Culture Nomads: How Giving Up Everything for a Year of Travel Transformed Our Family and Our Lives

“Culture Nomads: How Giving Up Everything for a Year of Travel Transformed Our Family and Our Lives” follows the Gamble Family’s year-long travel journey during the height of the global COVID pandemic. In July 2020, Grant (58, he/him), Jana (42, she/her), Jack (15, he/they), and Ellie (14, they/them) collectively decide to reject the status quo and gift themselves the space to completely re-imagine their lives. They sell their home in Virginia along with most of their belongings, and hit the road in search of more joy, peace, health, and well-being. Over the next 12 months, the family travels 20,000 miles (32,190 km), visits 26 U.S. states, 11 National Parks, five countries, spends three months living on a beach in Mexico, four months living on a sailboat in French Polynesia, and finishes their journey with an intrepid, 7,000-kilometer (4,350-mile) crossing of the South Pacific Ocean from Bora Bora to their new home in Brisbane, Australia. They emerge with more clarity and joy than they could ever have anticipated. As recent history’s biggest disruptor to life as we know it, the global pandemic has made many people question where they live, how they work, and other important lifestyle choices. Chronic disease rates are at an all-time high with no sign of slowing down, depression, anxiety, and mental fatigue are endemic, people feel increasingly despondent about the state of the world, and climate change is devastating crucial ecosystems across the planet at record rates. Our teenagers are suffering more than ever but since our society has turned parenting into a competitive sport, most parents don’t discuss their struggles for fear of negative judgment. It has become clear that our way of life is not only unhealthy, but also unsustainable. The space the Gamble Family creates by exiting the mainstream for an extended period of time allows them to gain clarity and reframe their beliefs around everything from how we live, how we parent, how we learn, how much we’re affected by unreasonable societal expectations around achievement and status, and the overall lack of focus on health and happiness in our culture. Their journey confirms that for the most part, the mainstream paradigm does not serve our overall well-being or happiness, and they redefine how they want to live in order to create more healthy, fulfilled, and happy lives and become better stewards of the planet. Each family member undergoes a profound personal transformation. Grant and Jana re-evaluate their approach to parenting, work, and overall lifestyle. Jack and Ellie emerge from a state of depression and anxiety brought on by the challenges of being a teenager combined with the added pressure of long periods of isolation during the COVID lockdowns. They seek and gain clarity around the kinds of people they want to be and about the kinds of lives they want to experience going forward. Along the way, Jack discovers his passion for photography and Stella discovers their passion for illustration and art. The fact that the Gamble Family removes itself from the survival mode that is spawned by the frantic pace of everyday life gives Jack and Ellie the space to slowly begin to turn within and observe themselves away from the chaos. It gives them the space to figure out who they are and who they want to be. Removing Jack and Ellie from the mainstream for a significant enough amount of time turns out to be the greatest parenting decision Grant and Jana have ever made. Right before they embark on their intrepid crossing of the South Pacific Ocean, Jack and Ellie ceremoniously come out to Grant and Jana as non-binary and queer. The book follows both of the kids’ journeys to discovering their sexual orientations and gender identities and the effects it has on them and on the family. Jana discusses what it means to be a parent of a queer, non-binary teenager and how we can best support our LGBTQIA+ community.