FAMILY ADVENTURE EP1 | TF1 | Reportages

Drop everything and set off on an adventure at the other side of the world… lots of people dream about it, but few take the leap. Such a desire for freedom and the exotic seems even less achievable as a family. And yet, more and more are taking the plunge. For a few months, or for life. We followed three families who took up this crazy challenge to the four corners of the globe, far from routine and home comforts.

In the Lozère, Emily and Damien led the quiet life of the thirty-somethings. Perhaps too quiet. Both employed, they were earning just enough to pay the mortgage on their new house. “We realized we’d put ourselves into a trap with the house. It forced us to keep our jobs because if we suffered the least drop in income, we couldn’t continue repaying the loan.”So the couple took a radical decision: sell their house and leave their jobs to travel Europe… by bicycle! In addition to their several dozen kilos of luggage, they will be carrying their two children, Soline, 3, and Hugo, 7. In the mountains of Montenegro, this physical challenge will take on unforeseen proportions…

They too, set themselves a somewhat insane gamble… Jeremy, 36, a landscape gardener, Sophie, 34, a nurse, and their three children are hitching their way across Asia. After Mongolia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, their adventure continues in Indonesia. From volcanos to idyllic beaches, this hitchhiking family has chosen a journey subject to chance encounters. “It’s not the easy times that provide the best memories. It’s the moments of struggle or extraordinary events. Obviously, hitchhiking is a constant stream of extraordinary moments”.However, this beautiful saga will be interrupted by the thing parents fear most: a medical emergency.

Jill and Clement flew off to South America. Aboard their 4×4 converted to a mobile home, they intend to visit the finest natural sites on the continent along with Rose, 3, Martin 5 and their two Golden Retrievers. For these former opticians, camping in the wild and seeking intense sensations as a family adventure is, above all, the school of life. “We want this trip to open our children’s eyes. That they break out of the mould, which we tend to live in at home. To teach them to understand that they can become whatever they want”.But far off the beaten tourist tracks, this total freedom is not without consequences…