Go Small, Or Go Home!

Last July, Cindy and Seth Alfino packed up their kids and comfortable lives to travel around SA in a vintage camper van – an adventure that forever changed how they live.

- Eulogi Rheeder

‘If you had told me five years ago that I would spend close to a year traveling around South Africa in a 5m x 2m vintage camper van with my husband and our three kids, I would have laughed,’ says Cindy Alfino. ‘I wouldn’t have believed you.’

For someone who had never considered herself ‘adventurous’, the idea was pretty extreme: not only would the couple and their kids – Riya (10), Kyla (9) and Knox (7) – have to make do with just the basics, in a confined space, they would also be far from family and friends for an extended period. ‘I’m very family orientated,’ says Cindy. ‘Seeing my and Seth’s family is part of our weekly routine.’

Yet not only did Cindy enjoy the 10-month trip, it also shifted her perspective on how she wants to live and raise her family. ‘I’ve learned that I can survive without creature comforts – in fact, I discovered that many of these only add clutter to your life.’

IN A RUT

The idea to travel in a camper van had come to Cindy and Seth long before they actually hit the road. ‘It was mid-2017 and we were feeling restless about the way we were living,’ says Cindy. ‘We seemed preoccupied with all our “stuff”; we had become slaves to wanting more and more. We even noticed it in our kids. They would get gifts all the time, yet they’d constantly ask if they could have this or that. We hadn’t raised them to be ungrateful, but they just never seemed satisfied.’