Gap year

The 11 Best Things to Do in Bangkok with Kids

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From the infamous Khaosan Road to ladyboys, Bangkok may not spring to mind as being the most child friendly city. However, if you stay outside of the backpacker tourist zone, you will find ample opportunities to explore, learn and experience an amazing side of Bangkok with kids.

I have loved Bangkok since my first visit more than 10 years ago and couldn’t wait to share my love of the city with my son. It’s always fun to revisit places with the fresh eyes of a child as well as look for things that may not be on every tourist itinerary but would be super fun for kids.

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Gap Year: Month 4 Recap – Bangkok, Hanoi & Hoi An

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A bit late, but here we go, our gap year recap for month 4! January has been a short month of travel since we only left the US on the 15th, but it has been full of adventure and feels like we have been gone for ages already!

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Experience the Best Hands-On Village Homestay in Vietnam

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One of the best experiences on our trip to Southeast Asia was a village homestay in Vietnam with Indochina Junk. This ended up being a highlight of our Vietnam experience as it offered wonderful insight into the culture and local life of many in this country. One of our goals of travel is to find educational and transformative activities that give hands-on opportunities for learning and this fit the bill perfectly.

A visit to Yen Duc village can be added on to your overnight Halong Bay cruise or possibly as a stand alone option. We did it as part of our Halong Bay trip and it worked out well as it’s located between Halong Bay and Hanoi. If you have time, we would highly recommend making a visit to Yen Duc village with Indochina Junk as it really was a great way to experience this fascinating country and to experience life in a local village.

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Gap Year Recap (Month 3): Panama, SLO CAL & Home

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Our third month of Gap Year travel was a bit different than what most people would do while taking a year off. We started off the month in Panama and then came home for 3 days to then set off again on a quick media visit to San Luis Obispo County a few hours north of Los Angeles. Finally, a few days before Christmas we were home for the holidays!

Cian had always said he was fine to miss school and fine to go away for the year as long as he could be home for two of his favorite holidays – Halloween and Christmas! So we made sure to make that happen. As much as I would have loved to keep on traveling from Panama all the way down to South America, I knew that he needed to be home for the holidays even if we couldn’t participate in all the holiday activities he normally likes.

So, here we go for our recap!

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Gap Year Recap (Month 2): Guatemala, Costa Rica & Panama

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It has been a month since we set off on our second adventure of our gap year and our first month of full backpacking type travels. (You can read last month’s recap here if you missed it.)

In the past 30 days we have been to Guatemala for almost 3 weeks, a short 4 days in Costa Rica to meet up with Paul and 1 week in Panama.

Overall I have to say it’s been amazing and all I had dreamed it could be. We have had so much fun, seen so much, learned so much and just enjoyed being together.

Cian really is an amazing travel partner. He keeps me grounded when I’m losing it, is always happy go lucky and ready for an adventure which helps me muddle through when I’m feeling negative about something and he just LOVES it all. It has been an absolute pleasure to show him some of my old backpacking towns.

We have made mistakes and are slowly figuring things out, but overall, I can’t imagine ever going back to our regular day to day life! Of course we will have to I guess.. 🙂

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Our Gap Year – Month 1 Recap

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It has officially been one month since Cian and I set off on our worldschooling adventure for 2nd grade. This first month is not very representative of how our year will go since we were crisscrossing the globe with pre-booked trips. It’s been a busy month moving from one time zone and climate to another each week with little down time to recover. But it was fun!

For you, me and posterity, here is a recap of how our month shaped up.

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