We are an American family of four looking for adventure. Perhaps four or five years ago now, we conceived the idea of taking a year off from our ordinary lives to travel with our children before they get busy preparing to apply to college and build lives of their own.
At first, the idea seemed like a pipe dream, but over time, it seemed more and more do-able, and we began telling people about it, partially just to force ourselves to turn pipe dream into reality (shame is a powerful motivator).
We left for our adventure on June 27, 2017 and plan to return in July of 2018.
We traveled the US in our trusty Toyota Sienna from June 27, 2017 until November of 2017. We essentially made a big loop from our home state of New Jersey, up through New England, and from there out to Chicago, then up through the major northern National Parks and across to the Pacific Northwest. From there we spent time in California, and then spent some time in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona before heading across to Little Rock, Arkansas. From Little Rock we meandered our way south to New Orleans and then drove across the Gulf Coast to Florida, as we had solemnly promised our youngest a trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. From there we headed back to New Jersey for our oldest’s Bat Mitzvah and Thanksgiving with family before setting out for the international portion of our journey (following a short stop in Hawaii).
Internationally, we’ve traveled to Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and then in March we head to Israel, and from Israel on to Europe and the UK for the spring and part of the summer.
I’m Sarah. Mike and I have been married for 14 years. We have two daughters. Elizabeth turned 13 during our trip, and Julianna turned 9 during our trip (Elizabeth is worldschooling for her 7th grade (US) year and Julianna is worldschooling for her 3rd grade (US) year). All four of us contribute to this blog recording our adventures.
Blaine Voyage 