Episode 1: Adventure Equals Life
Episode 2: Adventure, with a toddler in tow
Episode 3: Recipe for Adventure
By Roberto Gibbons
In January 2019, Bella gave birth to our second baby – a girl we named Catalina Sofia Gibbons. If I’m being honest, I don’t know how we’re going to do it. Adventure traveling, carting a toddler and all the gear – sometimes it’s just too much for us to manage. We laugh that we need to bring someone else along just for their two extra arms. Life with two kids is going to get a whole lot more interesting. It will be uncharted territory. Having two children is completely new, let alone figuring out how to maintain our current adventure-based lifestyle.
Passports can take up to six weeks to arrive after birth, so we are currently spending some time hunkered down around Whistler, BC – all four of us figuring out life together inside Happy, our Airstream. When we receive her passport, hopefully somewhere around mid-February, we will take our first adventure with two kids. Right now, the plan is to head down the West Coast of California (very slowly because we know the baby will not take long car rides and there’s a lot to see). This is a trip we’ve actually never done before, and we’re looking forward to enjoying some kite surfing.
With an Airstream you can make frequent stops, you don’t have to worry about meltdowns on an airplane and everywhere you park is your outdoor playground.
Once we reach the border, we’d like to head east to Florida (also a new destination for us). Then we plan to hit up our favorite places in the Caribbean before heading back to Florida to pick up the rig and head home – likely following a different route.
So, that’s the plan. But we are very well aware that our plan might morph or change based on what life brings our way with a new baby. It might seem crazy to some for us to add another baby to our expeditions. But for us, it’s just the way we do life, while growing our family at the same time. One of our biggest reasons for having a second child is so our son, Mikio, will have a companion. In a way, we spend so much time away from the world. We didn’t think it was fair for his only friends in the “bush” to be his mom and dad.
He deserves to have someone so that he can have the best adventures with a built-in playmate and friend. And so, we’ll continue our extreme lifestyle together, to whatever level we can, while they are young.
We’ve come to understand that camping is the best way to travel with the kids. Before we had done it, I might have thought that hotels were the best option. But with an Airstream you can make frequent stops, you don’t have to worry about meltdowns on an airplane and everywhere you park is your outdoor playground. Not to mention it can save you money and take you to some amazing places.
As our family grows and our adventures change we hope we are leaving our children with a scrapbook of memories they can enjoy.
Sign up for Endless Caravan updates so you never miss the next great adventure.
