That’s not a fantasy. That’s what Barbara, co-founder of ROAM Collective Abroad, is building, and families are signing up fast.
When we spotted Barbara’s Instagram post that read, “We send our kids to summer camp in Europe and you should too,” we knew we had to have her on the podcast. What followed was an exciting conversation about what family travel can actually look like when you stop trying to squeeze it into two weeks and start thinking bigger.
For more family vacation inspiration, check out all the podcast episodes. Adventure Awaits!
Tell Us About Yourself
my life, not somebody else’s.
Today, I run MNT Studio, the Bay Area’s first wellness social club combining Pilates Reformer with community and recovery. We’ll be at seven Bay Area locations by the end of this year. I also run a marketing agency and personal brand behind New Modern Mom. And last fall, I co-founded ROAM Collective Abroad with two incredible women, Maria and Suzy, to build the summer abroad program our family actually needed.
Our first collective in San Sebastian sold out in 28 minutes.
What was the Inspiration for ROAM Collective?
In Tuscany, we kept meeting European families who were spending the entire month traveling. And we started asking ourselves: why are we working so hard? Why are we not doing this? Are we really making the most of the time we have together?
We decided we would figure out how to do extended travel with our kids, even if we weren’t sure how yet.
A few years later, we joined a slow travel program and spent nine weeks in Portugal. Nine weeks and it was absolutely magical.
That program also taught us a lot about what we didn’t want. There were real gaps, especially for working parents who needed to be on US business hours. The logistics were a lot.
So the following summer, we DIY’d it. Five weeks in Nice, France. We did our own camp research, found an international school, and enrolled the kids. And it was wonderful but families were spread across the city, sometimes 35 minutes apart, each managing their own apartments, their own pickups, their own everything. We were missing the village.
What is ROAM Collective?
The key thing that makes ROAM different from others is that our camp runs from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM local time.
That means mornings are yours and your kids’. You wake up slow. You go get pastries. You take them to the beach. You’re present for the hours of the day that, in my opinion, are the absolute best hours to be with your children. Then you drop them at camp, open your laptop, and work during normal US business hours. No one is solo-parenting every evening. No one is trading off “this shift” and “that shift.” It just works.
Beyond the schedule, ROAM is built around three things: camp, community, and accommodations.
The younger kids camp (eight and under) is Reggio Emilia-inspired, very outdoor-focused, with lots of exploration and play. The nine-plus adventure camp includes horseback riding, surfing, pottery, and hiking. The kind of summer kids remember forever.
We chose San Sebastian for our first year because it checks every box. It’s completely walkable, flat, with long stretches of boardwalk, perfect for scooters and strollers. We’re staying a block from the beach, so mornings before drop-off look like: walk to the water, meet up with other families, let the kids run. There are enormous playgrounds everywhere. And from the adult side, San Sebastian has more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than anywhere else on earth, which tells you there’s a great food scene.
“Are my kids even old enough to benefit from this?”
My son was a fresh four-year-old when we spent nine weeks in Portugal. He still talks about it. My daughter was even younger. She may not hold specific memories, but I can see how those experiences have shaped her independence and her flexibility in ways that surprise me every day.
Here’s what I know from doing this multiple times: children thrive on routine. When you slow travel, when you stay somewhere long enough to have a morning rhythm, a camp they recognize, friends they see every day, the kids settle in faster than you’d ever expect.
Most European apartments don’t have dryers, and many in the climates we choose don’t have air conditioning. We specifically select cities with moderate summer temperatures for exactly that reason — San Sebastian is temperate and coastal.
What we do vet carefully: kitchens that actually function, bedroom setups that make sense for families, proximity to camp, and the beach. We’ve thought through all of it, so you don’t have to.
The other thing I tell families: resist the urge to travel a ton while you’re there.
San Sebastian, Spain; Porto, Portugal; and Annecy, France.
@ROAMCollectiveAbroad, then comment “waitlist” on any post. We’ll DM you a link, grab your email, and you’ll immediately receive a 30-minute program overview recording plus an FAQ guide compiled from over 190 questions families have asked us.
We’re also building out a much more robust enrollment experience for 2027…a full family portal and smoother booking process. By September, we’ll also have real proof points from a full summer on the ground in San Sebastian. You’ll be ready.
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Get the 30-minute overview + 190-question FAQ guide instantly
Public enrollment for 2027 opens in September
Locations: San Sebastian · Porto · Annecy
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Thank you for joining us, Barbara!
For more family vacation inspiration, tune in to all the podcast episodes. Adventure Awaits!