What is Boundless Life All About?
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Have you been wondering how you can live around the world with your family or dip your toes in living abroad without the full commitment of moving permanently but not sure where to start?
Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve heard about families who are living abroad with their children through a program called Boundless Life from a social media post on Instagram or TikTok and now you’re interested in learning what this program is all about.
In this blog post I’ll provide you with a detailed guide about the program, what to expect, and if it’s really worth signing your family up to experience it.
What is Boundless Life?
Boundless Life offers families a turnkey experience of living abroad with their children to experience the world and immerse themselves in the local culture.
When you sign our family up for a Boundless Life package, Boundless Life provides you with:
Furnished Housing: Boundless life offers 1, 2, and 3 bedroom accommodations at their locations that are fully furnished with all the amenities need to feel settled in your new home away from home. One of the benefits I love about Boundless Life, especially having a toddler, are the amenities they can supply upon request (and availability) for families such as cribs, pack and plays, high chairs, strollers, and car seats for your stay.
Boundless Education: Boundless Life offers a Boundless Education program for children from the ages of 1-6 and 7-12. (There is currently a new program for teens, ages 13-14, called the Trailblazers Program, that is piloting this year in 2024 which you can learn about HERE)
Access to a 24/7 Co-working Hub: For parents working remotely, the Boundless Co-working hub is a wonderful resource to have with high speed internet, phone booth rooms for zoom meetings, and complimentary water, tea, coffee, and snacks.
Community: This is by far the best benefit to joining Boundless Life, is the community of like minded families you’ll meet in your cohort. Traveling as a family on your own can be quite lonely sometimes but Boundless Life truly creates an inclusive community at their destinations. We’ve personally met some incredible families in both of our Boundless Life cohorts that have turned into some of our best friends! For us the community is truly the best part about the program.
Support: If you’re a family doing something like this for the first time, Boundless has local staff on the ground to help you get acclimated to your new surroundings. If you need help with anything or have any questions, their local team is there to help.
What types of families sign up for Boundless Life?
Boundless Life cohorts are made up of a couple different type families:
The “All in Family”: Some of the families in your cohort will be families that work completely remote, they may or may not have a home base in their home country, travel full time or slow travel most of the year, and worldschool their children.
The “Mix it Up Family”: This is the most common family you’ll encounter in your cohort and you’re most likely one of them too! The “Mix it Up Family” has a home base in their home country where they live for 6 or more months and spends part of the year traveling. They may have the ability to work remotely or may only have the ability to work remotely for 1 - 3 months out of the year (this was us too before our first Boundless Life cohort before we became the “All In Family” but more on that later!)
Who is Boundless Life For?
First Time Families: Boundless Life is perfect for families who have been wanting to take the leap to either slow travel with their children or experience what it’s like to live abroad before fully committing.
Seasoned Worldschooling Families: For families who are full time travelers, seasoned worldschoolers, or a previous Boundless Life family, travel planning can be quite the cumbersome process. Boundless life takes care of all of the logistics making it an effortless experience even for the most seasoned traveling families.
What is Boundless Education?
Boundless Education is based on the Finnish Curriculum with the goal of deepening a child's core competencies and focusing on interest-driven academic experiences. The Boundless Education Learning Pillars are:
Experiential Learning:
Personalized Learning:
Purposeful Learning
Interdisciplinary Learning
Future Ready
Mindful Well-Being
Children engage in Connection time, Mastery Time, Quest Time, Nature Time, Endeavor Time, and Cultural Immersion Time in the program.
The program is available for children ages 1-6 (the Exploration Group) and ages 7-12 (the Foundations Group). Boundless Life has just launched a program for teens, ages 13-14, called the Trailblazers Program launching September of 2024 which will be the first traveling program covering 3 different countries (Bali Indonesia, Syros Greece, and Tivat Montenegro - the newest Boundless Location launching in 2024).
Are there Extracurricular Activities?
Yes Boundless Life also offers extracurricular activities for the children that also allow them to immerse themselves in the local culture. Some of the activities include music, karate, and sailing.
What can I expect when I sign up for Boundless Life?
When you sign up for a Boundless Life cohort, you’ll have an onboarding call about one month before your arrival to virtually meet the rest of the families in your cohort. You’ll also receive your Boundless Housing information around this time and complete an intake form for your arrival details.
When you arrive in your destination, Boundless Life will arrange your pick up from the airport (or ferry if arriving in Syros) to give you a tour of your new home. Within the week you’ll meet the rest of the families in your cohort, have a welcome ceremony at the Education Centre to meet the educators before your children get started in the program.
During your time in your destination, the local team will curate events for the families (some sponsored such as being included in your Boundless package, and others at an additional cost). Some of these events are only for the parents and some of these are for both parents and children. Here’s an example of some of the events you can expect depending on the location that you choose:
Group & Family Hikes
Weekly Yoga
Local Language Classes
Dad’s Night Out & Mom’s Night Out
Boating Excursions
Cultural Excursions
Dad’s & Mom’s Lunches
Where is Boundless Life Located?
Boundless Life has multiple locations around the world and they are continuing to expand in new countries in 2024. Currently you can choose to sign up for one of their 4 week or 3 month packages in Sintra Portugal, Syros Greece, Pistoia Italy, and Bali Indonesia.
How long can I sign up for?
Boundless life offers 4 week summer programs (June & July) or 3 month programs (January - March, April-June, and September - November). Many families choose to sign up for multiple cohorts to experience a variety of destinations either traveling to them back to back or returning to their home countries in between.
Note: Keep in mind that currently 3 out of their 4 locations are located in the Schengen Zone, meaning if you want to do back to back cohorts you’ll need a visa if you are not an EU national.
(For example, as a United States citizen you can stay up to 90 days in the Schengen zone in a 180 day period. Once you’ve spent 90 days in the 180 day period you’ll have to leave for 90 days before returning again. In order to do back to back cohorts in the EU you’ll need to obtain a visa before or during your time in your destination.)
The next destination launching will be Montenegro in 2024 which will allow for easier back to back cohorts as Montenegro is not a part of the Schengen zone.
How Much Does Boundless Life Cost?
This depends on which destination you choose and the time of year as well as the size of your accommodations and how many children you’ll be enrolling into the Boundless Education program. You can find detailed pricing for each of the destinations HERE however pricing for 2024 for the 4 week program starts at 3400 Euros per month for housing, 2000 Euros per child per month, and 600 per parent per month for Boundless Services. The 3 month program starts at 1700 Euros per month for housing, 1700 Euros per child per month, and 450 Euros per parent per month for Boundless Services.
Is Boundless Life Worth the Cost?
As someone who has done 2 cohorts now with Boundless Life, once in Sintra Portugal and just recently in Syros Greece, this is a question I get asked often and I think this depends on a few different factors to consider if Boundless Life is right for you and your family:
Is this your first time doing something like this?
If this is your first time ever traveling or living abroad with your family, Boundless Life is a great way to dip your toes into the world of worldschooling as they take care of everything for you that you need and make the transition smooth and effortless.
Are you coming from a major U.S. metropolitan area?
If you’re coming from a major U.S. city chances are you are paying similar rates for housing, school, or childcare that are offered in the program.
What is your current lifestyle like?
Do you have a home base? If so, will you be able to rent it out when you leave? If not, can you sustain your home base and the cost to live abroad for 3 months in a Boundless Life program? Do you have pets? If so, will you want to take them with you or do you have friends or family who can care for them while you’re away? Is your job open to you working abroad for an extended period of time? If you and your spouse work will you need child care in the evening hours (if you’ll be working standard U.S. hours)
These are going to be the types of questions you’ll want to ask yourself to help you assess if you’re ready to take the leap to slow travel abroad.
How old are your children?
You know your children best and accessing their current level of education and adaptability to transitioning to a program like Boundless Education will be an important conversation to have with a Boundless team member upon your discovery call.
How much time do you have to dedicate to planning something of this scale on your own?
Planning to live abroad in a country you’ve never been to can feel extremely overwhelming. Finding housing that is within walking distance to a schooling program or finding reliable and trustworthy childcare can be a huge undertaking. Considering the time it will take for you to plan a successful slow travel experience vs. paying a company like Boundless Life to curate it for you is an important evaluation.
Do you have the ability to plug into a community abroad?
If you’ve never been to a destination before or not familiar with the local community or culture, showing up with your family without knowing anyone there can also feel a bit scary. Boundless Life ensures that you arrive at your destination with local support and a built in community.
Ultimately the decision of whether or not signing up your family to experience Boundless Life is up to you but I’d love to share our personal experience to help you make the most informed decision:
Back in 2022 I was a new mom, six months postpartum living in Austin, TX. My husband was working crazy and inconsistent hours as a restaurant manager and I was working remotely as a Sales Manager for a German based company. I was one overwhelmed, overstimulated, and one stressed out mama to say the least.
I was craving a slower pace of life, more time with my family, and after several recent mass shootings in the U.S., I knew I wanted to raise my daughter abroad. My husband however, had grown up in Texas and with both of our families based there, convincing him to move abroad felt pretty impossible. I needed him to try it out first or even meet me halfway to travel abroad part of the year while keeping a home base in Texas but I had no idea how to do that or if it was even a possibility. Thankfully a friend of mine invited me to a local Worldschooling Facebook Group where I connected with a Boundless Life family. They shared the program with me and immediately I knew that this was the answer! We signed up for their Sintra Portugal 3 month package from January to March and I can honestly say that it was the most magical experience of our life. We loved Sintra Portugal so much, the locals were so incredibly kind, our apartment felt like home, we connected so well with the rest of the families in our cohort, and our daughter blossomed at the Boundless school. Those three months are still some of the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life and I could not be more grateful to have found a program like Boundless Life. We came home from our 3 month experience in Portugal and sold it all to travel full time and integrate Boundless Life once more into our lives, this time in Syros Greece. Once again we experience the most memorable moments, connected to the most wonderful of families, experienced life as a local, and already planning our next Boundless Life experience. We are truly so thankful for what Boundless Life has done for the trajectory of our family to embrace not only living abroad but also providing a program that allows us the flexibility to hop in and out and keep a home base in the U.S.
Do you have a referral code?
I hope our personal experience and the information provided above was helpful for you to make the most informed decision for you and your family. If you’d like to learn more about Boundless Life and ready to book a discovery call with one of their team members, be sure to use my referral code CARA to get 400 Euros off your package.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.
