Why 20 families?
Nikolaj Astrup
Apr 30, 2025
When we created our very first website and wrote, “20 families traveling together for 4 months,” a common reaction was: “That sounds like a logistical nightmare.”
When we had our first call with Andy and Irene, who were considering becoming a founding family, Andy said, “Five families would be tricky, but I can wrap my head around it. Twenty families though…”
Since then, Andy and Irene have been instrumental in making TV1 happen. They’ve continued as a founding family and contributed heavily to the structure that makes everything work.
So yes—doing this kind of thing with 20 families comes with serious challenges. But then, why not just 5 or even 10 families?
A village, not a group trip
The main theory was: a village is easier to be part of than a group trip. Before the first trip, our gut feeling was that creating a more village-like setting would help in several ways:
Everyone finds someone to click with
With so many people, it becomes easier to find others who share your interests. Want to play basketball or do embroidery (both real examples from TV1)? Chances are, someone else is just as excited about it.
Less pressure on each person and each family
A larger group means there’s much less pressure on each individual and family. If someone needs to step back, recharge, or take a few days away, it doesn’t hurt the community. Activities still happen, and there are always enough kids around in every age group.
A relaxed community where people can be themselves
Our big goal with TV is to build what I’d call a relaxed community. It should feel like a neighborhood full of friends, not like a rigid community where everyone has to think or do the same.
Enough people to actually co-create
With around 35 adults, there are enough people to help make things happen. Founding families handle most of the pre-work, but once we're together, workgroups handle everything from infrastructure and finances to kids’ activities, meals, and lodging.
This mix of pre-planning and having enough people makes it possible for everyone to contribute in a way that works for them.
Co-creation is often more of a buzzword than a reality. But in TV, we’ve found a balance (never perfect!) where no one feels forced to contribute in ways they’re not excited about.
Solving the challenge of kids’ ages
A key question for most families is whether there will be kids in the same age group.
With around 35–40 children, the age distribution happens naturally. Instead of just one or two others in your child’s age bracket, there’s a small group.
Most importantly, this needs to be a success for the kids. Having peers to connect with makes all the difference, and in a larger group, each child is far more likely to find their people.
These were all theories and gut feelings we had before TV1. I remember starting our own travels a week ahead of TV1, feeling nervous and thinking, “What if this doesn’t work at all and it’s complete chaos?” 😂
Of course, TV1 wasn’t perfect. Sometimes it was chaotic. There was plenty to improve. But overall? The theory held up. Twenty families works.
Why not even more than 20 families?
Honestly, I believe the perfect village size could be more than 20 families. So why don’t we add more?
There are a few reasons:
Logistical limitations
There aren’t many places with the right built environment for a traveling village. We need good lodging, community spaces, and walkability. Since we don’t own the locations and we only stay for five weeks, finding setups that really work is a big challenge.
Being mindful guests
One of our goals is to contribute positively to the places we visit. If we’re in a tiny village, or even a small resort, 20 families can already feel like a lot. In a large city, we risk being too spread out. Adding more families would make this balance even harder.
A sweet spot for communication
Twenty families seems to be the sweet spot. It’s enough to feel like a community, but still small enough to feel personal.
It’s a number people can wrap their heads around. You can quickly learn everyone’s names.
If it were 30 families, I think more people would hesitate. It starts to feel like too much.
But isn’t it a logistical nightmare?
Yes, pulling this off is a lot of work. We have to find enough families, plan everything on the ground in three different countries, and organize the entire group.
But what I’ve learned is this:
It’s much more work than we imagined—just not in the way we expected.
Most of the work happens months before the trip. That includes planning, communication, and bringing the right families together.
We invest a lot in onboarding. And by “the right families,” we simply mean people who get it—people aligned with the idea and the community vibe. We’re not hand-picking families, but the process is designed to be self-selecting.
It starts with thoughtful communication on our website. Then each family goes through two calls with founding families. If they’re still in, they go through an 8-step onboarding process. The whole thing can take months.
To most people, that seems wild. But that preparation, and the structure we’ve built around how we make decisions, organize workgroups, use digital tools, means that most of the heavy lifting happens before the trip.
And once we’re finally on the trip? A lot of things simply just works!
