The Wonder Year: A Family Travel Book to Inspire Your Next Adventure

Wondering what this family travel book called “Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling” is? You’re in the right place!

We interviewed the authors and had a great conversation that you can read about here or listen to on the podcast.

Have you ever dreamed of taking an extended break from routine life to travel the world with your family? If so, you’re not alone. More and more families today are taking a “Wonder Year” to globe-trot and worldschool their kids.

But how do you turn this dream into reality? How do you plan and budget for long-term family travel? What about your kids’ education? Is it safe? What happens when you return home?

These questions and more are answered in the new family travel book “Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling” written by three women who have walked the walk.

Listen on iTunes and Spotify, or watch on YouTube. The Global Classroom Podcast Season 1, episode [#14]! So if you’re considering full time family travel and worldschooling your kids, read on to learn more about this family travel book!

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Introduction: Meet the Authors Who Took a Wonder Year

The three voices behind The Wonder Year guide took extended trips around the world with their families and decided to write a family travel book to help others do the same.

Julie Frieder traveled for 13 months around the U.S. with her husband and son in a small RV. Annika Paradise spent a year traveling internationally with her husband and three kids. Angela Heaston embarked on a two-year journey with her family, crossing the U.S. in an RV.

When Annika returned from her trip and couldn’t find all the information she needed in one place, she decided:

“Somebody should write a book about this.”

She connected with Angela and Julie and together they collaborated to create The Wonder Year family travel book guide. It covers everything families need to consider when planning long-term travel, from budgeting advice to educational approaches.

Julia Silver is the host of the popular Qualified Tutor podcast and founder of the Love Tutoring Community.

With over 20 years of experience in school leadership and education, Julia has dedicated her career to helping students and tutors reach their greatest potential.

I was a public school teacher. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, and I worked in student travel.

Annika Paradise

After becoming disillusioned by the limitations of enacting change from within traditional school walls, Julia viewed online tutoring as a more agile way to create student success.

This sparked her mission to bring leadership and raise standards across the global tutoring community.

Julia started by creating the Qualified Tutor podcast focused on tutor training and development. This evolved into the Love Tutoring Community, an international collective of over 2,000 passionate tutoring professionals.

Julia has also organized global online festivals and delivers speeches to spread her message of supporting tutors to improve educational outcomes.

What’s Inside The Wonder Year Family Travel Book

The Wonder Year guide aims to be a comprehensive resource for families thinking about full-time travel. It includes:

🔹 Budgeting and trip planning guidance
🔹 Educational ideas and worldschooling approaches
🔹 Health and safety considerations
🔹 Packing tips and checklists
🔹 Creating an itinerary
🔹 Work opportunities for families on the road
🔹 Managing the transition back home after travel

Interspersed throughout the guide are “Notes from the Road” – real-life examples and advice from the authors’ own travels. These personal stories really bring the content to life.

For instance, Julie recounts an incident when their family rerouted their Alaska trip to spot wolves in Yellowstone after their son read about the wolf reintroduction effort there.

“The Wonder Year is a comprehensive guide for families considering taking an extended break from routine life to travel the world. It covers all aspects of planning, from initial inspiration, to budgeting logistics, to managing health and safety on the road…”

David Cole

Meanwhile, Angela shares how her structured lesson plan for worldschooling her kids fell apart after a few weeks. She realized experiential, spontaneous learning as a family unit worked better for them while on the road.

In addition to travel tips, the family travel book also includes important conversations around inclusivity, sustainability and responsible travel – key considerations for worldschooling families.

Real-Life Examples of Worldschooling

One of the most useful sections of the family travel book details different worldschooling approaches the authors used.

For instance, Julie integrated math, science, reading and writing into their travels in an organic way:

“We took our cues from where we were. We studied climate change and its effect on glaciers when we were in Alaska, but we tried to use two themes to hold it together – water and sustainability.”

Their son Johnny kept a log of miles traveled, calculated gas mileage, and wrote letters and postcards throughout their journey. He later presented a project on river conservation at a conference.

“We read a ton and with three kids, you know, either my husband or I could switch off doing one on one reading with our kids and, I think there’s no better way to do language arts than one on one reading with a parent.”

Annika Paradise

Annika also used the world as their classroom:

In Greece, the family studied ancient history and wrote their own myths. In New Zealand, they checked out library books and did more traditional book reports and research projects during their stay.

Key Travel Challenges and Surprises

Despite all the magic and learning, extended travel also poses challenges for families:

🔹 Annika’s older daughter missed interacting with same-aged peers. They tried setting up occasional Zoom calls with friends back home.
🔹 Angela admits they made mistakes transitioning back into everyday life after 2 years on the road. “It was bumpy for all four of us,” she says about re-assimilating.
🔹 Julie grieved the freedom and “traveler mindset” when they first returned. She wishes she had been more prepared for reentry challenges.

However, all three women said they had no regrets taking their Wonder Year. Their kids gained independence, cultural awareness, adaptability and other lifelong skills.

Tips for Budget-Friendly, Responsible Family Travel

The authors suggest practical tips for keeping costs down:

“People think you need to buy it all at home and take it with you. And it’s just almost so much easier to find things on the ground.” —Angela

They recommend borrowing, renting, buying used goods or leaving unneeded items behind to share. Work-exchange programs like WWOOF and volunteer sites like WorkAway can also help cut costs.

To travel responsibly, they suggest purchasing carbon offsets, minimizing waste, and putting money into local economies when possible.

Annika shares an example from their trekking guide in Nepal:

“It was important for us that that happened…I think for us in Nepal and going up to some very high altitudes, it was important for us to put our money in the local economy.”

The Everlasting Impact of a Wonder Year

While the logistics are important, the life lessons and global perspectives gained during extended travel last forever.

As Annika says:

“If they learn nothing else, they never learned algebra, and they knew that in their heart, that’s all that was needed for me.”

Angela’s family continues prioritizing open-mindedness, curiosity and connection years after their Wonder Year adventure.

Clearly, the personal growth and family bonding that happen during a Wonder Year leave the deepest impressions.

Final Thoughts

The Wonder Year guide beautifully blends practical advice with inspiring stories from real-worldschooling families.

Authors Julie, Angela and Annika show first-hand how taking a travel sabbatical can enrich kids’ learning and bring families closer together.

Their family travel book is a must-read if you’re considering long-term family travel and worldschooling your children.

So what’s stopping you from planning your own Wonder Year? Grab this family travel book and look to how you too can to turn your family travel dreams into reality!

Key Takeaways

• A “wonder year” of family travel creates invaluable shared memories and life lessons for kids. It can transform your perspectives.
• With planning, these trips can work for nearly any budget. Many families earn income remotely while traveling.
• Worldschooling curriculums emerge organically from your adventures. Both structured and unstructured approaches can work well.
• Give kids age-appropriate independence and responsibilities during travels. It builds confidence.
• The return home can prove challenging after extended trips abroad. Ease back into “regular” life gradually.

Action Steps

• Research remote work and budget travel options to make your own wonder year feasible
• Read The Wonder Year family travel book for comprehensive tips on planning your family travel sabbatical
• Connect with worldschooling communities to get educational advice and inspiration
• Prepare for re-entry by keeping home ties active and considering temporary housing

Timestamps

2:34 – The Wonder Year guide covers all aspects of planning and executing long-term family travel

5:44 – The hosts introduce themselves and their professional backgrounds

7:00 – Lightning round of fun personal preferences

10:23 – Overview of The Wonder Year book and focus on family travel experiences

11:11 – How the authors met and decided to collaborate on the book

14:04 – Julie shares amusing travel stories from their wonder year

18:33 – Angela describes impactful cultural connections made while traveling

23:26 – Julie explains their self-directed worldschooling approach integrated with nature and service

25:44 – Johnny’s culminating 4th grade project: presenting at a River Rally conference

28:21 – Annika incorporated some structure amid mostly organic learning

31:31 – Angela advocates worldschooling confidence for non-teacher parents

32:40 – How Angela’s initial educational plan fell apart but the fluid family approach worked well

37:07 – Angela loved the consistent family time traveling in an RV afforded

39:12 – Julie says travel fostered gratitude for simple pleasures

41:38 – Family highlights from a 24-hour Chinese train ride

43:12 – Angela offers tips for packing light and smart for frequent international travel

45:05 – Annika suggests supporting local jobs like porters when able

49:12 – Julie emphasizes kid involvement and responsibility in all travel planning

50:03 – Stargazing at an International Dark Sky Park is highly recommended

52:04 – Annika details what makes Greece such a fruitful educational destination

53:32 – China trip brought pride in daughter’s cultural heritage

56:01 – Patagonia’s outer landscapes feel like “home” to Angela

57:01 – Japan appealed to all 4 family members for its cultural depth

58:09 – Julie fondly recalls harvesting olives at an Italian orchard

59:28 – Annika says oldest child missing same-age friend connections was their toughest challenge

1:00:21 – Angela says their bumpy reentry after 2 years abroad was their biggest struggle

1:02:31 – It took Julie about a year to process grief over concluding their wonder year

1:03:21 – Julie says ending travel was bittersweet but community welcomed them home

1:05:13 – All agree there are no regrets around their family travel sabbaticals

1:06:26 – Annika contends the major misconception is that only wealthy families can worldschool

1:07:39 – Julie thought their year would unfold smoothly; pivots and interruptions were meaningful

1:09:10 – Traveling aligned deeply with Angela’s core values and priorities

1:14:18 – Fun trivia round testing the hosts’ geography knowledge

1:15:06 – Daughter’s passion for marine biology ignited while “worldschooling”

1:15:42 – Annika says the trip imprinted that people everywhere are good, kind and not “weird”

1:18:14 – Julie strongly encourages all families to prioritize time for mindful group travel

1:19:14 – Angela says the wonder year instilled the importance of openness and curiosity

Podcast Transcript

[00:00:00] Intro theme music.

[00:00:52] Brodi Cole: Hello and welcome to the Our Offbeat Life podcast. This is no ordinary travel show. Here, we delve into the extraordinary lives of intrepid families who’ve taken the leap into full time travel. Each week, we bring you captivating stories from globe trotting families, sharing their triumphs, their challenges, and their incredible adventures, from practical advice on homeschooling on the road, to inspiring tales of personal growth and transformation, we cover it all.

[00:01:24] Brodi Cole: Our mission is to help you, to show you that an offbeat life full of full time travel is not just a dream, but a feasible, enriching, and exciting reality. And, more importantly, we’re here to provide you with the tools, resources, and motivation to take that leap into the unknown. So buckle up, because we’re about to embark on an exciting journey.

[00:01:47] Brodi Cole: Let’s explore the world together, one episode at a time. Again, welcome to the Our Offbeat Life podcast. Here’s your host, David Cole. Let’s get started.

[00:01:59] David: Today is a real treat, as I had the pleasure to read a new family travel guide, and today I will talk to its authors. The Wonder Year is a comprehensive guide for families considering taking an extended break from routine life to travel the world. It covers all aspects of planning, from initial inspiration, to budgeting logistics, to managing health and safety on the road, real life examples from the authors, their own adventures while traveling with their children.

[00:02:34] David: It really helps bring the content to life.

[00:02:37] David: Whether you’re still dreaming about or or ready to take the leap, this book will actually give you a chance, to build up that courage and the tools to create your own family’s wonder year. So, a big hello to all the travelers and future travelers out there listening today.

[00:02:56] David: I’m joined by, uh, Julie Frieder. Angela Heaton and Annika Paradise, the three voices behind this new Wonder Year travel guide. Hello, ladies. Great to have you on the podcast today.

[00:03:12] Angela Heisten: Thanks for for having us.

[00:03:13] Julie Frieder: Thank you.

[00:03:14] Annika Paradise: Thank

[00:03:15] David: you Having had the opportunity to read the book prior to the interview, I am very gratefull that I had a chance to take a look at this. I feel like I already know you guys a little bit here. Um, now it is up to our listeners to get to know who you are. And I wanted to say that by reading the book, you will grow to feel the same, that you know these three ladies.

[00:03:39] David: I think this travel guide really helps to showcase who you are, your lifestyles, and show people that it’s doable. So for those who haven’t looked at the book as of yet, can you give us a little one minute or less speech about who you are?

[00:03:57] David: we can kind of start with Angela, then Julie, then Annika.

[00:04:00] Angela Heisten: I am Angela Heaston. I’m one of the three co authors, and, I now live in Boulder, Colorado, but before my own wonder year, I lived in the Bay Area for almost 20 years where my kids were born and raised. I worked in healthcare and biotechnology, and we made a decision to launch and. travel full time, we planned a year and it ended up being two.

[00:04:23] Angela Heisten: And at the end of that journey, we were deciding where to land. We landed in Colorado, I met Annika and Julie, and the collaboration started to write this book.

[00:04:34] David: That’s awesome. All right, so Julie.

[00:04:38] Julie Frieder: Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much for having us on the podcast. Looking forward to this conversation. I’m Julie Frieder. I am originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. I’ve spent, 4 years living overseas in different locations. And then a 5th year was our wonder year. My background and training is environmental science and public policy, and I’ve had a chance to work in a variety of fields and sort of, have realized lately that my career path was rather circuitous, but that’s because I think I was following my bliss even before I took our wonder year. Where I really kind of cemented around that idea of follow what you love and that makes you work really hard and brings lots of meaning. So I’ve kind of done that professionally and brought me to this book and, appreciate kind of that, the, the privilege of being able to do that and, and this, this work with the book and with Angela and Annika is certainly in that same vein of following something I’m very passionate about.

[00:05:40] David: Very cool. All right, Annika.

[00:05:44] Annika Paradise: Yeah. So, thanks so much again for having us. And,my name’s Annika, and I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. I was a public school teacher. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, and I worked in student travel. So, it was, kind of, all the stars aligned for me to want to take my kids on, on a wonder year.

[00:06:11] Annika Paradise: I also traveled a lot as a, as a young child with my family and I think I’ve, through writing this book, I’ve really realized how much, it makes a family that time together on the road. And we’ll talk more about that later.

[00:06:30] David: Definitely. Definitely. All right. Well, you all have such unique backgrounds, different stories and what brought you to this. It really ties the book together. Seeing so many different ways of travel and lifestyles that build together. before we really get into the book though, I’d like to start things off with a little bit of fun.

[00:06:49] David: Let’s have a little lightning round. So you can all answer individually in your own taste, but coffee or tea. Hmm,

[00:07:00] Annika Paradise: I’m coffee.

[00:07:02] David: okay.

[00:07:04] Julie Frieder: Coffee,

[00:07:05] David: coffee.

[00:07:06] Angela Heisten: And I’m Neither.

[00:07:07] David: What’s your preferred beverage?

[00:07:12] Angela Heisten: Um, water and flavored water, honestly. And a glass of wine now and then.

[00:07:17] David: I do love flavored water from time to time. It’s hard to find it down here, down in South America. Alright, cat or dog?

[00:07:26] Angela Heisten: Dog.

[00:07:27] Julie Frieder: definitely dog.

[00:07:29] David: Okay.

[00:07:30] Annika Paradise: Definitely dog.

[00:07:32] David: All right. So we got dogs. All right. Allright. Pool or beach.

[00:07:38] Annika Paradise: I’m beach.

[00:07:40] Julie Frieder: Beach. Beach.

[00:07:42] David: AlrighAlright, now this time let’s say. We are going to imagine or a would you rather. So would you rather be able to speak every language in the world or be able to teleport anywhere at any time, Julie,

[00:08:00] Julie Frieder: Uh, speak every language in the world.

[00:08:03] David: Annika.

[00:08:05] Annika Paradise: I think teleport. I, I am a super big history nerd, so I would love to just insert myself places.

[00:08:14] David: Nice. All right, Angela.

[00:08:17] Angela Heisten: Teleport, for sure. Whenever I’ve been asked what magical power I’d want to have, it’s always been that one, because you get to the good part and skip all the mess of the travel in between.

[00:08:28] David: Very cool. Very cool. All right. And a little bit of a weird one, but, imagine getting off the plane at your next destination and you arrive into the zombie apocalypse.

[00:08:40] Annika Paradise: Hello.

[00:08:41] David: You’re able to get to your bag. What’s the first thing you would grab and why? Julie, you want to start this one?

[00:08:48] Julie Frieder: my gosh, I have no idea. I mean, I’m always grabbing for my water bottle, but that’s not gonna get me very far.

[00:09:02] David: Well, we do need to stay hydrated.

[00:09:05] Julie Frieder: My phone. You’re phone, all right.

[00:09:10] Julie Frieder: Annika.

[00:09:13] Annika Paradise: Well, my first thought was duct tape. And I don’t know why, I don’t know what I’d do with duct tape in a zombie apocalypse, but it usually seems to solve most things. But hopefully I’ve packed a hazmat suit. That’s what I would grab.

[00:09:26] David: duct tape is hard to bite through, so you might actually be okay. Covering yourself in duct tape.

[00:09:33] Annika Paradise: I always travel with duct tape.

[00:09:35] David: Nice. All right, All right, Angela.

[00:09:40] Angela Heisten: my camera, because my camera is the first thing that I grab all the time to document everything, and I would imagine some pretty interesting things are going to happen if it’s the zombie apocalypse.

[00:09:51] Julie Frieder: And if you would have asked me what would Angela have grabbed, I could have told you it was a camera

[00:09:59] Annika Paradise: Ahh, so it must always be in your hand that camera, ready to go, Yup.

[00:10:05] David: That’s cool, that’s cool. Alright, so now let’s, let’s kind of get into the book here that you all wrote together. Wonder Year, a guide to long term family travel and world schooling. I like to say that. It’s a really cool sound for the book. I really enjoyed it.

[00:10:23] David: it provided a good guide for families considering taking a wonder year, extended period of travel for world schooling their children. Some people call it a gap year. I like the term wonder year better though. It really encompasses it because it’s so much more. everything from budgeting, planning, closing up your life at home, educational approaches, health considerations, managing transition back home after traveling.

[00:10:48] David: It’s all mentioned in the book. it was probably kind of a feat to put together. but. In, in reading it, there really is a sense of who you are, as I mentioned earlier, and what you went through in the way the book is laid out. by far, my favorite parts of the book are the, the notes from the road, those sections that each of you included throughout the book.

[00:11:11] David: but then you also did a great job of mixing in real talk, like conversations on inclusivity, sustainability and responsible travel.

[00:11:19] David: Also, there’s wonderful sections, tools that you provide, such as jobs people take on the road, where you mention the different types of jobs of world schooling families that you met that they were doing from the road, to the real life world schooling plans that each of you detailed in the book, which happened to be my favorite part, those world schooling plans. upload. So, in writing the book. First off, how did, how did you all meet and decide to collaborate and what inspired you to write this book together, sharing your family’s experiences?

[00:11:54] Annika Paradise: Yeah, I’ll take this one. So, I left in 2017 and when I was getting ready to go, I, I called on the people that whom I knew to help me kind of solve all those questions that were rattling around. And I knew Julie because our kids were in preschool together and we were in the same book club.

[00:12:18] Annika Paradise: And she, she’ll tell you more about her trip, but she did a different kind of trip than I was doing. But, She had a lot of the answers to my questions and then, a friend of mine from high school knew Angela and when I told this friend that we were going to do this wild and crazy thing, she said, I know somebody else who did that.

[00:12:41] Annika Paradise: And so I connected with Angela over that and then she became part of our book club. And, none of the answers that I needed were in one place. It was all in disparate pieces across the internet. And so you could spend a whole lot of time trying to find all these things out. But, it was really, I realized before we left that somebody should write a book about this.

[00:13:06] Annika Paradise: There’s so many people doing it. And I was, I was surprised nobody had. And what they gave me, it was also, it was the details and the logistics, but it was also kind of that pat on the back, saying, you’re not irresponsible for wanting to do this. Other, I’ve done it, other people have done it. So it was that vote of confidence that was so important.

[00:13:29] Annika Paradise: And so, when I returned, I said, no one’s written this book yet. And then what started to keep me up at night was, maybe I should write that book. But that seemed pretty lonely, so then I reached back out to Julie and Angela and said, What do you think about this? And they were all in. And so we also tried to write it with both answering those questions that we all had, and also trying to be that supportive friend tone to help other people who might be considering this.

[00:14:04] David: That’s probably why I got this feeling that I knew you guys while I was reading through this book. It does have that tone to it. It’s not just this boring guide that you can follow. It does have a lot of really good sections detailed out and stuff like that, but it’s, it also has stories and yeah, you really have that sense of community in the book, which is really cool.

[00:14:26] David: And I think that comes because it’s a. That’s a collaboration with you three, So, let’s talk a little bit about some of those experiences, those travel experiences that you’ve all had. Julie, I know in the book that, you did a lot of backpacking, everything from backpacking to RV life. There’s tons of stories in the book.

[00:14:43] David: Can you tell us any, funny or awkward stories about your adventures that may or may not have made it into the book?

[00:14:50] Julie Frieder: It’s so fun to think about it because there literally were so many pivots. I mean, things that I would never have planned like compound fractures of the elbow, you know, our dog got really sick, like crazy things happened. and one yeah so one of the things I don’t talk about in the book, it’s it’s significant on many levels because it’s kind of like that. Love of home and love of being away from home dynamic. We were in Boise, Idaho. We were going to have a meeting with the director of a river protection organization and the nonprofit their office. They have this big TV screen. Playing live television, and we’re kind of glancing up there and they’re broadcasting this. Epic flooding happening in Boulder, Colorado. And like they’re flashing maps and I knew exactly where they were talking about and they talked about this being a 500 year flood and we decided as a family, we had a meeting and we said, you know, we’re supposed to be doing this really cool trip up through the badlands and then up a bike trip in New England and it’s fall and all this stuff.

[00:16:09] Julie Frieder: And we all three said, we need to go home. We have to go check on our friends and our family and our house. And so we rerouted and before we did, Johnny, who was nine at the time said, but I have an idea. I think we should go back through Yellowstone. We had already spent three weeks in Yellowstone and had a fabulous time, but we didn’t see wolves.

[00:16:33] Julie Frieder: And he said, I want to see wolves. He’d read about the reintroduction. So we took a little 500 mile detour or something like that. Went through Yellowstone and it was like right out of wild kingdom. There was the bison carcass with a mama grizzly on top and and the cubs circling on around. And five wolves circling this scene.

[00:16:57] Julie Frieder: And we were mesmerized and we watched for like. I don’t know how long hours and then this hilarious thing. We had our 85 pound dog with us and this new group of tourists showed up to the same spot because they also got word that this scene was happening and they’re all taking pictures of our dog.

[00:17:14] Julie Frieder: We’re like, you guys, do you know what’s happening over there? There’s this wild kingdom scene, but. Our dog was very handsome and we joke about it to this day, like how photogenic Max was. But it was one of those things you just never know what’s around the next corner. And so we had so many pivots, but that’s one that’s comes to mind

[00:17:31] Julie Frieder: where

[00:17:32] David: That is so cool. Yeah. And that’s cool to hear because we were traveling in South Dakota, back when they started reintroducing a lot of the wolves and we actually went to Wolf Creek Lodge. where they actually had some of the wolves that they were trying to, you know, they were raising, rearing and trying to release them every so often.

[00:17:49] David: We got to see some of them and meet some of the wolves before they sent them back out to the wild, but I’ve never actually had a chance to go and. Like see them like driving along the side of the road before that would be amazing. So yeah. So now I need to make my way back out that way.

[00:18:07] Julie Frieder: Where I’m actually going to Yellowstone this winter just cause it’s such magical place. But never been there in the snow. So that’s going to be a different adventure.

[00:18:23] David: That will be a different adventure. For sure. Well, um, Angela, we haven’t heard from you for a little bit here. what’s the most memorable human connection or cultural experience that you’ve had during your travels?

[00:18:33] Angela Heisten: Now, one of the things we talk about when, you know, everybody tries to define world schooling, and in our book, we do the same. We say using the world as a classroom, but one of the distinctions we’ve also tried to layer in is exactly what you’re asking about, where we say it’s so compelling to learn From people, not about people.

[00:18:53] Angela Heisten: And so the things that stand out to me, it’s, it’s hard to pick one, but we really did try to incorporate that across our years where we would go to a location and really try to connect with people. So a theme in our travels was history. I have two sons. They were both very into history at the time we were traveling.

[00:19:12] Angela Heisten: They were nine and 12 when we started. So we did a lot of historical monuments and museums and. As often as possible, connected with people who had lived through the history we were studying. So we met with a woman named Ruth, who had lived through apartheid, who had been relocated, whose family had been split up and pulled back together and learn directly from her.

[00:19:38] Angela Heisten: We met with. A man in Vietnam who had lived through the war had been a prisoner of war who guided us through some of his experiences there as we walked the sites. So those are people who were designated guides, but it also just happened organically with people we met. So we just tried to be really, really curious and ask people about where they lived and who they are and what it’s like in their world, so that we could try to understand it better as we were visiting and spending time and trying to immerse ourselves there.

[00:20:13] David: Yeah, it’s very interesting. The connections you make, whether they’re just organic or through, like you said, those guides and things like that as well, really neat and, Annika, you had your travels with the Peace Corps before and then continuing on, I’m sure that’s been ingrained in you, so was anything during your wonder year like this huge cultural experience for you as well?

[00:20:38] Annika Paradise: Well, you know, those human connections, I think for for our trip, there’s Parts of our own identities that, um, kind of where that. connecting point for us. So bringing my family back to my Peace Corps site and meeting my coworkers was a huge part of the the trip. And I think, you know, my, my kids got to see that I was more than their mom, that I actually lived overseas and I can speak Thai and a bit of Lao and Spanish and that was, that was really cool for them to see me as a three dimensional person and I think it helped me become a better mom to kind of be reminded that I did have a life before being a mom, that was separate from, from them and the other You’re welcome.

[00:21:39] Annika Paradise: Big piece for us was, my, um, middle child is, is, was born in China and spent her first three years in an orphanage in Southern China. And to be able to go back there was pretty life changing. And it was really important to us that that happened. We not only got to visit the orphanage and meet her caregivers.

[00:22:05] Annika Paradise: but we also got to, travel around China and, you know, you hear so much negative, talk about China in the news, but she now has this other kind of pride in China and being Chinese.

[00:22:25] David: That’s really, that’s really wonderful for her to have. and to go through that whole experience, I mean, that’s got to be a heck of a, story in its, in itself, doing the, going back through that whole process after having already, you know, having heard their documentation and having all the documentation in order to be able to do that kind of a trip,

[00:22:42] Annika Paradise: Yeah, we had to, we had to apply for a special permit from the Chinese government even to go into the orphanage, and we were only allowed like four hours. And then we had to sign a book. but it was really life changing.

[00:22:58] David: well, it would be for sure. That’s really cool. I’ve only, I’ve only had. Three days in China because we had a layover. and, but it was an amazing experience. It’s not exactly what you hear in the news. Like you said, it’s, it’s a totally different experience. They are very rich culture.

[00:23:15] Annika Paradise: Yeah,

[00:23:16] David: Definitely cool. All right, now kind of changing gears into education, and, staying with that volunteering, but, you guys did a lot with your trip.

[00:23:26] David: So one of the things I found outstanding in the book was that there was no limits to educational opportunities. Each of you handled world schooling in your own ways, but you also found opportunities for volunteering and giving back while traveling. Julie, can you tell us a little bit about your approach to education on your Wonder Year?

[00:23:50] Julie Frieder: Yeah. Thank you. Really. One of my favorite things to talk about when reflecting on. On our wonder year and on, the, yeah, just the experience because education was. Integral to the, to every aspect of our traveling. So I would say we were pretty open in our overall approach. We did have some ideas around math, like some things that, Johnny needed to, to, to master his times tables while he was missing his 4th grade.

[00:24:20] Julie Frieder: But like you said earlier, you know, math was predominantly an applied fashion. He kept a log of our miles. He. Yeah. You know, figured out fuel economy and did some conversion between kilometers and miles. And we can kind of, you can keep. Peeling back the layers and, you know, go deeper into any subject, but, for writing and reading, we, we again, sort of took a natural cue from wherever we were.

[00:24:46] Julie Frieder: We, we all kept journals. we, we wrote, letters and postcards and letters to the editor. we read books about where we were and developed a really local reading list. And so it was very much organic in that way. In terms of the experience, we. We kind of opened up the opportunity when we were in Alaska, we studied all about tribal nations and Alaska natives.

[00:25:11] Julie Frieder: And we, we met with a Chickaloon elder. So it became very personal. We studied subsistence fishing and learned about all the different 5 types of salmon. While we were fishing with a subsistence fisher out of Haines, Alaska, we really just took those cues from where we were. So we studied climate change and its effect on glaciers when we were in Seward, Alaska, but we tried to use two themes to hold it together.

[00:25:40] Julie Frieder: So I have sustainability as a background and my husband is a hydrogeologist. So we really looked for water and sustainability as kind of this cohesive element throughout and taking that 1 step farther. We affiliated with a nonprofit organization for the whole year. So we were effectively brand ambassadors for a nonprofit river protection organization and it, it was really a wonderful way to learn.

[00:26:08] Julie Frieder: We were able to meet. across the country with local river protection groups and, um, learn about their advocacy work, learn about the science, learn about the natural history and, being family ambassadors for this river protection group. Also offered a nice culmination project for Johnny by the end of the trip.

[00:26:32] Julie Frieder: He had a lot of new learning and he applied to be a presenter in a poster session at a conference. So we went to the River Rally National Conference and, he was able to kind of summarize his work and presented in the exhibit hall and talked to talk to attendees and tell them about the state of river protection across the country.

[00:26:55] Julie Frieder: And of course, his. His, experience traveling and being able to, to learn through this community service and, taking this very experiential approach to his fourth grade. So, it was a really nice way for us to be able to pull in our passion, our professional expertise, and then sort of the experiential arm of, of our, of our education on the road.

[00:27:20] David: I love it. Yeah, bring us together. your experience and you’re able to put that put together with the experts that are out there and find your child’s interest all in one and give him something to build towards. That’s really cool. That’s really cool. a a lot, a lot of our listeners out there are world schoolers, are curious about world schooling, and this whole educational approach, of unschooling and road schooling and all these terms that you hear that go along with it.

[00:27:47] David: and, uh, let’s see here. I’m just curious, Annika, do you have anything that you would wanna add onto that world schooling journey and types of things that you guys did?

[00:27:57] Annika Paradise: You know, we, were similar to Julie in a lot of ways, but, as I was a classroom teacher before we left, I was thinking as a classroom teacher when I first started and then I could kind of pull back and morph it around. we did the same thing. We read a ton and with three kids, you know, either my husband or I could switch off doing one on one reading

[00:28:21] Annika Paradise: with our kids and, you know, I think there’s no better way to do language arts than one on one reading with a parent. We did a lot of journaling. So our oldest was doing algebra and that is really my upper reach with math. So we had to be very intentional about actually, you know, with a workbook doing algebra.

[00:28:42] Annika Paradise: But we also supplemented before we came home with a tutor before she started back to school. And I think that can sometimes, relieve some of the pressure for parents when they’re worried about being able to teach those, those subjects that maybe aren’t as, accessible to them, with our memories.

[00:29:02] Annika Paradise: we also, You know, from hindsight, we did a lot of like physical education. We did a lot of trekking. We did open ocean swimming. We did surfing, all kinds of different things. We walked on glaciers. And so I think that there was a lot of of that. kind of education that I think gives confidence to young people in their physical abilities.

[00:29:31] Annika Paradise: and I want to also go back to the idea of being a classroom teacher, because when we were in New Zealand, we hunkered down in an Airbnb for two months, and we had access to an English speaking library. we had library cards, and so we really, used that time to kind of whiz through a lot of what I was envisioning.

[00:29:54] Annika Paradise: For the year and We would do like weekly spelling lists and I thought, Oh my gosh, they’re, they’re not going to like this. They loved it. They wanted some structure around their learning. And I think I only had the tolerance to do that for about two months. And then we kind of like no more school. But it was nice to have a time with some structure there.

[00:30:20] David: That is cool. Okay. Yeah, I was going to say, because as a classroom teacher, that had to be maybe hard is what was thinking that was coming to my brain for you to structure your mind around going this different route, especially with the physical incorporating of these physical stuff and nature and everything else into it. So,

[00:30:38] Annika Paradise: Yeah,

[00:30:39] David: so that,

[00:30:40] Annika Paradise: that definitely, that definitely scratched the itch. And then we could, they did book reports and all like, you know, research projects and all of that with the library, which was great, but it was only 2 months.

[00:30:53] David: Well neat. That’s but that’s great. You can encounter all kinds of things along your trip to educate and supplement education.

[00:31:06] David: Depending on your areas of expertise. Mine’s not

[00:31:06] David: math, I let my wife handle that or online programs that we find.

[00:31:07] David: That’s not my area of expertise. I can do math just fine if I’m building something and I can research with the Internet and do that.

[00:31:14] David: No problem. I can build, but it’s, it’s applied for me. Cause I’m that kinesthetic type learner, you know, and so I have to pay attention to my child in my case, I think that a lot of parents, if they learn their child’s learning style, this type of lifestyle, even on the road, you can find a way to help your kid learn.

[00:31:31] Annika Paradise:

[00:31:31] Angela Heisten: Hey, David, can I might add one thing in the education thing if you don’t mind?

[00:31:35] David: I’d love it.

[00:31:37] Angela Heisten: I am always filled with admiration listening to my co authors because Julie’s program is so cohesive and Ani’s approach so leaned into her expertise as a teacher, but I feel like sometimes I represent the masses on this because I was not a teacher.

[00:31:53] Angela Heisten: My kids had been going to public school and I was relying on those teachers and I was starting from Ground zero on planning world schooling. And so I just want to give a vote of confidence to the many people that I see post online about this, because it seems to be one of those major hurdles for people to think, like, can I do this?

[00:32:11] Angela Heisten: It’s such a big responsibility to educate my kids to pull them from school. If you haven’t already been homeschooling. So just very briefly, I did a lot of research around that created a plan. The plan fell apart and it ended up being a beautiful thing anyway. And my kids were out of school for two years and slid right back in without any issues.

[00:32:29] Angela Heisten: So I just want to put that out there as like a testament to, it can be done from somebody flying pretty, you know, starting from a pretty naive place, because I see a lot of people struggling with that question.

[00:32:40] David: That’s, that’s very good to hear because yeah, as traveling, I do, I encounter a lot of different teachers. maybe that’s also because I am a teacher. and we find other teachers, but yeah, you’re right. There are a ton of questions online from people who are not teachers who are looking to getting into this and they’re definitely scared about the possibilities of how you do that.

[00:33:00] David: Um, and somebody coming from a teaching background like I do, I find ways to make it happen. But like you said, someone from, someone from your background who didn’t have that teaching background, making it work, it is a testament that you can find ways to do it. What resources did you find to really help you before your plan fell apart and after your plan fell apart to get back on track and make sure your kids were successful?

[00:33:24] Angela Heisten: Yeah. as is my way, I did a ton of research up front and that included kind of like Ani was talking about earlier, lots of disparate sources online, homeschooling books, and most importantly, I met with other parents who were in my friend’s circle who were homeschooling their kids. So I did all this research and I created this plan.

[00:33:43] Angela Heisten: and it was like. What kid would get what subject and when, and it was all worked out. And what happened was, is once we were on the road, that plan was getting in the way of actually really experiencing the experience, right? It was just better to be out the door doing things than sticking to the plan.

[00:34:00] Angela Heisten: And I’m talking weeks. And we were kind of like, scrap the plan. what ended up working so well for us at, at the core was learning as a family. So rather than thinking of parent, kid or teacher student roles. We really adopted a mindset of we are out here learning as a family and what that meant was as we were deciding where to go and looking and learning about that place, asking questions about it, reading about it before we went trying to understand it.

[00:34:31] Angela Heisten: Deciding what we were curious about and wanted to investigate together and then because we were doing that real time together, it just became this really fluid dialogue all the time. So we would go do something during the day. And then we’d sit down at dinner and talk about who we met and what we learned from them and what our takeaways were.

[00:34:47] Angela Heisten: And sometimes pre and post, I would have the kids do little projects and like, teach each other or even teach my husband and me, which was really fun for them to kind of switch roles. So it just became. Really fluid because we were doing it together and the roles dropped away. I’ll say we kept a couple things structured just so that they could be prepped to come back to school.

[00:35:07] Angela Heisten: we had the nuance that we were not leaving and coming back to the same place. We moved. So I didn’t know what school we’d land in. So I wanted to have a little bit of language arts and math structure in place, but we did those kind of like Ani said in condensed period of time when we were traveling in our RV and could have all of our stuff.

[00:35:24] Angela Heisten: And the rest sort of happened based on curiosity and serendipity.

[00:35:28] David: That’s really cool. Yeah, I love that. That approach of having the kids teach you, and they do a little research and put something together. And I’ve had my son put a PowerPoint together here and there. And it’s it’s lovely. It’s lovely to see what they come up with. that’s a great approach. So very cool.

[00:35:44] David: Very cool. It sounds like it really worked out well for your kids. So.

[00:35:48] Annika Paradise: and I think that the, I’m, I think that our book is a great resource. For education, there’s a ton of ideas and how you can really approach, um, the kind of structure of education from anywhere from just having an online curriculum that you’re purchasing to really, you know, we’re going to do math these different ways this month and language arts these different ways.

[00:36:17] Annika Paradise: We have like starter kits and tons and tons of ideas.

[00:36:21] David: Yes, it’s really cool. So people listening out there, definitely you want to check out this part of the book for sure. If, if anything, for me, I, when I was looking through it, the, those guides, that instruction that in there is really useful because it’s, it’s helped me kind of, again, think about it. What am I doing with my kid?

[00:36:39] David: Why am I doing it with my kid? And we found more ways to make, to incorporate new things just in the last, what, week or two, since I’ve started looking through your book, it gave me some, so many cool new ideas.

[00:36:50] Annika Paradise: Great.

[00:36:50] Angela Heisten: That’s nice to hear. Thank you.

[00:36:53] David: Yeah, so now, what were some of the biggest lessons that you guys learned from living in a small space together as a family for an extended period of time? Maybe Angela, maybe you can lead this one off.

[00:37:07] Angela Heisten: Sure. I think on the good side, what was surprising and such an aha for me was how much I actually loved it. Like I love that amount of togetherness. I always say one of the most beautiful things about my wonder year experience was that my family ate every meal together for two years and I would never ever have that at home.

[00:37:27] Angela Heisten: Right. We’d all be out the door doing our own thing. So, The togetherness was amazing. We got along quite well, and we also made sure we found ways to carve out space, whether that be a person’s alone time or some one on one time. So the importance of moving from a group of four to a group of one or two or three at times was really important.

[00:37:50] Angela Heisten: We got pretty creative about that. The RV we chose had a little section the boys could pull a curtain and feel like they were in their own room. parents were doing one on one time with kids. We visited family and friends along our path across the two years, a lot. So that our kids could mix in and kind of have their own thing every once in a while.

[00:38:09] Angela Heisten: So it’s, it’s sort of the combination of how amazing that together time was and the need to find space when it was time for people to have space.

[00:38:19] David: Yeah, that’s really cool. How about you, Julie? You have anything to say on that?

[00:38:24] Julie Frieder: Sure. we traveled for 13 months and we were mostly in the U. S., mostly in a 24 foot, Class B motor home, it’s Oscar Navion that I loved. And, I miss it. And, you know, we used to joke, like, Like, literally brushing our teeth at night, we would rub elbows like it was just pretty normal and just kind of, being living living that way.

[00:38:54] Julie Frieder: And and we also had a tent. So we spent a lot of time. we would also pitch the tenants, you know, just camp or whenever we were. Backcountry, we would obviously leave the rig and, and just take our packs. But, I think, you know, we just really started to appreciate the simple pleasures and that’s carried forward.

[00:39:12] Julie Frieder: And, you know, a hot shower is such a privilege, you know, and a hot chocolate sitting in the camp chair. You know, I joke, I felt like royalty, you know, there’s just like the little things that we took notice of, probably way more than, than we did before the trip. And that’s carried over now that I still have that gratitude for, for all these simple pleasures and how much that gives.

[00:39:37] Julie Frieder: I don’t know, it just brings a little bit of joy, without a lot of effort. And so, you know, and I think the other lesson is like, just how when you’re living that close to nature, like the boundary between us and the outdoors, it wasn’t totally dissolved because obviously we had a rig. But it was like two seconds in, you’re outside, wherever you are.

[00:39:59] Julie Frieder: And the ease and the permeability and the relationship we had with nature because of that has also carried forward. And today my son, when he goes on a river trip, he doesn’t even sleep in a tent, he just sleeps in a ham, . And I, you the, you know, the, the ease in the great outdoors, I think. And cultivating that practice came out of this year, and that’s definitely 1 of the 1 of the great lessons. you know, just being in motion and being so close to nature.

[00:40:34] David: It’s not only great to hear, it’s awesome to see on your face. The joy, you can see your face light up as you’re talking about it. so those of you listening, definitely you want to check out the video here. You can see how much Julie’s face lights up. And like, you can tell that this really meant a lot to you, this family time.

[00:40:52] David: and it looks like all of you had a great time on this trip, in one form or another. you know, with the kids, with the spouses, with everything. and you took many different ways of traveling as well. Like, Annika, what was your favorite form of transportation during the travel?

[00:41:07] Annika Paradise: Well, I know what my kids would say, hands down,

[00:41:11] David: Okay.

[00:41:12] Annika Paradise: and it’s surprising. It was a 24 hour train ride from Chengdu to Beijing, and we were the only Westerners on the train. Before we got on, China has, like, snacks. are amazing. And especially at the train stations, all the snacks we could get and everybody was going by with the different snacks at all the train stations.

[00:41:38] Annika Paradise: We could quickly kind of get a new snack. But it was like being in that closed space like we’re all talking about looking out the window at this amazing countryside eating snacks like no meals and just kind of meeting the people coming up and down the aisles. It was hands down the highlight for them.

[00:42:03] Annika Paradise: For me, it was getting places, by foot. I love hiking. I love, you know, even when we were in,New Zealand, just walking around the neighborhood. Like, that is by far my favorite form of transportation. and at Nepal, we went trekking. We went You know, over 14, 000 feet with the kids, and, it was, it was an accomplishment for a eight, nine year old.

[00:42:36] David: Yeah, that, that, that, height, that altitude is crazy. We had to do it in Peru. Ooh, it’s nothing to, joke about, especially for the young ones. so my son had a hard time when we got up there to, what was that? About 5, 000 meters.

[00:42:51] Annika Paradise: Yeah.

[00:42:52] David: it’s crazy.

[00:42:54] David: All right. So that’s really interesting. And you guys did so much.

[00:42:57] David: there’s a lot of backpacking trips as well as families. so let’s say here, what would you say is your top for backpacking? Let’s go internationally. Angela, you want to take that one?

[00:43:12] Angela Heisten: Uh sure. I think you hear it a lot when you

[00:43:16] Angela Heisten: travel. Especially, when your talking about long term family travel which is to pack lite. Um, and would say it’s also pack smart right? Okay.Okay.

[00:43:28] Angela Heisten: really easy as a parent to think of all the situations and scenarios that you might come up with and that you might need this and you might need that.

[00:43:35] Angela Heisten: And your kids might need these kinds of shoes, et cetera. So my family traveled in like three to four month legs. And then we would return to our RV and then go out again. And so we had the luxury of kind of regrouping on our packing when we went home. The first couple of times we went out of the outside the U. S. Within the first few weeks, we shipped a box of stuff home because. We would try to put things that need we’re very gear places that were gear heavy needs like we went to Iceland. We needed a lot of extra gear in Iceland. And then we would ship stuff home. The other thing though, is that people think you need to buy it all at home and take it with you.

[00:44:11] Angela Heisten: And it’s just almost. So much easier to find things on the ground, and you really can do that. Most places. it, many people think, oh, I can only get that in the U. S. and that’s just not the case. You can almost always find what you need, not just buying new, but a lot of secondhand stuff too, especially for kids.

[00:44:27] Angela Heisten: So, just being thoughtful about what you bring, and I’ll layer into that. Trying to work with your kids so that they can carry their own. So of course this doesn’t apply to really, really little kids, but you know, as they get into even five, six and up, being able to carry their own day pack or backpack and wheel, their own luggage is huge, not only for convenience, but just that sense of autonomy.

[00:44:52] Angela Heisten: So I taught my kids. How to pack their own bag. We use packing cubes and they would use those to organize and set up their space wherever we went. So just giving the kids some autonomy and being thoughtful about what they bring so that they can manage it on their own. So those are a couple things I’d start with.

[00:45:08] David: That’s cool yeah. Especially teaching your kids to do it themselves. And making sure that what they can handle, they can handle. So that’s really good. I made that mistake early on in our first trip is trying to make my son carry his own bag and it was a little too much, but then we had to redistribute and or leave things behind.

[00:45:25] Angela Heisten: It was a little bit tricky at first. That’s the growing pains of becoming a new traveler. we do offer packing lists in the book. I’ll just mention that because we made those really inclusive so people could be thoughtful about what might apply to them, but the idea of all those lists you see is to use them as reference and then choose from them what you know your family needs and how you travel and the kinds of activities you’re going to be doing drive so much of that too.

[00:45:49] Angela Heisten: So it’s a good reference, but it’s, it’s intended to be a starting point. So people don’t forget things, but they shouldn’t think that they have to remember all of those things.

[00:45:58] David: definitely. And you make a great point that other countries have stores. You can buy things. They have diapers. You don’t need to take a month’s worth of diapers with you. they have certain medicines. you might need your more exotic medicines you might need to bring with you, but you don’t necessarily need to bring aspirin.

[00:46:16] David: you can usually find stuff like that wherever you need to go. so just kind of think about those types of things when you’re traveling. So that’s what we like to tell people too. So it’s really because we we learned that on early on as well. Go ahead, Annika.

[00:46:29] Annika Paradise: Yeah, and on the, because Angela and I spent a lot of time internationally and I actually had the opposite experience of Angela. not not in that, you know, things aren’t available, but we rented a lot. so in places like Katmandu, you can rent things, which is great. and also, when we offloaded some things, we met, like, I had,

[00:46:50] Annika Paradise: Gators for, you know, there’s, it was monsoon season and it was really muddy. And so at the end of that time, you know, I had these gators that I was either going to mail home. I didn’t know quite what to do with, but I could just leave them at the guest house. And somebody else was, it’s almost like a library.

[00:47:11] Annika Paradise: Like you could, leave some items and people would take them. So that was awesome. But the thing that’s really different from Angela is that. I think for us in Nepal and going up to some very high altitudes, it was important for us to put our money in the local economy. And there are so many people in Nepal who, you know, this is their profession, They’re porters. Some from the Sherpa ethnic group and they, you know, that’s what they do. And, when we were there, it was an economic downturn and they were so, so happy for the work and they were so proud at what they could do. And it was a little alarming sometimes how much they carried like with flip flops on.

[00:47:59] Annika Paradise: But, You know, just to get your kids up to 14, 000 feet, it’s really, really helpful to not be, you know, just have a day pack, not the, all the medical supplies that we were bringing with us and things.

[00:48:13] David: Okay, very good. I love that input. That’s great. And, and Julie, you had a totally different experience too, because you were country backpacking.

[00:48:23] Julie Frieder: Yeah, so we, intended when we headed out to kind of just get away from where we were living to kind of expand our horizons as it were. But, we really didn’t go to many cities. We mostly fell in love with national parks and state parks and wilderness areas. And so we did spend a ton of time and we did several trips, within our trip.

[00:48:49] Julie Frieder: And so, My couple points would be, and it’s a through, this is a theme. I think all of us, the three of us are in total agreement that wherever we can in every aspect of, of travel, we found it super valuable to involve our kids, like the life lessons part of the world. Schooling education is really unmatched.

[00:49:12] Julie Frieder: when you consider what children can learn through travel, the planning. The preparation, the decision making the reflection, the problem solving the fixing things. And so, And we, with only one kid. It was pretty easy to have him involved throughout. And so we definitely felt like you know he always had a seat a the table and was super involved. So we love to encourage where possible, and in the right circumstances for families to really you know kind of create opportunities for

[00:49:50] Julie Frieder: kids to be involved in a meaningful way. And that, that, you know, pays off in a big way. so 1 of the things I would say is a 10 essentials kit, and it might be 9, it might be 12.

[00:50:03] Julie Frieder: But we got really into that kind of figuring out what are the essential things we need to always have with us and then making sure that it was packed really smart and that it was always with us. And I still kind of love that for being prepared. another is to, take a look at the international dark skies map, pick a place that’s really dark.

[00:50:26] Julie Frieder: And plan a trip there because short of, like, being an astronaut and getting to see earth from space, seeing the night sky without any light pollution can be life changing and it’s extraordinary. And when you’re able to go for a couple of days and get off the beaten path, whether it’s, you know.

[00:50:48] Julie Frieder: Getting away from roads and they just check out the map and plan a trip and go there because it’s a super amazing. So we, we went to several places that are, that have that designation of international dark sky.

[00:51:01] David: That’s amazing. Yeah, there’s so many. And you can see there’s a map of them. That’s which is cool. The dark skies map. it changed my life as a kid. I’m wanting to see dark skies because growing up in Idaho went out To the desert in like outside of Nampa, Idaho. And you could see the entire Milky Way. And this is before Nampa grew and got bigger and more light pollution.

[00:51:22] David: But now there’s different places that we’ve been,from the Atacama Desert to down here in Argentina. There’s several other places down here as well where it’s just so dark and you can see everything with no lights around. And it is, it’s magical. I, that’s kinda the word I like to use for, it’s just magical looking up at the sky. So I love that. So that kind of, that kind of like brings us to destinations because every traveler I’ve talked to his favorite destinations, favorite activities while traveling, you’ve all done something different. So let’s start with, let’s start with Annika. what’s your favorite destination and or activity that you had?

[00:52:04] Annika Paradise: Well, you know, it’s kind of like choosing your favorite child. It’s hard. I think for world schooling. In particular, my favorite destination is Greece, for a number of reasons. I feel, when I used to teach 6th grade, we would do a quarter to a third of the year on Ancient Greece.

[00:52:26] Annika Paradise: So, number one, it was my wheelhouse. Ancient Greeks, like I got to, and so every, I mean it’s such a pivotal piece of, history, social science, and to have that come alive, I think, for children is pretty amazing. And there’s, you know, temples to this god or that god all over, as well then as we, when we traveled around the rest of Europe, you can see ancient Greece in all the, You know, art in all the museums, in the British Museum, all over France, it’s, kind of ground zero, so to speak, for Western civilization.

[00:53:10] Annika Paradise: But also the people are so warm and lovely. I like to say, you know, we were in this small, marble carving town. On the island of Tinos, I believe, and we were just walking through the streets and this older man kind of like patted the seat next to him and said, like, you know, come sit with me.

[00:53:32] Annika Paradise: And we just kind of gestured and giggled for you know, what seemed like 20 30 minutes, maybe it was shorter, but we just. The the people want to engage and um, that was really lovely. I feel like there’s the magic of myths is so wonderful with kids. We wrote our own myths to try to explain the natural phenomena using, you know, the ancient gods and goddesses as, you know, as main characters.

[00:54:04] Annika Paradise: there’s a lot to learn about sailing there. I could go on. But, you know, the other thing is the food. The food is amazing and also, you know, studying health and like a Mediterranean diet. There’s it’s just a fascinating place.

[00:54:22] David: Yeah, no traveler can talk about their favorite places without talking about food traveling. It’s all about food.

[00:54:30] Annika Paradise: yes.

[00:54:30] David: I think that’s got to be either number 1 or number 2 on people’s minds on their travel is the food.

[00:54:36] Annika Paradise: Yeah.

[00:54:36] David: But I think Greece has got to be on one of my, on my bucket list. It’s definitely on my son’s.

[00:54:41] David: He’s a huge fan of shout out to, Greeking out the podcast, his favorite, and he’s listened to every episode. So I know that when we end up getting to Greece, everything’s going to come up. He’s heard all the stories and yeah. So that’s going to be amazing. Angela, how about you go next?

[00:54:59] David: What’s your favorite?

[00:55:01] Angela Heisten: I’m going to take a little bit of liberty and do two favorites, um because my family, i feel like we’re sort of. We live at the two extremes. Like we like to get out in nature and we like to way way way out. Like way out to the edges where it takes a long time to get there. And you’re way off grid. and my favorite in that is where you just came from, which is Patagonia.

[00:55:24] Angela Heisten: I love that region so much. I’ve been there twice, once on the Argentinian side and once on the Chilean side. and we spent a fair amount of time there in our world schooling years. And it always feels like home. It’s so strange. It’s so incredibly, distant from where I grew up and different.

[00:55:43] Angela Heisten: And yet feels like home. There’s something about those outer latitudes that always Sort of speak to my soul. and it’s the kind of place my husband and I have even said like, oh, it’d be nice to live there part of the year. So anyway, we hope to do that. On the other side, our family also really likes busy cities.

[00:56:01] Angela Heisten: Like we really like dense, big cities full of Culture and the hectic feeling and museums and street art. And, and so we’ve been to a lot of big cities and, but our, I think our favorites and one of our favorite places in the world was Japan. Japan is probably the biggest surprise of our wonder year. we all wanted to go there and we’re curious about it, but four out of four of our family members went there and fell in love. There’s so many. nuances to Japan that are different and beautiful and interesting. the community aspect of Japan really appeals to my heart and they really savor art and culture in a way that I think is different than a lot of places that I, that we all really enjoy. So those are my two.

[00:56:52] David: Oh, some good suggestions right there. Very good. All right. So, Julie, can you wrap us up on this one? What’s your favorite destination or activities?

[00:57:01] Julie Frieder: Sure. Well, and I love hearing Annika and Angela talk about my list of places. I need to go just keeps getting longer and longer and longer. Okay. so we harvested olives at a in Calatafimi Italy in a 100 year orchard, and that was pretty amazing. It’s a tip for folks who want to do work exchange. We WWOOFed. There’s lots of cool work exchange opportunities.

[00:57:30] Julie Frieder: We provide a whole lot of resources in the book that can help people find. fitting activities that you can do that. We also did some kayaking, sea kayaking in Southeast Alaska and ended up at this crazy pristine cove. But those were not my favorites, my favorite places. Where the space is in between where we were simply travelers and having that experience, uh, took us being on the road for an extended period of time to kind of settle into that identity and that’s it.

[00:58:09] David: That’s nice. Uh, And I would agree when people ask me like traveling and your favorite stuff I usually go with the drives in between as I’m driving from one location to another. It’s totally different than, than going. Probably a plane, and then just going to the main destination, seeing the, that temple, and getting back on the next plane to the next place.

[00:58:33] David: I love driving, because I see the rolling hills, and the tiny villages in the back, backwoods, and everything. So it’s really cool. So, I love that. Alright. So now What about, I would say challenges. What challenges have we encountered along the way? Annika, do you want to Start with that one?

[00:58:57] Annika Paradise: Sure. I think, I think that some of the biggest challenges for us, especially our oldest turned 13 and it was hard to be away from kids her own age. I think that was really challenging. We did, you know, this was like early days of zoom. So we did some zooms and we tried to get her when we were in New Zealand, she was on,an open ocean swim team, surf life rescue, they call it.

[00:59:28] Annika Paradise: so she could meet some people. When we were in Costa Rica, we were in the same place for six weeks, and she met some people in a Spanish language class. but I think that was the hardest thing. I think my two youngest, they’re just one year apart, and they were really still happy to just be us. And my oldest was two, to some degree, but I think she really missed that peer interaction. I think that was the trickiest thing.

[00:59:56] David: Okay. Okay. Does anybody else want to add onto that big challenge? Any big challenges?

[01:00:02] Angela Heisten: Well, for ours was coming back and so I don’t know if we want to go to to talk about reentry yet, but for us, we were coming. I mentioned earlier. We were. When we travel, we were looking at where we might land when we were done. So we were going and physically checking out places and also reflecting on what mattered to us as a family.

[01:00:21] Angela Heisten: So we could decide and. When we came back, I mean, it always would have been hard to end this beautiful journey and, and reintegrate into quote, unquote, regular life, whatever that means. but we did a lot of things wrong. I’ll just admit that we landed. We didn’t spend time in the place. We bought a house right away and we got our stuff out of storage and we.

[01:00:47] Angela Heisten: Enrolled in school and signed up for extracurriculars and just all of a sudden we were back to where we had been before we went on this journey and some of that we had been trying to shed and leave behind and so. Why I thought that I should set up house again, if you will, the way it looked before. I mean, that was just, it was, it was, it was an error.

[01:01:11] Angela Heisten: It was not reflective thinking and. 6 months in, then I could see all of that, but we were already kind of locked into some things we could committed to. So what that meant for us as a family is we spent the next year or so undoing it all again. So we landed integrated, got locked in and then sort of undid.

[01:01:32] Angela Heisten: and so, you know, with hindsight, I definitely would do that differently. and it was. It was bumpy. It was a bumpy ride. I mean, there were many beautiful things that happened to we landed in a new community that was welcoming to us. I met wonderful people. I made these friends that I wrote a book with, but it was bumpy for all of all of us, all four, two adults, two kids. and there’s some good lessons there. And I’ve tried to share some of that in the book.

[01:01:53] David: Yeah. I can’t imagine settling back in doing the return and anything. We’ve, we thought about getting, you know, a,

[01:02:02] David: Kind of like a, like, like a home base, and doing things from that way for a little while down the road, but yeah, settling in for a long time. We’re going back to the U. S. for a long period of time or forever. This doesn’t seem on the radar yet. I can’t imagine what you guys went through going through this, this part. How about you and, uh, how about you, Julie? You mentioned in the book, a grieving at the end of your wonder year trip. so how did you work through those emotions when you returned home?

[01:02:31] Julie Frieder: Yeah I mean hearing you say that makes it sound a little melodramatic but it really was hard for me. I came home. Also, I had, you know, in the 12th month of our 13 month trip, I. I fell like we were in the back country. I went for a trail run. I busted up my elbow and ended up having surgery and had this big old brace when I came back.

[01:02:53] Julie Frieder: And also the job I had before I left, it went away. My husband and son, they went back to whatever soccer and, you know, school and work. And so I was definitely in a funk and I missed the time freedom deeply, you know, and it, took me a while and I, you know, I think about it, what I have wanted to know, we have a whole chapter in the book on reentry and it was profound for us to write it.

[01:03:21] Julie Frieder: And. You know, we wondered, is it, we don’t want to like overstate it because I don’t, for some people, maybe it’ll be a super easy return, but I, I kind of wish I would have been a little more prepared. I don’t know exactly what that looks like. You know, we have some suggestions in the book, like, think about don’t burn any bridges, you know, reach out, reconnect, like, keep lines open.

[01:03:42] Julie Frieder: And that’s really, really important. But, you know, at the end of the day, it wasn’t, it was, you know, I say it wasn’t bitter coming home. It was sweet. Like we just pulled into town, we didn’t have a plan, we like rolled up to our friend’s house and just turned off the engine and got out and had a huge hug.

[01:04:02] Julie Frieder: And I was like, okay, our friends and family launched us on the trip and they were the soft landing on the return and this is home and it was beautiful to come home. And to me, the lesson is read travel books, hold hold on to the traveler’s mindset. You know, take a pause. Let’s put our phones away.

[01:04:24] Julie Frieder: Live in the moment. Listen to that person’s story because they have a really cool story if we take enough time to ask. And let’s, enjoy the simple pleasures and all those things that make traveling so magical as a family, we can try to kind of hold on to that back at home, but for me, it wasn’t bitter coming home.

[01:04:43] Julie Frieder: It was just hard and I would have done. I mean, I wouldn’t have changed it. I would have, you know, it, it was just, I missed the time freedom and I missed the, it was the best year of my life. And, so, but I don’t want to be negative. I don’t want to turn people off. I mean, It’s just, it can be hard for some people and for other people, you just slide right in and consider this a tip, like give it a little bit of thought because it can be complicated.

[01:05:13] David: and I think that, I think that everybody listening understands that, yeah, it’s a unique situation, especially if you’re gone for a year, you’re gone for two, I’ve already been gone for, by the time I get back to the States next year, it’ll be five years, and I’ll be visiting and then leaving again, but it, it, it adds up, I’ve met people who’ve been on the road for eight, ten years.

[01:05:32] David: I can’t imagine settling back down after that, but it’s doable in the right circumstances. And like you said, you have that support group that network as long as you don’t burn all the bridges before you leave. it can, it can be good. and you could find that new community that you really want.

[01:05:46] David: And that’s. That’s what I normally hear. People finding the community and deciding, oh, you know what? I just love it here in this little town. We’re gonna stay. We’re gonna do the repatriation in this place or whatever. that type of thing. And you’ve probably heard some stories from other folks as well, of being in the communities. So, that kind of brings me to the other thing, because there are a lot of assumptions. out there about this lifestyle. So Annika, what are the most common misconceptions that people have about extended family travel, in your opinion?

[01:06:26] Annika Paradise: think the biggest misconception is that it’s just Super wealthy people, you know, you have to be a bazillionaire to be able to do this.

[01:06:37] Annika Paradise: And there’s so many different ways that people make this happen. You know, we are small business owners and so we really worked with, a manager who could take over. And so we couldn’t do it, you know, open ended because we needed to get back to run the business, right. But people, you know, teach remotely.

[01:06:59] Annika Paradise: They, there’s all kinds of remote jobs. there’s every budget under the sun is, is available to to world schooling families. Yeah, I think that’s the biggest misconception. And we interviewed so many people. How do you do this? How do you make this happen? And we do like, you know, different scenarios, of people’s budgets and how they make it, how they make it work.

[01:07:27] David: Very neat. Yes. Very useful. Very useful. All right. Now, Julie, what mistaken assumptions did you have before departing on your trip?

[01:07:39] Julie Frieder: So I thought we were just going to hit the road and go for a year and you know, it was very romantic and you know, this. Big idea. And just kind of happened and we had came back. I said earlier there were floods. So that brought us back through Boulder. My husband’s mother is aging and, you know, we wanted to come back and check on her again.

[01:08:09] Julie Frieder: And there was one other stop that brought us back because life just kind of dishes itself out. And I thought at first, like, that’s going to somehow take away the significance of what we did. And that was a huge misconception because there’s no right way to do this. It doesn’t even have to be a year. It doesn’t even have to be.

[01:08:32] Julie Frieder: a month. You know, we call it a season of discovery. That’s how we define Wonder Year. And so it’s available in so many ways, in so many forms, like Ani was saying. It, it’s, it’s the intention to get into motion as a family and learn side by side. And that is the season of discovery we talk about. So I think that is both sort of a misconception I had going in, but a way bigger, more important lesson coming out.

[01:08:58] David: Yeah. You learn a lot. That’s very cool. And then Angela, what was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself during your travel?

[01:09:10] Angela Heisten: Um,

[01:09:10] Angela Heisten: I think it probably would be how. Living that simply on the road felt the most aligned with my personal values that I’d ever felt in my whole life. I think back to when I first met my husband, when we were in our twenties and we connected based on a love of adventure and curiosity and education and constant learning.

[01:09:37] Angela Heisten: And somehow over the years, the noise of life was getting in the way of. Being able to really tap into those things. And so when we left, the intention was to try to get back to the things that had mattered to us most, and that was so affirmed for me traveling. I mean, I, I just on a really personal note, I’m a caregiver at heart, so I first take care of all the people around me, and I know many people can relate to that.

[01:10:05] Angela Heisten: but I also found that I have a lot of noise in my life, taking care of stuff and processes and things to do at home that just, I mean, I just, there’s no better word for me than noise. And so being on the road and kind of stripping all that away and just getting back to what I love and kind of having all my senses turned on and doing that with my people that I care about and love the most. Really made it clear that that’s the way I want to live and that’s what I tried to incorporate across the years. It’s kind of what I was talking about earlier with the landing back and complicating our lives again. And what it does is it gives me direction now to know those things about myself and have, have made it really clear what matters and how I want to spend my time and my emotional and mental and physical energy.

[01:10:57] David: Very sweet, alright, and do do any of you have any regrets about taking this Wonder Year?

[01:11:06] Julie Frieder: None.

[01:11:07] Angela Heisten: No.

[01:11:08] Julie Frieder: Zero.

[01:11:10] David: I love to hear that. And that’s mainly for the listeners out there. I mean, people who take a trip, take these types of trips, even if bad things happen to you on the trips, you almost never regret these things. There’s so many positives that come out of it, as we’ve heard from all of your wonderful stories today so far.

[01:11:27] David:

[01:11:27] Angela Heisten: And David, I’ll just mention that we interviewed many, like, dozens of families for our book, too. So we do bring our perspectives in, but we really wanted to learn from others and represent their voices. And we always ask that exact question of them. And I think across the board, it’s no regrets. You’ll hear the stories of the people who decided to come home early, or something wasn’t working, and they made a change, but regret is not a word that gets mentioned often.

[01:11:54] David: not not often at all. And, over the course of this season here on the podcast, we’ve talked to people who had all kinds of things happen to them from marital issues to, medical issues to breakdowns and breakups and the whole gamut. but all of them tell me. That they don’t have regrets. That these things probably would have happened in some regard or another, in their life anyhow.

[01:12:20] David: and that these stories, these, 100 bad days, as the song goes, lead to wonderful stories that you can tell forever, and memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you all for writing this book. It’s, it’s a really good, compendium, as well as, you know, just guide book as well. So, and there’s no right or wrong way to go through The book, as you guys mentioned, in the forward.

[01:12:47] David: You can use it in the way in the order that you want to not for not necessarily in a linear order, find what you need, use that, read through the whole thing. or just pick and choose. So it’s really cool. So before we go, before we get your parting thoughts, I always like trivia pursuits. So I want to do a little trivia time here.

[01:13:08] Angela Heisten: I’m terrible at this.

[01:13:09] Julie Frieder: I’m feeling nervous.

[01:13:11] David: But you got, you have three brains. So let’s see. Let’s see. Alright, first question. What is the largest country in the world by land area?

[01:13:21] Annika Paradise: I think it’s the Soviet Union, isn’t it?

[01:13:24] Angela Heisten: Mm hmm.

[01:13:25] Annika Paradise: Yes

[01:13:25] David: Uh huh. Yes Russia, Soviet Union, Russia, very good. Alright, can you name the only city located on two continents?

[01:13:36] Julie Frieder: Istanbul.

[01:13:36] Angela Heisten: Istanbul. Yeah.

[01:13:37] David: Very

[01:13:38] Annika Paradise: Istanbul was Constantinople, now

[01:13:39] Annika Paradise: it’s Istanbul,

[01:13:41] David: Very good. Bonus, bonus question for that one. What two continents?

[01:13:45] Annika Paradise: Europe and Asia. Yeah.

[01:13:47] David: Yes, very good. All right, What’s the world’s smallest country?

[01:13:53] Angela Heisten: It’s the little one embedded in South Africa,

[01:13:56] Julie Frieder: Lesotho.

[01:13:57] Angela Heisten: Yeah. Thank you.

[01:13:58] Annika Paradise: I think it’s a Vatican City. Right.

[01:14:01] Angela Heisten: Right. Right.

[01:14:02] Angela Heisten: Good call.

[01:14:04] David: Consensus is?

[01:14:05] Annika Paradise: Vatican City.

[01:14:07] David: Yes, very good. All right, and let’s see here. Which country has more lakes than the rest of the world combined?

[01:14:18] Angela Heisten: Finland?

[01:14:20] David: Not Finland.

[01:14:21] Angela Heisten: Or

[01:14:23] David: It is a northern country, that’s for sure.

[01:14:25] Angela Heisten: Canada,

[01:14:27] David: Canada, yeah.

[01:14:29] Annika Paradise: Mm hmI

[01:14:30] David: know, that one caught me off guard. I didn’t know that one at first. and . last, can you name the largest ocean on earth?

[01:14:38] Annika Paradise: Pacific

[01:14:39] Angela Heisten: Pacific?

[01:14:40] David: Yeah, the Pacific. Very good. All right. You ladies did very well with the trivia pursuit. All right. So I like to also finish up with some advice for others and your long term impact. So. Annika, if you could start us off here. Now that your kids are a bit older, how do they reflect on your family’s wonder year looking back?

[01:15:06] Annika Paradise: Well, my oldest is now studying marine biology at the University of Hawaii, and we live in Colorado. So she got that passion for the oceans, during our wonder year. We spent a lot of time. Near the coast. so I think that’s one of the major impacts for sure on her. I would say one of my biggest takeaways, well, there’s a few, is that, it kind of goes into the philosophy of the Peace Corps.

[01:15:42] Annika Paradise: That when people actually get to know each other from different walks of life, Um, that promotes peace. And so I find that, you know, again, we hear so much about, oh, we should be worried about China. And I know that’s like a global issue, but I think we also can think it’s, it’s the people sometimes, but one of the, the biggest takeaways for my kids hands down was really that everybody in the world is good and kind.

[01:16:19] Annika Paradise: And, if they learn nothing else, they never learned algebra, and they knew that in their heart, that’s all that was needed for me.

[01:16:31] Annika Paradise: People are not the same thing as the country, and everyone is good and kind. And with that, my son would always, he said this one time, and it was very profound. He said, you know mom, when people are, do things differently, the way they go to the bathroom or what they eat for breakfast or all these different things, you know, sometimes they think that the way we do things is weird, but nobody’s weird.

[01:16:59] Annika Paradise: It’s just different. And I think that my kids carry that with them when their interactions with people, um, from different cultures or just different backgrounds that there’s no such thing as weird. It’s just different.

[01:17:14] David: So profound and a beautiful, that’s the statements that I love it.

[01:17:18] David: So meet let’s move on then, uh, Julie. What advice would you give to a family considering traveling full time in an RV with kids?

[01:17:29] Julie Frieder: I would say, go for it.

[01:17:32] Julie Frieder: There’s, we are also busy and there’s so little boundary between personal life and work life and. Home life and everything that has to happen and with the technology infusion and everything else taking over, it seems almost unfathomable that you could create space or that it would be the right time. It has to be, we have to make it the right time and. And then the trip can happen and, like, we’ve said, and we said throughout the book, it doesn’t have to be a year. It might be. A week to start, but to to have that

[01:18:14] Julie Frieder: chance of of of travel as a family, it’s it is well worth the effort and the tradeoffs. And I would just encorage people to find a way to do it and whatever space that you have available to do it.

[01:18:34] David: Excellent advice. Alright. And then Angela, bring us home here. Now that, you’re settled in after your adventures, what is the biggest way your Wonder Year shaped your family? Or perspective.

[01:18:48] Angela Heisten: Mmmm, well, I think what the wonder year really highlighted for us is how important it is to be open and curious. I feel like our family uses that word curious a lot because it’s sort of the pinnacle word that leads other things. It’s kind of what Ani was talking about, like being curious leads you to be compassionate.

[01:19:14] Angela Heisten: And empathetic and caring and inquisitive and it helps you connect with people. So I just think that that has become such a central theme in the lives of the four of us. So that’s playing out in different ways. It’s playing out in what both of my children have studied at school and what they want to do and their perspective on travel and where they want to spend their time and the lives they hope to build and even in what my husband and I are now planning to do and in our futures as we embark on years where the kids are out of the nest.

[01:19:50] Angela Heisten: So, I think travel and curiosity are intimately linked and if you are curious about people and What drives them, what they care about, how they connect and what their cultures offer them and can offer others. It makes for a much more textured, interesting life for you too.

[01:20:16] David: Excellent. I love that. Again, very beautiful. There’s so many things that people can learn from just listening to other travelers. And that’s kind of why this podcast exists in the first place. Give people that opportunity to hear this. You’re on the fence out there, looking to go into this. You’re hearing from family or friends that, that it’s a little crazy.

[01:20:38] David: You’re hearing that the crazy folks, they make it work. We’re not all crazy, but we’re also not normal, but that’s not a bad thing either.

[01:20:49] Angela Heisten: We like to say that too. There’s a community waiting for you if you’re thinking about doing, doing this and living this way, there’s community of people waiting to fold you

[01:20:59] Angela Heisten: in.

[01:21:01] David: And you might find that that community back home, once you start doing this, they, they fall in line with this as well. I’ve met so many families, who travel and their friends have come and met them in certain places or their, their, their family has come as also as well. And so people come along and your family and your friends, they, they, they, they will support you on your journey.

[01:21:24] David: if they’re meant to be in your life for, for that long period of time. So again, thank you, ladies.

[01:21:29] Angela Heisten: Thank you.

[01:21:31] David: again, it’s a great book. I definitely recommend it for those out there. The wonder year. this is really a journey to, and a testament to the power of stepping out of your comfort zone, and embracing the world as your classroom as your home.

[01:21:48] David: We hope that these stories, really, these insights have inspired you, and they’ve sparked your curiosity, or perhaps even nudged you closer to your own adventure. as I like to say, life is a journey, it’s not a destination. so, everybody, keep exploring, stay curious, and never stop learning. So, until next time, everybody, thank you very much.

[01:22:11] David: Safe travels, and ladies, again, thank you so much for being here. It’s wonderful to have you on the episode, so.

[01:22:19] Angela Heisten: Thank you, David.

[01:22:20] Julie Frieder: Thank you

[01:22:20] David: care, everybody. You’re

[01:22:22] David: welcome. Bye