I’m Nicola, an expat-kiwi mum from Auckland, New Zealand who now lives in Beijing, China.
For the past 10 years, my husband and I have traveled every opportunity we got. Together we’ve traveled all over the world. We knew there had to be more to life, than the couple of holidays in between work a year though. We just didn’t know how or what that would be.
In 2020, we had our daughter during Covid lock downs. It was during lock downs we wondered about the idea of living abroad as a family. We loved traveling for holidays, but what would it be like to live and explore like a local?
After the lock downs, we started traveling again, this time with a little person in tow.
It was while we were traveling with our daughter, that I started Pretty Far From Home. I wanted to share the travel tips and hacks I was learning – for other busy mums who also love to travel. What started out as a simple travel blog for busy, professional mums- turned into something bigger.
After writing blog posts for 2.5 years – in 2025 we decided to do something BIG.
We moved our family from Auckland, New Zealand to Beijing, China.
And now, I have the opportunity to put my career on hold for a while and write full time for Pretty Far From Home!
Having practiced law for over a decade in New Zealand and writing part-time, I’ve now relocated to the other side of the globe to embark on an exciting adventure. I’m now able to share with you, all the BEST tips and hacks for traveling or moving abroad with kids!
The name Pretty Far From Home comes from the idea that if you’re from New Zealand, anywhere overseas is a minimum of a 3-hour flight. With that in mind, anywhere from home, is pretty far for this kiwi living abroad, especially China.
So in between the chaos of living abroad, I still love to travel. I’d call myself a middle-traveler. Someone who occasionally loves a good luxury hotel stay but isn’t shy to also get off the beaten path. You’ll find a mixture of travel blog posts and about what life’s like living in China.
Download my Ultimate Moving Abroad Checklist – completely free! This is the exact Notion checklist I used to help move our family from Auckland, New Zealand to Beijing, China.
I also share our everyday journey as new expats in China on my YouTube. Checkout my channel for more in-depth videos on how I plan, budget and live expat-life in China.
If you love what you read and want to get in touch, feel free to contact me at nicola@prettyfarfromhome.com otherwise happy reading, and I wish you all the fun on your next adventures,
Nic x
Follow Me on Social Media
🇨🇳 Planning a trip to China? Don’t get stuck without the right apps! From the specific VPNs we use to stay connected to the only hotel booking site we trust for foreigners, we have listed everything in our toolkit. 👉