“We are a mixed bunch,” Jolene Ejmont says of her family.
She is originally from South Africa; her husband, Andrzej, is from Poland. Their three daughters, Katie-Lee, Lily Anabella and Avalee-Rose, were all born in Australia, where the clan lives now.
They don’t necessarily stay there, however—the quintet loves to travel. To support their adventures, they are crafters, painters, writers, authors and, of course, travel bloggers.
Jolene shared her best travel hack, her must-have gear, and the app she always uses when planning a trip.
In three words, our travel style is…
Family, road-tripping, luxury.
For our first big family trip…
We went to Cambodia—four of us, and Avalee-Rose inside Mum’s belly. It was extraordinary!
We checked out the Angkor Wat temples, stayed in some lovely resorts, ventured out to the floating villages and met with the locals, and explored lovely islands such as Koh Rong Samloem and Rabbit Island.
What made me fall in love with traveling was…
I think it really comes down to the ability to travel and to see places that you could only dream of whilst staring at pictures on the screen (or way back in the books).
I love those moments when you stand in a certain spot on the planet and you are simply blown away. Places like the Colosseum in Italy or walking towards Mont Saint-Michel in France, or driving in Kruger National Park in South Africa, or walking up a sand dune in a desert of Namibia, and tonnes of others come to mind.
I fell in love with traveling, because of those feelings, if it makes sense… got lost in the pictures in my head for a second, hahaha.
Jumping into travel blogging was…
The best thing that we have ever done as a couple and as a family.
Thanks to the hard work and the possibilities that a travel blog provides, we have been able to venture out to all of those magical places in the world. Absolutely love it!
Our blog is like our journal, a place where we love to come back to and retrace our adventures. It is a place where we share all of our secrets, our stories and all of the recommendations of where we have been and what we have researched.
My personal favourite though, is our YouTube channel. I find myself watching the old vids over and over. It takes me back to all those feelings… and I want more!
The pandemic has…
Not affected how we think about travel. We still crave it, maybe even more than we did pre-covid.
Of course, it is hard to see how Covid has affected the world and the travel industry in particular. That being said, we remain optimistic that things will slowly come back to some sort of normal and that we all will be able to travel again with no restrictions. Fingers and toes crossed here.
Our favorite destination has to be…
Italy. Yes, this country has some kind of magic about it. The whole vibe, the people, the food and all of the sightseeing. We have been there, I think, four times now (last time we did a road-trip for 3.5 months) and we still don’t have enough of it! So much more to see still.
Our bucket list is very…
Long, but there are a few that will be happening in the near future.
Greece is on the top of the list, for its amazing island-hopping adventures. New Zealand is there, for the insanely picturesque road-tripping. Christmas in Switzerland is up there too, for the magical wintery celebration with the kids. Bora Bora, well, do I really need to explain here? Guess not.
We decide where to travel by…
We have been knocking out our bucket list destinations as much as we can.
That being said, we do always have to take into consideration our kids’ schools. That’s why we tend to try to work out our travel plans with holidays in mind.
With kids, we travel to more kid-friendly destinations, such as road-tripping in Italy, Namibia or Asia. And if it is something that we want to do by ourselves, we opt out for more romantic destinations, such as a Treehouse Villas relaxation on Koh Yao Noi in Thailand, or similar.
My best family-travel hack is…
Check in on each other and if you need a time out, then allow time for it. Be flexible with your sightseeing or things to do at the particular destination. Family is more important than another “old castle” that you want to see.
Keeping everyone happy on a family vacation can be tricky and family-travel hacks vary on the age of the kid. That being said, it’s all about giving each other space to breathe and to be yourself.
I advise families who want to travel like us to…
Ask questions and learn from the people that are already doing it. Research if the travelling family shares how they have started their travel blog and/or what they have done to make that kind of life possible. Travel bloggers or family travelling families love to share their stories, so just learn from them and make it a reality for yourself.
I always make sure we have….
Passports, my wallet and recording gear, such as cameras, iphones and laptops. Everything else can be replaced as you go. Other than that, our family travel gear (apart from the clothes, etc.) is the kids’ technology, such as their cameras, phone, iPads. Kids want to be connected to their friends back home and boredom whilst on a long road trip is not a good idea for anyone.
Some of our favorite spots close to home are…
A resort stay at Noosa Heads or relaxation at a hinterland hut in Montville, both located on the Sunshine Coast.
And if close to home can include a 1.5-hour flight away, it would be Hayman Island Resort. Yup, that one is a definite yes, when it comes to our favourites.
The best travel advice I’ve received was…
To live more like a local. Not sure if that is something someone told us, or we just followed our own instincts. We love staying in Airbnbs. That way we feel more like locals, and usually can stay at some pretty amazing homes that are closer to old towns and/or attractions that we want to check out.
One thing I would love to change about travel is…
The seating on all of the airplanes. It would be much better if the seats were more comfortable, fully reclining for sleeping, had more legroom, TVs and everything on the plane was included and delicious.
I want my kids to learn from traveling…
That we are all human, that we are all equal and that happiness can be found even in places where there is not much at all.
My favorite travel app is…
Google Earth. I absolutely love checking out the places that we are about to visit, walking the streets to see the surrounding areas of where we are going to stay, and Google Earth gives me just that. I believe that I have used it before every single trip we’ve had so far, without fail.
If you are keen to get to know us more, you can find us…
On our family travel blog Wanderlust Storytellers or follow us on our social media on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
