We are a family of four - Kathi, Sam, and our children Nora (born February
2017) and Nina (born November 2019). We've traveled and lived in over 65
countries around the world and this is a bit of insight into who we are.
Kathi was born in Innsbruck, Austria and grew up in the neighbouring village Völs until her late teens.
She was a sports enthusiast and she did a lot of Athletics. Music was also
a big part of her life during most of her youth. She learned to play
Flute, Piano, Guitar, Ukulele, and she sings. She was also the
singer/musician in a band that performed in their
neighbourhood. Her life was full of friends, family, church
activities, sports, music, and fun. When she was 18 she decided to explore
the world and learn and do something different and new. She moved
to Kenya and volunteered at a
local NGO, working
in a slum, a children's home, and a secondary school teaching sports,
music, and sex education for youngsters and helping out with other social
reform programs. This time in Kenya and the contacts she made took her
back to Africa for the next few years many times. After she came back from
her volunteering experience she lived in Innsbruck, Austria and got
her
Master's degree in Social Work. For a semester she lived in Lausanne, Switzerland to do an internship. After finishing her studies she traveled
around West Africa for some time. She then moved to Vienna and worked in a women's shelter where she helped women who were in abusive relationships and
counselled them so they could standup for what they believed in with
confidence and self-worth. Many of the women she counselled at the shelter
were from the Balkan region. She thought that learning their language would help her
connect more with the women at the shelter. In spite of already speaking
fluent English, German, French and conversation level Swahili and Spanish,
she decided to learn a new language - Serbian. She enrolled in the University of Vienna for evening classes. She studied the language part-time along-side
her work and traveling around Europe, US, and Africa. Later in 2014 she
quit her job and moved to Serbia to get a deeper insight into Slavic
culture and language. She enrolled to study Serbian language for a
semester at the University of Belgrade. In Belgrade she also took up climbing as a serious hobby and worked out many hours each week. She was
content and happy with herself and the life she had. During Easter
Holidays in early 2015, she traveled to Kotor, Montenegro where she met Sam in a hostel. Our life has been nothing but an adventure and a blessing from then
on.
Sam was born in a town called Kadapa in South India and lived there until he completed his undergraduate studies
in Civil Engineering. His early childhood and teens were filled with sports, especially -
Cricket, Volley Ball, and Table Tennis. His focus was all about sports and
being outdoors almost every day to the point of everyone around him
worrying that he might not be able to finish his high school. He managed
to finish through school and college eventually. To do his master's degree
he moved to North India and studied Hydraulics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. Following the popular trend that time, he was offered a job in IT in
late 90s and moved to Noida/Delhi to work for Tata Infotech Ltd. (now merged with Tata Consultancy Services). His work took him to the United States of America in early 2000. This
was his first time traveling outside India. He worked in Alabama and Arizona before he landed in San Francisco, California where he lived and worked for the next 11 years. His life in the US was
focused almost exclusively on work. Out of curiosity and passion to
understand things, he spent all his time on learning new technologies, new
ways companies run their projects. From technology he moved to Management Consulting in late 2000s and worked for consulting wings of companies
like Deloitte Consulting and Blackstone Technology Group. Later he moved on to become the Director of Shared Services at First Republic Bank in San Francisco where he started four new departments and setup
the entire structure of those departments. They grew up to 80 or so people
under his watch. He felt that he was at the peak of his career and it was
time to move on and do something different. He didn't know exactly what he
wanted to do next in his life. But the idea of doing something different
with his life slowly became stronger and in late 2013 he quit his job and
traveled across Europe for three months. He loved the journey and freedom
of travel so much that he came back to the U.S., sold his house,
donated/sold all his belonging and went on travels with just his backpack
and a one-way ticket to London. He traveled extensively across almost
entire Europe, a bit of Russia, North Africa, India, and a bit of Asia.
The discoveries he made about himself during this time gave him the
confidence and peace in his heart to life a conscious life wherever he was
from then on. He had no end-date to his travels. He was traveling through
the Balkans and was staying at the same hostel in Kotor, Montenegro where he met Kathi. Our wonderful life
together began from that point on.
After we met in Kotor, Montenegro, we traveled across the U.S., Europe, Central & South America, and
India before coming back to Austria and living there for almost a
year-and-half in Vienna and Innsbruck. We married in January of 2016 and Nora was born in early 2017. When Kathi was pregnant with Nora, we decided to leave Austria to travel and live in different parts of the world, possibly for the rest
of their lives. When Nora was four months old, we sold/donated almost all our belongings and started our journey as a family from then on. We traveled and
lived across Europe, India, and many countries across South East Asia so
far.
Nina, our second child
was born in India in late 2019.
Sam was born in a town called Kadapa in South India and lived there until he completed his undergraduate studies
in Civil Engineering. His early childhood and teens were filled with sports, especially -
Cricket, Volley Ball, and Table Tennis. His focus was all about sports and
being outdoors almost every day to the point of everyone around him
worrying that he might not be able to finish his high school. He managed
to finish through school and college eventually. To do his master's degree
he moved to North India and studied Hydraulics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. Following the popular trend that time, he was offered a job in IT in
late 90s and moved to Noida/Delhi to work for Tata Infotech Ltd. (now merged with Tata Consultancy Services). His work took him to the United States of America in early 2000. This
was his first time traveling outside India. He worked in Alabama and Arizona before he landed in San Francisco, California where he lived and worked for the next 11 years. His life in the US was
focused almost exclusively on work. Out of curiosity and passion to
understand things, he spent all his time on learning new technologies, new
ways companies run their projects. From technology he moved to Management Consulting in late 2000s and worked for consulting wings of companies
like Deloitte Consulting and Blackstone Technology Group. Later he moved on to become the Director of Shared Services at First Republic Bank in San Francisco where he started four new departments and setup
the entire structure of those departments. They grew up to 80 or so people
under his watch. He felt that he was at the peak of his career and it was
time to move on and do something different. He didn't know exactly what he
wanted to do next in his life. But the idea of doing something different
with his life slowly became stronger and in late 2013 he quit his job and
traveled across Europe for three months. He loved the journey and freedom
of travel so much that he came back to the U.S., sold his house,
donated/sold all his belonging and went on travels with just his backpack
and a one-way ticket to London. He traveled extensively across almost
entire Europe, a bit of Russia, North Africa, India, and a bit of Asia.
The discoveries he made about himself during this time gave him the
confidence and peace in his heart to life a conscious life wherever he was
from then on. He had no end-date to his travels. He was traveling through
the Balkans and was staying at the same hostel in Kotor, Montenegro where he met Kathi. Our wonderful life
together began from that point on.
After we met in Kotor, Montenegro, we traveled across the U.S., Europe, Central & South America, and
India before coming back to Austria and living there for almost a
year-and-half in Vienna and Innsbruck. We married in January of 2016 and Nora was born in early 2017. When Kathi was pregnant with Nora, we decided to leave Austria to travel and live in different parts of the world, possibly for the rest
of their lives. When Nora was four months old, we sold/donated almost all our belongings and started our journey as a family from then on. We traveled and
lived across Europe, India, and many countries across South East Asia so
far.
Our life journey took us to many amazing places and introduced us to many
wonderful people around the world. Our life these days circles primarily
around spending time with our children, educating them, maintaining a
healthy body and mind through sports, yoga & meditation, and going
deeper into our spiritual practices. Other things that we spend time on,
wherever possible, are gardening & farming, learning to build homes
with various building materials, learning new cuisines & experimenting
with cooking, reading and understanding different religions practiced
around the world, photography, using minimum possible resources from the
earth (minimalism), standing up and speaking about injustices, and
anything else that life brings our way.
We are gaining new skills, gaining new experiences, and educating
ourselves about new things along the way. We will have to make money at
some point to sustain our lifestyle but for now we are using our savings
from our work life to support our journey. Sam, in addition to his
professional degree in Engineering, and many years of work experience and
certifications (PMP, ITIL) in Management and Strategy in corporate environments, he is also a
certified Hatha Yoga teacher (Sivananda), a certified Swedish Massage practitioner, and a certified TEFL/TESOL English teacher. Kathi, in addition to her professional degree in Social Work, and many
years of work experience in social work in Africa and Europe, she is also
a
certified Running instructor,
a certified TEFL/TESOL English teacher, and currently studying to be a certified
Health and Fitness Trainer.