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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Business
Storm Newton

'Nomad family' sell everything and move to Thailand

A family who were living in Liverpool have sold all of their belongings and moved across the world.

Two years ago, Jenna Winterburn-Hynd and Liverpool-born wife Cath were struggling with the daily grind in the New Forest and found life "expensive". Jenna told the ECHO: "We were trying for a second baby and it wasn't working. Cath was going to carry for us and she was stressed. We were in a deficit every single month."

The couple and their then two-year-old daughter Luna decided to try something different; they moved into a van and travelled the country with their belongings in storage. Luna is now four and has a baby brother, five-month-old Bodhi, who arrived earlier this year.

READ MORE: Life in one of Merseyside's trendiest up and coming areas

However, Jenna said the arrival of their new addition made her and Cath realise they "didn't want to go back to spending no time together as a family and working a nine to five".

She added: "There's rising energy costs and people struggling and I just thought I don't want that. We fall into this perpetuated cycle in the UK."

The van that the family called home for 18 months (@slowly.wilding)

The family moved from Liverpool to Bangkok and have been there for a few weeks. Jenna said they are not "rich or lucky" but have just "made some really scary choices".

"This kind of life wouldn't work for some people, just because they don't want it. We have no belongings now. There's a couple of boxes with family but we'd already downsized considerably to move into a van.

"I coach women how to start online businesses so they can have the freedom to do what they want. Freedom works differently for everybody; you may not want to travel the world but you might want the freedom to pick your child up from nursery or who looks after them when they're sick."

Luna is also being 'worldschooled': "She's picking up different skills and we wanted her to have experiences and be immersed in different cultures and learn different languages."

The family's van taking in the views at Formby Beach (@slowly.wilding)

Jenna said the family currently has "no plan" for the future, but know they won't make the UK their home again: "We'll continue travelling until it doesn't work for one member of our family.

"We want to show the kids as much as we can. We've thought about Cambodia or Vietnam or even Australia for a bit. It's one of the luxuries of having a business online, you have the freedom to work anywhere."

Jenna said she is proud to be an "honorary Scouser". On life in Liverpool, she added: "It was weird to be static but we're so grateful to family members who put it up. They made it possible for us to transition because you can't sell a van when you're living in it. They made it all possible."

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