Memoirs of a Single Travelling Mom

Travels with Toby

By: Marnie McBain

Narrated by: Jayne Ballentine

What if motherhood didn’t mean giving up your freedom?

In Travels with Toby: A Single Mom’s Journey Beyond the 9–5, Marnie shares her true story of walking away from convention and choosing a radically different path — raising her young son through travel, lived experience, and worldschooling instead of the traditional grind.

After divorce and a brief relationship that left her raising Toby alone, Marnie found herself confronting a painful truth: suburban life and societal expectations were suffocating her spirit. Rather than conform, she made a bold decision. She swapped predictability for possibility — trading routine for an RV and eventually a passport.

What follows is a deeply personal memoir of:

Budget travel with a child

Worldschooling and experiential learning

Spiritual growth through adversity

Navigating trauma, reinvention, and resilience

Learning to trust your own inner compass over social conditioning

From road trips across North America to global wandering on limited means, this is a story about redefining success, motherhood, and freedom.

This memoir is for anyone who has ever felt trapped by the 9–5 narrative — especially parents who wonder if there is another way.

Because sometimes the greatest gift we give our children… is the courage to live authentically ourselves.

©2021 Marnie McBain (P)2026 Marnie McBain

Bucket List life with single mom

I really got into and lived it through her life. I loved the descriptions.Not too overly wordy, but great to picture. Lots of places and not just talking of them. Very enjoyable and relaxing.

I loved this!

This is a very beautiful book I found myself enjoying very much! it is touching and feels grounded in many truths and real-life desire for adventure and a lifestyle outside of the norm. I also liked the narrator as well, easy to understand and clear!

Not what I was looking for.

This wasn’t what I thought it would be. Too bogged down with preface like details.