sand am strand

Living out of bags for a year, with kids in tow? 100 different beds? Having kids attached for 24 / 7? Worrying about mosquitos, robberies, poisonous animals, falling overboard, bloody knees?

For some families, traveling with kids around the globe for 12 months sounds like a serious nightmare, to others including us, it sounded like a dream…

Would we do it again? A big 100% yes! Our traveling strategy made life on the road much easier, but we also learned a lot along the way. Here are some tips which may help to make your trip a once-in-a-lifetime beautiful memory…

What you need on the world trip

• Passports
• Credit card and ATM card
• PINs for money transfer
• Pocket knife
• Medical kit
• Suntan lotion
• Torch
• 1-2 books (exchange on the way or buy new ones)
• Nail scissors

Electronics

Universal Power Adapter: this is your most important device, as all your tools tend to run out of juice. Even better and eco friendly: a universal solar charger. For ultimate convenience also carry a car charger for phone, ipod, camera.

Phone: take your toughest phone with the longest lasting battery, including your charger cable. In all countries including the poorest in the world you can buy a SIM card with prepaid credit for your mobile phone. The hardest country remains the US, but TMobile now sells a phone for 24.99 $ with a prepaid card, you can then give the phone to someone in a third world country.

Internet: We took a Samsung N120 netbook, mainly to write this blog and store images. It was ideal as it was cheap (300 €), small and light, and equipped with the best battery in its class (10 h). You will find free wifi networks in many places, in others including some campgrounds you need to pay by the hour or by the day. A great alternative are mobile 3G USB sticks, which work even in remote areas. Ensure that you go with the largest local carrier, as he will have the best coverage.

Camera: We have worked with the Olympus Tough, which is heavy but has the fantastic advantage that it is very difficult to break it. It is very resistant against sand and water (10 m waterproof), and has decent features and image quality (12 megapixels and an ok lens). We did not see anyone on the trip with a viable robust alternative. Needless to say you can scale up substantially in quality with higher end cameras, but these are large, expensive, easier to steal, and sensitive to moisture, dirt and sand.

Image storage: It is best to store your images on a netbook if you have one, and backup an external hard drive. These are small, cheap and robust these days and just provide an extra sense of relief. Publish your favorite ones to your travel blog. Try to delete as much as you can. You will likely never ever look at those 21765 second rate images again, not even when you are 91 years old.

What you need on a remote island

Bandaid
Antiseptic
Homeopathic basic
Needle
Tweezer
Knife
Cookies
Mosquito repellent
Rain jackets
Sarongs (light large cloth)
Presents for the kids and the adults
Coffee, tea
Plastic containers / ziplock bags
Water bottles
Swimming clothes (covering you)
Camera
Torch
Sun Screen
Cash

Clothes
Take as few pieces as possible. You should have a basic functional outfit including long pants, shorts, t-shirt, fleece and wind-rain jacket. Then you add bikinis, a few dresses, some sulus and you are ready to go. This offers you still the chance to shop on the way. Don’t take your most precious outfits as you may ruin it on the trip or you may want to replace it with something you see on your trip.

Shoes
We walked around most of the time bare foot or with flip flops. For hiking, our sneakers were good enough. You might want to add some reef shoes for some countries with urchins or sharp coral in the water. And I was very happy with my Ugg boots to keep my feet warm after a session in the water or on cold floors.

Washing clothes
Washing was very easy as most campgrounds or apartments offered washing machines and even dryers. I carried some hand wash paste around the world, not using it even once.
Just make sure, that the clothes can be all put into one washing together, avoid extreme colour or fancy material.

Sleeping bags
We brought sleeping bags, but it was a lot of luggage. In campervans they provide blankets etc., so it is not a must have. For warm countries we suggest bringing a light sheet sleeping bag instead.

Travelling with kids

Sleeping
Our kids were very flexible with different sleeping spots. They loved it and it was a kind of adventure for them. They have had their stuffed animal and a zulu, that made them feel cosy anywhere.

Eating
Many parents are worried how they would feed their kids on a remote island, but this worry is unfounded. There are basic things they eat anywhere: fruits such as bananas, bread, noodles, potatoes, rice. In most places they serve chicken or fish or eggs. On top, we have had some crackers and cookies just in case they did not like the food or for stomach ache. During the trip we got rid of many routines; e.g. there is no regular desert, they drink water instead of juices, so that they do not ask for things that we cannot give them. We also avoided everything that needs to be kept in a fridge.

Travelling in the car
We have had car seats (boosters) with us all the time (hand luggage on the plane). It is a hassle, but it makes it safer and the kids can see better what’s going on outside. You can bring a whole entertainment program with you such as kids toys, audiobooks, even DVD player, but for us it was not necessary. The kids were spending their time observing the landscape, talking, singing the songs on the radio or counting. We have had a jacket or a towel to rest their heads on, when they fell asleep in the car.

Travelling on the plane
We have had plane trips of different lengths. The short ones are easy as everything is exciting. The most challenging ones are the long day trips (our longest was 13 hours). We felt it was easiest with some warm clothes and toys. We also brought some crackers, because the kids are always hungry between the meals. In case of ear problems, we took Achronit before the flight (2 tiny pills) and have had chewing gum to chew during landing.

Travelling by campervan
That was an easy and exciting way to travel. Kids loved to be in nature, they have had a toilet nearby and always the same bed. Only when it was very hot, we sometimes wished to have a house where we could relax during noon.
Another challenge was that everybody had to get up at the same time as the van did not have enough space to sleep and eat at the same time. You want to make sure, that the weather is not too rainy, as wet clothes are hard to dry in a small campervan.

Staying in hotels
It is convenient to stay in a hotel with breakfast and dinner in the hotel. Make sure that breakfast and dinner times meet your kids’ needs. Kids do not care about luxury or large spaces. Therefore, cheaper options work fine, as long as they are clean. A pool is always a major bonus to give the kids some exercise, it works wonders for the sleep habits.

Staying in apartments
Apartments or cabins offer a great way of saving costs by cooking and storing food.

Kids’ clothes
When travelling in warm countries, boys are happiest in swim shorts. Bring at least 3 different pairs to make sure they can dry until they are in use again. Bring also rash shirts and hats to protect them against the sun.

Wet suits
I would always bring wet suits for kids. They love to play in the water and you make sure they stay warm. It is also an additional floating device, which keeps them up.

Best spots with kids

New Zealand
The beaches are amazing, the water great for kids, there are no dangerous animals, they speak the language, the food offers a lot for kids, the people are friendly.

Mauritius and Rodrigues
The kids loved the warm ocean and the mellow waves at the beach, the friendliness of the locals, the simplicity of life. Also, no dangerous animals.

Fiji
Fiji is exotic and beautiful. The kids loved to play with the local kids and experienced a completely different way of living.

Cities vs. country side
Kids love everything. In the cities, we enjoyed most the great kids’ museums. In the country side the kids were excited about all the animals or the beach and the ocean.

General travel advice for a world trip

• Do not make plans, go with the flow. The big wins from this strategy are that you can stay and explore more at places you love and leave at places you don’t like so much, and that the sensation of each adventure and sight is much stronger as you do not have any expectations. Do not worry about places to stay: in thirty years of travel we have never slept on the street, something will always appear.
• Take as little clothing as you can. You will end up buying stuff you need along the way.
• Use local knowledge as much as you can, you find secret spots for sleeping, adventure, eating.
• Be compassionate: you will find that most people in countries outside of the modern industrial Western nations will actually be very friendly and helpful. Wonders of warm welcome will happen to you if you are open to these emotions.
• Simplify, pack only the essentials. We really really needed only a few things
• Limit your number of stops and take your time. I loved most the spots where we could dive into the community and share the daily life pleasures. Five to seven countries is a good benchmark for a year
• Stay longer. If you stay for at least a month in one country, it helps to save some money: Buying the basics such as detergent, salt, oil, butter etc. does not make sense for a week, but is a good investment, when you can keep it over several weeks.
• Plan your trip that you travel outside the high season if you can. This gives you the freedom to travel without pre-booking and to be flexible with your timings. Also the prices are much lower. Consider festivals or events along the trip. Sometimes it is well worth being there, sometimes it is better to avoid the crowds.
• Air travel: check in 60 to 120 minutes before worked fine everywhere. If there is a delay or a problem, keep you cool: there is always a solution. For kite surfers: amazingly the deceiver golf bag worked wonders, on 25 flights we were only caught once, on Maui. On all other flights there was no extra charge for the golf bag, not even on flights to islands that have no golf courses.

Ultimately, each individual has their own preferences and travel style. The ideas in this blog post result from observations from our year of travel around the world. We hope that you can get the same joy out of your trip that we were fortunate to experience. Where ever you go: be open, respectful, go with the flow and give your soul the chance to be in peace. We can assure you, wonderful things will happen…

One year by the ocean, 25 flights and 50000 miles flown, 4000 km driving on US Pacific Coast, 5000 km in NZ, 3000 km on OZ East Coast, 7000 km on OZ West Coast, 10 countries, 15 islands, over one hundred different beds, hundreds of beaches, thousands of animals on land and in the water, 1 pair of jeans each, 3 pairs of flip flops, 100+ surf session in 50+ spots, 100+ kite sessions in 30+ spots, 8 razor blades, thousands of pictures, many fellow Earth citizens with positive energy and spirit, and countless moments of pure bliss, happiness and smiles.

For me it was the most amazing experience, and I am extremely thankful for every day I have had on this adventure. It gave fresh strength to my love for Gesine and bonded us immensely as a family. We have tried to show the kids new worlds and what we believe is important, such as being tolerant, humble and kind, respecting our planet and being proactive in saving our planet from ourselves. We have made efforts to give them roots, soon they will need wings to fly.

Most of our days were filled with some sport activity, time on the beach, bliss, smiles, love, talking with new found friends, reading, writing, thinking. Things weren’t always great of course, but it is hard for me to remember a handful of worst moments. Here are five that come to mind:

WORST MOMENTS

• Losing a five figure lump of cash to a scam artist for renting accommodation via the web site vrbo.com
• 3 rats dancing all night above our heads in the ceiling rafters
• Stepping on a sea urchin at Tamarin Bay and having one spike removed at the local hospital
• Losing our wallet in the taxi to the airport in Vanuatu
• Hitting a tree and parking meter with the rear end of our 29 foot motor home in the Pacific Northwest

There are so many thoughts, impressions, moments, images in our heads, which makes it very difficult to narrow the experience, mood, beautiful moments down to a few paragraphs or pages. We honestly do not have an answer to the question: “which was the best place you visited on your trip?” Although there are plenty more that come to mind even as I write these down, here are some BEST MOMENTS from an unforgettable year with the love of my life and our two little happy souls Robinson and Sienna.

BEST MOMENTS

- The stillness of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island. We arrived at sunset, stayed at a mountain hut, watched the Earth wake up just before 6, hiked across Plaine de Sable, looked at the amazing gorges, travelled through pastures with cows that resembled the Swiss alps, and were back at the turquoise tropical lagoon just 30 minutes later
- Earth creation on the East side of the Big Island in Hawaii. I traveled at 4 am with a catamaran to watch the lava flow in the ocean, only meters away from boiling explosions.
- Kite surfing at Little Lagoon at Denham / Shark Bay. A perfect almost round turquoise flat water spot at what seems like the beautiful end of the world.
- Morning sessions at Lanikai Beach in front of our house. We would start with sunrise yoga followed by a swim, often with a green sea turtle, greet the morning people welcoming another day in paradise, enjoy our papaya with lemon and mango, and plan our day of reading / writing / kitesurfing / surfing / paddling.
- Snorkeling the Astrolabe Reef – the second largest reef on the planet - at Nagigia Island just West of Kadavu, Fiji. Never seen so much colour and beauty under water.
- Big sunset smiles on the terrace of our Blue House in Rangiputa, Northland, New Zealand. We would kite all day in one of the most beautiful kite bays in the world, eat fresh fish, enjoy the solitude and beauty
- Cooking fresh paua (abalone) on the beach just South of Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand with Anneke and Anthony. We had picked them fresh of the beach at low tide after a surf session and prepared them with butter, garlic and lemon at sunset with our new friends, our camping neighbours from Shipwreck Bay at the very top of New Zealand’s North Island. Pure magic.
- Trance dancing at the Luminate music festival at Canaan Downs, Motueka, South Island New Zealand. We camped with 2000 rastas on a crystal mountain and enjoyed healing, play, drum fire dancing and lots of great music on two stages in a beautiful forest setting for five days.
- Playing in the waves and feeling the energy at Byron Bay. For all the hype it has been getting, it is still a magic place with a special energy. Just take a cross-section of the tourists that go there, it will be a challenge to find that anywhere else in the world
- My first tube ride in picture perfect conditions at Conspicuous Bay near Walpole, Western Australia. The most beautiful bay with white sand, turquoise water, a small creek, cliffs, 2 guys out, large swell and offshore wind.
- Sitting in front of the fire at The Cove’s A-Frame after a day of kiting or surfing at Ocean Beach. The massive house is built entirely of wood and sleeps 25, it felt like our little kingdom. We were blissfully exhausted after a day of playing at beautiful Ocean Beach.
- Surfing the left at Tamarin Bay in Mauritius on a picture perfect day at sunset, with a full view of the lush green mountain that looks exactly like the little Matterhorn
- Drinking kava with the Fijian chief and elders in the Nakasaleka ceremonial bure, listening to the boys sing beautiful songs all night long, dozens of children playing outside by the river with Sienna and Robinson
- Eating, drinking and playing for a week with a group of madmen at Bunker Bay, Western Australia. We were hanging out in a massive house right on the beach of this true jewel bay of the Margaret River region, with Jason the chef creating one culinary delight after another and the Duffy / Margaria clan ensuring that the crowd was entertained day and night
- Feeling the deep rumble of Mt. Yasur, the world’s most accessible active volcano, on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, explode with red lava, just meters away from our viewing spot at the edge of the crater
- Happy surf sessions at the Pango reef on Efate with 20 Vanuatu local kids
- An amazing downwind lagoon and wave kite session in the “skate park” from Mourouk to Ile de Chats on Rodrigues, in one of the most breathtaking lagoons in the world, followed by a lunch cooked fresh over a fire on the island

The last day of our trip was a manifest of what I enjoyed so much on this trip: Swimming with 10-20 dolphins in the blue blue ocean of Tamarin Bay, just meters away from these beautiful creatures, playing with them in the water while they swim below you, beside you, in front of you. This was followed by a soulful last 2-hour surf session at the Tamarin reef break. All day was full of love with my family.

I felt alive every moment of this trip and am very very thankful.

One of the surprises of this adventure was the amazing variety and number of people we met all over the globe from around the globe who we felt had a great spirit and positive energy. Many have been uncompromisingly following their passion, not just as a recreational pursuit but as a central element of their life, typically also generating income. This clearly seems to be a major source of sustained happiness. We have learned from moments with these people, from observation, from conversation, reading, and living a life focused on simplicity, purity and nature.
The key learnings for us from this trip are:

• Many people have lifestyles significantly different from our typical lives in the industrialized Western world, and often these lead to a more balanced and satisfied life
• Key elements from lifestyles of other cultures that deserve reintroduction to “our Western world” are humbleness and kindness, which form the basis of compassionate living
• We need to save our planet from ourselves, we are in the process of destroying the very basis of our existence
• There is lots of great energy in people with a positive spirit and solutions exist to tackle this seemingly insurmountable challenge of saving our planet

SIMPLE LIVING
The futurologist Richard Watson has a clear view on happiness: “What most people ultimately want is fairly straightforward. They want support and respect from family and friends, meaningful work, enough money, freedom from violence and abuse, and a community that cares for everyone. People also want, in my opinion, a shared vision of where society is heading. Deliver all these things and happiness is a natural by-product.” On our trip we did not visit truly third world countries, but we spent a lot of time in countries where people made less than 2 $ / day. The large difference to the Third World was that they lived in self-sustainable environments and their traditions include respect for Mother Nature. And sure enough, we often sensed deep states of bliss and true happiness, from looking at their eyes or speaking with them, or living with them. We found some common elements across the islands we visited:

• Simplicity: living simple lives without excessive media input or material goods
• Nature: living in harmony with nature as it provides the water, air, food, shelter to survive
• Community: living together rather than trying to get ahead in life at the cost of others
• Compassion: random acts of kindness, gentleness, the human touch, caring

It is raw, real, simple living. The place where this was exemplified best was the last stop of our tour, Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. You could argue that these are farmers who have not seen the world, and in most cases that is probably accurate. But I truly wonder whether the elevated stress levels produced by our urgency to cut up time into little pieces, the abundance of material possessions, access to a seemingly never-ending streams of information in written, audio and video formats, really are a better way to go on the path to true happiness. We are certainly not implying that living in these countries or living like these people is a solution for making our own lives happier and more balanced. In a sense we have gone too far already in our lives to be able to live a basic life for a prolonged period of time – at least for most of us. But clearly, letting the elements from the life of these happy culture flow into our own lives is a good thing. Just being aware that simplicity is good, nature is important, identifying the community around you, and being more gentle and kind should add to our life quality. Life is good!

SUSTAINED HAPPINESS
Tony Hsieh, founder of the Ecommerce company Zappos.com (sold in 2009 to amazon for 1.2 billion $), recently published a book on delivering happiness and has made this the primary goal of his life and of the company he has created. I quite like one framework of happiness he uses, which identifies sources of happiness as PLEASURE, PASSION and HIGHER PURPOSE. Pleasure is chasing the next high and typically does not last very long. Passion is manifested in FLOW activities, where you are truly in the moment, seemingly forgetting the world around you and indeed yourself; this last much longer. Higher purpose or meaning is your mission in life, a sort of Nirvana state and lasts the longest.
On our trip we met lots of people who had charisma, an aura, positive energy. Looking back most of them shared the common theme that they made a passion a central part of their life. Here are some examples:

• Deeljeet and his painting
• Mike and his surf school
• Tim and his surfing and film-making
• Dylan & Mike and their guitars
• Kevin and Mike and playing with their kites
• Pete and extreme surfing, kiting and painting
• Cheryl and diving
• Anneke and snowboarding
• Eugene and ocean photography
• Alice and indigenous Maori art
• Charlie and tennis
• Björn and running and surfing
• Tomas and his surf shop
• Deb and recycled clothing
• Taj and world championship surfing
• Jason and cooking
• Gabi and extreme kite surfing
• Michi and surfing the globe
• Brenda and healing

OUR PLANET IS A MESS – AND WE CAN FIX IT
Our planet is so amazingly beautiful. On our travels we have come very close to nature, we have seen its beauty everywhere and come to respect it. We have also learned a lot on this trip about the state of our planet, and there are signs of Earth’s destruction everywhere. Our newfound knowledge comes from speaking with people, looking and reading. There are plenty of things that have gone wrong, issues we need to deal with range from climate change due to global warming, to demands on energy supply, biodiversity, fresh water, and our oceans and forests. If you look at the facts and timelines, it is clearly time to act. The great news is: there is an increasing number of very inspiring people who are aware of this and are actively involved in educating the world about it and finding and implementing solutions.
There are the eco-activists such as

• David de Rothschild and Adventure Ecology (www.adventurecology.com)
• Mike Horn and Pangaea Expedition (www.mikehorn.com)
• Yann-Arthus Bertrand and HOME film as well as La Terre vue du Ciel exhibition which has been viewed by over 250 million people (www.goodplanet.org)

Clearly, our voyage consisting of traveling tens of thousands of kilometers by airplane, bus and car is not very eco-friendly. The close to half a million trees I planted in the British Columbia forests in the 1980s are hopefully still growing and helping to offset some of the carbon emissions. More importantly, we tried to speak to people everywhere on the trip about this global issue, tried to understand their specific situation and discussed small steps. Sienna and Robinson learned about the need to preserve our beautiful planet. I strongly believe we need to teach all of our kids that this is extremely important and make a sustainable life normal for them.

We have seen communities of earth-friendly people all over the planet, the modern hippies. Examples are

• Montauk on Long Island in New York
• Lanikai on Oahu in Hawaii
• Motueka in New Zealand
• Byron Bay in Australia
• Margaret River in Western Australia
• Denmark in Western Australia

We have been very fortunate to have access to traditional wisdom from ancient cultures, in Hawaii, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Rodrigues. They clearly all have placed a large value on their natural surroundings and typically worship mother Earth and father Sky. It seems like the truth embedded in this wisdom as related to sustainable living in nature is now more relevant than ever.

OUR MISSION
On this trip we received great inspiration from many people that living more compassionate and sustainable is possible. We want to change our life to be more compassionate and make the planet a sustainable environment for us.

peace love and happiness

Yann Arthus Bertrand likes to call himself photographer turned eco-activist. With his projects he has realized very powerful work to help save our planet, always dramatically showing how beautiful our world is, how this beauty is in danger due to human intervention and what we can do to solve it. He always puts a positive spin on the issues, i.e. solutions exist and we can make changes in our behaviour to save the planet. Among his projects are the film HOME, a collection of helicopter views of our planet which can be viewed free of charge on youtube, and Earth From Above, a collection of photographs with accompanying messages with similar imagery. Earth From Above is available in various book formats and has also traveled the world as an exhibition of 120 large poster size photographs, which has been viewed by 250 million people already. We were fortunate to be able to see this exhibition on our trip in downtown Port Louis in Mauritius.

Following is a collection of his images and facts / messages which highlight on the one hand the beauty of our planet but on the other hand the urgent need to act now. If you have not seen the exhibition, you may want to take five minutes to browse through the images below. Every little bit that every single one of us can do helps our planet : )

flooding in Bangla Desh

Namibia desert

water and ice

cattle on the edge of lake

ocean beauty

floating town in Thailand

Whitsundays in Australia

Moreno glacier in Patagonia

Whale tail

iceland

Antarctica

One of my favourites: the small rest of snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro