Taking Flight

Auckland couple Katie and Mark Sievers are living the dream, travelling the world with their young girls. They tell Monique McKenzie about the lessons learned along the way

Tracking down Katie Sievers was no mean feat. Soaking up the sun in Fiji, with limited internet, she and her family have been doing what many of us only dream of – travelling the globe full-time. Since August 2017, Katie, her husband Mark and their daughters Poppie, six, and Lillie, three, have spent their days collecting an impressive number of passport stamps as they’ve explored 21 countries together. Being in a position to do so is the result of a lot of hard work and careful planning.

The high school sweethearts, now both 35, had never done the traditional Kiwi OE. Katie, who worked in property management, and Mark, a builder, spent their 20s growing their business and getting on the property ladder.

“Mark had missed out on time with the kids and I had too,” says Katie. “With both girls, I had them and was back at work a few days later. It was quite full-on, so when we were in a position where we didn’t have to work, we decided we wanted to have that time together, give each other and the kids a different life and learn from the adventure.”

Upon telling friends and family their decision, Katie and Mark were met mostly with support, with friends saying it was “awesome”. But she admits there was also a bit of light-hearted cynicism.

“Because Mark doesn’t like crowds, he’s the most unlikely person to go travelling. All of our friends thought, ‘You’re never going to make it, this is just not going to last’, and my dad thinks that I’m wasting my life. That’s a different generation though, like ‘you need to be grafting or you’re not successful’, and for most people of that generation, the reaction was similar.”