We park in the lot and walk a few hundred feet to where campsites are nestled in the hillside or tucked under trees. We claim a flat site in the shade of a statuesque cottonwood, leave a couple of camp chairs, then head back out to get on our bikes. We never make it. Johnny is sucked into a vortex of youth—five kids ages six to fifteen are sitting at a picnic table, busily unwinding utility 550-gauge paracord in colors like hot pink, Day-Glo yellow, lime green, purple, and black. They are making DIY survival bracelets. Johnny slides right into the circle, and they show him how to measure the length, loop the paracord, and knot it to create a bracelet. The kids demonstrate how to fasten the finished bracelet and burn the ends to prevent fraying. Johnny picks his colors and gets to work with ten eyes and fifty fingers showing him the way.

This impromptu pod of traveling kiddos sits together for over an hour. Their finished bracelets, knotted with six feet of paracord, would be long enough when uncoiled to tie up a tarp, fix a snowshoe, hang a bag of food, make a sling, or lash some branches. One bracelet would be strong enough to hold 550 pounds of static weight.

On the way out of town, we stop at Walkers Hardware to pick up several yards of paracord. Johnny is over the moon for having made new friends and acquiring a new survival skill, and handsome Max gets a new orange-and-yellow survival dog collar!

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – Moab, Utah appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Many families experience transitions galore during their worldschooling journey, sometimes even before they leave home. As your launch date nears, feeling sorrow or grief is perfectly normal. It’s also totally fine to feel none of that and just be excited about the trip ahead.

When it comes time, involve your kids in saying farewell to the things you can’t take with you—family, friends, your home, beloved pets. Ceremonies of any kind, whether they are small goodbye dinners or a big bash to send you off, can help kids feel a sense of closure.

Family Dynamics

Once on the road, it’s often the things we take for granted, which are routine or otherwise under the radar at home, that pop up and demand our attention. These changes and transitions may unleash a roller coaster of emotions as everyone adjusts their stride and becomes a traveling family.

Roles and Responsibilities

One of the biggest adjustments is establishing new roles and responsibilities. That process has a bit of an undoing of what was and a bit of creating something new. At home, our days and identities are established and distinct. Kids go off to school. Parents do their work. The bicycle gets parked in the shed; the garbage goes out on Tuesdays. When you begin a road trip, the pieces of the family puzzle may get shuffled. It’s likely that your traveling roles are going to diverge from the ones at home you’ve sorted out over years of practice and living together.

Basic needs remain: food, shelter, hygiene, clothing, medicine, sleep. Toss in education, navigation, recreation, and transportation, and many deliberate choices must be made about who does what. If you are traveling domestically in an RV, someone will have to drive, someone will have to navigate, and someone will have to learn the peanut butter and jelly two-step: open fridge, grab jelly, close fridge before the driver turns or brakes. If you are on a boat, only one person can be the captain. If you are traveling internationally, someone needs to be the keeper of the tickets, the linguist, the wrangler, the reservationist.

For families with more than one adult, there may be friction as you adjust to being a traveling couple or traveling co-parents. Perhaps at home you grew stronger in your relationship by working through sensitive topics like gender stereotypes and parenting styles. Some of these may reappear, as traveling has a way of shaking loose feelings that have settled over the years. There may be a sorting-out period in the early weeks or months of your trip. Treat it like the changing of the seasons: you may need to adjust the thermometer, change your base layer or outerwear, or eat cool food instead of spicy. Adaptation is a learning opportunity, and you’ll come together by recognizing the demands on everyone and having each other’s backs.

Adults who were accustomed to working outside the home may be less familiar with performing the day-to-day tasks of managing a family. For those who identify as a traditional earner, extended time away from work may challenge ideas of identity and self-worth. Who are you on the road, and how do you matter? The upside is that you might have time to develop or deepen a hobby or skill. Maybe you’ll find new uses for your carpentry or navigational prowess or language proficiency. Maybe you’ll spend more time with your kids and teach them how to work on engines, fix flashlights, or calculate rates of currency exchange. Perhaps you’ll just hang out with them a lot more than you ever did at home, doing both extraordinary and oh-so-ordinary things.

Children can have—and may even need—meaningful roles, too. Age-appropriate work is not only a great way to get stuff done but also builds confidence in our kiddos and can help with their focus and self-esteem. On the road, it may be easier to be patient and give kids time to try tasks and make mistakes. Older kids can read manuals and maps or become experts of any system; they can plan trip segments, make reservations, or even drive the rig. Tweens can check the hours a museum is open or wash pajamas in a hotel sink; they can plan a meal, shop at the market, and cook. Younger kids can help count backpacks, fold bandannas, stir the oatmeal, look under beds for missing socks, or hold someone’s hand when walking through an airport to make sure no adult gets lost. Go ahead and delegate! It’s good for everyone.

You may have some team building to do as everyone gets tossed into the fishbowl. Be patient. Be kind—including to yourself. Balance the challenges by finding new ways to bond. Maybe it’s dinner together every night. Maybe it’s setting an intention for 1:1 time with each of your kids. You might have fun coming up with a family nickname, a name for your vehicle, or a theme song for the journey. Roll with your new roles.

Personal Space and Boundaries

In addition to sorting out roles, it’s important to make space for yourself and for family members so you all have room to breathe.

For one, your living quarters may be smaller than what you are used to. Maybe you’re on a boat, renting small apartments, or living in a string of hotel rooms. You’ll have to play Rock Paper Scissors to see who gets the bed, who gets the top drawer, or who gets any drawer. For another, you may find yourselves cramped together in sweaty trains and taxis. The smaller physical spaces may also be tough for family members who aren’t comfortable changing into pj’s or putting on a swimsuit with everyone around. Might be time to perfect the “deck change”—wrap a towel around yourself, drop whatever you’re wearing, replace it with something new—all in the privacy of your terry-cloth “changing room.” It’s a good skill to have, so there is no better time to learn it.

Physical proximity is one aspect, but adapting to social proximity can be more nuanced. It’s all out there in the open. When you’re always together, you’re always together. Skye White put it like this:

*“When you’re full-time traveling, sometimes you just want to shut the door, but you can’t. There’s no door.”*

Be prepared to say everything aloud, in front of your kids. Even if you think you are whispering, they can probably hear you! Setting boundaries and claiming alone time can provide great role-modeling opportunities. Maybe you commit to a solo morning walk or time to listen to a podcast or music. Some couples trade off one morning a week or a monthly overnight away to do their own thing. Other families designate “quiet hours,” downtime, or headspace time. These physical and mental breaks could coincide with kids’ naps or be a new period in your daily or weekly rhythm.

If you are traveling with a partner, the time you spend together can nurture a relationship. Traveling reveals different sides of ourselves, and that may be exciting, interesting, and novel. Parenting in broad daylight is full of surprises and full of potential. Simply being together for three meals a day can feed the love.

Finding time for date nights, privacy, and intimacy can be a challenge when you are on the road. You probably need to plan rather than be spontaneous, and think about where your kids will be and who can look after them; then you need to stay awake! Our advice is to make your time together a priority. Your kids will appreciate seeing their parents hugging or holding hands, talking with each other, working through the ups and downs of travel, and being supportive partners. It’s a rare and beautiful thing for children to witness their parents’ unfolding as a traveling couple, and they will recognize authenticity in these loving moments.

We can’t predict how traveling together will affect your relationship, but we can say from experience that good intentions and openness always help.

Siblings

Sibling dynamics can be wildly tested as your family travels full time. Twenty-four seven in-your-face togetherness may take some getting used to, so be deliberate about creating space for everyone. We’ve talked about the value of making 1:1 time between a parent and each child. Maybe that can be expanded to create some physical space between siblings. Perhaps there’s a suitable event or excursion that would work for a parent and child or for a solo teen. When everyone cannot go off to their own room, you can get creative with how and where you carve out physical space for a quick break. When tensions rise, try calling for quiet time, and redirect kids to get their book, throw a ball against a wall, or head outside for some downtime.

All that together time can also lead to better sibling relationships. We’ve heard from many parents that they were pleasantly surprised by how much closer their kids became when they had time to sort out their needs and work as a team. When there’s a limited number of playmates, siblings start to look pretty good. Or maybe it’s because they’re not competing for their parents’ attention or because they’re sharing rooms, beds, and inside jokes. Sometimes the causes of rivalry wash away in shared adventures, and siblings might become best friends.

Teens

Worldschooling with teens can have glorious tension. On the one hand, it creates unique opportunities to pull together and deepen connections before they leave the nest. Being on the road can relieve pressure and give teens a break from academic demands and social expectations, which in turn creates openings to connect. Without their peers around, teens also don’t have to worry about the “(un)cool factor” of hanging with parents and siblings when the family is on the road.

On the other hand, some teens start to want independence from their parents, make their own money, go on dates, and form a community of peers. These wants might feel antithetical to full-time family travel, and while it can be challenging for all, there are ways for everyone to thrive. Some parents allow their teens the freedom to plan travel segments, take off for a solo jaunt for a couple of weeks or even months, return home for a while, or meet up with friends and then reconnect with their families later in the year. They might connect with other teens at worldschooling gatherings. There are also social media communities and online forums that can help fend off feelings of isolation.

Teens wishing to work and earn money during a Wonder Year can find online business opportunities. For instance, they might engage in digital design, writing, podcasting, and other content creation. They can look for tutoring jobs or ways to broker goods in online or physical marketplaces, too. Talk to your teens and help them explore opportunities as global citizens—they may find inspiration and influence from their unique traveling vantage points.

Only Children

Travel can make it easy to celebrate the relative independence and maturity of many an only child. And while they are accustomed to navigating their childhood with mostly adults around, it is still important to think about their personal space and boundaries. Finding 1:1 time is not the challenge. Finding 0:1 time is! You can create comfortable spaces where the parent(s) gets out of the way and the kid rules. Sometimes there are relatives or other trusted adults who are happy to help. Look for ways to connect your kid with peers at drop-in classes, camps, or clinics or at in-person or online worldschooling communities. When traveling kids find each other, it’s magic.

One-Parent Families

Traveling as a one-parent family presents an amazing bonding opportunity between parent and kid(s). As the sole adult decision maker, there’s no need for negotiation; single parents may enjoy freedom and ease in matters of planning, education, and spur-of-the-moment decisions. (We recognize that the language around families is evolving; here, we use the term single parent with broad and inclusive intent.)

At the same time, there may be unique challenges. There’s no other adult to navigate the logistical hurdles at airports, bus stations, and guesthouse check-ins, or to help juggle all the gear. No one is there to respond when you yelp, “Hold this, take that, watch Aidan, I’ll be right back.” If there’s an appointment or meeting you must take care of, there’s usually not another adult who can easily stay with your child or children. As a single parent, you may be well synched with your kids, but they can’t provide you with adult-sized shoulders for support when you need it.

Other single-parent travelers are out there, and many are savvy, resourceful, and eager to connect and share advice. Check out the increasing number of meetups and local chapters of single-parent travelers as well as social media communities that have helpful information. Some parents tap into expat networks to get recommendations for nannies or babysitters so they can get in some extra work time or enjoy an art-museum visit or dinner out on their own. Others find great utility in a regular Zoom call between kids and family back home.

Visits from family and friends can also provide a welcome interlude. If your budget allows, consider travel companies that cater to one-parent families. Their excursions can offer great adventures as well as opportunities for adult interaction.

Family Communication

Traveling as a family can be a giant exercise in communication. You’ll have to talk about logistical, financial, and parenting matters and make decisions about immediate next steps or longer-term arrangements. Travelers may find that their dialogue—even about sticky subjects like finance or work—on the road is better and more immediate than when they are at home. We encourage you to keep the lines open with your family members. You can model what it looks like to listen and agree, or listen and disagree, and come out on the same page. Not always that simple, but do keep trying.

Some families relish the chance to make travel decisions together at a set time or in an impromptu huddle. When kids take part, they have the chance to learn practical skills such as brainstorming, active listening, sharing feedback, negotiating, articulating trade-offs, compromising, and contributing. They can also present some fantastic ideas—you might be amazed by what your kiddos will come up with when given the “speaking baton” and permission to contribute.

The post Family Life on the Road: Interpersonal Dynamics appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Accommodations

Airbnb
An online site for hosts to list available places, and travelers to book accommodations and experiences. The site has expanding functionality and offers search features to locate special-interest accommodations such as islands, national parks, tiny homes, monasteries, etc.
https://airbnb.com

Booking.com
An online platform to reserve transportation and accommodations for both hosts and travelers. Available in forty languages with 24‑7 customer support.
https://booking.com

Couchsurfing
A website, Facebook group, and app-based membership service to connect travelers interested in community. Offers a free exchange of hospitality. It has 12 million active members in over 200,000 cities.
https://couchsurfing.com

Furnished Finder
A website for travelers interested in longer-term stays. Created to serve roaming professionals and medical providers, some slow-traveling families may also find furnished-housing options here.
https://furnishedfinder.com

Home Exchange
An online membership-based home-exchange platform available in over 150 countries.
https://homeexchange.com

Home Swap
An online membership program for home swaps, active in over a hundred countries. Free trial period and tiered membership options with varying features.
https://lovehomeswap.com

Hostelling International
An over 100-year-old nonprofit that works with youth hostel associations around the world to promote affordable, sustainable, and good-quality accommodations. Many hostels are family friendly; check to see if there are age limits or restrictions.
https://hihostels.com

House Sitting Magazine
A magazine and website that provides useful information and resources for house sitters and pet sitters around the globe, including house‑sitting sources (for a fee) and location-specific information.
https://housesittingmagazine.com

Vrbo
An online resource that helps families looking for accommodations find and reserve entire homes around the world. Expanding functionality serves the needs and budgets of various travelers.
https://vrbo.com

Workaway
An online resource to connect travelers who wish to work and immerse themselves culturally with hosts who need some form of help such as gardening, baby-sitting, or other tasks.
https://workaway.info

Worldschool House Swap/Sit/Rent Facebook group
A private Facebook group for worldschoolers to post available accommodations and to search for places to stay.
https://facebook.com/groups/worlschoolhouseswap

Cultural Exchange

AFS Intercultural Programs USA
American Field Service (AFS) emerged out of WWI and WWII with the goal of advancing cultural exchange. Today, AFS hosts exchange students from eighty countries.
https://afsusa.org/host-family

The Pen Pal Project
A partnership between WeAre Teachers and the United States Postal Service that connects classrooms around the world to foster friendships and build tolerance and understanding.
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/1108-usps-introduces-pen-pal-project.htm

Health & Safety

Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT)
A nonprofit organization that provides helpful information to travelers worldwide about road conditions, local laws, and other road‑safety topics. In the interest of safety, ASIRT partners with many organizations including the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
https://asirt.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The CDC’s Traveler’s Health website is a comprehensive travel health resource that includes a disease directory, information on finding a clinic, travel notices, country-specific information, and a helpful FAQ page. Additionally, the CDC website provides information for immunocompromised travelers. The CDC also publishes the Yellow Book.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/yellowbook-home-2020

Environmental Working Group (EWG)
A nonprofit organization that publishes consumer guides on the efficacy and safety of various consumer products, including sunscreen and insect repellent.
https://ewg.org

Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE)
A US-based nonprofit that supports individuals living with food allergies. The FARE website has comprehensive information on traveling with food allergies, including a travel checklist.
https://foodallergy.org/resources/traveling

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
The TSA website provides useful information for persons with disabilities and medical conditions, including passing through security checkpoints with medications, liquids, and other accessories.
https://tsa.gov/travel/special-procedures

United States Department of State
A credible and up-to-date source of information on critical topics including health and safety and country-specific travel advisories, embassies, consulates, doctors, and hospitals. It also includes resources for high-risk-area travelers, special‑needs travelers, and LGBTQ+.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel.html
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/your-health-abroad.html

UNWTO/IATA Destination Tracker
A user‑friendly platform providing travelers with information on health-related travel restrictions and requirements.
https://unwto.org/tourism-data/unwto-iata-destination-tracker-easy-travel

Inclusive Travel

ABC Travel Green Book
A resource available in both paperback and ebook formats with information to celebrate and inform Black travelers across the globe.
https://abctravelnetwork.com

Autism Travel
A website that helps families choose travel options that are safe and supportive of all family members. It lists certified travel resources and tools recognized by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.
https://autismtravel.com

Green Book Global
A travel review website that seeks to empower and inspire Black travelers to explore the world through destination ratings and crowdsourced tips.
https://greenbookglobal.com

IGLTA, the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association
Provides information and resources for LGBTQ+ travelers. IGLTA works to “promote equality and safety within LGBTQ+ tourism worldwide.”
https://iglta.org

Lonely Planet’s Accessible Travel Online Resources
A free guide providing country-specific information for travelers with disabilities or access challenges.
https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/products/accessible-travel-online-resources

Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM)
An industry resource that seeks to improve the tourism industry’s diversity, equity, and inclusion through research, data, and expertise.
https://tourismdiversitymatters.org

UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme
A multistakeholder program intended to spawn tourism that respects natural and cultural assets. Provides information about UNESCO sites, partnerships, publications, and activities.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tourism

United States Department of State LGBTQI+ Travelers Site
Provides information for LGBTQI+ travelers to help with planning, security screening, and staying safe while traveling overseas.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/lgbtqi.html

United States Department of Transportation – Passengers with Disabilities
Provides information about laws, regulations, rights, and support for travelers with disabilities.
https://transportation.gov/airconsumer/passengers-disabilities

Wheel the World
An online repository to help travelers with disabilities find accessible places to stay, things to do, and trips.
https://wheeltheworld.com

Pets

BringFido
A website and mobile app that shares information and booking options for pet-friendly accommodations and sites around the world, including hotels, restaurants, hiking trails, and parks.
https://bringfido.com

Rover
An app and website that connects dog (and cat) guardians with pet lovers for boarding, house-sitting, drop-in visits, doggy day care, and dog walking by location.
https://rover.com

Sustainable Travel

B Corp
A nonprofit network that seeks to build a global economy that delivers environmental, social, and community benefits. B Corp certification for travel companies may indicate alignment with sustainable practices.
https://bcorporation.net

Center for Responsible Travel
A nonprofit organization that serves as a research center and promotes responsible travel.
https://responsibletravel.org

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Their Travel Carbon Footprint website is an interactive tool that lets travelers calculate and reduce their carbon footprint based on flights, car travel, rail travel, and hotel stays.
https://edf.org/travel-footprint-calculator

Future of Tourism Coalition
A coalition of NGOs, including the Center for Responsible Travel and Tourism Cares, aiming to drive positive change in tourism.
https://futureoftourism.org

Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Develops sustainability criteria and oversees their use in various sectors.
https://gstcouncil.org

Impact Travel Alliance
Educates travelers, promotes sustainability, and hosts meetups and chapters globally.
https://impacttravelalliance.org

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
A leading intergovernmental organization that seeks to inform and promote sustainable tourism.
https://unwto.org/sustainable-development

US RV Travel

Boondockers Welcome
For an annual membership fee, travelers can find places for overnight camping without utility hookups (boondocking) on private property.
https://boondockerswelcome.com

Boondocking.org
An online site to find dispersed free camping sites in the US, outside developed campgrounds. Travelers can leave reviews and add new sites.
https://boondocking.org

Harvest Hosts
A membership program that invites RV travelers to camp at wineries, breweries, farms, and attractions within an expanding network.
https://harvesthosts.com

Recreation.gov
A partnership of several US federal agencies including the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Smithsonian. Lists over 100,000 reservable outdoor sites in the US.
https://recreation.gov

RV Communities
Online communities of RV and van travelers, including:

• PanAmerican Travelers Association: https://facebook.com/groups/panamtravelers/
• Vanlife: https://facebook.com/groups/1218937564804262
• RV Life with Kids: https://facebook.com/groups/403708457666927

RV Trip Planner Apps
There are many RV trip planner apps and websites, typically with a fee, offering navigation, campground search, road conditions, and points of interest. Some to check out include:

• The Dyrt PRO: https://thedyrt.com/pro
• RV Life Trip Wizard: https://tripwizard.rvlife.com
• Roadtrippers: https://roadtrippers.com

US Travel Documentation

AAA | American Automobile Association
A membership organization that supports travelers with roadside assistance, information resources, and 24‑7 mobile and online support. The website provides an online application form for an International Driving Permit (IDP).
https://aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html

REAL ID – US Department of Homeland Security
Provides information for domestic travelers 18+ who, as of May 2025, need a REAL ID card to board domestic flights and get into certain federal facilities.
https://dhs.gov/real-id

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program – US Department of State
Allows travelers to register with their nearest US embassy and receive important safety information. Enrollment also makes it easier for family and friends to locate travelers in emergencies.
https://step.state.gov

Trusted Traveler Programs – US Department of Homeland Security
Provides information about TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, and other programs that can speed up airport and border crossing procedures.
https://ttp.dhs.gov/

United States Postal Service (USPS)
Provides information and services for obtaining and renewing passports, including scheduling appointments, downloading applications, and expediting requests. Also covers mail holds, address changes, and PO boxes.
https://usps.com/international/passports.htm

Travel Points and Miles

Miles Momma
A one-stop shop for traveler information about miles, points, hotel rewards, banking, and more to help family travelers stretch their dollars. Also provides travel tips and location-specific information.
https://milesmomma.com

The Points Guy
Offers news, tips, deals, and credit card reviews to help travelers maximize reward travel.
https://thepointsguy.com

Volunteer Travel

A Beginner’s Guide to Voluntourism
Helps potential volunteers ensure the work they engage in is helpful, respectful, and beneficial to the local community.
https://nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/a-beginners-guide-to-voluntourism

GoAbroad
An online search engine with information about international travel programs to review and compare options.
https://goabroad.com

Go Overseas
A community site providing reviews, photos, and information about thousands of overseas programs, trips, and jobs including volunteering.
https://gooverseas.com

Grassroots Volunteering
Helps travelers connect to communities in the places they’re visiting. Maintains a global database of organizations.
https://grassrootsvolunteering.org

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)
Links visitors with organic farms around the world. Hosts get help on the farm while visitors gain education, cultural immersion, and typically room and board.
https://wwoof.net

Worldschooling

Citizen Science
A US government website that uses crowdsourcing and publicizes opportunities for people to participate in scientific research across the US.
https://citizenscience.gov

Common Sense Media
Provides reviews and advice about apps and websites for learning. Also offers free lessons and resources on topics like digital citizenship.
https://commonsense.org/education/selections-for-learning

Junior Ranger – NPS
A free, activity‑based program run by the US National Park Service encouraging children to learn about parks and share their “ranger story” with others. Available at almost all national and many state parks in the US.
https://nps.gov/kids/become-a-junior-ranger.htm

PBS Learning Media
An online collection of educational resources designed to support digital learning from pre-K through grade 12.
https://rmpbs.pbslearningmedia.org

Worldschooling Communities

• Worldschoolers
  https://facebook.com/groups/worldschoolers
• We are Worldschoolers
  https://facebook.com/groups/weareworldschoolers
• Worldschoolers Explore the USA
  https://facebook.com/groups/1842724762611474
• Worldschoolers – Single Parents
  https://facebook.com/groups/WorldschoolersSoloParents
• Worldschoolers – POC
  https://facebook.com/groups/WorldschoolersPOC
• Worldschooling Central – A Family Travel Community – Education with Travel
  https://facebook.com/groups/worldschoolingcentral
• Roadschooling – Families Homeschooling on the Road
  https://facebook.com/groups/roadschooling
• Roadschooling Europe
  https://facebook.com/groups/1305020486300270
• RoadschoolingUSA
  https://facebook.com/groups/RoadschoolingUSA

The post Family Travel and Worldschooling: A Resources List appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

We drink a bunch of water and share crunchy peanut butter Clif Bars, pose for a selfie at the Weminuche Wilderness sign, and then hike three miles in and twelve hundred feet up to the base of Vestal Peak. We camp in a ponderosa pine forest that smells like vanilla and offers shelter from the afternoon monsoons. A mama moose stares at us from across the emerald-green beaver pond.

On the third day of our adventure, Kaitilin and I wake up early to go for a short run. It is freezing at 6:30 a.m., and instead of walking to warm up, we start running from the get-go. Fifty feet into the single-track trail, I stumble on a jagged ledge and fall hard, instantly feeling the sting of bone on rock.

Kaitilin helps me back to camp. She and David wrap me in their sleeping bags and wake the kids. They eat maple-brown-sugar oatmeal and huddle with David while Kaitilin makes a sling out of a bandanna and holds my pasty hand. Johnny, West, and Zoe (all under ten) are like little chipmunks, scurrying about and whispering to each other as they stuff sleeping bags back into their sacks, roll up the tent flies, collapse the poles, and count each stake they pull from the ground. They redistribute my gear to everyone else and hand me an empty pack, along with a mug of hot chocolate with extra mini marshmallows. They tell me it’s going to be okay. I tell them the same.

We hike back down to Elk Park, board the train, and freak out the other passengers with my bloodied pants and splinted arm. In Silverton, at the end of the line, we meet up with Charlie, who transports me immediately to the Durango hospital. I have emergency surgery for a compound fracture of the right elbow and get a bunch of stitches in my hip. Johnny has since declared he wants to study emergency medicine and be a mountain guide. West and Zoe still love the wilderness.

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – Weminuche Wilderness, Durango, Colorado appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

So many of us yearn to be on the road, soaking in adventure and experiencing other cultures and faraway places. Whether escaping the rat race, emerging from a pandemic, or cashing in on a sabbatical to pursue the dream of family travel, more and more families are moving around.

You could say we evolved for long-distance travel—to hunt and gather, secure resources and water, avoid predators, and quench a thirst for exploration. After all, our forebears were really good at foraging and traveling; they did it for hundreds of thousands of years.

What stokes modern-day travelers to get up and go?

Why Humans Travel

Wanderlust

We often talk about a love of travel as wanderlust. The word is derived from the German wandern (to wander) and lust (to desire). In the fullest sense, wanderlust is an overwhelming desire to explore the world and deepen your connection to people and history while walking toward the unknown.

Psychologists have even posited the existence of a “wanderlust gene” in some people—correlated with extroversion, exploration, curiosity, and a migratory lifestyle. Certain people just love change more than others and want to wander and try something new.

For Adventure

Classical explorers were some of the earliest adventure travelers. From the 1400s through the 1600s, they navigated oceans, mapped the skies, bagged mountains, and established new routes. We do not glorify their trade; we know theirs was not just saffron and gold.

Today, many travelers heed the call to adventure to find their physical or social limits. They do it for mystery, for challenge, and for meaning and transformation.

As Pilgrimage

The practice or path of awakening is evident across cultures and time periods. Many religions have a pilgrimage—a journey to a physical holy site or a metaphorical or spiritual period of contemplation, transformation, and ascension to the sacred.

In the Middle Ages, the Santiago de Compostela was a popular pilgrimage ending at the site believed to be the burial ground of Saint James. Today, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a European Cultural Route. Pilgrims and other travelers follow the paths on foot, by bike, in silence, or with a friend.

Some feel these modern treks bring them closer to history, to themselves, to their physical limits—and ultimately closer to their spiritual ideal.

For Purpose

Just as early travelers were seekers, when we trace their historic routes around the world, we become modern seekers on our own journeys—looking for change, love, truth, or enlightenment.

To Pursue Simplicity

The ideal of simple living is a motivator for some travelers. There’s great liberation in carrying on your back everything you need to survive. It wakes up your senses and brings your intention back to the basics—unencumbered by material possessions and focused instead on daily nourishment, shelter, water, and clothing. Living simply is practical too. It’s usually easier and cheaper to occupy a 285-square-foot motor home than to pay down a thirty-year mortgage and maintain a 2,000-square-foot house.

To Reconnect as a Family

Some of us feel so crazy busy that there’s rarely a night we can sit down together for dinner—let alone connect with and enjoy our quickly growing kids. Maybe you’re concerned that technology and social media are disrupting family life. Travel can bring families together and dial down the noise. For many, it feels like a great reset from an overbooked and overscheduled life.

To Understand Family History

Some people travel to connect with and imagine the experiences of their ancestors. 

Annika and her family traveled to China to fall in love with their adopted daughter’s homeland and to meet the caregivers at the orphanage where Lucy spent the first three years of life. Our friends John and Eydie traveled to West Africa to show their son, Brook, the village in Benin where John had spent two years in the Peace Corps.

Because We Can: Digital Nomadism

A new technological and social reality has opened many doors for the professionally adventurous. Infrastructure for digital nomadism is steadily growing, and this presents more opportunities to pursue the travel dream. We have new marketplaces, new ways of transacting, and new models of community that support mobile lifestyles. Industry experts predict that by 2035 there will be one billion digital nomads working remotely around the globe.

Whatever the reasons or context, traveling as a family sets us into motion together on a winding and textured road that may be at once restorative, cathartic, familial, purely pleasurable, or outside of our comfort zone. It is here, in these momentous, magical, unfamiliar spaces, that we become more deeply connected to history, to fellow travelers, and to ourselves.

The Upsides of Travel

We’ve heard many stories from fellow travelers about how extended travel helped people’s sense of well-being. Travel offers many benefits. In our experience, it can:

Help Us Navigate Stress

While traveling, we remove many of the stress triggers of home and work. We have more time for exercise and activity, reading and listening to music, taking long walks, connecting with family and friends, being in nature, experiencing the change in seasons more deeply, and feeling free. We dare you to notice a rising tide, watch a moonrise, or photograph a sunset with your kids and not feel more relaxed! Now, do that for months in a row and imagine the effect.

As a bonus for the planners among us, the organizational process itself—putting together itineraries, researching destinations, and solving logistical problems—can be enormously fun and satisfying. The anticipation is an exhilarating prelude to the great adventure.

Boost Creativity

Engaging in new rituals and experiencing new places can stimulate creativity and prompt fresh ideas. One of the fundamental truths of travel is that it offers many new experiences, thus promoting “cognitive flexibility”—the brain’s ability to jump from one set of ideas, activities, or learning approaches to another. Traveling is rich with novel experiences; at every turn, every day, down every trail, there are unexpected sparks and nonstop innovation. We learn to think outside the box because we are outside of our box.

Make Us More Tolerant

Travel exposes our own biases and prejudices. It offers us new perspectives, bringing us face-to-face with fresh ideas and different cultures. Travel expands our cultural awareness and sensitivity, building tolerance, appreciation, and respect.

Feed Our Curiosity

You can’t exactly make someone curious overnight. But give a child 365 consecutive days of new experiences and educational adventures while traveling, and curiosity will surely bloom.

The urge to travel as a family might feel familiar—like something that’s always been with us. We might not be following migrating animals or escaping the dry season anymore, but the pull to move, explore, and connect is still there. It shows up in our need for quality time, novelty, and stories worth telling.

So if you’re on the fence about hitting the road, know you’re not just booking a trip. You’re likely stepping into something bigger—something generations before you understood well. And who knows? That one journey might become one of the stories your family tells for years to come.

The post Why Travel Can Be Good for Your Family appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

We use the sun (and shade), the tides, and US National Park Service Junior Ranger activities to structure our time, and we find a worldschool rhythm that is perfectly informed by wherever we are—boating through gnarly, rooted forests of coastal mangroves; trying out underwater photography at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in search of sea fans, brain coral, urchins, anemones, and schools of scaly rainbow parrotfish. We learn about hurricanes, climate change, and invasive species.

We decorate each of our campsites with conchs, cockles, seaweed, driftwood, and the occasional piece of turquoise sea glass or fried egg jellyfishes, which look like eyeballs. We smile a lot, get really tan, and my curly hair becomes curlier every day.

About halfway down the keys on the “Highway That Goes to Sea,” we come to Long Key State Park and score another fantastic walk-in campsite right by the water. That evening after dinner, we sit by the water, toes dipping in, hands whooshing across the fine white sand, when I feel a sting, then another, and another. I jump up and try to brush off whatever is biting, but I can’t see ’em! I shake wildly as my eyes puff up and everything itches. I get in the tent and I still feel ’em. Johnny boy saves the day—he grabs a headlamp, hops on his bike, and races to the rig for the first aid kit. No surprise: I need a double dose of Benadryl. The next day, we carry on, appreciating that the tiniest Florida pests—those ever-present no-seeums—have a bite way bigger than their imperceptible bark!

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – The Florida Keys appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Risk Tolerance

We all live somewhere on the risk-aversion to risk-seeking continuum, and traveling to new places may change your perception of, and relationship to, risk. Are you okay not knowing where you are going to sleep? Not knowing where you will find food? Not knowing if you have to go left or right when it’s getting dark and there are alligators, hyenas, and hill bandits out there? What if you are running out of gas or someone needs to go to the bathroom?

Risk tolerance is simply how much exposure to risk you are willing to handle in terms of where you venture, who you’re with, what you do, and who’s in charge, as well as physical activities and abilities. While you are traveling, you will need to make decisions, sometimes in the moment, that work for your whole team. You will need to sort out where you stand with your partner and family. If you are with friends or acquaintances, there will be more viewpoints to work through.

We invite you to test your risk tolerance, keeping in mind it’s probably not the same profile as that of everyone else you are with. Let’s drill down a bit to illustrate the concept. Say you meet a couple of families at a worldschooling summit and you get along well, so you plan to meet up again in the Philippines. One of the moms, a professional rock climber, organizes a canyoneering trip in the Kawasan Falls that will have you navigating water, cliffs, slots, ledges, and waterfalls. On your way from point A to point B, your adventure requires that you launch yourself off a cliff into a pool of water twenty feet below. Does your kid want to jump? Will you let them?

Matters of risk, coupled with cultural differences, can get even trickier. Here are two hypothetical scenarios to test your tolerance:

Scenario 1:

Your kids want to run down the street to a busy city market. There are a lot of people around. It’s 8:00 p.m. and dark outside. You want to give them some freedom, and trust they can get there and back safely.

Do you:

* Say yes and give them some extra cash with a request to bring you a chocolate bar?

* Say yes but watch them out the window the entire time?

* Say yes but sneakily follow forty feet behind?

* Say no, but your partner says yes?

Scenario 2:

You’ve arranged to rent motor scooters to travel around a small island in the Caribbean. You pay for your scooters, and then you walk to the shed to get them. No helmets!

Do you:

* Hop on and rev the engine?

* Politely ask the operator for helmets. They bring you a helmet, but the straps are all cut. Do you then:

     * Encourage your kid to hop on and tell them to do two thumbs-up so you can snap a photo?

     * Hop on with a frown?

     * Politely ask for your money back?

     * Emphatically ask for your money back?

While you don’t want to be the person who offends the locals and keeps the family from doing something fun, you also don’t want to expose your family to potential harm. We give you permission to be the adult in the room when you know it’s the right thing to do. When locals dismiss, laugh at, or are angered by your ways, here, too, you can hold your line.

Once you feel comfortable identifying and articulating your own feelings about risk, then it’s time to communicate within the family. Maybe you’ll decide to identify the lowest common threshold, meaning the place where you all feel safe, and that becomes your plan. Or you decide to do more research and education to work through fears and arrive at a compromise. Some families divide and conquer—those who want to do something adventurous can, and those who aren’t comfortable choose something different. Be sure to empower your children to speak up, especially if they are feeling scared or uncertain. The practice of honoring, supporting, and working through this exchange with your family can build individual confidence and lifelong family values.

If you are traveling with other families, good communication around risk can avoid awkward moments, discomfort, strained relationships, unsafe situations, or changes of plan. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt: understand what you are exposing you and your family to, and communicate these personal considerations before the point of no return. And when you decide to jump, be sure to make a big splash!

Travel Cadence

Travel cadence is the rhythm and speed of your journey. Some families aim to visit as many countries, states, or destinations as quickly as possible. Peripatetic parents, we salute you! Their beat matches their curiosity, and they would dance their way to the moon and back if they could. Others opt for depth over breadth as they settle in for weeks or months at a time.

Your cadence can be intentionally set by your trip itinerary, or it can modulate in response to your family’s energy levels, budget considerations, or new opportunities you may hear about en route. For some traveling families, it works great to have off days for moving about freely, and on days to do school. If you have a bucket list of destinations, your cadence may be zippier with shorter stays in each place. If there are countries you want to visit that are more expensive, you may choose to have a shorter stay in those places.

Some families get tired and want to slow down; they may need or want to work or enroll their children in a local school. Others simply find themselves in a place they love and want to stay for a while. In doing so, you can minimize your footprint, commit to volunteer work, reduce expenses, or participate in community service or cultural exchange. You can belong to a place.

Local Culture and Customs

Visiting new places may require some study and preparation. Families can learn together about a new country, state, or region—its Indigenous peoples, geography, inventions, art, food, and language. You can practice local greetings, customs, and courtesies. Your research can equip you with practical knowledge about a place while deepening your respect for local customs and beliefs; it can also serve as a great worldschool lesson.

For example, in many cultures elders are treated with reverence—they speak first, and they are served their food first. In some places pointing is rude, or looking someone in the eye is considered offensive. On the other hand, in some cultures, people are more direct in their communication, and you may hear things you might not at home. Annika was told outright she could not be the mother of her daughter Lucy because they are not the same race. People might openly comment on your appearance in ways you’re not used to hearing. It’s all part of noticing our cultural lens. Our friend Monica’s son, Ty, reflected, “The other ways people do things aren’t weird; they’re just different.”

Be prepared to have sensitive conversations with your children as they experience things that are new to them. Some families look for opportunities to examine racial and social dynamics wherever they visit because they want their children to have a deeper perspective of places, not just see the sites. Getting out there, meeting new people, and having conversations can be profoundly enriching for everyone.

Privilege

Resource disparity and injustice exist everywhere. Many kids have a heightened sense of fairness and tend to notice the inequities around them. Traveling brings these realities to light and provides an opportunity for families to grapple with them in real time. How ready are you to talk about power and privilege? Revisit the ideas in “A Conversation on Inclusivity” in this blog 1 to weave these topics into your family’s ongoing dialogue.

Worldschooling, by definition, is going into the world to learn and connect. Some worldschoolers have been criticized for the privilege of being able to move relatively freely while others cannot. They are aware of the tension between using, but not exploiting, that privilege to better understand their place in the world. They also recognize that it might be easier to stay at home and leave the harder questions unexamined. Instead, worldschoolers make the choice to travel, learn about complex issues, engage in meaningful relationships, and build creative solutions.

Toward the end of her year, one worldschooling parent said, “Traveling gave my kids an understanding that the existing power structure treats so many people unfairly, and it has motivated them to make a difference. And for me, interacting directly with other cultures throughout the year exposed my own biases. If these are the things we come to understand over the course of the year, we can consider it our most important lesson learned.”

Giving and Receiving

At its best, travel is an exchange—of ideas, culture, language, and work—and there’s a place for both giving and receiving. We hear from some traveling parents that they feel they are taking and consuming more than they are contributing or connecting, and they feel a need to recalibrate their priorities.

Maybe your Wonder Year can be a time to examine your impact, participate locally, or spend time in places that are not just tourist destinations. You could look for opportunities to apply your professional or vocational skills in the service of communities you visit. Perhaps you could support a school by tutoring English or math or donating sporting equipment.

In some cultures, the actual exchange of gifts is a significant gesture and a thoughtful way to show your gratitude in a culturally fitting manner. Many families carry with them small thank-you gifts or handmade cards to share with hosts and new friends. Among our families, we brought inflatable globes and beach balls, deflated soccer balls with a small air pump, handwritten thank-you cards, notebooks, and art supplies to leave as gifts.

It takes composure and grace to receive. Maybe you’ll be invited for a meal in a local family’s home. Or, on a hot day with a tired kid, passersby might offer a cold beverage and a shaded bench. The more open and attentive we can be, the more we can find contentment in each moment. Savor these encounters. Let yourself give and receive gifts of the road.

Celebrations and Milestones

Speaking of gift giving and local traditions, you’ll likely want to hold on to some customs from home, too. Family traditions and celebrations can provide grounding during a year that may otherwise feel uprooted. These celebrations can take on a new and elevated significance when honored from afar. Do not underestimate how much your kids will love having the tooth fairy visit them in Zambia! No joke.

It can be disappointing to miss celebrations back home, but there are many things you can do to acknowledge special moments and create new rituals. For example, you might pack some birthday candles for the RV or an Elf on the Shelf for your Vrbo rental. If you celebrate Christmas, you might find a fabric store and sew your own stockings with felt. We all learned how to host virtual meetings during the pandemic, so virtual birthday parties with games and laughter can be a fun option. You could Zoom into your cousin’s b-mitzvah or create a video or audio recording to be shared with the folks back home. Think small luggage space and big impact, and be spontaneous on the road.

One worldschooling family spent Halloween night at an airport hotel with adjoining rooms in Guangzhou, China. The kids were devastated to miss out on their favorite holiday. So, their parents bought bags of cool Chinese candies, and the kids had to create as many costumes as possible from what was in their combined luggage. After each outfit change, the kids would stand on one side of the connecting hotel-room door, knock, and yell “Trick or treat!” Their parents would open the door and give them their candy.

Academic or extracurricular milestones can also be cleverly celebrated. A visa photo or a US Junior Ranger headshot can stand in for school pictures. Completion of third-grade math or their last day of schoolwork could culminate with a meal of the kid’s choosing or a splurge event. With a little forward planning and on-the-go creativity, you’ll have a new collection of meaningful and travel-inspired festivities.

Roadblocks and Detours

No matter how much planning, communicating, and going with the flow you muster, extended travel may not go well for everyone all the time. The mental, emotional, and physical transitions take time, and you may need to get past early jitters and a rocky start. People may adjust at different rates, too. We’ll briefly share some remedies and strategies for coping, and we encourage you to hang in there. It can be challenging as you confront homesickness, burnout, or just not finding your groove.

Homesickness

We are all likely to miss people dear to us, favorite places, beloved activities, and the familiarity of the lives we left. Kids are sensitive, and homesickness can show up as sadness or in unexpected ways such as disrupted moods and sleep, unusual behavior, or even physical ailments. It will typically pass, but know that a tummy ache might not be caused by something they ate.

Redirecting attention to a favorite book or card game, taking part in physical activity, and providing tenderness can ordinarily remedy a bout of homesickness. Accentuating the positives of your time away can also help bring a new perspective. Perhaps the most effective remedies to homesickness are time, connecting with loved ones back home virtually or in person, and making new friends as you travel.

Burnout

Another bump in the road might be burnout. Yup, sometimes you need a vacation from your Wonder Year. Many traveling families hit a wall of exhaustion, loss of inventiveness, or just get sick of all the togetherness. Like any endurance event, there are peaks and valleys both physically and mentally.

Practice self-care especially through these times. Take a week or two off of planning and moving about, and make some time to chill. Or hunker down in a place you love and rent an Airbnb for a month or more. Establish simple routines. Spend some time with your hobbies or look for short-term employment or volunteer opportunities. Most likely you’ll get a second wind if you can hang in there.

When You Just Can’t Find Your Groove

But what if that second wind never comes? Sometimes family dynamics are too rough to navigate, stress goes up, or parents know their kids aren’t thriving. Sometimes there are real budget shortfalls or medical problems. The visit from Grandma did not help; your week at the beach did not help.

If the stress on the family is too intense, it’s okay to explore other options, including cutting your trip short and returning home. It happens, and we know families who wrapped up early. And who’s to say that a six-month Wonder Year is any less valuable than a sixteen-month one? The contingency plan you put in place before you left exists for these reasons. 

There, we said it and you read it. So, tuck this conversation away in the bottom of a duffel bag, but know it’s there if you need it. If the flip-flop were on the other sandy foot, we would have wanted you to give us a heads-up, too.

The post Out in the World: Family Life on the Road appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

It took me three weeks to muster the mustard to write a final blog post on juliafreedom: Travels with Charlie (and Johnny and Max) because I didn’t want our trip to end. I felt like I should have been able to wrap it all up with a pretty bow, share a few lessons learned, and embrace home sweet home. But I couldn’t wrap up the most amazing year of my life. Not with a bow, duct tape, a bungee cord, or words.

We looked and felt like travelers when we came home. I wore the same ratty jeans with holes in the knees and frays on the seams. I clipped key chains onto my belt loop, noticed each moon phase and sunrise, and called every vehicle a “rig.” We were all shocked by the number of forks in our fork drawer and the volume of shelves in the pantry.

And yet, while difficult, returning was not bitter. It was sweet. We eased back in, spending two nights as guests in a cottage at Chautauqua, a regional park nestled at the base of the Flatirons, on the western edge of Boulder. Charlie’s mother joined us for a summer wind-down in our beautiful hometown. We sat, talked, and came back to ourselves. The actual drive into our neighborhood wasn’t planned; we just pulled over at a friend’s house and turned off the engine. Johnny bounced on the trampoline and mowed their lawn. These friends and family were our cushion that made for a soft landing. Slowly we reconnected with others over a meal or a walk or at our old stomping grounds—Ideal Market, Vic’s coffee shop, Moe’s Broadway Bagel. After a couple of months, close friends hosted a gathering where we had the honor of sharing our slideshow with our community.

There had been a series of uncanny, undeniable signs that it was time to come home. My wallet, lost the week before we left for the trip, turned up at a local Boulder bank thirteen months later. Charlie’s phone, lost midtrip, was mailed back to his office. We tearfully and effortlessly sold the RV on Craigslist, leased a hybrid electric vehicle, and rejoiced in the juiciness of local Palisade peaches.

We were often asked, “So, where was your favorite place?” My answer: anywhere in Alaska; Fern Canyon in Redwood State Park; Canaan Valley, West Virginia; hundreds of magnificent places over thousands of miles; and not one day the same as any other. My favorite places, though, were not the destinations; they were the long stretches in between destinations, the unplanned space where we were simply travelers. And every day still, even after being home for a few years, we are enriched by the year of wonder, the memories and lessons, the colorful perspectives, complex relationships to home, and a familial closeness that will never, ever unravel. I would do it all over again and again. And again. It was the best year of my life.

The post Coming Home – Julie’s Family appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

It became a practice to mark the starting and finishing mileage whenever we were on the go. We could calculate weekly or monthly totals and averages. We could check to see how our fuel efficiency changed at different speeds and elevations. Math went great, and eventually I got rid of the math books and focused more on real-life applications.

We also read a lot. Picking out books was a fun chance to dive into local stories, history, and characters. The hands-down family favorite was *The Captain’s Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe*, in which Meriwether Lewis’s dog, Seaman, tells the story of the adventurous search for the Northwest Passage. Reading along while we were tracing Lewis and Clark’s journey, with our own dog, was perfect.

Everyone also kept a journal. We bought Johnny a gorgeous journal before the trip, and while we did not enforce a daily entry, he wrote with fervor and heart, and to this day, he keeps his journal by his bedside to revisit.

An excerpt (reprinted with permission):

Johnny, age eight:

*Right now I am in the top bunk of a cabon, wich is one of the four on \[Hesketh] Island. I can see a rose boosh and in the background the ocean. I can hear the faint sound of the waves crashing. I am inside but allthoe I have been outside \[all] of the day, I can almost smell the spray of the salt water. It is just backing off from high tide. Yesterday I cought my first two fish . . .*

And other than math, reading, and writing, we improvised, following Johnny’s curiosity. We made a ritual out of the US National Park Service Junior Ranger program (many state parks have similar programs), an excellent, place-based resource that is focused on the local topography, ecology, geology, and culture. Completion of the work at each park earns a badge; Johnny collected twenty-eight Junior Ranger badges over the course of our year.

With our interest in sustainability and love of skiing, we created a module on the environmental impacts of ski areas and set up meetings with operators, managers, and environmental staff from different organizations, including ski areas, ski manufacturers, local government, and environmental groups. We dug avalanche pits, studied snow layers, hung out with avalanche dogs, and learned about snowmaking operations and the new technology to minimize water use and maximize use of snow fencing. And we did a lot of “mountain fieldwork.”

A typical day:

Johnny makes the family breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach on corn tortillas with shredded cheese and salsa. We take a three-hour hike through an old-growth forest, learning to identify coastal hardwood varieties, fungi, and ferns. Stop for an hour diversion to test our balance on fallen trees, walking backward and forward, sideways, and on one leg. Hop, hope, listen.

Get back to the rig. Study the analog map; decide to stay another day because it’s so gorgeous and we have nowhere else we have to be. Johnny builds an elaborate rock sculpture/rock-climber course for his RC vehicle. Julie makes bebe soup—veggie broth with kale and capellini, lemon zest, and Parmesan. We eat outside. We write a blog post, then read aloud. Johnny and Charlie go on a night photography stroll. Julie and Max (the dog) read some more and snuggle.

The post How We Worldschooled – Julie’s Family appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

The United Nations (UN) Environment Programme and UN World Tourism Organization define sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” Sustainable travel is a natural corollary to worldschooling, as it aims to nurture attitudes and awareness in our children so they are motivated to contribute positively to our world.

You may hear terms like ethical travel, green travel, ecotourism, responsible tourism, regenerative or transformative travel, and more. While there are some nuances in definitions, the sentiment is shared—together, let’s grow a travel industry that protects people, places, and the planet.

Sustainable travel can do the following:

• Promote economic development and job creation.
• Support appropriate investment in infrastructure, revenue generation, and incentives for local empowerment.
• Reduce poverty.
• Catalyze educational opportunities for marginalized groups.
• Seed global connections.
• Build tolerance and peace.

Here are some positive ways you can promote sustainability while traveling:

* Measure your travel footprint using tools like the EDF Travel Carbon Footprint calculator.

* Seek out businesses—hotels, restaurants, and transportation companies—that disclose and demonstrate their water, energy, and waste management practices; commitment to conservation and animal welfare; plastics reduction efforts; employee benefit programs; and other responsible practices.

* Choose a diet that is environmentally friendly, minimize single-use packaging, and buy locally produced fruits and vegetables where possible.

* Be savvy and learn to detect greenwashing—when a company purports to have sustainable practices but in fact their actions do not match their claims.

* Look broadly for sustainability opportunities in nature and in cities. You can walk, take the bus, rent bikes, and shop locally.

* Learn about Indigenous Peoples and their history.

* Create travel content for your blog or social media that tells truthful stories and includes diverse voices.

* Ask locals about what’s going on in their region.

* Support the small mom-and-pop shop that is doing the right thing but not tooting its own horn.

* While there is no universal seal or standard of a “sustainable” destination, there are certifications that may indicate that a company is moving in the right direction. Keep in mind that it takes time and money to pursue these certifications, and many small local operators or businesses do not have the resources to invest in a certified “stamp of approval.” (See the resources section for more information.)

* Talk to other worldschooling families, expats, and locals before you book, reserve, pay, or otherwise use a business, lodge, outfitter, or guide. There are outstanding local operators who are committed to sustainability, cultural preservation, and regenerative practices. By working with these businesses, we put our dollars toward supporting progress, building local capacity, promoting conservation, and helping put an end to exploitative, unsustainable practices.

* Perhaps the most important step is to think about where your travel dollars are going. Is your money supporting the local economy? Or is it supporting destructive practices or development? Who is benefiting, and who is bearing the burden?

If you are curious to learn more or do more, tap into the momentum and incorporate sustainable travel into your worldschool education. To get started, check out the list of sustainable travel organizations in the resources section.

Sustainable travel has been around for years. What’s exciting is the mainstreaming of the movement and the availability of new data, metrics, resources, partnerships, and models. There is room for everyone in this mobilization—the destinations, guides, travelers, owners, operators, regulators, policy makers, local and international businesses, and content creators. The travel and tourism industry, tourists, and influencers have an opportunity to contribute to the kind of growth that builds positive, lasting impact. Let’s do our part to ensure our children and generations of children around the globe can experience the beauty of our shared home.

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