Several years ago, our family of four traveled the world for two amazing years of education and adventure. Those worldschooling experiences were meaningful and enriching, chock full of learning, togetherness, and memories to savor. Across the years, we’ve tried to bring what we loved from that time into any chance we have to travel together.

Both of our boys are now in college, so my husband Mark and I are freshly-minted empty nesters. This year presents a new window of opportunity for us to hit the road. We both work remotely, and Mark’s recent career change means we don’t have to be rooted anywhere until 2025. We are also planning to relocate away from Colorado, prompting a chance to untether and lighten our load. So, we’ve decided to become full-time RVers again–without the kids this time, except when they visit “home” from far away. We’ll still have our dog Timber with us, though! Now 80 in canine years, he’ll be along for the ride.

This blog is for anyone sorting out how to launch RV travel, whether or not you have kids in tow. We have some experience to rely on and share, and still much to learn along the way, too. 

Launching in sub-zero temps.

Choosing a Home

Mark and I met in college and bonded over our shared love of travel. We had both spent our childhoods RVing with our grandparents, and long before we could afford an RV of our own, we road-tripped and tent-camped as a couple and later with our two sons. In 2014, we bought our first RV: an Airstream 30’ Flying Cloud. We fell in love with its practicality, flexibility, and style, plus it was the only Airstream with bunks for the kids. Soon after the purchase, we sold our house and cars, donated and stored our belongings, and hit the road for two years to travel across North America as a family.

After settling into a sticks-and-bricks house again in 2016, our teenagers quickly outgrew the Flying Cloud bunks. We sold that trailer (to another family launching full-time travel!) and purchased a different Airstream with a bit more space. We used it for many weekend trips, school holiday vacations, and an amazing 10-week summer journey across the Pacific Northwest. We’ve now swapped rigs again for one with a better layout and features for Mark and me. As we hit the road, we’re re-learning what we need to know about towing, mechanical systems, and DIY repairs. 

A temporary intervention.

Airstreams have always suited us given their nimbleness and seamless indoor-outdoor living, but they have some major tradeoffs in terms of living space and storage. Many traveling families we’ve spoken with prefer a larger RV with dedicated bedrooms and more generous living and kitchen spaces. There are so many recreational vehicle options for families, including motorhomes, pop-up campers, fifth-wheelers, toy haulers, travel trailers, and camper vans. Choosing what works best for your family–especially for long-term travel–takes some research. If you are considering RV life, here are a few of our favorite resources to help you learn more.

• How to Choose The Right RV For You: Tips from Experienced Full-Time RVers – starter guidance from an RV club
• Find Your Perfect RV or Camper Based on Your Lifestyle – THOR Industries – insights from one of the largest networks of RV companies
• Find the Right RV for You | Go RVing – a fun tool to get your gears turning
• The Complete Guide to Finding the Right RV… for YOU! – Follow Your Detour – a blog post offering insights from one couple’s experiences and recommendations for choosing your own rig
• 2024 Expert Guide To Choose The Best RV For Full Time Living – The Adventure Detour – another blog, this time zeroing in on choosing an RV for full-time travel

Prepping for Launch

Our idea to live on the road again percolated for a few years before it became a solid plan. Then the plan started with some big decisions–the first was to sell our home and move into a rental. We also began the process of downsizing, both during and after that move.

Next it was time to start chipping away at a lengthy to-do list. Planning to launch in early 2024, we extended our lease and created a multi-month gameplan. The number of things to take care of can seem overwhelming–so much so that we cover them across several chapters in Wonder Year. We had things to close up at home, financials to sort through, healthcare appointments to schedule, an RV to purchase, and a year of travel to sort out. In case it’s helpful as a reference, here’s a copy of the to-do list we were using.

During our Wonder Years, we reserved some popular campsites ahead of time but also booked many sites along the way, stopping when and where our hearts desired. That’s become a lot harder to navigate since COVID, when RV purchases grew dramatically. There are now over a million full-time RV households in the US (about 30% are families), and an estimated 11.2 million households own an RV! That’s a lot of people vying for the best sites, so if you like to book ahead of time, securing preferred spots requires good planning. You’ll need to map out your route, research and select desired locations, target your necessary amenities, choose your desired sites, and then know what dates bookings go live. It takes some legwork, but hopefully you’ll be rewarded with roomy sites and gorgeous views.

Some of our favorite RV travel planning tools include:

• RV LIFE Pro – extensive site that includes amenity details and customer reviews with links for booking
• Allstays – shares campsites across the US and Canada; note the app is better than the website
• Hipcamp – listings of private RV spots and campsites, often in interesting locations with unique amenities
• Campground Views – offers detailed photos of many campsites to help you choose your favorites
• Google Earth – another fun way to check out parks, campgrounds, and local attractions before you go

If you are more of a go-with-the-flow traveler and don’t want to be beholden to reservations, boondocking (also known as dispersed camping) may be more your speed. Getting off the grid often yields more privacy and even better views, but without utility hookups. Dispersed camping requires a different kind of planning (including what you’ll do for power, water, and sewage) but can be fantastically liberating and easier on the environment. Check out the Bureau of Land Management, The Dyrt, and Boondocking.org to learn more.

Cuddling up to a view, Timber always knows how to go with the flow.

On the Road

Launch date: January 13, 2024. Which became the 14th, the 15th, then the 16th, then the 17th and 18th…throwing our best-laid plans into immediate disarray. An ice storm and sub-zero temps kept us in Colorado, waiting it out at The Residence Inn. And the early bumps continued–during our first two months on the road, we encountered heavy rains, tornado warnings, endless mud, a frozen water line, nonexistent internet service, and thickets of off-season mosquitoes. Plus we realized that, despite having carefully packed the RV, we didn’t need about a quarter of what we’d brought along. 

But bumps and problem-solving and detours are all part of the journey. As we navigated them, we were also sorting out the time and space needed for work, teaching university classes, and future travel planning. That felt a bit familiar, too: the first few months of our Wonder Year had been much the same, but with twice the people. There’s always a learning curve and things to work out when embarking on a long-term trip.

Mark and I invented a funny-not-so-funny game: “Is THIS the day we turn the corner?” Finally, we did, in New Orleans in March. We also decided to slow down our travel, canceling some stops to stay longer in other locations. It’s all gotten easier and we’re finally in a groove of better-balanced calendars, responsibilities, adventures, and rest. Here are a few tips from Wonder Year we’ve been using and would recommend to fellow travelers. 

• Stay flexible and leave space for mishaps and unexpected events. Create contingency plans in case things get really rough. Also, have insurance for the big stuff, like something happening to your RV.
• Slow down if needed, and don’t hesitate to change your itinerary if another plan will work better–it’s ok to relax your own expectations. Know cancellation policies for your bookings to help avoid penalties.
• Schedule downtime in your travels. You aren’t on vacation trying to jam-pack experiences into a week–you are living your whole life on the road. You’ll need some quieter, rest-filled days, too.
• Tap into networks to help with problem-solving. We belong to Airstream Addicts, an online group of over 80K members who can help answer almost any question about living in, maintaining, and repairing a trailer. Similar groups exist for other RV brands, plus there are social media travel groups, in-person clubs, and knowledgeable camp owners and hosts who might be able to help.
• In addition to reaching out for resources, build social connections as you travel. Join a traveling club, meet other campers for dinner, say hello to the people parked next to you, head into town to find new friends, and visit loved ones along your path. It all helps fill your tank when you don’t have roots.

Reorganizing and culling again – with RV life, less is definitely more.

Looking Ahead

We at Wonder Year are passionate about long-term travel and worldschooling–it’s an exciting evolution in how we collectively think about family life and educating our kids. Mark and I are grateful for having worldschooled and hope to bring a similar mindset to traveling as empty-nesters. We want to explore whatever this new phase holds for us and are looking forward to having time to learn and reflect while being away from the busyness of rooted life. 

We also believe that everything you do at “home” can be done when your home is an RV. Our biggest lesson has been that living simply aligns well with our values of freedom, curiosity, and gratitude. Learning and exploring alongside the people we love is a gift, curiosity fuels us and keeps us open-minded and young at heart, and the novelty of traveling seems to slow down time–all of which matter more and more the older we get.

Is there anything you hope to bring back into focus as you travel? How else do you value your time on the road?

A peaceful place to land.

The post Wonder Year 2.0 – Empty Nesting in an RV appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Sadako Sasaki was only two years old when the A-bomb devastated Hiroshima. Initially one of the lucky ones who survived the blast, she showed no signs of injury and grew into a healthy young girl until the age of nine. An illness was then revealed to be leukemia and Sadako, which means ‘innocent child,’ began a fight for her life. Believing that folding colorful paper cranes helped in her healing process, she spent

We spent hours folding cranes with the help of volunteers.

the last eight months of her life folding countless graceful cranes with delicate hands. Sadly, the lingering effects of the bombs kept killing long after schools were rebuilt and normal services were restored in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August, 6 1945 at 8:16am; Sadako Sasaki died on October 25, 1955. It is estimated that more than 10 million cranes are offered each year at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima.

 In a world locked in conflict over religious ideologies, it is challenging – if not impossible – to believe in the concept of universal truth. Common notions of freedom or justice or family have become objectified by opponents – tolerances narrowed to highlight differences, emotions amplified to spur action against those differences. Consider Auschwitz. Wounded Knee. Srebrenica. Ground Zero. Stalingrad. Yet, standing on ground where thousands of people lost their lives due to genocide or war, accident or terrorism is a coalescent function. It reminds us of the bird-bone fragility of life and that, after differences are discarded as superficial, we are human.

Hiroshima is one of the most sacred grounds in the history of the world, and in that it is a living legacy, a paradox. Seventy years ago, this broad valley with romantic views out to the sea was wholly destroyed – its buildings flattened and burned; its people poisoned and killed.

Where Oppenheimer leaves off

Yet today, atop that solemn foundation, it is vibrant and bustling with people pulsing through its avenues, visiting shops and restaurants as illuminated as a Saturday-night carnival. It is very much a place of living; it shows almost no scars.

 The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a collection of artifacts that survived the blast. There are many physical exhibits that show technically amazing things, such as two-inch-thick rolled steel beams that were twisted into abstractions, or hundreds of apothecary jars that had been melted into a solid chunk of glass.

There’s also the pocket watch owned by Kengo Nikawa, frozen at 8:16am. It was a gift from his son and something he considered precious. He died a little more than two weeks later from grievous injuries sustained in the blast. Kengo had been riding his bike to work.

There’s the tattered and ash-streaked uniform worn by Nobuko Oshita, a 13-year-old student at the girls’ high school. After being exposed to the bomb, she fled into hiding with a classmate, where relief workers found her and returned her home to her family. Nobuko died the following day, still wearing the uniform she’d made.

And there’s the lunch box of Shigeru Orimen, a junior-high school student whose body was found nearly four days later by his mother. Shigeru had been tending the family’s garden while his father and brother were away at the front. His lunchbox contained a meal made from his first harvest – something he was so proud of yet never tasted.

This museum, like the Normandy American Cemetery and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, left an indelible mark on our psyche. It is a powerfully moving place filled with stories that raise unanswerable questions. The boys were exhausted and silent as we walked from the darkened exhibit hall back into the lighted gallery that looks out across the park, the A-Bomb Dome silhouetted against the blue sky. There, along the windows, Asher found a table where local volunteers were teaching kids how to make paper cranes. He sat down with Angela and decided to make an offering of peace in honor of Sadako Sasaki.

Remembering the people of Hiroshima

The post Stories From the Road: Paper Cranes in Hiroshima appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

A bit nervous and bit excited on the way to Maoming.

In our book, we write about choosing travel destinations built about personal history. Some families research their ancestors’ countries of origin; others travel to places of personal significance–maybe a country or site of a battle their grandfather or great-great grandfather fought or died. This is one of our family’s moments, written the day after our visit to Lucy’s orphanage in 2018. Travel can be truly healing. 

This is the real reason we came to China: to bring Lucy back to the place she spent the first three years of life. Seven years ago, we met our daughter, Lucy, in the Social Welfare Office of Guangzhou, not in the Maoming Orphanage five hours away. On this return trip, we hoped that we could volunteer at the orphanage: do dishes, play with kids, mop floors – whatever was helpful. But the Chinese government doesn’t want any of that. The best we could get was a $300 half-day permit, given by the provincial capital in Guangzhou. And the best timing for our visit would be the tail end of our month-long stay in the country.

The facts: Lucy was born with a large hole in her heart. Lucy was left at the entrance to a large park in Maoming, China when she was one month old. Lucy spent three years in the Maoming Orphanage. Lucy still had a large hole in her heart when she visited a Chinese cardiologist in February 2010. Lucy was matched with our family and came to Colorado in early June 2010. Lucy’s hole had closed spontaneously by the time we visited Denver Children’s Hospital in late June 2010. “A medical miracle,” the pediatric cardiologist pronounced.

Lucy’s reunion with her caregiver. This woman made her an incredible baby book and wrote about her with such affection that I couldn’t wait to show her my gratitude! We are connected on social media now!

There’s a hurt in Lucy that I can never totally understand but it comes out, sometimes, as anger that she was thrown away, or discarded because she was born a girl. It’s so tricky to explain the nuances of China’s one-child policy to a child; to explain that Chinese parents had one shot to have a traditional heir; that her heart condition at birth may have forced her birth parents’ hand in finding the best medical care for their infant girl, even if that care could only come from an orphanage.

I was anxious about our visit to Maoming Orphanage. We all were. What if they were cold and formal? Or what if they didn’t remember much about Lucy? What if the conditions of the orphanage were depressing and hard for all our kids to see? But instead, when the gates opened for us at 9:30 am on October 26th, they rushed forward for hugs and had a “Welcome Xin Feng” electronic banner flashing across a screen. We stayed through lunchtime, visiting her old playroom and bedroom and touring the facility. We clung to the stories of Lucy as a baby and toddler, soaking up all the details. They wanted to know how her heart was now and happily heard the tale. They made Lucy a heart ornament with her embroidered Chinese name to hang in her room. Lucy said that the visit made her feel “very popular” and we made lifelong connections with these incredible, loving caregivers.

When we walked out the orphanage gates, two of her biggest fans followed us for final hugs. They were tearful and stood watching us leave; stood until we got to the end of the block, watching and waving. What must these women feel after loving so many children, finding

12 year old Lorna’s entry to the visitor book. The dedication of these women made huge impression on the kids.

them homes, and then wondering how they are faring overseas?  I am so glad that we could answer some of their questions too.

From the orphanage, we walked to the park nearby, where Lucy was “found” ten years ago, wrapped in a white cloth, with a birthdate written on a torn edge of a red envelope. Many adoptees write about the power of revisiting their “finding place” and I thought this might be another emotionally charged moment. Instead, Lucy triumphantly posed for a photo in her spot.

After the intensity of the orphanage, we explored the coast for two nights and then returned to Maoming for just 18 hours.  On a quick trip to the park, we randomly crossed paths with the orphanage director who ran up to us and hugged Lucy some more. We all felt a bit like locals, a bit like we’d found a place where we were loved, like this was our place too.  

The facts of her early years, when stated as a stark list, sound sad. But being there to feel the love of Lucy’s caregivers, the warmth of the Chinese people toward her – wherever we traveled – and the magnificence of this country, turned a sad set of facts into triumph, acceptance and a source of pride. The holes were filled with love. I wonder if this month in China rewrote a story, solved some unanswered questions, and helped that heart heal just a little bit more. By naming that place in the park her “finding” spot, it implies that she was lost. My Lucy has never been lost in her life. These women will now always be part of her finding her way in this world – of finding love, courage and connections.

Lucy at her “Finding Place.”

The post Stories from the Road: Visiting a Chinese Orphanage appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Using the world as a classroom is a fantastic way to teach your kids. But leaping into long-term family travel and worldschooling requires courage and conviction. Sometimes you need inspiration to help you believe that leaving (almost) everything behind could be totally worth it. Or, you might be in the dreaming stage, not yet ready or able to launch but longing to explore from home and immerse yourself in stories of what is possible.

360 Degrees Longitude: One Family’s Journey Around the World by John Higham

The OG of worldschooling memoirs, 360 Degrees Longitude: One Family’s Journey Around the World was released in 2009, years before e-readers caught on and trip planning was done via apps. Author John Higham and his wife September began planning their trip ten years before leaving their comfortable Bay Area life for an around-the-world adventure. This memoir is the story of their journey and an inspiring must-read for others hoping to travel long term with their family, too.

Higham brings the reader along chronologically on a trip spanning 12 months, 24 time zones, and 28 countries. Engaging and funny, he couples anecdotes with thoughtful descriptions of destinations and the people his family meets along the way. His two children, Katrina, 11, and Jordan, 8, when their trip begins, are always in the loop–helping choose destinations and plan adventures. Designed partially as a biking trip across Europe, a playground accident in Switzerland leaves Katrina with a broken leg. The family nimbly adjusts to this and a series of other misadventures that Higham never shies away from sharing with would-be travelers. Entries from the kids’ journals round out his story, as does John’s innovative use of Google Earth, which allows readers to access photos and videos of destinations the Highams visited across the globe. Clever (or, using John’s term, “stupid”) facts at the end of the book punctuate the experience.

360 Degrees Longitude helped lay the groundwork for what it means to be a citizen of the world. Highlighting what their family learned along the way, the author shows it’s possible to navigate almost anything when they’re doing it together. As Higham shares in his introductory message, he wrote the book to “take you to distant lands and meet the people who live over there to show that, at the end of the day, humankind in all its wonderful weirdness is the same all over the planet.”

The World is Our Classroom: How One Family Used Nature and Travel to Shape and Extraordinary Education by Cindy Ross

Ross, a lifelong writer, began worldschooling her kids in the ’90s. The term worldschooling was either extremely niche or nonexistent, but her interactions with her children and the world define the term organically. She began by spending time in nature and in the garden with her very young kids, wondering together before Google could explain. They spent summers hiking the Continental Divide with toddlers and llama support, learned American history by riding a Conestoga wagon along the Oregon Trail, and even partnered with local naturalists for their science lessons. The notion of learning from participation with the world grew naturally from these experiences. Her chapters have titles like “Learning from Play,” “Learning from International Travel” and “Learning about Values and Priorities.” Each chapter is full of anecdotes and ends with a section called “Nuts and Bolts” to outline how to get it done. 

This book outlines how worldschooling looked before online education and screens were a thing. There are thousands of ideas to inspire you if you want less time on tech. Ross and her husband also kept their kids in public schools and supplemented their education incrementally with long stretches in the American wilderness and in more than 12 countries.

The memoir has the strength of perspective. Ross’ children are now in their late 20s, and the book weaves the roots of their current passions into the narrative. Sierra and Bryce (also the illustrator) each have several pages at the end where they sum up their childhood in their own words. These words by Sierra, as she describes her current work in environmental stewardship, particularly struck me. She says, ” [Experiential education] is a cycle whereby we become informed about the world by participating in it, and with this knowledge are both empowered and gain the tools to change it.”

How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find A New Way To Be Together by Dan Kois

So many parents are pressured by and face tough questions about modern-day work, “screen age” parenting, and the realization that life is short. But it takes a moment of awakening or some sort of existential shake-up to pull up stakes and get out of one’s bubble. Dan Kois, his wife Alia, and daughters Harper and Lyra did just that. In search of greater connection and meaning, they set out on a global family adventure that took them to New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and rural small-town America in Hayes, Kansas. How to Be a Family is an honest, hilarious, and heartfelt account of the experience of togetherness through the fantastic and the mundane, the gorgeous and the gross.

The raw and accessible quality of this book invites readers into the metaphor of life as a journey. We feel the Kois family dynamics, their vulnerabilities and victories. Anyone who has experienced long-term family travel might chuckle throughout, knowing exactly how it feels to be tumbled into a family unit while living outside of your comfort zone. But whether or not you have taken a trip around the world, How to Be a Family is a good read, a parenting odyssey that will entertain, inspire, and challenge you to think about your parenting style and family culture. Many parents want their kids to feel engaged and connected and have agency in their own lives. Travel is empowering that way. Kois captures it beautifully when he writes, “…and the thing I love most about this trip is the way that moments from this year are already becoming family lore, retold by children who are finally old enough to contribute to their own tales.”

How to Become a Family reminds us that sometimes the best adventure is the one where we’re simply together with family and friends.

We Came, We Saw, We Left by Charles Wheelan

We Came, We Saw, We Left is a fascinating story about one family’s experiment in taking a gap year. Intelligent and full of charm, the Wheelan family solves one problem after another and strings together nine months of adventure, mishaps, deep learning, and togetherness. An economist, professor, and author, Charles Wheelan also has a way with storytelling, especially when it comes to acquainting you with the idiosyncrasies and proclivities of his three kids. Many readers will feel inspired to start planning their own family gap year after reading We Came, We Saw, We Left. Others may be spooked and instead plant a garden. 

This travel memoir offers a great job of portraying the imperfections and improvisations that go along with long-term family travel. For example, day 10 for Team Wheelan was marked by a lost pair of kiddos in Medellin, Colombia. On the verge of panic, Charles and his partner, Leah, held their breath and resisted accusation while they waited on the metro platform for that text to come, which it eventually did. Buoyed by reunion and a round of beverages, the family recounted their errors: “Over dinner, we reviewed our ‘rookie mistakes’: taking the metro at rush hour; not making sure we all knew the stop; not having a plan if we were separated; not giving enough money to Katrina for a taxi; and so on.” Overcoming a mega-obstacle early on, talking about it, and learning from it together, gave the family confidence. They recounted, “Maybe we would be able to pull off this crazy adventure travel thing after all.”  

We Came, We Saw, We Left draws you into the rhythm of the road–into spaces where kids don’t go off to school and parents don’t go off to work. It shows that on a family gap year, things get mixed up at the edges while bonds of togetherness grow stronger around every unexpected turn. 

While there are many other worldschooling memoirs out there, these first four will get you started. Full of inspiration, perspective, poignancy, and humor, they might just be a litmus test for you: Could this lifestyle be for me? Is it something I want to do for a summer? A year? Or, perhaps I’m selling everything to buy a one-way ticket? 

All of these books are available as e-books at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. There’s still time for a great summer read! And if these whet your worldschooling appetite and you need help figuring out what to do next, you can check out our book, too. 

The post Four Worldschooling Memoirs to Get Your Wheels Turning appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

He was our neighbor for six days in Fairbanks and we spoke every morning and evening, but I knew nearly nothing about the man, nothing except that our dog, who usually barks at strangers who approach too quickly, immediately knew he was good. Timber lowered his head and wagged his tail as he let the man with hard hands and a gray handlebar mustache scratch under his chin and behind his ears.

The man spoke without strain – even, confident and strong. With steel-toe boots, chain drive wallet and leather vest, my first read was that he must be a biker, and the way he carried himself spoke of tough-guy…if needed. He looked like a dude smart enough to stay out of a fight, but who would end it on his feet no matter the circumstances.

Introductions in RV parks are categorical. Passers-by will ask about the Airstream, the truck, the breed of our dog or where in California we’re from. As Timber rolled over and let the stranger rub his belly, the man asked, “How do you like the Ford Diesel?”

The man was chatty and intelligent; loneliness sometimes italicized his words or wrinkled his face, but overall he was a man who found goodness in life – he appreciated steak and beer.

Over the course of the next few days, I picked up bits and pieces about the stranger. He was from Pittsburgh and, after 50 years, ready to create a new life. He’d purchased on finance by the State of Alaska a 10-acre plot about two hours north of Fairbanks, in the thick bush near Livengood (pronounced LIE-ven-good). The property had no services whatsoever and was thick with willows and spruce, so he had no access to its heart. He’d surveyed and started to fence it, but it was only his third year up in Alaska, so there was still a lot to accomplish. He’d carved enough of a path into the property to park a trailer and truck just out of sight from the road. He hoped that, if the weather held out this summer, he could continue cutting through the bush to the center where he would eventually build a cabin.

Alaska is about futures, not pasts. We never talked about jobs or education. Only once did his talk deviate from practical matters and venture into the philosophical. It was when I asked him why he decided to go it alone in the Alaskan wild.

“It’s solitude, I guess. It’s so darn far from everything that it’s just me. Mother Nature doesn’t cut any slack; people don’t ask your name.”

He paused and looked at me. “You think you could do it?”

“I read somewhere… how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong… to measure yourself at least once.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

The post Stories from the Road: Our Alaskan Neighbor appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

To learn more about the Page Family, take a look at our interview with them posted this week, too.

Andy and I lived in Sweden for a little while and then in the UK together for nearly 12 years before setting off on our trip. We resided in many different locations and really enjoyed our life there. All our children were born in the UK. We lived down south in a village by the Hampshire/West Sussex border for seven years before making the decision to sell our house and travel to Mexico and Belize.

Our first visit to Sattva Land

We knew from the onset that we were looking for community, of the more intentional sort. But also adventure! With everything that it entails – the exciting as well as the challenging. Initially, we had our eyes set on Portugal. However, the new EU rules regarding travelling, campervans, etc., weren’t particularly favourable. So, when our friends told us they were going to Belize, we got excited. We had travelled in the area twelve years earlier and loved it. So that was it, we were going, too! 

Before embarking on our travels, we decided to sell our house and give away most of our belongings…which was quite the process with five of us, including a new baby! But after the covid craziness and how the world increasingly seemed to take a turn for the worse, we felt a sense of urgency. We wanted to leave Europe before it potentially closed down again. 

It was hard to say goodbye to family and friends, not knowing when we would see them again. We loved our life in the village and had a nice community of good friends. It ended up being a real grieving process, even though we hadn’t made any final decisions. The boys took it in their stride, and despite not wanting to leave their close friends behind, they were surprisingly happy about heading into the unknown. 

Yasmin and Avani on a jungle walk, photo taken by Two

We were certain that should we decide to move to Belize and that we would return to our home countries, Sweden and the UK, at least yearly. Even so, it was very difficult right before leaving, and I became ill and had a form of a dark night of the soul. But, despite the hardship, we felt that we had to go. Something was calling us so strongly, even though we didn’t know what it was. 

We left the UK in November 2021 and flew to Cancun, Mexico. As our first base, we stayed in Akumal near Tulum for seven weeks. We explored the area and enjoyed the beaches and cenotes. After that, we stayed in a less touristy area further up north, at a house right on the beach. Although beautiful, the house was more rustic, with more bugs. We still enjoyed it a lot, though. 

We had shipped our campervan before we left, aiming to pick it up at the other end. [My partner] Andy went to Veracruz to pick it up while the kids and I stayed in the house. What we imagined taking a few days ended up taking a month! We just rolled with it in a way you can do when you don’t have fixed plans! Taking care of the kids on my own was challenging at times, though. 

Towards the end of that time, the kids and I continued to Merida, where we stayed at several hotels. When Andy finally arrived with the van, it was great to be able to continue with the trip – and to be together again, of course. 

We were then able to continue towards Belize. We crossed the border without issues and headed towards Hopkins, on the coast, where we had booked a hotel for a few nights. Crossing into Belize felt quite special, partly because it was where we hoped to find somewhere to live and partly because it felt pretty rustic and wild compared to Mexico.

At the beach in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, having fry-jack breakfast and playing chess.

We then headed towards Banana Bank, where our friends from back home were. They had arrived in Belize a few months before us and were currently staying in a long-term rental at this jungle horse ranch and hotel. We stayed in the campervan for a little while but realised fairly soon that we prefer to stay in a house but to use the van for shorter trips. 

We enjoyed our time at Banana Bank, staying in an apartment for a few months. The kids roamed freely with two other families, rode horses, swam in the river and pool, and just played together all day long. 

During this time, the families staying there had begun to find their long-term homes. The family we knew from the UK found a fruit farm, and the other family a community. We had also been looking at land and communities, knowing we probably wanted to give Belize a go. 

When we visited Sattva Land, an off-grid retreat centre in the jungles of the Maya Mountains on the Hummingbird Highway, we kind of just knew. They had just begun opening up their three-generation family community they had been building beautifully for the past ten years or so to other families. They wanted to create an intentional community alongside their retreats and Airbnb. 

Andy, Avani and Yasmin on Yasmin’s birthday in Hopkins

For eight months, we stayed nearby, at Pineapple Hill, an Airbnb with a natural jungle pool. Pretty isolated, it was incredible, but it also made us more certain that we wanted to live in a community. During this time, I started my learning co-op at Sattva Land a couple of times a week. Due to its location and small community, it only had a few children.

We have just now moved into one of the houses here, a lovely building with an outdoor kitchen and dining area and a compost toilet. The other buildings here have water closets, though! 

Since arriving in Belize a little over a year ago, we have found a great community of people near us and around the country who are here for similar reasons. They are people who enjoy nature and the outdoors and who also left their countries for specific reasons. Generally, to gain more time and freedom. We have also met so many great native Belizians, and the kids especially have made plenty of new friends locally. Mostly through football!

Even though we have settled now, we still feel very much like travellers and would definitely say that we have been travelling slowly. We are trying to find our feet in new places and explore the areas where we have stayed. We also look forward to travelling to other countries in the surrounding area. 

In Hopkins playing football with the local kids

The post Stories from the Road: The Page Family’s Journey to Belize appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Ready to swim in the ocean while decorating cookies, the holiday season in the southern latitudes

On Christmas morning, Santa put boogie boards under the “tree” and mangoes in the hand-stitched felt stockings. At that southern latitude, December 25 dawned a perfect, summer beach day. Lyall Bay, visible from our Airbnb past red flowering bushes and verdant Pungas, New Zealand’s iconic fern trees, was uncharacteristically calm. Cook Strait’s currents seemed to be taking a holiday, too. Midway through our ten-week rental and slow travel experience in New Zealnd, we had begun to know the ebb and flow of the natural world within the capital city. 

Santa brought boogie boards! How thoughtful.

But before we began our day, we curled up next to each other on the patio adjacent to massive succulents with some holiday picture books from the library, played with a new card game, licked some candy canes, and got ready to care for the animals. 

Lucy brought two homemade Christmas cookies and the salad trimmings from last night out the side door and called over the fence, “Clover! Parsley! Merry Christmas.”

Our neighbors’ two goats trotted over, rested their hooves on the fence railing, and ate from her hand. Lucy found that spot on their forehead where they loved a good rub.

What is Slow Travel?

After being on the move for the first four months of our Wonder Year, it felt nice to hunker down. We were doing what is known as “slow travel,” setting our roots as deep as they could go with our three month visa. The kids joined sports teams and summer camps; I found yoga classes; Will made friends with the barber. Slow travel is not as riveting day-to-day, but it offers other rewards. Our new, local friends were mostly off camping or visiting family for the holiday, and it felt satisfying to be the ones staying back and supporting others’ travels. 

Cat-sitting helped us through missing our own pets back home!

“C’mon guys, Louis’ cat’s gotta be hungry!” encouraged Kai. Kai had met Louis at the park and asked for a play date. Our families then shared meals and became the kind of friends who trade spare keys and visit each other’s cat on Christmas Day. 

Later, we went to a white elephant party at a croquet club in the north of Wellington. I never knew croquet took itself so seriously. It was a holiday tradition, apparently, to do a share meal (potluck), eat pavlova (a holiday staple like our pumpkin pie), drink champagne from the chilly bin (cooler) and whack balls through wickets. I could really adopt these traditions, I thought. The party also gave us a day spent with mixed generations, something I realized I had been missing. On the road, we easily connected with families whose kids were roughly the same ages as ours. But the older set was not so accessible. To be invited and taken in by this multi-generational gathering was kind, heartwarming, and so symbolic of Christmas. 

Enjoying the Moment

Instant friends

Back at our rental, after the effects of pavlova and champagne had worn off, we used the shortcut through the woods to take our Airbnb hosts’ dog, Max, for a walk. One more animal to love. From the crest of the steep hill, we looked down one side to the Maranui, the beach club where Lorna was on the Surf Life Rescue team, while off in the other direction the grocery store, and far beyond that the tidepools near the penguin crossings. For us, for that moment, we could miss our animals and family, while knowing the world was offering those very things we needed. We paused to relish a whiff of home.

Careful, penguins about!

The post Stories From The Road: Slow Travel New Zealand appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

At the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, one of five interpretive/visitor centers of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, we learned about and signed up for a free guided tour of the dam. We wanted to do a worldschooling lesson on this massive structure that forms Lake Powell and provides water resources for 40 million people throughout the US West. I was not super comfortable dropping 110 feet down an elevator to the interior of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second highest dam in the United States. It was crowded, and I couldn’t breathe. There were ugly rust colored splotches on cement walls. I was pretty sure those were signs that the entire dam was about to come crashing down. 

fellow Road Scholar, Hance

Then we met Hance, another 9-year-old worldschooler traveling with his mom through the US for an entire year, just like us. While I readied myself for certain death, Johnny and Hance compared notes on penstocks and turbines, spillways, and hollow jet valves. Within seconds, a friendship was cemented and we spent the next week together at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado River from Deadhorse Point.

We camped in a grove of Douglas Fir and played tag on 78 million-year-old rock. We had sleepovers in each other’s rigs and compared bush pancake recipes and miles traveled to date. Budding environmentalists, Johnny and Hance went around camp on a waste management mission and picked up cans and litter. They deposited the cans in the blue recycle bin and the litter in the trash. 

The next morning they discovered the aluminum cans in the trash dumpster! Tearful with their first-ever experience of betrayal, we put together a worldschooling lesson in environmental accountability and advocacy. We did some research to find out who held the contract for concessions, and the boys wrote a letter saying, in so many words, “Hey dude, why do you claim to recycle when you really do not?” We explored the concepts of individual responsibility and corporate responsibility and talked about ways to make a difference.  

Believe it or not, they got a response!  It was heartening to be heard, and this experience motivated Johnny to look for ways to speak up throughout our Wonder Year.

Dear Recreation Resource Management

why do you claim to recycle but really don’t?

The post Stories from the Road: Glen Canyon Dam appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.