Last updated on December 19, 2022
It has been 6 months since we ended our trip and almost a year to the day when we left for our adventure. It took months for me to feel motivated to end this travel blog. Maybe because writing a conclusion makes the end real and I didn’t really want to think about our long-planned trip in the past tense, but here we are on the other side of our great family adventure.
Our goals for our trip were:
1. Gain a new perspective on life.
2. Learn a deeper appreciation for other cultures.
3. Find a stronger understanding of our place in the global community.
4. Create lifelong memories with our kids.
5. Help the kids develop a broader understanding of the world.
Did we accomplish these goals? Trey and I agree, yes. Our kids were exposed to many different cultures and the reality of the different lifestyles of people around the world from the tribes in Tanzania to the tribes in the Amazon, the farmers in the mountains of Ecuador who raise guinea pigs on the dirt floors of their homes to the grandeur of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains and the marine and wildlife abundance of the Galapogos. The ancient history of the Egyptians, the Sri Lankans, the religions of the world and how European religions impacted the Incas during the Spanish invasion of South America. Marin is learning about colonialism, imperialism and slavery in history this year, and so much of what she has learned we saw first hand in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Egypt, Ecuador, Columbia, Peru and the Dominican Republic.
In many of the “less developed” countries, family culture is very strong. The families often live together for their whole lives with the parents adding on a second floor or another room to their home when their children marry so they can move in upstairs. When those children marry and have children they build another floor upstairs and then they all move down a floor when the eldest pass away. “It takes a village” is actually more like “it takes a family” as the older care for the younger and the younger care for the oldest. We saw this in Egypt, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Ecuador and Peru. Construction is often unfinished until its definitely needed so they won’t be taxed on an unfinished floor.
The taking care of each other vibe is part of the greater good concept that permeated our time in Sri Lanka and in South America. The people were doing their best for their families AND their neighbors, helping harvest a neighbor’s crop because you know they will help you with yours. People want to work enough to take care of their families and this gives them satisfaction. The race to acquire wealth and power that we see in the USA is not as evident in many of these places. It is a simpler, calmer and less anxiety provoking life. We were in some of the poorest places on Earth, from mud huts in Tanzania and Ecuador to roadside farms in Sri Lanka and Egypt, and the overriding feeling was that life can be good and fulfilling no matter what your circumstances are. Smiles and laughter are the same all over the world.
The role of religion in its variety of forms around the world was also eye-opening. I took a class in high school called the History of Religion which was one of the most captivating classes I have ever taken. We learned about all the main religions and how they came to be and the impact on the world at that time (1989). On this trip, we saw the real life, more complex, version of this…from the many gods that the Egyptians believed in, to how Buddhism permeates life in Sri Lanka, to the importance of gods of the earth, moon, sun, and water in Ecuador. Despite being invaded by the Spanish and converted to Catholicism, in Ecuador and Peru, they seem to have an almost innate underlying second religion where the earth’s physical presence is worshiped and respected. For example, respect for Pachamama, Mother Earth, informed the strict environmental rules around the current preservation of the biodiversity in the Galápagos Islands.
Some tips for longer travel with kids:
- Be flexible. Some days they are feeling it and others they are not. We adjusted quickly to provide more down time upon entering a new country to allow them to recover from jet lag. A few days of pool or beach time and school work for an hour or two a day was ideal.
- Activities where you are moving and doing are best. For example, a visit to a family run chocolate farm in Columbia allowed them to hike through the farm to pick the cacao, process the cacao through all the steps of making chocolate and then to eat it is WAY better than a chocolate tour where you sit and listen at a table most of the time. Museum or short tour lectures worked for Marin, less for Sy and not at all for Griffin. We stopped trying to make him pay attention and would let him play with a car on the ground or sometimes play a game on our phone. We would pull him back in when we heard something we thought he would find interesting. Since we were mostly in warm climates, we tried to book our lodging with beach or pool access as much as possible. Playing in the pool or on the beach was a great way to end a day of activities and a fun way for them to burn off any extra energy.
- Travel on planes was a free for all with the iPads. We let them play games, read books and watch movies as much as they wanted. On the epically long overnight flights, we did turn them off at bedtime to ensure they were not complete zombies the next day.
- Small kids need to eat frequently. We take easy access to food for granted here at home. Sometimes we would be on the go and skip lunch and then be surprised when Griffin had a meltdown. We got better at this and stopped for fruit and snacks at the roadside stands as often as possible. My bag usually had some kind of food for him to keep him going until the next meal. Many a Haribo gummy was eaten on a tour or hike to keep the young legs (or middle-aged as was often the case) moving.
By June, we were excited to get back home to familiar things, friends and family. Getting back into the practicalities of life at home was on the surface pretty easy. The summer swim season started immediately and the kids went back for the last day of school to see all their friends. The beds were so comfortable and the AC, clean water and lack of bugs/vermin was refreshing. Very quickly our calendar went from wide open to more scheduled with playdates, soccer practice, swim team and camps. The kids love doing these things, but they also loved the 6 months of not doing these things. I am torn between over scheduling and not wanting to schedule any activities. I liked the Covid isolation period where nothing was happening. We ate dinner as a family every night and went on a ton of hikes all over PA and NJ. Our 6 month adventure was a continuation of this since it was just us five the majority of the time with a few visits with the Mayhews and my sister Vicki’s family. Back home, things pull us in different directions away from each other and everyone seems too easily to fall into a driven path going somewhere…somewhere undetermined. This is a work in progress and something we continue to think through. Where do we want our paths to go and why? I think the thing to remember is that no matter what your goals are, the journey to achieve them is often more fulfilling than the goal. It is important to take time to recognize this while it is happening, to savor the small moments, recognize the people that help you along the way and bring others up along with you.
We got home on a Sunday and the very next day we headed to New Jersey to get 3 new chicks to replace a few that were killed by raccoons or foxes while we were away. The following week, we also got a new puppy, Hannah. She was 4 months old and came from Georgia where she was found in a box on the side of the road with a few littermates. She was in foster care near here in Skippack with Rylie’s Rescue and is a perfect size and temperament for our family. Look them up if you are in the market for a new dog. They seem to always have a handful up for adoption.
Home school evaluation was completed in June, a few weeks after we returned home. I submitted the information they needed including our blog, the kid’s reading lists, lists of didactic lectures, and other learning opportunities in subjects like history, science, math, reading, art, PE, and music. We had a < 1 hour online meeting with our evaluator from the state of Pennsylvania who was very nice and said we exceeded the requirements for the homeschooling period. She spoke with the kids about memorable parts of the trip and scrolled through our blog with us. After that, we just had to notify the school that we were returning in the fall and notify the state that we were not continuing to home school.
We visited 8 countries, took 35 flights, rode on buses, tuk-tuks, horses, mules, vans, tiny cars, canoes, sailboats, paddle boards, surf boards, motor boats, camels, zipline, ski lifts, gondolas, an oxen-drawn cart, open-air safari jeep, guagua, and a propane tank-fueled car. We took over over 50 COVID tests, (all negative!) any one of which would have derailed our trip. This added some anxiety to our travels. The COVID country restrictions impacted our ability to get into Asia, Australia and New Zealand, all of which were on our original plan. Instead, we added in Egypt and Sri Lanka and were able to stay in many amazing places last minute that might normally have been booked already. We tried so many new foods and saw so many animals. We made many new friends along the way and met people of all colors, backgrounds and religions. This was a transformative experience for us! The world is a better place when you can look beyond your differences and learn from each other. If you are considering doing something like this in the future, don’t hesitate to ask us questions about our experience.
Thank you for sharing our adventure with us! While we have no current plans to do another long trip like this, we do plan to keep traveling as a family and exploring different parts of our amazing world.
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