MAKEPEACE FAMILY
Hi. We're the Makepeace family. We've been traveling the world since 1997, and since 2007 with our two daughters.
And since 2010, we've been helping travel lovers like yourself, unplug from the chaos, follow their bliss, and travel more and create better memories on our award-winning family travel blog.
We've made it happen no matter our life stage - solo travel, couples travel, expat travel, digital nomad travel, RV travel, and of course, travel with kids.
Our blog has been featured by notable publications like Lonely Planet, Fox Business News, Cheddar TV, The Today Show, Forbes, Travel & Leisure, Skyscanner, Expedia, Afar, CNN online, Business Insider, Pinterest, and Social Media Examiner.
The White House invited us to attend a travel summit as one of the top digital travel influencers in the world in 2014, and in 2020 we were granted a green card for our extraordinary ability in the art of travel blogging.
We love helping you find ways to travel and give you our insider tips on destinations around the world.
If you’re like us, there’s a yearning inside of you to TRAVEL.
You’re possibly tired of life stuck in the hamster wheel, and want to reclaim a little bit of freedom, ease, and joy.
A chance to just slip into a hammock undisturbed at sunset with an ice cold drink and a slow sway to the tunes of your favorite song.
The opportunity to tell enriching stories and have something to laugh about for years to come.
Maybe it’s something more you want to escape to – a road trip in the USA, or across Australia, a trek to Machu Picchu, teaching English in Asia, or a gap year that turns into three – like mine did.
Each of us has our own interpretation of what the ultimate form of travel looks like.
I’m sure we can agree travel allows us to escape the everyday formalities, headaches, and routines to give us a sense of life ownership.
We get your vibe
We caught the travel bug 22 years ago, and have been traveling on-and-off ever since. It’s our absolute passion to help others follow the same bliss in whatever style they choose to travel.
Travel does not necessarily always have to take the form of packing bags, crossing borders, or being nomadic.
It’s an act and a feeling that can happen in every given moment.
It’s about living a full life, being connected to the present moment, experiencing unbridled joy, and creating (and sharing) profound memories.
Moments that change who you are and impact the world positively.
We travel to escape the chaos of our lives: The expectations, routines, and demands placed upon us that make us feel like we’re constantly jammed into the power point.
We can unplug no matter where we are, on the road or at home, so we can reconnect to what we really love.
We want to help you disconnect from the chaos – the living by the shoulds, musts, and have tos – to embrace your heart centered desires so you can follow and live your bliss.
Allow us to introduce ourselves
We prefer deep, enriching cultural experiences over counting countries.
For us, life is about accumulating memories, not just possessions.
We’re now creating those precious memories with our two daughters, Kalyra (13) and Savannah (9). We travel with our girls full time while working on this travel blog (as well as homeschooling (or life schooling) our girls.)
If you’re looking for a place to fuel your desire for travel and learn how to do it too, you’re in the right place.
With us, you get so much more than a pretty picture. You get a lifestyle, a passion. commitment and unrivalled expertise.
How can we help you?
We’re here to tell you your life does not have to fit in a box. You don’t have to live behind the picket fence, slave away at that full-time job that sucks you dry, and the monotonous peak hour traffic runs.
You CAN have the picket fence and a job you love if that’s your mojo, but, we’re pretty sure you at least want to escape your everyday life for weekend getaways or a two-week vacation every year.
Why not? It brings you joy, adventure, and long-lasting memories.
To be clear, we’ve created a lifestyle of travel for over twenty years without a trust fund, without special privileges, or well-connected friends.
We’ve made it happen with an intense desire and by putting one foot in front of the other.
We understand your dreams, hopes, fears, and challenges.
We'll help you find ways to unplug from the chaos, to reconnect to joy and what's really important for you, and how to travel more and create better memories.
We're here to guide you towards making the travel happen, and then give you all the useful information and tips to enjoy the experience when you get there. The majority of our content is written based on our personal experiences.
Let me toot our horn for just a second, merely so we can show you that we do this because it's our ultimate passion to travel and help you do the same. It's the ONLY life we know.
We never quit the cubicle because we never joined it in the first place.
We WALK our TALK.
We do not give you information based upon desk research or collaborations. We live and breathe it so we can give you the most relevant and accurate information.
We've made travel a lifestyle for 26 years. It's not something we started to do because it looked cool on someone's Instagram feed.
It's not something we started so we could make money online. We started when postcards were the norm and there was no internet.
On my first trip abroad to Indonesia in 1997, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. So I made it happen.
This traveling lifestyle has taken us on a journey through solo travel, working abroad, expat travel, nomad travel, full-time travel, couples travel, family travel, digital nomad travel, and now having a home base to travel in and out of.
Our style is to travel local, immerse ourselves in the culture, experience as much outdoor adventure as we can, talk to the locals, and travel deep and wide to create those enriching experiences with those we love.
If that sounds like you and you resonate with our vibe, then this is the place for you and you can trust that the tips and information we share is something you can follow and implement. Join our free VIP email community in the box below. (they get the best tips and insider stories to inspire, uplift, and empower.)
Check out our Start Here page that will give you the inspiration AND information to get you traveling, and traveling more often!
I love reading your emails and I've been following your blog since 2014 when I was working in marketing for a travel company. Even after I switched jobs and industries, I kept my subscription because almost every email you send really connects with me even though I don't travel much. I remember reading one of your emails 5 minutes before an interview, and right before a big presentation and right in the middle of a breakup, and each one gave me courage, affirmation or a new perspective to life.
Subscriber to the VIP email tribe!
A little more about us
We also wear the hats of writer, speaker, social media influencer, and mentor.
We share the world through our stories and offer an abundance of tips to help people like you follow their desire for travel.
We believe in fun, freedom, adventure, connection and discovery - it makes our lives richer and more meaningful.
With us, it's not a case of tell us why you can't do something.
We're a kick-away-those-limiting-beliefs-and-tell-us-why-you-CAN sorta people.
Here's the truth:
Don't wait until you're old and cashing in your retirement money to start living. Your creaky knees will have no energy for early morning sunrise hikes and late night cocktails with new friends.
Do it now.
And don't think for a second you can't do it because you have kids.
I got so tired of people telling me once I fell pregnant my travel life was over. It was like becoming a mother meant you were walking into a prison cell.
Both our girls had their first international holiday before they were 6 months old, and we completed an 18-month road trip around Australia in 2015 and we've just finished road tripping across the USA for 11 months.
Travel Life Not Over!
This is what happens when you pursue your passion and do what it takes to make it your lifestyle. You’ll discover those barriers were just imagined and born from fear and doubt.
We’ll help you to kick away those fears and lean into the life your heart desires.
See more on my TBEX opening keynote, where I share 3 principles you can apply every day to help create your dream life.
About this Travel Blog
We started y Travel Blog in 2010 as a way to share all we knew to help you travel more – 26 years of round the world travel: living and working in 5 countries and traveling through 56 or so.
We never realized our travel blog would grow so big. Miracles unfold when you follow the passion of your heart and share your unique self.
Virgin Australia named us as one of their top Australian travel bloggers for 2014, and our work is regularly syndicated by National Geographic, Lonely Planet and the Tourism Australia social communities. In 2017, we won a Modern Ontrapreneur award for Excellence in Publishing!
We've partnered with brands such as Qantas, American Express, TripAdvisor, Ford, Canon, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and many international and state tourism boards.
We're ambassadors for Allianz Travel and PrAna.
Lonely Planet, Skyscanner, Expedia, Afar, CNN online, Business Insider, ABC radio, The Travel Show, Huffington Post, Pinterest and Social Media Examiner have featured us as experts in what we do.
The Today Show in Australia filmed a 4-minute segment on us about our 18 month trip around Australia and traveling with kids. And we've been featured in other TV shows like Queensland Weekender, A Current Affair and Places we Go.
In the US, we've appeared as travel experts on Fox Business, Cheddar TV and The Little Things and have been featured on Today.com, Forbes, Brides.com, MyDomaine, Mind Body Green and Mommy Nearest.
We regularly speak and keynote at blogging and social media conferences and have appeared as teachers in Create traffic Driving Images, Travel Blog Success, and Bright-Eyed and Blog Hearted.
We also created a online training program to help visiting international teachers travel more in the US.
And get this?
The White House invited us to attend a travel summit as one of the top digital travel influencers in the world in 2014.
We never expected to receive that email (and kind of replied with a "Nice spam" EEK!! We apologized when we discovered it was for real and attended!)
This travel blog helped us turn our impossible 14 year dream into a reality. We were granted a US green card for our extraordinary ability in the art of travel blogging.
Enjoy the journey of your life - it's a trip, if you just let it be!
What Others Are Saying about Y Travel Blog
It thrills us to know we're helping people follow their bliss and travel. Here are a few words:
Our Personal Journey to Here
I, Caroline Makepeace, left home in 1997, 3 days after graduating from University to live in London.
I lived in a house with up to 25 international travelers. I didn't think twice about midweek pub crawls and Sunday Sessions. It was fun and soul evolving (well that's what I like to say)
It wasn't all just partying, though, I traveled a lot too - Eurovan tour and treks through South East Asia (maybe with a little full-moon partying thrown in)
At this time, Craig Makepeace was carving up the football field playing professional rugby league for the North Sydney Bears until 1996. He trained and played hard, and in the off season went in search for adventures in South Africa and the USA.
When his football career ended prematurely, the passion for more travel began to stir within him. He had plans mapped out for indefinite travel when his construction training finished.
We met at the right time.
Three years after I first left, I returned home, ready to fatten the bank account and leave again for round two.
But then a handsome young man walked in the pub one night and swept me off my feet. I couldn't leave him for Ireland, so I waited.
Two years later we married, and three days after that we hopped on the plane to live our travel dreams together.
There was a lot less partying - it was still present - but this time we embraced a little more adventure and exploration: Teaching English in Bangkok, then the UK, Africa, Asia and the USA.
We returned home after the five-year honeymoon and hit a major slump. This travel life we loved was over.
We felt cut off from life, and through desperation to reconnect, we started chasing money making schemes all over the world trying to get the riches we needed to keep traveling.
Let's just say $500,000 and no self-esteem later we woke up. (<-- the most popular post on site. I think it you'll jive with it)
Why do we need to wait until we have the money to live what's in our hearts? Why not just start with what is in the heart today?
It wasn't an easy journey out of the black hole, but as soon as we focused on what we loved and used that as a way to serve and change people's lives things turned around.
And here we are now.
Living the life of travel we dreamed of.
This time with our two adorable daughters, Kalyra and Savannah. Just us, a camper trailer and the wide expanses of a sunburned country and endless oceans to cross.
If we can do it, you can too. It doesn't have to be only a dream!
Let's get started on your dream today. We now also have a travel podcast to help inspire you to live those dreams with loads of travel stories, tips and interviews. Subscribe and listen here.
About US for fun
Craig complains he's surrounded by three women, but I feel I have it much worse being surrounded by three Virgos.
We love the outdoors, crave adventure, are sports mad and can’t ignore a good festival or farmer’s market. If there's a hammock nearby, we'll fight over who has swinging rights.
Kalyra is a princess who dreams of living in Hawaii with a surfboard and and Academy Award trophies on the side, but is also fearless in her pursuit of adventure.
She's not afraid to try anything: surfing, zip lining, holding snakes, and one-handed cartwheels.
She's a passionate advocate for human rights, feminism, diversity and inclusion. She's going to hold you up to a higher ideal.
Savannah, our fussy wild one, is most likely to excel at hotel escapes and in the sporting arena, like her father. She's an old soul full of insightful wisdom, curious questions, and many laughs, and perhaps more stubborn than a mule.
This girl emanates joy with everything she does. She'll raise you up.
She also loves kayaking for 16km and hanging upside down above jungle canopies. Her dream is to take over this blog and continue to make travel her lifestyle.
Craig’s the rock, keen on order and attention to detail, and refuses to resign from his role of master beer taster.
He's also chief photographer and will happily move around the world watching one sporting event after the other.
I’m the flighty Libran, fluffing around trying to bring harmony to the family through crystals, meditation, sun gazing, and downward dogs (and the odd glass of wine at 5pm).
I'm completely devoted to a life of fun, adventure and freedom with people I love.
Kalyra and Savannah were named because of our love of travel and freedom and both have similar meanings: a wild and pleasant place. It's a state of being we feel gives you the most full and joyful life!
When friends from Australia come visit, you plan for a bloody great time.
It`s been six years since we`ve seen @mrs_irvs and @mike_irving and were thrilled they made time to come see us on their way to Mexico.
We showed off our beautiful city while creating fun memories doing lots of lake walks, wine tasting at a vineyard near our house, a bar crawl of Downtown Cary, Mike and Ang cooked a delicious steak dinner followed by firepit in our backyard, a Mexican brunch, and Raleigh`s best Halloween house!!
We solved all the world`s problems and made exciting future plans for more adventures together!
#friendsthattravel #travelingfriends #friendstraveling #travelfriends #travelpassport #travelingwithfriends #friendswhotravel #traveldreamseekers #traveltoexplore #travelwithfriends #carync #cary #shoplocalraleigh #raleighncblogger #downtownraleighnc #raleighbloggers #raleighblogger #919
What keeps you from quitting?
📷 Larch Valley Hike, Banff National Park
#familytravelbloggers #explorebanff #banfflife #banffalberta #bloggertravel #neverstoptraveling #blogtravel #happytravels #femaletraveler #banffcanada #discovercanada #digitalnomadlife #entrepreneurlifestlye #bossladystatus #womanwhohustle #bosslifestyle #6figureincome #entrepreneurlifestyles #ladypreneur #entreprenuerlife #entreprenuership #larchvalley
Can you imagine how thrilled I was on a recent South Carolina road trip with Savannah when she turned to me on the last day and said,
Well, Mum, I think we found our story!"
Just when you think they don`t listen to you!
Attitude shapes every experience!
#travelkid #kidswhotravel #kidtravel #lonelyplanetkids #travelmadfam #welltraveledkids #awesometravelkids #travelwithchildren #worldschool #familytravelblogger #takethekids #adventurewithkids #familytravels #travelkids #travelingfamily #familytravelblog #famtravel #familytraveltips #chooseadventure #exploringfamilies #traveltolearn #travelmoreoften #travelfam #familytips #familygetaway
The key to a happy, full life is allowing that scared part of us to be seen and used in a way that contributes.
Shine Bright!
📷 Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
#bloggertravel #banffalberta #happytravels #experiencesoverthings #ohheymama #momtraveler #momtravel #travelingmoms #travelingmom #momswhotravel #travelmom #travelblogs #travelpreneur #originalquote #justathought #musings #livewithpurpose #livewithintention #showupforyourself #beyourbestyou #liveonpurpose #createalifeyoulove #purposefullife #daringgreatly #createthelifeyoulove #letyourlightshine #lakelouisealberta #louiselake #canadaviews #lakelouisecanada
🐈⬛️ Does anybody else understand the unrequited love of a cat owner?
My Ivy and Mavis follow me everywhere, head butt me, and give me the long, slow blink.
Apparently, that`s cat love!
#catsrule #worldofcats #catlovers #catcute #meow #cutestcat #lovelycats #blackcatclub #blackcatlove #blackkitty #blackcatappreciation #housecat #blackcatsaregoodluck #blackcatsofinsta #blackcatsrock #adorablecat #catlifeisgood #felinelove #proudcatowner #cutestcatever #catobsessed #happykitty #catsarecool #catowners #catownerproblems #catowner #felines
