Travel Australia Podcast by The Feel Good Family · Paul Guerin & Katie Guerin

The Road Less Travelled: A Fearless Life with Lyn & Peter Guerin

·40 min·2 clips

She met him at a ballroom studio days before he shipped out to Vietnam—they got engaged in three months

This episode features hosts Paul, Katie, and Jasper interviewing Paul's parents, Lyn and Peter Guerin, who have been married for 55 years. Lyn and Peter met in a Brisbane ballroom dance studio in the 1960s when she was nearly 17 and he was about 21. Peter was conscripted for the Vietnam War shortly after they met, and they courted for only three months before his deployment. They maintained their relationship during his 12-month service through handwritten letters and reel-to-reel voice tapes sent via army mail, with delivery taking roughly a week. The couple decided to get engaged via correspondence, and Peter returned to Australia on a seven-day R&R leave to marry Lyn in a whirlwind week that also included a Gold Coast honeymoon. Lyn and Peter built a large family, having seven children in just over nine years, with their youngest born the day after their eldest turned seven. Early in their marriage, they relocated their young family from Melbourne to the Gold Coast with only one hundred dollars to their name. To generate income, they bought frozen chickens in bulk and sold them door-to-door, which also became a staple of their family diet. They later joined a multi-level marketing business, inspired by motivational materials like Zig Ziglar's "See You at the Top," which taught them about residual income. The family saved for a six-month trip to the USA by having the children run businesses like selling drinks on the beach and candy after school through ventures called Kidco and Sweet Success. A pivotal moment came when they watched a promotional film about touring the USA in a motorhome, which deeply inspired them. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, they coincidentally found and purchased the exact same model of motorhome featured in that film on their first day. They financed the trip by having their children earn their own airfare and using their residual income to cover living expenses, selling the motorhome the day before returning to Australia. During the trip, they faced a crisis when a bank teller cut up their credit card, but a bank manager in Australia whom they knew personally expedited a replacement within five days. Another time, a stranger in Denver lent them $2,000 when a transfer went missing, later taking the kids for rides in his Camaro and Mustang. The Guerins also involved all seven children in ballroom dancing as a family activity, which led to their sons becoming popular dance partners and even sparked Paul's career in entertainment. They authored a family book titled "Family Business: The Business of Being Family," where each member contributed their perspectives, highlighting how everyone experiences events differently. Lyn and Peter now enjoy caravan travel along Australia's East Coast, though they haven't yet committed to a motorhome for extended trips with Paul's family. The episode is conversational and nostalgic, filled with personal anecdotes and reflective moments. Listeners who enjoy inspirational family stories, entrepreneurial journeys, and tales of adventurous travel will love this episode. Those seeking hard travel advice or industry news might find it less directly informative.

As heard by us

A family road story about memory, bold decisions, and making a long-held idea real.

Lynne and Peter Guerin's story moves from road-trip reminiscence into family memory and a life-changing choice. Books, personal development tapes, and a reel-to-reel promotional video about a USA motorhome trip help explain how the idea took hold, and a later family visit to the…

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Why you'd press play

A family travel yarn with a motorhome, a risky leap, and a full-circle buy in the same driveway.

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