Kinga, Courtney, Chloee and Leo are a family of four. Actually, they are a “four plus one big dog” family. But they are very special ones. Besides their day-to-day life and routine, they enjoy every second of their free time to travel and collect family memories. And as we know, these are forever.

Meet the AWOL Family!

By Ana Roque

Photography courtesy of the AWOL Family

The AWOL Family lives on the Gold Coast in the North of Australia. Kinga, the mum, is a physiotherapist who works in paediatrics. “In my day job, I get the pleasure of helping little people.” Courtney, the dad, has a background in elite sports. “My husband competed at two Olympic games and now also works across some of the world’s premium outdoor brands in marketing, content and tourism.” As for the kids, “Chloee is in high school and is active across a range of sports, and Leo is in primary school. His favourite game is Australian football or AFL.” It’s fair to say that sport runs in the family.

Besides their normal daily life, the family travels a lot and shares everything with their more than 12 thousand followers on Instagram.

“We are not the typical travel blogging family. We have not packed up the house and left to travel full time. Both of us have jobs and commitments at home, kids at school and sports on the weekends. I suppose what travel and adventures we get up to relate a little bit more to families in a realistic way while living the busy life (working a full-time job) society throws at us. That is where the AWOL comes from. Sometimes we just pack up and leave for a weekend or week, but the reality is we still have to come back to our commitments at home.”

While travelling, each family member has a role, but the main aim is to enjoy each destination to the fullest. Kinga is mostly on the camera taking photographs and Courtney is on the video cameras and drones. “While we love creating content for our trips, we always try and make sure that the first reason we are on the trip is to experience what it is, let the kids have an adventure and have some fun. That makes things as authentic and enjoyable as possible.”

The AWOL Family travelling journey started about twelve years ago.

“Initially, travel was all about my husband’s job racing around the globe. We got to go to a lot of countries and spend time living in different cultures, but it was never really a holiday. Chloe spent the first five years of her life living between Australia and Europe, with a little holiday somewhere in Asia. That was the beginning of the travel experience. Since 2016 we have seen more of our own backyard in Australia, especially around Queensland, and our closest neighbour New Zealand.”

About travelling as a lifestyle, Kinga is not sure about it. “Day-to-day real life must go on. We travel to explore, sometimes we travel for work, but most of the time we travel for a time as a family and to see new things.”

When travelling with this family, you can expect a bit of everything. “We love nice resort accommodation. But we also like to camp by ourselves with not much more than the tents we take. I suppose where you would not find us is the place in between, busy caravan parks, city holidays. Travel for us generally revolves around some type of activity or the complete opposite of pure relaxation.”

Since the pandemic started, things have not actually changed that much for them when it comes to travel. “Down in Australia we have been lucky that we have been able to travel domestically. Most of the time and that was our plan anyway. Australia and New Zealand are big enough with enough different terrain and experiences. You need more than a few years of the pandemic to see all of it.”

LEMON Magazine [LEMON] – What is your favourite destination?

AWOL Family [A.F] – Our home state of Queensland has the best of most things. Reefs, islands, beaches, rainforests, outback and great hiking. Favourite destinations change over time depending on what we want to do and what stage of our life we are at. If you were to ask the kids right now where they like to go, it is a little island two-hour boat ride off the Queensland coast to Lady Musgrave Island. It is one of the easiest places and cleanest reefs to swim with the turtles.

[LEMON] – Do you prefer city or nature tourism?

[A.F.] – No question, we prefer nature tourism.

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[TAP HERE TO READ FULL INTERVIEW AT LEMON 11 – AUTUMN EDITION]