完美房车算什么?英国夫妇卖掉一切带娃去环游世界
To outsiders, Faye and Matthew Gooding and their five young sons appear to have perfect lives.
在外人眼里,费耶、马修•古丁夫妇和他们五个年幼的儿子似乎拥有完美的生活。
Indeed, more than 32,000 people follow them on Instagram, where Mrs Gooding posts beautiful photos of life in their four-bedroom detached house in a sought-after village near Lincoln.
的确,古丁太太发在Ins上的美丽生活照吸引了超3.2万名粉丝。古丁一家住在英国林肯市郊的一个令人艳羡的乡村里,他们的房子是拥有四个卧室的独立式住宅。
For the couple themselves, however, this ‘materially perfect world’ was lacking something – so now they are giving up all their possessions to travel round the world with Ralph, nine, Judah, seven, Hunter, four, and twins Freddie and Jasper, ten months.
但是,对这对夫妇来说,这个“物质极大丰富的世界”缺少了一些什么——所以现在他们放弃了自己所拥有的一切,和自己的孩子们——9岁的拉尔夫、7岁的朱达、4岁的亨特和10个月大的双胞胎弗雷迪和贾斯珀一起去周游世界。
This was the last Christmas that the couple, who run a mortgage broking business, spent in their home, which has already been sold. Most of their belongings have gone too.
这对夫妇经营一家抵押贷款经纪公司,这是他们最后一次在这个房子里度过圣诞节。现在这个房子已经被卖掉了,他们的大部分个人物品也卖掉了。
Shortly their Ford Galaxy car will be sold – and the family will take just one backpack each.
很快他们的福特银河汽车也会被卖掉,到时候这家人将每个人带个背包上路。
Mrs Gooding, 33, said: ‘Some friends and family think Matt and I are mad to be giving up so much. It’s been incredibly difficult getting rid of so many possessions – Christmas was strange as we didn’t exchange lots of presents as we usually do.
33岁的古丁太太说:“一些朋友和亲戚认为马特和我放弃这么多东西是疯掉了。处理掉这么多财产异常困难——圣诞节也怪怪的,因为我们不像以往那样交换很多礼物。”
‘Selling our house, which we’ve completely refurbished over the past couple of years, is sad. But getting rid of so many possessions has been liberating.’
“卖掉我们的房子让人感觉悲伤,这栋房子在过去几年才刚刚彻底翻新过。但是处理掉这么多财产让人感觉身心自由。”
The couple made their decision after Freddie and Jasper were born.
在弗雷迪和贾斯珀出生后,夫妻俩做出了这一决定。
‘Getting pregnant with the twins was a shock,’ said Mrs Gooding. ‘Yet rather than enjoying spending time with the boys, I found myself cleaning the house all day. The older ones were at school and I thought, “I hardly see them”.
“怀上这对双胞胎是个意外之喜,”古丁太太说,“但是我发现自己成天都在打扫屋子,而不是享受和宝宝们在一起的时光。大一点的孩子们都在学校,我觉得自己几乎见不到他们。”
‘I admitted how I felt to Matt. He agreed it felt as if our lives revolved around material things – both of us working to pay the mortgage and keep ourselves in our materially perfect world.’
“我向马特坦承了自己的感受。他也认同我们的生活似乎都在围着物质的东西打转,我们俩为了还房贷都在工作,努力保持物质世界的完美。”
Last summer the couple put their house on the market. And in September the older children didn’t return to school, with Mrs Gooding teaching them at home instead.
去年夏天,夫妻俩将房子挂出来卖。九月份时大孩子们就不再回学校了,古丁太太在家里自己教他们。
‘When we told the older boys they were so excited they were going to have so much time as a family. It made us realise no amount of toys or material possessions compensates for time spent with your children.
“当我们告诉大孩子们这个决定时,他们都非常兴奋,因为他们可以有这么多时间和家人在一起。这让我们意识到,不管多少玩具或物质财富都无法弥补和孩子共度的时光。”
‘They’ve had to give away many toys, bikes and books. However, although they can only take a small rucksack each of possessions – we gave each of them a rucksack for Christmas – they can’t wait to go.’
“孩子们必须放弃很多玩具、自行车和书。尽管他们每个人都只能留下一小包东西——圣诞节我们送给孩子们一人一个帆布背包——但是他们依然等不及要出发。”
They will leave this month and plan to start their travels in Sweden where they have friends.
这家人将在本月踏上旅程,第一站是瑞典,那里有他们的朋友。
Mr Gooding, 36, said: ‘The older boys will plot where we go next but we hope to see Europe and over two years travel as far as Japan, America, Bali and Thailand. While they won’t go to school, Faye and I feel they will learn more than ever on our travels.’
36岁的古丁先生说:“大孩子们将计划出我们接下来要去的地方,但是我们希望先看看欧洲,然后在未来两年的旅途中去日本、美国、巴厘岛和泰国旅游。虽然他们不上学,但是费耶和我觉得他们在旅程中所学到的东西会比过去都多。”
The couple have taken on extra staff in Britain and plan to run their business from abroad.
夫妻俩已经在英国雇佣了更多的员工,并计划在旅途中经营他们的国内生意。
Mrs Gooding, who posts on Instagram as mother_of_five_boys, added: ‘People have said “aren’t you worried about stability and security?” – particularly as we have five small children. It is a risk because we are giving up so much. But we can’t wait to spend more time with our sons without the stresses of everyday routines.
古丁太太在Ins上的账号是“五个男孩的妈妈”,她补充道:“人们说‘难道你不担心稳定和安全的问题吗?’——尤其是我们有五个小孩子。这是一种风险,因为我们放弃的太多了。但是我们迫不及待地想和孩子们共度更多时光,摆脱日常琐事的压力。”
‘We don’t know what will happen, but we do know if we didn’t do this we would always regret it.’
“我们不知道未来会发生什么,但是我们知道,如果我们不这么做,我们将来会一直对此感到遗憾。”