AFTER a four-year journey together through more than 80 countries, the Watkins family has no secrets.

The West Vancouver family also knows a few things their former neighbours in the British Properties probably don't. Like the way to pick a goat's head in the market is by checking its teeth. That there are no roads in much of Mongolia, just breathtaking panoramas. That the Gobi Desert will suck the moisture from beneath your fingernails.

That privacy is a luxury most of the world doesn't share. It wasn't always like this.

Eight years ago, the former North Shore family was living comfortably, running an adventure-tour family business catering to ESL students, before their lives took a 180-degree turn.

The family - including three of four siblings ranging in age from 14 to 25 - lived in a large rented house in a toney West Vancouver neighbourhood. They weren't rich, said Maggie Watkins, but "we were surrounded by a lot of wealth."