I've been listening to Tsh's podcast, The Simple Show, for over a year now and knew travel was a pretty big deal for her and her family. She often mentioned the year (actually 9ish months?) they spent traveling the glove and "world schooling" their three kids but I didn't realize all that entailed until I read her book. And WOW.
Tsh and her husband are both Americans who met in Kosovo about 20 years ago, fell in love, got married, and spent a good many years living in Turkey (two of their kids were born there? Or lived there as young kids) before relocating to the US to have their third. Travel has been a big deal for them and after some dreaming and planning, they spend a year circling the globe with their three kids in tow - two are school age and the youngest is 4 when they leave (Luke's age!).
They had been living in Oregon but that wasn't feeling right and they leave the US with the home sold, possessions in storage, and no idea where they will live when the trip is up. They pack their bags and head to China, followed by more of Asia, Australia, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, ending in London before settling in Texas as home.
Just writing all that overwhelms me a little.
It is a fascinating story of making home wherever you are, with whatever you have. Tsh says she's a homebody but also loves travel, the two don't seem to go together well but somehow, they do. (I can relate, I never love my home more than when we are gone or just come back.) Hence, finding their place "At Home in the World".
She is very honest about various struggles, cultural differences, bad weather, losing precious items of the kids', and missing people from home. Tsh and her husband both have internet based jobs which means they can work from (almost) anywhere and they are schooling their kids as they go. There are some struggles with trying to fit that all in among sight seeing and living in all of these places.
It made me (kinda) want to do the same. Even though Matt's job is definitely not the kind he could do remotely which makes it pretty darn impossible unless he wanted to give up his job. (Which he doesn't. And, you know, having a steady income and health insurance is pretty important, essential for being prospective adoptive parents...)
I loved their sense of adventure and the logistics of how to make a trip like that work. How cheap it can be to be in some countries, how expensive others are. I especially loved reading about places I really want to visit (Australia, New Zealand, Italy) and places we've been (Paris, London). It made me want to book a trip and figure out how to make it all work later (then I remember how stressed I got planning our two week Europe trip, and how expensive it was, and I quickly come to my senses).
If I can't travel the world right now than I certainly enjoyed reading about somehow who had, being an armchair traveler, and maybe making some dreams for...someday. If you get a travel itch, want to see the world, or prefer to do it from the comfort of your couch, read this. If you get overwhelmed taking the kids for a weekend, read this, you'll feel slightly more sane. I loved it.
Linking up with Cocoon of Books to share my favorite read of the month!
Goodreads | Amazon
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