Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how did Boundless Life come about?
My name is Mauro Repacci and I am the CEO and Co-Founder of Boundless Life.
Boundless was born from a desire to have a flexible nomadic lifestyle with my family that only singles could access. There were plenty of products out there offering accommodation – and even access to a coworking space – but none dealt with the unique challenge remote-working parents face: provision of quality education for their children that remains consistent as they travel. I wanted all of this for my own family initially but upon finding nothing to meet our needs we decided to build it for ourselves!
My co-founders and I share the same unifying passion for this mission. Rekha Magon brings her wealth of expertise in alternative education, whilst Elina Zoi, in charge of product and brand, knows exactly how to bring a wonderful experience to life for our families.
So, what exactly is Boundless Life?
Boundless Life unlocks the freedom for families to live, work, learn and connect while exploring the world. At the core of Boundless Life is our Boundless Education programme. Children aged 1-12 years attend a forward-thinking, alternative education programme based on the world-leading Finnish curriculum. We have now 4 microschools around the world: families can seamlessly move from one microschool to another for a ‘family semester abroad’ and make meaningful connections with a globally diverse student body.
Our beautiful microschool campus in Sanur, the 4th one to open, is set up with small class sizes to maximise personalised and experiential learning. Set within a quadrant of traditional Balinese buildings with a green oasis at its heart, the classroom spaces are designed to bring the outside in. With the nearby Sindhu beach, children will be truly immersed in nature.
How does Boundless Life solve the problems people might have juggling remote work, travel and children?
For many working parents, travel is limited to vacations around traditional school schedules. Families need a solution that offers structured education for their children with the flexibility to slow travel between different destinations. The explosion in remote work and alternative education inspired us to start Boundless Life opening up a path to a new way of living and raising children.
Which destinations have you selected and why?
We currently have micro-schools in Portugal (Sintra), Greece (Syros) and Italy (Tuscany) and will be launching our first non-European one in Sanur, Bali in July.
All of our locations are carefully selected using hundreds of criteria that parents with children care about most. The aim is to pinpoint the perfect spot for our families to have the opportunity to become fully immersed in the culture and to live like a local – regardless of the time of year.
With so many great potential locations to choose from what made Bali come out on top?
Bali has been on our shortlist for a while but a few factors combined to give us the nudge toward confirming Bali as location #4. These included the voice of our Boundless community – who are a great barometer when it comes to these big decisions. Bali was a clear winner in terms of where our families would like to explore next. But I wanted to see it for myself to really ‘rubber stamp’ the decision.
Makes sense. Have you done that?
Yes! My family and I left for a whistlestop tour of South East Asia over December that included Malaysia, Thailand and – you guessed it – Bali.
We identified multiple potential places that would make fantastic Boundless Life locations in the future, but Bali really does tick all our boxes in terms of our first non-European location.
How do you plan experiences and what would you say are the highlights of each location?
We are incredibly lucky to have team members who have grown up in our locations and deeply understand what makes their location so special. In Sintra, our traditional azulejo tile painting and surfing the Silver Coast are always popular. In Syros, our Experience Champion is also a sailing champion and teaches the children how to sail during one of our Extra Curricular Activities. Tuscany offers families the opportunity to visit the splendour of the renaissance in Florence, before creating their own masterpieces during our art lessons set within a small Tuscan church converted into a gallery.
In Bali, we will be spoilt for choice in terms of potential activities and experiences available for our families and their kids!
What type of families are joining you?
A mixture of families sign-up all with their own stories to share. Some are long-term worldschoolers seeking community and access to an education programme. Others take a hybrid approach and spend half of the year with us in one location (their ‘home base’) and the other half travelling to other destinations. Some are taking a family gap year and are seeking a ‘soft landing’ at the start of their adventures. We even have families who have sold everything to pursue the Boundless Life indefinitely. Whilst our families have differing backgrounds, what unites them all is a worldly spirit of exploration and curious mindsets.
I like how Boundless Life can work for both solo parents and larger families alike.
Yes, we have welcomed multiple solo parents (some of whom have returned for further stays with us) right up to families with four or five children plus grandparents! The community never fails to come together to support everyone. Boundless is a great option for solo parents in particular. One mom told me it was like having a group of instant co-parents on hand. It does take a village sometimes and we love the fact that we are providing a platform for these little villages to spring up all over the world.
What do you think the future has in store for Digital Nomad Families and Boundless Life?
It is an incredibly exciting time! The remote-work genie is truly out of the bottle now and I can’t see it being forced back in. The pandemic facilitated a paradigm shift in thinking about how we live our lives. More and more people are waking up to the fact that you don’t need to wait until retirement to slow-travel the world. There is more than one way for children to receive an education. We do only have a finite 18 summers with our children and there are alternative options available that maximise family time by prioritising experiences over ‘things’. As one of our moms so eloquently said recently, “Living with less, to experience more”!
Boundless Life will continue to expand across the globe to become a way of life. You will see us establishing in more diverse destinations plus begin to open up a wide network of microschools in cities – allowing our customer’s kids to continue their Boundless Education when they return ‘home’.
How far in advance should families book to secure a spot in Bali or one of your other destinations?
I would say as soon as possible! We have a few spots left for the July-August Holiday program (you can join for 2, 4 or 6 weeks)! Or you can book for the school year, starting in September. Visit our website https://bali.boundless.life/ to learn more and register for a webinar.
