Hi, I’m Rachel, and I want to tell you about traveling as a family in Central Asia and Australia. Its a bit of an unlikely combo but if that’s what you want to find out about, then you’ve come to the right place!
I lived in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 2021 till 2025 with my husband and our young children. We spent our vacations away from Kazakhstan usually with our families back in Australia, the UK, and in Rwanda. We also found time to explore the more immediate area of Central Asia, which is an incredible part of the world. Honestly, this region was not somewhere I had spent much time thinking about prior to moving there.
I learnt a lot while I was there, and it would be such a waste if I didn’t share it. Some of these lessons were hard learnt!
I wasn’t always an “expat”
We weren’t always living the expat life. After graduating in Australia, we moved to London and spent seven amazing years there. We both worked in good office jobs. It was lovely, stable, and unchallenging in many ways. We travelled a lot. And we had our first baby there. We were settling in, and there were enough perks and benefits to keep us happy.
Then the pandemic threw a spanner in the works of our London future!
It was 2020 and we decided it was better to go back to Australia for the birth of our second child. We ended up spending over a year in Australia, surrounded by our supportive family!
Living and traveling in Kazakhstan
Me and the kids joined my husband in Kazakhstan for his job. Here, in the former capital, Almaty, I cared for our kids and managed our home. I learnt Russian, and how to ski. I found an incredible set of friends, and very regularly would sit back and reflect on how amazing my life was.
We’re now back in Australia but are still doing lots of traveling and while I probably can’t help you with too many budget backpacking tips (those days are long behind me!), I can certainly offer my experiences, my tips and thoughts of the places we go and the things we experience.
Enjoy!
xx Rachel
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