Back

Letting Go of the Bus: The True Meaning of Home | Day 275 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Oct 3, 2023· 2 minutes

Home is not about walls and stuff

I remember the first time we left the bus at Mon La Bassa. We had been parked there only a few months, overwhelmed by how right it was for us. And yet, we needed to travel and leave for the Canary Islands for some months.

It was before my mother died. Before covid. The children were still children.

How little did we know about the travel life, how newbies we were. Yet adventurous, courageous, and crazy. We had spent so much time and energy building the bus, and it had become a symbolic token of the freedom we were creating, so much so that leaving it even for an afternoon, in the beginning, seemed a risk.

Leaving for months was letting go. Leaning into freedom, even the symbol of freedom, could not stop us.

It was a long time ago.

Since then, we have left and come back many times, and the circle has worked as a mirror, reflecting the inner and outer journey.

This time, we waited a full 24 hours before we did it. I was not ready for the overwhelming reaction I thought I would have. Or for the work.

It turned out perfect.

We ARE leaving the bus; we knew it, and it was only more right when we returned. Immediately, we began to clear it of personal stuff, letting go of what was not needed and packing personal items to ship back to storage in Denmark.

It was melting hot, and there were a thousand mosquitos, so we put in a few hours and left for the beach, confident it was the right thing and grateful for the already much lighter feeling.

It was lovely to meet our friends at the sanctuary and have good hugs and warm conversations.

We will always have a home in Catalunia. But it is clear, we don’t need the bus for that. We don’t need stuff to have a home.

Home is - truly - where the heart is.

With love

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 


More images on Facebook

Unschooling and Parent consulting, conversations, blogposts, and podcasts on family life and learning

Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad. I'm a trained psychologist, mother of four, radical unschooler and full-time traveller. I have lived with unschooling for over a decade and help other families find their own path – whether it is about homeschooling, unschooling, or the bigger question of how you want to live as a family.

I offer guidance, conversations and talks. I call my work grandmothering – not coaching in the traditional sense, but presence, professional insight and concrete help navigating motherhood and finding your way home to your own values.

Am I the right person to help you? You can book a free discovery call, and we'll talk and figure it out.

Listen to my podcasts

I share my knowledge and curiosity about family life and learning in my two podcasts.

Read my latest blogposts

We do not act on fear. But we listen. Fear can be a good signal, an alarm bell, so we can listen to it and asks: what do I need to learn here? Read more
I am often met by the notion, the idea: "I am lucky to have this kind of life" - It is not luck. I have chosen to stay in the light! Read more
We need to find a new kind of life, a better balance for everyone. I believe in personal freedom for everyone. And in true and humble respect for the…Read more
I am reading this book and I just love it, Antifragile. It is a perfect concept. This is how we are strong: Risktakers, awake and alive, ready for mi…Read more
Technically we are homeless – But the abundance of freedom, the beautiful sunshine, the adventures, and the peace is amazing. Read more
We believe it was no coincidence, we saw the red bus for the first time on Valentine’s day. The red bus has everything to do with love. Read more
We have the freedom and the means to go where we want to go; we earn enough to live the life we want, we do the education at home; no one is attached…Read more
Our Weekly Art & Nature Challenge! One of the big wins of the unschooling, full-time traveling & digital nomad lifestyle is time. Time to be together…Read more
The dream became a plan, the plan became a to-do list – we bought a bus, rebuilt it and finally, we did the transit into full-time in the summer of 2…Read more