When we were overwhelmed with where to move after Portugal, we didn’t go to our therapist. (Okay, we did — but since he also moved to Portugal, that wasn’t very helpful.)
So we went to the next best place for life advice: YouTube.
Just like we watch videos before choosing a place to visit, we look for families actually living this lifestyle with little kids.
That’s how we found Courtney and Justin of Orgias Family Adventures, a family of four traveling full-time with two young kids — Xavier (6) and Whitley (3). We first came across their videos from Medellín, filmed back when their kids were about the age ours are now.
We reached out not just to ask about Colombia, but to understand how they were making this life work with such young children. It took a few tries to schedule the interview (because, kids), but we finally made it happen.
Getting to Know the Orgias Family
What spurred you to do this lifestyle in the first place? Did you travel before kids, or was this something that came later?
“I think it’s multifactorial, and it’s interesting because every time someone asks this question, a different reason pops to the top of my brain.
But the biggest overarching thing is that we realized life was either going to look really complacent and stagnant, or we were going to take the reins and it was going to look a lot more adventurous and fun.
When you get to the place where you’ve done all the things — bought the house, two cars in the garage, fenced-in backyard with the playset, 2.5 kids, the white picket fence — it’s kind of like, okay, what’s the next thing you strive for? Retirement? Yuck.
We’ve always liked to travel. Immigration is in our family, so the notion of moving and leaving was already there. We had remote jobs that were very flexible, and we traveled before kids, when we were together, and even when I was pregnant.
When I was pregnant with our second, something clicked. We either make a move now, or it’s just going to get harder and harder, and that complacency is going to take root.”
(Yes, we know. We need a ring light.)
When you first started traveling with your oldest, how old was he?
“We took our son on his first international trip when he was around 18 months old. He was four months old when the world shut down for COVID, so that first year or so everything was really buttoned up.
When things started opening up, we went to Mexico. That was his first time flying internationally, and he loved it. He went nuts for the mangoes. The beach was different. I’d been talking to him in Spanish since he was a baby, so he was walking around shouting random Spanish words at people because he was excited to hear it.”
Did you have your daughter on the road, or did you go back home for her birth? (We were especially curious about this, having just had our baby in Bogotá.)
“Whitley was born in the U.S., though I did want to have her in Mexico. We’d had home births with both kids, and I had a super chill, uncomplicated pregnancy, so I was like, you could just have her in another country. Especially Mexico — she could get citizenship, and we wanted to leave anyway, so why not?
Justin wasn’t comfortable with it, and our moms were relieved, so she was born in the U.S. And then everything moved really fast. She was born, we listed the house for sale, and that was the domino that toppled everything.
She was about ten weeks old when we were on a flight out of the country with the house sold and everything done. From Xavier’s first international trip to us leaving the country fully was probably only about 18 months.”
Were you both working when you first left?
“I was on maternity leave, which was part of why it made sense to leave quickly while she was still little. It gave us time to go and explore and get settled and figure out what we wanted life to look like before I had to start working again.
With both kids I took about four months, so leaving before she was even three months old gave us a little cushion of time to sit and get settled.”
On Their Travel Style
Do you have a rule for how long you stay somewhere, or does it depend?
“I don’t think we have a rule. Historically, a lot of it has to do with the vibes.“
At different points we’ve chosen to either base or bop.
“When we base, we get a lease, the kids are in school, and we stay. We did nine months in Oaxaca, and we did the same in Mexico City and in Rio. In between, we bop.
When we bop, we usually commit to at least four weeks, because you want to really get to know somewhere. I want to go to the grocery stores, talk to people, see the parks, walk around.
If you only stay a week, you lose days — someone sleeps poorly, someone’s screaming, oatmeal’s on the floor, and suddenly that was your only Saturday there. I choose peace, but I don’t want that to be the whole trip.”
On Where They’ve Been 🇲🇽 🇨🇴🇧🇷
Mexico was Courtney and Justin’s first real landing — starting in Playa del Carmen, then Guadalajara — planning to stay nine months and trusting they’d figure it out once they arrived.
We went apartment hunting and got set up with school, and everything kind of just rolled into place.
Why did you choose Mexico as a place to start?
“Mexico has so many benefits. It’s beautiful and diverse, the food is amazing, and it’s geographically close to the U.S. If something happens, we can get to our parents or they can get to us.
I speak Spanish, which makes things easier, and at the time the visa and residency process was a lot simpler. It gave us time to figure out what we wanted without jumping somewhere that felt incredibly far — psychologically and geographically.”
And what was the deal with Guadalajara?
“We really wish we had done a scouting trip. The YouTube videos weren’t wrong, but they weren’t totally accurate. Walkability is different when you’re talking about a stroller and a toddler. Mexican sidewalks are unhinged.
Once we were there, leaving wasn’t really an option. You’re locked in with a baby, work starting, and life already in motion. Pivoting wasn’t simple. It worked out, but we learned a lot.”
This also really resonated with us. We chose Porto for a similar reason regarding walkability — we heard it was less hilly than Lisbon. When the city wasn’t a fit, it wasn’t easy to just get up and go. We had done so much to get settled and there was that feeling of sunk cost…and time.
Did you end up basing in Medellín? How did you end up in Bogotá?
“When we decided to go, I loved the idea of Medellín. I was looking up apartments. I had friends. Watched YouTube Videos. I thought I’d done all the research. We thought we would base there for a long time.
But once we were there, a lot didn’t work with kids — the hills, the walkability, the lack of parks, and the fact that the schools were far outside the city.
There was also the understanding that a lot of locals were really sick of Americans coming in, and I didn’t love that we were part of that. And then, you know, Bogotá is right there.
I’m also really into astrology, and I have a Jupiter line that runs through Bogotá. And I was like, I think the vibes will vibe over there. Let’s go check it out.”
(We ended up bonding over Bogotá — how much hate it gets, and how surprisingly livable it actually is.)
When Medellín didn’t work out, they headed to Rio, with a stop in Bogotá along the way. Some of this happened by accident, kind of like when we ended up in Colombia from Portugal.
How long were you in Rio de Janeiro?
“Long enough to fall in love and to become completely enamored.”
They based there on a month-to-month rental, enrolled the kids in school, and settled into daily life. Whitley took her first steps there in 2023 — a detail that still anchors Rio as more than just another stop.
On Finding Childcare
Did you use nannies? How did you manage work with little kids?
“When we were in Rio, we had a nanny the whole time we were there. Having that consistency made a huge difference while we were both working.”
Do you have a rule for when you enroll the kids in school?
“Going through finding a place and touring and paperwork — paperwork isn’t my ministry. And school paperwork is important paperwork.
Unless we’re committed to really basing somewhere, like six months or longer, we don’t enroll them. Now that Xavier is older, we’re having to take tracking his education more seriously — especially across different systems and languages — so that things don’t become a mess later.”
While you were in Bogotá, did you put the kids in school or have childcare?
“No, we weren’t there long enough. 2023 was chaos. We were juggling the kids while both working — Justin’s in sales and I’m in customer success.
When they were smaller, it was easier. In Bogotá, it was survival mode.”
On Where They’re Going
Though Courtney and Justin have been a lot of places, one of the themes we continued to talk about is that while there are a lot of worldschooling hubs, there aren’t many for kids our age.
“Like, where are the programs for the under-5s?”
That’s what led to Courtney and Justin planning a family retreat this summer in St. George’s, Grenada — where Justin's family is from.
After years of doing the thing, we sort of were like, “let's make the thing that we wish we had when we first started the thing.”
The retreat will have programs for the vetted childcare for the little ones, accommodations with real space and kitchenettes, and weekly excursions.
The idea is that you can show up, turn your brain off, and focus on making meaningful connections with other families. 👇
To learn more about this retreat and keep up with Courtney and Justin’s family, visit their YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook.
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