Continued from Part 1 of Kirsty’s story.
After almost 10 years in the Middle East, my husband and I decided it was time for one more big adventure before we would need to settle down in one place so that our daughters could finish school in person. We headed off on another set of multi-month travels, this time in our camper van across the Arabian peninsula, before relocating to Goa in India for a slower pace of life.
Both of our careers had done well during our years in China and Abu Dhabi, but my husband was facing burnout and wanted to take a sabbatical. Goa was an affordable place to drop to one salary, and he became the trailing spouse — handling the school runs, grocery shopping and cooking while I traveled to Abu Dhabi every few months to work with clients and continue my role as an educator for Nikon Middle East. I also began running photography retreats in Goa.
For me personally, this was a particularly challenging time of expat life. The jet-setting wasn’t as fun as it had been in my younger days, and I didn’t really enjoy being away from the family. I had already experienced life as a working Mum, but it was undeniably hard to redistribute our household responsibilities now that I had become the breadwinner. My husband (and many husbands I’m sure) simply didn’t realize that things like having a supply of presents for parties the kids were going to, or back-up ballet tights in the drawer for those inevitable holes, was something he should be looking to do!
