I don't know if it was in Egypt when that thirst to explore the world, to learn more history, to get to know other cultures and to soak in different smells and flavors was born... The truth is that I don't know for sure what day I decided to save everything to cross the world and get to know India. I only know that through books and stories, I became obsessed with a country I swore I would go to as soon as I could. And this is how my story as a traveler begins, without a clear starting point, but with a specific objective: Go to Asia and end in India.

During my career I worked on many things that allowed me to save for “the big trip.” I was a promoter, I appeared in commercials as an extra and not so extra, I was an assistant at the university, I took biology classes, I was a waiter at events, etc... I have never been one to buy a lot of things and unnecessary consumption is not my thing, so saving It was simple. I finished university and a few days later I boarded a flight that would take me away for almost a year. A trip that changed my way of seeing life, that undoubtedly defined the woman I am today, that ordered my priorities, that adjusted my values ​​and that taught me that the definition of success is created by oneself .

When that trip, the trip of a lifetime, ended, I promised myself to come back soon. I didn't see myself working in an office like most of my friends did, I didn't want to enter the machine of living to work, I wanted to continue traveling with a backpack and my camera at all costs, without a destination, without ties, without shoes. Destiny and decisions led me to undertake. A difficult path full of sacrifices, but abundant in learning. I was in debt, my salary was minimal, and I had a newborn child, which was incompatible with my business, which operated mainly on weekends or in the early hours of the morning.

At that time, Francisco, Lucas and I lived in a small apartment, but overflowing with natural light and good energy. We ate cubed tuna with salad and when we wanted to treat ourselves, we bought snacks from the Chinese on the corner, which didn't cost more than 3 thousand pesos. We like that life, valuing the simple and enjoying little. So after three years of effort, some sorrows and joys, I decided to sell my part of the company and dust off my backpack again.

Many told us that with a one and a half year old bus we couldn't leave, they transferred their own apprehensions to us, talking to us about doctors, diseases and exotic bugs , they told us that we were unconscious when we left our jobs and they questioned us every day what we would do when we returned. . Without thinking much, the three of us embarked to Bangkok, with a car, two backpacks, a pacifier and a few diapers for the first days. This is how my Instagram was born in 2016: @conchupeteymochila.

We settled in Bali. Lucas went to a kindergarten with children from all over the world, I studied a master's degree in the mornings surrounded by rice fields, Francisco trained on the beach with a group of locals, we took surfing classes, we toured a large part of the island on a motorcycle, we met wonderful people, we were in Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, we walked among free elephants, we dived with turtles and manta rays, we entered Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist temples, we learned a thousand things, but above all, we learned that Traveling with children was a gift, a gift for him and for us. We give ourselves family time every day, we give ourselves the gift of being present at every step of our son and every stage of his learning, we give him tolerance, patience and open-mindedness. We give you life outdoors by instilling values ​​such as respect for others, animals and nature, austerity, humility, love and gratitude. We teach him that the best toy a child can have is his own imagination.

We returned to Chile with more energy than ever. Energy and good ideas radiate, so instead of going out to look for opportunities, as they told us, a thousand doors opened. The time in Bali helped us lay the foundations for our next cycle.

My master's degree opened the doors to university teaching, a vocation that fulfills me to this day. My Instagram forced me to learn about digital marketing, content and trends, allowing me to work in the company I work for, also to this day.

On that return, two other children arrived: my second venture, Check in Love, and my second daughter, Amalia. I knew that, just as we had given Lucas the experience of living on an island, we should do the same with her. And since with two children it is not so easy to leave everything again and arrive with nothing, I decided that my new venture would be digital, so I could carry it in my backpack with me everywhere. So I could travel, work and raise.

Without thinking too much about it, we organized a year in Bali for 2020, sold our car and left our second apartment. We were excited about traveling the world again. Back then, I realized that each great trip happened every four years: 2012, 2016, 2020. Perfect cycles to leave the comfort zone and seek new horizons, while continuing to delve deeper into those already created.

The pandemic changed our plans and border closures around the world limited our possibilities to a few countries that remained open and without restrictions. That's how, thanks to fate, we found Costa Rica, a new home that stole our hearts and filled our children's hands with sand, sea and jungle, and delighted their eyes with exotic animals, coconuts and new friends. Once again, family life, friendship, gratitude, this time accompanied by remote work and a little more routine, allowed us to live an experience that only leaves beautiful memories in the memory of our children.

I don't think achieving a lifestyle like this is luck, I think it's setting your mind to it and working to achieve it. It's looking for a job that allows it, and if it doesn't appear, creating it. It is sacrificing some things to obtain others. If you ask me, maybe my son is behind in literacy, but he is ahead in subjects like “extinct animals” and “leatherback turtle nesting.” We raise happy and simple children, or at least that's what we try to do.

The trend indicated that with each return, a new venture and a new child came into the world, and this return was no exception. We have a new SME: “Boxer Reusable Boxes” and a five-month-old daughter named Blanca. If the theory of cycles holds, in 2024 we will have to travel again. We don't know where, nor do we know how the return will surprise us, what we do know is that our backpacks are ready to discover it.

Teresa Razmilic
@conchupeteymochila