TheBigFieldTrip

The Big Field Trip

India | Saturday, November 22, 2014 | 5 photos

Somewhere between being thrown out of the Great Mosque of Uqba in Tunisia and sneaking into the dilapidated communist headquarters in Bulgaria, I began to ask myself what harebrained notion had possessed us to schlep three kids, five backpacks, a guitar, a camera, and a garlic press around the world.

Over the course of two years, my husband and I circumnavigated the globe with our children. Together we hiked the Inca Trail, caught the swine flu in Istanbul, rode a dragon boat up the Perfume River, lived on a vineyard in Portugal, rode camels in the Sahara, taught at a tribal school in Rajasthan, were robbed at gunpoint in Bahía, biked through floating markets outside Bangkok, and communed with snow monkeys in the hot springs of Japan. To supplement home-school, we studied the language, music, religion, and cuisine of each country and tried our best to live like locals.

I’m in the process of writing a collection of travel essays about our adventure, The Big Field Trip and I would love to have the opportunity to study the art of travel writing under Lonely Planet author John Vlahides.