A British couple who quit their jobs and are travelling the world with their six-year-old daughter say their living costs on the road are now substantially lower than when they lived in the UK.
Hayley, 37, and Lewis Trow, 45, told media they had budgeted the year away to cost about £2,000–£3,000 a month, but their current average spend is roughly £1,500–£2,000 a month compared with about £4,000–£5,000 when they lived in Cheshire. They estimate their outgoings are about 50% lower while travelling.
Both former recruitment professionals, Hayley and Lewis said they took a one-year sabbatical from work and left a rented home to live with Lewis's parents for six months to save for the trip. The family began their journey at Disneyland Paris to celebrate their daughter Nyla's birthday, spent a month travelling in Italy and then moved to Bali, where they said they are renting an apartment with a pool for about £500 a month including bills.
The couple said saving money had not been the primary motive for the trip, which was inspired by an extended holiday to Australia in 2022. "We'd both spent years climbing the ladder, working towards leadership roles, spending time in boardrooms and endless meetings — but it got to the point where we realised we were living for two holidays a year," Hayley said. "We wanted more time together, more adventure, and more freedom for our daughter. So we traded boardrooms for Bali beaches."
Hayley described the family’s UK household costs before departure as including about £300 a month in household bills, roughly £200 a week on groceries and around £100 for a typical day out. On the road they say food, accommodation and bills are lower in many of the places they are visiting, allowing them to stretch their budget further.
The couple spent seven months planning the trip. They informed Nyla's school of their plans and said the school was "very supportive." Nyla has been given online tutoring aligned to the UK curriculum while the family is away and has been temporarily enrolled at a multicultural school in Bali to continue her education.
The family intends to remain in Bali until November, then travel to Australia — where they have booked a campervan — before visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the new year. Hayley said the couple had aimed for a midrange travel budget that would still allow them to visit their chosen destinations.
The family acknowledge challenges that come with full-time travel with a young child, including heat, tantrums and the adjustment of spending all day together after previously juggling work and school routines. "Tantrums still happen, the heat can be overwhelming, and spending 24/7 together is a huge adjustment from our old lives," Hayley said. "But compared to juggling the school run with late-night emails? We'll take the chaos of travel any day."
They said the experience of seeing landmarks and exploring through their daughter's perspective had reinforced their decision. Hayley added: "At six years old, Nyla still wants to spend every second with us, and we know that won't last forever. We wanted to make memories now, not 'one day.'"
Hayley and Lewis said they would recommend similar family travel to others, advising that there is no single right time to take such a break. Their case highlights wider questions about the cost of living in the UK and different spending patterns when living overseas, as well as the practicalities families face when balancing prolonged travel with education and career commitments.