We did not start working remotely to chase a laptop-on-the-beach photo. We did it so we could live abroad as a family, climb and hike on weekends, and still be home when school lets out. Remote work is how we pay for that life. It is not the point of it.

This page brings together everything we have learned about earning a living from anywhere while raising kids overseas. It covers how to start, how to build work that travels with you, how to find clients from another country, and how to keep work from eating the adventures you moved abroad for.

Why remote work fits an adventurous family life

A normal office job ties you to one city and one calendar. Remote work and freelancing loosen both. You can move to a small town near good rock. You can take a Tuesday off for a hike when the weekend forecast is bad. You can work early, collect the kids at three and be at the crag by four.

That freedom is real, but it is not automatic. It comes from building work that does not depend on where you sit, and from setting a few firm rules about when you work and when you do not. The guides below are about building both.

The honest trade-offs

Working from abroad with a family has costs that the glossy posts skip. Time zones mean early calls or late ones. The internet in a mountain village can drop just as a client calls. Banking, taxes and paperwork get more complicated when you live in one country and earn in another. School runs, meals and bedtimes do not move for deadlines.

None of this is a reason not to do it. It is a reason to plan for it. Most of the mistakes we made in our first year came from treating remote work like an office job that happened to be somewhere else.

How we make it work

• Life first, then work. We block family time, school hours and adventure days first. Work fills the rest.
• Portable by design. Our work runs on a laptop, a phone and a reliable connection. Nothing depends on a single office or city.
• Systems before the move. Invoicing, contracts and scheduling get set up before we change countries, not after.
• A backup for everything. Power, internet and files all have a plan B, because something always fails on the day it matters.

Choosing where to live as a remote family

The right base makes everything else easier. When we look at a new place, we weigh five things before the scenery.

• Internet you can trust. Fast home broadband, decent mobile data and a backup plan for outages. Check before you sign a lease, not after.
• Time zone overlap. A few shared working hours with your main clients. Too little overlap means late nights or very early calls every day.
• Schooling. International schools, local schools or online learning, and what each costs. For many families this decides the city.
• The outdoors on your doorstep. Crags, trails or coast within an hour turn ordinary weekends into adventures without a big trip.
• Cost and paperwork. Rent, healthcare, visas and how easy it is to open a bank account. A cheap city with impossible paperwork is not cheap for long.

Small towns near good climbing or hiking can be wonderful bases, but they often trade on internet and schooling. Mid-sized cities with nature close by tend to give families the best balance.

Getting started

How to start freelancing while living abroad. If you are still employed, or just arrived overseas, start here. It covers which skills sell remotely, how to find your first clients, and how to set rates that cover family life abroad rather than a backpacker budget.

Remote jobs for parents who want to live abroad. Not everyone wants to run a business. This guide looks at real remote job types that fit around school hours and family life, with no inflated income promises.

Mistakes new remote workers make in their first year abroad. The hard lessons from our own first year, from underpricing to working every waking hour. Read it before you move and save yourself a few months of stress.

Building a business that travels with you

Build a freelance business you can run from anywhere, even a crag town. The difference between a truly portable business and a job you just happen to do remotely. What needs to be in place before you can work from a mountain village or a climbing area without worrying.

Going full time: from side gigs to a business that funds family life abroad. How we stopped chasing one-off gigs and built steady work, and the order of steps that made it possible.

Set up your business systems before you move abroad. Invoicing, contracts, scheduling and time zones, sorted before the move, so your first months overseas go to family and settling in.

Running a business while living overseas: banking, taxes and paperwork. The practical side of earning in one country and living in another. It points you to the questions to ask a qualified accountant or lawyer, because rules differ by country.

Finding clients from overseas

Finding clients when you live overseas. How we built a steady client pipeline, why our first portfolio got zero replies and what we changed, and how to market yourself when clients never meet you in person. Clients care that the work gets done, not where you are.

Balancing work, family and adventure

Work-life balance abroad: a weekly schedule that leaves room for climbing, hiking and family. The schedule that protects school runs, crag days and evenings without letting clients down. We use our week in Rochemaure, France as a worked example.

The remote work kit we carry on climbing and hiking trips. Power, internet and backups for working far from a city. It starts with the day a client called during a power outage in a mountain town, and the kit that saved the project.

Local guides for remote families

• Best remote work spots in Ardèche for parents. Cafes and spaces with reliable internet near the gorges.
• A remote work schedule with kids in Rochemaure. How a real week looks in a small French village.
• What a family spends per month in Marrakech. A real budget for living in Morocco.
• Banking in Morocco as a non-resident. The setup that stopped the ATM fees.
• What fee-free ATM withdrawals actually means. How to keep more of what you earn when you live abroad.

Questions families ask us about working abroad

Do we need a special visa to work remotely abroad?

Often, yes. A tourist visa usually does not allow you to work, even for clients back home. Many countries now offer digital nomad or remote worker visas with income requirements and fixed lengths of stay. Rules change often, so check the official government site of the country you plan to live in and get professional advice when in doubt.

How do the kids go to school?

Families usually choose between international schools, local schools and online or home learning. International schools offer continuity in English and an accredited curriculum but can be expensive. Local schools give kids the language and culture fast. Online learning keeps you flexible but puts more of the work on parents. The right answer can change from one country to the next.

What about health insurance?

Most remote families need international health insurance, because a home-country plan rarely covers you while you live abroad. If you climb, hike at altitude or dive, read the policy for adventure sports exclusions before you buy. Some plans cover them only as an add-on.

Can one parent work remotely while the other stays home?

Yes, and it is a common setup. It makes schedules simpler and costs higher on one income. Many families start this way and add a second income once they are settled. Whatever the split, agree on work hours and family time before the move, not after the first stressful week.

Can you really work from a climbing area or a mountain village?

Often, with planning. Test the internet at the actual house before you commit, carry a local SIM with a generous data plan as backup, and keep a power bank big enough to charge a laptop. Schedule important calls for times when you know the connection is strongest, and never book a client deadline on a travel day. The kit we carry is in our guide to the remote work kit for climbing and hiking trips, linked above.

Where the adventures happen

Remote work is only half the story. The other half is what you do with the time it frees up. Find family crags in our kid-friendly climbing guides, trail ideas in hiking, and more about daily life overseas in life abroad.

Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice. Rules for visas, taxes and business registration differ by country, so check with a qualified professional where you live.