Pryvit / Hello / Kia Ora / Hallo
We are Elena, Yuriy, Roman and Andrey – a family that loves to travel and explore new places – be that a new track in a nearby forest or a new country long flight away.
Hello, that’s us! 🙂About Us
Both myself and Yuriy were born in Ukraine and lived there for the first 27 years of our lives. We have met in my home city of Odessa, and got married in 2001.
The following year we have moved to Kiyv – the capital of Ukraine – to chase a career in Information Technology industry (we both have a degree in computer science, and both work in IT).
We lived in Kiyv for about 5 years, both of us mostly focused on our work. We traveled very occasionally and mainly within Ukraine.
‘Pryvit’ from Ukraine:
Then suddenly (or maybe it was baking in our heads for some time already) in 2006 we decided to slow down with work and our careers and move to another country to get some overseas experience.
We sent out our resumes to few companies in Europe, went through a couple of interviews and both of us have been offered a job in an IT company in Dublin. And so we have moved to Ireland.
‘Hello’ from Ireland:
We liked the experience, we liked the adventure, we liked to live overseas and we started to travel more. Much more than before. We didn’t quit our jobs and we didn’t become full time nomads 🙂 But we started to use every opportunity and every holiday to go explore new places. And we still continue doing so!
In 2007 we have moved to New Zealand and made it our home.
We lived in Auckland for 10 years travelling a lot around New Zealand – one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We became a kiwi family (did you know – ‘kiwi’ is a nickname for people from New Zealand?)
Our boys – Roman and Andrey – were born in New Zealand, 3 years apart. They like travelling with us, see new places and experience new things. We think travelling as a family is great!
‘Kia Ora’ from New Zealand:
In 2017 we have moved to the Netherlands (mostly by family reasons, as all our close relatives and many friends lived in Ukraine and other countries in Europe). We lived in Dutch city of Utrecht for 3 years. During this time we travelled a lot around Europe.
‘Hallo’ from the Netherlands:
In 2020 we have moved back to New Zealand where we’ve been living since (and waiting for easy travel to restart again post-covid).
We hope to lead by example and inspire others to travel more often (as soon as situation with Covid becomes significantly better) and see the world. All that without giving up their jobs and becoming full-time nomads.
While many can’t travel much during Covid times we can try to stay positive, explore our own country’s backyard, enjoy staycations, review photos from other countries and read about past travels.
Places we have been so far:
Estern Europe:
Ukraine: Odessa, Kiev, Dnipro, Crimea peninsula, Carpatian mountains, Lviv and few other cities
Belarus: Minsk
Russia: Moscow
Africa:
Egypt: Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh
Asia:
Turkey: Antalya, Demre, Kekova, Pamukkale
Europe:
Ireland: Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Cashel, Mizen Head, Connemara, Killarney, Cliffs of Moher
UK: London
Switzerland: Bern, Zurich, Geneva
Netherlands: Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Haarlem, Eindhoven, Amersfoort, Lelystad, Maastricht
Austria: Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Hallstatt and Alps
Italy: Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa.
Germany: Cologne, Munich, Linderhof, Fussen, Rothenburg, Nuremberg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Rhine, Koblenz
Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Toledo
Belgium: Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, De Haan, Liege
France: Paris, Lille, Nice, Lyon, Nimes, Arles, Gorge de Verdon
Monaco: Monaco
Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra, Serra da Arrabida
Czechia: Prague
Luxembourg: Vianden, Luxembourg city, Echternach / Gorges du Loup
Iceland: a car trip around the Iceland visiting Reykjavík, Vik, Hof, Egilsstaðir, Akureyri, Snæfellsjökull and lots more places around.
Norway: Bergen, Flam, Alesund, Geiranger, Trollstigen.
Australasia and Oceania:
New Zealand: list of places we’ve been in NZ is endless. It would be easier to list places where we have not been 🙂
Australia: Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Blue Mountains
Cook Islands: Rarotonga
Fiji: Denarau Island, Bounty Island, Coral coast
America:
USA: Austin
We hope to replace the majority of the list with actual links to the blog posts. This is still a work in progress, please bear with us.
About Travel by Example
Travel by Example blog was created to share our travel experiences with others and to inspire families (with or without kids) to travel more.
Our family has visited many places and for the most trips we have created plans and itineraries by ourselves. When you are bound by the duration of your holiday or a weekend, it’s even more important to plan the trip well and to make the most of your time. And we know from experience that planning a good trip is a time consuming business.
Through Travel by Example we hope to make it easier for you. We are happy to share example itineraries, guides and travel tips with our readers.
We are working hard on expanding the blog by adding more trip examples and travel inspirations regularly.
Please stay tuned and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram 🙂