I was thrilled at the opportunity to be interviewed by Aaron Schlein for the Dramatic Travels podcast. Interestingly it felt more vulnerale or revealing to share some of these stories in a podcast interview than has felt for me to write about them in the past. Eleanor Roosevelt suggested:
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
This was my thing that day. You can listen to the podcast through the link below:
Aaron Schlein launched the inspirational family travel podcast Dramatic Travels earlier this year as a resource for family travel, a way to ignite curiosity, and to open people’s minds to the power of travel. In each episode Aaron talks travel with passionate and experienced travelers who are sharing the world, and that love of adventure, with their kids.
A number of years ago we decided that we needed to seize our opportunity for the six of us to take valuable memory making family trips as frequently as we could before the kids went off to college. Often our destinations have been dictated as much by desired locations as flight costs. We search on websites like Cheapoair and kayak to help us find the best flight deals. We usually end up doing what we call high/low travel, mixing youth hostel stays in with resorts, and tend to keep our itineraries somewhat flexible by booking key accommodations and then finding others along the way. This is surprisingly easy to do with websites like booking.com, tripadvisor, and hostelworld, and that flexibility has led us to some incredible experiences. Keep an eye out for detailed travelogues and trip guides for each of the below family adventures on documama in the next few months.
Iceland
I call this the land of rainbows and ponies because we saw at least 1 rainbow a day and Icelandic horses were everywhere. Iceland had not been on our radar until we saw the amazing airfare on WOW airlines. We’d never heard of WOW airlines… but we were intrigued! This was a fantastic trip that the kids all loved. You have to rent a car to get around and there was a lot of driving involved, but the roads were pretty much empty, and the scenery is spectacular. Frequent stops to take pictures of waterfalls, climb on the lava rocks, check out the ancient moss fields, and visit volcanos, glaciers, and hot springs make the driving worthwhile. And in 5 days we only made it around 1/4 of the country’s one main ring road! accommodations are few and far between but through booking.com and airbnb everyplace we stayed was great.
Croatia, Bosnia & Montenegro
We flew into Zagreb instead of Split because, you guessed it…..the flights were more affordable. Zagreb is a great little city though with a vibrant market, some beautiful architecture, and a bustling city square. This also gave us the opportunity to visit the spectacular waterfalls of plitvice and the birth place of Nikola Tesla on our way to and from the coast. This region has very good roads and was easy to navigate in our rental a car ( aside from the hair-raising mountain pass our navigation system took us through in Bosnia in error). Accommodation highlights were nights inside the ancient walled Roman cities, which I highly recommend, and a couple of fantastic beach resorts. Between the rich history, the spectacular beaches, and the numerous world heritage sites, this trip has something for everyone.
Ireland/Northern Ireland
Despite the narrow roads a road trip around Ireland and Northern Ireland is easy to do. We found wonderful bed and breakfasts along the way which we mixed in with a few youth hostel stays . Our itinerary was provided by our Irish friend and we pretty much visited all of the places he suggested. There is amazing history and scenery everywhere and of course great pub food! We were blown away by the ancient beehive huts around Dingle and the 5,000 year old megalithic passage tomb sites of Newgrange, the kids loved climbing around abandoned castles and the incredible Giant’s Causeway. This is again a wonderful family trip that was a crowd pleaser!
International travel opens up your world and provides an unparalleled education. The good news is that there are many ways to afford to travel abroad even if you don’t think that you have the means to do so. There are organizations out there that believe in the power of travel. Hostelling International USA has just opened up applications for the 2018 Explore The World Travel Scholarships . Through this scholarship more than 100 $2,000.00 travel scholarships will be awarded in 2018 toward an educational or service learning trip! This is an incredible opportunity for you or someone you know to explore the world.
Experiencing new places, meeting new people, and being exposed to different cultures enhances global awareness and builds bridges toward cross-cultural understanding. That in turn creates a more peaceful world. Hostelling International USA not only wants to give travelers the opportunity to see new places, but a chance to make a positive impact along the way. That is what this scholarship is all about, making the world a better place through travel. Past recipients of the Explore The World Travel Scholarships have done things like studied Arabic in Jordan or taught math in the Dominican Republic. You choose the path that you would like to take, and you are sure to return with an enhanced global perspective. Check out the eligibility requirements and start dreaming or share this opportunity with someone you know who would love it.
Every time I Travel I am amazed by the new things I learn about history, geography and the world. Travel has exposed me to the deep generosity of strangers and heightened my own desire to give back to others. It has given me a glimpse into perspectives I never could have otherwise understood and exposed me to cultures as different as possible from the one I grew up in. What I have observed in over 70 countries that I have visited is that at the core we are all more alike than we are different. I have become fascinated by learning perspectives and seeing the world through a different lens, and the greatest lesson is how much more there is to learn. My husband and I hope to pass our love of travel on to our own children along with the knowledge that the world is a big beautiful place with a multitude of roads to travel, endless possibility, and different lifestyles to be lived. It all begins with that first trip. I love that Hostelling International USA is committed to making sure that everyone can share in the opportunity to explore the world.
Where will you go? What will you do to make a difference? APPLY NOW
We visited Peru, the Tibetan region of China, and Ghana all in one day. Our tour guide of the replica villages at Heifer Farms in Rutland, Massachusetts explained the varied sustainable farming and livestock practices in the various countries and the contributions of Heifer International along the way. The replica global villages at the educational farm facility were an hour drive from our home, but it took us a world away. It introduced my kids to what a rural, pastoralist or agricultural community in a developing country might look like.
It was on our family trip to Tanzania this past summer, roughly a year after our visit to Heifer Farms, that I watched my kids worlds crack wide open as they witnessed that theoretical knowledge first hand. Both the Maasai and the Datoga tribes of Tanzania whom we visited are pastoralists, cattle is their currency. As we watched clouds of dust fill the horizon along the savanna a small boy, around the same age as my youngest son, herded his cattle on the side of the packed earth road. I turned to my son and said, “If you were born here that could be you.” He chuckled a bit at the thought and then with a more pensive look replied, “It’s amazing to see how different kids’ lives are here from my own.” I think I heard angels singing in that moment! The reason we travel with our children to far-flung places is exactly to get that point across. All around the world people are so similar at the core, yet we live in such varied cultures and circumstances.
Photo: Elizabeth Atalay Kids inside the Maasai Schoolroom enjoying treats we brought for them.
Photo: Elizabeth Atalay The exterior of the one room school house in the Maasai village
The day we visited the Maasai village we were able to peek in on an adorable kindergarten class in their one room thatched hut schoolhouse. They sang us their ABC’s and stole our hearts. Our guide Adam had grown up Maasai and spoke about the unique nutritional challenges of the Maasai diet with increasingly erratic climate issues. We could see how dry the land was while we were there, draught had stretched longer than usual the past couple of years impacting the livestock and the lives of those who depend on them for life. This brings us back to the work that Heifer International is doing with pastoralist communities around the world including Tanzania. Since 2008 Heifer International’s program in Tanzania has worked to help dairy farmers develop sustainable practices to enhance milk production. Heifer is expanding the program to create more diverse markets for farmers and with the help of those farmers along with government agencies, and the school districts, Heifer’s School Milk Feeding Program has been created to provide milk for children who lack proper daily nutrition. We know that if children are hungry it is difficult for them to focus on school, so not only does the program improve learning and nutrition in children, but provides a reliable market for local dairy farmers.
Infographic Courtesy of Heifer International
Right around the time my family and I were visiting Tanzania in July of 2017 Heifer launched the Heifer School Milk Feeding Program to bring Heifer’s work with communities full circle. The roll out began by providing students in the Njombe region free fresh packets of pasteurized milk every school day. Each 200ml packet of milk contains at least a quarter of daily calcium requirements for children. Eventually the goal is to reach 9,000 students age 9 and under the Njombe, Iringa, Mbeya, and Songwe regions with fresh milk packets Monday through Friday during the school year.
Our family now has a way to stay connected to the children we met in Tanzania. Supporting the Heifer School Milk Program for just 40 cents a day ($75.00 for a whole year) provides fresh milk to one student for a year. In honor of School Milk Day on September 27th we plan to donate to the Heifer School Milk Feeding Program, not only to help provide proper nutrition to a child in need but to also positively impact communities by Increasing farmers’ incomes and help in reducing poverty.
To make an impact you can make a donation of any size! Just $75 can provide one student with fresh milk for a school year (that’s just 40 cents a day)!
This post was written in partnership with Heifer International, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
“Everytime that you buy a basket, know that there are about 10 people attached to your purchase.” – Janet Nkubana
My belief that we can create positive change through our purchase choices was further reinforced recently when I saw first hand the impact that “Trade not Aid” programs have on the communities in which they operate. Many of the gifts that I am giving this holiday season are things that I brought home from my recent trip to Haiti where I could see how much our purchases meant to the artisans supporting their families through their craft. In interviews with several of the artisans who create pieces for the Macy’s Heart of Haiti program each mentioned the pride in their work, and in being able to provide a sustainable income to support their families. They made it clear that even in tough times, they did not want charity, what they wanted was to continue to earn an income through their art. Giving gifts that help generate economic empowerment in communities where the need is great is really like giving twice, it becomes a gift that gives back. A gift that gives hope. In a way my trip to Haiti actually began in Rwanda with Macy’s Rwanda Path to Peace program.Read the rest of this entry →
