Meet Isak, Eigil, Nanna & Leheng (🇩🇰)

Please introduce yourself; who are you, where are you from, where are you currently, what do you do for a living/currently? Please include the kids’ ages on departure day.

We are Nanna and Leheng, and our two kids, Eigil who will be 3.5 on departure date, and Isak who will be 1 year old. We are from Denmark and live in Copenhagen. Leheng studies engineering in his last year, specializing in process and innovation, and Nanna is a self-employed yoga teacher and postpartum counselor, working with pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She is currently on maternity leave with Isak for the next year.

Why did you decide to get involved in this project?

As our family is expanding, Nanna has found her career path and is working on building an online business, and Leheng is almost finished with studying, we found it to be an ideal time to experiment with life as digital nomads, being remote and able to travel as we like. We tried this lifestyle last winter when traveling for 3 months in Mexico and 1 month in Spain with our son Eigil and we absolutely loved it! There was a lot of learning on this trip about what worked and what didn’t, and one thing we found out was, that we missed being a part of a larger community, we missed having a day-to-day life with other grown-ups and families so we could help each other out in the daily busy life with kids and work and so on. So we were talking a lot about the possibility of a ‘traveling village’, combining the digital nomad life, family life, and community living. Then when we met one of the other founding families on a playground in Mexico, we quickly discovered we had the same thoughts and then the project started to take shape….

What kind of interests do you have?

Nanna: Yoga, mindfulness, motherhood, birth, pregnancy, parenthood, traveling, hiking, sustainable business development, alternative lifestyles
Leheng: Mountain biking, sourdough, road biking, hiking, outdoor activities.

Tell us some interesting random facts about you guys. Don’t hold back, this is your time to shine 🙂

We met each other in Nepal back in 2015 on both of our first ‘big journeys, we were doing volunteer work and only spend 1 month together in Kathmandu before going to different projects, Nanna in Vietnam, and Leheng in the countryside of Nepal. Our relationship began on skype/facetime and developed into traveling together in Myanmar before finally being in Denmark together after 7 months.
Travelling has always been where we thrive as a couple, maybe because this was how we began our relationship, we are both very adventurous and share the same mindset when traveling. We also complement each other well as Nanna is very spontaneous and Leheng is more thorough and plans ahead – but we both love when we are out in the world to explore, taste, and try new things and have time to talk and just be with each other, slowing down and get to know ourselves better.

How do you educate your kids?

Our children are still very young, so we don’t have any ‘schooling yet, but it’s important for us that they are a natural part of our life and day-to-day happenings, we always bring them around to different activities, hanging out with our friends, doing a lot of things that we the adults love and that the kids become a natural part of – we don’t believe that having kids means limiting your life, on the contrary, they bring so many new reflections and opportunities. We want to spend a lot of time with our kids, so we had our first son home for the first 2 years before going to kindergarten, and even then we try to keep a balance of home days and kindergarten days, so we have time to work on our business and school, and time to ourselves, but also time to play and go on trips together. We still experiment with the ideal work/life balance, but it’s definitely our goal to spend as much time together as a family while the kids are still young.

What do you think will be the most difficult about this experiment?

All the things that we don’t know. It’s so new and experimental so there will be a lot of obstacles on the way, or things we couldn’t prepare for when bringing so many people together and traveling around, but that’s also the interesting part of this project. What kind of culture will we develop during the collective challenges, and how decisions are being made in a big group – all these things will be difficult and interesting to see how develops.

What kind of work groups or projects would you be excited about joining on the trip?

Nature adventures, adrenalin rush, hiking, and stuff like that. Also projects for kids, arranging sports activities or games for different ages plus learning/unschooling projects. Co-working could also be great, helping each other develop your small business.

Will you be working while we are traveling?

Yes, that’s the plan. Nanna will work on her own business and hopefully teach some yoga on the travel as well, and Leheng will either study online or work part-time remotely. Both things are very flexible and not always dependent on a specific timezone.

What do you hope to learn or take away from joining this experiment?

Inspiration on a whole new way of living and traveling, better understanding and experience of the world schooling philosophy, lifelong friendships for both kids and adults, many memorable experiences, and an experience for life we will never forget.