Travelling with young children takes a special kind of resilience. If you thought six hours on the road with one young child could be a challenge, try six years on the road with three.
That’s exactly what Spanish couple Daniel GImeno and Marta Bruyel and their three children, Tao, now 12, Dhara (10) and Erik (7), have been doing since 2018. Their journey started in Uruguay in December 2018. Buenos Aires was next, then Ushuaia in Argentina. From the city known as “the end of the world”, it was meant to be destination Alaska; however, that was 2020 and the pandemic put their travels on pause. So they spent a year in Costa Rica. Next was Mexico.
“South America was easy for us,” said Bruyel. “Spanish is the common language in many countries there, and people are really friendly. So it was a good way to start our journey.”
They loved Mexico and spent eight months there. “Again, most people there speak Spanish, and the children there play on the streets, so it was really easy for the kids to make friends.”
They eventually reached Alaska in 2023 and Canada in 2024.
“Canada has beautiful national parks, so that was where we mostly stayed.”
Eight months back home in Spain followed and three months ago they shipped their van to Gqeberha. Lesotho and eSwatini followed, along with a host of mechanical problems.
“It was very nice, but also very stressful,” Gimeno said.
So when they got to laid-back-land aka Kenton-on-Sea, they opted to extend their visas and fix their truck.
The children attend online school, supervised by their parents, but for two weeks they are attending a local school.
“It’s a good chance for them to practise English,” said Bruyel.
They’re still finalising their plans, but coming up are Cape Town and Namibia, then Kenya via Oman.
Okay, here’s the practical stuff.
The family funds their travels partly through their YouTube channel and from the proceeds of the sale of Gimeno’s company.
The truck is a customised (by Gimeno) Mitsubishi Fuso, turned into a 4-wheel drive that has everything in and on it that they need including solar power, water storage, a bathroom and shower, and enough sleeping space for three children and two adults.
“It’s wonderful because we can go places nobody else wants to go,” said GImeno. “We love nature and we love wild camping.”
Read more about this amazing family and their trans-global journey at losmundo.com
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, May 22, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
