Building a Boundless Future

Building a Boundless Future- Education Travel and Family Life Reimagined

[00:01:13] Mickelle: Do you travel the world until you had children and then felt you needed to settle down? Or have you been living as a digital nomad, even after becoming a parent? Today, I’m talking with Elodie Ferchaud, a co founding team member of Boundless Life. When I learned about Boundless Life a few years ago, I took notice.

[00:01:30] Mickelle: Their innovative approach to slow travel exclusively for families with kids is as beautiful as it is practical. They provide education for the kids and a co working space for parents, along with turnkey accommodation, local support with planning, and more. They provide kind of a summer camp for families vibe, all while taking the stress of planning off your shoulders.

[00:01:50] Mickelle: A boundless cohort includes planned activities with other families and plenty of time to connect both as a family and a couple in between. Elodie was enchanted after her first day with Boundless Life in 2022 with her three daughters and has since joined their team as the head of marketing and a co founding team member.

[00:02:07] Mickelle: She tells us all about her paradigm shift to living a life of slow travel with her kids, and how the education program at Boundless and its innovative approach at all of their locations has provided her daughters with a very different way of looking at education and life from their previous life in London.

[00:02:22] Mickelle: I had the opportunity to stay at their newest hub this summer in Kotor, Montenegro, and I can tell you, it was an incredible experience. My partner and I are both startup founders and are balancing that with cherishing time with our three kids. This summer, we were determined to stick to our commitment to balance despite being very demanding schedules for our companies.

[00:02:42] Mickelle: Boundless life allowed us to strike a seemingly impossible balance between intense work schedules and adventures and time to connect with our growing kids. It ended looking like us working full time. Plus, while the kids had an amazing time with other kids from around the world, we were having dinner and swimming in the ocean each night, adventures with other families at the weekend, and connecting with other couples very organically over quick coffees or yoga in the park.

[00:03:05] Mickelle: We managed to have the summer of our dreams with the kids. We’re able to put in the time with our companies that was needed. I cannot recommend Boundless Life enough if you are an adventurous family who also needs to keep your work or projects rolling. Connecting with other families was the cherry on top.

[00:03:20] Mickelle: We met a whole new set of international families that we can now meet at other Boundless locations around the world. Truly an experience of a lifetime. I loved it so much. The Boundless Life is offering our members a 400 euro discount off their first cohort. House of Peregrine members can log in to claim the discount.

[00:03:37] Mickelle: I hope you enjoyed today’s episode with Elodie for Chowd. If you do, feel free to share it with a friend. This is the best way to get the word out about House of Peregrine and our mission to connect people living internationally more deeply with each other, the place they currently call home, and their selves.

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[00:04:48] Mickelle: com. Okay, bye! That’s it. Time to do today’s episode. Elodie, thank you so much for joining us today on the House of Peregrine podcast. I’m very excited to bring your story and boundless life to our listeners.

[00:05:03] Elodie: Thank you so much, Michele, for having me today. I’m really excited also to, to meet everyone and tell a little bit more about what we are all about with boundless and um, and what we’re, we’re doing for, for families.

[00:05:16] Mickelle: Great. introduce us to you, tell us who you are, and then we’ll move into that whole story. Yeah, perfect.

[00:05:26] Elodie: Um, so I was born originally in France. Um, I, um, grew up a bit all around the world. Traveled a lot, um, as a child already. My parents were educators, so we were lucky enough to be able to travel every summer, and I think it gave me really the travel bug, uh, back then.

[00:05:44] Elodie: I then met my partner in life. Um, who is Swedish. So we’re a multicultural family. I have three daughters who were born between Japan and the UK and the whole life we’ve been basically moving around as expats, what we loved about the expat life was that we could, we could travel around the world, but we were really sad after two, three years, Leaving everyone and never coming back.

[00:06:08] Elodie: Um, and so we’ve always been looking for a different lifestyle, a lifestyle where we could maybe travel a little bit faster, but then also go back to places and go back to people and keep those connections and, um, my whole career I’ve been working in big corps. So that’s what enabled us to do that expat lifestyle.

[00:06:27] Elodie: And then at some point, um, I decided to go on a sabbatical, create my own company, and that’s when we found boundless found us originally as. So we joined back in April, 2022, that was in central, it feels like ages ago. And that suddenly, when I discovered that this life plan was really right for us, and then decided to join the team to help just make it more accessible for more families.

[00:06:53] Elodie: Um, so that’s a little bit about myself.

[00:06:55] Mickelle: I want to just go back one second because you, you used words that we use all the time. And so when you say you were an expat, what does that mean for you?

[00:07:04] Elodie: Great question. So what it meant back then was, was that as a family, we were living abroad for two, three years.

[00:07:12] Elodie: Um, so we were transferred by our companies back then I was working for Procter Gamble, Hannes was working for Spotify, and we were transferred to another country. And every two, three years, we had that kind of rolling lifestyle moving home from one place to another. There was a lot as an expat, I felt like, The, the life was still very much work centric in the sense that, again, it was the work that was driving us from one place to another, there was a lot of beauty in it as well, because we would meet a lot of exciting people.

[00:07:45] Elodie: We would. Living beautiful places, but it was still a very much work centric lifestyle. And I think what we started creating or craving for is also more of a life centric lifestyle in the sense that we’re now choosing where we want to live and that’s where we work. Uh, versus the opposite, um, moving from that’s where we need to work.

[00:08:07] Elodie: And then that’s where we live.

[00:08:08] Mickelle: That makes a lot of sense. And so when you say we, this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to live this life. That’s is that how you would describe what you do now, instead of being an expat, which is motivated by work, where you live, you decide where you want to live and you work there.

[00:08:24] Elodie: Yeah. And I think, I think that’s, um, that’s a new opportunity for, for many of us. Now the big move towards remote work has really enabled many of us to suddenly be able to design the life you, the life we want to be able to decide where we want to live. Um, and then the work follows. There is a lot more freedom.

[00:08:47] Elodie: There is a lot more intentionality as well in terms of how we want to design that life. And I meet more and more families nowadays who are able to, to live that dream. Um, just because again, the world of work has changed so much that suddenly people are able to shape how, how their work is looking like and where they work from.

[00:09:09] Elodie: Um, so that’s a. Big paradigm shift. Um, and that’s, and that’s where,

[00:09:14] Mickelle: yeah, I, you said it so well. I was just about to say, it’s not just a shift in how we work. It’s an entire paradigm shift of what you want your life to look like. You just said it. And so when you, you went to the first boundless, you went as a family, as a, as someone who was just trying it out, what took you to that first time of being a boundless family?

[00:09:37] Elodie: Yeah, I still remember all the steps along the way because it was such an important milestone in my life. So I remember talking to, to an old friend from Tokyo who had learned about this crazy project. And those people were starting this community back in Sintra. And at the time we were thinking about going to Portugal just for a few months.

[00:09:55] Elodie: So it was just like, you know, a good alignment. And they had created this this new community where the kids were following the Finnish system. My partner is Swedish and obviously we’ve seen like the Finnish system and how progressive it is been always wanting to, you know, like educate the girls in a way that is more future ready.

[00:10:17] Elodie: And so that was fitting really nicely with the vision we had also in terms of education. Um, and so when I

[00:10:23] Mickelle: talked to Carmilla and Yeah, tell me what drew you to the Finnish system, because I don’t, I’m not sure everyone knows that. I don’t want to get you off this, like, path, but I really want to go a little bit deeper.

[00:10:32] Mickelle: What drew you to the Finnish system, and tell us a little bit about what that is.

[00:10:37] Elodie: Yeah, so the finish system has been, um, has been recognized as one of the most progressive education system in the world. It’s basically a very well balanced approach between academia, um, and experiential learning. So this realization that the kids, um, also need to make sense of their learning at school by connecting it to the world around them.

[00:11:00] Elodie: So what the finish system does is that. It, it teaches the fundamentals in terms of academics, but also then it, um, brings alive like project based learning in a way that the kids can connect the dots between the disciplines. Um, so suddenly it’s not only about learning about additions or poems in a very abstract way, but what we’re doing is then tie it into.

[00:11:23] Elodie: The world around them. Um, and the way boundless has done it is that the project based learning is all around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. So we’re picking up one UNSDG for every cohort. Um, the next one, for instance, in September is called biodiversity rocks. Um, and it’s all about marine pollution, which will be like amazing for the kids to explore.

[00:11:44] Elodie: And then everything that they’re learning in terms of math, in terms of English. They will apply it to the quest, um, and they will bring it into practice. And suddenly, you know, when you write a poem about marine pollution, suddenly that form that you just learned is so much more meaningful. You can also pour your soul into it.

[00:12:03] Elodie: Because if a kid is more passionate about, um, Um, I don’t know, river pollution versus ocean pollution. That’s what they’re going to focus on, and they will do more research. And we know how important it is for the kids to have that intentionality and to be able to shape their learning process according to their passion.

[00:12:21] Elodie: It also gives an environment that is a little bit more personalized. So the classrooms are a little bit smaller and we’re able to tailor a little bit more than learning also to each child.

[00:12:31] Mickelle: That’s really, really beautiful. And so when you were, you were considering where to spend some time with your, your girls, this really spoke to you.

[00:12:39] Mickelle: It sounds like you really appreciated that they had embraced this model. Um, and they were school age already. Is that?

[00:12:47] Elodie: Yeah. So back then the girls were three, five and seven. Um, so they were already in a school setting before we were in London, um, right before moving to Portugal. So they were, they were very comfortable with, um, with the school set up.

[00:13:02] Elodie: That’s definitely like the big, The big reason why I joined boundless, I felt like suddenly we had found an education program that could work, but also an education program that could travel with the girls. So we were interested in Portugal, but we were even more interested in the ability to then be able to move to another location without disrupting the girls so much.

[00:13:23] Elodie: Like I was, we were always like, we want to travel more often, but. I don’t want to homeschool because I, like, I am a very active mom. I want to keep working and I know that I’m not as good of an educator as educators themselves. Like I, I know my flaws. Uh, so it’s like I need to have a school setting for them.

[00:13:42] Elodie: It needs to be progressive. And ideally, like if they can move around the world with them, this is like, this is the dream. Like this is what I’ve been looking for.

[00:13:50] Mickelle: Yeah. And so I really want to go into the process for Boundless a little bit later, but I want to take us back. Thank you for going on that tangent with me.

[00:13:58] Mickelle: And by the way, we have kids exactly the same spacing. So moms of three with kids less than two years apart unite. Um, but, uh, so when you’re in London, take us to when you’re in London and the decision you guys were both kind of working for. Larger companies. Is that kind of the life you were living right then?

[00:14:15] Mickelle: And you had landed back in London after your time in Tokyo in Japan. Yeah, that’s right. And then you moved to London. And how long were you in London before you were like this shift of like, we need something else.

[00:14:29] Elodie: Yeah. So we, yeah, no, I, my youngest was born in London. Um, we lived there for three years. So I went back to work.

[00:14:39] Elodie: After a year having her, I was one of the very Complex going back to work because it was like going back to work with three kids. It was also, it was also a very intense commute, like London as an hour commute in like two ways, both ways. So there was two hours lost, um, every day and it was COVID. Um, so I had a time of like six months with the schools fully closed.

[00:15:05] Elodie: Um, back then I was managing the, the OPI business. Um, so I had a team of 20 people and I had the girls at home, like, and needed to, to homeschool them. So it was a very intense time. Also, during that time, I actually lost my brother, which was like a very heavy, like a milestone and just made me like completely relook at our whole life.

[00:15:30] Elodie: So one of those moments when you pause and you’re just like, what’s going on? Like, what do I want this precious life to be? Um, to be all about, and that’s when I decided to go on a sabbatical back then. My partner was also was an entrepreneur, so he could work remotely and suddenly like we had so many opportunities and we could start really deciding how we wanted to live that life.

[00:15:51] Elodie: And that’s at that point in time that we found that we found on this, so a lot of like big pieces coming together and making us do this, um, this big life change.

[00:16:01] Mickelle: Yeah. So that inflection point was a huge one. It was like, This is a huge moment of what are we doing? Exactly. It’s a wake up call. Yeah, totally.

[00:16:12] Mickelle: Thanks for sharing that. I don’t think for everyone it is so as profound as your experience. Maybe it’s a moment or something, but for you, it was really this Like you said, a wake up call of like, how are we living this life? And so you guys found boundless and you went your first time. So if you could maybe give us a little bit of like what that meant at that time, like you were signing up for X, you were, you know, tell us about what that looked like for your family.

[00:16:41] Elodie: Yeah, we were quite spontaneous, to be honest, because I remember having the call with Boundless on February 13th. Um, and the cohort started early April. So it was like, you know, six weeks, like, yeah, we just had six weeks to get, to get ready. We were ready for the adventure. And when we, when we had that first call, I remember just feeling everything was really taken care of.

[00:17:03] Elodie: Right. Because when we met Lindsay for the first time, it was like, yeah, we’ll have the home. We’ll have the education program. We’ll know where we can work from and we’ll meet families. Everything was kind of set up. It was very much like turn key. And I think that’s one of the biggest benefits of boundless to just help the families.

[00:17:21] Elodie: To offload a lot of the logistics. So you can really focus on the transition and the experience itself with your family and your partner. So it was quite a, um, like it was an immediate decision. We just, we met, we met, um, with boundless and we’re like, this is exactly right for a family. Then we started packing, putting everything into storage and then just.

[00:17:44] Elodie: Just moved to Portugal. Um, early three

[00:17:47] Mickelle: months or for how long was that commitment?

[00:17:49] Elodie: So the first cohort was exactly three months. So our decision was to be there from April to June. Um, we didn’t have any plans after that. We didn’t really know what would happen next. We knew that we were ready for that adventure.

[00:18:03] Elodie: And then very quickly, like, so I joined, we joined for the education program, but like, I remember very, very quickly just feeling this. Um, incredible sense of belonging very, very, very quickly went on location. Um, the families who were there were just all on the same wavelength. We were all kind of different, but we had, we were looking for similar things or at least asking similar questions.

[00:18:30] Elodie: Um, I think it’s quite beautiful when you’re in a place when everyone is just really curious and open minded and, and wondering about things they’re on the quest. And that feels suddenly so powerful and people who are bright enough also to know that they don’t know that’s very refreshing. Um, and so we had so many interesting conversations.

[00:18:49] Elodie: We were also here for each other when things were going well, but also when things were a bit challenging. And so there was this very strong sense of belonging. And I like I was like, Hannes, we need to we need to keep on doing that. Um, like, like the community really was the one also that made us want to stay and for me to also decide to join the team.

[00:19:09] Mickelle: So tell me in that first cohort, how many families were you having this experience with?

[00:19:13] Elodie: Um, I think we were about 15 families, uh, for, for the first cohort. Families coming from a little bit all around the world. Um, and, uh, we were joined, there were, I think there were, yeah, we were about, About 15 families joining that, uh, that first cohort.

[00:19:31] Elodie: I actually happened to also bring along one of my old best friends from Tokyo, who, um, who I talked to like right before going and like, okay, we’re going to Portugal. It might sound crazy to you. And she was like, tell me more. And I started telling her about boundless and then her eyes started like sparkly.

[00:19:50] Elodie: She was like, We’re going to come as well. Um, so I think there is very much this, like, you know, when there are people who have this similar craving for adventure and they want something different, they want to connect, they want something deeper and immediately it just sparked. So Bex came along as well with, uh, with us.

[00:20:09] Elodie: So we knew, we knew one family when we came on cohort and then we made lifelong friends, people we’re still seeing on the court now.

[00:20:17] Mickelle: Wow. How incredible. And so you found your next adventure with becoming part of the Boundless co founding team. And so tell us a little bit about that because it was started by two, two co founders and then you joined as the third co founder.

[00:20:34] Mickelle: Do I have that right?

[00:20:36] Elodie: Yeah. So there were, there were three co founders. So Mauro, um, who is now our CEO also has three lovely daughters. I was living in Canada. He’s originally from Brazil and he had this big wake up call after COVID and really wanted a different lifestyle for his family, wanted to be able to travel around the world and design also a different education program.

[00:20:57] Elodie: He met with Reka, who is the education co founder. Did, um, or had an ed tech company before, um, has been well schooling her kids. She has two older kids. Um, and then Elina who, um, was in charge of the hospitality side. So those three co founders had designed, uh, boundless originally when I started being on the court in April, very quickly on.

[00:21:22] Elodie: I was just like, I want to join. I want to help you guys. Um, I, there’s so many more families who need to know about this. This is so special and it just happened. It was very serendipitous. It just happened that at that time they were looking for someone to lead marketing and sales. And then we had a lot of conversations and discussion and it was an immediate click.

[00:21:42] Elodie: So that’s how I joined the team in July and then became one of the late co founders. Later, a few months later. So we’re now four. It’s just been like such a pleasure to be working with those people because they’re just so passionate about the lifestyle. I think when you’re living it, when you’re building it for your own family, it makes the whole difference.

[00:22:02] Elodie: It’s, it’s not a business. It’s a lifestyle that we’re creating for families. And we just so deeply believe in the impact it has for the kids and for the parents that like, I think everyone feels it on location.

[00:22:16] Mickelle: Would you say it’s an integrated way of, of living your life? Like you, you’ve integrated what you’re passionate about, what you’re, everything you’re doing and believe in, you’ve integrated it into how you spend all your time.

[00:22:29] Elodie: Yeah, definitely. It’s, it’s, it’s very, it’s very unique. I remember when I lived in Japan, I was reading all those books about Ikigai. I don’t know if you’re aware of the, of the concept. I am, but

[00:22:43] Mickelle: tell everyone, define it for us. Okay.

[00:22:45] Elodie: Yeah, so Ikigai is a concept that leads to happiness that originates in Japan, and it’s basically the intersection of four elements.

[00:22:55] Elodie: So it’s, it’s what you’re passionate about, it’s what you’re really good at, it’s what can make an impact on the world, and it’s also something that just, Like brings you money so that you can live. So those, this is the kind of intersection and, and I remember reading about it in Japan and trying to kind of force fit my current carrier into this IKIGAI, but it never really like quickly clicked.

[00:23:20] Elodie: There was always something where like, how much impact on the world does it really make to sell nail polish? Like there was something that was definitely not clicking as much as I would find you in the vision of my business. Um, and I remember when joining boundless, it was this. This is so aligned, so aligned with my values, with my passion points, with what I’m also really good at.

[00:23:42] Elodie: Like I found my Ikigai when, when joining Boundless, I think that’s how it feels for also many of our crew members. Who are joining the team. We now we now have over 100 people working for boundless. So it’s becoming like bigger and bigger with all our educators and the staff on location to help with the families.

[00:24:03] Elodie: There is definitely the strong sense that we’re building something very meaningful for the families and that we are where we’re supposed to be, which is a great, a great feeling.

[00:24:16] Mickelle: And so tell me, since, since we’re going into how beautiful it is and you guys are growing really, I think really fast and expanding really fast.

[00:24:25] Mickelle: Let’s, let’s tell people what it is. What, what is boundless life? Define it for us and then give us an idea of who it’s for and kids, adults, all that stuff. So walk us through what it’s like to be a boundless life family.

[00:24:40] Elodie: So with, with boundless life, what we’re creating is an ecosystem, an infrastructure for families to basically live and learn abroad.

[00:24:52] Elodie: So what it means exactly is we’re supporting the families with an education program with homes to live in with a co working space, but also a community of families, um, when they’re, when they’re coming on location, we currently have five locations live. So families are able to live in five beautiful places around the world.

[00:25:14] Elodie: Uh, we started in Portugal. The second one was, um, Greece in Syros, the capital of the Cyclades. We then went to Italy in beautiful Tuscany. Then we launched in Bali, uh, in Sanur. And finally, um, this month we’re launching in Montenegro in Côte d’Ivoire. And basically when a family comes on location, usually when you travel, the, the complex elements will be The logistics in general, because there are so many things that you need to think about as a family.

[00:25:43] Elodie: So we’re really trying to reduce the load, um, in terms of preparation, but really the two most complicated things will be figuring out the, the education equation for the kids, making sure that they are in a program that is nurturing, um, that is helping them to grow. Um, and then it still offers stability throughout the adventure.

[00:26:04] Elodie: And the second big challenge is the community. It takes time to make friends. It takes time to connect, to have that network. And when you’re saying bye to your friends and your family back home, it can be a little bit intense. So boundless really helps you, especially on those two points, the education program and the community.

[00:26:23] Mickelle: And so families come for three months stints. Is that right? The cohorts last normally three months. I know you just started a summer program in Montenegro for a month, right?

[00:26:34] Elodie: Yeah. So you, The core program of boundless is for three months. We really believe in slow traveling. So taking the time to really enjoy the location, create some routine, connect with the locals.

[00:26:46] Elodie: Um, so that’s the core of the program. And you’re able to do that. That’s set dates. Um, so we have one starting September. to November, then there is one January to March and one April to June. And then we have shorter programs, um, two during the summer in July and August and one during the month of December for families who are not fully remotely set up yet, um, but still want to have that adventure abroad, um, with their kids.

[00:27:13] Elodie: Nice.

[00:27:14] Mickelle: And the kids, the ages of kids that are in the education program, can you tell us a little bit about that?

[00:27:22] Elodie: So we welcome kids from one year old, so from the moment they turn 12 months old, and we go up to 14 at the moment, so we, we, um, in our education centers, um, we have currently five, uh, classrooms, um, so we believe in multi age learning setup.

[00:27:41] Elodie: Um, with the kids really learned the little ones from the bigger ones and the bigger ones by teaching the little ones. So we have the one to three year old class, um, and the four to five year old class. Those are the explorer classrooms Um very much inspired by the Montessori approach in those early years And then we move into the six to seven eight to nine and ten to twelve year old classrooms So those are available across our locations and running at the same time Um, and then we’re just launching this year in September, a program for the 13 to 14 year old just called the Trailblazer.

[00:28:16] Elodie: And because they’re a little bit older and they need their friends even more, they will travel together for nine months. Um, so we already have 16 kids enrolled in that program, um, or, or nine months traveling around the world. And

[00:28:29] Mickelle: their families

[00:28:30] Elodie: come with them, is that right? Always. So this is really important for us.

[00:28:34] Elodie: Family is obviously a core value of boundless. Um, I regularly ask the question, like, I love what you’re doing. Can I come? I don’t have kids yet. And we’re like, we would love to have you. But for the moment, boundless is really dedicated for families. And, and we’re not a boarding program. We really believe in the power of living that adventure with your kids, um, and creating memories.

[00:28:54] Elodie: Together. I do believe that in the future, many families will sit down. Um, you know, for Christmas or birthday. They were like, Do you remember the time we were together in Couture and how special that was? And that’s exactly what we want to create. Because those kiddos that grow up so fast, we really want to create those those memories that will make them hopefully want to travel with us for longer.

[00:29:20] Elodie: Um, that’s really the whole intention.

[00:29:23] Mickelle: Wow. And so right now, so when they travel together, what if they have younger siblings? Like if they’re 13 and they have younger siblings?

[00:29:32] Elodie: We always prioritize the youngest siblings, so the youngest siblings will have a spot in the other classrooms of the same cohort.

[00:29:39] Elodie: So let’s say that the trailblazers are, they’re starting in Bali in September. We have many actually of their siblings who are 10 to 12. And so there are about six or seven, I think, siblings who will also be hopping around for those nine months. We want to keep the family together.

[00:29:54] Mickelle: My 12 year old would then travel around with the cohort.

[00:29:57] Mickelle: We would all travel around with the cohort and then younger sisters who are 10 and 11 would then get a spot in the school that corresponds. That is really, yes, that’s intense. And such a huge dedication to an entire family that in the school systems around the world does not exist in the location. If you stay location independent, so, uh, location dependent.

[00:30:19] Mickelle: Cool. So that gives us an idea. So when we spoke earlier, uh, when I was speaking with another one of your staff, they were telling me it’s like, um, summer camp for the family. That’s how she described it a little bit. So it’s like you work during the day and then you play with other families, other adults, other kids during your time off.

[00:30:38] Mickelle: Um, is that accurate? Do you think?

[00:30:41] Elodie: Yeah. Um, that’s one analogy we, we use. I often refer to it also as, um, as an exchange program. For for the parents as well. So the kids. The kids will obviously go to the education center every day, especially during the three months, right? There is the routine, and it’s really important in those early ages to have the routine to go to the education center.

[00:31:04] Elodie: Um, so 8 45 to 3 30. They go to school during that time. The parents have have their time to either work or also join activities. There are a lot of spontaneous gatherings as well between the families. It’s very refreshing to be in a life suddenly where you don’t need to plan three, three weeks in advance.

[00:31:23] Elodie: There is none of the, Hey, do you want to catch up in three weeks? And you’re like, I don’t really know what I’m going to want to do in three weeks. No, it’s just like people are, you know, dropping the kids are like, do you want to have a coffee now? And yeah, everyone is living in the moment. And so that’s why I also often refer to it as the exchange program.

[00:31:41] Elodie: I don’t know if you, if you went on an exchange program when you were, were a little bit younger, but I remember going, you know, to the states and everyone was super open to connecting in an exchange program. Um, cause you didn’t have any friends. Suddenly, but everyone had the same mindset. They had a mindset of exploration and connection.

[00:32:00] Elodie: That’s what was driving them to that adventure. Um, and this is exactly the same when you’re coming on a cohort with boundless, you are super keen to just make the most out of every moment you’re going back into living in the moment, which I feel like when we live in the wheel, we often forget, we forget to like, enjoy that precious moment.

[00:32:20] Elodie: moment, be in the now. Um, so that’s what it reminds me a lot of Egoa.

[00:32:26] Mickelle: That’s so beautiful. And as adults, we often don’t get that opportunity because we have so many, we have so many responsibilities. We have our yard, we have our whatever. We have so many, yeah, obligations, like you said, but I also think they’re like heavy on us.

[00:32:41] Mickelle: And so as an adult, it’s really nice to be able to have an experience where you feel like you’re a bit more. Again, like you said, open to connection. I think it’s good for our health as well. And you can kind of see, and correct me if I’m wrong, that the pandemic and being locked down may have informed some of these values where you guys realized.

[00:33:04] Mickelle: What was actually important because it was distilled down for us all that we were basically in like sensory deprivation when it comes to connection. And so it feels like you guys pulled out everything that’s important about human existence and brought it into a program that was, Made for families, which who makes things for families anymore?

[00:33:24] Mickelle: Like at all. So for me, it felt so luxurious that someone was creating with families at the forefront of the design process. That is in software. I don’t see it in. Cars in any industry. I don’t see the, this notion that a family, how it works, the importance of those connections. That’s not at the forefront of design processes in any industry I can think of, even ones meant for children.

[00:33:53] Mickelle: So I think it’s really beautiful and it comes through and what you guys are doing that, Having family at the forefront of the design process changes almost everything about the way you do things. And so I think that’s, I just inspires me so much and makes me want to be part of it even more because of that.

[00:34:13] Mickelle: Uh, because I think it would change the world if we had families at the forefront of our design process. That doesn’t mean it has to be only for families, but I don’t know if you’re familiar with Jane Jacobs or city planning about how if you design for Someone in a wheelchair or for, um, women or for children, it becomes better for everybody.

[00:34:34] Mickelle: And so it’s not designing exclusively for families or exclusively for the person in the wheelchair or the women or the children. When you design with families at the forefront, it changes everything. The way you design everything. And so I feel really passionate about that.

[00:34:48] Elodie: Yeah, no, definitely. And I think there are a lot of values that you need to anchor also the experience into when you’re thinking about families, you talked about, you know, well being and a healthy lifestyle slowing down.

[00:35:01] Elodie: And all those values are benefiting not only the families, but also everyone who is around them as well. So we often have, you know, friends coming over and visiting the families on cohort or the grandparents coming over and, and everyone is just like, just really embracing those values as well. And just realizing like, Oh, wow.

[00:35:22] Elodie: I would love to have that kind of lifestyle as well. And, and inject some of those values into my everyday, because what the kids are craving is, is this mix of. Of routine, but also spices, you know, like excitements, uh, along every day. They also craving for outdoor being out there with the nature. They don’t need much.

[00:35:45] Elodie: I think when you’re traveling and living that lifestyle, you also realize that you can live a more minimalistic. Lifestyle. Um, the kids will do like so much with a cardboard box or just with like a lemon tree. Like I remember spending so many hours doing lemonade in Sintra. There was like so much time we spent doing that.

[00:36:06] Elodie: Um, and they learn a lot of valuable skills throughout it. So, yeah. That’s, that’s always been the intention, uh, really to, to anchor it into, into the families. And I think there is, there is still so much we can, we can create. Many families still don’t know it’s even an option while to be honest, more and more families are able to do that.

[00:36:27] Elodie: Um, remote work still keeps on growing. We have, um, you know, a lot of, um, freelancers and entrepreneurs who are able to, to live that life at least for three months. What we’re trying to do is also to not lock in families. We, there are so many solutions nowadays where you need to commit. You need to be with us for a year and it’s very strict.

[00:36:48] Elodie: You know, that’s just, that’s, that’s the life you need to commit. And we’re just saying, well, no, like you want to join for three months. Come for three months. You want to join for a year, join for a year. You design the life you want. That’s really one of the core beliefs also, um, of this lifestyle.

[00:37:05] Mickelle: Yeah. Wow.

[00:37:07] Mickelle: And that, that is such a beautiful acknowledgement because some people can work remotely constantly, but others just cannot. And also visas become a problem at that point. So if you’re coming to. Europe from another country, like from the U S I know you can come at least for now, at least for 90 days. And so it brings, uh, if you commit for a year, that’s a lot harder process.

[00:37:32] Mickelle: And like you said, you’re trying to take away these barriers, not give them more barriers.

[00:37:38] Elodie: Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely. And that’s where like for us, the launching Montenegro this month is critical because it’s going to help so many families now to live in Europe for a year, right? Cause Montenegro is. Outside of Schengen, but it’s still within the European continent.

[00:37:54] Elodie: So, you’re able to do, I don’t know, Portugal, Montenegro, and then Greece, and you do your nine months without having to worry about the visa. Um, but it, it’s been one that was difficult to crack because that’s definitely one of the complexities when you’re, when you’re traveling, um, within, within Europe.

[00:38:14] Mickelle: Yeah. And I think, um, it’s so smart because that strategy is like that. We, I talk a lot about on this podcast about how, um, creating a business internationally or with international people in mind is a totally different, it’s like designing for families. Now you’re designing for different visas and the different privileges and the different things.

[00:38:33] Mickelle: And so you can see your, when you look at the map. You can see that strategy play out. Um, but let’s say you’re a Hilton or Marriott or something or other hospitality. They don’t. None of this is taken into effect, right? And so I think that that’s the beauty of people who are internationally minded and want to live internationally is what they create actually is It just comes out differently.

[00:38:58] Mickelle: And so I really find it delights me. I love to highlight it. I love to be with those types of people. And so I think it’s, um, I’m, I’m just really tickled to bring boundless life to more people. So that’s really fun. Um, so tell me about a little more about how this has affected your girls. You’ve now been with boundless for a year or longer.

[00:39:21] Elodie: Yeah. Um, two years.

[00:39:23] Mickelle: Two years.

[00:39:24] Elodie: Okay. Almost two years and a half. Yeah. It’s fascinating. So I think first of all, before talking about the girls specifically, I think when you’re traveling, you will be hyper aware of how they’re developing. It’s just, I think a natural, like a natural reaction when you’re back home into the bubble or the wheel, whatever you call it, you trust kind of the process.

[00:39:49] Elodie: Well, at least I did. Um, and I didn’t, you know, I didn’t ask myself too many questions. The girl, we’re going to school. I was picking them up. I would report, I would receive the report parts. And if everything was well, I would just trust the process when you’re traveling on the other side. You really, you know, that it’s something different.

[00:40:07] Elodie: You know, that there is some kind of testing that you’re doing. Um, and so you’re really checking how they’re doing more regularly. You’re so much more in touch. With your children, you’re reading every day, how they’re handling the changes, et cetera, you’re more present you’re. And I think the kids feel it a lot.

[00:40:25] Elodie: So that’s, that’s more in your relationship with them. My daughters are very different from one another. Like, you know, you also have three children, you know, they’re also different. You’re still wondering how that is possible. My oldest is. Just turned 10 on the 1st of July. So that was a big birthday three days ago.

[00:40:42] Elodie: She’s extremely academic. Um, she’s someone who loves learning, has always been very comfortable at school. And so for her, whether she’s in one program or another doesn’t make much of a difference. She’s adjusting really, really quickly. I think boundless has been amazing for her because he still has so much hunger for learning when she comes back home.

[00:41:03] Elodie: When she was in the traditional system, she would be drained. Um, and she would come back home and it will be like TV or just like not doing anything. Now when she comes back from wellness, there are like some passion points that have arised during the day and she’s in research mode or she’s going to want to look for more.

[00:41:20] Elodie: So the drive for learning is really dialed up because she has more space for it. My second is, is not as academic. Um, the going to school has been sometimes. A bit more challenging and she’s grown massively at boundless. We focus a lot on the growth mindset as well and helping the kids to understand why we’re learning.

[00:41:43] Elodie: It’s not about the end result. It’s about the process. And so for Emily, it’s been life changing, especially in the last year. She’s really started making sense of the, why, why am I learning? Why am I enjoying the process? And so now she’s going to school with like an intention and, and a lot more happiness, um, towards the learning process.

[00:42:06] Elodie: And my youngest is so little still she’s five. So she learned to read and write with boundless. She was three when we joined now she’s five and she can read. Um, so it’s just really sweet. But. I think for the early ages, it’s just so much simpler to, for the kids to travel around that, yeah, it makes a bit less difference, but it’s, it’s fun to see the difference and, and them evolving.

[00:42:28] Mickelle: And I love how you’re bringing up that accommodates the, the system that Boundless uses, the Finnish system, it accommodates all kinds of learners. And so I think that’s, in traditional schools, it’s really, um, geared towards one type of learning style often, not always, but often, and so I think it’s really nice that you’ve brought this out, that even while you’re living abroad or in another country, you can, um, still be making sure they’re getting what they need educationally.

[00:42:57] Mickelle: So they’re not falling behind. So you’re not homeschooling. I also homeschooled during the pandemic for some time. And they, there are big gaps because of that, right? Cause my kids are in Dutch. I don’t speak Dutch. So, but I think that that’s a big guilt factor for parents if they travel a lot, or if they want to live a world schooling, whatever you want to call what families the many different ways families move throughout the world.

[00:43:23] Mickelle: And so I think this is really nice that you have that assurance that they’re being fed and they’re being taught. Um, they learn in English, right? That’s the language of the schools. That’s the

[00:43:34] Elodie: teaching is fully in English. Um, we do some sprinkling of, of the local language, but we focus more on the cultural immersion.

[00:43:42] Elodie: Um, than language immersion. Um, so most of it is, um, or all of it is in English, basically. And, and going back to the previous point, I think it’s also like, um, versus the traditional system, like having smaller classrooms enable you to have more of the tailoring or understanding of the learning. The learning styles.

[00:44:02] Elodie: What we usually do as well to enable the transition a lot better is before you coming on cohort. We build a learner profile. So you’ll have an hour with our admission team with your child. So the child and the parent comes in and Celicia interacts with them, ask them questions and try to understand how they like to learn and how they don’t like to learn.

[00:44:24] Elodie: What are some of the tricks and it. Pools that we can use and all that information flows into the local education team. So already when you come in, because that’s, that’s a big element also when you’re traveling around, right? It’s the transition time. We’re trying to compress that, that transition time so that we know as much as possible about the kids even before, before they join.

[00:44:47] Mickelle: That’s really cool. Okay, so the kids are taken care of. I love this. And then you can join extra activities with the kids. But what about the adults? What are the programs like for the adults? What is the, the summer camp for the adults like? Of course, everyone’s trying to work. There’s a co working space available each of the locations so you can do your meetings or work all day if you need to.

[00:45:07] Mickelle: What else is going on?

[00:45:09] Elodie: Yeah, so I would say during the three month program, most of the families will be working right during the day. Um, and I, I jokingly say usually we have like the day shift and the night shift. So our co working spaces are open 24 7. So depending on the, on the working hours of the parents, we also have the night shifters who are getting together like for their nine to midnight, uh, shifts at the, at the co working space.

[00:45:33] Elodie: We, we also organize quite a lot of experiences for the families, uh, during the day. Those are all created by our local team. So in every location, there will be like people who know the location really well, are passionate about it. They’re from there. Um, and so they’re creating a programming of activities.

[00:45:52] Elodie: Some of them are regular. They usually are well being activities. We really I was mentioning it for us. It’s really important to have an active lifestyle and to move and be outdoor so you can count on doing yoga lessons, hiking. We have football, family football. So the parents. And the kids play together.

[00:46:11] Elodie: The dads need to behave and not be too competitive. So everyone is working on their growth mindset. Those are activities that are included. Uh, and the family joined in a lot. Like that’s something that they love doing together. And then we also have workshops for, for the parents. So learning new skills.

[00:46:29] Elodie: So depending on the locations, you might be able to learn, I don’t know, pottery in Greece or painting in Italy or crochet in some locations. Um, so really skills workshops. And finally, there will also be activities during the weekend. So we will organize cultural activities, cooking classes for the families, hikes.

[00:46:51] Elodie: So again, it’s all about trying to offload, offer already families. Options there. Nothing is mandatory. You don’t have to join. You can join if you want to. We’re trying to make it as simple as possible. We know that parents are busy, um, and that the most important gift they can give to the Children is their presence and being with them.

[00:47:15] Elodie: So trying to take away all the planning so that you can spend that important time with them with the Children.

[00:47:22] Mickelle: I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I feel like you just spoke to my soul. Cause when I go on vacation, it’s like another job, right? Like logistic,

[00:47:34] Elodie: right?

[00:47:35] Mickelle: The logistics

[00:47:36] Elodie: are quite intense.

[00:47:37] Elodie: And then I forgot to mention that our community generally is just so active and driven, like the families who joined boundless. And I’m always amazed every time I go on a cohort, I’m just like. It just gives me faith in humankind every, every time I go, because they’re just like beautiful people, super driven.

[00:47:57] Elodie: So they organize stuff also for the community. They give back basically. And we’ve had like, it took, we’ve had so many different activities. We’ve had like parenting workshops. We’ve had think tanks that have taken place on cohort. Sometimes it’s been called business and bourbon because it was in the evening and they were presentation and a glass of bourbon.

[00:48:17] Elodie: There’s been Tabata classes. There’s been sports. I mean, it’s a lot of clubs basically that are generated by the community just because they want to give back and they want to do. It’s more fun to do it together, right? Yeah, that’s the whole idea. So it’s quite beautiful to see how skilled. Um, the community is as well and how generous, and that creates a very unique feeling for every cohort.

[00:48:39] Elodie: So every cohort is also very different because it’s shaped by the family joining.

[00:48:44] Mickelle: And is that, that’s part of it. And then also it’s not like you guys are, it’s self curated. Like you have the call. So let’s go through the process of becoming a boundless family. So if people want, someone is listening to this and thinking, Oh my God, I have to join.

[00:49:03] Mickelle: I have to find out. I have to see, I might be able to carve out a month or three months. What’s the next step? So

[00:49:10] Elodie: the first step is to have a call with, with one of our family reps. Um, you’re able to schedule a call on the website and basically we’ll just try to understand a little bit more about your family.

[00:49:21] Elodie: What are your desires? Um, help you, guide you along the way to figure out what’s the, what’s the right experience for the family and where there is availability as well, because our classrooms have a very clear, like maximum number of kids. So usually that’s the bottleneck. Um, so the earlier you can book the better.

[00:49:39] Elodie: And then once you know, Okay, I want to join. We have an application step. So we ask for you to fill out a form that gives us a lot more information about your kids. We want to make sure that we’re able to curate to their needs. We’re still a micro school. We’re still young, so we want to make sure that we were able to curate.

[00:50:00] Elodie: And then once you’ve been admitted, we’re moving to the booking stage. At that point in time, you’ll be able to confirm where and when you want to travel. You’ll also be able to pre select one of our accommodations when you’re joining on cohort. So that’s also one of the benefits of booking a little bit earlier.

[00:50:18] Elodie: That’s a few more options that you have for your family. And then we’re good to go. You’re obviously paying your stay. Um, and then you’re part of the onboarding. So during the onboarding, you’ll start getting a lot of information about the cohort. You’re joining will ask you for information as well. So we can prepare for your stay, prepare for your pickup.

[00:50:39] Elodie: If you need a baby crib, a high chair, whatnot, we’ll set up the home for you. You’ll have the 360 with Salisha. So where we build a learning learner profile for your kids, and then you’ll start, um, you’ll have a pre arrival. Onboard, um, webinar with all the families and the local team. So before you’re joining, you will also meet all the other people joining the cohort, which is a really fun time.

[00:51:03] Elodie: I can see you like, that’s like your favorite part. I love meeting the families.

[00:51:09] Mickelle: I love that. And so, I want to mention something that I loved, which is, it’s possible in most, in some cases, I would say, to bring a dog with you, like your family

[00:51:19] Elodie: pet. Yes, that’s right. Yeah, so all European locations are super pet friendly, obviously.

[00:51:24] Elodie: Bali, less just because of the country. But other than that, like, um, you’re able to, um, some accommodations are pet friendly, some are not. So that’s where our family reps will be able to guide you. Um, but yeah, we, we love animals and they’re often like, uh, another member of the family. So they’re, they’re welcome to join also the adventure.

[00:51:44] Mickelle: So I just want to do one last thing. So tell us what is, so you are basically enrolling in boundless. You’re paying for the accommodation. the school and then you cook on your own or you come to this, like, tell me what’s in kind of encompassed in what’s included in the boundless life.

[00:52:04] Elodie: Um, so within your boundless package, what will be included will be the education program.

[00:52:12] Elodie: So the kids joining the program that also includes the lunches and the snacks as well as the field trips for the kids that will also include indeed your accommodation. Within your accommodation. That’s including utilities and weekly cleaning again. We’re trying to make it as simple as possible for you.

[00:52:30] Elodie: And then the access to the community. So the access to the community is the co working space. The welcome event, the farewell event, um, the weekly wellness activities I was talking about. We also come and pick you up at the airport and drop you back. Um, so you don’t have to worry about that. So that’s what’s included now.

[00:52:47] Elodie: You also need to take care on your side of obviously your flights. and any food like for the families and additional experiences that you want to do. But the core really of the day to day living, uh, will be included within the, um, within the boundless package.

[00:53:05] Mickelle: Thanks for going into that. Cause I think it’s, um, it’s more extensive than you might So I think that that’s really nice for you to go over.

[00:53:13] Mickelle: All right. How do people, how can people reach you find out more about boundless and, um, maybe even sign up for a cohort?

[00:53:23] Elodie: Yeah. So I would say for everyone who is interested, uh, the easiest way is to go on our website, so it’s www. boundless. com. Boundless life. So that’s where you’ll be able to book a call with one of our family reps.

[00:53:36] Elodie: If you are interested in also just seeing how it looks like a little bit better, I really encourage you to follow us. Also on, um, on Instagram, that’s where you will see a lot of the adventures from the family. So it’s the Boundless Life account and there is also a very useful Facebook group if you want to talk to families who have done the boundless life.

[00:53:55] Elodie: Which I think is usually quite useful. It’s called the boundless life families, Facebook group. There are about 900 families in that group. So we’re starting now to like, yeah, you’re able to ask all the questions you want basically to those who have already done it. So those will be the three resources, um, thing that, um, that you can use.

[00:54:13] Elodie: And, um, and we’ll really be looking forward to, yeah, to meeting all the families interested in joining that, uh, that adventure.

[00:54:21] Mickelle: That’s great. We’ll link everything below and make sure everyone can reach you. I am so excited that you came on today. I’m super thrilled about what you guys are doing. I think you’re changing the world.

[00:54:31] Mickelle: And so thank you for coming on to the House of Peregrine podcast.

[00:54:35] Elodie: Thank you so much, Michele. Thank you for having us. It’s been a pleasure. All

[00:54:39] Mickelle: right. We’ll talk to you soon.

[00:54:41] Elodie: Thank you. Bye bye.

[00:54:42] Mickelle: Okay. That’s it for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed our show. For the latest insights on living internationally, join us at HouseofPeregrine.

[00:54:50] Mickelle: com to find out how you can connect with our community. Let’s craft our life story with intention together.