Hey, where are you guys going on your year off?
Three years ago I was granted a self-funded leave from August 2009 to August 2010. That left lots of time for dreaming....Six months ago Nelson was granted a year off, beginning August2009. Now we are planning....
I've organized three successful month long trips to Europe (France and Italy) from Western Canada using the Internet and planned a couple of spring breaks too, so the first thing I did when THE YEAR OFF begin to take shape was turn to the Internet. Blogs posted by families on the road and websites such as Bootsnall and Slow Travel gave me ideas about what we could do and where we could go. Most of all, reading the stories of others who where travelling long-term with children gave me confidence. If they can do it, so can we!
I've organized three successful month long trips to Europe (France and Italy) from Western Canada using the Internet and planned a couple of spring breaks too, so the first thing I did when THE YEAR OFF begin to take shape was turn to the Internet. Blogs posted by families on the road and websites such as Bootsnall and Slow Travel gave me ideas about what we could do and where we could go. Most of all, reading the stories of others who where travelling long-term with children gave me confidence. If they can do it, so can we!Of course, we
are always reading, so it was books and more books that helped us, with our personal connections, to begin to shape a plan. Nelson's grandparents came to Canada from Ukraine in the 1920's, so Lviv is on the list. I majored in Hispanic Languages at university, so Spain is on the list. John loves Playmobil toys, so the Playmobil world in Germany is on the list. Nelson and I both read Paul Theroux's books (old and new) about riding the train across China and Russia, so the Trans-Siberian is on the list. My grandfather was with the British Army in India, so India is on the list. My parents have travelled in Eastern Asia, and love it (they are intrepid travellers, and at 81 still choose adventure over convention. They are in Bali as I write this) so Eastern Asia is on the list. It's John's gra
de 7 year, and the Social Studies focus is Ancient Cultures (Egypt, Greece and Rome). North Africa is on the list! But it's not a route plan yet.
are always reading, so it was books and more books that helped us, with our personal connections, to begin to shape a plan. Nelson's grandparents came to Canada from Ukraine in the 1920's, so Lviv is on the list. I majored in Hispanic Languages at university, so Spain is on the list. John loves Playmobil toys, so the Playmobil world in Germany is on the list. Nelson and I both read Paul Theroux's books (old and new) about riding the train across China and Russia, so the Trans-Siberian is on the list. My grandfather was with the British Army in India, so India is on the list. My parents have travelled in Eastern Asia, and love it (they are intrepid travellers, and at 81 still choose adventure over convention. They are in Bali as I write this) so Eastern Asia is on the list. It's John's gra
de 7 year, and the Social Studies focus is Ancient Cultures (Egypt, Greece and Rome). North Africa is on the list! But it's not a route plan yet. We are trying to leave the options open and follow our interests and ideas once we get going. This is very hard for me, because I like to PLAN and organize. Impulse is not my middle name! What we know so far is that we are flying to Beijing on August 8th, and we leave from there on the train to Mongolia on August 15th. We'll spend three weeks travelling across Mongolia and Russia until we reach St. Petersburg in September. After that, we'll probably go to Ukraine, but...the route is open until we get to Spain where we have booked an apartment on the Murcia coast where we will spend December and January.
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