Trip Notes

I’m writing down some of the thinking behind our journey, because it’s not in writing anywhere and I’m bound to forget lots of it.

Context about our Family

Going into the trip I’d say we were adventurous but we’d never traveled together internationally beyond Canada. I’d traveled a lot in my 20’s, and lived abroad several times, but it was a different lifetime.

We all had needs that would matter on the road. Justin is a pretty serious bike racer these days. My well-being depends on being active outdoors. We have a queer trans kid which gave me some pause. For the most part Africa does not love the gays. We also have an anxious kid with big feelings.

The kids chose to do school on the road. I gave them the option to skip it and fall back a year, for lack of better words … because in what universe is traveling around the world considered ‘skipping school’. I thought it might interfere with our experience but it really didn’t. I’m glad they both made the commitment.

While lacking travel experience we had life wisdom to point us in the right direction, e.g. we love places of great natural beauty, we love outdoor adventures, we love getting off the beaten path, we don’t love long drives. We planned as we went but not too much. I remember flipping through several books and blogs of strangers that traveled the world as a family, thinking - no, no, no. Zero judgement towards them. You need to figure out what works for you. It’s a great gift to know what you don’t want and how you don’t want to do it.

Guiding Principles

Though discussed more abstractly than they appear here, these principles informed decisions. I’ve reverse-engineered them into a tidy list but in reality there was just a hodge podge of things-that-mattered. They ebbed and flowed in importance. The tidy version:

• Loose Itinerary … chase summer, be intentional but don’t plan it all.

• Stay a While … less is more, live in a few places, seek less obvious paths.

• Be Active … stay fit, happy bike Justin, outdoor adventures required, surf lots.

• Embrace Challenges … on many levels - cultural, physical, personal growth.

• Contribute Something… my hope was to volunteer somewhere.

When I mentioned the books and blogs of others, often their trips felt jam-packed to me. They covered loads of ground. Did everything everywhere. Moved frequently. I couldn’t imagine the effort to have everything so planned. It would have exhausted me. Power to them but as an example I wanted to unapologetically work out regularly and not squeeze it in as a luxury when time and plans permitted. I wanted my fitness to be part of the plan. I wanted to live. I didn’t want to be in a rush. I wanted time and space to immerse myself in local life, to meet people on the road, to be spontaneous and so much more.

We tried to involve the kids as much as possible in big and little planning decisions. We had a sketchbook on the dining room table for a long time to encourage ideas. Sometimes I’d ask the family a question and just start writing everything they said. It was like a book of raw ingredients. It made me realize the destinations were secondary. The world is amazing. Most important was just going away together. I was going to be happy anywhere. It took pressure off believing there was an ideal itinerary. We made plans on the go, applying learnings from the road. We would review plans with the kids to get input and feedback before locking in. A few times I made simple plans and presented them to the family!! Africa required more thorough planning relative to our looser approach to the rest of the world. We’d also involve the kids on the daily stuff to make sure they had voice. They loved exploring small towns, visiting coffee shops, vintage stores, and some independence to go off on their own. We found ways to make that easy.

Goals

Justin and Will had very specific long lists of goals. They were awesome. Mine were short and more abstract. For me the whole origin of this trip was about spending more family time together by seeing the world before the kids left home. That spirit trickled into my goals.

How did all this manifest to shape our journey?

We knew we wanted to live somewhere for a few months in the Fall. Justin would have his bike. I wanted us to have “early wins” to help us feel good and confident about traveling. I also thought we should start with our roots before seeing the world. All that led to Canada > Wales > London > Spain … and a bit of touring in Europe. Justin had friends that put Bellver on the map for us and rented us their duplex in the Pyrenees. Unbelievable. I couldn’t have picked a better place if I’d spent months doing research. I showed up in Bellver having read zero about the town or region. Barely looked at a map. Trusted I would like it. Figured I had the time while there to figure it out :) and … fell madly in love with it. We also visited some friends and family in Europe. Each visit was soooo special to me.

Beyond that initial arc, everything was just a big idea with no plans. The origin of the idea was discussions, map-gazing and some consideration for weather & seasons. To be honest, like all planning related matters we didn’t spend a lot of time on it. So it’s surprising how reality did end up tracking pretty closely to the idea!! The big idea beyond Spain was Africa > India > Japan > Cambodia > Aus > NZ > South Pacific.

Africa was the one place I’d always had in mind for this trip. I’d never been and knew nothing about it. While in Spain we made our Africa plans. My starting point was my own blank slate of knowledge of this massive continent. Not very helpful!!! So I asked friends about their experiences in Africa. Picked brains. Did online research. Used ChatGPT. By this point we knew some of our travel likes (minimum 3-4 night stays) and dislikes (big cities, long drives) which helped a ton. Within Africa we started in Morocco because of both proximity and ease. We progressively visited more challenging countries. I briefly worked with a travel agent for the South Africa and Lesotho leg but abandoned when it wasn’t adding much value. If anything they gave me confidence I was already on the right track. One big splurge was the guided trip in northern Kenya which I would do again in a heartbeat. The outfitter came recommended from my friend Sophie, whose family I admire for their adventurous ways. I gave up on finding an opportunity to volunteer in Africa. Then long after our plans were final I gave it another shot, found something, and I remember texting Justin “how about two weeks volunteering in Tanzania after Kenya?”. It seemed so absurd that I wanted him to digest the insanity alone. Bless his heart he texted back “yes”. I hadn’t told him it would start with an 8 hour bus ride from Naroibi to the border, then a few more hours in Land Rovers to get to the volunteer hub in a malarial epicenter.

I fell in love with India thirty years ago. I’ve been curious about the south for a long time. That was the spark for going to Kerala. I still can’t believe we traveled through Kerala and Japan after two months in Africa. That’s a Iong time to be on the road. I think our energy stayed high because they’re all so different. India took a bit of work to find great places to stay. I found a tiny travel agency (two guys) through a Facebook post I think. Their marketing had an off the beaten path vibe. They found us a few gems of places I would have never found. We were keen to experience Indian surf culture so instead of crossing the entire south we did a Kerala loop that ended in a surf town, Varkala. Such a great call for us.

Japan was mostly just an exercise of picking Airbnb’s once we decided to head to the southern islands. Justin was inspired by various YouTube videos and a desire to experience Japanese surf culture. We were going to skip Tokyo but ended up going for flight convenience. I’m SO glad we did. It was such a surprising delight to fall madly in love with Japan. I just did not see that coming. While in Kenya we nixed the idea of going to Cambodia after Japan. It just seemed like too much. Good call.

After Japan the plan was to settle down again. We wanted it to be easy. When you’re in places that are culturally closer to home and speak English it’s so easy to take care of life stuff, which you need to do on the road. We were drawn to Western Australia (WA) because of its beauty, peace and rugged coast. The east is home to all the iconic destinations that tourists visit. Arriving in WA ended up being unexpected culture shock after Africa and Asia. Didn’t see that coming. WA was the only place where Justin and I really connected into communities (biking and swimming) … speaking the same language builds faster bridges :) While in WA I took the kids on a side quest ;) to meetup with one of Will’s friends in Sydney for two weeks. Such a blast for not-city-folk.

From there we scratched the travel itch again with a NZ RV tour and stop in Fiji on the way home. Our time in NZ was too rushed. Our extralight approach to planning meant we’d taken on too much distance in too short a time. It was a good learning for us. Huge win was being in NZ in late Fall after all the tourists were gone. Fiji was unexpectedly wild. A surprise for the upside!!

And that is how a big idea became reality.

On the day of our final flight … holy smokes we did it!!!