What Austria Taught Us About Travelling Slowly With Kids

Austria was the first place on our trip where we truly stopped.

Not completely. We had already spent a month on Phu Quoc in Vietnam, but even there we moved between two different places. Then we landed in Austria, spent a few days in Vienna, and eventually made our way to Scharnstein, a small village where we would stay in the same accommodation for four straight weeks.

That was new for us.

For the first time, we weren’t packing up again after a few days. We weren’t figuring out the next bus, train, transfer or hotel. We had one place. One village. One ski field. One routine.

And slowly, that changed how the whole trip felt.

It wasn’t perfect. Our accommodation was very tight. We were all on top of each other, and at times that was hard. In Vietnam we often had more space, more movement, and the worldschooling hub gave the kids somewhere to go and us a bit of breathing room. In Austria, we didn’t really get that space until we were up on the mountain.

At the start, even the mountain wasn’t relaxing. We were still learning. Maddie and Kia were learning to ski, Emmett and I were learning to snowboard, and there were plenty of stressful moments. Living in a small apartment, trying to work, homeschool, trying to figure out snow gear, food, transport and a completely new activity was a lot.

But then, slowly, things started to click.

Our mornings found a rhythm. We’d wake up, have coffee, make breakfast, get the kids into their schooling, pack our snacks, sort our gear, and head off to the slopes for the afternoon. Day after day, that became our routine.

And that routine changed everything.

We weren’t trying to fill every day with something new. We already knew what the day looked like. School in the morning. Skiing in the afternoon. Dinner at home. Reset. Do it again.

It sounds simple, but after months of movement, simple was exactly what we needed.

Austria taught us that slow travel with kids isn’t always calm and spacious. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it’s cramped. Sometimes everyone is tired and frustrated. Sometimes the thing you thought would be fun is actually stressful for a while.

But if you stay long enough, you get the chance to push through that first awkward stage.

You stop being completely new.

You stop spending all your energy figuring things out.

You start building systems.

For us, Austria became a learning phase in every sense. We were learning how to ski and snowboard. The kids were learning how to travel and do school at the same time. Kia and I were learning what kind of routine our family needed to make long-term travel feel sustainable.

Schooling started to take shape there too. By that point, we had moved past workbooks and onto tablets. At first, we thought it was working. The kids seemed engaged, and lessons were getting done. Later, we realised they were mostly gamifying the apps and blasting through lessons without really absorbing much.

But even that was part of the process.

Austria didn’t give us all the answers.

It helped us see what was working and what wasn’t.

That’s probably what slow travel does best. It gives you enough time in one place to notice the patterns. You can’t hide behind constant movement. You see the routines that help, the systems that fail, and the parts of family travel that need adjusting.

And in between all of that, we had this incredible shared activity.

Every afternoon, we went to the mountain.

Once we all became more comfortable, that became the best part of the day. It gave us space. It gave us fresh air. It gave us something to work towards together. We weren’t sightseeing. We weren’t ticking off attractions. We were just showing up each day and getting a little bit better.

That was special.

Austria was safe, quiet and completely different from anywhere we had been. It gave us consistency and familiarity. It gave us a daily rhythm. It gave the kids something active and challenging. It gave us a glimpse of what slow travel could feel like when it actually started working.

Not perfect.

Not easy every day.

But steady.

And after months of moving, steady felt really good.

Looking back, Austria wasn’t just a beautiful place with mountains and snow.

It was where we started learning how to live on the road.

It was where we realised that travelling slowly with kids isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about staying somewhere long enough to build a life, even if it’s only for a few weeks.

For us, that life looked like coffee, breakfast, schoolwork, packed snacks, snow gear, afternoons on the slopes, tight accommodation, tired legs, small wins, frustrating moments and a routine that slowly became familiar.

That was Austria with kids for us.

A safe, quiet, challenging, beautiful chapter where we stopped moving long enough to find a rhythm.