nomestia: Alternative Living for the Quietly Rebellious

This week we’re doing an Alternative Living Diaries. It’s been a while. We’ve had a bit of a hiatus from the podcast. Cards on the table, we’ve been struggling in our relationship. We’re not going to go into that now, but we’re here. We’re all right. We’re doing okay.So where are we? A gorgeous view of a car park in Kendal, next to a police station. On the way down from Scotland we stopped off at Gretna Green, which was full of tourists, and the blacksmith was on his computer. Then a woman dragged us into the middle of nowhere to see her two litters of dachshund puppies and offered us her field for £45. Not even a toilet.We talk about the cost of parking up your van in the UK, which is just literally ridiculous. If you’ve got a bit of land, open up your fields and charge everybody 10 to 20 pounds. Then you won’t have this issue.Skye: we’d highly recommend it, but don’t go in high season. Found a community toilet, shower and laundry just off the bridge in Kyle of Lochalsh, run by the community and funded by the community. That should happen more often.Edinburgh has slammed its way into our top five. Stockbridge, a £13 family bus ticket, and a museum that was very good price to get in. Free. Plus Naomi climbing Ben Nevis with Arlo, and hips don’t lie.Then the Fruitmarket gallery, where we were called irresponsible parents. “I’m going to talk to you about art gallery etiquette.” And the MOT. We based a whole trip around getting it done in Stranraer, booked it months in advance, made it very, very clear what the van was, got the children up at 5am, and the guy said, “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to lift that.” Second year in a row. The universe looked after us in the end and she passed with flying colours. Not a single advisory.Now we’re off to a Haven for £23 a night, because when you’re in a van the decision fatigue is too much.The autumn winter drop is still live, but we’ll be closing it the first week of November because we’re leaving the UK. The lovely hat, a really cute box, from us to you. Buy it for yourself or for somebody else for Christmas.We’ve merged Naomi and Nomestia’s Instagram, still at thisisnaomigale. If you’re not on Instagram, come along to YouTube. And if you don’t want to miss an episode, all you have to do is subscribe. Please leave a review. It helps more people to find us.

Our children didn't go back to school this September. Two years since our children left school, and this is the honest version: not the Instagram one. Naomi spent a decade as a primary school teacher before deciding on home education, she thought she could do better for her own children, and we talk through exactly why. Discussion on what "I'm bored" actually means, why Year Six in the UK schools turns children into mini-teenagers before they're ready, and the pointless loophole that makes deferring a year at school meaningless anyway. If you're home educating, or just curious what it actually looks like day to day, this episode is for you.

What does it actually take to raise three children including a four-month-old full-time on the road, with no house waiting back home? This week Naomi is joined by Tara, a full-time travelling mother of three based in Hoi An, Vietnam, for a conversation that goes far beyond the highlight reel.Tara and her partner Shane left a genuinely happy life on Australia's Sunshine Coast deep in a thriving home education community, close to family not because anything was wrong, but because they trusted there was something else calling them. She talks candidly about choosing Vietnam with almost no research at all, falling pregnant mid-trip, going home to give birth, then selling everything they owned to go all in on this alternative living path a second time.This is an honest, slow-living conversation about the parts nobody puts in the reel: working out that each of your children needs a completely different kind of home, the freedom (and admin) of a 90-day visa rhythm, and why environment changes what feels creatively and emotionally possible for a whole family, not just the children.In this episode:Why Tara and Shane left Australia's biggest homeschooling community to travelHow family and friends actually reacted (and why conviction mattered more than a plan)Choosing Hoi An, Vietnam with one Facebook post and no big checklistGoing from "let's trial it" to selling the house, the car, and the storage shedWhy each of her three kids relates to "home" completely differentlyThe 90-day Schengen-style visa rhythm, and why slower isn't always simplerVietnam, Thailand and Morocco — how the same trip lands differently for everyoneWhat full-time travel did for her partner's mental health and creativityApproximate timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome & introducing today's guest 2:15 – Meet Tara: full-time travel with three kids, based in Hoi An, Vietnam 5:00 – Leaving a thriving homeschool community in Australia to travel 9:00 – How family and friends reacted, and the power of conviction 17:00 – Choosing Hoi An almost by accident (and why it stuck) 23:00 – From "let's trial it" to selling everything and going all in 33:00 – Creating a sense of home for three kids of very different ages 41:00 – The hardest moments, including "you've ruined my life" 48:00 – Slow travel and the 90-day visa rhythm that actually works 56:00 – Vietnam vs Thailand vs Morocco: the people who stay with you 1:16:00 – The hearth: how travel reignites creativity, purpose and connectionFind Tara at World of Our Making on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@worldofourmaking and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldofourmaking/ . This is nomestia: Alternative Living For the Quietly Rebellious- how to live slower without escaping. New episodes every week for anyone building a life outside the default.

We wanted land. We wanted to build something rooted. Then we heard the stories: a man near Dover fighting eviction from his own land, breeding pigs purely to annoy the neighbours who reported him. An intentional community now in a six-figure lawsuit after founding families walked away. A woman who gave up on her own land in Spain and went back to van life instead—happier for it. Alternative living, off-grid dreams, and the paperwork nobody posts about all in one episode.

We begin the episode with our chat about a video call from an SEO “guru” wanting £7-14k to rebrand our whole podcast sends us down our own SEO rabbit hole instead: spoiler: we’ve started to do our ourselves. Back in the UK and nothing’s changed for us in UK van life: it’s rain in August, a battery too drained to run the kettle, and the usual bureaucratic nightmare just to keep the van legal.We revisit France: a van life car-park showdown with a French couple that would’ve made great clickbait if we wanted it to be, and two nights that reminded us what real community actually is. We end with the grief and guilt underneath the question of whether we leave the UK for good, and why we don’t have a clean answer yet. Alternative living means uncertainty is part of the journey, we suppose. 

We take our children to a naturist camp for the first time, and it completely rearranges how we think about bodies, shame and freedom. In this alternative lifestyle podcast episode we discuss:Our own body image histories growing up (some of it heavy: fair warning)What it's actually like arriving at a four-star naturist resort in the south of FranceA run-in with an older resident who thought our daughters should be bottomless, and what the law and the campsite's own rules actually sayWhy naturism has a generational problem, and what that means for its futureNaked Attraction gets dragged into question (rightly so)The great pubic hair debate: to pube or not to pube is the questionNaomi's new project exploring naturism, folklore and curiosity: https://barelycurious.substack.com/

In this nomestia diaries we cross into France, say goodbye to Spain, and drive straight past an active wildfire on the motorway, a stark reminder that alternative living doesn't mean burying your head in the sand Then: a chaotic grey-water stand-off outside Barcelona, our honest verdict on Sevilla vs. Barcelona, and how we tended to an eight-year-old's full meltdown before getting her ears pierced. What embodied parenting actually looks like out in public, on a busy street, with everyone watching. This is slow living but real life friction included.

Realities of Full Time Vanlife With Three Children.In this episode, we move through our top topics on full time vanlife. This ain't no holiday. We aren't in kansas anymore...We've chosen topics not often shared such as how do relationships survive vanlife. how apps make things a challenge not necessarily an ease when making parking choices, why we chose van life (and it's not for the lifestyle or drone shots), meeting other families, costs and what happens to that grey water?This is an honest financial and emotional reality of full-time vanlife with three children. No romanticising, no highlight reel. Why we chose it, what it's actually cost us, and the truth nobody shares: close-proximity living doesn't fix your mental health, it forces you to face it. This isn't escaping the system, it's an alternative living experiment in real time, nervous systems and all.We are looking for those who want to join our flock. The sheep who follow their hearts versus society. Only those in The Field will receive the in-person gift— click here.