Meet the solo parent who backpacked around the world with her two kids - while pregnant.
Birdie Wood, 30, sold all her belongings and set off on an epic seven-month trip with her two daughters - Fifer, six, and Mavie, four - in February 2024.
The family travelled to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Morocco, Indonesia and Egypt - spending around a month in each country.
In April, while in Morocco, Birdie discovered she was pregnant after a brief relationship with a friend.
She continued to backpack with her two daughters and returned to the US in August after completing the seven-month trip.
Birdie Wood, 30, sold all her belongings and set off on an epic seven-month trip with her two daughters - Fifer, six, and Mavie, four - in February 2024.
The family travelled to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Morocco, Indonesia and Egypt - spending around a month in each country.
In April, while in Morocco, Birdie discovered she was pregnant after a brief relationship with a friend.
She continued to backpack with her two daughters and returned to the US in August after completing the seven-month trip.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00After nearly 24 hours in airports, we're officially living abroad.
00:03I'm Birdie, a single mom of two little girls who owned a 10 acre farm and decided to give it all up to move abroad
00:09while homeschooling two little girls and running my own business.
00:13We had quite the journey of emptying out our whole house,
00:16rehoming farm animals and getting ready to go stay in Florida while we waited for our house to sell, but we did it.
00:21We emptied out the entire house and headed to Florida and to make things even more complicated,
00:27we had to get same-day passports. I have sole custody and my youngest daughter doesn't have a birth certificate. So we had a really complicated
00:34situation to get passports, but we did it. We got same-day passports in the U.S.
00:39the week before flying out to
00:42Europe to explore, to decide where we want our new home to be. I also had to do
00:48notarized paperwork to make sure the sell of the house goes through even though I will be in another country.
00:53This last month was a complete blur. We were having fun being tourists in Florida,
00:58but I also had to get everything ready for this trip. I sold my car,
01:02I got a bunch of work done, doing some different collaborations. We got snacks ready,
01:06we packed our bags, we minimized our whole farmhouse into three carry-ons.
01:11I honestly can't believe we did that. And the day before we were leaving, once I had all the paperwork finished and the bags packed,
01:20I definitely bawled my eyes out.
01:22I honestly just can't believe that I did it. I got so much hate and so much doubt and honestly, I get it.
01:28This is crazy, but off we go.
01:30My two daughters and I have been traveling the world full-time for the last about seven months,
01:34but I am due with baby number three in under 18 weeks.
01:38So it is time for us to start our very long
01:40transition. Step one of our mini step plan to get ready for this baby. Step one is leaving Paris and heading to Rome.
01:48Quite a few of you have guessed our end destination, but I'm not sharing quite yet.
01:53But I will say this decision on where to have baby has been both
01:58logistical-led and
01:59intuition-led and it is wild how much everything has just lined up unexpectedly.
02:05I am a... it's better to be early than stressed about being late.
02:10So we were crazy early to the airport. Every airport we have been to has just been so different, has different requirements.
02:16So I never really know how long it's actually going to take and given the Olympics were going on at this time,
02:22I was a little worried. It might be a little more extra chaotic and have a lot more
02:28security things going on and I was right. My bag ended up being searched and we were kind of at the security for quite some time.
02:35But thankfully we still had time to play.
02:37I got some work done. The girls got some homeschooling done at the airport and we caught our plane which the girls
02:43talk about this moment all the time.
02:45We saw the Eiffel Tower when we were in Paris,
02:48but the girls just find it extra magical and special that they got to see the Eiffel Tower when they were flying away from Paris.
02:55Like everywhere we go, restaurants, grocery stores, my kids say we saw the Eiffel Tower from our airplane.
03:03We were so exhausted by the time we got to Rome.
03:06This is actually the next morning because it was dark and time for bed by the time
03:10we got there. Follow along for more of our travels and getting ready for baby number three. After spending two months traveling around Indonesia,
03:17visiting the city in multiple islands, waterfalls, beaches, snorkeling, and of course some monkeys,
03:22we decided to say goodbye to Indonesia, pack up our things and jump on three flights over 24 hours
03:29to get to Barcelona, Spain and call this place home for the next two weeks.
03:34Our life in Indonesia felt much more fast-paced than I normally like to live.
03:39So this two weeks that we're spending in Spain, I've decided to dedicate to slowing down, reconnecting to my routine,
03:46reconnecting with nature, and making sure that I'm fully aligned and in flow with the slow living,
03:53mindful homeschooling life that I like to live.
03:55I always get the question of how I keep up all the travel and how I have the energy to homeschool, run my own business,
04:02while we are always navigating all the changes of travel. And this is the truth. I prioritize wellness,
04:09I prioritize healthy eating, I practice meditation, somatic healing exercises,
04:14dancing, intentional connection, as much as I can while incorporating my work,
04:20homeschooling, and enjoying all the adventures that come with our travels.