Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand December 2014 / January 2015 | Page 48

Life & Travel
United States, Peru, Bolivia,
and Ecuador.
WOW. THAT SOUNDS
INCREDIBLE! YOU MUST HAVE
MANY MEMORIES, BUT WHAT
WAS A MAIN HIGHLIGHT
OF THE TRIP FOR YOU?

two months mostly involved family
visits. There was not much preplanning at all.
DID YOU A BUY A ROUND
THE WORLD TICKET?
No, we found out that a Round
the World ticket is not always
your best option. If you have
the flexibility to keep things
open, then the cheapest
way is through last minute
bookings and by keeping a flexible
itinerary. By booking last minute,
we made sure we wouldn’t miss
out on opportunities while
on the road. The best travel
tips come from fellow travelers,
not from books!
WHICH RESOURCES
AND WEBSITES DID YOU USE?
Except for the occasional
glace at a local guidebook
picked up in a hostel, we used
no books at all. We mostly used
Internet searches: hostelworld.
com, booking.com, kayak.com,
and skyscanner.com. Our most
useful resource was a Facebook
group called Families on the Move.
It’s a closed group of travellers
that travel as a family (with at least
one child). Most of them have
given up wordly belongings so they
can travel non-stop. Through
Families on the Move, we got tips
on family travel, road schooling,
unschooling, and emotional
support as well. It was our best
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resource by far!
WERE YOUR KIDS INVOLVED
IN DECIDING WHERE
YOU WOULD GO?
The kids weren’t involved
in each destination choice,
but they did have an impact
on our travel plans. For example,
Emile (our oldest son) wanted
to go to Paris. It wasn’t on our list,
but to make him happy we went
to Paris for a week
to fulfil his dream.
There was a dance
and a Japanese food
festival taking place
the day we went
to see the Eiffel
Tower, so we danced
on a large stage
in front of the Eiffel
Tower and learned
how to cook miso
soup afterwards!
It was definitely
a highlight.

There are probably too many
highlights to name, but one of them
was in Canoa, Ecuador. I have
a fear of heights. I wasn’t even able
to climb the stairs in the Eiffel Tower;
I had to go back down after three
flights. In Canoa, my boys wanted
to go paragliding off a 200-meter
cliff. The idea of paragliding
was terrifying to me, but I knew
I had to do it for them—to show
an example of overcoming
a fear. And the kids promised
me a spa day if I would do it! So I did.
You needed to get a running start
to get off of the cliff. I was scared
so I wasn’t going fast enough,
and it sort of felt like a drop at first;
but once I was gliding in the sky,
I knew I had done it. Overcoming
the fear was a wonderful feeling,
and the views were amazing, too.
WHAT WERE THE GREATEST
CHALLENGES YOU FACED?
The greatest challenge
was homeschooling. Both
my husband and I were firstborns

OKAY, SO GIVE
US THE DRILL DOWN!
CAN YOU PLEASE
LIST THE COUNTRIES
YOU TOURED
IN CHRONOLOGICAL
ORDER?
Canada, Netherlands,
France, China,
Vietnam, Cambodia,
Thailand, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Fiji,
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