Interview. Two months after his departure, where is the family from Loire-Atlantique who travel without a plane?

They were left on November 14, 2024 on the platform of La Haye-Fouassière station.

Lorette Vinet and Stéphane Fourneret left with Camille, their 5-year-old daughter, “ for a long, slow journey » and decarbonized.

The objective is to go away for at least a year, without taking a plane.

Almost two months after their departure, the family talks about where they are in their adventure.

Compared to what you had envisaged, has your project changed or evolved?

The project remains the same, namely not to take the plane, to go woofing, to go to Cape Verde (Editor’s note: off the northwest coast of Africa) then in South America…

What are the next steps in the journey?

Not having a precise schedule, it is not disrupted. We should go to Cape Verde mid-January with a catamaran arriving from Marseille.

We will discuss with the sailing family the route and the deadlines at each stage. Their transatlantic project directs them towards Brazil. They are in exactly the same perspective as us: no search for speed and safety above all.

What are your first impressions since you left: personally and as a family?

Stéphane Fourneret: One feeling of well-being in woofing because I implement everything I have been recommending for years: low tech, reuse, permaculture etc.

Lorette Vinet: I feel lucky to be able to take my time, to be able to welcome what presents itself, to do it in a nice, sufficiently secure setting.

I also feel significantly a reduction in the mental load of our daily livesand it's very relaxing. However, I appreciate the fact of not being on vacation but on a trip, with certain tasks, a lot of drawings, useful work in the finca (Spanish farm) where we are staying.

Together: There is also a feeling of being very lucky to live this kind of lifestyle based on long time and family meetings.

This experience will be part of the foundations of our relationship. We discover complementarities.

We enjoy spending a lot of time with Camille and introducing her to lots of things in a very concrete way.

We let's use all possible means as a source of learning : interpretation center, games, books, videos in Spanish, gardening, hiking etc.

What are the wonderful encounters you have made since your departure?

Of nice encounters, there were severalaround the children, on play areas, with a German couple Anna and Peter and their 2 year old son also on a long trip and a Belgian couple Adrien and Camille and their daughters aged 1 and 1/2 and 4 years old, getting a dose of sun for a week in the heart of autumn.

We discussed our motivations and measured what ultimately being “citizens of the world” means.

The distance from our respective countries facilitates the speed and depth of exchanges.

We are also lucky to have met Bénédicte and Thierry, our woofing hosts. Their friends, mostly expatriates, have mastered the codes of Tenerife (the Canaries in general) which allows us to integrate them more quickly us too.

We were also able to meet a French-speaking Canarian family with whom we will enjoy keeping in touch. So far, we have not had any unpleasant encounters.

Have you encountered any difficulties and/or hassles since your departure?

Notre main difficulty lies in our search for cheap housing when we are not woofing.

The budget is slipping away quickly due to the Canary Islands' standard of living and the strong tourist activity (80%) in the archipelago.

Where will you be on New Year's Eve? And how are you going to celebrate the new year?

We spent New Year's Eve with our woofing hosts and it was a real pleasure as we got along so well with them. Even Camille was “adopted” by this French expatriate couple.

Like every year and even more so this year, we celebrated the end of year holidays simply far from all the hyper consumerism of this period.

However, Santa Claus from the Canary Islands found Camille's flip-flop and brought her a not too bulky gift, which fit in our backpack.

The family's adventures can be followed on this blog

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.