Footloose & Three = [noun]
The state of three persons travelling freely without being constrained by the social norms.
I’m Ric, the dollar signs behind the digital nomad family operation. My career started in the mountains; running hotels and ski instructing. I then dragged my snowboarding butt back to the UK entering into Agency life developing my expertise in Digital.
Travelling the world with my fellow family adventurers, is my big passion. I love snowboarding and have other active hobbies such as parkour, wakeboarding, surfing and graffiti. And I own an enviable collection of limited edition trainers!
Today, I am the co-founder of Brand Dough – a successful, forward thinking global marketing agency, working remotely from Barbados. The view from my office window is pretty unbeatable – the deep blue sea glistening behind tall palms. It’s a digital nomad’s family life for me!
I’m Lucy – a ridiculously besotted Mother, devout Yogini, aspiring Writer and Nutritionist. After finishing my Advertising & Photography degree, I entered into Agency life working for an array of global brands.
Life then took a new course when my gorgeous little boy arrived, and he became my new all-encompassing focus and infatuation. At the age of five, when I packed him off to school with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, what’s next for me I pondered?
Life is short, I wanted to be living my best life everyday. I was at a new beginning in a brand new phase of my life. I reflected on the things I enjoyed, teamed with the skills I had acquired – I loved to travel and I was an experienced communicator. So just maybe I could throw down some words about my adventures – that would hopefully be comprehensible and engaging. And just like that a new pathway presented itself and as we explored more of the globe I began to travelogue our family adventures!
Still craving the buzz of agency life, today I am co-founder of ad agency Brand Dough working with exciting clients from all corners of the world – from fitness to couture.
I am Arlo. I love Minecraft, Roblox, Lego, Mountain Biking, Skateboarding, Skim-boarding and Swimming. My favourite songs are: Happy by Pharrell Williams and Maroon 5’s: Moves Like Jagger!
I have an active outdoor island life and social life to match. (The chicks dig me)! You’ll currently find me on my board skimming the platinum coast of Barbados.
I like to explore new places and meet new kids from around the globe – I totally live for the adventure!
Together we are Footloose & Three.
The Story Behind Our Family Travel Blog
Have you ever allowed yourself to daydream about another life? Do you find yourself envious whilst scrolling through Instagram of friends who are having a wonderful outdoor life in far-off lands?
This was us, until we unexpectedly turned a Christmas vacation to Barbados in 2020 into our dream lifestyle and we haven’t looked back!
We would love to entice you to step outside both your comfort and time zone so you too can turn travel into your way of life.
As a child with immigrant heritage I had a natural curiosity about people and how others existed around the world – what made us different? What united us? I would spin a globe on its axis, daydreaming about how I could travel to encounter every creed and culture to find the answers.
The loss of my father helped me gain perspective on my own mortality and motivated me to live life to the full, filling it with things I loved and enjoyed. Thankfully along my journey I met a like-minded boy, Ric who shared my ambitious vision and became my lifelong travel companion.
When we became pregnant back in 2015 we were absolutely delighted. But there was a sinking feeling in our hearts that we could no longer explore the world in the way we once had as a child-free couple. That we would need to put our adventurous travel dreams on hold until retirement.
We have written this blog to help encourage you to pull down those mythical barriers that we as parents naturally erect – that prevent us from pursuing our desires. We drew direction from the wisdom of the Buddhist proverb:
“the obstacle is the path”.
The obstacles can feel very real in the moment, but when you begin to look closely, peeling back the layers of uncertainty; you will see that they are insignificant and not sizeable enough to stop you from living your best life.
The obstacles merely help us to learn and grow. Once you take steps to overcome these, you will reach your nirvana!
Our wild child Arlo is just as eager as us to encounter new adventures. We are living proof that having an enjoyable family life does not need to be a static existence. Tying you to your birthplace, where your business or family reside; in reality, our true journey was only just beginning.
We had a wonderful life in the UK but for us there was a real banality to monotony. We couldn’t envisage ourselves in one place indefinitely and being bound to the tediousness of 12+ hour jobs until retirement, with minimal time to escape and see the world.
The fear of the mundane was far greater than uncertainty and the desire for novelty surpassed the need for stability.
So we chose to be brave and ventured forth, following our hearts to take a leap of faith into the unknown.
It will be a challenge for us to achieve our dream of travelling the whole world in this lifetime, but we will endeavour to experience as much of it as possible.
So far, we have visited 85 countries out of a possible 195, which equates to 56% of the world, so perhaps the goal is in sight after all. We aim to share our journey in what we aspire will become one of the best family adventure blogs. We are Footloose & Three.
