We swapped a £2k monthly mortgage in UK to live in £260-a-month Vietnamese AirBnB
A couple are swapping a £2,000 monthly mortgage in Newcastle to live in a Vietnamese AirBnB for just £260 per month.
Emily Hough, 28, and Jamie Elbeck, 31, had wanted to move house but were shocked when they couldn't find a three-bed property for less than £300k, or £2,000 per month. On top of their £500 yearly nursery fees for three-year-old Edison and one-year-old Nola, the family's monthly outgoings also included a £600 monthly shopping bill and £712 in utility bills - leaving them "tired of spending money."
Jamie, a warehouse supervisor, was also "fed up" of working long weeks and hardly seeing his kids. The couple decided to sell everything they owned - and now have a £90k pot for their travels after selling their three-bed home for £70k and furniture and clothes for £20k.
Now they are working their notice periods and plan to jet off to Vietnam in September - and never come back. Emily, a travel agent, from Sunderland, said: “We’re going to be living from a backpack - all our family and friends are saying we’re crazy, but our kids are going to be world-schooled.
“It came about after realising we weren’t spending any quality time together, nursery fees were going up and the mortgage was going up. I thought to myself: ‘This isn’t the life I wanted.’ Jamie pulled me aside one day and just said: ‘Let’s just sell everything and go travelling’.”
The couple originally caught the travelling bug after meeting in Tenerife in 2017, while Emily worked for Tui and Jamie worked in a bar. They went on to have Edison and Nola in 2021 and 2023, respectively, got full-time jobs and settled into a nine-to-five routine.
In 2025, Emily and Jamie were looking at getting a mortgage on a new house - but were shocked to discover they couldn’t get a house cheaper than £300,000. Emily added: “We were looking for a three-bedroom house, when Jamie randomly said: ‘I need to talk to you.’
“He told me he was fed up with only seeing the kids on weekends due to his 40-hour work week. Then he said he had a mad idea - to just sell everything and go travelling. I was in no doubt I wanted to do that, I’d become so bored of the routine.”
The pair put in their notices, with Emily working four weeks and Jamie working three months. In order to afford to go travelling, the couple have sold their house for £70,000, as well as other belongings, like furniture and clothes, bringing the travel pot total to £90,000.
Their new nomadic lifestyle will see each family member living from a backpack as they fly across South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. And aside from spending £130 for the first two weeks of accommodation in Da Nang, and £1,600 on four one-way tickets from Heathrow, Emily and Jamie have no idea what they’re going to do when they get there.
“We’re just going to see where the wind takes us,” she added. “We know it’s a big risk - and we find it more exciting that we haven’t got a to-do list. I can’t wait to immerse the kids in the culture; try them with new foods like octopus, take them around the night markets and get up with the sun.”
After the first year, Emily and Jamie want to be earning a living with various freelance and part-time jobs. Emily has taken a level five TEFL course, which will enable her to teach English as a foreign language in different countries.
While Jamie hopes to find work shooting and editing content for clients. The pair have vowed never to come back to the UK, and will be living on the road.
“I’ve taken the kids out of nursery - you can educate your kids on the world around them,” Emily said. “We’re excited to spend time with the family and really connect - with the nine-to-five routine, you only get a couple of hours together per day.
“Our plan is never to come back to the UK, we’re just going to find a country we fit in with. We’re just a normal family, and we want to make it work.”