The Journey of a Modern Digital Nomad Family

Mom Trotter Riding Horse With Her Family

Embark on a remarkable journey with us, the Akpan family, as we swapped our traditional California dwelling for the boundless freedom of an RV.

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The mom trotter

Where Home Has Wheels: Our Life On The Go

We’re a unique tribe of three – myself, Karen (but I go by Kay.), my husband Sylvester (Sly for short), and our 10-year-old son, A (Aiden). 

Rooted in the diverse cultures of Cameroon and Nigeria, we have cherished 14 years of companionship and 11 years of wedded bliss, celebrated with a vow renewal in the scenic Maldives. Our son, Aiden, is a homeschooled/ roadschooled/ worldschooled globetrotter who never attended a traditional brick-and-mortar school. , who excels academically a grade ahead and effortlessly forms friendships worldwide. With our unique homeschooling approach, we also offer guidance to other Black families on homeschooling through a resource guide. Our journey transcends borders, building a narrative of love, learning, and companionship. 

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In 2020, we took a leap for my son and nephews – we left our regular life, sold our house in California, and embraced a new home in an RV we found on Facebook Marketplace for $14,000. This wasn’t just about downsizing or financial goals and pay off our debt; it was about crafting a life full of experiences and lessons for the kids.

Traveling in our cozy RV, this blog became our way to share those adventures, focusing on family bonding, educating on the road, and showing the importance of experiences over possessions.

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RV-ing

In a year, we upgraded to a much more spacious 42ft 2021 Keystone Montana 385Br. Our journey, along with the full video tour of our new home on wheels, can be seen here. Our life has been a unique blend of travel, learning, and work since then. Homeschooling our son in this ever-changing environment has been an enriching experience, as detailed here.

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But how do we fund our travels, you ask? As content creators and travel bloggers, we craft engaging photo and video content for brands and share them on social media. In addition, I indulge in freelance writing and maintain my blog – The Mom Trotter. We have around 7 different streams that fuel our income, including real estate that can be explored here. Join us as we paint a vibrant picture of our nomadic life, one blog post, image or video at a time.

The Akpan Family Picture on the beach
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Follow Our Journey &
Become Part of It

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Testimonials

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Black Kids DO Travel

ONE CITY, ONE COUNTRY, ONE CONTINENT

When my son, Aiden, innocently questioned, “Mom, where are all the brown people like us?” during our global travels, it sparked a realization. As a mother, wife, and the brain behind The MOM Trotter, I noticed a representation gap for families of color in travel spaces.

With no existing platform emphasizing ‘family travel’ or ‘travel with children’ specifically for our community, I created one. This led to the birth of a Facebook group, “Black Kids DO Travel” to underline the truth that we do indeed travel the globe.

We encourage families of color to join our Facebook Group and this initiative, which has blossomed into a dynamic, supportive community with its own Instagram page and blog. It’s a safe space for families of color to share their travel tales, gain inspiration, and discuss any travel-related issues.

Together, we celebrate our vibrant presence in the global travel scene. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

My husband and I have one child, his name is Aiden. You will see lots of other kids in our content and that’s because we travel with our nieces and nephews (Aiden’s cousins) very often. They are all our babies!

We have been traveling since our son Aiden was a baby. His first trip was to Nevada when he was just about 6 months old. We traveled stateside and internationally for a few days every month up until 2020.

In 2020, we made the drastic decision to sell our home in California, bought an RV, and hit the road for full-time travel. We currently spend half the year in the U.S. and the other half abroad. We’ve been to 55+ countries and 44+ states in our RV. You slick to see all the states and countries we’ve been to.

Yes, Aiden is homeschooled and has been from day one. He has never attended a brick-and-mortar school. He is actually unschooled, worldschooled, and roadschooled. I have a whole section on my blog dedicated to homeschooling and all the ways that we educate him.

We drastically reduced our everyday expenses and use a mix of budget travel and travel hacking to fund our travel lifestyle. I have an entire blog post that explains how we afford our travel life.

We are all digital content creators and entrepreneurs. We create photo and video lifestyle and travel content that we share on our social media pages as well as on this blog which generates income. We recently started investing in real estate and are loving it as a source of passive income. Kay is also a freelance writer and speaker. Prior to starting this blog, we both worked full-time away from home.

We were sick and tired of running on the hamster wheel and decided that we wanted different. We wanted to pay off our debt, spend more time together, travel more and build generational wealth. We’ve been able to pay off $200K in debt including our student loans as well as start building generational wealth. We are truly living the life we prayed for and manifested.

Truthfully, we don’t care. When making decisions about your life, always remember this, “nobody knows what’s best for you and your family other than you!”

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Let's Collaborate!

As a family travel expert and travel freelance writer, I’m eager to partner with brands that resonate with our lifestyle. 

The possibilities are endless, from engaging blog posts and social media promotion to authentic and creative content highlighting your brand’s uniqueness.

Dive into the details of the multiple ways we can work together, one travel story at a time.

The Mom Trotter Ridding a Horse
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