there's been another who has told us how much they envy us.

The bus was finished earlier this month; it has passed its MOT and its DVLA inspection, meaning it's roadworthy.

On June 2 we had a leaving party in Swanage to say goodbye to our friends and family who have encouraged us along the way.

It will be really hard leaving them for so long, but we have invited them to meet us for a holiday whenever they want. We'll also be visiting friends who live in other countries, such as Italy.

There's a lot we won't miss, though.

In the UK, we have such a convenience culture - if you want something you can have it almost immediately - from food and clothes, to TVs and cars.

We'll have to source the things we want and not everything will be on tap. Living this way will be a good lesson in resourcefulness.

I'll also be glad to escape our celebrity culture. It will be nice not to have Big Brother on the TV and spread all over the newspapers - we're not taking a television with us.

I hope we'll be experiencing much more interesting and worthwhile ways of life that aren't tainted by the desire for fame and fortune.

This will be especially good for the children who will receive a much wider education than they could get at home.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to seeing less crowded places. It will be nice to experience wilderness instead of traffic jams.

Of course, it will be great to see the big cities too, but it's the quite time I will most enjoy.

Our departure date is less than a month away, and as it gets closer and closer we can all barely contain our excitement.

Each of us has a different place we are looking forward to the most.

For Luke, it's beaches in Australia where he can surf; Beth wants to see India; Harry talks constantly about Italy; and Arthur is very excited about the pyramids.

Joe and I can't wait to see all of this too, but we'll get the most pleasure from being together as family, sharing these special times.

I hope that what we're planning will give our children a wealth of fabulous experiences, which they can draw upon continuously as adults; along with a lifetime of happy memories we can share for years to come.

This is where it came from;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=463458&in_page_id=1879

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi BK,

We should track them for when they arrive in the US and have a big welcome for them and show our hospatality!

That would be cool....

Nick-

[Dreamscape]

At your place Nick.

Paul

[DrivingMissLazy]

I sent them a message inviting them to join our group of bus nuts and offering our services as far as potential places to stay and any help they might need while here. I asked them to please join up now so maybe we will see something in the near future. I did include a link for them to use.
Richard

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

At your place Nick.

Paul

Without a doubt!
I'll even sponser them for a day or two....

Nick-