T h e D r e a m

Drive around the world for one year

Route Option 1

Route Option 2

Route Option 3

Route Option 4

Route Option 5

Route Option 6

The TeamPlanner, ResearcherFinance Officer

Driver, MechanicNavigator

Assistant NavigatorRoad Warrior

Road Warrior

The Vehicle

Pop-up camper on a 4x4 pick-up truck

Roadschooling is a growing trend in which families pack up their belongings and hit the road to take the trip of a lifetime. Rather than teaching what is dictated by textbooks or state curriculum, these parents teach their children based on where the road takes them.Roadschooling follows a more hands-on approach to learning. Families use the landmarks and attractions available throughout the country as a means for educational exploration.

The School

The InspirationFor fifteen years, Candelaria Chovet (44) and Herman Zapp (46) have visited a hundred countries in four continents, covered more than 250 thousand kilometres, and have stayed with 2,500 families from different cultures, religions, and economic backgrounds. During this long excursion, four children were born and raised: Pampa (12, United States), Tehue (9, Argentina), Paloma (7, Canada),and Wallaby (5, Australia).

"Our dream was to go around the world," says Herman, far away from his birthplace inCalifornia, recalling epic trips with his grandfather in a Ford A. An electrician turned traveller, he immediately clarifies that they'd needed a lot of courage to make that decision. "We were leaving everything, but we were also going to find everything."

The Goals1) Have a great learning adventure by expanding our horizon

2) Visit friends and family around the world

U.S.A. – Peggy, Mew Yee, Ninang Lin & Ate Bigi, Tita Shereen, Acela & David, Claire, Cotton & Bill, Marion, Rinna & family, Tonyboy, Mark Roman, Yancey, Egay, John-DEngland – Chris Snow, Mark Billinge, Mariko, Jan Worseley Germany – Karen Australia – Tephie, Rachel & Nicolas, DannyCanada – Danielle & Toren, Kenneth & KarenKazakhstan – Rose & ChadFrance – Ginger, Ben’s familyBrazil – CarlosRomania – GeorgeSpain – Jackie, Geraldine

Things To Try1) Couch Surfing with Families for Families

2) Speak about the miracle of surviving cancer while pregnant and having a healthy child

3) Share our experiences through a website, a book

4) Earning money on the road through speaking engagements and other projects we can think of

You may have heard of the CouchSurfing project. A young traveler was heading to Reykjavik a few years back and rather than staying in a random hostel, he took it upon himself to email 1,500 students at the University of Iceland, boldly asking if he could crash on their couch. He had a great response with 50+ offers of not only free accommodation but more importantly, local guides who could share some sights and insights that a typical tourist might miss. The light bulb went off and the “couchsurfing” phenomenon was born. There are now over 900,000 registered users from 232 countries sharing homes and friendship around the globe.

Not surprisingly, this kind of grass-roots hospitality exchange appeals to the younger demographic – casual, carefree backpacker types looking to save a few bucks and make a few friends as they trip around the world. However, CouchSurfing is not the exclusive domain of the young and childless. There are a growing number of family hosts and travelers who are riding the wave too.

Right now there are close to 2000 members in the community’s Family Group, and plenty more whose profile indicates that family travelers are welcome to stay. Currently the median age for CouchSurfers is 27, but give it a few years. As these youthful nomads grow up and start families of their own I predict that the percentage of family CouchSurfers will increase. After all, just because you become a parent doesn’t mean the end of wanderlust or the desire to meet friendly people from all over the world.

Now the idea of opening your home or taking your kids to be house guests of foreign strangers may not appeal to everyone. Heck, staying with friends and relatives is stressful enough for some of us. How do you know you’ll hit it off with a host/guest, and what about the question of safety?

Yes, CouchSurfing CAN BE FOR FAMILIES!

CouchSurfing addresses the safety issue through a system of references, friend links, testimonials,

vouching and verification. It’s not iron-clad, but it creates a circle of trust that provides some level of confidence (kind of like eBay ratings). You have plenty of opportunity to communicate with a potential guest/host prior to making arrangements so if you sense an incompatibility, go with your gut. There’s never any obligation to open your doors or to accept an offer to stay.

I can see some great benefits to CouchSurfing with children. Ideally your host/guest will have similar aged kids of

their own, which means instant playmates and unique cultural experiences for all. There may be some awkward shyness at first, but children usually get over that quickly and even language barriers are a non-issue after a while. Kids are the greatest icebreakers and provide a point of commonality amongst parents regardless of their cultural background &nash; plus you’ll all be aware/tolerant of the noise, mess, moods and needs that come with the territory. Now you might not click with everyone you meet this way, but you and your children will definitely learn and grow from the experience. Resort trips and hotel stays just don’t provide the same authenticity or opportunity to form international friendships like this.

I’m thinking of peppering our upcoming round the world travels with a few selected home-stays, not as a cost-saving measure (although that doesn’t hurt) but to expose my girls to the reality of life behind the tourist curtain, an obstacle that’s sometimes hard to break through when you’re a traveler abroad.

The general idea behind CouchSurfing is not new. Servas has been promoting cross-cultural understanding and global goodwill through hospitality exchange since 1949. CouchSurfing just leveraged technology through web 2.0 networking and community building to take things to the next level. Hospitality Club and BeWelcome are similar organizations worth checking out. For more information on Family CouchSurfing, visit www.couchsurfing.com.

Sharing the miracle of surviving cancer while pregnant and having a healthy child – taking the story around the world

Maybe, write a book about it like these blokes did

I’ve always wanted to try working in a Kibutz

The Hurdles1) Raising funds – need to sell a house

2) Visas for a Filipina and 3 Chinese for 20 – 30 countries

3) Getting the car from one country to another – entry and exit, shipping it over sea – logistical challenge

4) Our families in China and the Philippines will be worried sick and probably won’t approve of the idea

5) Fear

Overcoming the Hurdles

We have two to three years to prepare. We’d like to do this when Joshua is around 8 or 9 and Jimmy 6 or 7.

We’ll do a relatively easier and safer route the first time around when the children are young and then we’ll do another, more challenging route when they’re older.

For Future Travel*

* Perhaps when Joshua is 16 and Jimmy is 14.