When you’re getting ready to travel, especially if you’re planning to be gone a long time, it’s tough to focus on details like coming home. If you’re planning to travel around the world, perhaps staying on the road for months at a time, home can seem like a strange concept. But having a home base can make all the difference in the world to your abilities to travel.
In an interesting follow-up to the story of Laura Dekker earlier this fall, an Australian girl has embarked on her own attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world on her own.
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson left Sydney over the weekend with plans to be gone approximately eight months.
The big difference is that Watson did not face any governmental opposition. It’s easy to point at the age difference between the two girls (Dekker is thirteen) as the reasoning, but I’m still not sure that age should play that big a role. Both girls, after all, have already racked up significant hours sailing alone — but Watson actually hit another ship on a test run in September, according to an article on the BBC’s website.
There isn’t any kind of magical change between the ages of thirteen and sixteen that make one girl obviously more trustworthy on her own, any more than there’s a mystical change the day you turn eighteen. The more I think about these sorts of situations, the more I become convinced that they really do need to be considered on a case by case basis.
On most things, my husband and I are in perfect agreement. The big exception is travel. Aside from a few places and occasions, he’s perfectly happy to stay home. It doesn’t help that his current job pretty much requires him to stay in one place for the next several years.
Laura Dekker, a 13-year-old living in the Netherlands, has made the news — but not in the way she wanted to. She wants to sail around the world, by herself. The Dutch government, specifically the Dutch Council for Child Protection, doesn’t want her to.
There are more than a few resources when it comes to planning a trip around the world. Most of those resources, though, are geared towards individual travelers, or maybe couples. It’s not considered the norm to pack up the whole family and and start traveling. Russell and Carla Fisher did just that, however, taking their two daughters on a year-long trip around the world, trekking across Europe, Asia and Australia. When they got home, the Fishers wrote WorldTrek: A Family Odyssey
I’m pretty proud of my little sister. Beyond the standard big sister stuff, I think the fact that she figured out how to get herself to France and back at the age of sixteen is pretty cool.
Today, I have a guest post from Lauren Roberts. Over and over again, I’ve gotten questions about how kids enjoy or handle long-term travel. Lauren is a self-described ‘expat brat,’ and was kind enough to write about the results of her travel experiences.
Good schools want well-rounded all-stars. Your kids’ best bet? Pack your bags and cross an ocean. Ignore the tantrums for now.
Both of my parents have Skype on their computers. We tend to have to have a refresher if it’s been a while since I talked to them through the free service, whether we’re using the instant messenger service or the video chat tool. In general, though, my parents understand Skype. What surprises me is that I’m the only person they both use the service to communicate with.
I’m glad to announce that one of the wonderful women that I had the pleasure of interviewing for Working Your Way Around The World is smack dab in the middle of a book launch. Maya Frost’s book, The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education
