East Lothian family of five take life-changing six-month journey across globe
Alan and Abby Nash, from Longniddry, brought their children - Skyla, 11, Hunter, nine, and Rocky, seven - on a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list journey across North America, Pacific islands, Oceania and Asia.
They travelled to 10 far-flung locations, beginning in Canada and eventually jetting to Hawaii, Tahiti, the island of Mo'orea, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Bali, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
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Alan, 41, started a property management company but decided to step back after 18-years of managing the firm. When he and his wife Abby, 42, decided to embark on the journey, Abby resigned from her job in events put her Get After It Girls Fitness & Well-being business in safe hands. They also put their children's traditional education on hold while they undertook the journey.
Alan told Edinburgh Live: "We dreamed and talked often of different adventures and traveling the world, but there are so many things to stop it from happening. The time was right, I needed a break after 18 years of hard work and my wife resigned from her job and we made it happen.'
The family suddenly found themselves immersed in new cultures and surrounded by wildlife thousands of miles from their home in East Lothian. In Vancouver, they encountered a black bear the "size of the bottom of our car" after it emerged from a garden in a residential area.
In Australia, they swam with a humpback whale and her calf, which Alan described as "the most serene and incredible experience."Abby's dreams came true when she swam with dolphins in New Zealand and surfed with turtles and Monk Seals in Hawaii. Their daughter loved free diving five meters to a ship wreck surrounded by tropical fish. On the Gili Islands off Bali, the family got caught in a moth attack when "hundreds of thousands" of the insects swarmed them, spurred on by the season's first rainfall.
One of their favourite portions was when they spent weeks in Fiji immersing themselves in the island's lifestyle.
Alan said: "Fiji was eye-opener. We were completely immersed in the village. There was no running water or wifi, no glass in the windows."
Despite the differences, the family found common ground with the islanders through a shared love of rugby.
Alan added: "Fiji is strong rugby nation so kids played rugby every day with the local children. We snorkelled and we fell in love with island culture and the simplicity of it."
Alan said the epic half-year undertaking came with its challenges, which brought the family closer together. He shared: "As a family of five, we were together constantly, from living in motor homes to single bedrooms, and it was sometimes a hard dynamic. You couldn't get away and have your own space.
"But as a unit, it borough us together. We had fall-outs. Brothers and sisters would argue. Family life on road was stressful, but it was so worth it for what we got to experience. It was a massive bucket list thing. From adult to child, it was incredible trip."
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Alan and the family shared their experiences through their YouTube channel, The GET AFTER IT Family. They want to motivate others to bring their adventurous dreams to reality.
Alan said: "We want to inspire. We've always been outgoing and traveling as much as we can. We want give that inspiration to get out there and get after it. Traveling for six months wasn't that normal to us, but when we got out there, lots of people were doing it. Lots of people are staying in the rat race but if you push yourself, you can get out there and get after it."
The trip also carried important lessons for the family, with Alan continuing: "To be happy, you don't need things, you need experiences. We have too many possessions. We cleared out lot of belongings beforehand.
"The children aren't going to want to travel with us forever and [this trip] brought our family together. To experience this together as family was what was so important to us."
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