It’s about getting (you) there.
We’re an experienced and enthusiastic team of field-tested experts who share stories, advice and resources to help you embark on your journey.
Each of us has traveled full-time for a year or more with our family: we have planned it, lived it, and learned from our journeys. We are passionate about travel and education, and we have a deep desire to connect with and inspire other families.
Wonder Year is written to save you time and worry – it is the blog and book we wish we’d had before our journeys.
Wishing you travels full of wonder.
– Angela, Annika & Julie
Angela Heisten
An army brat, Angela’s favorite place is anywhere she has never been. After earning her engineering degree in the Midwest, she moved to Chicago and later to the west coast, where she completed an MBA at Cal-Berkeley. Her professional credits include strategic planning, communications and operations management roles in healthcare and biotechnology.
After nearly 20 years in the Bay Area, Angela turned her planning skills to laying the groundwork for a dreamed-about family adventure to see the world. Deciding the time was right, she and her husband Mark took a hiatus from the world of work, sold their house and belongings, and hit the road with their sons and dog. They called an Airstream home while exploring the US and parked the rig for overseas trips to 30+ countries, traveling with a few clothes and a good camera.
Annika Paradise
Annika caught the travel bug young, devouring maps in the same way her peers did novels. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, and later as a student travel guide with Where There Be Dragons, she witnessed the transformational power of cross-cultural immersion and wanted to share the experience with her family. Annika has taught preschool, middle and high school, led summer experiential trips and currently teaches English at Front Range Community College. She holds an MA in Education from Stanford University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not dreaming of the next big trip, Anni enjoys reading and writing middle grade novels and adventuring in the outdoors. She is also co-owner of Paradise Found Record Shop in Boulder, Colorado.
Annika Paradise and her husband, Will, worldschooled their three children across three continents and twelve countries including Nepal, Laos, China, Cambodia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Italy and Greece. With a cello.
Julie Frieder
Named for her grandmother, Julia, who traveled the world as a young woman, Julie strives to wonder more, consume less and connect in the analog world. An innovator, problem solver and sustainability professional, Julie earned a double Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. She has worked to drive environmental solutions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors for over two decades.
Julie stepped away from a career in sustainable and responsible investing to travel with her family for thirteen months in a twenty-four-foot RV equipped with four bikes, three kayaks, a 72-watt solar system, and a very large dog. Julie created a roadschool curriculum for her nine-year-old son, and her family served as ambassadors for a national river protection nonprofit, participated in community service and volunteer work along the way and filled the time and space of 396 days with adventure, education and simply being together on the road. Julie lives in Boulder, CO with her family.
