Prices and practicalities: How one family organised a year-long round-the-world trip

A couple rented out their home and took their children out of school to go on a year-long £85k around-the-world family trip.

Dennis Horstman Maassen, 51, and his wife, Sheila, 45, de-registered as citizens of the Netherlands to legally remove children, Oz, eight, and Zola, six, from school.

The family took trains, hire cars, boats, buses and planes through 14 countries – including Ireland, New Zealand, Japan and Hawaii.

They spent around €100-a-night on Airbnb and hotel accommodation and their biggest one-off expense was around-the-world plane tickets costing €15k.

While many are saving money for the future, the family decided to spend it on a around-the-world trip.

Dennis says because of rising costs, it was “cheaper” for them to travel than stay at home.

With Dennis owning a small production company and having a number of projects abroad, the family decided to combine his work with travel.

Dennis says the children’s school was “supportive” of their plans and even gave them work to do whilst they were away.

Dennis and Sheila rented out their home and sold their car to raise some extra cash for the trip, before heading to their first stop, Germany, on August 8, 2022.

The family then spent time in Ireland before jetting across the Atlantic to visit Canada and the US.

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Trips to theme parks in Florida and road trips on the west coast were followed by a flight to Hawaii, where they spent three weeks.

Continuing west, they eventually reached New Zealand and Australia before venturing through Asia to reach Japan.

A quick stop in Singapore and Dubai rounded off their year around the world before they flew back to the Netherlands on July 25, 2023.

Working along the way

Dennis, a production company owner, from Arnhem, the Netherlands, said: “When we thought it was an option, we made the decision to do it quite quickly.

“I had some job opportunities with my creative production and we thought it would be nice to travel with the kids and school them as we go.

“We had to rent out our house and sell the car, but the house had tenants within a week and it was a nice way of making passive income whilst we were away…